Well, I’m not sure if they’re exactly “spoilers” or not, considering it’s just speculation. Nor am I the only person to think that the following is the case (board monitor Glenn Hauman shares my opinion.)
On last night’s episode, Giles–having survived his close encounter with a representative of the First Evil–showed up in Sunnydale with three would-be slayers in tow.
Except…I’m thinking not.
I’m thinking we’re seeing a “Sixth Sense” riff here (so much so, as Keith DeCandido pointed out, that they even mentioned that film’s writer/director in the episode). I’m thinking that, with the BBC “Ripper” series apparently terminally stalled, that Giles did not, in fact, survive a dámņëd thing, and that the First is impersonating a dead Giles.
Granted, the dialogue was off. Giles sounded defeatist and unheroic. On the other hand, the script *was* co-written by Marti Noxon, so that’s not exactly unusual.
But the utter lack of physical contact–an impossibility for the incorporeal First–was staggering.
1) Giles never knocked on the door.
2) Giles, the British gentleman, never helped with carrying any luggage or held the door open for any of the females throughout the episode. Nor did he seize a weapon when the others did.
3) When he arrived, none of the females hugged him, and Xander didn’t shake his hand. This is such a stunning lapse in the typical physical behavior of the characters that it seemed like one of those nail-on-chalkboard script requirements. You know, where something has to happen a certain way because the script demands it, but it makes so little sense that it just strikes you as wrong.
4) Giles never removes or hangs up his coat, even when we see others do so with theirs. Why? Speculation: It wouldn’t hang on a hangar.
5) When walking through the Christmas tree lot, the heavier Giles walks directly over the boarded hole that the much lighter Buffy promptly crashes through.
6) When Buffy is scrambling to get out of the hole, Giles doesn’t extend a hand.
7) When the vampire is emerging from the hole, we see Giles is standing directly in front of the sun, blocking it. He blocks it so thoroughly that Buffy is looking straight into it and doesn’t squint. Yet the vampire screams and falls back as if hit with the full force of the sun. Why? Because if Giles is really incorporeal, there’s nothing actually there blocking the UV rays.
Not looking real good for our hero, kids.
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