How do you feel about Joyce through the series?

I forgot to mention - I completely love "The Talk" she had with Buffy after finding out about her and Angel in "Passion". She handled that really well.
 
I like Joyce, always have. People rag on her in S1/S2, but honestly, she didn't know Buffy was a Slayer. And Buffy's school record was dismal, plus she burned down the school gym and got into a lot of fights. Joyce was very forgiving of all of those 'crimes', for lack of a better term, and still lets her go to The Bronze at night. Which is pretty unbelievable, but hey. She was right to trust Buffy in the end.
 
I agree with most people here. I didn't like Joyce at all from seasons 1-3 as she isn't supportive of Buffy at all. However, from season 4 onwards, when she hardly ever sees Buffy as she's at college, she seems to appreciate what Buffy does and that she is glad to have such an amazing daughter. Joyce was so cool in "This Year's Girl" when Faith tied her to the bed and then Buffy comes to the rescue. That's when Joyce really appreciated that her daughter was a slayer (although she did believe at that point that Buffy would come to her rescue!)
 
I don't love her but at the same time I don't hate her. She grew on me as the show progressed and I was very sad when she died, but I was never a huge fan.
 
I was actually rather fond of Joyce, I never thought she was an awful or unsupportive parent, just ill-equipped to deal with her daughter's supernatural 'gift' which I think she grew into nicely post season 3 where she struggled with it (understandably).
 
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dexeded
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I was never that into Joyce, but I certainly didn't hate her either.

In the first few seasons of the show, I thought she was there sort of as a necessary plot device. She was great at grounding Buffy as a semi-normal teenager who had this huge secret. To be honest, I think this is when I liked her best. She was a regular on the show without being overwhelming.

As the show progressed, and when she found out Buffy was the Slayer, I think she kind of drifted a bit. We saw that in the fourth season, where she was barely in it. When she died, I really felt, but oddly enough, not for her. This is a little tough to explain, I guess. When Angel, Spike, Doyle or other characters I loved died in the show, my heart just ached for them. But when Joyce passed away, I really felt for Buffy and Dawn. A few episodes later though, I didn't really "miss" her like I did with other characters.
 
I never really cared for that character, at least not during the first 3 seasons. She often made such stupid and annoying decisions that either hurt Buffy or put her in terrible situations. So I wouldn't say I hate joyce, but rather her stupid decisions. But she wasn't like that all the time. I'd say she was a good mother and you have to try to see things from her point of view. They definitely had an interesting relationship (for the lack of a better term).
 
I think most of all she's a terrible parent. Count all the times when Buffy is hurt or injured in the first two seasons. Yeah, a lot, and that's just on-screen and Joyce fails to notice that. Buffy is beaten pretty much every night, she actually dies and her mother doesn't notice anything. On the top of that, Buffy isn't a normal kid, OK? As far as Joyce is concerned Buffy is a kid with a history of mental illness, a kid who had to be institutionalized. Joyce just doesn't act like a parent of a child with a mental illness. At all. She's almost comically irresponsible and it's like, she blames Buffy for what happened in LA. Hello, mental illness, do you understand what that means? What is wrong with her?

Still, I like her. She's cool, kinda hot, I would watch "The Passions" with her.
 
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itssmiletime
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The more I think about Joyce the more I feel like she was a really woeful parent at times. I rewatched Normal Again recently and that really paints her in a bad light. Before Sunnydale she knew about Buffy and slaying, at the very least she knew that it was something Buffy took seriously and regarded as real. It wasn't a new concept to her. And then she just ignores all the screaming signs of it during Buffy S1 & 2. How do you wash blood out of your kid's clothes and not have at least a conversation about that? How is she ok with not knowing where Buffy is so often. That scene in Becoming Part 2 where the police tell her Buffy is wanted for murder and they ask where she is and Joyce has no clue, "Maybe she she slept over at her friend Willow's house." What 16 year old can just stay out and not tell their parent where they are going to sleep that night and the parent is not even phased by that? How could she kick Buffy out, when she knew about slaying. She knew years. She just chose to ignore it. She blames Giles for Buffy running away when she kicked her out of her own home. Buffy comes back and she says she wish she hadn't.

JOYCE YOU GET AN "F" AT PARENTING OKAY.
 
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itssmiletime
This. A thousand times this.
NeonNightLight
NeonNightLight
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I agree with both of you. And yet, Joyce is SO important to Buffy, just because she is her mother. I can totally relate to that. Yes, she was a terrible parent most of the time. But there were a few times where she had good intent. It just didn't work out best for everbody. And Buffy was always the one who was hurt most.
 
Urgh Joyce...

In season 5, alot of her illness did have to deal with how it was effecting Buffy and Dawn. Yet Joyce's biggest problem for me, is that she can't accept fault. In Becoming, is it really a good idea to be drinking whilst your daughter has just been accused of murder? In Anne, she lashes out at Giles. In Dead Man's Party, she sees Buffy packing again, and unleashes so much anger at her. Well, guess what, Joyce, she heard your comment about wishing she never came back.

Crush- when Buffy realises Spike has a crush on her, all Joyce can say is 'did you lead him on in any way?'. Helpful. Your daughter is so disturbed by the crush, and you say that. In Passion, what she says to Buffy after Angelus tells her that they made love, she says that Buffy has to deal with the 'consequences'. Yes, Joyce, because being stalked and harrassed by an ex is just like an STI.

She does strike me as naive. Like Kean said, Joyce would've noticed the blood on her clothes months, years prior.

Perhaps I'm 'bashing on the parent' but there is only so much you can excuse a parent for. Only so many times you can through the 'no parent is perfect' line. I may be able to find an excuse for her being naive in seasons 1-2, but there is no excuse for Becoming / Anne / Dead Man's Party. I'm feeling kinda tired, so I might add on more, but I don't -hate- Joyce, I think she has made some really, really bad mistakes and errors, and yes, that effects my judgement of whether or not she's a good parent.

---------- Post added at 01:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:10 AM ----------
[MENTION=7585]Kean[/MENTION]


Agree, should've expanded on my point, to me Joyce is naive, yet willingly, if that makes sense. Willfully ignorant is probably better terminology, 🙂
 
Kean
Kean
I call her more willfully ignorant than naive. She saw what was plainly in front of her and chose to ignore it or pretend it wasn't real.
Has anyone mentioned "Gingerbread" where she starts a witchhunt that results in her daughter being burned at the stake? That's reeeally bad parenting.
 
E
EffieT1
I dont think thats fair,after all she was under magical influence, much like the rest of the town
I don`t really get how some see Joyce as an awful parent, I never viewed her that way and never will, sure she`s not perfect but your daughter is the friggen slayer! That can`t be easy. To me if my daughter was failing school, burning down gyms and sleeping with old creepy guy, I`m not too sure how I would react either. Your daughter tells you she slays vampires, the first thing I would think is that she needs psychiatric help also.

I don`t think Joyce fails at a parent, she was actually crazy supportive when Buffy came out as a slayer, I just think she was a bit clueless at times, but do you blame her! I feel like Joyce and Buffy had a pretty normal teenage/mom relationship, kind of spent half the time fighting and then made up. I found that it normalized the show a bit, and I like that! I also really liked her cancer storyline, it fitted well with the storyline at the time!

Oh and I`ll add that even if people this she`s a shit parent, at least she`s better then Willow and Xander`s parents 😀
 
Blaze said:
I don`t really get how some see Joyce as an awful parent, I never viewed her that way and never will, sure she`s not perfect but your daughter is the friggen slayer! That can`t be easy. To me if my daughter was failing school, burning down gyms and sleeping with old creepy guy, I`m not too sure how I would react either. Your daughter tells you she slays vampires, the first thing I would think is that she needs psychiatric help also.
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Buffy: "Mom. It's Ted. He threatened me. He threatened to slap my face."

Joyce: "He did no such thing!"

Think that says just about all you need to know.

And at the time Joyce discovers Buffy slept with Angel she thinks he's like 20 or 21.
 
T
Tuppence
But at that point she was well cookie-drugged...so not quite in control of her responses.
Robb Stark said:
Buffy: "Mom. It's Ted. He threatened me. He threatened to slap my face."

Joyce: "He did no such thing!"

Think that says just about all you need to know.

And at the time Joyce discovers Buffy slept with Angel she thinks he's like 20 or 21.
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I`ll give you that, Joyce WAS awful in Ted! She was also on cookie drugs thought :S

I`ll admit Joyce does have some pretty low moment in the serie, but I still don`t think she`s as god awful as some people are making her out to be.
 
Blaze said:
I`ll give you that, Joyce WAS awful in Ted! She was also on cookie drugs thought :S

I`ll admit Joyce does have some pretty low moment in the serie, but I still don`t think she`s as god awful as some people are making her out to be.
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I think Joyce tries to be a good parent. I think she makes it pretty clear that she very much loves and cares for both Buffy and Dawn. But I think in the execution she just, as [MENTION=7585]Kean[/MENTION] says, fails the test.

Look at "Bad Eggs". One episode after the debacle of "Ted" and she's grounding Buffy. Granted, she is sneaking out but she just rips into Buffy about her not having a shred of responsibility, right after "Ted". Struck me as pretty lame, given the circumstances.
 
Blaze
Blaze
I agree, her execution can be pretty bad at times
Robb Stark said:
I think Joyce tries to be a good parent. I think she makes it pretty clear that she very much loves and cares for both Buffy and Dawn. But I think in the execution she just, as [MENTION=7585]Kean[/MENTION] says, fails the test.

Look at "Bad Eggs". One episode after the debacle of "Ted" and she's grounding Buffy. Granted, she is sneaking out but she just rips into Buffy about her not having a shred of responsibility, right after "Ted". Struck me as pretty lame, given the circumstances.
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I think it is clear she loves her daughter, very much at that, but she appears to have no clue about how to parent one. I may ship Bangel like it's my job but why is Joyce so accepting of that relationship? At best she thinks he is ten years older than Buffy. A feeble "He's older than you Buffy" is pretty much all she has to say about it until she is suddenly spurred to action in The Prom. Where was she those 3 years? Even if I think Angel is a great guy and huge asset to Buffy, not only as a fighter but as a presence in her life, Joyce never bothers to find out what kind of guy he is. And lets face it, she has SO MANY red flags, or you know air horns, thrown at her about Angel you'd think she'd insist he come over to dinner so she can grill him. At the very least.

I suppose I just don't understand how she could be so passive in Buffy's life.
 
Kean said:
I think it is clear she loves her daughter, very much at that, but she appears to have no clue about how to parent one. I may ship Bangel like it's my job but why is Joyce so accepting of that relationship? At best she thinks he is ten years older than Buffy. A feeble "He's older than you Buffy" is pretty much all she has to say about it until she is suddenly spurred to action in The Prom. Where was she those 3 years? Even if I think Angel is a great guy and huge asset to Buffy, not only as a fighter but as a presence in her life, Joyce never bothers to find out what kind of guy he is. And lets face it, she has SO MANY red flags, or you know air horns, thrown at her about Angel you'd think she'd insist he come over to dinner so she can grill him. At the very least.

I suppose I just don't understand how she could be so passive in Buffy's life.
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I never really thought of it from that angle. Buffy is pretty secretive, but it seems strange that, like you said, we're never shown to have Angel over for dinner (actually, done right that would have been an awesome scene). She does show more interest in Riley though.

One area that always bothered me was Joyce constantly reminding Buffy of how hard it was to find someone interested in her when she's a single parent. Seriously, that might be the most asshole thing a parent can say to a kid. How is she expecting Buffy to take that?
 
What I didnt like about Joyce was her reaction when Buffy told her she was the slayer, I mean I know that kinda news is unreal but I thought she could have handled herself better than just threatning Buffy, although I really did feel her pain in the scene when she saw that Buffy had run away.
As for season 5 there where moments when I felt she could have shown Buffy some slack on the whole Dawn front and I sometimes felt like she was showing favouritism but dont get me wrong overall I do think Joyce was a good mom for Buffy and really found her death shocking and unexpected. I am probably one of the few people who didnt like 'The Body,' I mean directing,acting,scriptwise and so on its great but it just doesnt do it for me.
 
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