Giles to Buffy, regarding Dawn after their mother dies: “You’re her only real family now.”
Really???? That seems like a CHOICE he’s making.
Giles could choose to be their family. But no, he lets it be Buffy’s responsibility to care for Dawn all alone.
Giles may not have any experience parenting nor the ideal temperament for it… But he’s an adult who’s been in Buffy and Dawn’s lives for years. He theoretically cares about them. But instead of stepping up and offering any real support, he tells Buffy that she’s all alone.
My first time watching Buffy, the friend lending me the dvds got me all riled up about how a main character would die at the end of season 5. They pretended to warn me out of kindness… but in retrospect, they just savagely enjoyed working me up. Not a good friend actually.