I agree that BtVS is best when it subverts the genre, not plays into it, but then the asspull didn't bother me as much as it seems to have bothered others.

I never saw it as an asspull. It went along with Xander at the end of season 2 telling Buffy to kick Angel's ass and nothing about the soul. Xander has made preemptive decisions before hand that may have worked well in the long run, but were done for purely selfish reasons. In my interpretation of him, Xander has always been just a little single-minded; it's why Anya was such a good fit for him.

I don't think it's out of character for him to have done it, so much as that's not how I'd imagine him acting if he had.

I don't think it's out of character for him to have done it, so much as that's not how I'd imagine him acting if he had.

I can go with that. I have to agree, I don't think it was well set-up, but I didn't feel it was out of character.

BTW, anyone here see the first episode of the new Doctor Who? Anyone who did think that the store that blew up looked a lot like the Watcher's HQ that also blew up ?

Sumi, yes.

Plus? I just posted about the show in (well, ep 5) in Boxed Set not two minutes before seeing your post.

I've only seen the first three episodes.

I loved them.

They seem to delight in blowing something up every week. Was this typical of old Doctor Whos? I don't seem to remember it.

Question for the hivemind:

Back when Giles was hanging out in London and living a reprehensible lifestyle there in the early 70s, what band would he have likely committed cheerful murder or the like in order to get into one of their shows? I need it for a fic, please, and I can't figure out if he'd have gone for the punk or the rock angle. Was he doing the bad boy thing before punk? My knowledge of such things is sadly lacking.

what band would he have likely committed cheerful murder or the like in order to get into one of their shows?

Canonically we have references to Cream, the Velvet Underground and the Bay City Rollers. Fortunately, Giles' Rollers phase couldn't have really happened until the mid-seventies.

As a hardass demon-worshipper in the early seventies, I'd peg Giles as being very interested in seeing Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. He'd probably like The Stooges too, and they're cooler and when Iggy finally perfomed in London it was a big deal.

What year specifically? There were some fairly sharp divisions in the early 70's.

But, if you're talking early 70's, then, yes, way too early for punk. Sex Pistols didn't form until '75, Clash in '76.

The Bad Boy Giles theme song was "Tales of Brave Ulysses" by Cream; that song was on the album Disraeli Gears, which came out in 1967. (I think Cream broke up in 1970, or thereabouts, and Eric Clapton went on to do a whole lot of drugs.) I would say that, unless Giles is younger than I think he is, he should be decidedly rock rather than punk. So, like, what, the Yardbirds had broken up by then; the Beatles (who were hopelessly straight for Giles's taste) were about to break up. The Who might be too earnest for him; Pink Floyd too moony; maybe Led Zep? Zoso came out in 1971.

I want to say, on no evidence at all, that punk didn't really get started until the second half of that decade. [edit: Huh. I am a good guesser.]