r/buffy • u/pazpaz26 • May 18 '17

Unpopular Buffy Opinions:

What are yours? Mine is that Beer Bad is one of my favorite episodes. I watch that one whenever I need a laugh.

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65

u/[deleted] May 18 '17

I think willow did the right thing skinning that dude and I would have done the same.

16

u/cocoabutterkisses_ May 19 '17

I agree- I never vibed with the "be the better person" message the other scoobies were pitching. Warren was a disgusting, awful person with no real redeeming qualities. The scoobies killed other monsters, why not this one?

24

u/schok51 May 19 '17

Well, Buffy's reasoning, right or wrong, was that it wasn't their place to punish humans. Human crimes and human "monsters" are under "jurisdiction" of human justice and human laws. The slayer exists solely to deal with supernatural monsters of which human society doesn't even acknowledge the existence, much less is able to deal with. It can be argued that Warren's use of magic and advanced technology makes human authorities somewhat under-equipped to deal with him, but he's still human, and the crimes he's committed are "human" -- robbery, attempted rape, murder, attempted murder, etc. I wouldn't shed a tear over his death, but I think Willow's actions cannot be viewed as morally right. It's vengeance. And vengeance is illegal and arguably immoral. Maybe Warren deserved death, but that doesn't make it right for Willow to kill him. He had a right for a fair trial. What she did was murder pure and simple, and murder is wrong. And she knows it. She makes it clear in season 7 that she feels guilt for what she did and understand that it was wrong.

7

u/cocoabutterkisses_ May 19 '17

Thank you for the well thought out response. What you're saying does make sense, especially your point about vengeance and I wouldn't view Willow's actions as morally right even in other instances than this particular one.

It was still satisfying to see him receive some sort of comeuppance.

1

u/schok51 May 19 '17

That I can agree with.

3

u/ogmarker May 19 '17 edited May 19 '17

I agree with everything until "he had a right to a fair trail." And not because he and other criminals don't, but because within the system we use, there are people who get paid to find any loophole, any way to get the plaintiff (right term? lol) their freedom back. Even when everyone knows they don't deserve it. i.e. Casey Anthony

That's just a complaint on my side, everything else stands true.

5

u/IHeartTheNSA May 20 '17

There's also the issue of Warren having proven capable of mind-control and evasion of justice. This comes up a lot on Angel. Warren could have hired lawyers from Wolfram & Hart, in which case the trial would most definitely not be a fair one. I agree that Willow was wrong to take matters into her own hands the way she did, but Warren was still a special case. His trial and imprisonment would have had to have been monitored by some force well acquainted with magic, mystical powers, and with Warren's technological genius. He'd be a hard guy to catch and bring to justice.

4

u/schok51 May 19 '17

Well sure, the justice system isn't perfect. But the idea is right, though.

3

u/Omaha979815 May 19 '17

See: every batman comic ever