Buffy the Vampire Slayer || 6x12 || Discussion

Well, that's the thing about rock bottom: there's always more bottom.

Joshua Gosdin

My favorite thing about Doublemeat Palace is that you can feel your sanity draining away as you watch it.

UTU49

Thanks! I knew there had to be something there.

Oxmustube

Yes, the show never says they don’t pay rent; but 1 renter does not a household expenses meet.

It’s a reference to an old meme or vine video where someone incorrectly spells bitch. If you look up, “yes, she is a bitch,” on YouTube you’ll find it.

Silence_giraffe

Also since Buffy got Giles reinstated at full pay and retroactively, isn't he still getting paid as Buffy's Watcher?

Loves Bitca

That actually makes it less chance of being in the same universe.

Loves Bitca

Did Alley spell bitch B I C T H? Is that new slang that old people like me don't know?

Oxmustube

Yeah there was a lot about the Watcher's Council that doesn't make sense. Giles and Wes were treated like black sheep and outsiders but they were the ones with Slayers ie the whole point of Watchers. I understand from a story point to want Buffy to deal with real life struggles but dang these stuffy folks really leave her out to dry

Richard Nothnagel

There's a Doublemeat Palace reference in the Dexter episode "Truth Be Told" - a character is disgusted that another is going to eat two "double meat" hamburgers. Considering that the actress that played Darla is also in Dexter, it's fun to think about how the two shows might be in the same universe.

Marie Green

I love the idea of self-defense classes - that would have been perfect, and Buffy could have indirectly saved more people by showing them how to save themselves. Giles acting like Buffy is shirking responsibility when she's 20 years old, has life-threatening Slayer duties, is dealing with trauma, and is now responsible for raising a teenager... it will always annoy me. Buffy and Giles have helped each other so many times over the years, but now it's a big inconvenience to give Dawn the occasional stern talk and to contribute financially?

Marie Green

I always figured Anya could set up a life for herself while she was undercover as a human, including a place to live and a savings account. Since she was supposed to be a rich girl, the savings account was substantial. Eventually that money ran out. Contrived is the word for all the money/job stuff. The main reason she quit the magic shop job (besides the time loop) was that it was boring. But... isn't the DMP also boring? So why not work with friends who understand her need to leave work and go fight demons? Agree about the house. I understand from a production budget standpoint - they already have that set. But for two people, an apartment makes more sense. Although I will say that moving can be difficult when you're poor. Most apartments require proof of employment, two months' rent, and a credit check. Weirdly, you sometimes can't afford to move someplace cheaper.

Marie Green

I'll never understand why people assume Willow and Tara haven't been contributing to the household? Presumably they have student loans. Even if they've been using their student loans to pay for the utilities, property taxes, food, money would probably still be very tight, and adding another mouth to feed without additional income would be difficult. It's a bit outrageous that Giles got a massive payday from the Watchers Council (5x12) - 2 years of salary, paid in a chunk, and then presumably paid up until 5x22. And yet he acts like the cheque he gives her this season is a bailout. And it's outrageous they don't financially support slayers directly. No doubt a control thing.

Briony Addey

I honestly think this one is a bit underrated (it certainly more, uh, 'meat' than 'Bad Eggs'.) I do agree having a completely mundane (no-demons) plot might have made it stronger. I do love that Buffy - even as desperate as she is - is still too inherently heroic to shake down the company for a big payout to keep her lips sealed. Just another reason she's one of my favourite characters ever.

Ross Nolan

That’s a really cool theory about Anya taking cordys money (and man!) oh boi

Hannah Weber

I really take Issue with Giles on the matter of Buffy's finance. Bear with me. Granted, Giles is not responsible for taking care of Buffy financially; at least not by any conventional expectations. But, if the general consensus that fans usually reach is true that the Slayers were typically supported by their Watcher, so the Council could keep tight control over them and keep the Slayer dependent; then it's a little dubious that the one tradition Giles bucks is one he arguably shouldn't. Buffy shouldn't be expected to burn the candle at both ends, working a full time job or multiple part time jobs to make ends meet during the day, and then being a full time Slayer at night. Some people like to brush that off as "it's not her job, it's her calling," and that's just bullshit. She doesn't really have a choice in being the Slayer, but it's still a full time commitment and it's not only impractical for Giles of all people to expect her to split her focus, it's unreasonable. I don't know what Giles should have done necessarily, but at the very least "more" comes to mind. He could have made a stronger effort to employ Buffy at the shop, he could have let her use the training area to offer self defense classes to people in Sunnydale. Hell, he could have signed over his stake in the magic shop to Buffy and let her be the silent partner he was going to be. A bit extreme, perhaps, maybe not fair to Giles, but he essentially admitted in season 5 he only got the place because he was bored and didn't want Scooby meetings at his place; and he didn't seem to be hurting for income beforehand (which further supports my theory that Joyce was secretly a smuggler and eventually brought Giles on as her fence. Is it a coincidence that within a few months of Joyce's "natural" but sudden death, Giles flees the country under a flimsy pretense....?) But my main go to is that he could have helped Buffy start some other business of her own that could have supported. Maybe it's legitimate, maybe it's a front; either way, it's something that she can do and still balance it with Slaying and earn a living. In my opinion the best option would be opening a funeral home. You'd get plenty of business in Sunnydale, excuse to be coming and going from the cemeteries, early access to the recently deceased to alert her to potential new threats or check for bit marks. And I say mix in some holy water with the embalming fluid and vamps self-poof the instant they turn.

Stargazer1682

The whole financial element of season 6 always drives me crazy; like it's only used as a plot convenience and then ignored when they don't need it to be important. Like, yeah, Willow and Tara are living at the Summers house and no indicated income, so ostensibly they weren't (aren't in Willow's case) contributing to the household expenses that they're at least partially responsible for. Not to mention the time they were there while Buffy was dead. It's like how they never addressed how Anya supported herself before working at the magic shop in season 5 (although part of a theory I have is that in assuming what was supposed to be a temporary persona of a rich girl, she bent reality to "borrow" money from the Chase family at some other point in time and in removing her powers, she ends up keeping the money and causing Cordelia's family's financial woes.) But it's the same thing with Buffy; they contrived that stupid episode with the Trio messing with her, so that she couldn't do the most logical things available to her, like working at the magic shop. She's going to be there all the time anyway, and even helped out (volunteered without pay? Working off Giles' check?) on Halloween. Giles and Anya did a shitty job helping her to training her on top of it. But even the scene where they discussed her finances was just one long gag to shit on Angel making what he does a business and the primary means of income for his team; even if we don't really ever see them working paying gigs. But at not point did they offer practical solutions, like say, moving out of a frickin house with a mortgage and moving into something like an apartment? Whether it would be big enough for Buffy, Dawn and Willow or just Buffy and Dawn is debatable.

Stargazer1682

Not a classic, but massively underrated.

Calvin Williams

I just can't help but enjoy this episode, and it is probably my favorite of the "bad" (according to the general sentiments of the fandom) episodes. Its really nailed the "life really sucks in all ways" vibe, from the grease speech to the fluorescent lights to the worlds most awkward alleyway sex scene 😂

boleynns