I actually thought the not-touching thing was neat and anticipation-making back when I was first spoiled for it. Of course, at that point I assumed there would be a payoff of some sort.
Joss and other writers have talked about having so much to fit into this season that it didn't all work, but to me there were about 10 episodes that ran together with not much happening except for boring speeches to crowds of anonymous extras. Oh, and Andrew babbling on interminably, musn't forget that.
I think they would have been better served to do the first 2/3 of the season as monster-of-the week stories like "Same Time, Same Place" with the hunted potentials subplot on the back burner, and then kick the arc into high gear around eps 15/16 with "Conversations with Dead People" and the firebombing of Watcher Central.
I actually thought the not-touching thing was neat and anticipation-making back when I was first spoiled for it.
For example, it spiced up the Eye of Beljoxa's prophecy for me to be worrying, "What if by explaining the prophecy to Giles, Anya is giving valuable information to the First?" And I was worried the first time they gave all the potentials weapons, because Giles had brought them and I thought they might all be traitors. (I hadn't figured out that the First was incorporeal at that point. Without Buffistas explaining things to me, I missed a lot of stuff. I didn't even know Giles wasn't acting normal except in "Lies My Parents Told Me.")
"Two to Go" and "Grave" were on FX tonight. Oh, god, "I'd like to test that theory" and Dangerous!Giles, then Giggling!Giles ...
I actually thought the not-touching thing was neat and anticipation-making back when I was first spoiled for it.
Would have been neater if there'd been some reason behind it. Even a 2-second throwaway line about how he injured his whatever fighting the Harbinger.
Also, insulting to Rupert Giles and a waste of ASH....It started so strong with "Do you want to be punished?"etc.
For me all of the off kilter Giles in S7 was made up for it with the "Could it be any worse? I used to be a Watcher – now I'm a wounded dwarf with the strength of a doily." and the exact head tilt and delivery from the end of "The Harvest".
The Giles thing could have been neat it if really had been about being observant enough to notice he wasn't touching anything. But as far as I remember, we only really started discussing
that
aspect when we were casting around for reasons why he was so completely unGilesy to begin with. And by that point, I was not alone in desperately hoping it was true. The Joyce thing is just weird - it's a thread they dropped, fine. Pretending there's nothing off about it just makes JE look foolish, IMO. But the Giles thing felt so dismissive of both the character and the fans that it still rankles.
The Tara story, OTOH, just rings to me like Joss playing around. I don't buy it, and I don't really think I'm meant to.
I loved that one.Giles and D&D I mean.
But as far as I remember, we only really started discussing that aspect when we were casting around for reasons why he was so completely unGilesy to begin with
It was mentioned in the shooting script; I think that was brought up pretty early in the discussion.
It was mentioned in the shooting script; I think that was brought up pretty early in the discussion.
The more I think about it, the more I think that it was never intended as a misdirect per se, but, rather, they were just making sure they were consistent. That is, when the scoobies noticed and thought back about whether Giles had touched anything/one, they couldn't remember him doing so, and they wanted what they had shown the viewers to also be consistent with that. It's a case where reading the script gave away something that might not have been so obvious otherwise.
Giles being written poorly, however, is a whole 'nother thing altogether.
