I've always taken it as Buffy died, Kendra was called, Kendra dies Faith is called. So at this point we have two slayers but the actual line is running through Faith. Then Buffy dies, no new slayer as Faith has the line.
But Willows spell changed all that, when she resurrected Buffy she put Buffy back into the line, think about it she wasn't just restarting Buffy's hart, she was pulling back her soul and basically creating a new Buffy by having to rebuild tissue and flesh, the spell also pulls the line back from Faith to Buffy. So Buffy now holds the line.
This explains the disruption in the line that allowed the First to act, it also explains why everyone says Buffy has to die (The potentials, Buffy, The First)
We also know that Buffy came back a little different, so there was something different, it was nothing big but it does show it wasn't an exact same buffy before she died.
My own speculation is that Spike may have been able to hit her because she was The Slayer, not a slayer but the actual Slayer with the line running through her, maybe he would have been able to hit Faitg before Buffy had returned, and his chip wouldn't have gone off. I have nothing really to back this up, but im just speculating.
lol.
Are you suggesting that their are two lines of slayers then? Because this IS what you and the writers suggest with Bijoxeiwhatevers eye. The major problem with this is the fact that the slayer has existed for thousands of years, to suggest that the slayer has never died partially/been reincarnated by magic/had her heart stop once/ been drowned and recovered in this line of work sounds absolutely absurd to me.
It's not strange, Slayers don't have friends, don't seem to have a family, who's there to help them out?
They have their watchers but they are smart enough not to do what Willow did, think about it as much as Giles loved Buffy, he didn't consider a resurrection spell, and he thought what willow did was stupid.
From what we know Buffy is a first with her little gang to help her out.
We also know that Willow is a bad ass Wicca, so even if there was another slayer with friends, there's only a slight possibility they'd have the abilities to do the spell!
for that to make sense, faith would never have been called. Buffy (a 2nd time) and Kendra would both have to die for Faith to be called.
Most logical is Buffy dies, kendra takes the line. Kendra dies Faith takes the line. Buffy loses the line, shes an anomaly. Faith dies (theoretically) then another is called.
All the times that others (potentials) say "if buffy dies, then i could be next" is more about them misunderstanding the fact that Buffy does not hold the slayer line. Buffy herself never makes this assumption.
Everyone does, The potentials, The First and Buffy herself.
She says that When she dies one of you will be called, and another time that the potentials are all just girls sitting around waiting for her to die.
