What do you think of the Council.

[ChaseRules]

I asking since I think it funny/not funny that at 18 they have a test where they basically killed off it seems like. Any ideas on that & the Council in general ?

 

[nightshade]

Yeah, I think they were the background villains of the show, they had so many resources but failed to use them

 

[Miss Muffet]

Because it metaphorically represents the patriarchy, I'd imagine women Watchers had to work harder. We also know that being a Watcher runs in bloodlines (1x05 NKABOTFD), I'd also imagine that it would be easier to rise in the ranks if you were, say, a 5th generation Watcher vs a 1st or 2nd generation Watcher

 

[Bop]

I think The Council is only designed to benefit the council members. Riddle me this, why is there a whole education system and school for watchers but not potentials. Very suspicious that they hire an individual watcher to an individual potential instead. But it's not suspicious when you consider that they probably fear the potentials getting to know each other and enjoy having more control over them by just having them under the influence of one watcher.

 

[+ Matt +]

I just think they weren't well written...why were some potentials trainer and others weren't? Why was Buffy tested when Faith was around to help? Why wasn't Faith tested? Why wasn't there a newsletter to mention that Gwendlyn was cray-cray?!

 

[Plasma]

I do agree that their absurd “hey you’re 18 now die” test is ridiculous. I have heard it suggested that maybe it is to kill off Slayers before they get too much free will, which is something to consider.

They do have a duty and a burden as an organization, and of that there can be no doubt. It’s no exaggeration that the fate of the world is literally in their hands. What they forgot along the way is that what is actually in their hands and thus their responsibility is the development of a teenage girl. They seem to just view Buffy, Faith, and even Kendra as nothing but weapons to be sharpened and discarded when they snap. It’s telling that their “rehabilitation” for Faith was just a bullet to the head, and keep in mind they waited until she was out of the coma to hunt her, despite knowing where she was the whole time.

I don’t necessarily think they’re villains per se, but I do think that they are an organization who has lost sight of the mission. Maybe not “evil” but definitely morally repugnant

 

[ChaseRules]

What i think is they were more into it for the power then helping . You would have thought they would have had more then one person
helping out the Slayer but it seemed at times that they didn't care about them . They had a team of solders that hunted down Buffy when
she was in Faith body but nobody the rest of the time . There should have been a team there but they didn't want to help out .

And i guessing that test they had for them when they were 18 was a way to get rid of Slayers that started to think for them selves .
Cany have that so they made up the test to hide the fact that they were killing them off . After all most Slayers only knew how to fight using
their powers . And guess they never thought about how the power they made up could be used against them .

Lastly why did they never look into where Faith was staying ? . That showed that they didn't care about them. If they had Faith would have
never gone over to the Mayor .

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Re: Trials; I don't see it as that crazy. The First Slayer was a mad woman from a tribal society, her people's men had to go through all sorts of trials and mortifications to demonstrate their worthiness to hunt and fight, she adopted them, and wanted herself and eventually, her successors to prove they were still deadly, even without their powers. It doesn't really make sense in the modern era, but Watchers are preservers, not innovators.

Re: Training; Buffy's training is said to be atypical. Kendra's is probably more what a Slayer's skill is supposed to be like.

Re: Faith's needs: She did have a hotel room that was paid by someone, as well as some expenses. My theory is, she was paid a stipend that covered subsidence, but not much more, with the expectation she should live with at the local watcher safe house. (Which, in the Buffy verse, a waitress can afford a single studio apartment in LA's white runaway teen district, so who knows?) I don't think the watchers are evil, but they are cheap and have limited ways of controlling the Slayer, if need be.

I would agree, it's not actually an exploration of what a secret society that monitors evil on a global scale would act like, but an institutional enemy for Buffy to fight. I kinda wish they would have made an appearance on Angel, as a metaphor for a bad parent who was really making tradeoffs you weren't aware of as a child. Still, I would imagine that humanity owes much to their vigilance, but like many adults, the institution is corrupt, cruel and capricious.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

@Bop Good notice. But that was Rouge Faith, her watcher had been killed, and she was on the run, and probably didn't have any external support. I assume the manager was replaced, and Faith couldn't flirt her way out of it indefinitely. So, either, she did flirt out of it with the new manager, Giles paid it, or Faith has an unseen source of income. Buffy world building isn't that deep, there's no wrong answer.

 

[ChaseRules]

Re: Trials; I don't see it as that crazy. The First Slayer was a mad woman from a tribal society, her people's men had to go through all sorts of trials and mortifications to demonstrate their worthiness to hunt and fight, she adopted them, and wanted herself and eventually, her successors to prove they were still deadly, even without their powers. It doesn't really make sense in the modern era, but Watchers are preservers, not innovators.

Re: Training; Buffy's training is said to be atypical. Kendra's is probably more what a Slayer's skill is supposed to be like.

Re: Faith's needs: She did have a hotel room that was paid by someone, as well as some expenses. My theory is, she was paid a stipend that covered subsidence, but not much more, with the expectation she should live with at the local watcher safe house. (Which, in the Buffy verse, a waitress can afford a single studio apartment in LA's white runaway teen district, so who knows?) I don't think the watchers are evil, but they are cheap and have limited ways of controlling the Slayer, if need be.

I would agree, it's not actually an exploration of what a secret society that monitors evil on a global scale would act like, but an institutional enemy for Buffy to fight. I kinda wish they would have made an appearance on Angel, as a metaphor for a bad parent who was really making tradeoffs you weren't aware of as a child. Still, I would imagine that humanity owes much to their vigilance, but like many adults, the institution is corrupt, cruel and capricious.

Who said The First Slayer was a mad women. The reason the First Slayer was a women i thinking is they knew she wouldn't last long & rather the kill off a warrior they used a women . And i think they did the ritual as a way of getting rid of a Slayer when she started questioning her Watcher & made that
up as a way of justifying it . Remember how Kendra was . She did what was told her & never thought for her self . That what the Council wanted . A tool they could use while patting them selves on the back for what a good job they were doing.

And letting Faith staying in a hotel room no matter who was paying for it was wrong . How much you want to bet Faith was paying for it which was why
it was so beat up . The Council at least should put her up in a nice place if they was paying for it . But it seem they were cheep which was why Faith started working for thy Mayor since he was nice to her unlike the others .

Lastly the only reason Wesely became a Watcher was because his Father was one too i betting .

 

[Kendar]

Re: Trials; I don't see it as that crazy. The First Slayer was a mad woman from a tribal society, her people's men had to go through all sorts of trials and mortifications to demonstrate their worthiness to hunt and fight, she adopted them, and wanted herself and eventually, her successors to prove they were still deadly, even without their powers. It doesn't really make sense in the modern era, but Watchers are preservers, not innovators.....

Who said The First Slayer was a mad women. The reason the First Slayer was a women i thinking is they knew she wouldn't last long & rather the kill off a warrior they used a women . And i think they did the ritual as a way of getting rid of a Slayer when she started questioning her Watcher & made that
up as a way of justifying it . Remember how Kendra was . She did what was told her & never thought for her self . That what the Council wanted . A tool they could use while patting them selves on the back for what a good job they were doing.

Yeah, there's nothing to indicate the First Slayer had any mental health issues (at least, not before becoming the Slayer). And even after she seems rational given her situation. Remember, we're talking about someone who existed thousands of years before Buffy.

 

[ChaseRules]

True . Anyone from that time would be acting weird if they was transported to this time .

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I have concerns about the test the slayer had to go through by defeating a vampire when her Powers That Be given powers had been stripped from her. To put it another way the council saw it fit that they remove the slayers God given powers, to me that would infer the Watchers Council are in the camp of being anti God - (not nice people). Further to that one (me - I) consider how many slayers did the watchers council put through that test?

The vampires will to kill a slayer might be the result of the Watchers Council's attitude against slayers. The blood tastes good might just be a poor excuse.

Did the council support vampires? That makes Principal Woods notion against Spike a bit - shall we say odd, also that Giles supported him was just wrong. Spike could be argued as continuing the councils vendetta against the slayer. That Nikki Woods telling her son that it was Spike who killed her was just her ignoring that the watchers council notions of vampires good slayers bad.

The series showed three men putting the spirit of a demon into the slayer to give her the strength she would need, is that what made her go mad, personally I doubt that anyone of that period of time had enough knowledge of the subject to declare a person as mad. More evidence that the watchers council were just a load of kooks.

Ultimately when you look at when the three men putting the demon in the slayer. Was that after the Powers That Be deemed her to be The Chosen One, if so, then the Watchers Council were nothing more than humans pretending to be demons.

That Giles tried to help Buffy shows that he tried to get away from being one of Quentin's crack pots!

In case you didn't notice it I'm not a fan of the Watchers Council.