Some of this was written after I read some speculation on a mailing list that Joss may have sabotaged Giles' character to punish ASH for taking time away. In a nutshell, I disagree. While that certainly could explain a lot, I think the reality of things is a lot simpler. Joss may have been known to "punish" certain actors by making them wear dorky costumes or whatever, but I have to believe that he had at least enough interest remaining in the show he'd created not to intentionally sabotage its main characters. Change them, sure, and not always for the better. But not to outright sabotage them. I've expanded on my original post to flesh out some of the points, and though I'm not sure it says everything I wanted to yet, after trying for a long time to find a way to vent some ranty feelings about how Giles was handled in 6 & 7, I figured it was as good a start to build on as any.

While I'll be the first person to stand up and shout that Giles' character was handled *very* badly in seasons 6 & 7 (and I've been known to do just that on spontaneous and frequent occasions - just ask my poor hubby, who knows this rant by heart already ;p), I've never been under the impression that this poor handling was done on purpose or with any sort of malice. Without wanting to insult the show's writers, I honestly think it was more a matter of sloppy execution. I think they bit off a little more than they were prepared to chew in terms of what they hoped to accomplish in S6, and this tendency continued to affect the show until its end. After 'The Gift', Joss was extremely mindful of having to "earn" Buffy coming back from the dead again by making it a difficult thing for all concerned. But the difficulty, in my opinion, was far too overdone and ended up much harder for many fans to swallow than the resurrection itself. But while I've got plenty o' rant in me about the last two seasons, I'll try and keep this one confined to Giles.

In one corner, we have Tony Head telling Joss that he'd welcome the opportunity to spend more time with his family in England. And in the other, we have Joss' oft-professed love of the equation: Miserable Buffy = Good TV. I'd have thought there was a sufficient level of pain in Buffy's life after S5, but Joss was the one driving this train, not me. And he decided to crank the amps up to 11. Joss clearly wanted Buffy (and everyone else) to self-destruct in S6. And regardless of how you see the Buffy/Giles relationship - friends, family, partners, whatever - he was always a source of reassurance and strength for her. So real life intersected with the show's aims to make it harder for her to cope, and easier to self-destruct, without Giles there. So far, I get it. I don't like it, but I get it.

The main problem I have with it is that there didn't seem to be any real thought put into *why* Giles would abandon his Slayer. Because "she needs take better care of herself" is a flimsy reason to desert a recently-resurrected basket case whom it's been your life's work to be there for. Given ASH's long-stated desire to spend more time with his family, I think Joss had ample opportunity to prepare a storyline to explain Giles' departure that - given the talent and genius we know Joss to be capable of - could have been extremely effective. But I honestly think that with the staggering number of projects that demanded his attention at the time (BtVS, Angel, Firefly, and the Tales of the Slayers, Fray, and Angel comics to write, all at the same time), Joss dropped the ball when it came to Giles. If his relationship with Buffy was strictly personal, it might be understandable that he would decide to go because he was doing so much for her that she stopped doing for herself. But their relationship wasn't strictly personal: he was her Watcher. Meaning duty, destiny, "tiresome speeches about responsibility and sacrifice", and all that jazz. Assisting Buffy's personal growth is all well and good, but since when the hell can a Watcher - whose duty we've always been told is every bit the sacred Calling a Slayer's is - decide he's just gonna shove off because she needs to learn how to deal with her own problems? I'm sorry, but that's an absolute crock.

With all the men who left Buffy (Hank, Angel, Riley, even Merrick, what with the dying and all) - whether it was their 'fault' for leaving her or not - I was disappointed to see Giles decide he couldn't play the "No, you deal with it" card without abandoning her entirely. Sure, ASH was going to be in England for an extended period, which meant that Giles had to go too. But would it have been so impossible to give a Watcher a better reason to be elsewhere? I mean, just off the top of my head... what if some Potentials and their Watchers had been killed, and he'd been pulled in to help the Council deal with it? If Buffy's second resurrection was supposed to be the thing that started The First's whole shebang, this could have been a neat opportunity to plant that seed. Or, did the Council even know that Buffy had died? And whether they did or not, would her resurrection have made some waves that he had to go deal with? Giles' tenuous relationship with the Council was never very well defined, and this could have been a chance to explore those questions too. Now I'm not trying to say that my ideas rock, but come on - man with a Sacred, Mystical Calling buggers off because his Slayer can't deal? Sorry, but I don't buy it.

A different motivation for his exit might not have the same "Buffy feels abandoned" potential, but it wasn't like his leaving was ever really talked about anyway. Because rather than having anything genuine or interesting to do with Giles, it got sucked into the larger "Buffy's resurrection is bad" anvil they just couldn't pound us with enough. The only time it even came up again was Buffy saying she kissed Spike because she was upset about Giles leaving. And that could still be true no matter why he left. But with no compelling (or, frankly, believable) reason for him to abandon Buffy like that, the whole thing just felt like one massive contrivance. Joss said himself that some of the characters didn't get the attention he'd like to have given them in S6, and I think this was an oversight that he and Marti just didn't understand would affect the show as much as it did.

Along with this, I've also read comments about the PTB's making a conscious decision to minimize the audience's awareness of Giles. That way, when he returned to save the day, his entrance would be the gigantic moment that nearly made me faint with giddy glee. But just as I think their need to keep Buffy perpetually miserable overshadowed their need to handle Giles' absence in a credible manner, likewise, I think their goal of having Giles make his surprising and heroic entrance came at the expense of the character's years of previously displayed behaviour. Because deserting his Slayer aside, he also abandoned the others.

Giles was a total no-show for Xander's wedding, for fuck's sake! He didn't even bother to come to Xander and Anya's wedding! I've heard there was supposed to be a line or two in that ep about how he sent flowers because he was sorry he couldn't be there, but it was cut. All the time they spent farting around with assorted members of the Harris clan whom we'd never heard of before and never would again, and they couldn't spare 20 seconds to acknowledge one of the most important people in Xander's life? That's bull. Of course, if he'd had an actual *reason* to have left in the first place, then they might have been able to make sense of his absence at the wedding. But he didn't. So they didn't.

This lack of consideration for Giles' character continued in S7, when they wanted viewers to wonder whether Giles was really The First. In order to accomplish that, Giles had to be acting 'off' enough to make everyone suspicious. Thus his aloofness and complete lack of sympathy for Buffy. Or just about anyone else. So Giles was acting out of character, and we were *supposed* to notice this and wonder why. But then Andrew et al went to grope Giles on the campout. No, he's not the First. Phew, that's a relief! So then he was acting so different because why? Pfft, hell if I know. Hell if the writers themselves know. Because they certainly couldn't be arsed to tell us.

In an interview, Tony said that he tried to make sense of these changes in Giles by relating them to the fact that with the Council's destruction, most of the people he'd known for years were suddenly all dead. Which would leave him naturally depressed, traumatized and withdrawn. Well, that makes complete sense, of course! Unfortunately, I guess the writers decided that with all relentless, bitchy speechifying they had scheduled for Buffy in season 7, there just wasn't time to waste on trivial things like, say, why one of the Original Four was suddenly acting like a different person.

Certainly characters can and do change, but Giles' loyalty and concern for Buffy (and the others) was always a fundamental element of his character. So when you show him suddenly turning his back on them all without giving a better explanation than "Buffy needs to take better care of herself," the change in character just doesn't seem credible to me. Likewise, when a man who has spent years sharing Buffy's burden - who wanted to die in her place - shows up just to pressure her about everything being on her shoulders, it seems clear to me that the writers put their goals for the season above staying true to the characters. Buffy was a pale, bitchy shadow of her former self. Xander all but faded into the woodwork. Willow turned into a complete flake. And Giles was... hell, I don't know *what* he was. But he definitely wasn't Giles.

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