Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Scott Hope: A Retrospective

Because he was a recurring character, I suppose I owe Scott Hope a bit of a retrospective. But considering his relative lack of importance, it's going to be a short one.


Buffy's inability to connect romantically has long been a theme of the show, and so in this respect Scott is hardly unique. In many ways, his character does little more than expand upon the themes explored with Owen in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date," the show's fifth episode.

Scot functions as one of the two horns in Buffy's dilemma, the other being Angel. A relationship with someone uninvolved with her life as the Slayer (ie, Scott) is pretty much out of the question because being the Slayer is such a large part of her life that she can't be in a relationship without sharing it (and this isn't just true of her romantic relationships: just look at how strained her relationship with her mother had become by the end of season two). As a result, she's always blowing him off and leaving him hanging without any explanation. Of course, a relationship with someone who's involved with her Slayer duties has problems of its own, as we saw throughout season two, which is why Buffy ends up pretty much alone this season.

I think "Homecoming" tries to make us think that Scott is a jerk for dumping Buffy so abruptly and unceremoniously, but it's hard for me to agree knowing that Buffy didn't treat him much better (albeit through no fault of his own). Scott is hooked in by Buffy's likability and charm (who wouldn't be?) without really knowing what he's getting into. Nor does he ever learn, and that's part of the reason I feel bad for him. It's a shame, since he was a pretty likable normal guy himself. 

Which of course is the point.

2 comments:

  1. Don't forget--Scott is mentioned again in "Conversations With Dead People" where we find out another reason why it was probably for the best that he a Buffy split.

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