What is a ship?
It is the belief that a certain couple (or I suppose it could even be more people then
just two!) belong in a relationship together. Its
expected that the relationship will be romantic/sexual in nature.
This website is largely devoted to the BuffyGiles Ship, or
BG. There are plenty of possible ships on Buffy--the
characters are so engaging and real to the serious fans, that we can't
help but want to be involved further in their lives.
The BG ship is often maligned by other ships. Its sometimes been
called "sick" or "disgusting" or "warped"
or well, you get the idea. And there are a lot of arguments
made against the ship--some people come on quite strong against it,
somehow find it more offensive then other ships...for reasons not clear
at all to me. I will address some of the arguments for/against the ship in a separate short
list elsewhere: here, I simply want to provide my own personal
timeline for the development of this special relationship. I think there is some actual
"text" that supports this (or even lack of text such as the
fact that no one on the show has ever implied that Giles served as
Buffy's father except Travers), but yes, since this is sadly not a canon
ship, we have to rely mostly on subtext and observing how the actors
chose to play their roles together.
Other BGers will have other ideas
about the relationship and that's fine with me! I think part of
the magic in Buffy is that we have all grown to care so passionately
about these inhabitants of the Buffyverse and we can remain committed to
our own beliefs and can still respect each other's ideas as well...
Season 1: This is a season of first conflicts and
redefining the reassumed "roles." At first, the
positioning seems to be quite clear: they are Slayer and
Watcher. It is supposed to be a "professional"
relationship--they have a job to do. Giles has come to America ready to fill a role that he's
trained for almost his entire life and is quite bewildered to find not a
"Slayer" but "Buffy" facing him--and in fact
rejecting him, the Council he represents, and her own destiny. In
season one, Giles must come to terms
with Buffy being a person, a growing young adult, not merely a
"Slayer" without a name and personality.
The relationship is often adversarial in nature, with Buffy resenting
Giles and the demands he makes on her to be the Slayer. But
in The Witch, they make their first real connection as people, with
Giles realizing that this person he's begun to know could actually die,
that he wouldn't just lose his Slayer, but lose Buffy. In
return, Buffy recognizes that Giles can actually help her, even saving
her life. And at the end of Never Kill a Boy, Buffy
recognizes that her desire to be "normal" brings risks to the
people that she cares about and also gets her first hint that Giles also
once rebelled against his expected role in life. A
"partnership" attitude begins to develop.
I feel that in season one, there is no real time for a paternal/daughterly feelings to
develop--they are forced too quickly into their battle against evil.
Although they react strongly as individuals to each other, most of their
tension/interaction remains "professionally" based--Buffy
resenting her destiny and Giles exasperated by her
attitude.
In Nightmares, he sees her grave and states: "I failed in
my duty." His emotion is tremendous, yet he is not grieving as a father who has lost a
child. And in Prophecy Girl, when he is faced with the role of sending her off to
face her certain death, he tries to go in her place. Again, it is
not "I cannot lose my daughter," but "I cannot send
someone out to fight a battle when I am not willing to go
myself." Their relationship has been built in battle and he
is reacting as a soldier and a friend.
In the first season, Giles' role is mostly teacher/mentor, and yes, an
often
resented authority figure. But very quickly, we see growing
affection and respect between the two and Giles rapidly becomes a key
and positive part of her
life. Buffy talks about Giles all the time (as noted by Joyce when
she meets him for the first time) and she is eager to introduce him
to her real father (Nightmares). The first season lays the
foundation for the bond that will only grow with time.
(One other note: the chemistry between the two actors was so great and they so
quickly connected that Joss tried (and failed!) to institute a "Six
Inch Rule" to get them to stay out of each other's personal
space. But both instinctively knew that these characters were connected and were not going to follow a social standard.
Therefore, that
"six inch rule" was repeatedly violated.)
Season 2: Season one brings on the first key dynamic change in
the relationship. We start the season with Giles firmly in his
mentoring role, trying to help Buffy work through her "issues"
resulting from her death at the Master's hands. And
obviously Buffy has some issues with Giles in his role as her Watcher,
when you consider her nightmare mixing him with the Master.
They first need to come to terms with their "professional"
roles.
But what makes this season key is that both are forced to consider the
other as a "sexual being" in this season. Giles's relationship with Jenny Calendar and
the glimpses into his past from The Dark Age cause Buffy to change her perspective from
Giles as solely an authority figure and a Watcher to a real person
with needs, both sexual and otherwise, as well as someone with the ability to make
mistakes and feel pain and regret. And she
thereby finds connections with him on levels she did not expect.
And then Giles in turn is forced to recognize Buffy as a sexual being. She
is no longer a little girl, but a young woman, and this obviously shakes
him. But he does not rage as a father might. He offers only
his respect and support to her as an individual making her own
decisions.
And Buffy returns the support when Jenny is killed. She knows now
what Giles is capable of, what he will try to do and she recognizes how
desperately she needs him. The desperation with which they clutch
each other at the end of Passions is that of friends who have lost
equally.
At the end of the season, both have lost everything. Buffy has
lost Angel, the support of her mother, the structure of school and
society, and feels endless guilt over the pain caused to her
friends. Giles has lost Jenny, and he feels that he lost his
self-respect because he gave in to Drusilla's tricks in the
end. And then, more importantly, he loses Buffy.
Season 3: At the start of the season, Giles is caught up in
his need to find Buffy and then to provide her again with a stable life as
both a young woman and a Slayer. Buffy is desperately seeking
normality after her return.
It is very interesting that Buffy is most fearful of seeing Giles
again. She does not hesitate to find her friends or to go to her
mother's, but she hesitates at Giles' door. She knows she
let him down more then anyone else. And where her mother
(and her friends) put more demands on her, Giles simply accepts her
back.
The two are on shaky ground as
they try to cope with the previous year's events and her summer
"away," and then again by the return of Angel. Their
relationship is changing and neither of them know where it is going. Buffy's
growing up, taking responsibility for herself and for her actions,
making some bad choices, but also living with the consequences.
She explores her darker side with Faith and she is becoming an adult and
more then ever, a leader. She gives Giles orders regularly and
makes tactical plans for their actions together--and he accepts the
secondary position.
Helpless and The Prom are the key turning points in their relationship
for Giles. He is forced then to really think about their
relationship. His role in her life is put to a test and he
is forced to choose between love and duty. He chooses love.
This is different from at the end of Prophecy Girl, where offering to sacrifice
himself can also be seen as an act of duty, fulfilling the
role of the Watcher to protect the Slayer. In Helpless, he is
ordered to betray her; told his duty is to put her life at risk and in
the end, he cannot do it. And thus he is removed from his position
as authority figure in her "professional life."
Being a teacher at the school has always been a convenience for
Giles. He does not "teach" anything to any student
in terms of a typical high school curriculum. His only
"teaching" role is as a Watcher training a Slayer...being in
the school is convenient, but also puts social restrictions on their
behavior. It does not, however, give him any sense of authority
over Buffy--that comes solely from his official position as Watcher,
in which, after Helpless, he no longer serves.
And with the introduction of Wesley, Buffy begins to look at Giles in a
new light. She suddenly no longer takes him for granted and goes
out of her way to make sure everyone knows that HE is the one she
chooses, starting from the very first moment with Wesley where she makes
a point of sliding in to sit as close as she can.
In The Prom, Giles suddenly sees hope for his future with Buffy.
Angel is leaving and the moment when he learns is brilliantly played,
with a range of emotions. The relief that Angel is leaving is mixed
with sympathy for Buffy's pain and then tempered with a sudden realization that she
is "available." Note to that even before she tells
Giles, she works to be as physically close to him as possible, perching
on his chair's arm, taking comfort from his presence. And note
too, that it is Joyce who has told Angel to leave, not
Giles. While he has far greater knowledge of the horrors
that Angel can bring, he does not step in. If he was playing
the father, he would have certainly long before declared "stay away
from my little girl!"
Giles obvious nervousness at the prom while waiting for her goes far
beyond any anxiety he has ever shown while she's on patrol and is much
more like a boy waiting for his date.
And it is considered a given
by every BGer in the world that he was ready to ask her for a dance when
Angel showed! "Oh, just have at it and stop fluttering
about" is clearly directed to himself as much as to
Wesley--off he goes to "have at it!" when Angel walks
in...
Graduation brings them to a new level. Once again, Giles is pushed
to choose and once again, he chooses Buffy over the Council and
tradition, even siding with her to help Angel in any way he can.
His quiet support, moving over to sit behind her indicates the new level
of their relationship--she has "graduated," taken over the
control of her own life and he is simply going to stand with her and
support her.
All in all, the last half of Season three is what breaks any form of
father/daughter that might have existed previously and it also removes
completely Giles from any form of authority over her. From this
point on, they are friends and colleagues by choice, working as equals,
as adults.
Season 4: A painful season for BGers, (well painful for many
fans, no matter who they ship!), season four saw the gang, including our Chosen Two, fall
apart. The seasonal story arc took us through the not unusual
condition of friends growing apart and old relationships being neglected
in favor of new ones.
But there are many interesting BG subtexts throughout this season.
Buffy and Giles play the hosts for Thanksgiving, acting more as a
married couple then father & daughter. Spike later
refers to her as "the Lady of the House," and the utter
collapse of Giles at the suggestion that he has no more role in her
life/meaning to her personally is far beyond the disappointment of a
friend or the sadness of a father as his little girl grows
up....
Buffy too has her moments: she is most obviously jealous of Olivia
and when she feels that Giles has rejected her, she does her best to
punish him in turn. But she still wants him desperately in her
life, just always on her own terms. She wants him to play the
patriarch to their gang, and yet, rather than assuming the daughter's
role then, she wants to play the matriarch. She is
desperately afraid when she fears he's dead in A New Man, and in
Something Blue, while she suggests that he play the father in her
expected wedding to Spike, its because he's closer to her then anyone
else...she wants him to be as completely committed to her life as he can
be.
And Restless is filled with BG subtext. Giles starts his dream
with Buffy in his apartment, with only the bed visible, stating,
"this is how men and women have behaved since the beginning, before
time. " And when he switches to the amusement park with
Olivia, he's clearly struggling with the forced role that society's
putting him in, to treat Buffy as a child. Xander's dream states
the he was into seeing Giles as a father, but does not put Giles in that
position--in fact, Xander seems to look at them as a couple at several
points. Buffy's own dream has Joyce locked in a wall, while it is
Giles she is seeking...
Season 5: Season five starts with Giles preparing to go
back to England, seeing no life for him in Sunnydale: no role to
play and no position in Buffy's life. When Buffy comes to him and
asks him to be her Watcher again, Giles returns to life.
And Buffy returns to life as well. As we move into season five,
Buffy is finally centered: focused 'professionally' on slaying, doing
well in school, centering
herself emotionally. And she and Giles grow closer then ever.
Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), her world is becoming increasingly
less stable.
The BG subtext is tremendous. Buffy and Giles assume parental
roles together for Dawn, and she turns to Giles for all emotional
moments, for any advice, for support in all things. She chooses to
train rather than spend time with Riley and eventually Riley leaves,
knowing that her feelings for him are never as deeps as his for
her. The easy familiarity with which Buffy and Giles
interact is evidenced over and over again, from her anticipation of
receiving a cup of tea from him, to their almost psychic ability to read
each other's minds at different moments.
Travers in Checkpoint notices the changed dynamics. He makes a
snide reference about giving them time to prepare--however they go about
it. As the season "spirals" to Buffy's final leap off
the tower, Giles' desperation grows. He feels helpless to find a
solution and eventually he is torn between his role as a Watcher and his
duty to the world and his love and feelings for Buffy. He is
desperate to reach her and to help her see the love he knows is in her
heart.
But Buffy cannot take another loss in her life. It is easier for
her to offer her own life then to lose Dawn or to lose the world.
And so she leaves them all and it is to Giles that she first sends her
final message, "she figured it out," that in the end, her Gift
was not death as she feared, but love, as he always knew.
Season
6: Ah yes, a troublesome one for BGers, since our man Giles is not
around for half the time! But the question is really, WHY isn't he
there?
Giles is shown as devastated at the end of The Gift, but he has remained
in Sunnydale. He cannot bring himself to leave what connection
remains with Buffy, but finally it becomes too much and despite his
obvious love for the others, he cannot stay and face the mockery that
the Buffybot makes of his former life.
Willow and the others let him leave, not telling him of their plans
because they know he would put Buffy first and not let them risk playing
with her soul that way.
His return in Flooded brings BG to the fore. The desperation with
which he reaches for her and the continued reaching out to touch her
through the next few episodes speaks volumes of the depth of his
feelings for her. Her constant withdrawal from him pains him to
the point that he is forced to leave. Never in previous
seasons has Giles been so very physical in his feelings for Buffy and
never has Buffy been so withdrawn from him (or anyone.)
Giles rejects the role of "mother" in Life's Serial and
attempts to put a spin on his apparent familial role by pushing out the
adjective "rakish." He also emphasizes to Buffy that he
is still "ruggedly handsome" in All the Way, and their
behavior both at Xander's announcement and later at the party is more
couplish then anything else. They act as a couple in giving advice
and sit with Giles' knee pushing up against Buffy's.
The brilliant episode (my personal favorite ever) Once More With
Feeling, contains numerous BG references. In the later stanzas of
the song, "I've Got a Theory," he and Buffy are singing to
each other while the rest of the gang provides backup--Buffy looks only
at him as she sings, "what can't we face if we're
together?" Giles sings that he wishes he could play the
father: clearly it is a role he does not want. Later,
he sings specifically that he "loves you so" and is placed in
direct juxtaposition with Tara singing of her love for
Willow.
The comparison with Tara & Willow's relationship continues in Tabula
Rasa where the goodbye scene shows Giles leaving Buffy and Tara leaving
Willow.
There is no doubt that Buffy's life (and the show itself) gets steadily
worse after Giles leaves. Buffy, with no one else to turn to and
no positive emotions, enters into the violent sexual relationship with
Spike.
 And
Buffy notes that "you know, when I was kissing you, I was thinking
about Giles, right?" "You know," answers Spike,
"I always wondered about the two of you."
When Giles returns to help save the day (and the world) from Willow, he
immediately notices that she's cut her hair--here, the world is ending
and he notices her hair? Me thinks there were a few fantasies
going on in his mind while he was in England!
The delight and relief that Buffy shows at Giles return is not that of
someone who is glad to have a hero come save the day. In fact, she
still sees her role as the fighter--it is Willow who understands that
Giles is her opponent now: "I want to fight
HIM." (Willow also reveals her long standing jealousy
at the closeness between Buffy and Giles, noting, "I finally have
you all to myself.")
Giles asks for her forgiveness for leaving her. And of all the
things that Buffy fears to tell him, the fact that she's been sleeping
with Spike is the one that she most dreads revealing. And when
Anya fears that Giles is dying, she apologizes to Buffy recognizing the
special connection that they share.
The end of season six leaves the gang still shattered and
scattered...and with no conclusions as to the future of any, much less
our Chosen Two.
Season 7: Will not be commented on now, since it is not complete
and seasonal story arcs are much more important to Buffy then single
episode analysis....
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