I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I hardcore ship Buffy/Giles. It's my Buffyverse OTP. Like, I guess on the show I think Buffy and Angel are like soulmates or whatever... but Buffy/Giles is my favorite ship. I've never read any good fic with them, though, and I don't know how they would get together and actually kind of suspect that I ship them as a really intense two-way unrequited love (LIKE THEY ARE ON THE SHOW*), which is sad. But man. Giles! Like, I ordered the collection of all seven seasons, so I've been watching a few of my favorite episodes (paced out through my schoolwork, of course!) and Giles is so awesome. Like, I think maybe I shouldn't be pleased when he does something reckless and violent and manly (on Buffy's behalf!) but I so am. Like, in "Dead Man's Party" there's that moment where Buffy comes back and Giles like, takes his glasses off and smiles a little and you can tell he's just totally overwhelmed with joyful emotion, and then later in that episode he slams Principal Snyder up against a cabinet and tells him, in no uncertain terms, that Snyder will let Buffy back into school or Giles will fuck his shit up. And like, I get that we're supposed to read the Giles/Buffy relationship as a father/daughter one, but like. There's that time in "Passions" where Giles is all upset about Ms. Calendar's death and he's all "oh I must kill Angel on my own to avenge her" which was, of course, a phenomenally bad idea on his part, and Buffy rescues him and he's like "wait, I have to go back and kill Angel" and then she just decks him, like just lays him out. And then she drops to the ground and hugs him and is like, crying and yelling at him and stuff. I was like, oh my god, Buffy needs Giles on a really fundamental level.** Although that wasn't actually the episode that cemented my Buffy/Giles shippiness. That was "Phases," where Cain the werewolf hunter was all, "hey man, pick the fruit while it's fresh, yowza" or whatever when he saw Buffy and Giles wandering around together, and Giles looked like he was about to snap and beat the guy to death. I don't know why that did it, but it did.

But anyway. Enough about Giles. The other thing I've really been struck with upon this rewatch is how like Buffy her mother, Joyce, is. Every time some crazy shit with vampires and zombies or whatever goes down, Joyce panics a little, assesses the situation, and then starts beating the crap out of monsters (Spike in "School Hard," many zombies in "Dead Man's Party," etc) or taking whatever other action is logical and necessary. It kind of makes me wonder. Like, we don't know how this Slayer thing works -- could Joyce have been a potential Slayer when she was young? Obviously she didn't turn into the slayer, but I wouldn't be surprised if she could have. I wonder if there's fic of this.

Also, David Boreanaz's lack of acting skillz = ftw. Oh man. Priceless.

*Some may disagree, of course, but they are WRONG.
**It's my opinion that this doesn't even change later, like season 7 etc, but I haven't made it far enough in my "selected episodes" rewatch to be able to speak on that with any authority.