I think Xander emotionally disassociated himself from the act just out of emotional self-protection, but Xander always puts others first, so he would pull the trigger to protect family.
And I think that for a show about good and evil, the Trio was awkwardly and poorly constructed. The division between demons and humans had already blurred at this point, and we know not all demons are evil. However, when presented with human evil in the form of a murdering rapist, that evil is presented in an almost (or outright) comical way. I really can't explain it, but I think some of the "yah! dead" comes from the fact that the Trio just should never have existed. Buffy is good. Buffy figures out these guys raped and murdered a girl. Buffy does nothing. These guys murder Tara. It's an uncomfortable story arc to say the least.
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Date: 2010-07-13 07:59 pm (UTC)And I think that for a show about good and evil, the Trio was awkwardly and poorly constructed. The division between demons and humans had already blurred at this point, and we know not all demons are evil. However, when presented with human evil in the form of a murdering rapist, that evil is presented in an almost (or outright) comical way. I really can't explain it, but I think some of the "yah! dead" comes from the fact that the Trio just should never have existed. Buffy is good. Buffy figures out these guys raped and murdered a girl. Buffy does nothing. These guys murder Tara. It's an uncomfortable story arc to say the least.