Was Buffy Ever Wrong?

[BuffyThoughts]

I hope this is the right place to post this question. As far as I remember, whenever anyone disagrees with Buffy on the show, she always turns out to be right. To put it another way, there is never a case where Buffy is wrong. It's hard to prove a negative, you know. Can anyone think of an exception?

 

[TheVoid68]

No, no occurrences of Buffy being wrong spring immediately to mind. This is perhaps the biggest problem with her character.

 

[The Unspoken]

The fact that her decisions turn out to be the right ones - due to a number of factors - doesn't necessarily make her decisions right (yes, I know how confusing this sentence sounds). So in that regard she has made the wrong decisions numerous times. We as an audience are certainly not blind to her faults.

Besides error of judgments, there is also the dilemma of sacrificing an (innocent) individual for the greater good (Willow in season 3, Dawn in season 5 and possibly Spike in season 7). In these cases, there isn't necessarily a 'right' decision.

 

[Kana]

I agree about Buffy being 'lucky' in a lot of ways. I mean the most controversial is the Spike issue, which lest we forget kind of sorted itself out.

Buffy on the whole has got good instincts and I totally relate to her 'saving friends' policy. Although I often argue the point as objectively as a I can, if I were a hero I would probably do the same thing. However I still understand Utilitarians, like Giles and Wesley.

 

[Iowa Girl]

I think it would have made her character a little better if there was some instances where she did something wrong and it didnt work out in the end...It maybe would have made her a little less annoying in certain episodes of Season 7

 

[BuffyThoughts]

Sacrificing an innocent? Don't forget Ben.

I have an idea in the back of my mind. I think it is a policy of the show, perhaps never articulated, that Buffy must never be wrong.

What about her love life? I guess she was wrong to sleep with Parker. Was she wrong to sleep with Spike? Oh, can of worms there.

 

[StarSlayer]

Of course Buffy has been wrong at times, but not when it comes to making a decision in fighting an apocalypse. Instead, she's been wrong in other instances where her slayer abilities aren't necessarily a factor. For example, she was wrong in not being honest with Dawn in s5 (when she found out she was the key), she was wrong for using Spike in s6 (and she felt guilty over that), and maybe she was wrong when she didn't tell the gang that Angel came back in s3.

 

[Iowa Girl]

Sacrificing an innocent? Don't forget Ben.

I have an idea in the back of my mind. I think it is a policy of the show, perhaps never articulated, that Buffy must never be wrong.

What about her love life? I guess she was wrong to sleep with Parker. Was she wrong to sleep with Spike? Oh, can of worms there.

Yeah she was kinda wrong to sleep with Parker and Spike but that still worked out for her, Parker tried to get her back after she saved him so she clubbed him (Still Buffy Wins) and Spike ended up all soul having so all was forgiven....

 

[StarSlayer]

What about her love life? I guess she was wrong to sleep with Parker. Was she wrong to sleep with Spike? Oh, can of worms there.

Well, we can't really fault Buffy for sleeping with Parker because he turned out to be a total jerk. In the long-run, it was probably wrong, but Buffy didn't know that at the time. Plus, Parker was more wrong than Buffy because he led her on. And I don't think it was wrong to sleep with Spike. Buffy seemed to enjoy it 😉 It was more of the fact that Buffy believed she couldn't love him, yet she still continued to sleep with him, which was wrong.

 

[BuffyThoughts]

Actually, I'm inclined to think she was right to sleep with Spike, everything considered. IMHO.

But not telling the gang about Angel in S3 ... yes, that was a mistake, I should've thought of that.

Not telling Dawn? If it was her mistake, it was everybody else's mistake too. It wasn't realistic to keep that secret, but if Dawn could've been kept in the dark, that would've been the best outcome.

Do we have a Holden Webster icon?

 

[Icarium]

As far as I remember, whenever anyone disagrees with Buffy on the show, she always turns out to be right.

Not really. Examples:

- Buffy goes to face the Master. Turns out her presence there was the only way of him getting out.
- Buffy insists Giles's calculations must be wrong in Never Kill A By on the First Date. Giles goes to investigate on his own and is almost killed as a result.
- Buffy is lured very easily in When She Was Bad, as a result Xander threatens to kill her if something happens to Willow.
- Buffy wants to go face Adam all on her own in The Yoko Factor.
- She stabs Anya in Selfless, despite having already seen with her won eyes that this doesn't kill vengeance demons.
- She doesn't stake Spike despite his numerous attempts to harm people even when chipped.


I can list more but still, I think one of the weaknesses of the show is that the writers bail Buffy out so many times and often in a very silly fashion. She kills a man - it turns out it was a robot. She doesn't keep Spike chained despite the trigger - The First is dumb enough not to use said trigger. She lets Angel drain her blood and somehow is fit enough to fight on the same day. Angel is sent to hell then comes back for no apparent reason. Spike dies and he comes back too somehow. She breaks into the Initiative compound at least three times, yet the US government totally forgives her. And so on and so forth.

 

[brinkster130]

Even though she is The Slayer at the end of the day Buffy is still human and I am sure she made mistakes just like every other human has. Buffy does have killer instincts and we did see her being right for more often than being wrong.

 

[Kean]

What about her going ahead with the slayer spell in Chosen. Worked in the short term, not so much long term.

Of course, you would have to regard S8 as canon for this to apply. That's an even bigger can of worms. 😉

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I think it would have made her character a little better if there was some instances where she did something wrong and it didnt work out in the end...It maybe would have made her a little less annoying in certain episodes of Season 7

Well, I don't know if you read Season 8 so I won't spoil it for you, but in that case Buffy has something something monumentally wrong, which is having dire consequences on her and her friends.

As for Buffy ever being wrong....yes, I think she has. Her intentions are always in the right place, and yes, she does have good instincts, but she's not perfect. She makes bad calls. I think a good example is Empty Places, where she orders the Slayerettes to go find Caleb. Clearly, they weren't ready for that. She didn't deserve to be kicked out, but that's another discussion.

 

[zobothehobo]

Well, we can't really fault Buffy for sleeping with Parker because he turned out to be a total jerk. In the long-run, it was probably wrong, but Buffy didn't know that at the time. Plus, Parker was more wrong than Buffy because he led her on. And I don't think it was wrong to sleep with Spike. Buffy seemed to enjoy it 😉 It was more of the fact that Buffy believed she couldn't love him, yet she still continued to sleep with him, which was wrong.

No, she was wrong to sleep with Parker. If she was going to hold sex as this big huge thing that meant something, she shouldn't have given it up so easily. Parker was a jerk, but there are TONS of guys like him all over American college campuses. Buffy should have known and she shouldn't have fallen for his stupid obvious and see through games if she was going to hold sex to the standard she did.

 

[Hale Caesar]

From what I have seen Ted is the only thing that might fit that criteria. Of course he was a robot, but for a while Buffy still wasn't able to control herself and killed (what she thought) was a human being

 

[zobothehobo]

From what I have seen Ted is the only thing that might fit that criteria. Of course he was a robot, but for a while Buffy still wasn't able to control herself and killed (what she thought) was a human being

I don't count that, because I probably would have done something too. Think about it... Buffy was the only one who could sense something wrong with him. She was literally going crazy... I don't fault her for that

 

[StarSlayer]

No, she was wrong to sleep with Parker. If she was going to hold sex as this big huge thing that meant something, she shouldn't have given it up so easily. Parker was a jerk, but there are TONS of guys like him all over American college campuses. Buffy should have known and she shouldn't have fallen for his stupid obvious and see through games if she was going to hold sex to the standard she did.

Oh, believe me, lol. I know there are a ton of guys out there, especially on college campuses, like Parker. But, I can't fault Buffy for holding sex as something meaningful. I also think a part of it was her trying to move on from Angel. But, she didn't know Parker would turn out to be a total a**hole. Like I said, in the long-run, it was wrong, but I hold Parker more accountable than Buffy.

 

[Eleftheria]

Buffy is genuinely good and loyal IMO. And she is human. Of course she makes mistakes but she always has good intentions. Some of her actions that were mentioned before, like facing the Master alone or letting Angel biting her were triggered by her human nature...which includes love and the will to save the world.

 

[zobothehobo]

Eleftheria agrees: I don't agree with Buffy's decision about Parker, but she was young and inexperienced.

So? Young and inexperienced don't have to equal naive and stupid. Sleeping with Parker then expecting something more was just that: naive and stupid.

Oh, believe me, lol. I know there are a ton of guys out there, especially on college campuses, like Parker. But, I can't fault Buffy for holding sex as something meaningful. I also think a part of it was her trying to move on from Angel. But, she didn't know Parker would turn out to be a total a**hole. Like I said, in the long-run, it was wrong, but I hold Parker more accountable than Buffy.

I don't fault Buffy for holding sex as something meaningful. I fault her for holding sex as something meaningful AND just giving it away like she did with Parker. She hadn't even been on a proper date with the guy, she had sex with him, then expected it to be something big.

Parker was an ass, I agree... but Buffy was a consenting adult who made the wrong choice.