Was Buffy Right To Run Away in the End of Season Two?

[fly on the wall]

It IS a fact that running away from her family and friends for months on end without calling once, was wrong. I mean come on? It WAS selfish because she put her mother through all that worry. How would you like it if your kid did that to you? It is irrelevent that she NEEDED to. If she wanted to take off then she should have called. No, this is not subjective, what she did was wrong. period.

A sentence that ends with "was wrong" is an opinion, actually. Not fact.
If my kid did that to me, I'd be hurt and angry and endlessly worried. If my mom said the things to me that Joyce said to Buffy, I'd be hurt and sad and I'd feel like I couldn't go home. If I went through all that Buffy went through that season, I'd probably would have run away too.
I just can't declare Buffy's actions as "wrong" because of the reasons behind them. If she had done that for no reason, yes, that would be wrong. But she had a boat-load of reasons that are entirely relevant. We can't just ignore the "why" here. I won't say what Buffy did was right. I will say it's something a lot of us probably would have done, and I will say I don't think it was wrong. There were better ways to handle the situation, but I don't think Buffy could see any other option at the time.

 

[Vtheslayer]

The more 'right' option was for Buffy to call and let her Mom know she is alright but needs to be on her own for a while. (Ever seen Big? he does the right thing with his Mom by letting her know hes ok but not saying exactly where he is, because he cant.) You also cant generalise every sentence ending 'was wrong' to be opinion anyway. Alot of things are in fact wrong. Buffy would tell you that! 😉

 

[InsaneMystic]

It IS a fact that running away from her family and friends for months on end without calling once, was wrong. I mean come on? It WAS selfish because she put her mother through all that worry.

Buffy was wrong in not calling Giles and/or Willow (who, then, could possibly have served as go-between with Joyce), but Joyce receives no sympathy from me whatsover, she just makes me angry all through Becoming2-Anne-DMP. So now she's worried after kicking her daughter out? Boo hoo, poor Joycey. :nopity: If you can't stand the consequences of what you're saying, then learn to hold your tongue. She's old enough to be expected to have learned that lesson.

I don't see anything wrong in Buffy not calling Joyce, at all. Woman had it coming to her.

How would you like it if your kid did that to you?

After kicking said child out? Guilty, that's how I'd feel. So the first thing I'd do if I ever saw them again would be to apologize.

 

[wehappyfew]

Blah blah blah...

Joyce told her not to come back cause she couldn't handle all the dreams dying and the denial dashed....
Then Buffy fights for her life against her true mayn only to kill him as he returns to her.
Oh and she was wanted for murder.
Oh and expelled from school.
She was 17 and done with Sunnydale...I can roll with that.
Three years as a Slayer and this is where it got her....
She was done being Buffy Summers.
Sure, she wasn't thinking of her friends or her Watcher or her mom.
For once.

Girl needed to bounce. I'm behind her til the end on that.

 

[Professor Walsh]

So now she's worried after kicking her daughter out? Boo hoo, poor Joycey. :nopity: If you can't stand the consequences of what you're saying, then learn to hold your tongue. She's old enough to be expected to have learned that lesson.

While I do have some sympathy for Joyce, I agree that she should have held her tongue. "Don't even think about coming back" is high up on my "Do not say to children"-list. Pretty much on top of it, actually. That doesn't mean that Buffy was right not to send a little smoke signal that she was alive, though. A little generosity has never harmed anyone.

But if all the people in BtVS had done all the right things all the time, we hadn't had much of a show to watch.

 

[Buffed]

I think she was justified. Not only for the reasons throughout the past 2 seasons as everyone listed...but also in the comics, its shown that Buffy went through ALOT even before arriving at Sunnydale. After saving everyone from Vampires, she is expelled from school. Her parents are fighting and she is a big reason for their divorce. Her boyfriend tries to commit suicide because they're fighting a vampire horde and he doesn't want to slow her down. Her first watcher commits suicide before he can be 'turned'. Her parents have her locked up in a mental institution.

Yea...shes a had a very tough life, even before Sunnydale. Sometimes you just need to be alone.

 

[Astaroth]

I feel that no, she was not right in running away, but I could see why she did it (supposed kicked out of the house, out of school, mentally unhinged from killing her lover). She really had her brains smacked around for 1/2 the school year, what with the outcomes of sleeping with Angel (Jenny and others dead, Willow in hospital, etc).

The fact is that by running away, she was acting selfish. And one is led to believe she never gave any indication to her mother or friends that she was alive for 3 months, which is horrible.

 

[mattuf1]

I think that Buffy was right to run away, but I don't think she should have. I know she'd been through a lot, losing Angel, getting kicked out/expelled. But she had a better support system then she thought and there was someone, whether it be Giles or Willow, anyone that she could have gone to for support. Then again, Buffy has always been very introverted with her emotions and, maybe its the Slayer in her, but she always felt the urge to handle things alone. So her leaving to deal on her own fit well with who she was.

Her need to deal on her own was a strength and weakness at times.

 

[Amicelli]

propably it was not the best decision for her and the others- but I wouldn't call it selfish or silly. I think I would have done the same. She just got the the point where she couldn't see another solution anymore

 

[The Thirst Evil]

I wasn't really sure why she ran away. She always seemed like such a mentally strong person, I would have thought she would've been able to cope with it. Although, as it turns out, She couldn't cope with LA either.