The Watcher's Council and Other Underdeveloped Ideas by manwithpez

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

The Watcher's Council and Other Underdeveloped Ideas

POSTED BY: MANWITHPEZ
UPDATED: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 12:40
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 9:16 AM

Important people don't do field work.

Yep, I'm going there...mostly because I'm underworked today and very, very overcaffeinated.

There have been several underdeveloped idea in the Jossverse that crop up from time to time. At least, I think they're kinda underdeveloped. A short list, if you will:

In School Hard: The police (alright one of them) and Schneider implicate some city council members in knowing something isn't kosher in Sunnydale. Gangs with PCP indeed.

What was the true nature of the relationship of Schneider to The Mayor?

The Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart, and the idea that Wolfram and Hart had been dimension skipping a bit.

Blue Hands/Blue Sun...Of course this one would have developed over time, but slowly, as per regular Joss fashion, I'm sure.

But, to me, the most greivious disjointing of ideas was how the Watcher's Council was presented and handled throughout Buffy. In the film Buffy The Vampire Slayer, we are told by Merrick one Watcher, one Slayer. Neat concept, and granted, went a long way to getting me to watch the show after the movie was so abyssmal. We find out that this in not necessarily true. Many watchers...a council even, and one Slayer. they even have handbooks! It is established that the Watchers are put here to assist the Slayer, guide and teach her to use her powers as well as they can. They are not evil fighters (Watchers) in their own rights. However, every time Buffy went to them for help, they balked. Granted, they never liked Buffy, and she never liked them. And, in some ways (though I disagree with their methods) they have helped Buffy become a better Slayer. Such as in Helpless. I like the idea that the council would test a Slayer is such a way, but it seems self defeating when you find out that some Slayers have died in this test. Again, when she came to them for help with Glory, they threatened her and seem to impede rather than help. And again, with This Year's Girl, with Faith. To the council, it would seem that a rogue Slayer is the most dangerous thing around, yet they left Faith sitting in a hospital in a coma rather than try subdue her then, knowing the healing properties of the Slayer birthright, just putting someone there to watch her (Hah, Wathcer's) seems a little too without effort. Over in Angel, they try to recapture her to summarily (it seems) have her executed. They seem to take the Slayer's failures as the fault of the Slayer and not of the Council. If Traver's is such a badass, why didn't he try to take over Buffy and Faith rather than sending Wesley Wyndham Price and Rupert Giles (Someone they admitted they had no confidence in )

It seemed (to me) that the council was counterproductive to the efforts of the Slayer and her mission. Merrick seemed to be a better watcher for Buffy in the beginning than Giles did (though he gets little mention in the show). He formed Buffy and seemed to me to act like what a Watcher should have been. Giles stepped into his role, and tried to form Buffy to his teachings. When he failed, he realized a different tact was needed, and took it. That's why he was so successful with her when others weren't.

The council could have been a great storytelling device instead of a foil for the Slayer. But, in the end, they came off as more villain than anything else, and its a shame, really...

Okay...caffeine fit done...bye bye.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 12:10 PM

MALICIOUS

I have always equated The Council to "The Government." They interfere as it suits them, and avoid her when it doesn't. They think slayers are their puppets, and Buffy was never that. They tried to control her by withholding information and assistance. She always found a way around them. I kind of think they were evil, but only in a stupid, selfish way, not The Big Bad way.

Mal-licious

I think I will add cursing and the hurling about of things to my repertoire.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 12:40 PM

EMBERS

oh I never thought the Council was evil, just incredibly chauvinistic and superior.
They were highly educated dealing with very young girls (none of whom could be very knowledgeable when 'chosen'...what 13-15 yr old could be?)
they liked being the ones with all the answers,
and they tried to protect their area of expertise (has any one read the Terry Pratchett discworld novels? Those wizards reminded me of the Council).
I think they are basically very very good, but their egos get in the way.
They are unable or unwilling to treat the slayer as an equal, and since she usually dies within 5-10 years I expect they never consider her their equal.

Just because small minded men have too much power doesn't mean they are evil, they could very well be trying to do good...as best they can.

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