Yes and no. Buffy doesn't seem to know she can tap into the power.

Maybe if she would have been given the slayer's handbook....

It's very possible she wouldn't want to.

It's very possible she wouldn't want to.

ITA. Buffy seemed to be (after Ted) overly conscious of her own strength and ability to tap into her darkside. Plus, speaking from personal experience, my darkside comes out in extremely harmful verbal smackdowns when I let myself really go. Not pretty, so I purposefully restrain myself 99.9% of the time and only let it out after much deepheld introspection to decide if it is the best way to approach the situation. It's usually a "no turning back" situation where you have to be willing to accept the consequences. Buffy's consequences usually meant someone's death. Not something I would want to be responsible for and I'm pretty sure Buffy didn't either. Giles summed it up when he smothered Ben telling him Buffy couldn't kill him because she was a hero. Hero's don't take life, they preserve it. Which means holding back and controlling the desire to go berserk. After all, they only pulled out the "UberSlayer" that one time in "Primeval," where she really needed it. And there was still nearly disasterous consequences then. I think Buffy learned early to only use as much force as was necessary.

It's the whole Jekyll/Hyde thing. As rational modern people, we're supposed to want to be the Dr. Even Wolverine chose samurai over beserker.

Nice summation, ita. I'm just too damn wordy.

I'm also not sure the berserker thing is absolutely true WRT Buffy. Prior to "Primeval" at least, she was at her most physically powerful at the end of "Prophecy Girl," when she was also uncharacteristically serene and in control.

I'm also not sure the berserker thing is absolutely true WRT Buffy. Prior to "Primeval" at least, she was at her most physically powerful at the end of "Prophecy Girl," when she was also uncharacteristically serene and in control.

Ditto when she killed the Ubervamp in front of the Potentials. Contrarily she was weaker than usual fighting Sunday until she mastered her emotions. Mostly she just needs to focus.

There's two ends of it. Being a beserker doesn't mean sloppy or out of focus. Getting in touch with the primal is powerful -- but that's not what she was doing against Sunday. Her emotions were sapping her fight, not feeding them. Faith feeds her fight with passion. Buffy not as much.

Zen's on the other side, where emotions aren't even in the picture, mastery instead of abandonment -- that's where Buffy wants to be.

eta: Kendra was not Zen, IMO. She was cut off.

Zen's on the other side, where emotions aren't even in the picture, mastery instead of abandonment -- that's where Buffy wants to be.

Are we sure of that, though? In season 2, Buffy forced Kendra to get angry and her anger actually helped her fight better, as Buffy claimed it helped her. Yet, in season 5, I would have said that Buffy was going for a more Zen approach (mastery through detachment), to the detriment of her fighting skills and effectiveness. However, I often felt that Buffy was seeking a balance. To be focused and effectual, while drawing on her emotions, her ties to her family and the world, for strength. It's not necessarily what may be espoused by real world martial arts programs, but it was what I saw in Buffy.

You could make the argument, though, that it's the events (particularly of seasons 2 and 5) that would make Buffy want to be detached. Also, watching Faith may well have soured her on using emotions to fuel power.