I know you are playing devil's advocate. Here's what's wrong with what they might be thinking:
All those examples of earlier rule-bending made sense in the wake of an on-coming apocalypse. Was there a big apocalypse that demanded that Buffy form her own band of vigilantes into an army? It'd make a difference in how to interpret what we're seeing. As for the hardening, we were given to hope that her sharing the burden with others would lighten the load We can plainly see she's not sharing the load. Why is that? We've got this whole military operation and no idea, not one jot of a hint, about why it was necessary.
I totally, totally agree with your argument about the difference between one-off crimes in an emergency and a considered choice to adopt it as a lifestyle.
Where we part is I still just really can't believe that Joss doesn't see that. He's a smart guy. Or at least he used to be. Maybe it was just the writing staff he had that made him look good back in the day...
Re: Spike -- lol, I'd be raking in the big bucks if I could trade on this. Spike comic comes later in the fall, so plenty of time for an appearance. And in any case, he could still work into the story in one of those flashbacks Allie says we won't be getting. (Given my forecasting record, feel free to laugh at me behind my back!!)
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All those examples of earlier rule-bending made sense in the wake of an on-coming apocalypse. Was there a big apocalypse that demanded that Buffy form her own band of vigilantes into an army? It'd make a difference in how to interpret what we're seeing. As for the hardening, we were given to hope that her sharing the burden with others would lighten the load We can plainly see she's not sharing the load. Why is that? We've got this whole military operation and no idea, not one jot of a hint, about why it was necessary.
I totally, totally agree with your argument about the difference between one-off crimes in an emergency and a considered choice to adopt it as a lifestyle.
Where we part is I still just really can't believe that Joss doesn't see that. He's a smart guy. Or at least he used to be. Maybe it was just the writing staff he had that made him look good back in the day...
Re: Spike -- lol, I'd be raking in the big bucks if I could trade on this. Spike comic comes later in the fall, so plenty of time for an appearance. And in any case, he could still work into the story in one of those flashbacks Allie says we won't be getting. (Given my forecasting record, feel free to laugh at me behind my back!!)