Xander Harris, Dead Man’s Party.

Remember the episode where Buffy returns to Sunnydale after a summer of living in LA, and the writers decided to have all the Scoobies gang up on her for running away over “boy troubles”? Remember how The Scoobies were painted as the virtuous voices of reason, and Buffy as a misguided idiot who completely overreacted to what basically amounted to a failed relationship with Angel?

Well, let’s look at the events that led Buffy to run away, shall we?

• Her ex-boyfriend stalked her, terrorized her, and actively plotted to kill everyone she loved, in a similar vein to how he drove poor Drusilla insane.  
• Buffy ended up blaming herself for all the horrible things said ex-boyfriend was doing, even believing herself to be personally responsible for Jenny’s death. 
• Buffy found Kendra- not just her friend but the only other Slayer in the whole wide world- lying dead. Not only did she lose someone she cared about, but she lost the only person who she could share her burden with, who could relate to her struggle, who could make her feel less alone in her destiny. 
• She was then framed for the murder of said friend. Framed for murder.  
• She was expelled from school for a crime she didn’t commit.
• After her mother discovered that she’s the Slayer, she threw her out of her own house, leaving Buffy homeless. So, technically, she didn’t even run away, she was forced to leave against her will for being a Slayer. Which wasn’t exactly a choice. 
• She had no choice but to kill her own lover in order to save the world.
• She is strongly suggested to have PTSD thereafter, suffering from frequent nightmares, flashbacks triggered by something as simple as seeing a ring, and feelings of deep loneliness and isolation.
• This isn’t Buffy’s life story. This didn’t take place over the span of a year or even six months. This all happened over the course of a couple of weeks. In fact, most of this happened all in one night. Imagine finding the dead body of one of your friends, being falsely accused of her murder, getting expelled, being disowned by your own mother and made homeless, before being forced to kill your lover all in the span of a couple of hours.
• Pick one of the things on this list, just one, and imagine how you might react.   
• But Buffy was just a selfish idiot who threw a tantrum and stormed off over a bad breakup, right?
• Saying Buffy ran away over ‘boy troubles’ is like saying the Black Death made people feel a little under the weather.

(via drusillathekiller)