A Whedonverse series makes a 25 Worst Seasons of Great TV Shows List.
I'm sure this will have some agreeing and some disagreeing.
Kind of funny that they use a picture from a different season with their selection.
January 19 2013
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ZJW88 | January 19, 20:45 CET
libradude | January 19, 20:48 CET
WilliamTheB | January 19, 21:07 CET
miroir_noir | January 19, 21:18 CET
Effulgent | January 19, 21:27 CET
xanderharris | January 19, 21:40 CET
libradude pretty much summed it up best I think. It is a season without a clear Big Bad for Buffy to punch, but that's not the threat: real life is. Though, personally I find six to be as "exciting" as any of the other seasons; admittedly for a different reason.
Quinn Merrick | January 19, 21:41 CET
Madhatter | January 19, 22:18 CET
Jordo | January 19, 22:24 CET
thebitca | January 19, 22:26 CET
Judedeath | January 19, 22:40 CET
[ edited by will.bueche on 2013-01-20 08:05 ]
will.bueche | January 19, 23:05 CET
Shapenew | January 19, 23:07 CET
Though I will say that the last four episodes are the best run of any Buffy season.
Simon | January 19, 23:58 CET
Season 1 of BTVS is not up the standard of what followed, but it laid the foundations of the wonders to follow. And there were some great moments sprinkled throughout as well. And for what it is worth, I like Season 6 of Buffy a lot. Everything about it seemed justified in terms of character and plot development. Sure, it was dark. But it had to be, didn't it?
EffulGentleman | January 20, 00:03 CET
LittleMsMuffet730 | January 20, 00:08 CET
Also, the idea that people don't like season 6 because they don't "get" it is ridiculous. There's probably less to "get" in season 6 than any of the other seasons. In previous seasons, there were a bunch clever metaphors, in season six there's virtually none.
I was intrigued by the writers' choice to break out every type of "jump the shark" episode. You have a musical episode, a wedding episode, an "it was all a dream" episode, a character is brought back to life episode, and there's literally a shark-headed demon at one point, but the execution is incredibly lacking.
WindTheFrog | January 20, 00:27 CET
pacer | January 20, 00:38 CET
I also thought Season 6 was better than Season 1.
Season 6 actually had some of my favorite episodes, including OMWF, Normal Again, and Tabula Rasa.
Squishy | January 20, 01:06 CET
I wouldn't regard it as the worst season, though. I thought that the pacing problems towards the end of season 5, and the far worse pacing problems through much of season 7, were more significant flaws at the season level.
Season 4 of Angel didn't work out too well, I'll admit. But it was another one I really enjoyed. I loved The Beast, whose voice turned me to jelly and who forged a weapon from his unworthy bones. And I liked that relationship between Cordelia and Connor was so icky. Connor was a messed up kid, and this really made sense to me. It made me squirm, and that was part of how it worked. (Obviously, not for everyone...)
As with many things, sometimes something may not be that great, but it might be spot on for your personal tastes and interests. And that may be the case for these seasons and me.
Maclay | January 20, 01:43 CET
I love hearing your comments about the "old days" - as someone who didn't get into Buffy until late 2002 and didn't really get into the fandom side of things for a good four or five years after, it's pretty cool to hear old anecdotes from those who watched the show live.
Matt7325 | January 20, 01:45 CET
And when it comes to not well planned storylines and writing that seems to go all over the place ... shall we say that Angel s4 is not my favourite :/
[ edited by Satai (with Punsch) on 2013-01-20 10:49 ]
Satai (with Punsch) | January 20, 01:47 CET
active | January 20, 02:17 CET
ChristyCorr | January 20, 03:09 CET
Dana5140 | January 20, 03:39 CET
The season I had expected to see listed here was Angel Season 4. Like EffulGentleman and Satai (with Punsch) I find it the weakest Whedon season by far.** It took me a long time to get through it on DVD (unlike all other seasons of Buffy, Angel and Firefly, which all went by far too quickly). Only after I'd reignited my love for Angel by skipping over to season 5 and watching a couple of episodes of that season did we decide to go back and finish season four. While the main arc sounds brilliant on paper, in practice I found it to mostly be a humorless bore and had great difficulty caring about any of the characters (only Dark Wesley stands out as a shining beacon of awesomeness).
I agree with the linked list on Gilmore Girls season 7 which really dropped the ball. Haven't seen anything of The West Wing beyond mid-season 5 (though I've seen the first four at least five times) and agree that its thoroughly disappointing, but not necessarily that Sorkin had left them in an impossible predicament. I've heard before that the show recovers in season 6 & 7, but it's still good to hear.
*I'll certainly admit that WindTheFrog is right that the left at the altar resolution of the Anya/Xander storyline was incredibly weak and I also strongly agree with all those who find fault with the execution of Willow's magic is drugs storyline.
**Except maybe Dollhouse season 2, which I still haven't finished yet. I'm not too fond of the contrived attempt in that season to manoeuver the main cast into more of a good guy role at all either, but for me that wasn't a great show to begin with.
the Groosalugg | January 20, 03:40 CET
katsadako | January 20, 03:40 CET
Stelian | January 20, 03:43 CET
I don't love season 6 of Buffy but I like it more than seasons 1 and 7.
urkonn | January 20, 03:53 CET
I think they meant season 4.
farwell3d | January 20, 04:08 CET
Ricardo L. | January 20, 04:15 CET
allthingsaverage | January 20, 04:37 CET
Nathan | January 20, 04:58 CET
One of the problems i think season 6 had is that by being so specific, it lost a bit of universal apeal. Its not about life or growing up; its about a very specific feeling that not everybody has felt, a state of depression so deep it devours you entirely. Perhaps if the season was better scaled, modulated, with various degreees of pain, it would have worked better, but it went for the darkest pit in hell, and it relate to less people; its still a work of art that explores a human reality, but maybe getting from a show about human condition with great scope of relayable feelings for 5 seasons to a very particular one trew some people off. Maybe.
I think other problems it had was the fact that it was too dark; now, dont get me wrong. Its not that i abhor horror and darkness and want disney happy endings, wich i dont abhor either, by the way, everything has his place after all, but by going allmost full stop dark, it works less. At least for me. The trio was suposed to be the comic relief, and there was humour, but i still think that that kind of darkness works better if dealt in smaller doses, with more room to breathe; its like that old wiping metaphor; wait a while between the whipping, cause if the pain is to close in time, it looses its impact.
Season 6 wasnt only dark. It was DARK. No, wait: it was PITCH DARK. Pitch from hell that is. And it wasnt just for Buffy; everybody got dark. SO dark. We needed a bit more of contrast, bit more of life goes one for the rest of humanity, some sincere smile here and there...
Buffy was always dark, and it was always about loosing, about human frailty, about our own inner demons, our own failures; there always was dead, betrayal, human mistakes thar drove us to tears... It was also abut overcoming and facing all that with our strenghts and wwith the help of a chosen family. Life has always been the big bad. Making one season specifically so whas risky. Very risky. Much of it was greatly pulled off; some of it wasnt.
I also believe that the lack of Giles actually did hurt the show, the same way that i believe that in season 9 having the scooby gang dispersed on theire own thing or allmost absent is hurting the comic, but thats another story. The pay off was great tough. Theory tested. Yep. Loved that. There was good reasoning behind that, letting the kids walk free (i know the real reasons where Head wanting to be with family in UK more) and stumble on theire own, but his totall absence from the show did leave a big hole on it. You really dont need to flee the country to let Buffy make her own decisions, dude.
All that said... I still like it, even love much of it. Many of the ideas were great. OMWF and Normal Again were some of the best things the show has ever donbe, the trio, to me, was funny, and i love how the allmost childish attitudes of the trio got serious once murder was commited, showing what happens when a fantasy takes flesh and being evil stops being a play, i loved the shark demon episode, the invisible ray one, Rileys return (i tell you now; Riley is one of my favourite characters in the verse; a good guy done well), that beautifull exchange bettween Willow and Xander in Hells Bells that foreshadows the ending ("Do you know how much i love you?" "Not half as much as i love you.") or that wonderfull homage to Buņuelīs Exterminating Angel, and the las 4-5 episodes... One of my favourite finales of any show, with Xanders speech and Dark Willow... Dark Willow is one of the best things in the whedonverse and Hannigan pulls it off admirably.
If this is Buffyīs worst season, then Buffy really towers over allmost any show in history like a collossus.
Darkness | January 20, 06:14 CET
I got a giggle out of reading "Season 6 wasn't only dark. It was DARK. No, wait: it was PITCH DARK. Pitch from hell that is." - and then looking at your username. :D
As for the topic, I'm in the camp of "S6 is one of my personal favourites, BUT I fully admit that the handling of some of the plotlines was heavy-handed, even clumsy". Be that as it may, I would not consider S6 the worst season of Buffy. IMO S1 is far weaker than the rest. Which is fair enough, as the show was still finding its feet.
[ edited by darling on 2013-01-20 15:45 ]
darling | January 20, 06:45 CET
My ranking from favorite to least favorite including the comics are.
1)Season 2 and Season 3 are pretty tied.They flip back and forth all the time for me.
2)Season 5
3)Season 8
4)Season 7
5)Season 1
6)Season 6
7)Season 4
8)Season 9 so far(just the Buffy side)
And for Angel.
1)Season 2
2)Season 4(I'm probably one of the few who really love this season.)
3)Angel & Faith in season 9 so far
4)Angel:After The Fall.
5)Season 1
6)Season 5
7)Season 3
Even my least favorite seasons though had things and episodes I liked in them.
Buffyfantic | January 20, 07:29 CET
Darkness, I think you've hit the nail on the head. Or at least your comment perfectly captures my feelings about the season.
I also feel that full stop darkness tend to be less effective than a smaller dosage with some light thrown in to add contrast. And likewise feel there was too much dark in Season 6, especially post Once More is Feeling, when the storylines surrounding of the supporting characters also went to the darkest possible places.
Of course it also didn't help that the execution of these storylines wasn't always particularly good. I agree with Dana5140 characterization of Willow's "magic addiction" as a battering ram metaphor that was unsubtle and clashed with six seasons worth of characterization. And I already complained about the resolution to Xander & Anya's storyline either. IMO it also sacrificed years of character building for a cheap tragic climax.
And of course there also is the lack of Giles, who was indeed sorely missed.
But ultimately the season was rich in great ideas, some of which were brilliantly executed. I agree OMWF and Normal Again were absolute stand-outs, but I also loved stuff like "Life Serial", the invisibility beam part of "Gone", etc.
For me the Trio worked brilliantly when they were silly fun, and their sudden turn after the murder worked more than adequately. Their turn felt just a little bit too inevitable (i.e. the plotting felt too convenient) in its current form for my taste, but it certainly made the point effectively.
[ edited by the Groosalugg on 2013-01-20 22:55 ]
the Groosalugg | January 20, 07:33 CET
If I had to pick a worst season I'd probably say season 7; it still had a lot of good stuff in it, but I felt like they dropped the ball on quite a few things. But I still love the finale. :)
Candace | January 20, 07:45 CET
Foyboy | January 20, 08:02 CET
1. General unevenness as the show found its legs
2. The whole subplot with the Annoying One
3. Faith...ugh
4. Captain Cardboard and Adam
5. Glory (most ineffectual god ever?)
7. The potentials wasting precious screen time, Buffy's endless speeches
[ edited by YoursTruly on 2013-01-20 17:04 ]
YoursTruly | January 20, 08:03 CET
[ edited by Xane on 2013-01-20 17:40 ]
Xane | January 20, 08:38 CET
TwelveDozen | January 20, 08:40 CET
redeem147 | January 20, 08:41 CET
No, IMHO, 6 is awful on its own terms. They chose the storyline they chose and proceeded to execute it badly.
My own theory is they got a little fat and happy and convinced themselves virtually every idea was wonderful and because of past success didn't consider them thoroughly. Of course I have no way of knowing that.
None of this applies to Once More with Feeling which we all know is absolutely brilliant.
batmarlowe | January 20, 09:17 CET
dorotea | January 20, 09:40 CET
OK, I haven't seen many of the seasons listed (I'm still to see Homeland season 2 - though I find it hard to believe that it's that bad, especially with what the rest of the list looks like) but from what I have seen: yes, season 3 of Lost was inconsistent in its first half and there was one really bad episode in the middle, but its second half was, IMO, when the show peaked, with its best run of great episodes, and one of the greatest season finales ever. I don't think Lost ever got as great again. I don't see what was so bad with The Wire season 2; season 8 of The X-Files rejuvenated the show and was leaps and bounds better than the awful, lackluster season 7, and I feel that it's on the list only because the author didn't like the fact Mulder wasn't around, even though Duchovny had actually been sleepwalking through the role in season 7, while Robert Patrick was a great addition to the show, and the show got back to its old, dark feel after trying and failing to be a comedy in season 7. The Simpsons season 1 wasn't great since the show hadn't hit its stride yet, but it was much better than most of the last 10-15 years of that show.
@YoursTruly, I think you may be the only person in the world who considers Faith a "flaw". :)
[ edited by TimeTravellingBunny on 2013-01-20 18:57 ]
[ edited by TimeTravellingBunny on 2013-01-20 18:58 ]
TimeTravellingBunny | January 20, 09:56 CET
Dietcoke | January 20, 09:58 CET
pollaxt | January 20, 10:02 CET
Also, I disagree completely about LOST season 3. I feel that the second half of that Season may have been the finest run of episodes in the entire series, including eps like "The Man Behind The Curtain", "One of Us', The Man From Tallahassee", "Greatest Hits" and the brilliant "Through the Looking Glass" to name just a few. Season 6 is the weakest season of LOST to me. The early temple episodes seemed like something from a bad B-movie, as did much of the finale, including the "heart of the island" and the cliched final battle between Jack and Locke. While there were some strong eps, it certainly contained many disappointments.
Also, Battlestar Galactica Season 4, Veronica Mars Season 3, Dexter Season 6, and Supernatural Season 6 could have been mentioned.
KaileeA42 | January 20, 10:15 CET
comfortador | January 20, 10:25 CET
That's like saying that the first three seasons were Kevin Williamson's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
TimeTravellingBunny | January 20, 10:50 CET
Then again, I liked Angel S4, especially the ambition, even though I recognize a number of things that ended up not working.
OneTeV | January 20, 10:54 CET
Angel Season 4 was great...til the Jasmine arc:-)
faith in Angel | January 20, 10:59 CET
Snugels | January 20, 11:02 CET
And Giles has the best re-entrance into the series that he could possibly have had. I'll forgive a lot of the unevenness of some of the episodes in exchange for that. "I'd like to test that theory" is one of the best moments in the entire show.
The biggest problem I had with S6 was one of the smallest moments: the closing shot of "Normal Again" (of Buffy catatonic in an asylum). That shot delegitimizes the entire show, in a way. It becomes a schizophrenic girl's set of delusions and hallucinations and the meaning of that is very different than if we suspend disbelief and accept the show as having a reality. There are other explanations and interpretations that look at this shot in a different light, but as a psychologist IRL I have a tough time with this moment and consider it a significant faux pas. It probably seemed cool and ambiguous on the page.
The other big problem I had with S6 was writing Xander as a coward at the end of "Hell's Bells" when he leaves and lets Anya face the church full of people on her own. It was a device to turn Anya back into a vengeance demon (and to explore the fact that we can never go back to being what we were) but I was never really able to like Xander again after that- and he was pretty hard to like at times already, IMHO.
Is S6 the worst season of a great TV show? I don't think so, despite the problems with it that I already mentioned. I think the weakest season of Buffy was S1, which makes sense since everyone was still finding their feet in the Buffyverse. S3 and S5 are my favorites, but S6 had some wonderful episodes: OMWF, "Tabular Rasa," even "Older and Far Away" (a retelling of Sartre's "No Exit"). I suspect OAFA is one of many people's least favorite episodes of S6 because it highlights Dawn at her most annoying, but IMHO that emotional reaction is a mark of its success as an episode.
My wife and I are in the midst of Slayerfest 2013, rewatching the series from beginning to end. We do this every winter and each time I find more and more things I didn't notice or understand before. Amazing.
Scoffing at Gravity | January 20, 11:31 CET
Dana5140 | January 20, 11:50 CET
Buffy season 7 was a huge disappointment to me. I still love it, it's still Buffy and it's better than whatever was on TV at the time and much better than what is on TV now. But from the start you could tell it was planned as a last season. The end of Lessons always felt like an announcement of the end of the show to me. Still, I don't get why Spike is all over the place with nothing to do until the very last episode and why the potentials had to have so much screen time. Selfless, CwDP and Showtime were the only highlights for me this year. I still think Lies My Parents Told Me was na attempt to recreate the awesomeness of Fool For Love and Faith had a much more interesting arc in 3 episodes of Angel than she had in 5 of Buffy.
[ edited by danielgm86 on 2013-01-20 21:05 ]
dnlmglhs | January 20, 11:55 CET
mazza | January 20, 12:49 CET
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Plus, naked Spike. Come on, you know some of you were thinking it!
Gill | January 20, 14:33 CET
Season 6 also happens to be a lot of people's favorite season, BTW.
electricspacegirl | January 20, 16:51 CET
Epically disappointing and tragically portentous two part opener; clunk; clunk; clunk; something to sing about; the door to The Magic Box opens and I laugh long enough to get me past a few more clunks; clunk; clunk; ongoing weighty metaphor; artless, dramaless, humorless, arguably inappropriate sexual content; Doublemeat Palace (WHOPPER OF A CLUNK (See that there?)); vile villains which needed to be handled with far more skill to not be offensive (and not merely offending); mini yay for Riley's Return (Never understood the Riley hate.)/My hat has a cow (gets me through a few more...).; Seriously? The wedding? (I give up...); waste of an interesting idea in Normal Again (similar to the mishandling of the entire season's theme (And I've suffered from long term clinical depression so would have loved to have loved it.)); sad about Tara; I'd like to test that theory.; epically disappointing final battle-lite; joyfully redemptive final few seconds. With embarrassingly cartoonish demons interspersed.
Aside from moments (There's always, thankfully, moments.) I felt little but disappointment throughout most of it (but happy for those who enjoyed it).
Okay, more a synopsis, really...
[ edited by Brett on 2013-01-21 03:59 ]
[ edited by Brett on 2013-01-21 04:07 ]
[ edited by Brett on 2013-01-21 04:08 ]
Brett | January 20, 18:58 CET
I love the way it handles depression - hats off, because few films, shows or ANYTHING really have handled it as earnestly, or as fearlessly. And I love where it takes its characters. It also helps that I really love Spike.
Many elements are very clumsily handled: Seeing Red is just unbelieveable, though hearing James Marster's explanation helps a lot; Willow's addiction; Xander's ditching of Anya at the altar, and especially their fallout afterwards. But despite these definite flaws, it is a strong and very emotional season. It's not particularly pleasant, but neither is real life... I think it's the most realistic season: it depicts that stage in life where people begin to grow up and change, drift apart, and really face life as individuals. I admire that the characters stopped being so sympathetic. The show acknowledges this, and so do the characters themselves. Yet in the end, they remain friends and stand by each other and accept each other as they are. It all makes sense.
Now, season 7, on the other hand... at least in season 6 Giles is absent and not becoming a horrible shadow of his former self...
prettymaryk | January 20, 19:23 CET
Lost Season 2-6...j/k...kinda
Simpsons S1?! WTH man
guardian_owl | January 20, 20:03 CET
Season 7 is also great just look what great things Sophist has to say about it (he's almost at the end oh his reviews)http://unpaidsophistry.blogspot.com/
anca | January 20, 21:14 CET
Firstly, it suffered from a lacking plan. It would have been better if the dark tones would have been reduced after OMWF because this is actually a turning point in the story. Buffy hast told everyone how she feels and instead of her friends helping her, who became in season 4īs penultimate episode a part of her, she disconnects and nobody really cares. Thatīs not how the characters have behaved before and there was no real reason why they did then. That made me already wonder the first time I saw the episodes when they aired.
Secondly, they stretched out too many storylines too long. The self-desgtruction storyline would have been better wrapped up after episode 7 and then start a recovering storyline. It would have fitted the character, the fighter Buffy, and the other characters who helped her usually to go through. It wasnīt plausible that Buffy got into a quasi-bdsm storyline, which was poorly executed (deus-ex-machina explanation Buffy came back wrong, so Spike can hit her; thatīs cheap Lost writing). Especially "Tablua Rasa" would have been a decent way for the characters to move on, because they forgot their problems. That they reverted back to old problems at the end of the episode was so untypical "BTVS" because Joss always said: "Characters need to change."
It really felt like Joss had a few ideas about season 6, went on to other projects, and everyone on Buffy tried to stretch these ideas as long as possible (I mean, the first three episodes are basically the season opener, another stretched out storyline).
The problem about the Willow-Storyline wasnīt that it was stretched out too long. It even wasnīt itīs metaphor of drug addiction, but the way the metaphor was presented. It wasnīt decent given like with prevoius metaphors, but crashed at you like a sledgehammer. Less would have been more.
The loan shark and other characters like Clem were great and funny, the problem was that they were too over the top in this season. With an established real, real dark tone these characters seemed like coming from the other end of the spectrum, so that the bigger picture seemed unbalanced.
And finally, late in the season it felt like they are running out of ideas. That Xander left Anya at the altar was heartbreaking but still okay, if they would have ended up together again. That the characters didnīt ignored the development of Xander over the past years in the relationship with Anya. He wasnīt the immature school-boy anymore, so why falling back into old patterns? No explanation.
Not to mention the casual sex between Spike and Anya. (that really came out of nowhere).
I think they have had some decent ideas, but they executed them badly. Joss influence or overlooking was definitely missed, expecially in the second half and thatīs why, at least to me, season six is the weakest.
[ edited by N27 on 2013-01-21 08:17 ]
N27 | January 20, 23:15 CET
I do think there is a lot of truth in the idea that people who haven't experienced a dark, hopeless time in their life themselves might not be able to relate to the characters that season, and therefore feel they act out-of-character - when, to many of us, the way the characters act that season feels all too real and familiar.
I know that the first time I watched Buffy, Season 6 was by far the season that resonated with me the most because of where I was at in my life at the time, and I was so grateful that the writers had taken the time to show how common my feelings were and that there is a way out of them.
allthingsaverage | January 21, 03:55 CET
Trio was awesome.
Willow as the big bad was awesome, right on par with the other best big bads.
S6 has some excellent episodes in addition to the spectacular OMWF.
However, the addiction (and to some degree Buffy's struggles) were handled so heavy handed, that it approached the awfulness that was Beer Bad. Preaching against substance abuse for one bad episode is one thing, doing that for half an awful season is another. "Willow's got an addictive personality, she just tasted blood." Really?
If the drug metaphor was silently edited away and replaced with eg. power corrupting, the season could well be among the best there is. But as it is, for any buffy rewatching I'll just have to do the editing manually, skipping episodes or parts of them...
Eerikki | January 21, 04:52 CET
vampmogs | January 21, 05:18 CET
Perhaps it's like Barney Stinson's Ewok line :)
I for one really liked season 6. I liked that actions had consequences, that unlike in Anne and Dead Man's Party, it took Buffy a long time to find herself. I liked the realism of trying everything, even self-destructive things to "wake-up." I liked that Willow's tendency to fix everything with unilateral magic - Wild at Heart, Something Blue - spiraled out of control.
That all being said, I completely understand why there are so many fix fics out there that try to ameliorate the issues of the season.
Valantha | January 21, 06:44 CET
Besides, Beer Bad has the absolute best Buffy line, with Brendon saying (bombastically) "Pfft, nothing can defeat the penis!"
[ edited by OneTeV on 2013-01-21 15:58 ]
OneTeV | January 21, 06:58 CET
Exactly. I always hear the "some people don't like S6 because it's too dark." Well, no. I don't mind going into the dark. Some of my favorite stories are told there. There's a world of difference between "dark" and abrupt character assassination. When did Buffy and the Scoobies all become a bunch of selfish, irresponsible cowards? It's not "dark", it's an inexplicable estrangement from everything those characters had previously stood for that stretches on for the whole season... and elements of it linger still. Willow, Xander, but particularly Buffy... she was written to be an inspirational role model. She wears that hat. I've had trouble respecting her, much less admiring her since S6. I work on it. I try to remember who these characters were, but the writers through S7 and into the comics seem to be unable to let me fully forget who they've become... and on balance, they're not particularly admirable or likable people anymore.
BringItOn5x5 | January 21, 07:02 CET
[ edited by Dana5140 on 2013-01-21 18:27 ]
Dana5140 | January 21, 09:26 CET
Okay, and Spike.
redeem147 | January 21, 10:12 CET
Mitholas | January 21, 13:22 CET
The basic thing about season six is not that it is dark, it is that it confronts the very real possibility -- or rather, a possibility that feels very real to many people, especially sufferers of depression -- that the world simply isn't worth it. This is what distinguishes it from all other seasons except possibly season five, this is what hurts so badly. It's a season that is in its own way about suicide -- about seeking oblivion, from Buffy's longing for her death to Willow's attempt to bring "sweet death" to all the "suffering souls" on the planet. It presents as a very real possibility that life -- IN PARTICULAR, adult life -- is simply too painful to be worthwhile, and it does so across the board, with (nearly) the whole cast, as well as presenting as the seasonal villains the Trio who are so afraid of adult life that they hide in fantasy and, in Warren's case, will ultimately kill for it. And hey, wow, look at that -- Willow does memory spells to create false realities for herself, Buffy nearly kills her friends so that she can be in a mental hospital. It's a season about reality so painful that oblivion or illusions seem the only way out. And it still ends with real life, in spite of/because of(?) all its faults, being worthwhile.
There are execution problems. In order to convey the points about reality/fantasy the metaphors were rearranged in fascinating but at times confounding ways. But oh god, this is something else. You would be shocked and a little worried for my mental health if you knew, dear Whedonesque readers, how much time I spend and/or waste thinking about this year, weighing all the criticisms, so many of them legitimate, and even some aspects of the season that do rub me personally the wrong way, against the what it does and accomplishes for me. I'd like to say with certainty that there's no question that the season's virtues dwarf its flaws, but I can't quite say that; there are some choices that I find hard enough to parse even after all this time that I'm pretty sure I can't state it. But oh, it's the root of my Buffyverse obsession, ultimately, more than any other year. I identified Xander and Willow on the cliff there, the possibility of hope and forgiveness through love being the one thing that can make sense of a world so painful it has to be destroyed, as maybe the most important moment of the series for me the day I saw it. Not the best, not necessarily the most profound, but the closest to the core. You can't earn that, or Buffy's tearful thank you to her mother in the fantasy before she leaves it, or Spike's getting his soul, or Buffy bringing Dawn into the joys of adulthood, without being fearless (or nearly so) staring into the abyss of what life and adult responsibility -- both senses of responsibility (both "things one has to do" and "things one CAN do") can be.
I'm sorry for everyone for whom the story doesn't resonate, or for whom the flaws in execution outstrip the intent, or so on. But it is what it is. Willow's end-of-season burst of global nihilistic rage captures a certain feeling that I have had better than anything else I've seen. Buffy's depression is the best portrayal I've seen of that. The self-loathing every character has, but especially Buffy and Willow and Xander and Spike, is painful and cutting. The season feels to me, like the whole show but EVEN MORE SO than the whole show, at once intensely personal and universal, utterly mundane and completely mythic, and in addition to all of that it is about the interplay between the mundane and the mythic. And, wow, what a year it is.
WilliamTheB | January 21, 13:44 CET
Dana5140 | January 21, 15:16 CET
I LOVED the idea of using "Life as the Big Bad" to deal with depression and self-destruction. Those are great themes to address in a show that's all about growing up, and I thought it was the perfect time in Buffy's story to address them. They just...didn't handle them well, imo. So I like the ideas and themes behind S6 a lot better than the actual execution. That, and I'll never like the direction Spike and his relationship with Buffy took in that season.
Still, no season of a Joss show is a total loss, and S6 gave me OMWF and Tabula Rasa, for that alone, it gets awesome points.
flickchick85 | January 22, 00:09 CET
My wife and I have watched S6 a couple of times; I've seen it a couple more, including the second half of its original airing. I remember the online nonsense around S6. 'The Kitten Board' was a particular source of anxiety/strangeness.
Simon's quote blows my mind, because I think the first third of S6 -- through the musical -- is just about perfect, and the closing arc is a mess, thrilling and atmospheric but (partly because of its weird structure and pacing) much less like late S3 or S5 than early S6 had been. Even though S6 is much much better than S7 at most of the things a season of BtVS needed to do, and the same goes for their final movements, the climactic episode of S7 is so much deeper and more successful than any S6 ep post-'Normal Again' (thanks Joss!) that I can't help but prefer the tweens-in-danger stuff to the 21yr-olds-with-Sarah-McLachlan S6 washout.
I'd note, by the way, that the idea that fans have a 'better idea of what makes the character tick' than the writers is the precise (false, faintly ridiculous, understandably appealing) claim that makes so many writers dislike hardcore fandom.
waxbanks | January 22, 04:10 CET
Dana5140 | January 22, 04:53 CET
@waxbanks: Aw. Well for all their flaws, I think that the run from Normal Again to Grave actually might be my favourite on the show -- and I think that the weird structure/messiness actually really contributes to the feel of these episodes, signaled by the title and some of the dialogue (Tara's in particular) of "Entropy," of everything falling apart (order having been lost) and all feeling of structure and, more importantly, meaning having left the building and the characters struggling with that. The contrast with the beginning makes total sense -- the run through OMWF still has everyone tightly wound and clockwork-orderly before the singing forces everything out. Then comes the flailing about. There is a looseness to the final few episodes that I think allows the characters more room to try (sometimes in vain, eventually with some hope) to figure out what's important when there are no more devastating external threats until Willow remakes herself into one. I think that looseness serves the season's themes in a big way. Though this might just be my way of writing off structural weaknesses of a thing that resonates with me emotionally. Still, "Chosen" by contrast has felt so tight that it can't quite breathe -- and while it hits the notes on Buffy's story very well, I have never quite felt that the rest of the cast was entirely well served or had real moments to themselves the way every other finale has supplied them with.
[ edited by WilliamTheB on 2013-01-22 15:27 ]
WilliamTheB | January 22, 06:25 CET
I had no problems with Buffy's decisions or actions. I can remember Buffy's confession at the end of "Dead Things" and having that "Ah, I get it!" moment. My biggest beefs were Willow's "addiction" and Spike wanting his soul back. I never bought Willow as an addict, I would have rather seen her getting more and more comfortable with magic, and taking more of a "Road to Hell paved with good intentions approach." How does someone with litte power or confidance handle becoming the most powerful of all?
Spike's turn to me smacked of pandering to the fans. We like Spike, let's make him a hero. It also weakened the idea of vampires as pure evil. If Spike can want to be come good, then other vampires could want it as well, and Buffy's role as the Slayer becomes much less black and white. Despite all that, people really like the character, and Spike's growth once he got his soul was handled well. He was also great in Angel Season 5.
chrisobrien | January 22, 07:50 CET
Spike's 'turn' came from the combination of the specific contribution his personality and innate motivators made to the unusual circumstances of being chipped and loving Buffy and that is what drove it forward. I personally think SR had its place in his story and that it all progressed very organically. It is safe to assume that it wouldn't be a situation other vamps would have, want or somehow develop.
Stoney | January 22, 10:41 CET