Treatment of Wesley

[dan k]

Just watched "Bad Girls" today and it got me feeling sorry for Wesley. Here's a guy just trying to be professional and do his job yet one Slayer makes fun of him and the other one just leaves as soon as she sets eyes on him.

Then you have Buffy turning to Giles instead of Wesley which of course is understandable and i don't blame her but for someone who hadn't done anything wrong, well you got to feel for Wes.

He was undermined and felt the brunt of the aftermath of Gwendolyn's betrayal.

 

[GrrArghx]

I can see why they didn't treat him seriously. I mean, Wesley was such a kook, lol.

And after what happened with Mrs. Post, it makes even more sense why they were on edge.

Besides; Buffy trusts and loves Giles very much. She, in no way, is even going to try to listen to another one of the Council's "boys" after what they did to her. And as for Faith? She just doesn't give a rat's ass about listening to authority 😛

 

[dan k]

I take your point but her relationship with Giles took time to build, it wasn't an immediate thing. In that episode for instance Wes reads Giles first report which describes Buffy as "Insulant" and being "difficult to understand".

It is understandable after what happened with Gwendolyn, nevertheless Wes was unlucky in the circumstances he was placed in.

 

[Vengeance]

I think Wesley was just a victim of circumstance. Buffy wasn't on very good terms with the Watcher's council after Helpless, and Wesley just happened to represent the organization Buffy wasn't feeling too sympathetic toward. He wasn't really a bad guy, although yes, a bit of a kook. That's why I think Buffy was more disposed to mock rather than outright dislike.

 

[crazysoulless]

It had to be really hard for Buffy & Giles. He got fired for loving her. Wesley was supposed to be the replacement mentor/guide/partner for Buffy.

And Giles was still the librarian so it would have been like if Buffy had stayed in her house after Empty Places and watched Faith incompetently leading when Buffy knows that she is better at it, has more experience, and shouldn't have been relieved of her position in the first place.

Buffy's first Watcher was murdered very early into Buffy being Called as the Slayer leaving her alone for most of her first year. Her second Watcher was fired after she spent two years building up her trust for him. And now she is expected to respect and take orders from a third man?

I agree that Buffy was too harsh with Wesley in S3. More in later episodes than this one though. Of course some of that has to do with fearing that the WC capturing Faith ruined any success Buffy would've had at reaching out to Faith and stopping her from her moral descent.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I always felt a little bad for him, too, but you have to admit if you were in their position you would have had to give him a hard time too. He takes himself SO seriously. LOL

 

[Skytteflickan88]

I never felt bad for him. After finding out about the 18 birthday test, I pretty much hated the council. It's one thing if the world depended on this one girl, but it's not (okay, sometimes, but that was on a Hellmouth after all) and if the rest of the watcher's were fighting vampires daily themselves, not just sitting on their arses, planning cruel tests. I mean come on, Wesley hadn't even faced a vampire in "real life", and he was suppose to guide Buffy and Faith? That doesn't make me think the rest of the council are that active (but that's just me assuming things). So they think they have to kill girls who aren't "good enough"? If she's not strong enough, she'll die on her own, without any help.

So I can't feel sorry for Wesley, not in that season, because he worked for the council. But he got better and turned his back on the council when he got wiser ()Ats S1). I feel a bit guilty about feeling like that, considering that Wesley was just "misguided" and most likely from a lot of pressure from his father.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I can see what you mean, but I never found that problem so big and I never took it seriously. It was funny for me. It was a real refreshment to the show and for the Buffy character. And I don't think Wesley was hurting that much.

 

[Summerlilly]

I think Wesley was just a victim of circumstance. Buffy wasn't on very good terms with the Watcher's council after Helpless, and Wesley just happened to represent the organization Buffy wasn't feeling too sympathetic toward. He wasn't really a bad guy, although yes, a bit of a kook. That's why I think Buffy was more disposed to mock rather than outright dislike.

Yep, I agree. They didn't have any reason to really trust Wesley especially when he was so much talk and not a lot of fight. Luckily, he isn't a bad guy and I think Buffy and the rest could have treated him a lot worse then they did. At the same time I really think Buffy was lucky to have Wesley be her third watcher. He was knowledgeable and still stuck around even when they mocked him. They could have gotten another hard core evil bitch chick watcher! Plus, he's English and stuffy (but likeable) just like Giles so that made me like hime! 😉

I also agree with what Skytteflickan88 said about the 18th birthday test. Absolutely ridiculous! The Slayer has enough to deal with! Why try to actually kill her?:confused2:

 

[Flannen]

I don't think Wes should be looked badly upon for some of the things the Watcher's Council did. I know the Cruciamentum was a horrible thing to do, but I think people like Giles and Wesley, the more 'hands on' Watchers genuinely thought they were doing good. As for the some of the things we were shown the WC were capable of later, I don't think they were necessarily known about by people like Giles and Wesley. The type of people they were (the Wes of AtS later seasons was always in there somewhere) wouldn't have willingly been a part of that side of things.

It's not Bad Girls where I feel bad for him, I think that's genuinely for comic relief, but when he returns and tries to help in Graduation Day and Buffy mocks him then, I feel for him. That was much more spiteful than in Bad Girls.

Like many have said, they were all cautious after what had happened with Gwen. Faith's treatment of him doesn't really strike me so much as not caring for authority, I just see her making a conscious decision not to get attached to another person for her own protection.

 

[DoughnutHole]

I think Wesley was just a victim of circumstance. Buffy wasn't on very good terms with the Watcher's council after Helpless, and Wesley just happened to represent the organization Buffy wasn't feeling too sympathetic toward. He wasn't really a bad guy, although yes, a bit of a kook. That's why I think Buffy was more disposed to mock rather than outright dislike.

yep, this is pretty much what i was going to say.

i don't think it was necessarily personal, he was just part of an orginization that not only caused Buffy a lot of grief, but that also fired and treated Giles like crap.

i do feel bad for him, though. his role on angel solidified my love for his character. there's something heartbreakingly foolish about him... especially in the beginning.

 

[ApesFindShapes]

Looking at the Wesley situation from Buffy's point of view, if I had a teacher I'd grown very fond of over a three year period, then all of a sudden had this new Watcher replacement come waltzing in, I wouldn't take him too kindly. No matter what Wesley had done, Buffy probably would have rejected it completely based on the single fact that Wesley was not Giles.

Looking at Wesley's point of view, I can be sympathetic because he is thrown into this new Watcher mission, trying to do the best he can with his knowledge and teachings and is rejected completely.