At the end of the episode, Marcie West is taken to a paramilitary installation with people who have similar "gifts" like her invisibility. 2 years later we meet The Initiative. Is it possible that the group who took Marcie into custody were an early incarnation? Using humans with superpowers to deal with the non-humanoid problem?
shareThose were FBI agents. I think the show at the time was really experimenting with different ideas that would shape the buffyverse. That's why we have episodes that are more sci-fi than fantasy, like "Ted" and "Go Fish". The initiative was basically the writers taking that side of the buffyverse and using it for a story arc.
I reckon the US government may have secret agencies bent on harnessing otherworldly forces. In fact, government forces did experiment with super soldiers in the form of vampires back in the 1940s. Though, for what its worth, it seems that these forces are still in their infancy when it comes to truly grasping the supernatural world. They look like chumps compared to the Watcher's Council and Wolfram & Hart.
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Not really, no - thats a completely different kind of supernatural than demons.
And they're clearly secret agents, not military. They behave a lot differently.
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A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.
The Initiative was set up to capture and study demons, not train them as assassins.
You are sin.
I've thought this before too, but the FBI agents clearly knew a bit about whats going on with the Hellmouth & the supernatural.
I always got the impression the initiative knew nothing about such things and only viewed demons as animals that could be used for science experiments.
That being said, both Maggie Walsh' boss & whoever the FBI agents boss we're (The Government) could be the same person (people) who are at the end of Primeval.
The unexpected is the new cliche ~