What kind of mother was Nikki Wood?

bespangeled

bespangeled

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I was watching LMPTM and the first scene with Nikki out patrolling with her 4 year old son appalled me. I think any walks out late at night are patrolling for a Slayer, particularly in NYC. Taking a small child is insane - she's lucky Spike was her greatest challenge that night. There are all sorts of scenarios from both dying to far worse. Can't find a sitter just doesn't do the job here!

I can't imagine Buffy taking Dawn out until she was way older - even when Buffy was dead no one expected Dawn to follow along on patrol. But if Buffy didn't have her support system, and if Dawn was her 4 year old daughter - what could she have done?

You can't quit being a slayer - you have to die. But you can put a baby up for adoption in a safe and loving home. Is there any way it is possible to be both the active mother of a small child and a slayer? Was Nikki Wood an example of how to get the job done?
 
Nikki was actually a worse mother than Joyce. Shocking, but true.

bespangeled said:
But if Buffy didn't have her support system, and if Dawn was her 4 year old daughter - what could she have done?
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Oh, I dunno, maybe left her with Giles when she went patrolling.
 
I got more the impression that Nikki was in the process of taking baby Robin to her Watcher's home for protection. Maybe she had heard that some vampire was actually hunting her, and she thought that he would be safer away from her. Maybe Nikki was taking Robin to some babysitter's prior to going out on patrol for the night. Spike found her, she saw him as more dangerous than the average vampire, and she knew that Robin would be safer with Crowley.

I can't see any even halfway responsible mother putting her son in the kind of danger that would have resulted from taking him out vampire hunting with her.
 
But Robin didn't seem to think he was going to a babysitter - he expected to go home, and he was really upset when Nikki told him home wasn't safe so she had to leave him at Crowley's. Even if Crowley functioned as a baby sitter, why live so far apart? I just can't see any reason why a mother who is a target for supernatural evil, and whose job is to fight such evil, would take her pre-school son out walking anywhere at night!

And this was something that she had prepared him for:

ROBIN (O.S.)
Mama?

He turns her attention toward ROBIN, who emerges from behind the bench, looking small and scared. Nikki goes and crouches next to him as she straightens the hood on his rain slicker.



NIKKI
Did real good, baby boy. Stayed down
just like Mama told you.
ROBIN
Can we go home now?

NIKKI
(shakes her head)
Nuh-uh... Not safe there anymore.
(then)
Hey, how 'bout I leave you with
Crowley? He's got those spooky
doodads you like playin' --

ROBIN
No. I wanna stay with you.

Nikki takes that in. Looks back where Spike headed off, then, after a beat.



NIKKI
Yeah, I know you do, baby. But...
Remember, Robin honey... what we
talked about... Always gotta work
the mission.
Robin looks away.



NIKKI (cont'd)
Look at me. You know I love you.
But I got a job to do. The mission's
what matters. Right?
Robin nods.



NIKKI (cont'd)
That's my baby. C'mon.


You know I love you - but the mission is what matters??!! A mother like that would have sliced Dawn's throat, IMO.

But she can't get away from the mission - and it does matter. So why did she keep a small child in danger?
 
She sounds like a conflicted mother to me; one who loved both her son and her mission but never was able to find a balance.

She is the slayer so it's physically and mentally hard for her to turn her back on that job. And, didn't she plan on walking away at one point for Robin, but then couldn't give it up in the end? She also planned on giving the child up briefly but felt so connected to him that she couldn't bear too when the time came. I think she said that Robin gave her strength and something to fight for; something deeper than the mission. But, at the end of the day, being the slayer and a mother are two things that don't mix well....and unfortunately Robin is the one who paid the price.
 
So is it possible to combine the two roles. In Buffy's day was it more possible? Today would it be more possible? Would having a husband help or hinder (another possible hostage)? I'm thinking in terms of pre-Chosen - no international slayer squads.

I believe a woman can have a dangerous job - women risk their lives daily in all sorts of occupations. It's taking Robin with her, when the night is particularly dangerous. If she had come across a swarm of vamps eating a late dinner, she would have an awful choice.

Is the comment about Robin giving her strength from the comics?
 
brinkster130
brinkster130
Yes, the comics have a flashback showing some of Nikki's live with Robin. I think it's in S9.
Seems clear to me that Nikki was making the best of a bad situation, that she was out with Robin simply because it wasn't safe to go home again- some vampire was stalking her as I recall - so she left her son with her Watcher.
We can't judge, from any of her comments, how good a mother she was the rest of the time. She made a choice to keep the baby (as a single mother that couldn't have been an easy choice) and tried to quit bt was unable too (we find that out in the comics)
To me she seeemed to worry about Robin's well-being but she also had a job to do.

I always thought that Buffy, being an unexpected single mother herself, should've sympathized with Nikki more than was shown to be the case.
 
thetopher said:
Seems clear to me that Nikki was making the best of a bad situation, that she was out with Robin simply because it wasn't safe to go home again- some vampire was stalking her as I recall - so she left her son with her Watcher.
We can't judge, from any of her comments, how good a mother she was the rest of the time. She made a choice to keep the baby (as a single mother that couldn't have been an easy choice) and tried to quit bt was unable too (we find that out in the comics)
To me she seeemed to worry about Robin's well-being but she also had a job to do.

I always thought that Buffy, being an unexpected single mother herself, should've sympathized with Nikki more than was shown to be the case.
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I haven't read the comics so I don't have the information you do. I am glad they touched on it.
But the way I see it was that she was out with her son at night. Then she was attacked by a vamp - one who her watcher probably knew by reputation so she may have been warned he was a special danger. That made her realize that home wasn't safe anymore.
I guess as the grandparent of a kid that age while I was watching it this time it really hit me how horrific that had to be for Robin.
 
This shows you how valuable and important the Scoobies were to Buffy, even Spike commented on it in Fool For Love. They were the reason she survived for so long and they were what made her life as the slayer much easier than those who came before her. How many times did the Scoobies babysit Dawn, help Buffy with housework, research, fix broken windows, chairs, tables... etc in her house for free, make weapons for her, drive her to whatever she wanted, patrol with her... etc? Poor Nikki was obviously isolated with no one to help her but her watcher.

Being a slayer and a single mother with no family and friends must have been extremely hard on Nikki. I personally sympathize with her. I haven't watched LMPTM in a while so I don't really remember the specifics. But someone who is extremely alone with the burden of the world on her shoulders and a child on top of that - poor Nikki.

Then she was attacked by a vamp - one who her watcher probably knew by reputation so she may have been warned he was a special danger.
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Not necessarily. Giles didn't know who Spike was.
 
She might nor have a chance to stay at home if Spike was stalking her, intending to have his fight. Staying at home wouldn't have helped matters as Spike could have burned the house down or hired demons to drag her out. So getting Robin to her watcher was the right thing to do, and unlike season1 buffy, she trained the kid what to do in case of danger. It's the sensible thing to do. That's why Spike is so surprised Joyce has no idea of the dangers of being part of the Slayer's household. ("What, your mom doesn't know?" - becoming, part2)

As about giving Robin up to a nice family (aside that she is no regular working mother and the mortality rate in her profession till the age of 24 is 100% as far as i know) might have seemed cruel to her, adopted kids who grew up in wonderful families often have trauma of being deserted by their poor mothers and dont accept the 'i wanted the best for you' excuse. Besides she knew her watcher would take care of Robin, and not, say, board a plane to England, leaving her son with people who find her an annoying burden. (Yes, Willow, i mean you)
 
sosa lola said:
Not necessarily. Giles didn't know who Spike was.
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Agreed, but this was just after Spike had shown up. I suspected her and Dru made more than one pretty mess to draw the Slayer out, to get under her skin and play with her mind. Perfect Angelus tactic, at least.
 
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