YMMV / Buffy the Vampire Slayer S4 E7 "The Initiative"

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • When asking about who is doing the experiments on them, one of the guesses Spike makes is "Nazis". Years later, we will learn that he has completely rational reasons to assume that it's a possibility.
  • Willow threatens that if Riley hurts Buffy, she will beat him to death with a shovel. However, when he does hurt Buffy in Season 5, she doesn't follow through on it and doesn't seem mad at him when he returns in Season 6, making the threat seem hollow.
    • The threat was hollow anyway; Willow clearly hadn't beaten Parker to death with a shovel and Riley already knew that.
• Values Dissonance: As recognition of campus sexual harassment has become more widespread in subsequent years, it can feel jarring now to watch teaching assistant Riley casually discuss pursuing Buffy romantically while she’s still a student in a class he’s TAing. These days, conducting that kind of Teacher/Student Romance openly could get Riley fired or accused of unethical or unprofessional conduct as a TA. On the other hand, ethics were clearly not a teaching priority for the Initiative members at UC Sunnydale.

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