And as previously pointed out, Buffy (as presented in TV!canon) doesn't necessarily sit around twiddling her thumbs until people start dying. Especially when it comes to people she cares about. That's the neat thing about a magical, allegorical 'verse: death isn't the only threat that you have to deal with, there are more ways to ruin people's lives than just killing them.
There are plenty of examples where action is called for even when the person at risk stands no immediate risk of dying, but let's take one of the most obvious examples, from "The Gift":
WILLOW: Well, I do sort of have one idea, but, last few days I've mostly been looking into ways to help Tara. I know that shouldn't be my priority -- BUFFY: Of course it should.
But... Tara's not sick. Tara's not dying. There is nothing physically wrong with Tara (well, there's the broken hand, but that's healing fine without Willow's help). Tara's quite insane and as far as anyone knows will remain so indefinitely, but that's not life-threatening in any way. Willow's bravely dealing with the situation, taking the doctors' advice, learning how to care for her. Why should it be a priority to restore Tara's sanity? It's not like Tara's going anywhere; why not, at least, put it off until after they stop this apocalypse (and the one after that, and the one after that...)?
Because the show is not about magic or death but about being human and how we relate to others. If you can't help - if you don't even try to help - those closest to you, you can't possibly hope to (metaphorically) save the world.
Then again, maybe we were supposed to think Buffy was very wrong. Maybe she should have just told Willow to cheer up, maybe someday Tara would be dead, lol.
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Date: 2008-12-28 01:53 pm (UTC)There are plenty of examples where action is called for even when the person at risk stands no immediate risk of dying, but let's take one of the most obvious examples, from "The Gift":
WILLOW: Well, I do sort of have one idea, but, last few days I've mostly been looking into ways to help Tara. I know that shouldn't be my priority --
BUFFY: Of course it should.
But... Tara's not sick. Tara's not dying. There is nothing physically wrong with Tara (well, there's the broken hand, but that's healing fine without Willow's help). Tara's quite insane and as far as anyone knows will remain so indefinitely, but that's not life-threatening in any way. Willow's bravely dealing with the situation, taking the doctors' advice, learning how to care for her. Why should it be a priority to restore Tara's sanity? It's not like Tara's going anywhere; why not, at least, put it off until after they stop this apocalypse (and the one after that, and the one after that...)?
Because the show is not about magic or death but about being human and how we relate to others. If you can't help - if you don't even try to help - those closest to you, you can't possibly hope to (metaphorically) save the world.
Then again, maybe we were supposed to think Buffy was very wrong. Maybe she should have just told Willow to cheer up, maybe someday Tara would be dead, lol.