The Big Bads: Discuss the Master, Spike and Dru, Angelus, the Mayor, Adam, Glory, Warren and the First

[Halting Hex]

It's been pointed out (by Jack, IIRC) that it's a little weird for Faith, who's been let down by so many parental/authority figures (abusive mom, dead Watcher, lying Post [Giles ignoring her?]) to suddenly attach so firmly to another in Wilkins.

But isn't also odd that RW I/II/III, who's lived for over 100 years without any dependents beyond his Irish Setter, Rusty, to suddenly be all interested in playing father-figure for Faith?  He kept his relationship with Mr. Trick perfectly professional, the occasional snark on Trick's clothes aside.  Why is Faith suddenly the daughter he never cared to actually make, as far as we know?  Seems a bit of a shift, now that I think about it.

[lembergwatcher]

2 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

But isn't also odd that RW I/II/III, who's lived for over 100 years without any dependents beyond his Irish Setter, Rusty, to suddenly be all interested in playing father-figure for Faith?  He kept his relationship with Mr. Trick perfectly professional, the occasional snark on Trick's clothes aside.  Why is Faith suddenly the daughter he never cared to actually make, as far as we know?  Seems a bit of a shift, now that I think about it.

Good point. Although we don't know much about Tricky Dicky and his (extended) family. What if he fathered a daughter/son in the past but no kid of his had a gift of immortality? What if he or she died very young? Maybe in Faith's case Wilkins just wanted (among other things) to re-capture those past father/child moments (real or imaginable) or simply discovered another (not so evil) side of himself. What if Dick's own youth was harsh and he had a tendency to develop "all this involuntary empathy" (as Willow put it in No Place Like Home) for kids like Faith?  

[Joe Hellandback]

On 4/10/2020 at 1:38 PM, lembergwatcher said:

Good point. Although we don't know much about Tricky Dicky and his (extended) family. What if he fathered a daughter/son in the past but no kid of his had a gift of immortality? What if he or she died very young? Maybe in Faith's case Wilkins just wanted (among other things) to re-capture those past father/child moments (real or imaginable) or simply discovered another (not so evil) side of himself. What if Dick's own youth was harsh and he had a tendency to develop "all this involuntary empathy" (as Willow put it in No Place Like Home) for kids like Faith?  

That would have been an interesting storyline, if Wilkins' kids had ever shown up? You must remember he's the one authority figure who never does let Faith down 

[lembergwatcher]

Even though I have always ranked Angel/Angelus as a biggest big bad in the series (it was technically harder to deal with the Mayor, Adam or Glory, but Buffy didn't have personal feelings for any of them), I still find his behavior quite illogical in so many ways. That's probably because deep down inside evil Angelus continued to have feelings for Buffy despite all his rage on the girl for making him feel like human. Because otherwise, like I said, many of his actions seem odd.

First of all, why did he have to give himself away so early? A sophisticated villain (and we get an impression Angelus was exactly that) could have acted differently, i.e. pretended to be good old ensouled Angel while setting a trap for Buffy and the gang.

Then, why waste the access to the Slayer's/Slayer's best friend's apartments on leaving artwork and killing fish??? What did Angel expect to achieve except alerting the Scoobies and making them cast de-invitation spells? He could've tortured Willow to death instead of wasting the opportunity on her fish. He could've done anything to Joyce instead of leaving drawings. Angelus was supposed to be master of torture, not some lame mind games.

Even murdering Jenny almost cost him his unlife by driving Giles, the only experienced member of the gang, into a killing frenzy. Destroying Jenny's work and seriously injuring her could have taken Giles out of the picture making him focused on watching Miss Calendar at the hospital and protecting her from harm.

Since Angelus didn't act on his own I can see no reasons for him not to send his many minions after Joyce, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Oz or Giles. I mean, he killed a girl Buffy barely knew (Theresa) but never actually tried to lure W/X/C/O/G/J into the trap and then torture, maim, kill or sire any of them. Yes, there were attempts on Willow's, Xander's and Cordy's lives but villains like Angel were supposed to try harder if they didn't succeed at first...  

Taunting Spike wasn't a smart thing to do either. In fact, Angel's disdain for the other vamp turned out to be one of the factors in his eventual downfall with the subsequent sword through the heart and century of torment in Acathla's dimension. JMO, of course. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by lembergwatcher

[illdoc]

2 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

What did Angel expect to achieve except alerting the Scoobies and making them cast de-invitation spells?

Of course, he may not have known that "de-invitation spells" existed. As to the "bide your time so no one is alerted" there's

Spoiler

"Evil" Cordy's attempt to kill Willow on Angel, which would have served no purpose except to alert everyone that she's evil (Cordy, explaining Willow's death to the gang: "The Beastmaster showed up, stabbed Willow in the back, ignored me, and then left". Not even Connor would believe that one)

 

[Halting Hex]

Additionally, having already left Buffy an emotional wreck at his apartment, there's no reason that Angel shouldn't move on to devastating Buffy by killing her friends.  ("It's not the kind of message you send", etc.)  It's not as if he knew that Jenny was Rom and had been watching for this and had an uncle with a direct line to the Elder Woman and was getting early alerts about his reversion, much less that she would be taking to prowling the SHS halls with a big ol' cross (which Xander made good use of).

Undercover Jana FTW!  I grant you that he recovered well enough from her making him accelerate his plans 😢 , but I can't really blame him for being taken by surprise, here.

Yes, he could have kept going at the "kill her friends and family" tactic, but once Buffy failed to wilt as he hoped and instead burnt down his home, he moved on to the "just kill Buffy, already" part of the plan (Killed by Death, IOHEFY). And once the mutual possession made him feel all soulful and ook-y, he regrouped for a bit, and then had the Aurelian Dream (ending the world) dropped in his lap, and IMO naturally went for the bigger game, rather than keeping all "Buffy-whipped".

Yes, Angel's motivations change as time goes on, but I don't find anything that strains credibility.  But JMO.

[lembergwatcher]

12 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Yes, he could have kept going at the "kill her friends and family" tactic, but once Buffy failed to wilt as he hoped and instead burnt down his home, he moved on to the "just kill Buffy, already" part of the plan

Angel could have left the "kill Buffy's friends and family" thing to his minions while moving on to whatever he wanted to do to Buffy. Those things aren't mutually exclusive.

 

13 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

And once the mutual possession made him feel all soulful and ook-y, he regrouped for a bit, and then had the Aurelian Dream (ending the world) dropped in his lap, and IMO naturally went for the bigger game, rather than keeping all "Buffy-whipped".

He only underestimated Spike which is itself quite forgivable. Even though Dear Forehead should have kept an eye on Deadboy Jr. because, as they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. 

[Halting Hex]

4 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Angel could have left the "kill Buffy's friends and family" thing to his minions while moving on to whatever he wanted to do to Buffy.

Well, there's precious little point in wasting time and resources trying to kill Willow and Xander if Buffy isn't going be around to feel the effects of their deaths.  There's hardly any need to split focus and effort that way, I'd say.

Remember, this is personal for Angel; it wasn't Giles who made Angel "feel like a real human being".

(Except in some of the more-obscure fanfic, I suppose.

Quote

ANGEL:  No, really…I thought you were a pro.

GILES:  I don't see how what I did to pay my expenses at University is any of your business.  And don't bother trying to play any mind games with me…you never had it so good.  We both know that.

But, still.)

Edited May 30, 2020 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

How come Dru, Darla, Harmony and even Angel look so gorgeous without having a reflection?

 

[Halting Hex]

He had it done once, and then varnished it into place, surely?  Use a strong enough adhesive and you need never comb again.

[Loandbehold]

How can male vampires get an erection if they don't have blood flow. And how come they bleed? Also, how come Angel ... <pant> ... <gasp> ... <pant> ... can't give Buffy CPR b/c he has no breath? 

[Halting Hex]

Yeah, about that "I have no breath" thing…

 

[Joe Hellandback]

20 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

How can male vampires get an erection if they don't have blood flow. And how come they bleed? Also, how come Angel ... <pant> ... <gasp> ... <pant> ... can't give Buffy CPR b/c he has no breath? 

1. Magic

2. When does he do that?

[Loandbehold]

3 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

When does he do that?

Prophecy Girl when he Xander rush into the Master's lair and find Buffy face down in the water. He tells Xander he can't do CPR b/c he has no breath. Around his pants and gasps (well DB's pants and gasps to be precise).

[DisneyBoy]

Can I just say....Warren and his buddies were so overplayed. It really felt like sometimes JW didn't know when to stop trying to make something into a thing. Not every character is worth bringing back and examining from 20 angles...

I honestly wasn't seeing the value in Warren....but he came back....again...and again....and again...and I got pretty sick of it.

[lembergwatcher]

19 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

1. Magic

You mean Angel used magic to have an erection? What kind of magic? "Demon love spells, mojo sex chants, voodoo booty rituals" (Gunn in Couplet)? What about the golden rule saying one cannot use magic for his or her personal gain? And they say Willow was "reckless" in her magic use...

7 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

Warren and his buddies were so overplayed. It really felt like sometimes JW didn't know when to stop trying to make something into a thing

I'm right there with you. Joss really didn't know when to stop showing disdain for his fans. Could just as well bring back Tara's "blood kin" (Family) and make them season's big bads. As a matter of fact, I'd rather watch cousin Beth instead of Warren and his minions. None of them is even scary enough...

Edited December 16, 2020 by lembergwatcher

[lembergwatcher]

On 12/14/2020 at 10:58 PM, Loandbehold said:

And how come they bleed? Also, how come Angel ... <pant> ... <gasp> ... <pant> ... can't give Buffy CPR b/c he has no breath?

Could've been some kind of blooper typical for this show. Like, say, when Willow walks out of Ethan's shop in Halloween and we hear a freakin' door click even though Willow is a "ghost" and can't even turn the pages in Giles' text book, not to mention open/close doors. Or when vamps Willow & Xander bleed Cordelia dry in The Wish: I remember hearing the sound of key from Giles' book cage falling on the floor after Willow drops it, but not the sound of Cordelia's lifeless body hitting the same floor.

Edited December 16, 2020 by lembergwatcher

[Joe Hellandback]

On 12/16/2020 at 12:08 PM, lembergwatcher said:

You mean Angel used magic to have an erection? What kind of magic? "Demon love spells, mojo sex chants, voodoo booty rituals" (Gunn in Couplet)? What about the golden rule saying one cannot use magic for his or her personal gain? And they say Willow was "reckless" in her magic use...

I'm right there with you. Joss really didn't know when to stop showing disdain for his fans. Could just as well bring back Tara's "blood kin" (Family) and make them season's big bads. As a matter of fact, I'd rather watch cousin Beth instead of Warren and his minions. None of them is even scary enough...

In the sense that vamps are dead and shouldn't be able to walk around, talk or have all the other bodily functions either. Here's a question, do they go to the bathroom? 

[lembergwatcher]

2 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

do they go to the bathroom?

Something has to happen to the blood they consume... 

[Halting Hex]

Would there be any waste products in the blood?  Seems as though one wouldn't need to filter anything out.

As for any solid matter consumption, perhaps they just leave a "night deposit" outside the tomb and let the morning sun work its magic?

[illdoc]

On 12/17/2020 at 1:30 PM, lembergwatcher said:

Something has to happen to the blood they consume... 

Not to mention the coffee, tea, alcohol, etc. that we've seen Spike drink. He also (presumably) eats those "blooming onion" things.

[lembergwatcher]

36 minutes ago, illdoc said:

Not to mention the coffee, tea, alcohol, etc. that we've seen Spike drink. He also (presumably) eats those "blooming onion" things.

Unlike Angel Spike has a taste for human food.

[Joe Hellandback]

On 12/20/2020 at 6:30 PM, lembergwatcher said:

Unlike Angel Spike has a taste for human food.

Yes but they are magical, the rules of physiology don't apply.  I've wracked my brains but I can't ever recall any reference of them ever using the bathroom?

[Ambrosefolly]

On 9/17/2018 at 3:52 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

That's an interesting way to look at it, that this was an internal battle (shades of that too in s7) within her. You think of the mooted idea of Buffy being transformed into a vamp and being the big bad for the season. 

Interesting, The Trio had potential but it was never fully realised, s6 was such a dour event. Adam was never intended to be the Big Bad but when Lindsey Crouse left early he was forced to step up. 

Season 6 was such a disappointment because it had a huge amount of potential in being the best season of Buffy. I was particularly interested in Dark!Willow, which had been hinted at for a while. While AH's acting didn't disappoint, her getting to that there was very cliched. 

[lembergwatcher]

The girl in this video reminds me of the younger version of Drusilla.

 

[Halting Hex]

On 12/22/2020 at 3:00 PM, Joe Hellandback said:

Yes but they are magical, the rules of physiology don't apply.  I've wracked my brains but I can't ever recall any reference of them ever using the bathroom?

Quote

ANGEL:  I have to go.  —Teacher's Pet

Okay, he's probably just saying he needs to leave, since he's worried about twigging Buffy's vampdar if he stays too long.  But I like to imagine that Angel had to make a quick pit stop at the Little Vampires' Room.  You know what they say…you don't buy blood, you rent it!

Gee, next thing you'll be telling me that all my "Angel, stop talking about your penis!" moments aren't really his referencing his erection, after all.  Spoil my fun…

Quote

ANGEL:  Xander, go get the others.

XANDER:  Right. (leaves)

ANGEL:  And Willow, come here.  I've got something to show you.

WILLOW (walking towards him):  What is it, Angel?
ANGEL:  It's amazing.

ME:  Stop talking about your penis, Angel!  Geez…

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

Well, showing penis is still less harmful than, say, chocking someone... I bet back then Willow preferred having mental trauma from the sight of Angel's little friend then from almost watching death in the face... 

[Halting Hex]

6 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Angel's little friend

OT, but now I'm having images of Tony Montana's most famous line taking on an entirely different meaning…

[lembergwatcher]

Sometimes I wonder whether we can view the First as villain in the conventional sense of the word. I mean, most of the things it does, they hurt everyone else except for the one person who should be hurting.

The First wastes considerable amount of time and resources to track down and kill some random girls who may become the chosen ones in the near or distant future. Well, at least a handful of them. But here's the thing: the power within each and every one of these girls is of no use if there's no one out there to watch them, guide and teach, and properly train. Destroying the Council was a brilliant move. I wonder what stopped the First from doing the same thing to Scooby Gang. Without Buffy and her friends all those baby slayers combined pose zero threat to the First and it's plans. 

Besides, not only does the First waste time on hunting down goth chicks in Germany, his so-called Bringers do a sloppy job, since many of the Potentials come to Sunnydale alive and well. Why? Why chase some teenage girl throughout the Old City of Istanbul and then allow dozens of others like her to reach the safe haven of Casa Summers?
Then, the First has Spike under his mind control for the entire first half of the seventh season. The question is: what for? To kill some random people? And this benefits the First Evil how exactly? I mean, according to the narrative, the First is the most evil, most powerful and vicious entity, the master manipulator, the worst Big Band the Gang has faced so far. It's action should have some, you know, meaning.

How come it is unable to make Spike kill Buffy and all of her friends?? Well, Spike's "twu wuw" can become an issue when it comes to the object of his obsession (Buffy), but I can see no reason for the First no to use Spike's state of mind to get rid of Xander, Willow, Anya and Dawn long before Holden so conveninetly alerts Buffy in Conversations With Dead Plot Lines... Kill Slayer's friends and half the job is done, fellas.

To this day I don't understand why didn't the First just kill Miss Buffy herself despite having numerous opportunities to do so???

• In Bring on the Night the Ubervamp kills poor Annabelle, a girl who pose no threat to him or his boss since she is not even a fully-functioning slayer at the moment, but only kicks Buffy's ass and leaves her out cold but alive.
• In Get it Done the First manipulates the SIT Chloe to commit suicide. Believe me, I don't have any hate for the Potentials, but in terms of Buffy's resolve Chloe's death is nothing. Buffy has zero sympathy for her supposed troops and she just digs a hole and buries the other girl in the ground. Yes, she demoralizes her team with her stupid attitude, but still... Hey, how about manipulating Willow into taking her own life (the way the First tried to do eight eps earlier but then made no moves in that direction for some unknown reason)? Or Dawn? I bet this can be far more devastating to Miss Summer's morale and resolve than killing her foot soldiers. Glory (Glory!) left Buffy catatonic for an entire episode after taking her precious sister away in fifth season, but the Almighty First probably thinks that Chloe's death will make Buffy surrender...
• In Dirty Girls the First (with the help from Caleb) lures Buffy and her "soldiers" into trap by claiming he has "something of hers". Good move, buddy, but then again: despite having a brilliant opportunity to wipe out the entire force in the vineyard, his minion Caleb kills two ordinary girls who, like I said before, pose no threat for the First and his plans, maims Xander, who's just a guy fixing windows, but lets all the main players (Buffy, Faith, Spike) escape alive. Why? Not to mention, that disclosing information about an item which can be used as a weapon to quell the First's army is beyond stupid.
• In Empty Places the First has it's next chance to solve the Buffy-shaped problem and yet Caleb walks away despite defeating the almighty Buffy who is lying there unconscious and defenseless. I mean, even Andrew could have killed Buffy in these circumstances (if he wanted to, of course). So what's the point? The First doesn't want to kill Buffy? Does it want to... what? Date her of marry?..
• In End of Days the First not only doesn't kill Buffy when he has an umpteenth chance, but lets her leave with the precious Scythe, literally the only freaking weapon out there to stop it. Handing over the only weapon that can destroy you to your sworn enemy? Are you nuts, the First? Which side are you on actually??

It gets better in the series finale when Buffy and the First have a chat the night before the Battle and the latter virtually gives the cue what to do (you don't have to fight you good fight on your own, Buff)! Dunno about you but back in the day I started strongly suspect the First of, you know, secretly playing for the rival team.

What if it's true agenda was not destroying the Slayer line but making Willow do that activation spell and turn every single Potential out there into full-blown Slayer? Which, btw, can result in the destruction of actual Slayer line, only by other means... And Buffy once again fell into that trap... Damn :(  

[Halting Hex]

I've certainly enjoyed fantasizing about things such as that (my hypothesis is that there's a finite amount of "The Slayer Force" [or whatever] available, and by spreading it hither and yon, Willow weakens Buffy and Faith and leaves them vulnerable).

But there's absolutely nothing to support that idea and I hesitate to rely upon utter wankery.

A simpler explanation is probably that Windbag has no interest in killing Buffy and making Kennedy (or Rhona or Vi) a Slayer, which still leaves two Slayers to defeat.  Their goal is kill all the identified Potentials. then Faith, then Buffy, and let the Power land on some random baseball girl who has never been told what's going on, who doesn't have a Watcher waiting to teach them what to do, and who might be identified by Firstie's majicks before the Council can get to her.  This explains why Caleb would rather "clear the path" of the Mollys and the Dianes before trying to kill Faith, especially when Buffy and Spike are nearby and could gang up on him.  (Xander's eye was just a convenient way of wounding Buffy psychologically.)

Now, the First did make some mistakes.  We believe "the Line" runs through Faith, not Buffy, so he could just as well kill Buffy and move on from there.  But apparently the First only knows what the people whose form it takes know, and I guess Buffy's too ego-centric to believe that she's old news.  (Beljoxa's Eye apparently told Giles and Anya this, but AFAWK they never tell Buffy and Windbag never takes their form, so…)

And using the Vineyard for the trap in 7.18 was stupid beyond stupid if the "scythe" was actually there and digging it out of the rock was completely brain-dead, I agree.  But perhaps they were worried that Willow (or whomever) might eventually detect the "scythe"'s presence (or the annoying "Guardian" woman might recover from her brain injury and tell Buffy about it), so Caleb thought to deter Buffy from going to the vineyard, by giving her poor emotional memories of that place, and they were digging it out of the rock to attempt to destroy it.  "Dumber than a box of hair", to quote Law & Order…but, hey.  It's the First Evil, not the First Genius.

And so it goes.

[lembergwatcher]

On 2/10/2022 at 5:19 AM, Halting Hex said:

A simpler explanation is probably that Windbag has no interest in killing Buffy and making Kennedy (or Rhona or Vi) a Slayer, which still leaves two Slayers to defeat.  Their goal is kill all the identified Potentials. then Faith, then Buffy, and let the Power land on some random baseball girl who has never been told what's going on, who doesn't have a Watcher waiting to teach them what to do, and who might be identified by Firstie's majicks before the Council can get to her.

Kennedy (Rhona or Vi) is no more threat to the First than some random baseball girl. Their proper training takes time too and that's something the good guys do not have at the moment. Besides, if I am some kind of superpowerful evilest evil SOB (something that pre-dates Evil itself), than defeating two, five, twenty or 100 Slayers shouldn't be a big problem for me. I can manipulate the prison cook into serving poisonous meal to Faith or some poor SHS student or teacher into doing something equally bad to Buffy. Every newly-activated Slayer isn't much of a threat because it takes time to turn even very strong girls into full-blown Slayers and time is on "my" side.   

On 2/10/2022 at 5:19 AM, Halting Hex said:

But apparently the First only knows what the people whose form it takes know

And that makes the "biggest and baddest" Big Bad basically a loser who's fully dependent on the knowledge from it's human vessels... Even though Windbag decides to start it's war shortly after Buffy died and stayed that way for months while no new Slayers were activated. How come it isn't aware "the Line" doesn't go through Buffy?

On 2/10/2022 at 5:19 AM, Halting Hex said:

And using the Vineyard for the trap in 7.18 was stupid beyond stupid if the "scythe" was actually there and digging it out of the rock was completely brain-dead, I agree.

Using the Vineyard for the trap while the Scythe is still there is stupid, yes. But using it to destroy Buffy and her "expeditionary force" makes sense (if the goal is to kill, not give some poor emotional memories). Caleb appears to be strong enough not to worry too much about Buffy, Faith and Spike.

On 2/10/2022 at 5:19 AM, Halting Hex said:

But perhaps they were worried that Willow (or whomever) might eventually detect the "scythe"'s presence (or the annoying "Guardian" woman might recover from her brain injury and tell Buffy about it), so Caleb thought to deter Buffy from going to the vineyard, by giving her poor emotional memories of that place, and they were digging it out of the rock to attempt to destroy it.

Well, in that case the First should've been more persuasive in trying to make Willow kill herself. Or use some help from the Bringers, manipulate Spike or Anya or manipulate Xander into showing his Hyena alter-ego... Anyway, detecting the Scythe is one thing, obtaining it is another. Besides, if Buffy and Faith are dead who's gonna go there to take it? Giles? Dawn?

As for poor emotional memories... Seems like neither Caleb nor his boss knows quite well who they're dealing with. Seems like the supposedly all-powerful entity which is more evil than evil itself wasted years on watching porn or playing stupid games than actually learning a thing or two about it's future nemesis... I'm sure there were plenty of bad memories for Buffy from the period of time between Innocence and Becoming, Part 2. Yet that didn't stop Miss Buffy from starting dating Angel once again when she had a chance. In fact, those who do pay attention, they already know: whenever something has disastrous results for everyone around her, chances are Buffy will try to do it again. 

[illdoc]

5 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Every newly-activated Slayer isn't much of a threat because it takes time to turn even very strong girls into full-blown Slayers and time is on "my" side.   

Not to mention, what if the new Slayer wasn't known to the council, and therefore doesn't have any training/watcher (think Kendra, who had training and a watcher before she was ever called). What if this new Slayer (even with a watcher) is off in India and the Watcher just thinks "ok, we'll patrol here" and doesn't think "hmmm let's go to Sunnydale?" Then the First can do what it wants at Hellmouth Central without any fear of a Slayer stopping them (assuming they've already killed Buffy/Faith) until it's too late. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

Also, it's not like the First could not have set up an anti-watcher society that would train any potential slayers to be eeeeeeeeeevil. Why kill them when you can manipulate and corrupt them?

[Halting Hex]

Well, we don't know for sure that killing Buffy wouldn't activate a new Slayer.  Maybe Buffy Death #2 was just an outlier.  (Her "Essence of Slayer" got sucked into Glory's dimension when she feel through the portal and that's why Willow had such a job putting the pieces back together?)

So yes, maybe killing Buffy is a freebie.  (A lot of work, despite Caleb's good showings, but doable.). But maybe it activates a new Slayer.  And maybe that Slayer is previously undetected, far away and easily misled…but maybe they're aware and trained and already slaying vampires.

Let's face it:  it has to be easier to kill Potential Kennedy than a possible Slayer Kennedy.  So why not take a few months to clear the decks of Annabel, Molly, Kennedy, Rona, Chloe, Vi, Dawn, Amanda, Chao An, Colleen, Caridad, Shannon, Dianne and the rest?  Save the effort by getting them before they get to be such a hassle.  Then you can take out Buffy and Faith and only have to be concerned about random Baseball Girls who don't have a clue.

(What do you mean, Dawn isn't a Potential?  That was a "false positive"?  Hey, we can't be too careful here;  clip her, just for safety's sake. [Hee-hee-hee])

(Oh, don't pout, Joe.  You know very well that you can't kill energy…darn it.)

[illdoc]

3 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Well, we don't know for sure that killing Buffy wouldn't activate a new Slayer.  Maybe Buffy Death #2 was just an outlier. 

Maybe it did---someone who didn't have a Watcher, who wasn't on the Council's "potential" radar, who's wandering around Russian Siberia or Outer Mongolia without a clue.