Newsgroup: it.fan.tv.buffy
Titolo: Faith...

http://www.scoopme.com/tv/articles/default.asp?article_id=103297
spoiler
by Hunter Maxin
4/30/2003
All good things must come to and end.
Friends come and go. They leave. They die. We grow, and change, and the
people we once were are no longer relevant. Our relationships evolve; the
roles we play become forever altered.
Sometimes, the decisions we make are almost too difficult to contemplate,
but in the end, we must follow our hearts no matter what the consequences.
No matter what is undone or forever broken.
Buffy is no longer The Slayer.
We knew it was coming, but I’m not sure we were prepared for it to go down
like this.
Understand, this is not about Faith. This is purely about what I’ve been
saying for weeks: Buffy has failed as a general. She has failed as a
leader. Most importantly, she has failed as an authority.
Understand also, that this was not a Palace Coup. As much as Buffy may
believe that Giles sent Spike away to remove his voice in these
proceedings, this crisis of leadership was started, and ultimately
finished, because of her actions.
I have discussed, often in great depth, Buffy’s specific failings up until
this point. She has lacked any semblance of inspiration, strategy, or
understanding of her situation almost from the moment she declared war on
The First. Until now, the group followed because they never believed there
was an alternative. Giles anointed Buffy "the plan" from the start and
never conceived that there would need to be more. But his understanding of
Buffy, and the Scoobies, has been outmoded at best. When he left, Buffy was
at the pinnacle of a collective effort that relied on the strength of its
members working in tandem. They had been divided before, of course, but,
when push ultimately came to shove, they always reunited behind an
understanding that it was there was force greater than the sum of their
parts in that unity.
The four of them - Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Xander - had become a unit
that balanced their respective strengths and weaknesses to become something
previously unseen in history. It was always this collective that allowed
Buffy to be the most successful slayer of her line, and it was the very
reason that Buffy has so outlived the ones who came before her.
But when Giles abandoned Buffy, sending her out into the world to become an
adult on her own right, the force became unbalanced. The tragedies that
beset the group in season 6 forever changed them, and the parts no longer
fit together the same way. Too much has happened, too much of their lives
have become complicated. The decisions they have made without the careful
guidance of their father have led to a genuine basis of distrust and
hesitation.
There is a lesson here, about young adults facing their most difficult
decisions at a time when they have the least ability to make them, and
parents having to come to grips with the mistakes their children make. But
more is at stake here than career and family. The fate of the world rests
on these children, and perhaps it wasn’t right to allow them to just find
their own way.
None of that matters now. The fact is, we are here, and it is not a pretty
place. Over the past two years, absent the watchful eye of Giles, Buffy has
become increasingly isolated from her support. Most of the reasons are good
ones - no one can so easily cope with the changes Buffy has had to endure,
and we’re not even pretending to include the added pressures created by
being ripped out of heaven - but that too is irrelevant.
Buffy no longer speaks for the group, because she no longer stands for
them. Her goals, her understanding of life, are no longer in line with her
friends. But that too would not matter if she didn’t shut them out.
The coup, if you will, only happened because Buffy’s final plan made no
sense. It was plain to anyone listening to her that she was grasping at
straws. She was clinging to power and authority - in the form of this
reckless and ill-founded raid - because she couldn’t think of anything else
to do. All she needed to do was reach out and include others, to simply
allow everyone to put their heads together and formulate a plan, and this
would all have been avoided.
She left them no choice. She gave them an order that bore only risk but no
reasonable expectation of success or reason.
Faith called her on it. Not because she felt it was time for Buffy to step
aside, quite the contrary, but because she felt that, together, there might
be a better way. Faith verbalized what everyone in that room was thinking,
but she never tried to usurp Buffy’s power.
It was Woods that changed the nature of the meeting and put Buffy on the
defensive. He was right to do so, but it was his recognition that Faith had
equal stake and equal power, that began Buffy’s end. And Buffy knew it. You
could see it in her yes.
All Faith asked for was something to put her faith in. All she needed was a
reason, a real reason to see it Buffy’s way, and that, too, would have been
fine. But Buffy didn’t have anything. The entire crux of her argument was,
"I am the slayer, I have a hunch and I always come through, so do as I say."
But Giles was right, all Buffy offered were windmills, illusions of power,
illusions of a plan, illusions of her own ability to usher them all through
this.
It was too much to ask, too much to simply go on faith.
That’s all the Pony Tail Army needed. It was the excuse they needed to
voice their fears and stand up for their own right to live. They came there
for protection, scared girls who reluctantly took up a calling, and, while
fighting for that survival was a fair part of the bargain, the fight still
had to make sense.
Willow and Xander only sealed the deal. They were the only two who could
have turned back the tide, but Buffy gave them no choice either. They too
remembered who it used to be, how their ideas and plans and strengths were
needed. They may not have ever been equals, but they had a seat at the
table and they earned it. Willow and Xander were always civilians who chose
the fight. They learned and grew with the struggle, not because they were
forced into it, but because they truly believed that what they were doing
was right. But for some time, Buffy had begun to discount them because they
weren’t called to it. 
At some point, and being resurrected will have this effect on you, Buffy
came to believe that she was more than chosen. She was the chosen amongst
the chosen, and while there is much circumstantial evidence to support
this, there is no proof. No prophecy, no codex, anointed Buffy messiah.
Anya summed it up best:
You really do think you’re better than we are...but we don’t know. We don’t
know if you’re actually better. You came into the world with certain
advantages, sure. I mean, that’s the legacy. But, you didn’t earn it. You
didn’t work for it. You’ve never had anybody come up to you and say that
you deserve these things more than anyone else. They were just handed to
you. So that doesn’t make you better than us. It makes you luckier than us.
The other people in the room, they did choose this. They did decide to join
this fight, and their places at the table were earned. Each of them has
proven, time and time again, that, despite their ordinariness, they were
capable of being entrusted with these decisions. None of them wanted the
power for themselves, but they did want the right to be included in the
decisions that affected whether they would live or die.
They earned that much.
Again, Faith did not want to be in charge. She rejected the very idea. And
still, Buffy could not get past their past. Faith came to Sunnydale to help
save the world. She came to help Buffy save the world, in fact, and
willingly deferred to her at first. She didn’t have to come. Faith’s debt -
her contract for redemption - was always with Angel and Wesley. Buffy never
wanted any part of it, and could never accept it for what it was.
The old Faith, the one who killed and plotted against Buffy is no more.
Much like Angel and Spike, she is a killer now possessing a soul. Her heart
is in the right place, and she is seeing all of this - Buffy, The First,
Right and Wrong - clearly.
A final time, even after Faith offered Buffy a way to salvage her
leadership, Buffy forced the Army’s hand. She went petty and personal, and
further illustrated her lack of clarity, her inability to lead. Faith
bluntly gave Buffy the opportunity to be a part of the team, and Buffy,
even more bluntly, rejected it.
Dawn’s coda, and Buffy’s expulsion from the house, was just the icing on
the cake. The statement, that Buffy couldn’t stay, was powerful, but
ultimately symbolic of Buffy’s place in all of this.
But Buffy’s path to redemption is still there. On the porch, finally Buffy
showed signs of the leadership they always wanted. By passing the torch to
Faith in private, Buffy legitimized Faith as general, and offered the
strength that Faith needed.
Don’t be afraid to lead them. Whether you wanted it or not, their lives are
yours. It’s only going to get harder. Protect them, but lead them.
And, with a single look, Buffy conveyed that, despite everything that went
wrong, she still only intended to do what was right.
It has become clearer now, how this will all end. The specifics, the
details, those we still don’t know. But, Buffy’s path, her destiny, as she
has always said in her gloomiest and most introspective moments, is to be
alone. 
Whatever part Buffy herself has to play, it will be on her own. There is a
growing sense of dread that this will be her final sacrifice, that the
scared sixteen year old girl who wasn’t ready to die at the hands of the
master, has come to terms with the final act shared by all messiahs...
… to die alone to save us all.
Spike told her that someday Buffy will no longer fear death. She will no
longer reject it, but, instead, embrace it. That she will need to know,
once and for all, how it all ends for her. She will, ultimately, suffer the
fate of all slayers before her, and she will die doing what no one asked
her if she wanted to do.
Death, after all, is her gift.
~~~~~
The Other Side Of Tuesday… As you probably know by now, not only is BtVS
leaving us for good this May, but ScoopMe is as well. This is a decision
that deeply saddens me, as my time here, and with you, was very important
to me. Buffy has been an important part of our lives, more than just a
simple television show, and it is has been gratifying in a way words cannot
truly express that you would choose to voice that expression with us here.
I know I speak for Jen Sonstein, who came before me, that it has always
been an honor and a privilege to be a part of this experience with you.
Therefore, I want to extend an invitation to you all. The week following
the series finale, there will be one more chance for us to gather. We will
wrap up and discuss not just the end of the season, but the entire series
run. It will be a chance for us to follow the evolution of something very
special, and truly look at it, one final time, as one single piece, one
connected story that has been a part of our lives for seven years.
And we will say goodbye, properly, to both Buffy and our friends here at
ScoopMe.
I look forward to hearing all of the things you wish to remember about the
show, from all things favorite to a final comprehension of what it was Joss
tried so hard to tell us. Someone once wrote that life is a lesson you
learn when you are done. Let us learn this lesson together.
Until then, we have three joyous uninterrupted weeks to celebrate this
final glorious story arc, and watch as the final chapter unfolds.
I hope you join me.
-- 
Jolan Tru
Filippo "Hytok" Simone - 
http://www.startrekitaliamagazine.it/
*L'oracolo Romulano di Sunnydale* - 
http://www.ussexcalibur.it/
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/hyterdeflok/
 - 
http://uncino.free.fr/

 All good things
All Good Things!!!!
Mi vengono in mente tanti ricordi..........
Qualcuno ha voglia di giocare a poker????
--
Jaleen-Elox
"Quando riesci a mantenere la calma mentre tutti in torno a te hanno perso
il controllo
forse non hai capito bene cosa succede..."

Qualcuno ha voglia di giocare a poker????
Magari c'č qualcuno che vuol giocare a tanter... ;)


 Magari c'č qualcuno che vuol giocare a tanter... ;)
Da quando mi parli ancora, Filippo???LOL
^______^


 Magari c'č qualcuno che vuol giocare a tanter... ;)
Hytok, ma sei stato assente per un po'? O avevi solo cambiato pusher? :PP
Ciaotutti,
*

Hytok, ma sei stato assente per un po'? O avevi solo cambiato pusher? :PP
Avevo solo poco tempo... quando ho poco tempo non riesco a fare calambour ;)
