The old man in "All The Way"

[Joshua]

Why did they make the old man to be some serial killer on Halloween, yet he was killed by Dawn's vampire friends?

Did they have original plans for the old man but never worked out?

 

[BuffyElevated]

I think he was just meant to throw us for a loop for that one episode and that's it. We, the viewers, think the kids are in danger of the old man, when the real danger is the vampire boys they're hanging out with.

 

[white avenger]

I think he was just meant to throw us for a loop for that one episode and that's it. We, the viewers, think the kids are in danger of the old man, when the real danger is the vampire boys they're hanging out with.

It's like the 1st episode of "Buffy," where the cute blonde girl and the jock break into the school at night. We all expected either the jock to try something, or some monster to get them both, then the blonde turns out to be a vampire. Joss likes to take the cliche' and twist it around into something totally unexpected just to keep the viewers .

 

[SRMarx]

It always felt like the old man was supposed to be the red herring of the episode. We all expected him to be dangerous, but in the end the real danger was from Dawn's friends.

 

[white avenger]

Why did they make the old man to be some serial killer on Halloween, yet he was killed by Dawn's vampire friends?

Did they have original plans for the old man but never worked out?

Actually, look at what really happened in the episode rather than what we were led to believe, and you see that the old guy is totally harmless. Weird and eccentric, yes, and maybe even a little nuts, but not evil in any way.