September 3-7 Episode Discussion lead by Taake-"Bad girls" and the casualties of war

[Taake]

Topic: "Bad girls and the casualties of war"
Episode: "Bad Girls", Btvs seasons 3
Concern: The accidental slaying of a human during a Slayer's patrol


So I got to think when watching "Bad Girls" the other day... Faith and Buffy out patrolling, doing their thing, heat is running high, dark alley, sudden movements and bam... a human is staked instead of a vampire. We all recognize the scenario and the plotline it set up.

But here's what I'm thinking - Faith is reacting on instincts and only seconds earlier does Buffy realize that it is in fact not a vampire and yells her protest. Another scenario the roles could easily have been reversed.

But Faith and Buffy are not my main topic of conversation here, what I got to thinking about was the fact that Sunnydale (a one Starbucks town) is not a very large town and considering how few people Buff usually runs into during her patrols it seems pretty safe to say that most humans in town are wary of going out after dark and at the very least don't lurk in a lot of dark alleys if they can help it.

BUT if we move away from Sunnydale and the Slayers we know;

- how common do you guys think it would be for human casualties in the 'war against darkness' in larger cities?

Say Nikki Wood, a Slayer in New York, who was far more likely to more or less daily run into humans in alleys etc, do you think that a "city Slayer" would develop more keen senses - knowing sooner how to avoid a human (and that basically Faith and Buffy were unprepared for the same instance)

Or do you think that the Watcher's Councils readiness to deal with Faith after her 'mishap' was a result of them having dealt with a lot of these happenings before? Are they simply cleaning up a mess they've cleaned up before?

And finally - at the tragic moments when something like this happens - how would you prefer the Slayer 'guilty' of the mistake to be dealt with?


Sorry for rambling,
eager to hear your thoughts

/Taake

 

[EVIL UU]

how common do you guys think it would be for human casualties in the 'war against darkness' in larger cities?

Depends on the era. Stakes and white weapons are very safe and the risk of an accident is minimal. Now imagine a Slayer who uses guns and shotguns with wooden bullets ( all things considered, still fairly safe ) or incendiary grenades, Molotov cocktails and flamethrowers. Casualties would be much more common then.

But with a generic stakes and fists Slayer? I don't think so.

do you think that a "city Slayer" would develop more keen senses

I don't think so. Slayers do develop but I don't think it's in any way linked to the environment they operate in. Buffy managed to defeat Melaka Fray on her own turf after all.

do you think that the Watcher's Councils readiness to deal with Faith after her 'mishap' was a result of them having dealt with a lot of these happenings before

I don't think so and I don't think that accidents like that happened very often or at all. Giles was lying. I think the council was afraid that Faith could choose freedom and become another Yuki Makimura, maybe even joined by Buffy. It got them nervous.

And finally - at the tragic moments when something like this happens - how would you prefer the Slayer 'guilty' of the mistake to be dealt with?

Not at all. You take a teenager, a child ( the youngest Slayer was 12 ) and burden her with an impossible responsibility, add an incredible amount of stress not to mention hormones and no matter what, accidents are bound to happen. All you can do is offer her support and understanding.

On the top of that, there's the problem of using human morality to judge the actions of a non-human. The Slayer is not a human being, judging her with human rules is as pointless as animal trials.

 

[PassionBecoming]

I always felt like this was so sketchy in the 'verse. Like, there are X amount of Hellmouths in the world, but we never really hear of a different Slayer being "stationed" on one. So I would assume most of the Slayers come up against run-of-the-mill (ha) vamps and demons here and there. So maybe the opportunity to have human casualities is much less elsewhere than it would be on a hellmouth, even if the population is larger? I really don't know. I agree with [MENTION=11194]EVIL UU[/MENTION] that if a slayer was more high-tech (thinking Blade-like) there would definitely be more accidents.

I could see where this would happen, but I doubt it happens frequently. I would think the Council would anticipate it happening at some point and would have a plan. I also wonder if they've been keeping closer tabs on Faith, knowing she's a bit of a rebel and prone to do her own thing.

A Slayer who takes a human life accidentally shouldn't be locked up/put on trial for her actions. She should be held accountable for sure, probably have some counseling and some more specific training. Aside from Faith, I would think a Slayer's guilt over that happening would be very difficult to deal with.