Helpless

"Helpless" is the twelfth episode of season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Buffy feels weak and is unable to carry out her duties as a slayer. When she goes to Giles for help he seems distracted. This is because he is, on the orders of the Watcher's Council, preparing her for the Cruciamentum, a test the Watchers put every slayer through on her eighteenth birthday. She must be weakened and left alone to beat a vampire, to test her resourcefulness. When the vampire escapes before the test can start Giles reveals the test to Buffy who still goes to fight the vampire as he has kidnapped her mother. In defiance of the Council Giles goes to help Buffy, but she has already killed the vampire. She passes the test but Giles is dismissed from his job as Watcher for being too close to his slayer.

Quotes and trivia
Buffy is disappointed by both of her father figures in this episode - her father does not follow through on their tradition of attending the ice show, and Giles betrays her trust.

The book Angel gives to Buffy for her birthday is 'Sonnets From the Portuguese', by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.