THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE DOOMED
One fan’s view of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the series.
Note, the first: These are just some random thoughts that I’ve had over the run of the series. I don’t intend this to be a critical review of Buffy. I’m sure that better people than I will go on at length (ad naseum?) in praise and/or in condemnation. I’m merely a fan and these are merely fannish thoughts and impressions. I don’t expect you, the fan next door, to either agree or disagree. You’ll have your own opinions, I’m sure.
Note, the second: I love the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The things that I may find to complain or criticize should in no way be misconstrued as my not liking the show. On the contrary, even at it’s worst, Buffy has been witty, entertaining and clever. I miss it terribly now that it’s gone.
Note, the third: I’m talking about things from the entire series, here, so of course there will be spoilers. If you haven’t seen all of the series and want to remain spoiler free, you won’t want to read any further.
It seems that lists are popular these days, so I thought I’d start things off that way.
My overall impressions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the series:
- Best Season?
Season 3, hands down.
The writing was crisp and so were the characterizations. Season 3 had the best and most cohesive season arc and, IMHO, the best uber-villain in the Mayor. It also had the fewest number of “blah” episodes. And last, but not least, it had Faith.
- Worst season?
Season 7
How much did I dislike Season 7? Very. Disjointed, poorly executed (for Buffy), and far too little time with the principal characters. The saving grace of the season? The series finale – Chosen.
First runner up (and a close second in rank): Season 5
How badly did I dislike Season 5? In a word – Dawn. The question, “was Joss on crack?” keeps flitting through my mind every time I think about her. Okay, I get the point about where she fits and why in the story arc, but did we need to keep her around? Yeesh.
- Best decision made by the production team?
Spinning Angel off into his own series. I love AtS (though Season 4 is a bit of a toss-up for me). Angel really came into his own by going out on his own, if you get my drift. Plus, I was never into the whole Buffy/Angel relationship (as opposed to many out there). I never saw it as the “love of all time” for Buffy. Maybe that’s because I’m older and have gone through all of the growing up phases that Buffy hasn’t. Whatever. I saw it as her first experience with love and, while tragic, just a bit overblown. It was the single aspect of Season 3 that I found tiring (or just tired) and could have done without (or at least with less of).
Best decision honorable mentions:
Not killing off Faith. Says it all.
Not killing off Oz. How wonderful that Joss let Oz just leave Sunnydale and that he didn’t feel the need to kill the character. I so love the idea of Oz wandering around the globe, trying to find whatever it is he needs to find in himself and in others.
- Worst decision made by the production team?
Firefly. I don’t mean that the series Firefly was bad – on the contrary, it was a fantastic show that was doomed by Fox. But in terms of Buffy? Joss deciding to abandon the final season of Buffy to others in order to create a new series was a bad decision in regards to Buffy. The team (*cough*MartiNoxon*cough*) just wasn’t up to it.
Season 7 was disjointed and slow moving and felt as though there was a decided lack of direction. Pivotal and well-loved characters were used poorly and ineffectively or barely at all. Thankfully Joss returned for the finale — and it shows.
Worst decision dishonorable mentions:
Dawn – Up until Season 7 I would have considered the invention of Dawn to be the single most terrible decision ever made. Did we really need to have a “little sister” inflicted upon us? Permanently? Too bad Joss didn’t come to his senses and kill her off in the series finale instead of Anya.
Killing off Joyce Summers – How much did I hate this? I cannot even count the ways. Yes, the episode in which Joyce died was gripping and emotionally wrenching. So what? I loved Joyce, even when she made me mad, and killing Joyce didn’t make Buffy any more of an adult. This was a bad decision.
Killing off Tara – see number 2 and substitute Tara for Joyce. I get why it was necessary in that season’s arc—that supposedly only that act could have driven Willow over the edge (yeah, I’m still not convinced). That season’s arc sucked the big one and should have been worked differently.
- Seasons ranked in order of best to worst?
Season 3
Season 2
Season 1
Season 4
Season 6
Season 5
Season 7 - Best Single Episode?
“Once More, With Feeling” (Season 6)
This one was tough, but this is my current personal favorite. When Joss is good, he’s very, very good.
Honorable mentions:
“Hush” (Season 4)
“Lover’s Walk” (Season 3)
“Becoming, Parts 1 & 2″ (Season 2)
“Bad Girls/Consequences” (Season 3)
“The Body” (Season 5)
“Chosen” (Season 7) - Worst Single Episode?
“Amends” (Season 3)
The good news is that even the worst episodes of Buffy have some redeeming qualities. I don’t know that I’d call any episode “bad,” but there are several that left an “eh, what was that about?” feeling behind after watching them. “Amends” felt like an “explanation and set up” episode when I watched it the first time, and it feels even more like that now that we’re in Season 7. Erase it from the series and you lose nothing.
Dishonorable mentions:
“Bad Eggs” (Season 2)
“Anne” (Season 3)
“Where the Wild Things Are” (Season 4)
“Real Me” (Season 5)
“Doublemeat Palace” (Season 6)I’ll have to make myself re-watch the majority of season 7 before I can figure out which episodes to choose from it.
End of Days
Ramblings about the penultimate Buffy
The Hand of Joss was all over this episode. Finally. He may not have written it, but two veteran Buffy writers did and it was easy to see their style and his influence.
Things about End of Days that made me go yay!
- Buffy and Xander talk. And they’d obviously been standing there talking for a few minutes before we joined the conversation. Finally.
- Willow and Giles research, even if it’s mostly just Willow going on-line (or at least that’s all we really get to see much of). Finally.
- Buffy listens to Faith. They may not be friends, but they’ve both done some growing up and realize the same about each other. Finally.
- Andrew and Anya. Andrew – the character who annoyed me, but who seems to have changed the most over the season. Anya – the character who used to annoy me at first, but now stays to fight instead of running away. And she does it for herself and because she gets it, not just because Xander’s doing it, too. Finally.
- Almost no scenes with the whining, sniveling I-can’t-believe-they’re-slayer-potentials, including the one I hate the most: Ms. I’m-Better-Than-You, Kennedy. Finally.
Standing on its own, this was a solid show. Too bad it followed such a poorly executed setup in the previous episode. I went back through the episode list and discovered that the writer of Touched also wrote the episode Help – another one that didn’t feel like it fit the characters much. I’m really surprised that they didn’t have one of the veteran Buffy writers pen Touched.
Here’s what confused me about End of Days. Am I the only one who wondered when they all had the big “we’re sorry we kicked you out of your home” scene? I kept waiting for even one single small apology – just one. And, I’m sorry, but “we were punished” wasn’t it. I know that I wanted to forget that the previous episode ever happened, but I don’t buy that they all did, too. I also don’t buy that everyone was just “la-la-la, we’re back to being friends and at ease around each other” again because Buffy saved the Potentials and found a new kick-ass toy, without some sort of fucking apology. Or, maybe Joss just wanted to forget that most of Touched happened, too.
I get the foreshadowing with Spike—but surely they could have woven that thread without the whole “get out, we can’t have you here anymore” thing that played so falsely. Again, maybe in the hands of a veteran Buffy writer, it might have worked. But maybe that’s because I believe it would have been handled completely differently.
Oh well. This was a good episode; it felt good to watch and it made me feel hopeful about the finale. That’s something I didn’t feel after Touched. So, yay!
Chosen
“Very gripping. Needs a third act.”
Joss’s subtle acknowledgement of the deficiencies of Season 7? I’d like to think so, but who knows? Doesn’t really matter. As far as I’m concerned, Chosen was a satisfying conclusion to an incredible series. So, let’s get the mushy stuff out of the way first.
Thank you, Joss Whedon, for creating such amazing characters and such a rich world for them to play in. Thank you for Buffy and Giles and Willow and Xander. Thank you for Oz and Cordelia, Angel and Joyce. Thank you for Faith. Thank you for Spike and Dru, the Master and the Mayor, Adam and Glory and all of the other baddies. Thank you for Tara and Riley and Anya and even for Dawn. Thank you for Sunnydale and the Hellmouth. Thank you to the people behind the scenes and thank you to the actors who brought the characters to life. Thank you, all of you, for seven years of amazing entertainment.
As a long time fan of the series, I liked Chosen. Joss didn’t attempt to tie up all of the disjointed loose ends that were left hanging around from the rest of the season and I really, really appreciated that. Instead he wrote a show that did what he needed it to do and that resonated with episodes from the earliest seasons.
I know that there will be people who don’t like the idea of empowering all Potentials and even possible Potentials everywhere on Earth. Personally, I thought it was a brilliant idea, even if it seems to herald an entirely different world. I say seems, because I have some thoughts on that that I’ll share later.
“The Earth is definitely doomed.”
May I say just how much I loved the little pre-fight scene in the High School between Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles? I’ve so missed the banter in Season 7. I loved that this scene echoed the ending of The Harvest from the first season and I loved the tip of the hat at The Wish – the “There’s another one in Cleveland” bit.
Let me say that I’m not an OTP-type shipper of any kind in regards to Buffy. I’m not sure why, I just never saw any one relationship (between any of the characters) as being “the one.” That said, I was glad to see Buffy actually tell Spike that she loved him. I think she does, in her way, even if he doesn’t believe it—and I’m not sure that he doesn’t, at that. I was glad to see Spike get his opportunity for redemption. And maybe I wasn’t too upset because I’d already heard the news about Spike joining Angel the following season.
I totally enjoyed the complete and utter destruction of Sunnydale. Did you notice that even while running for her life that Buffy didn’t let go of the Scythe o’ Power? A Slayer never leaves the tools of the trade behind if she can help it. And who didn’t love the sight of the “Welcome to Sunnydale” sign falling into the pit?
Here’s where I get to say another big thank you to Joss. Thank you for leaving things open. There are so many possibilities for movies and spin-offs. And always remember, this is the Buffyverse, where the dead don’t necessarily stay dead and nothing is what it seems at first glance.
What wasn’t I crazy about, then? Well, I wish that it hadn’t been Anya who died. As much as I complain about Dawn, I can see why it couldn’t have been her, so I’ll go for second best. Why couldn’t it have been Kennedy who was killed?? Could she have been more obnoxious and could there be less chemistry between her and Willow? At least she only had a few moments of air time in Chosen.
“Yeah, Buffy. What are we gonna do now?”
I can almost hear fan fiction writers out there sighing in despair. Everyone who could possibly be a slayer now has slayer powers? Where’s the uniqueness, the darkness, the struggle that’s inherent in the idea of one Slayer? What are we going to do for drama?
You mean, other than writing stories that take place pre-Chosen?
Okay, maybe that’s too easy an out for some people. Here’s my thoughts on Willow’s spell in Chosen. Willow is very powerful, but she’s not a goddess. Magic in the Buffyverse always has a price and always has consequences. Personally, I believe that the spell won’t be permanent.
One possibility is that all of the Potentials remember what it was like to have the power and it changes their lives forever (not the power, but knowing what having it was like). That would be “changing the world.” Another possibility is that the world goes back to the way it was before the spell and nobody but Buffy & Co. remember it happening. I’m sure there are many other possibilities and I hope that fan fiction writers out there will jump at the chance to put their spin on things.
I only have one final thing to say…
Buh-bye Buffy. I’ll miss you.