You know, the Xander thing is something I only picked up on rewatches. I never got the impression on my first watch-thru that Xander/Buffy would ever be a thing or that Xander was being set up as a hero. But then, I was going in heavily spoilered to the EPIC B/A relationship and all, so I suppose I wasn't looking at Buffy/Xander.
However, on rewatches, I did notice how very Nice Guy the set-up is. We get a lot of Xander's POV on Buffy, on the Buffy/Angel relationship, on his frustration over Buffy not noticing him in a romantic way. In contrast, we get very little of, say, Willow's POV on Xander and his obsession with Buffy. I know authorial intent is a tricksy thing, and I hate drawing conclusions about what the audience is "supposed" to take away from something, but I sure do get the impression that the beginning is set up in a way such that the audience is intended to root for Xander.
Which is, I think, playing into Joss' nerd guy bias where in a series about a female hero, he still gravitates toward the nerdy guy POV. It takes him a while to break from that, but it's in effect for much of S1.
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However, on rewatches, I did notice how very Nice Guy the set-up is. We get a lot of Xander's POV on Buffy, on the Buffy/Angel relationship, on his frustration over Buffy not noticing him in a romantic way. In contrast, we get very little of, say, Willow's POV on Xander and his obsession with Buffy. I know authorial intent is a tricksy thing, and I hate drawing conclusions about what the audience is "supposed" to take away from something, but I sure do get the impression that the beginning is set up in a way such that the audience is intended to root for Xander.
Which is, I think, playing into Joss' nerd guy bias where in a series about a female hero, he still gravitates toward the nerdy guy POV. It takes him a while to break from that, but it's in effect for much of S1.