End to All Potentials!

[Wesley Junior]

Would you have enjoyed S7 more if the Bringers killed all the Potentials early in the season, the only living carriers of the Slayer bloodline are Buffy and Faith, and a part of the season was focused on protecting Buffy and Faith from the threat of the Bringers while the First used devious mind games to unravel things from within the Scooby Gang?

 

[patriot1123]

Yes, that sounds intriguing. 'Course, any storyline that got rid of the annoying potentials would be fine with me.

I really disliked season 7, and the potentials were one big reason (the biggest being the lack of real!Giles).

 

[sisterofmercy]

My gut reaction is yes but really it would change the entire premise of the season. The whole point of Chosen was to share the power and redefine their roles as slayers and women who were in control of their destiny, rather than it controlling them.

Like them or not, they were one of the necessary props for the season. I do wish they had been more prop like at times though 😛

 

[wickedtiger86]

I liked Vi. But all the other ones could go. 😀

 

[Hale Caesar]

The Potentials were awful. I hate them more than any other characters in the Buffyverse, because they ruined season 7.

The final season of Buffy didn't focus on Xander, Willow, Giles, Faith or Dawn who have all been on the show for multiple seasons, and developed over the years, instead it focused on these lame ass, annoying girls. I wish the potentials would have never been introduced to the show, instead the final season should have focused on the characters who made the show great in the first place

Yeah, Potentials suck. The writers and Joss really let me down in season 7, thank goodness Angel season 5 was so much better.

 

[badwolf]

The Potentials were awful. I hate them more than any other characters in the Buffyverse, because they ruined season 7.

The final season of Buffy didn't focus on Xander, Willow, Giles, Faith or Dawn who have all been on the show for multiple seasons, and developed over the years, instead it focused on these lame ass, annoying girls. I wish the potentials would have never been introduced to the show, instead the final season should have focused on the characters who made the show great in the first place

Yeah, Potentials suck. The writers and Joss really let me down in season 7, thank goodness Angel season 5 was so much better.

IA! It took SO much emphasis off of Buffy and Faith. It didnt feel like it was Buffy's show anymore and when they ALL conveniently decided to vote Buffy off, it just got worse.. What's more I didnt understand how they could be so strong, so capable, even before they got the boost..

They should definitely all died and the orginal cast should have alone delt with the battle. After so many years of battling evil, to stand together, so few, and fight their biggest battle, it would have been SO powerful.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I thought the idea of the Potential storyline was cool, but I thought it cheapened the whole Slayerness of Buffy and Faith. I think the final battle would have been better if Buffy had chosen to share her power with the people she loved the most, and gave it to Giles, Willow, Xander, and Dawn.

 

[Zombierella]

For me it seemed like the potentials took the spotlight off of Buffy. She was no longer THE slayer..she was a slayer among many. Sure, Not all of those girls would become slayers but the fact that they were potential slayers just seemed so forced to me. Once Faith returned to S7 the story should have revolved on the scoobies and Buffy's relationship with Faith. Faith became a different person in S7 then she had been in Seasons 3 & 4 they should have played that up and used that to their advantage..but they didn't. If you could take the entire season and do the opposite of what was filmed then it would have been a good season. Also, Willow went all evil over Tara's death and then she just falls for Kennedy in the next season? That relationship was rushed and un-neccessary.

 

[Hale Caesar]

Why did the writers put Faith in season 7 anyways? She was wasted, all she did was have sex with Principal Wood...Faith should have stayed on Angel where should might have actually had a story

 

[white avenger]

The idea of the Potentials was good. We've known from even before the series started, from back in the original movie (and this is one of the elements that was carried over to the series) that there were these people called Watchers whose job it was to locate and train young girls, preparing them for the day when they would be Called. That's fine. But there were just TOO MANY of the little brats. It would have been better if there could only be a VERY few girls, like never more than a dozen at any one time, and maybe half that number managed to get to Sunnydale and sanctuary with Buffy. Instead, we got a houseful of nameless girls serving as basically nothing more than cannon fodder in the final battle and just cluttering up the story up until that point.

With that few girls, there would have been time to both develop their individual characters AND include the Scoobies more into the story line. They could have also brought Faith in earlier, having Giles go to the prison and facilitating her break out rather than Wes (Angel's crew should have been able to handle Angelus on their own after they tricked him into killing the Beast). For that matter, Faith could have heard about the trouble in Sunnydale, realized that this was her one great opportunity to make up to Buffy for all of the trouble she had caused before, broken out on her own, and gone to help. They could have even used the "is she evil, or is she really here to help" scenario with her rather than Robin Wood, leaving him to be just an honest rogue demon fighter whose mother was a Slayer

 

[zobothehobo]

I agree with white avenger. The idea of the potentials was great... but there were too many of them. They just became annoying little brats taking emphasis away from the "real" characters. Honestly, I think my biggest issue with the potentials is that they were there at the end, the final season and they just took the spotlight of the story off of the characters and how far they've come. I love season 7, but I think less potentials could have made the story much better.

 

[WannabeWatcher]

In hindsight I don't really understand how killing the Potentials would stop the Slayer line (which was one of the aims of The First, right?).
Surely it would be impossible for The First to destroy all the Potentials because, as long as demons and the human race co-existed, Slayers would be needed and so Potential girls would keep being born .... the Slayer power would therefore always find a girl to 'latch on to' in order for the line to continue.
If The First had managed to kill all the Potentials under the age of, say, 13 I can imagine that it would be hard for a younger girl to handle the Slayer power - but surely a younger girl would have been Chosen, or the power would simply have gone to someone else (they would, in effect, create a new Potential from a suitable age range)? TPTB (or whoever 'Chooses' the Slayer) would find a way for it to continue.....

So - even if The First had managed to kill Buffy, Faith and all the known Potentials another girl would have been Called and the line would have continued.

I hope that makes sense LOL. The only explanation I can come up with (which doesn't really explain much) is that The First hoped that by eradicating the majority of the Potentials and the Council you'd weaken the future Slayers who wouldn't know what their power was for....

I think I must have really missed something.....I can't seen the last season in a while, and it's the one of I've watched the least 😕

 

[Dagenspear]

For me it seemed like the potentials took the spotlight off of Buffy. She was no longer THE slayer..she was a slayer among many. Sure, Not all of those girls would become slayers but the fact that they were potential slayers just seemed so forced to me. Once Faith returned to S7 the story should have revolved on the scoobies and Buffy's relationship with Faith. Faith became a different person in S7 then she had been in Seasons 3 & 4 they should have played that up and used that to their advantage..but they didn't. If you could take the entire season and do the opposite of what was filmed then it would have been a good season. Also, Willow went all evil over Tara's death and then she just falls for Kennedy in the next season? That relationship was rushed and un-neccessary.

I have two words for you. Re. Bound.

---------- Post added at 10:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 PM ----------

I liked the potentials. Except for Kennedy. Hate her with a fiery passion. Anyway, didn't mind the focus on them (except for Kennedy). I mean, it isn't like most of the main characters had anything more to say. Buffy, Willow, and Spike were pretty much the only characters that mattered in the the scope of the story anymore.