What if Hank Summers came back all of a sudden?

Chosen Enemy

Chosen Enemy

Losing my soul
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So much has changed since the last time Buffy's father appeared around. And I'm thinking how weird and intense it would be for Buffy if he had returned all of a sudden. How would Buffy react? And Dawn? What will Buffy tell him? What would be his reaction to Buffy and Dawn's life?
 
I don't understand what you mean by "What would Buffy tell him?" Re: Dawn.
I think Buffy would be angry with Hank because of his absence in her life and depending on where in the story he came in, the fact that he did nothing when Joyce was ill. I think she'd find that very difficult to forgive.
Ultimately though, I think she'd find a way to make it work, I don't think they'd ever have a proper father/daughter relationship though, it would always be fractured.
Especially since Hank found buying Buffy clothes to be the best way to relate to her.
 
Mhm this is really hard for me to imagine... I think both would have been happy. I mean Buffy was always happy when she could visit him when she had birthday. I think she loved him... always. What would Dawn say? I can't say because we never saw her talking or thinking about her father.
 
Depending on when he decided to make his comeback, I'm thinking she would tell him to take a long walk off a short pier.
 
L
Living Dead Boy
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Jules
Jules
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He didn't even come to their mom's funeral...so I don't think that either of them would have been too pleased to see him. I kind of would have liked to see their reactions though, if he randomly showed up in season 7 for some reason. I thought it was strange how the writers made his characters worse as the show progressed. First their parents got divorced because they couldn't get along or something and then all of a sudden it was because Hank had cheated on Joyce with his secretary in Spain.

If my dad cheated on my mom and then didn't bother to show up at her funeral, I'd be pretty resentful towards him.
 
R
Ripper666
Sure but Buffy still loved him, or at least on her birthdays
I dont think Hank had cheated on Joyce when they were married, I think Hank had started a relationship with his secretary afterwards and Buffy didnt approve of it.

I dont think she would have had a lot of time for her dad, if he'd come back. Yea, when she was younger she looked forward to seeing him but I feel like he'd hurt her and let her down too many times for any kind of relationship to work.
 
R
Ripper666
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Jules said:
Yea, when she was younger she looked forward to seeing him but I feel like he'd hurt her and let her down too many times for any kind of relationship to work.
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Yeah, that could probaly happen. Buffy was really down when her dad had canceled his visit on one of her birthday. I could imagine that Buffy is confused, don't know what she has to do know and that Dawn will freak out, in a positive or negative way. So there is a big confusion. All in all I have more problems to imagine Hank and Joyce together. Sure Hank would be a great help after Buffy's mom died. WHERE WAS HE??
 
In defense of Hank in one detail, not that I am defending him in general, he might have had no idea whatsoever that Joyce was dead. She was healthy the last time that we saw or heard anything about him, and if he is living in Europe, it's doubtful that he would be likely to read about it in any local paper. I got the impression that neither Joyce nor Buffy corresponded with him, so it's possible that he believed that everything was going along just fine back in Sunnydale. He might not have even heard about the town being "swallowed by a giant sink hole," which is, I believe what the press called it, or, if he did hear about it, by then had no way to get in touch with Buffy or Dawn.
 
I got the impression that Buffy had left Hank a message about Joyce being ill. In the episode Family this is what she says to Giles:

Giles: This ... woman, this, uh, whatever she was... she knows you now. Should we be thinking about ... sending Dawn away?
Buffy: Away where?
Giles: I don't know, uh ... your father's?
Buffy: Yeah, he's, um ... in Spain, with his secretary. Living the cliche. I called him when Mom got sick, he hasn't even...
 
Jules said:
I dont think Hank had cheated on Joyce when they were married, I think Hank had started a relationship with his secretary afterwards and Buffy didnt approve of it.

I dont think she would have had a lot of time for her dad, if he'd come back. Yea, when she was younger she looked forward to seeing him but I feel like he'd hurt her and let her down too many times for any kind of relationship to work.
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She made it clear in Conversations With Dead People that he cheated, or that she thought he did.

BUFFY (hangs head) My dad.

HOLDEN Uh-huh.

BUFFY He cheated. Um, I think he cheated.

---------- Post added at 11:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 AM ----------

white avenger said:
In defense of Hank in one detail, not that I am defending him in general, he might have had no idea whatsoever that Joyce was dead. She was healthy the last time that we saw or heard anything about him, and if he is living in Europe, it's doubtful that he would be likely to read about it in any local paper. I got the impression that neither Joyce nor Buffy corresponded with him, so it's possible that he believed that everything was going along just fine back in Sunnydale. He might not have even heard about the town being "swallowed by a giant sink hole," which is, I believe what the press called it, or, if he did hear about it, by then had no way to get in touch with Buffy or Dawn.
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Buffy called him, more than once after her mom died. She mentions this in Forever. I called my dad once when he was watching Monday night football with his friends and he didn't call me back. I was 13, super dramatic, and home alone. I was so mad. I called more than once and he didn't get the call. It's understandable, I've done the same thing, but at the time I was annoyed. I felt like he cared more about the stupid game than me. From then on, he would call at random intervals whenever I was home alone...which annoyed me more than him missing my calls 😉 Point is, I'm sure that Buffy and Dawn (definitely Dawn...you know how she is) felt as if their dad cared more about whoever the hell he was with in Spain, than them. If I was Dawn's age, and estranged from my father, he'd call me pretty often. The writers made it seem as if he never called them, like he was too busy for them. You should always make time for your family.

But I've said this many times...Hank seemed like a normal dad who was trying in the beginning, and then all of a sudden he was a total deadbeat. Some have suggested that the writers did this to suggest that it was part of what the monk's changed when they created Dawn. If Buffy's dad took her or Dawn on weekend trips all the time, well then Buffy would have had a pret.ty. hard time keeping the key safe.
 
white avenger
white avenger
I'd never heard that about the monk's spell, but that might make sense.
brinkster130
brinkster130
I like that Monk spell theory, I've never heard it before but it makes a lot of sense.
I think that has the potential to be a good episode. It could have been in the final season to have him & possibly his secretary/new woman coming to Sunnydale there for an episode where he came back trying to be a "father" only to find out Joyce had died & he had missed so much of his daughters life. Some Giles interaction would have been a good contrast between the man who served as her father & the man who was actually her father. His wife could potentially be a demon of sorts without Hank's knowledge & comes to Sunnydale in regards to something involving the Hellmouth. By the end of the episode Buffy would have to kill her & Hank would realize that its too late to be th father he wants to be.
 
SlayerFest
SlayerFest
I like that. A lot.
brinkster130
brinkster130
Sounds like a good episode!
Chosen Enemy said:
So much has changed since the last time Buffy's father appeared around. And I'm thinking how weird and intense it would be for Buffy if he had returned all of a sudden. How would Buffy react? And Dawn? What will Buffy tell him? What would be his reaction to Buffy and Dawn's life?
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That would be pretty crazy if Hank showed up suddenly after all this time.

I believe Buffy would welcome him with open arms. She's always been so forgiving. She'd want an explanation for his absence, sure, but having her father back in her life? She'd love that, I'm sure.

Dawn, however, holds a pretty mean grudge, and she wasn't as close to Hank as Buffy was.

My question is; was Hank imprinted with memories of Dawn? If not, that'd make for a interesting situation; Buffy would have to explain the whole Key thing to Hank.

---------- Post added at 01:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 PM ----------

white avenger said:
In defense of Hank in one detail, not that I am defending him in general, he might have had no idea whatsoever that Joyce was dead. She was healthy the last time that we saw or heard anything about him, and if he is living in Europe, it's doubtful that he would be likely to read about it in any local paper. I got the impression that neither Joyce nor Buffy corresponded with him, so it's possible that he believed that everything was going along just fine back in Sunnydale. He might not have even heard about the town being "swallowed by a giant sink hole," which is, I believe what the press called it, or, if he did hear about it, by then had no way to get in touch with Buffy or Dawn.
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This is a good point. I remember Buffy (or maybe Willow?) mentioning that they tried to call Hank, but the number they had he was no longer at, or was disconnected. My understanding was that they simply lost touch with him and he never bothered to call them and tell Buffy where he was and give her a contact number for him in Spain. Now, obviously, that is no excuse, and don't think anyone is going to vote to give Hank the Parent of the Year award, but there is no indication that he had any idea that Joyce was sick, or that she had died, and certainly the situation in Sunnydale. Hank is your typical absent parent, sure, but we need to be careful in vilifying him.

I disagree that Buffy wouldn't want a relationship with him if he came back. Buffy has lost her mother and Giles - it seems likely she'd try to salvage any relationship she could with her father, regardless of how crappy he's acted in the past. He's still her father.

That said, having a relationship with him would be difficult, based on how much he knows about magic, vampires, and Buffy's true calling. How in the dark is Hank? He might be able to handle her being the Slayer, but telling him for the first time about the existence of magic and vampires? Her lifestyle? The people she spends time with? What happened before when he wasn't around? Needless to say it'd be over-welming. Not to mention Dawn...
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
but there is no indication that he had any idea that Joyce was sick, or that she had died, and certainly the situation in Sunnydale. Hank is your typical absent parent, sure, but we need to be careful in vilifying him.
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Add to that, it's a fairly good bet that Giles or someone else from the Watcher's Council would have been quite able and willing to falsify records granting Buffy custody of her sister, something that would normally have required authorization from the remaining parent, Hank. In order to keep a Slayer on duty at the hellmouth, it would definitely be to the Council's advantage to keep him completely in the dark about what was actually happening in Sunnydale.

The same would apply between the end of Season 5 and the beginning of Season 6. In order to keep Dawn in Sunnydale and under their protection, just in case there were any after affects of the whole Glory/Key incident, obviously, Buffy's death would have been concealed, not only to keep Dawn close at hand, but also to keep the Council from realizing what the true situation was.
 
orpheusxi said:
I think that has the potential to be a good episode. It could have been in the final season to have him & possibly his secretary/new woman coming to Sunnydale there for an episode where he came back trying to be a "father" only to find out Joyce had died & he had missed so much of his daughters life. Some Giles interaction would have been a good contrast between the man who served as her father & the man who was actually her father. His wife could potentially be a demon of sorts without Hank's knowledge & comes to Sunnydale in regards to something involving the Hellmouth. By the end of the episode Buffy would have to kill her & Hank would realize that its too late to be th father he wants to be.
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Wow, that would be a great episode! I like the very sad twist at the end, I can imagine I would do a lot of crying 😀
 
First, I wonder: Would Hank have been under the illusion, like everyone else for most of Season 5, that he had always had a daughter named Dawn? Would he still be under that impression since no one would have told him otherwise?

Second, I haven't read Seasons 8 or 9, but I know what happens. (I won't spoil anyone.) So, after what happens at the end of Season 8 and with how Season 9 starts, I wonder if he will make an appearance. Personally, I think it would work in that context. (If you know, don't tell me!)
 
Thanks for the positive feedback on my idea guys. I wanted to edit the post & fine tune it a little more but for some reason I couldn't. Here's what I came up with though.


It could have been in the final season to have him & his secretary/new woman coming to Sunnydale there for an episode or maybe a two parter. The reason he would come back is because they would have business related reasons, but at the same time Hank would use this as a convenient means to come back into his daughters lives by trying to be a "father" only to find out Joyce had died & he had missed so much of his daughters life. His new woman agrees to it as a means to get closer to Buffy & Dawn because she loves Hank & wants to get to know them so she can be seen as good in Hank's eyes. Throughout the story it would be revealed that she's a demon & has an ulterior motive of utilizing the Hellmouth for something while in Sunnydale. At the end of the episode Buffy would have to kill her & Hank would realize that its too late to be the father he wants to be & realizes that he's missed the woman she's become. Some Giles interaction would have been a good contrast between the man who served as her father & the man who was actually her father.
 
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