10 Most Depressingly Realistic Lessons From Buffy The Vampire Slayer

3. Parents Don't Always Know Best

Episode: Season 7, Episode 17 - "Lies My Parents Told Me" Lets be honest: The seventh and final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a let-down. The "Slayer School" storyline was lame. The "real vampires" (or ancient cave-man vampires, or whatever) known as Turok-Hans were corny and inconsistently presented, at first being nearly impossible for Buffy to defeat one-on-one, but by the end of the season being cannon fodder. Willow was just sort of "there" and Giles wasn't really there at all (having been written off to England the previous season). The season also had far too many "motivational speeches" that seemed like filler. Really, it was Spike that carried the seventh season, with the only interesting storyline being his (First Evil, we're sorry, but you would have been better suited to a multi-episode arc, not a series ending storyline). So it seems fitting that it was a Spike episode that taught us one of the few lessons to be had from the season. Interspersed with scenes from Spike's past, the episode is basically a look at Spike then vs. now, with the surviving son of a Slayer he once killed looking to take vengeance on the vampire who left him an orphan. The parent in question is Giles, watcher for Buffy, and all around father figure. Throughout the season, Buffy had grown less reliant on him as a father figure, and he frequently questioned her alliance with Spike. In "Lies My Parents Told Me," however, he took things a step too far, trying to have Spike killed for (what amounted to) "Buffy's own good." He allowed Spike to walk into a trap set by Principal Wood (a.k.a. the son of the second Slayer Spike killed), breaking Buffy's trust. It was a set of lies (hence the title) by Giles that put Spike in danger, and served as a fitting reminder that parents don't always know best - and what they think is in your best interest may not be (after all, Spike saves the world at the end of the season). The depressingly real moment actually comes at the end however - when Buffy informs Giles, a man she very much loves as a father, that she already knows everything he could teach her.
Contributor
Contributor

Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.