Selfless - Buffy's speech.

PrincessBuffy16

PrincessBuffy16

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Episode Selfless is my favourite episode of season 7. I just love Anya's flashbacks, but the part I like the most is her speech.
It goes like this:

Xander: You think we haven't all seen this before? The part where you just cut us all out? Just step away from everything human and act like you're the law? If you knew what I felt...
Buffy: I killed Angel. Do you even remember that? I would've given up everything I had to be with- I loved him more than I will ever love anything in this life and I put a sword through his heart because I had to.
Willow: And that all worked out okay.
Buffy: Do you remember cheering me on? Both of you? Do you remember giving me Willow's message? 'Kick his ass'?
Willow: I never said that...
Xander: This is different.
Buffy: It is always different. It's always complicated. And at some point someone has to draw the line and that is always going to be me. You-you get down on me for cutting myself off, but, in the end, the Slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guide book, no all knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law.
Xander: There has to be another way.
Buffy: Then please find it.

I like how Xander still cares about Anya because I'm a really big fan of those two. But ofc., the part I most like is her speach about Angel. The line "Do you even remember that" just hits me, because I'm glad she does. Season 6 is the only season when we don't see him in Buffy, grrrr.. we don't see their conversation when she is back from Heaven. I find this speach so powerful because after all she is telling us that he is still in her heart, and that Angel is love of her life 😀 I like watching that. That episode is sad, but I smile everytime she says that 😀
 
Honey I <3 all your Bangel love! Even if I'm a Spuffster 😉
I have a special place in my heart for this episode, since Anya is my favorite character. It bugs the heck out me that Buffy so quickly gave up on her and decided that Anya needed to be killed. For Angel and Willow, she went through things to try and save them.
The fight scene between Buffy and Anya was great! I did not know who to root for!
I was very happy that Willow finally found out what Xander told Buffy about Angel. That always bugged me and I just wanted to slap Xander!
 
I watched all of Buffy before I really got into Angel and I'm only on season 3 of Angel now. Since we didn't see her talk to Angel on Buffy I figured they showed it on Angel. I'm a Spike girl 100% but I was so disappointed they didn't show their talk. I do think Angel and Buffy have a great dynamic and I thought it strange they didn't show that anywhere. I loved Buffy's speech, but I disagreed with her decision to kill Anya so quickly. Considering all the passes Spike got (which I'm totally happy for, of course), it seemed rash. But she's right-in the end it's always on her. Someone has to decide these things.
 
thevikingsgirl said:
I watched all of Buffy before I really got into Angel and I'm only on season 3 of Angel now. Since we didn't see her talk to Angel on Buffy I figured they showed it on Angel. I'm a Spike girl 100% but I was so disappointed they didn't show their talk. I do think Angel and Buffy have a great dynamic and I thought it strange they didn't show that anywhere. I loved Buffy's speech, but I disagreed with her decision to kill Anya so quickly. Considering all the passes Spike got (which I'm totally happy for, of course), it seemed rash. But she's right-in the end it's always on her. Someone has to decide these things.
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I think we never saw that because they were on the different networks and there was one rule - no crossovers. This speach has a special meaning for me, and for other people I'm sure, for the Bangeleres the most, because we felt like we lost them. Well I did, anyway. I didn't liked her decision to kill Anya, but I think that was a personal problem for her. She had to kill the person who is in her heart before, and that was tough, so I think she was thinking - the sooners, the better. I don't know how she would deal if she had to kill Willow in the end of season 6. She would broke, like she did in the end of season 2.
 
Selfless is by far my favorite episode in season 7. Love the flashbacks with her and Haley. It is super sad though. I think they all should have given Anya more slack..I mean she was left at the alter. None of them could possibly know how bad it was. Yes Buffy had to kill Angel and they both loved each other. But Xander left Anya knowingly. Which to me seems so much worse. The person you love leaving and making it harder each day for you. At least Buffy knew before she killed Angel, that he loved her..and didn't want to leave. Which I am a Spuffy girl also. But you need that first love to find a true love, I believe no one really ever forgets their first love. Thats why it is so hard for her to let go of Angel I think.

Buffy deciding to end Anya right away was really unfair. She made a mistake..everyone does. I believe Buffy is really harsh in this sense. She tends to see in black in white..when everything in life is grey.

Oh and I was wondering...the song Anya sings in this episode...is there anyway someone could point me in the direction of finding it. Much appreciated.
 
Yeah, but both Angel and Xander did what they thought is the best for them - they left. Maybe that wasn't the right choice but they did it because they belived in it. Both of them still continue loving their girls, no matter that they were the one who left. And I don't think Buffy can't let Angel go because he was her first love, she can't let him go because he's her true love.

http://www.lyricstime.com/buffy-i-ll-be-mrs-lyrics.html

Here are the lyrics of that song, and you can download it from your music downloader 🙂
 
riceballalien
riceballalien
Thanks for the link. I will look in a torrent of sorts. ^_^
The thing about that episode and that speech in particular that I really like is that it clears up something. Up until that moment, Xander's "Kick his ass" lie had never been exposed. I just regret Buffy not asking Willow, "Well, if you didn't say it, who did?"

(The speech also contains one of those neat little Spuffy moments when Suffy refers to her love for Angel in the past tense.)
 
I never forgave Xander for doing that to Anya. Grown ups discuss their doubts ahead of time. Yeah, she had doubts too but she didn't leave him standing there waiting for her. My affection for Xander took a serious hit early in season 6 (in After Life) and just got worse over time. 🙁
 
riceballalien
riceballalien
I will never either. They indeed do discuss doubts ahead of time. I thought the whole getting his eyeball ripped out was karma for sure. lol
I know what Xander did was wrong, but at the same time he did the right thing too. Atleast he didn't marry her anyway. That would've been worse in the long run.

On Topic: That little statement just shows that no matter what Buffy's been through she still loves and cares for Angel. And it's obvious she always will.
 
GrrArghx3 said:
On Topic: That little statement just shows that no matter what Buffy's been through she still loves and cares for Angel. And it's obvious she always will.
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yes, the intensity of first love tends to linger long after you realize you don't have any desire to be in a relationship with that person anymore 😉
 
I'd forgotten about this speech until I rewatched the whole series a little while ago and like BillyidolwannaB, I think it is one heck of a powerful thing to say.

Sure you could go back and forth about the tense used (loved) but I think it's really powerful that she says 'more than anything I will ever love in this life'. To me, that's more than just your first love lingering, that is an admission that despite the pain and the distance and the time that has passed, nothing will ever come close to it again. There's nothing in there to say that she doesn't, nor ever has loved anyone since, but for me it just demonstrates that she has never lost an ounce of her love for him. Which is pretty darn cute!

I found this episode quite strange. Like Emzzie said, I struggled with how quickly Buffy came to that decision to just end Anya. She's always been a character who offers forgiveness and she surely should have recognised how much Anya was hurting after the events on season six. Demon or not a demon, she was in pain and she needed help more than anything - much like B did herself after season two and upon her return from heaven. It was almost like Buffy had in fact never liked Anya and jumped at the chance to kill her, but this has never really appeared to be the case.
 
B
BillyidolwannaB
I got the feeling Buffy and Anya were never that close. She would never have dreamed of killing Xander or Willow had they done what Anya done.
The speech? Possibly my favourite thing to ever come out of Buffy or Angel's mouth. For me, who had been waiting since Dead Man's Party for this issue to be raised and for Buffy to final force her friends to acknowledge how deeply she was hurt throughout that whole time, it was a very satisfying, very validating moment.

As for Anya? I think Buffy saw a distinct difference between her and Spike or even Angel. They had been made demons, Anya chose to be a demon. Twice.
 
Saying you'll always love someone, or you love someone more than you'll ever love anyone, means little. I thought I'd always love my first love too, but that was then. I haven't seen him since I was 18 and I don't love him even a little bit. But I really meant it when I said it. I probably thought I loved my husband more than I'd ever love anyone else in this life. Then my daughter was born - oh! Boy, if you don't have kids you just can't know. She has no idea how she'll feel "always" or what will happen in the future, who she'll meet, who she'll fall in love with, or how much she'll love him. So those statements carry little weight with me.
 
G
GrrArghx
She said this years after her and Angel broke up though, so it's clearly obvious how she still feels about him.
thevikingsgirl said:
Saying you'll always love someone, or you love someone more than you'll ever love anyone, means little. I thought I'd always love my first love too, but that was then. I haven't seen him since I was 18 and I don't love him even a little bit. But I really meant it when I said it. I probably thought I loved my husband more than I'd ever love anyone else in this life. Then my daughter was born - oh! Boy, if you don't have kids you just can't know. She has no idea how she'll feel "always" or what will happen in the future, who she'll meet, who she'll fall in love with, or how much she'll love him. So those statements carry little weight with me.
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But that's it. Buffy's not like you, me, or anyone here. Buffy is special. She can't just go and find a hausband. She can't make a simple decision to bring a baby in this world, when she know how harsh it is. We can't compare ourselves to Buffy. Because Buffy must make decissions, but the decissions that's not only good for her, they have to be good for all of her friends and family. She can't do all the ordinary things. You can't compare your life with hers. You can't compare your first love to hers. Because you or me or anyone in this world didn't had to go through things she had to go.
 
K
Kelsey
Well, I think Buffy was meant to be a character we saw ourselves in. ;) Her experiences are bigger and more tragic, but they mirror real life, which is why people identify with her. I think we're supposed to compare our lives to hers, in a way.
PrincessBuffy16 said:
But that's it. Buffy's not like you, me, or anyone here. Buffy is special. She can't just go and find a hausband. She can't make a simple decision to bring a baby in this world, when she know how harsh it is. We can't compare ourselves to Buffy. Because Buffy must make decissions, but the decissions that's not only good for her, they have to be good for all of her friends and family. She can't do all the ordinary things. You can't compare your life with hers. You can't compare your first love to hers. Because you or me or anyone in this world didn't had to go through things she had to go.
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One thing that I love about Buffy is that super powers aside, she's a normal girl. As far as feelings are concerned, she's as human as anyone, IMO.
 
thevikingsgirl said:
One thing that I love about Buffy is that super powers aside, she's a normal girl. As far as feelings are concerned, she's as human as anyone, IMO.
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She is a human, she has feelings, but she has to play by different rules. When you fall in love with someone, you don't have a responsobility to care for that person because maybe one day some demon is going to kill him. She has, especially if that person is without super powers.
 
Yeah but what does that have to do with her experience the emotions of love differently from any other human?
 
B
BillyidolwannaB
Yeah i get the 'always love your first love', but she, as an adult said 'more than anything' when she didnt have to. It implyed she's never loved Spike as much as Angel ;)
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