New York slayer continuity question...

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 20:03
VIEWED: 4897
PAGE 1 of 3

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE

CHRISISALL

Thursday, July 6, 2006 7:37 PM

In Fool For Love, Spike tells Buffy that all slayers have a death wish, and that they welcome death as a release, especially like when- he cites the New York slayer here- they have nothing to keep them here.
But didn't she (as we found out later) have a son to 'keep her here'?
And what about the Boxer Rebellion slayer? She asks him to tell her mom she's sorry. (Side note, that slayer would have HAD him if not for the explosion just outside- the concussion moved them both just enough for her to hesitate, and give Spike the moment...)
Was Spike just making it up as he went to sound all-knowing to Buffy, you know, keying into his particular perception of her psyche?

Just an idea.

Bloody Chrisisall

RUGBUG

Thursday, July 6, 2006 7:45 PM

Hey Chris,

I think the deathwish isn't necessarily always present, but at a particular moment during a fight, the slayer just gives up and no longer wants to continue. Just the few seconds of wanting it all to end are enough to drop their guard. And that's how most of them die.

You can see this in Buffy in Season 6. She just gets lucky enough to still win each fight, but her heart really isn't in it and she wouldn't mind terribly if it did all end.

CHRISISALL

Thursday, July 6, 2006 7:51 PM

Oddly, in season six (Still so proud to have seen 'em all!!), that sense of uncaring seemed to make her less likely to die, for me. No panicky over-thought mistakes in fights, just her getting it done.
It was actually kind of unsettling to watch.
But that was the point.

Potentially Chrisisall

ARCADIA

Thursday, July 6, 2006 8:21 PM

I think Spike was right about the slayers wanting to die, if only just for that moment. Especially since Buffy came to him after a fight were she nearly died, trying to gain insight into how not to die... if that sentence made any sense at all. Clearly, Buffy doesn't want to go, but for just that one second, maybe she was ready to stop fighting, and then she got stabbed... The attachments didn't matter.

Or mayne this is another statement on created families. A son and a mother... these are relationship you're born with. Buffy created her own relationships, her own family, and maybe that's what's given her something to hang onto.

Or maybe the NY Slayer and the Boxer Slayer didn't actually like their families. NY Slayer didn't really want her kid. Boxer Slayer feels regret for letting her mom down as she dies, but doesn't really want to see her mom when alive...

Maybe Joss just wanted to give the Boxer Slayer something poignant to say as she died, so that we'd find it sad when her words are lost, and the "son of the NY slayer" thing was decided on later, when the NY Slayer was so incredibly cool. I mean... she was, in the fifteen second we saw her, she was awesome.

Or maybe I am reading to much into this.

Certianly, though, I am rambling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Objects in Space"

River: It's just an object. It doesn't mean what you think...
http://www.stillflying.net/ <-- Check it out!

EMBERS

Thursday, July 6, 2006 9:49 PM

actually in the moment of exhaustian, or whatever in a fight...when one feels like letting go,
it could be that the child seems like an extra burden,
or the Mother is just one more reason to feel too much pressure....
I mean: love does keep you in the world,
but sometimes guilt adds to the desire to leave it.

But it isn't a discussion the Buffy writers would always explore, it really was just part of Buffy's S6 disconnect and depression....

CYBERSNARK

Thursday, July 6, 2006 11:37 PM

Maybe the fight with Spike happened at a time when Nikki had actually given some rational thought as to what kind of mother she would be, and had realized that, with her around, the kid wouldn't see his fifth birthday.

Maybe she let Spike kill her, so he'd have no reason to go after Robin.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

CHRISISALL

Friday, July 7, 2006 2:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Arcadia:

Or maybe I am reading to much into this.

I don't believe it's possible to read too much into Joss' work. Everything he does has so many layers and meanings.

Joss is OUR Shakespear.
And no, I don't think that's an overstatement.

A Reaver by any other name Chrisisall

22CLAWS

Friday, July 7, 2006 4:21 PM

Strictly speaking, I don't think slayers have a death wish. I think they do, at times, crave battle. In battle they have feelings of control and exhileration they rarely find in their regular lives. Unfortunatly, the feeling of control is ultimately illusion. As, in battles to the death with demons sometimes things spin rather impressively out of control. I don't think they're trying to die. I think they get to a point were in battle is the only time they feel alive.

22

GROOSALUGG

Monday, July 10, 2006 3:29 PM

Or, if you want the actual, practical reason, it's because when "Fool for Love" was written, Nikki having a son wasn't even a glimmer in the writers' eyes. They didn't decide that Robin would be her son until about halfway thru S7.

Probably not the answer you're looking for, tho...

CHRISISALL

Monday, July 10, 2006 3:33 PM

But wait, isn't Buffy just a re-telling of actual people and events?

Chrisisall

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE