UNEDITED EXCLUSIVE: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 3 Episode 12 REACTION!

I always wonder how many slayers failed the test. Like how many teenage girls have these guys gotten killed at this point? I have a love-hate relationship with this episode. Think the storytelling is great, interesting lore, and fantastic cinematography. But Giles breaks my heaaarrrtt.

EM Jeanmougin

😍

Oh and I almost forgot. The way Buffy killed Kralik, it opens up some possibilities. What happens if you shoot a vampire with tranquilizer darts filled with holy water? I get it would have to be a pretty big dart, but it would be a cool way for non slayers to take care of vampires.

Timothy Nikiforovs

Yes, and rescuing Buffy from the bully douche who's not even fit to serve as an actual douche to either Buffy nor Cordelia. Cordelia always comes through when she's needed. Don't ever forget that, moving on. Her personally develops as that of a phoenix.

BetheSOUL

That intro, though...One of the most terrifying moments in the series when you think about how close Buffy came to such a degrading death by a punk-ass nobody greaser bro who makes it sound more sexual than it needs to be, because Giles was "testing her"? It's kind of hard to move on from that.

BetheSOUL

It doesn’t matter. It is NEVER, EVER okay to violate someone like that. Doesn’t matter that he didn’t like “having” to do it, he’s not the victim here.

Dani Dekay

Ok this is getting spoilery please delete

Flora Smith

Been looking forward to this one for a while. Such a tense episode. Giles definitely screwed up here, but the fact he was so conflicted and eventually opposed the council does leave the door open for redemption(and I mean, if Anakin can come back from the dark side after murdering a room full of kids...........). Still, it'd be understandable if Buffy kept him in the dog house for a good while after this. Redemption needs to be earned. The actor who played Kralik was not the same as the Master. He's been in a number of things including The Walking Dead(the guy Rick bit on the neck to save Coral) and interestingly he played another mass murdering psychopath in Star Trek Voyager's Repentance(great ep). I guess he just has one of those faces to end up with roles like that all the time. But if there was any doubt, this episode showed decidedly that the watchers council are grade A douchebags. The occasional watcher might be decent, but as a whole fairly irredeemable. This test is like sending a soldier on mission with a weapon designed to stop working, and worse yet never having trained them for such an eventuality. I'd be survived if 10% of slayers survived this "test". If this test were instead a matter of reducing the slayer's powers by say, 50% for a month or 2, enough so they could still fight but couldn't afford to be cocky or rely entirely on brute strength, and as such had to start getting more creative and strategic, it would be within the realm of reason, but as it stands it's little more than a death sentence with dubious benefits. Even if they survive, a single encounter isn't enough to really learn from in a meaningful way that can be applied in the future. Oh and props to Cordelia. Didn't even hesitate to drive Buffy home.

Timothy Nikiforovs

even then it was pretty sketchy. If Kralik weren't losing it it's questionable if she would have gotten away. I understand the logic of the test, but it seems a little stupid. If a slayer is expecting her full strength and doesn't have it, most likely they'll die, like if a soldiers weapon suddenly stops working. Seems like a more well thought out version would be to just dull the slayer powers a bit for a few weeks. They can still fight but it's not as easy and they have to start relying on ingenuity instead of pure strength. Then again I guess the watchers figure if a slayer dies another one will be called in no time so no big loss in their eyes. Those guys really are dicks.

Timothy Nikiforovs

I understand Giles going along with it. If he’d refused he’d just have been fired earlier and it would’ve happened without his guidance. The test itself however, is designed to dispose of an aging slayer. The slayer is an instantly replaceable tool, not a person to them. The younger and newer, the more compliant. Everything else is spin for the watchers and themselves.

Flora Smith

I love this episode, one of my favorites of the season. One of the most interesting things about it is what it has to say about institutional violence and using tradition as a justification for that violence. And Giles being a participant in that institution, and ultimately rebelling against it, I think is essential to the message and themes they're playing with. I think it would have been completely believable for season 1 Giles to do this, and while it's jarring to see the developed version of his character betray Buffy like this... that's what deeply-entrenched traditions do, or are capable of doing. This test is essentially the idiom "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" put into practice, and I can believe that a good person like Giles would go along with it for at least a little while. Also just the psychology of believing Buffy is capable of handling it at first, then once he sees what it's doing to her, he is culpable and so it's harder to come clean. But it is still a monstrous act, and you are right to question your feelings about Giles. The point is that tradition is not a good excuse for violence, and the people that perpetuate it should be held responsible. Which he was, at least in part, in this episode.

KT

Come on man, Giles has a "fathers love for the girl." He clearly cares. He even failed the test and got fired over this. He felt terrible on what he had to do, and it is clear he DID NOT AGREE WITH IT. He had his orders though, he was employed by the watchers council, he had to follow orders. But he couldn't fully go through with it in the end and helped her. I totally forgive Giles, totally. It's so clear he hated what he was being forced to do.

Brent Justice

I'm not sure about that, I don't think it's a devious act. I truly think of it as a right of passage, though it may seem cruel, the slayer does need to have other attributes besides just strength. In the end, this will make a more well rounded Slayer, even more powerful than before.

Brent Justice

You might have missed some dialog, but the whole point is that they de-power the slayer, so she can one vs. one a vampire in a closed environment, to test her other attributes as a slayer, to take the strength and power away, to test her other abilities and cunning in taking out a vampire with her own wits. It's a test of her abilities, sans super-human strength. It's a test if slayers reach 18. The watchers council has apparently done this as a long tradition, and Giles is part of the watchers council and does answer to them. The vampire escaping was not supposed to happen, they are supposed to be locked in the same house together.

Brent Justice

Yeah, the council almost counts her to die a bit. They like their slayers young and obedient and not super developed.

Phoenix Dawn

Loved this episode - everytime you think you know something, they peel back another layer, lol Loved how they really hammered it home - let down by her father, then let down by Giles - the fact that she was wanting Giles to take her to the skating shows how she loves him like a father. Also liked Cordelia's scenes, no matter how self centred or bitchy she can be, the second Buffy asked for help she never hesitated.

Chris

I find this episode fascinating for its commentary on the power dynamic inherent in both men vs women and slayer vs watchers. If you think about the actual "tradition" of Cruciamentum, it's either a) a death sentence, or b) circumstances under which a maturing Slayer can be reminded of the fact that she is not in charge. Because the Slayer is always called at a young age, her very survival in the beginning often depends on how well she takes instruction or follows orders; the flipside is that her experience continues to grow the longer she survives, and her durability becomes a threat to the Council. People in power rarely want to be demoted to mere partner -- especially when they can stay the boss simply by letting someone (who will inevitably get replaced by someone younger and more malleable) die. And if you can justify that sort of murder by calling it tradition, all the better, you know? As for where Giles is on this scale, I personally think his part was written very realistically. He's indicated several times that he was training to be a Watcher from a young age (in The Dark Age, he talks about growing sick of his Watcher's studies before diving into the dark arts), and I think the general implication is that it's a job passed down through families, sort of like...idk, a swot form of aristocracy. So in a way, he's a bit like Jenny - when he came to Sunnydale, he didn't expect to fall so deeply in love w Buffy (and before I get screamed at by commenters, no I am not referring to romantic/sexual love). Yet he had a role to fulfill that he'd been brought up thinking was crucial, and tried to fulfill it until he just couldn't stomach the breach of trust any longer. That doesn't make what he did okay, but... understandable and forgivable, I think, especially in light of his actions in the latter half of the episode. Your reactions are always fun, but I really, really enjoyed them on this one; as always, v much looking forward to the next! 😊

Bixgirl1

I love the way this series shows super common societal problems, and the typical teenager growing up experiences, but makes the root of all of it, supernatural. It’s genius. If Kralik hadn’t taken her mom, I believe she would have died. She needed that fear and anger (strong emotions make her perform better, she’s stronger, faster, etc) I don’t doubt her abilities of ingenuity or resourcefulness, it’s just my opinion that she would have died. Her connection to other people around her is exactly why she’s survived this long, it was uncommon that slayers lived a normal life, being in school, friends, etc. Not many of them lived to see 18.

Dani Dekay

Crazy how you take away Buffy's powers and the show just becomes a horror drama instead of a dramedy. It has to. She's constantly in fear.

Bisibia