History Headscratchers / BuffySeason8

* Why not show us [[WhatCouldHaveBeen what would have happened if]] [[PutOnABus Seth Green's departure]] and [[McLeaned Lindsay Crouse's unavailability]] hadn't [[AbortedArc thrown Season 4]] [[SeasonalRot and beyond]] off the rails?

* I know that there were moments in the shows where she could be more dangerous than the idiot she appeared to be.... but that still left a ''lot'' of idiot there. In the comics, especially Season 10, she seems to be consistently portrayed as a very savvy, often witty character with a few fluffy personality traits, more like an evil Elle Woods than the airhead she was as recently as 'Harm's Way'. Basically she went from a (at best) CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass to a BunnyEarsLawyer without any real explanation. If they ''did'' want to make Harmony smarter why not give an in-story reason (magic for instance) instead of a sudden unexplained leap in IQ that none of the other characters seem to notice?[[/folder]]

* I know that there were moments in the shows where she could be more dangerous than the idiot she appeared to be.... but that still left a ''lot'' of idiot there. In the comics, especially Season 10, she seems to be consistently portrayed as a very savvy, often witty character with a few fluffy personality traits, more like an evil Elle Woods than the airhead she was as recently as 'Harm's Way'. Basically she went from a (at best) CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass to a BunnyEarsLawyer without any real explanation.

If they ''did'' want to make Harmony smarter why not give an in-story reason (magic for instance) instead of a sudden unexplained leap in IQ that none of the other characters seem to notice?[[/folder]]

**** Parker was looking for sex, and mislead Buffy into thinking he was genuinely interested in her. I mean, only a couple of episodes later he puts the ''exact'' same moves on Willow, who laughs in his face. The guy was pure dirt. Buffy didn't 'use' Satsu, if anything Satsu was the interested party and Buffy went along with it, but realised afterward that despite what she might want, she just isn't a lesbian or even really bisexual. After Satsu she realised that she's pretty much straight. That sucks for Satsu, because she thought Buffy really did feel the same.

** It's none of the above. A way to highlight why is the question: why isn't ''Giles'' better at magic? How is it Willow was so much better than him (unless he was given power by his Devon coven friends) even though he's known about magic for ''decades'' and Willow's known about it for a handful of years?
Magical ability is ''inherent'' in the Buffyverse - you either have it, or you don't. Willow never knew she had the talent until she started looking after Jenny's death. Willow simply has the inherent, magical talent for witchcraft (in the official Buffy/Angel RPG, this is called Sorcery). Giles doesn't. Tara has/had it too, but is less powerful, if more cautious. This helps explain why Willow can throw spells around for fun and Giles has to do a ritual ''every'' time he does magic. The reason Buffy never learned Willow-style magic is that she ''can't'', bar a few easy-to-do rituals (for example the Tirer la Couture spell she managed to do by herself in Season 5).

** Take away all technology beyond, let's say, Medieval levels. No one's being shot, blown up, napalmed, etc, no one can develop biological weapons, pollution has dropped massively. Sure, people in the first world and sufficiently rich people in the third world don't get to do crap anymore, but hey!
*** Except that there's no record of magic ever giving the world the same benefits that technology and learning has. Where with a removal of technology, billions of people would die, with the removal of magic, more people would live. Technology brought the world an increase in the quality of life of the entire world, whereas magic has done nothing of the kind.