Giles in Season 7 - Something I had forgotten

[hobgoblinn]

So I posted the last part of "In Loco" I'll probably get to before Summer of Giles, and while doing the formatting, I had been listening to Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along." For those who aren't familiar with the show, it runs backward through the lives of three friends, starting with them all estranged, their lives outwardly "successful" with all the things they thought they wanted, and ending with them together watching Sputnik passing overhead, their whole lives ahead of them. It asks the question, "How did we get there from here?"

I thought it might give me a new perspective, going back through the Buffy canon from the end. And so far, yeah, it's been interesting.

But something just happened that threw me completely. In the episode "Touched," Giles listens with the others to the Bringer speaking through Andrew's body, about how it serves the First Evil and how it will be around long after they're all dead. The Bringer is bound and helpless. And Giles picks up a knife and cuts the Bringer's throat to silence him.

Just trying to wrap my mind around this. I know it's often been remarked how Giles is anti-Giles in this final season. But I'd appreciate thoughts on this and what it might say about Giles, here and post Chosen. I can't write this story if I can't get back in the head space of these characters. And I'm not sure this Giles is someone I can understand well enough to write, or even to edit what I have to finish this.

Comments

[heron-pose.livejournal.com]

So, I haven't much to add that others haven't said ... but still feel compelled to second the PTSD stuff, the sense of isolation he's brought with him that is reinforced by all the trauma in the house (no touching, no line-crossing) --

AND, while it's true the Bringer was helpless, I think it's gloating made RG feel even more helpless than he already had, and certainly the Bringer's continued gloating was bad for morale.

He didn't ask others if they needed more info because he's often a ruthless solo player -- remember his offscreen but clear torture of one of Glory's minion's in S6? Brrr. And, isolated. Plus, (oy, somebody stop me) if he had *any* thought of further need, it wouldn't have seemed difficult to go pick up another one.

I really like L's Doyleist/Watsonist distinctions above; sometimes I think that a stable of TV writers needs to farm out a guardian for each character -- would help w/character continuity (which I don't strictly believe in), even if it would result in some RPG-ish elements to TV shows (um, more than there already are).

Aren't you glad you asked?

[heron-pose.livejournal.com]

Um, I meant "its gloating", of course, and also the Glory-minion thingy happened in S5. Lala. La.