Willow, obviously. Straight As, tutored other kids, college offers from around the world, never in trouble? I guarantee Willow was every mother in Sunnydale's favourite kid other than their own.
Everyone talks about why Xander is the way he is, because of his family life, but nobody talks about this part of Willow. She was like 15 and her bedroom had a door with outside access. Her parents trusted her enough not to worry but they were also so completely disinterested, they never noticed the adult man coming into her room; they never cared that she was often away from home overnight. Willow having freedom wasn’t new, but Willow having power made her someone worth noticing; power gave her confidence and Tara noticed her for it. Power, to Willow, was all she had that kept her from being invisible. So of course she got addicted to that, it was the only time in her life people were paying attention to her while she also got to feel useful and strong.
"I told you last night No! Where's Bart? his food is getting all cold and eaten." (Simpsons Reference! I didn't know about the "It's ten pm, do you know where your children are?!" thing until I saw it on The Simpsons.)
Can confirm. I grew up in the 80s. My parents never had a clue what I was up to, and they blindly assumed I was fine because that's what they wanted to believe. I was up to all sorts, and I was not fine. Drinking regularly at 14, staying out all night at random guys' houses by 15.
They didn't notice any of it.
Yeah, not that being unemployed miserable alcoholics who hate each other is a GOOD excuse for Xander’s parents, but it’s AN excuse. Willow’s parents, what little we know about them, seem comfortably well-off, the decor in their house and Sheila’s attitude about sociology/psychology/anthropology leads me and a lot of other fans to believe she and maybe also her her husband Ira (whom we never meet) are social scientist professors who are more on the research than the teaching side. Like they go off to research and conduct experiments so they can write another book, so they’re not even home for the ‘90s “It’s 11 o’clock: do YOU know where your children are?” commercials are airing. ‘But who cares, because Willow is so competent and doesn’t smoke or drink or throw parties, so let’s just check in with her every few months!’ Any parent would be so grateful and proud to have a daughter like Willow. But clearly mom and dad didn’t teach her boundaries, the grit and resilience to handle failure and not take short cuts just because she’s naturally brilliant, that just because you didn’t get
CAUGHT, therefore “in trouble”, doesn’t mean what you did was fine, even if you had good intentions.
Classic Gifted Kid problems: Willow seemed more mature and emotionally stable than Xander, Buffy and Cordelia when we met them in grade 10. Turns out she hadn’t been tested with temptation, power, leadership, danger, etc. She was desperate for love and the right kind of attention (not the kind Cordelia wanted, on a stage and with a huge audience of admirers), and didn’t know what to do if she felt like she was losing someone’s love - she’d never really felt it from her parents, only her friends and partners. She didn’t have a secure, healthy attachment style that kids are supposed to learn early from attentive, not completely selfish caregivers. This is why I have a lot of empathy for Willow, because I almost always understand why she makes the choices and reacts the way she does. It’s not totally personal: I was a very wanted baby, parents adored me from the first moment, I could do anything legal, ethical, and healthy with my life and they’d support it. But I was bullied the way she was and felt like I have had power and respect in school.
Great write up. I somehow managed to have both Xander and Willow's parents in one set and I have great empathy for both of them even as I dislike some of their choices.
Maybe not Harmony's. Seriously, assuming, for story purposes, thta Xander, Willow Jesse Cordelia Harmony Tucker Theresa Amy and Jonathan were all friends in kindergarten-first grade and drifted apart between then and 8th grade, how the parents saw it.
Willow, most likely. But i often wonder if Anya had begun making specific outreaches to Joyce as someone who could clue her recycled-medieval self in on how to act like a woman in this postcontemporary age; it likely never went all that far or lasted all that long, but at least Anya got to liking Joyce.
If you’re implying that Joyce was partial to Giles and would consider him a favorite I would disagree. Right from the beginning she is understandably uncomfortable about this adult man spending so much time around Buffy and her teenage friends. She is incredibly angry at him between seasons 2 and 3 when Buffy is missing and blames him for her absence. She does grow to trust him once Dawn shows up but I think even then she trusts Spike more.
I think Willow was her favorite Scooby Gang Member. Joyce comforted Willow in Passion when Willow and Buffy got a phone call from Giles that Angelus killed Jenny. Joyce is definitely more of a parent to Willow than Shiela Rosenberg is. Sheila's never around except for in the Gingerbread episode where she tried to burn her daughter at the stake and locked her in her room for being a witch. I know Sheila like Joyce was under the influence of Demons, But even when she's not she still doesn't seem to be a good parent to Willow, always leaving Willow home alone a lot while she and Ira are away for work. Joyce probably sees how neglected Willow is and treats her like another daughter. So because of that and because Willow's a good friend to Buffy, Willow is Joyce's favorite.
I feel like Willow is her favorite in terms of her being like "the good kid", but Xander is the kid she feels for and is just really fond of because he has a less stable home and she likes that he feels safe with her and Buffy.
Or Spike 😂 - They're my favorite platonic relationship on the show and I would have loved like some mini episodes of just the two of them just hanging out. I will forever feel like Joyce (and Dawn) made Spike really start to be likeable to me beyond the villain persona
Spike. Obviously Spike. They seemed to have a lovely rapport, and they shared a love of Passions. Spike was truly sad when she died, and she always treated him like a man
I think Xander. She went to get him cheesy chips in S2 with no further argument, lol. There’s also a scene between them in the flashback of The Body where she is extremely kind to him.
i think that willow and xander are her favorite after buffy and dawn, but i don't think that giles is the favorite one beside buffy like you Said, and i feel like she didn't like angel that much ( she even prefer spike and faith over him!!!!!!!!!!)
Spike didn't appear in The Body. And The Scoobies had every reason to assume Spike, the soulless demon, had ulterior motives at that point in time, anyway.
She seemed very fond of Willow in their interactions together.
I think she was bemused by Xander. I think she felt a lot of empathy for Faith.
Spike. She connected with him more since he was an adult to talk to. They were friends.
https://preview.redd.it/2ole5a0xby8g1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f48733d8092c71de0866d990ba29b61198c17ee
I like to think they called each other and talked on the phone, so they could watch it together after this.
Yes! They were peers!
I mean they did watch passions together, and when something happened to Timmy, both were outraged in his crypt 😂
I wonder if she also watched Dawson's Creek? Their TV taste seemed very kindred, so I imagine she was as irritated with Pacey as he was.
This is the answer
My first thought!! They spent time together and “She always had a cuppa and a chat for me. She was a nice lady.”
I guess Willow.
I always wished we could have known what Joyce thought of Buffy and Riley? Did she like him or them together?
im sure she liked Riley simply cause he wasnt Angel
"Oh, good - this one has a pulse."
Willow, I feel like Joyce became like a mother to Willow. Could be because Buffy had Willow over the most often.
Willow, obviously. Straight As, tutored other kids, college offers from around the world, never in trouble? I guarantee Willow was every mother in Sunnydale's favourite kid other than their own.
Everyone except her parents’ favourite, but then NO ONE was theirs 😢
This is the tragic irony of Willows home life.
Everyone talks about why Xander is the way he is, because of his family life, but nobody talks about this part of Willow. She was like 15 and her bedroom had a door with outside access. Her parents trusted her enough not to worry but they were also so completely disinterested, they never noticed the adult man coming into her room; they never cared that she was often away from home overnight. Willow having freedom wasn’t new, but Willow having power made her someone worth noticing; power gave her confidence and Tara noticed her for it. Power, to Willow, was all she had that kept her from being invisible. So of course she got addicted to that, it was the only time in her life people were paying attention to her while she also got to feel useful and strong.
This is typical parents for Gen X/ early millennials. They even had a commercial reminding parents to ask where their children were!
“It’s ten pm, do you know where your children are?!?•
"I told you last night No! Where's Bart? his food is getting all cold and eaten." (Simpsons Reference! I didn't know about the "It's ten pm, do you know where your children are?!" thing until I saw it on The Simpsons.)
Can confirm. I grew up in the 80s. My parents never had a clue what I was up to, and they blindly assumed I was fine because that's what they wanted to believe. I was up to all sorts, and I was not fine. Drinking regularly at 14, staying out all night at random guys' houses by 15. They didn't notice any of it.
Was just about to say this! Parents in this universe weren’t great, but Willow’s were detestable.
Yeah, not that being unemployed miserable alcoholics who hate each other is a GOOD excuse for Xander’s parents, but it’s AN excuse. Willow’s parents, what little we know about them, seem comfortably well-off, the decor in their house and Sheila’s attitude about sociology/psychology/anthropology leads me and a lot of other fans to believe she and maybe also her her husband Ira (whom we never meet) are social scientist professors who are more on the research than the teaching side. Like they go off to research and conduct experiments so they can write another book, so they’re not even home for the ‘90s “It’s 11 o’clock: do YOU know where your children are?” commercials are airing. ‘But who cares, because Willow is so competent and doesn’t smoke or drink or throw parties, so let’s just check in with her every few months!’ Any parent would be so grateful and proud to have a daughter like Willow. But clearly mom and dad didn’t teach her boundaries, the grit and resilience to handle failure and not take short cuts just because she’s naturally brilliant, that just because you didn’t get CAUGHT, therefore “in trouble”, doesn’t mean what you did was fine, even if you had good intentions.
Classic Gifted Kid problems: Willow seemed more mature and emotionally stable than Xander, Buffy and Cordelia when we met them in grade 10. Turns out she hadn’t been tested with temptation, power, leadership, danger, etc. She was desperate for love and the right kind of attention (not the kind Cordelia wanted, on a stage and with a huge audience of admirers), and didn’t know what to do if she felt like she was losing someone’s love - she’d never really felt it from her parents, only her friends and partners. She didn’t have a secure, healthy attachment style that kids are supposed to learn early from attentive, not completely selfish caregivers. This is why I have a lot of empathy for Willow, because I almost always understand why she makes the choices and reacts the way she does. It’s not totally personal: I was a very wanted baby, parents adored me from the first moment, I could do anything legal, ethical, and healthy with my life and they’d support it. But I was bullied the way she was and felt like I have had power and respect in school.
Great write up. I somehow managed to have both Xander and Willow's parents in one set and I have great empathy for both of them even as I dislike some of their choices.
Maybe not Harmony's. Seriously, assuming, for story purposes, thta Xander, Willow Jesse Cordelia Harmony Tucker Theresa Amy and Jonathan were all friends in kindergarten-first grade and drifted apart between then and 8th grade, how the parents saw it.
Spike lol
Spike.
Literally the only one I saw have a cup of tea/heart to heart with her (on screen) (I could be wrong?)
Confirmed to be spike lol
The last episode of season 4 really made me think it's Xander.
Xander. No-one loves a people-pleasing teenage boy like an out of her depth single mother.
I'd say Dawn
Willow for sure
Willow, most likely. But i often wonder if Anya had begun making specific outreaches to Joyce as someone who could clue her recycled-medieval self in on how to act like a woman in this postcontemporary age; it likely never went all that far or lasted all that long, but at least Anya got to liking Joyce.
It was definitely Spike.
I think Xander
Spike
Oh, Spike, definitely. Definitely Spike. She loved Spike. They were buds.
Spike
In that one episode, Xander. He was EVERY girl's favorite for most of that one.
If you’re implying that Joyce was partial to Giles and would consider him a favorite I would disagree. Right from the beginning she is understandably uncomfortable about this adult man spending so much time around Buffy and her teenage friends. She is incredibly angry at him between seasons 2 and 3 when Buffy is missing and blames him for her absence. She does grow to trust him once Dawn shows up but I think even then she trusts Spike more.
Going from Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, I'd say Xander. 🤣
Willow
Did Joyce know Cordelia?
I think Willow was her favorite Scooby Gang Member. Joyce comforted Willow in Passion when Willow and Buffy got a phone call from Giles that Angelus killed Jenny. Joyce is definitely more of a parent to Willow than Shiela Rosenberg is. Sheila's never around except for in the Gingerbread episode where she tried to burn her daughter at the stake and locked her in her room for being a witch. I know Sheila like Joyce was under the influence of Demons, But even when she's not she still doesn't seem to be a good parent to Willow, always leaving Willow home alone a lot while she and Ira are away for work. Joyce probably sees how neglected Willow is and treats her like another daughter. So because of that and because Willow's a good friend to Buffy, Willow is Joyce's favorite.
Xander... because he was helping her fix the house after every home invasion.
Spike!
Spike!
If Spike counted as a Scooby, I'd say him.
Otherwise, Willow, I guess.
I feel like Willow is her favorite in terms of her being like "the good kid", but Xander is the kid she feels for and is just really fond of because he has a less stable home and she likes that he feels safe with her and Buffy.
Or Spike 😂 - They're my favorite platonic relationship on the show and I would have loved like some mini episodes of just the two of them just hanging out. I will forever feel like Joyce (and Dawn) made Spike really start to be likeable to me beyond the villain persona
Xander! He’s her kitchen buddy!
Spike. Obviously Spike. They seemed to have a lovely rapport, and they shared a love of Passions. Spike was truly sad when she died, and she always treated him like a man
Xander. We all know why
Dawn
Spike, if he's counted as a Scoobie. Otherwise Willow.
I think Xander. She went to get him cheesy chips in S2 with no further argument, lol. There’s also a scene between them in the flashback of The Body where she is extremely kind to him.
Spike
Dawn
Spike for sure!
i think that willow and xander are her favorite after buffy and dawn, but i don't think that giles is the favorite one beside buffy like you Said, and i feel like she didn't like angel that much ( she even prefer spike and faith over him!!!!!!!!!!)
Toss up between Willow or Spike honestly.
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Spike didn't appear in The Body. And The Scoobies had every reason to assume Spike, the soulless demon, had ulterior motives at that point in time, anyway.
Obviously Dawn. She loved her like she was her own daughter.