Stay with me here: at the end of Season 8, a demonically-influenced Angel snapped watcher Rupert Giles' neck shortly before being stripped of his powers and realising what he'd just done, sending him catatonic. Faith takes charge of him in Giles' old London flat in Season 9 and when he comes to he decides that in order to redeem himself he needs to return the man to life. Angel does this by giving himself a mystical nipple piercing and collecting pieces of Giles' soul in the ring so that, when complete, it can be returned to his body. And - after a scuffle with some demons who'd rather Rupert's soul was possessed by someone other than the man himself - they do just that and return Giles to life, but with one tiny change... He's come back in the form of his pre-pubescent self. Yep, cute little blazer, glasses and all. And it might actually have been the smartest resurrection that's been done in Buffy's history. It took a whole season to accomplish, which makes it feel earned, and it's not like the character's in exactly the same position he was before he died; now he's got puberty to go through all over again.
