I suppose helping the built-in expiration date along makes more sense in the context of it being a way to get rid of Slayers who are growing more independent with age and more sure of their own power. Hence, less likely to blindly follow Watchers' orders. The ones who survive the test are presumably capable enough to be extra-valuable assets to the Council. And also, they've had a demonstration that the Watchers have a means to take away their power if they get too uppity.

Oh, it's probably in character for the Council, in retrospect. But I think that was our first exposure to them (?), so I was full of "Huh?" To be fair, I don't think I've watched it straight through since it aired; I remember thinking something like, "Wow, Giles is a jerk! Oh wait, they're all crazy. Okay, never mind."

Actually I think that episode did inspire a friend to come up with a brilliant theory about how the Watchers were going to be the Big Bad in S4. If that had happened, it probably would have helped because then "Helpless" would have been foreshadowing.

In completely unrelated news I saw about the last five minutes of "Harm's Way" this morning -- so. much. fun.

From USA Weekend Magazine:

James Marsters, so great in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," is now on "Smallville." Anything else?

He's shopping a TV pilot about "a conflicted hero who attacks with chains and razors." Marsters, 43, admits that as a kid, "superpower and the whole proving yourself physically and fighting was very interesting to me." Does his Brainiac intrigue his son, 9? Not at all, says the divorced Marsters. "It's more important I know the rules of Yu-Gi-Oh! and how to throw a Frisbee."

He's shopping a TV pilot about "a conflicted hero who attacks with chains and razors."

So, Spawn?

What makes it a betrayal and not a test, as you've described it?

She didn't know it was coming and it could very, very easily have killed her. It's not unreasonable for her to assume that her Watcher exists to support her in her calling, I don't think.

She didn't know it was coming and it could very, very easily have killed her. It's not unreasonable for her to assume that her Watcher exists to support her in her calling, I don't think.

Do you think Kendra would have been betrayed? Do you think that Kendra was expecting support from her Watcher?

I think the warrior framework in which they're treated like a commodity and whose lives are knowingly routinely threatened by men older than their fathers, but supported by the text.

Buffy was betrayed because she likes Giles, relies on Giles, looks up to Giles, has been protected paternally by Giles.

But Giles is also way black sheep.

I think it's an interesting test, myself. And if you know exactly where the next Slayer is coming from, it might be worth the risk.

Do you think Kendra would have been betrayed?

Yes. There is no way that I can turn "life-threatening test with no warning" into something that is not a betrayal of, at the very least, what is supposed to be a professional partnership. I don't have a parent/child relationship with my boss, but if he tossed me into a meeting sink-or-swim and purposely infected me with the flu two days beforehand, I would think of that as a betrayal.

Do you think that Kendra was expecting support from her Watcher?

I think that Kendra would have smiled and nodded and not taken it personally, but yes, I think she expected her Watcher to be on her side rather than trying to get her killed.

See, I don't think Giles was trying to get Buffy killed. I think Giles thought Buffy could win, but he didn't want her to go through the stress and the horror of a fight staged by the good guys.

I see it as a coming of age test. Send the boy out into the wilds with a spear, although he'll never hunt alone once he's a blooded warrior.

I don't think your analogy applies--in fact, I can't think of much corporate that would. But a coach deliberately but temporarily handicapping a college player (without necessarily telling him, because I think most coaches have more healthy relationships with their charges) or a drill sargeant fucking with the heads of the people in boot camp?

Sure.

The boy knows he's getting sent out alone, though. Had Giles told Buffy about the test beforehand, I would've thought it was mildly insane-o without safeguards--I am not in any sense a warrior at heart--but I wouldn't've thought it was a betrayal.