Oh I can, it would actually be a lot easier to explain than any of the other possibilities...no time travel required, no resurrection, or fake death, and no retcon of character. Of all the possibilities - he's actually the easiest character to make Twilight. Requires the least number of plot gymnastics.
Let me explain.
1. What has Hank Summers been doing for the last several years? What is his business? We aren't really told. All Buffy says is he went to Europe with his secretary and is busy elsewhere and she can't send Dawn to him. Then in Season 7, she tells Holden Webster that her father cheated on her mother. We are never told by the writers what her father does exactly.
2. What was Hank's reaction to Buffy seeing vampires and fighting? In Normal Again, Buffy tells Willow that her parents put her in a mental health facility when she saw vampires as a small child. And in Becoming, Buffy's parents are fighting partly over her. He blames Joyce for Buffy's behavior. And when Buffy is distant during the summer after S1, Hank just buys her clothes and shoes - we get no more info. We have almost no information.
3. Where is Hank Summers? The fact Hank's been absent from the series for three years. We don't hear from him at all from the second portion of S4 through now. He's referred to, but as the absent father who has not been in touch. In Bargaining - they tell the Buffybot not to answer the phone because they are afraid Hank Summers will discover Buffy is dead and he'd recognize that the Buffbot is not his daughter. But he never calls. She has problems with money and social services, but her father never intervenes or is mentioned. Giles shows up. But not Hank. Giles even asks about Hank once or twice during S5 when Joyce is sick and when she dies. Hank never appears or calls.
4. Buffy has died twice, but Hank has been nowhere in sight. Granted he probably wasn't told. But what about Joyce? After she died, you'd think?
5. What do we know about Hank Summers as a person? Very little. Except how Buffy feels about him and her struggle with his absence. She has to a degree adopted Giles as her father.
How would you do it? The writers could easily with little effort state Hank was working with the government to develop weapons technology and was deep undercover. And that's why he went overseas. The reason he wasn't in touch with his family - may be because he saw Buffy as dangerous? And preferred the second family. Buffy alludes to the fact that he may have a second family with a new girlfriend in Season 5.
It wouldn't be hard to do. And it fits the on-going theme. Fathers in Buffyverse tend to be disapproving and neglectful.
I don't know if that's where they are going. But it is the most logical and easiest answer. Everyone else requires a lot of retconning to make it plausible. Andrew, Xander, Giles - two places at the same time? Harth - from the future? Spike and Angel - again two places at the same time and the fact that they happen to be doing something completely contradictory to Twilight in the IDW books. Adam? He was killed. Granted they could make another one. Forrest? Also dead. Robin Wood? Two places at the same time and it just doesn't fit his character profile, you'd have to do a lot retconning. It's easier to make Twilight someone everyone knows but doesn't. A character we think we know quite a bit about, but when we think about it, hard, we realize we know almost nothing - the only character I can think of that fits that description is Hank Summers. Hank Summers is also the only character from Buffy's past that I can think of that would be able to get Riley to follow him and the military. Ethan Raine? No, again a lot of retconning.
But, considering the fact that the writers retconned the hell out of Warren's arc...it's possible they'll go with someone else. ;-)
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-08-08 04:09 pm (UTC)Let me explain.
1. What has Hank Summers been doing for the last several years? What is his business? We aren't really told. All Buffy says is he went to Europe with his secretary and is busy elsewhere and she can't send Dawn to him. Then in Season 7, she tells Holden Webster that her father cheated on her mother. We are never told by the writers what her father does exactly.
2. What was Hank's reaction to Buffy seeing vampires and fighting? In Normal Again, Buffy tells Willow that her parents put her in a mental health facility when she saw vampires as a small child. And in Becoming, Buffy's parents are fighting partly over her. He blames Joyce for Buffy's behavior. And when Buffy is distant during the summer after S1, Hank just buys her clothes and shoes - we get no more info. We have almost no information.
3. Where is Hank Summers? The fact Hank's been absent from the series for three years. We don't hear from him at all from the second portion of S4 through now. He's referred to, but as the absent father who has not been in touch. In Bargaining - they tell the Buffybot not to answer the phone because they are afraid Hank Summers will discover Buffy is dead and he'd recognize that the Buffbot is not his daughter. But he never calls. She has problems with money and social services, but her father never intervenes or is mentioned. Giles shows up. But not Hank. Giles even asks about Hank once or twice during S5 when Joyce is sick and when she dies.
Hank never appears or calls.
4. Buffy has died twice, but Hank has been nowhere in sight. Granted he probably wasn't told. But what about Joyce? After she died, you'd think?
5. What do we know about Hank Summers as a person? Very little.
Except how Buffy feels about him and her struggle with his absence.
She has to a degree adopted Giles as her father.
How would you do it? The writers could easily with little effort state Hank was working with the government to develop weapons technology and was deep undercover. And that's why he went overseas. The reason he wasn't in touch with his family - may be because he saw Buffy as dangerous? And preferred the second family. Buffy alludes to the fact that he may have a second family with a new girlfriend in Season 5.
It wouldn't be hard to do. And it fits the on-going theme. Fathers in Buffyverse tend to be disapproving and neglectful.
I don't know if that's where they are going. But it is the most logical and easiest answer. Everyone else requires a lot of retconning to make it plausible. Andrew, Xander, Giles - two places at the same time? Harth - from the future? Spike and Angel - again two places at the same time and the fact that they happen to be doing something completely contradictory to Twilight in the IDW books. Adam? He was killed. Granted they could make another one. Forrest? Also dead. Robin Wood? Two places at the same time and it just doesn't fit his character profile, you'd have to do a lot retconning. It's easier to make Twilight someone everyone knows but doesn't. A character we think we know quite a bit about, but when we think about it, hard, we realize we know almost nothing - the only character I can think of that fits that description is Hank Summers. Hank Summers is also the only character from Buffy's past that I can think of that would be able to get Riley to follow him and the military. Ethan Raine? No, again a lot of retconning.
But, considering the fact that the writers retconned the hell out of Warren's arc...it's possible they'll go with someone else. ;-)