10 Dumbest Decisions In Buffy The Vampire Slayer
7. Making Your Daughter Leave Town – Joyce (Season 2, Episode 22)
Buffy has a rough time in Season 2. Angel – her friend and lover – loses his soul and becomes the Scooby Gang’s main adversary, and at the end of the season, Buffy is forced to send him to a hell dimension. After suffering such a traumatic set of circumstances, she probably needed a cup of coffee and a good night’s sleep.
Sadly, this wasn’t an option. Earlier on in the episode, Joyce learns her daughter is a Slayer, and she doesn't take the news particularly well. After a heated argument between the two of them, Joyce tells Buffy she can't come back if she leaves the house again.
As such, when the episode reaches its conclusion, Buffy – having just lost her lover to a hell dimension – gets on a bus and leaves Sunnydale alone.
Whilst Joyce embraces her daughter with open arms at the start of Season 3, she still should have kept her temper under control. If she had, Buffy would have thought twice about leaving Sunnydale.