MY THOUGHTS I can't stay away from original scripts.

On this site a fellow fan shared the original Buffy-get-out-of-the-house-scene from the Drew Z. Greenberg full-white draft for the episode Empty Spaces(so it's not a absolutely sure source)

Here's the aired version and in this thread's first post you find the original.

Here are my views on the changes;

I think I like Willow's ”She's tired”-approach more in the original script than the quieter nicer way on screen. Of course, Willow treating Buffy like a 7 year old would be strange.

I'm not sure if I like Xander's blame in the original script or not(okay, he lost an eye, crankiness and blame is expected) but it's great that he says;

"Even when you get mad at us for not working hard enough at a plan which doesn't exist, because you don't know what you're doing. We keep following you, even then.”

Because it's true. Buffy has put a lot on them all this season.

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I love that Buffy mentions Ben to Giles. Even tough it didn't make it to the screen, this for me settles the question if she knows that Giles killed him or not. I heard from a fan that in the original script for Lies My Parents Told Me, Giles tells Buffy about Ben in the graveyard, to show her that sometimes you have to make the hard decisions(he's trying to make her see why Spike has to die).

I don't get what Giles means by this tough;

"GILES (more intense) Or Molly? Or Xander? And it goes even further back than that, doesn't it?

BUFFY Giles.

GILES (seething) You act alone, and people get hurt, right? People like Jenny.”

He's the one who got involved with Jenny, he's the one who told her about the Hellmouth and let her into his life. Sure, Jenny was sent there by her people to watch Angel, so she wanted to be there from the start, but still. Sure, it was Buffy's ex that killed her, but it's not like Giles told Jenny to go somewhere safe.

I'm glad this part didn't make into on screen. Man, I would have loathed Giles(even more than I did after he tried to kill Spike that is.

***

This part, from the screen but not in the original script, is gold;

"BUFFY: No. You don't get to vote until I've had my chance to pal around, you know, get everybody drunk. See, I didn't get this was a popularity contest. I should have equal time to bake them cookies, braid their hair?

FAITH: Learn their names?

BUFFY: You're just lovin' this, aren't you?

FAITH: You have no idea what I'm feeling.

BUFFY: Come in here, take everything that I have... You did it before. Did you tell them that? Did you tell them how you used to kill people for fun? Hey, you guys think that's nifty?"

Buffy's a bitch in this scene, but I think this adds to Buffy's character, her loathing for Faith that just won't go away. It isn't pretty, but it's real.

***

I think that over all, the aired scene is better. Because it makes me less pissed of than the original script. More sad than annoying. Anya's Stargate line should never have been cut tough. There must have been time limits that made them not air it. Of course, a joke might not be fitting in such a emotional scene, but I love the line.