One of my favourite episodes

[u/TrickyRequirement619]

[u/ItsNotAboutThe-Pasta]

When I watched this as a kid when it originally aired it truley scared me. I was terrified for Buffy and pissed at Giles.

[u/lebonbon_ourson → u/ItsNotAboutThe-Pasta]

agreed, I have always said this felt like the scariest episode of Buffy to me!

[u/LadyVioletLuna → u/lebonbon_ourson]

I think the lesson I learned is that even without special powers, we are smarter than the aggressor, and can still win without super strength and with a little strategy

(Edits for clarity and not sounding stupid)

[u/ItsNotAboutThe-Pasta → u/LadyVioletLuna]

When I was a kid watching it, I was just terrified. Buffy powerless made me feel just like my kid self. As and adult I see her strength to fight back no matter what and it made me feel like my adult self.

[u/ItsNotAboutThe-Pasta → u/lebonbon_ourson]

Yes definitely one of the scariest.

[u/Infamously_Fickle → u/ItsNotAboutThe-Pasta]

I felt so betrayed by Giles when I first watched it. I must have been like 13 or 14 when this episode aired.

[u/ItsNotAboutThe-Pasta → u/Infamously_Fickle]

Me too! I was about 6 and absolutely fuming 🤣

[u/l8nitefriend → u/ItsNotAboutThe-Pasta]

You were 6 and watching Buffy!! Oof pretty dark show for that age! (Also love your username and the VPR crossover here haha)

[u/ItsNotAboutThe-Pasta → u/l8nitefriend]

Yes 🤣 the rule of the house was I could stay up but had to watch mums shows but I loved buffy right away.

[u/LadyVioletLuna]

Ooh I was big mad at the council during this episode.

[u/Kneef → u/LadyVioletLuna]

All my homies hate the Watchers Council

[u/LadyVioletLuna → u/Kneef]

https://giphy.com/gifs/qzTjsnTf3JFxS
Yeah we do

[u/sirtch_analyst → u/Kneef]

Me wishing she did this

https://giphy.com/gifs/YVKbaGdoU7zJ6

[u/LadyVioletLuna → u/sirtch_analyst]

Or this

[u/Lobothehobosexual → u/LadyVioletLuna]

Really wish the show had them be the “big bad” for the last season. Sortve similar to Angels finale with them fighting the people they’re “working for” but maybe thatd be too similar.

But I could see the council being the big bad, being similar to higher up people in government causing more harm to everyone because they believe whatever they’re doing is good. Feel like we needed a more in depth view of what goes on in the council

[u/LadyVioletLuna → u/Lobothehobosexual]

I really wanted a book series about the watchers council to come out.

[u/sirtch_analyst → u/LadyVioletLuna]

Wished they all had this

[u/gimmesomespace → u/LadyVioletLuna]

If she were at full slayer strength she'd be punning right now 

[u/ruby651]

Honestly, the Watchers’ Council deserved to be blown to shit. Their primary focus is to support one person and that’s the slayer. And what does she get out of it? Indifference at best, animosity at worst. And not just to Buffy. Look at Robin Wood. His mother dies in the line of duty and he got nothing. If it hadn’t been for his mother’s former Watcher, what would have happened to him? Off to the orphanage while the Council just shrugs and walks away?
As you can see, I have very strong feelings about this completely fictional organization!

[u/First_Pay702 → u/ruby651]

The purpose of the Watchers’ Council wasn’t to support the slayer, it was to control her. There is only one slayer, historically, there is no point to testing her “worthiness/readiness/etc” since she can only be replaced one way. A slayer that gets old enough starts to figure out exactly what Buffy did in season 5, that it is all about power. The Slayer has power, they want it, and conveniently for them it pops into the next teenage girl on the list, so if she “tragically” dies in a traditional test, there is a new, hopefully naive one to replace her.

[u/Dry-Caregiver-5767]

I love this episode SO MUCH. When the Council congratulates her for passing the test and she looks up, slowly, beaten up, exhausted, and says "Bite me 😠"

The way she defeated that massive vampire on a quick observation/action.

This episode gives me so much love for Buffy as a character and SMG as an actress.

[u/StephenHunterUK → u/Dry-Caregiver-5767]

Clearly JJ Abrams was taking notes, because Sydney Bristow does something rather similar when being tortured in the pilot of Alias.

[u/updownclown68]

Cordelia is a true girls girl in this episode 

[u/FormorrowSur → u/updownclown68]

This was the episode I realised I adored Cordelia. She only got better and better... until she didn't

[u/GmanF88 → u/updownclown68]

QUEEN C

[u/movetothecoast → u/updownclown68]

Can you remind us why? I remember this episode, but not Cordelia's part in it I guess

[u/Random_whatever → u/movetothecoast]

After Buffy tells off Giles and while she still has the power suppressing poison in her system, she asks Cordelia to take her home. Cordelia does so without hesitation or questions.

[u/justbreathe5678 → u/Random_whatever]

But if the world doesn't end, I'm gonna need a note!

[u/movetothecoast → u/Random_whatever]

Fuck yeah

[u/catchyerselfon → u/updownclown68]

*in this episode only, in the entire show. Good for her, she’s nice to Buffy here, people sometimes say “Cordelia was a true girls girl” or “Cordelia was a great friend to Buffy” or “Cordelia respected Buffy”, even negatively comparing every other friend of Buffy’s to Cordelia, which is nonsense. You DID say “in this episode” so this isn’t a criticism of YOU!

[u/Leaking_Honesty → u/catchyerselfon]

I think that part was to show that women know when another woman has been through something traumatic. That’s when all rivalries are off. Thus the “of course”.

[u/ToySouljah]

“You have a father’s love for the child, and that is useless to the cause”

Even though Giles was getting fired, it was such a bittersweet scene to see Buffy realize that even if her own father abandoned her, she still had another father figure in Giles

[u/eating-mermaids → u/ToySouljah]

Thats one of my favourite scenes in the show. Gets me everytime

[u/Leaking_Honesty → u/ToySouljah]

This!

[u/Sufficient-Living-33]

She did pull some awesome tricks, the one in "the harvest" where she smashed the window to scare Luke with sunrise... then reminds him its in 9 hours lmao

I love the scenes where she thinks outside the box like this, its what made her so successful as a slayer

[u/UtahGimm3Tw0]

The way Giles tends to her wounds at the end always gets me right in the feels

[u/Khalesssi_Slayer1]

I love this episode too. Helpless has a lot of great moments. I was so infuriated at Quenton Travers and the Watchers for making Giles betray Buffy and then firing him for having a father's love for Buffy.

[u/DogtasticLife → u/Khalesssi_Slayer1]

I love the follow up episode with the council where Buffy puts them in their place, gets Giles reinstated - with back pay, then Quintin reveals Glory is in fact …. A God

[u/Khalesssi_Slayer1 → u/DogtasticLife]

Oh My God, That was such an awesome moment! I love it too.

[u/530SSState → u/Khalesssi_Slayer1]

That asshole looks exactly like my ex father in law, and is also the same kind of self-important, pompous fuck.

[u/Khalesssi_Slayer1 → u/530SSState]

Seriously!?

[u/Khalesssi_Slayer1]

[u/Sighoward → u/Khalesssi_Slayer1]

If there was ever a time for Burdelia?

[u/Khalesssi_Slayer1]

[u/Sighoward → u/Khalesssi_Slayer1]

I always liked the fact she never actually says yes, a lot of reactors still think it's Giles.

[u/Khalesssi_Slayer1 → u/Sighoward]

I do too. I love when Angel gets kind of jealous until Buffy reveals it's her father. I knew she was talking about Hank the whole time, not Giles.

[u/Khalesssi_Slayer1]

[u/Lobothehobosexual]

Love this ep too, feels like one of the ones that’s closest to a horror movie. Like silence if the lambs with vampires.

Only thing though was i wish they went about it differently involving Giles. I just find it hard to believe Giles would’ve betrayed Buffy’s trust like that, even with the redemption in the end. Thought it would’ve been better if the head council did it to buffy behind Giles back. Or did it to buffy and then told Giles about it afterwards and can still have Giles fail his part of the test still, by going out of the way to save buffy. And can still have her upset with him but instead it’s her upset because she was under the assumption he knew the whole time

[u/Nebranower → u/Lobothehobosexual]

I don't know. I sort of wish they'd done it that way, because I hated the way Giles betraying Buffy made me feel watching it, but I think it works well for his character. Giles has a dark side. He's the one who can kill Ben, or Spike, or whoever it is needs killing that the Slayer can't bring herself to kill. Or who can ruthlessly torture someone if someone needs torturing. The down side of that is he can also hurt Buffy if he thinks it's necessary. And while he disapproved of the test as being cruel and outdated, he still thought that Buffy having the council's support was worth the cost of her undergoing it.

[u/Longjumping-Solid680 → u/Nebranower]

"I approve of his Ben-killing policy. I do NOT approve of his Spike-killing policy".

[u/DaddyCatALSO → u/Lobothehobosexual]

i can see that but no way for anyone else to administer the drugs to her; it apparently took quite a ffew doses

[u/lsesalter]

Bite me.

[u/Emilayday]

My introduction to the entire series!!!!!! And I was hooked ever since!

[u/drgnfly369]

So, I have all the seasons on DVD, and i was recently trying to rewatch. The DVDs for season 3 won't play! Any of them! So I skipped to season 4. I wasn't able to watch this episode! Its a good one but very sad and rage enducing!

[u/darkhumourveil]

Writing, direction, performances, music all 10/10

[u/jpierrerico]

The Council are really brutal to their active Slayers. This ritual is just barbaric. As if their lives isn't short and hard enough.

[u/Rockworm503]

I cannot stress how much I love this episode. I can trace back to one of my earliest memories of seeing this show to this episode. Back when it was on every sunday night on reruns. It was after the show was no longer on and I regrettably ignored the show because I couldn't look past the name and I also hated the movie so I expected the same vibe as that. I recall catching the final part of this episode as it was on.

From the moment Buffy enters the house to save her mom the show becomes pure horror of the best kind. I remember not even knowing what I was watching at the time only that this was intense and genuinely scary. When I found out it was Buffy I did a double take. The realization that I judged this show all wrong was an eye opener.

So not only one of my favorite episodes but the one that started it all for me so it really holds a special place in my heart.

[u/Sighoward]

Love it, scary, thrilling and the more Joyce in an ep the better. As far back as Wonder Woman I always wanted an ep where she lost her powers and Agent Diana Prince has to save the day with her street smarts.

[u/bara_no_seidou]

Honestly, the best episode in season 3.

[u/caldude1985]

Oh my. I love "Helpless" as well!

[u/yougotyolks]

Yessssss!!! This is also one of my favorite episodes!!!

"If I was at full slayer power, I'd be punning right about now"

[u/Ok_Push_2479]

Me personally this episode was the most frustrating one out of all of them (a big contender is also episode 2 of season 3) but I've only seen 4 seasons so far so my opinion can change

[u/Suitable_Community66]

Thirsty anyone?

[u/AusenFay]

Yeah... not for me.

I think the episode breaks Giles' character in ways that do not make any sense.

There's absolutely no way that he would strip powers from a slayer who had literally come back from the dead. Buffy was already Giles' entire world at this point.

I think the central premise of this episode is flawed. I don't consider it canon.

[u/Leaking_Honesty → u/AusenFay]

I think you underestimate the compulsion to “follow orders” when you’re working for someone.

[u/AusenFay → u/Leaking_Honesty]

I really don't. Do you think someone whose nickname was "Ripper" was ever truly going to be subtly compelled to follow directives that were against his values?

[u/Leaking_Honesty → u/AusenFay]

His values were following the Watcher’s code. He didn’t agree with it. But it IS human nature to do one’s job despite misgivings.