Blondie Bear
Zydrate Addict
I think the reasons here boil down to a few very basic ones.
1. Emotional baggage. Everyone had it at that point, especially the people who personally attacked Buffy. Giles was angry because he wasn't the big, smart man anymore (like Spike said). Xander was shaken up because he'd just lost an eye. Dawn had the whole conversation with Joyce/the First. And Anya . . . well, Buffy had tried to kill her only a few months before that! And Anya is incapable of blaming anything on herself, so of course it's Buffy's fault, not hers.
2. Psychology is all about control. Every person there wanted to be at least nominally in charge. The Potentials knew they couldn't be, so they at least wanted to pick the person in charge, and like someone before me said, Faith was the "cool" Slayer, not the "stick up her butt" Slayer. And since Buffy wasn't doing what anyone else wanted her to do, they all decided that they had to get rid of her.
3. On the Potentials' part: immaturity. They didn't understand what being the Slayer was all about. Not a thing Buffy said sank in for them. They wanted the power, but not the responsibility. Buffy had lived with both for years and grown into it.
4. On the other hand, Faith was partly right: Buffy never did learn everybody's names, never did bond with them. I think it was partly residual "I hate this life, I was in Heaven, this sucks," but partly that she knew she was going to lose some (or all) of them, and was afraid of getting too close, getting hurt when they died.
All of that said, it was a bit forced for the plotline. It happened too suddenly, too easily, but it was necessary for the continuance of the plot.
Phew. I think I'm done with this soapbox now.
1. Emotional baggage. Everyone had it at that point, especially the people who personally attacked Buffy. Giles was angry because he wasn't the big, smart man anymore (like Spike said). Xander was shaken up because he'd just lost an eye. Dawn had the whole conversation with Joyce/the First. And Anya . . . well, Buffy had tried to kill her only a few months before that! And Anya is incapable of blaming anything on herself, so of course it's Buffy's fault, not hers.
2. Psychology is all about control. Every person there wanted to be at least nominally in charge. The Potentials knew they couldn't be, so they at least wanted to pick the person in charge, and like someone before me said, Faith was the "cool" Slayer, not the "stick up her butt" Slayer. And since Buffy wasn't doing what anyone else wanted her to do, they all decided that they had to get rid of her.
3. On the Potentials' part: immaturity. They didn't understand what being the Slayer was all about. Not a thing Buffy said sank in for them. They wanted the power, but not the responsibility. Buffy had lived with both for years and grown into it.
4. On the other hand, Faith was partly right: Buffy never did learn everybody's names, never did bond with them. I think it was partly residual "I hate this life, I was in Heaven, this sucks," but partly that she knew she was going to lose some (or all) of them, and was afraid of getting too close, getting hurt when they died.
All of that said, it was a bit forced for the plotline. It happened too suddenly, too easily, but it was necessary for the continuance of the plot.
Phew. I think I'm done with this soapbox now.