Question Kendra

Mr Trick said:
All good points, except Kendra was killed. When someone is killed you replace them. I don't really see how it weakens the Slayer Legend. Personally I don't mind Kendra, but never saw her as a long term character.
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Buffy was killed (more than once) and not replaced!

You don't see how it weakens (meaning 'slows it down' in that sense) the Slayer legend because you are always too pumped with energy, Mr Trick (I say with respect). The point being made here by Mr Pointy 😉 is that killing a Slayer who does not come back to life (after it happens all the time if necessary) is a weakness that Buffy has not shown. Faith is lucky to still be alive and her jail term agreed upon by her and the powers that be has not been fulfilled ending her investment in redemption unfairly. Also, if you can see Faith as a long term character then why not Kendra, I ask you Mr Trick.
 
A second slayer at this point in the show is to demonstrate, by how different she is to Buffy, that this fate could happen to any girl in the world but they miscalculated slightly in deciding to communicate this by having a American actress superficially excotize the character by feigning a accent. And she wasn't different enough from Buffy, which is kind of nice in hindsight, its nice Buffy and Kendra got along and it did pave the way for the concept of Faith.

Let's say Kendra the slayer was alright, Kendra the concept was a missed opportunity, that was rectified by Faith. A personification of the shadow side of Buffy the slayer, how it could have gone wrong and how it has, with slayer hood being to much for some girls to bear. And Kendra is a example, monument, denouncement that it didn't have to go that way for Faith. If Faith had been introduced first, with only Buffy as the counter example, we might have seen it coming a mile away and I think everybody was genuinely shocked at Faith's heel-turn. If she had come first it might have cheapened the effect of, oh look, here is Buffy's evil twin right on time, they always do this with superheroes, boring.
 
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The existence of Kendra and Faith serves one purpose in the story: to show that Buffy is the Goldilocks character. Kendra is all about preparation and knowledge to the exclusion of independent thought. Faith is about reckless abandon. By comparison, Buffy is shown to be between them: trained well enough to meet her immediate needs, balanced by action and thinking on her feet without losing sight of the mission.

It is difficult to create a character who does everything by the book and build an interesting drama around it, so Kendra had to go.
 
Ayko said:
Buffy was killed (more than once) and not replaced!

You don't see how it weakens (meaning 'slows it down' in that sense) the Slayer legend because you are always too pumped with energy, Mr Trick (I say with respect). The point being made here by Mr Pointy 😉 is that killing a Slayer who does not come back to life (after it happens all the time if necessary) is a weakness that Buffy has not shown. Faith is lucky to still be alive and her jail term agreed upon by her and the powers that be has not been fulfilled ending her investment in redemption unfairly. Also, if you can see Faith as a long term character then why not Kendra, I ask you Mr Trick.
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Do you mean Buffy wasn't replaced the second time she was killed at the end of season 5. The first time the replacement was meant to be Kendra. The second time there could be a number of reasons why there wasn't a replacement sent. The first being the Buffybot filling in [tricking Sunnydale into thinking Buffy was still alive]. There's also that the Watcher's had cut ties with Giles and so were not in the loop. The other possibility is that they didn't have another Slayer ready made to step in. Don't forget they only had Kendra because she belonged to another Watcher.

What this shows though is that when there is a continuity question mark with the show there is always a possible answer. But what the writers do is sometimes they will leave the answer open to the viewer to answer it themselves. Yes there is a plot hole, but its not such a big one that it can't be filled.

As for Faith compared to Kendra. Because of the nature of Buffy as a show and how it explores good and evil, I just think Faith's more cynical, darker world view makes for a good counter point to Buffy and the Scoobies which made for more interesting viewing ultimately. SMG and Dusku had more of a spark than Sarah did with Lawson too IMO.
 
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Mr Trick said:
All good points, except Kendra was killed. When someone is killed you replace them.
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Mr Trick said:
Do you mean Buffy wasn't replaced the second time she was killed at the end of season 5. The first time the replacement was meant to be Kendra. The second time there could be a number of reasons why there wasn't a replacement sent.
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Having Drusilla take out a Slayer also weakened the legend while weakening the concept that Spike was so unique apparently having taken out two Slayers which is, especially after season seven, no big deal when it should be Armegeddon big. In addition, the 'spark' (if you can call it that) between Faith and Buffy faded quickly with the character from the show in season six and her return showed definitely no chemistry with Buffy that I bet would have grown into one with Kendra given a chance.
 
Ethan Reigns said:
It is difficult to create a character who does everything by the book and build an interesting drama around it, so Kendra had to go.
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You mean like Giles?!
 
Meliza said:
...but they miscalculated slightly in deciding to communicate this by having a American actress superficially excotize the character by feigning a accent...
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You mean like with (the actors playing) Spike and Wesley?!

(...and that it is a 'triple post merged' btw)
 
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Ayko said:
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You mean like Giles?!
 

You mean like with (the actors playing) Spike and Wesley?!

(...and that it is a 'triple post merged' btw)
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Giles was shown to not be entirely a by-the-book character with his intimidation of Snyder, his acceptance of Buffy's way of doing things and his failure during the Cruciamentum.

The British accent shows that both good and evil are worldwide phenomena.
 
More that the Brits were the center of world Empire, like the spiritual inheritors of the patriarchal shadow men, other societies have knowledge of the occult and passed down oral histories with secretive tribunals etc cetera but the British are in charge for obvious historical reasons....

The Council could retrieve a slayer from Japan because The First had killed off their smaller organization that had been in communication with each other.

@Ayko , Kendra's accent was actually a last time thing .. um that's why its so bad...you don't ask a actor to do a Jamaican accent last minute LOL
 
Ayko
Ayko
I fully agree and just want to be sure the blame goes to the production team for the need to have Kendra come from such an obscure island village with its very difficult dialect.
Ethan Reigns said:
Giles was shown to not be entirely a by-the-book character with his intimidation of Snyder, his acceptance of Buffy's way of doing things and his failure during the Cruciamentum.

The British accent shows that both good and evil are worldwide phenomena.
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Don't misunderstand. I love the British accents and themes. It is also true to (vampire lore) tradition. I do not agree though that Giles is not by-the-book with many examples available. His intimidation of Snyder is typical Watchers Council style and so, for me, more by-the-book in the sense of his duties as a Watcher. His acceptance of Buffy is also by-the-book, for me, for the need to follow the instincts and direction of The Chosen One. He is like the science officer Spock to Captain Buffy. His failure during The Cruciamentum was due to his 'emotional attachment to the Slayer' but not after he first did his best to do it all by-the-book in secrecy. His unexpected 'failure' to do things by-the-book to the end also gives evidence of this showing his stubborness to do things by-the-book, if possible. In the end, though, I guess it is a matter of perspective but, that's how I see it.
 
Yes, I see that that too, your so right. I was thinking of the Omnibus volume one origin story mixed that together with his feelings of fatherly protection for Buffy. The Giles on the show was a top notch, by the book stalwart product of the Council, a reason they entrusted him with the responsibility of a slayer and he was somewhat adept in ancient translations, well versed in demonology and history. Another reason to have The Cruciamentum then, to bypass the strong Watcher Slayer relationship that builds over time, to prevent a coup, a push back, a armed rebellion with a knowledgeable insider on the Slayers side.
 
For a weird reason I do like Kendra.
I do think she didn't have the biggest impact on BTVS. Didn't prove to be the most interesting & her death felt like it didn't matter since we only saw her for 3 eps. But I do like Kendra I just think when comparing her to someone like Faith or Buffy there's no comparison. Although she made me laugh at times & I'll never forget that accent lol
 
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