It’s actually the later interactions between Giles and Ethan that make me believe in a more nuanced set of feelings there. There was nothing IN “Band Candy” to make Giles feel more relaxed or tolerant of Ethan, so his willingness to sit and have a drink with the man on their next encounter is indicative of at least the earlier potential for such. I don’t think I’ve downplayed the animosity (Giles’s objections to Ethan are explicitly moral, and Ethan’s counter-comments include a preening pleasure in his own amorality), I just felt like more layers were justified here.

Thanks for the feedback, and hope you’re still following the story … finished now, as I might have mentioned.