Buffy's Death

[Dlou444]

I realize this is a nit picky puff thread, but I can't help it.

I've seen Buffy's death maybe 4 times now and it's starting to really bug me.
Sure, I can blow it off as the first season. And I can give Joss some slack since his movie script was butchered to all heck and back and he just wanted to get his show on the air.

But, this death is irking me.

First....since Slayer blood is oh so POWERFUL, why wouldn't the Master drink her dry? I mean, he's weak, this is good, makes him strong...no need to take just a sip. That's like running a marathon and being ready to pass out and taking a sip of Gatorade.
We have to assume he didn't drink much, because CPR works to save you from drowning but not for exsanguination.


But, even if we breeze over why he'd want to drown her instead of drink her blood...he never did seem horribly bright, I suppose.
Then we'd also have to assume that he bit into muscle instead of an artery. Because if he HAD bit her "properly" and didn't drink enough blood to kill her, then when she fell in the water, her heart would still be beating and thus would bleed into the water, drown and Xander would have had to patch the hole in her neck and start a transfusion while doing CPR.

All the other times someone gets bitten, they have to go get blood, even when Darla bites Joyce and seems to only drink for a second.

I'm always confused as to how Buffy seems to get all this POWER when she seems close to death, but that alone I could deal with. And, although I can forgive the show, on the basis that they needed her to die if only to bring in Kendra and/or Faith down the road, I wish they had gone back and explained how this worked.

First she's all whiney and can't fight the Master (as so nicely put in another post) and then gets "killed" in some weird way and then brought back in what is a weird and EXTREMELY iffy way and suddenly can fight him and is all Miss Power Girl. Granted, I LOVE the scene...even if it is a bit cheesy. It's great. But, it's the odd manner of her death that I don't get.

On the other hand, if he had DROWNED her first and then drank, it would make TONS more sense. It would be harder to drink much from her with her heart not pumping. Maybe enough to escape the barrier, but not enough that Xander couldn't have brought her back.

It just bugs me. That's all.

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

you know, i never really thought of it so intensely. i think ive always chalked it up to first season madness, you know? I take most of those episodes with a grain of salt. But you do bring up some really valid points.

Though i did have that thought of "why didnt he completely drink her". But i think part of it was, he didnt have to. She was the one that set him free, remember? her death brought his freedom, whether it was from drinking her dry or drowning. And being free in and of itself was what gave him his power, so he didnt NEED all her blood at that point.

As for the rest... i completely agree. It doesnt make much sense that she didnt bleed profusely in the water or anything like that since yes, she was alive when she hit the water.

[white avenger]

I can't swear to this, but I believe the whole thing about Slayer blood being anything other than plain ol' hemoglobin didn't come up until Season 3 when it was a cure for Angel's being poisoned by Faith, then later in Season 5 Spike says that Slayer blood is a powerful aphrodisiac.

As for the Master not completely draining Buffy, maybe he was so excited about finally escaping from his prison that he just wanted to grab a quick snack on the way out. If she was really dead as he thought, she would always be there later to finish off. That might also explain why he didn't bite her deeply enough to cause serious hemorrhage. He figured that letting the unconscious girl drown wouldn't waste any of that precious Slayer blood.

[SpikedBuffy]

Or maybe he felt that he was so mighty and powerful, that killing her was beneath him. He only needed her to set him free, and maybe leaving her die in a pool of water was an meant to be an insult to her and those who loved her.

[Randy Giles]

I never really thought about it too much, except I *did* always wonder why after dying she's so much stronger and everything and determined. Wouldn't dying and coming back be incredibly exhausting? Even to a Slayer?

[greetings]

I never really thought about it too much, except I *did* always wonder why after dying she's so much stronger and everything and determined. Wouldn't dying and coming back be incredibly exhausting? Even to a Slayer?

I see your point, and I thought the same thing, but that kind of issue does seem to come up with Buffy (the character) a lot.
Like, she'll be in some fight, and getting her arse kicked, and then the baddie will say something insulting, or that hurts her feelings, and then she'll be all tough again and kill them in about five seconds.
I know, it's not quite the same as dying, but I think the idea was that he'd killed her, and that pissed her off, and now she was going to be all tough and show him she wasn't so easy to defeat etc etc.