Buffy Season Six thoughts

[jetpack_monkey]

I've been randomly watching S6 eps over the weekend, mostly Trio eps, and... really wondering how in the hell I became so enamored of this show that year. I mean, there's so few episodes here that are really worth noting.

Some stuff that I used to like that I really don't now:

- The interminable tower scene from Bargaining Part 2. Used to make me weep like a little girl. Now? Would like it to end now please.

- Flooded. Slight episode, nothing really accomplished that couldn't have been done (and, really, was done) in Life Serial.

- All the Way. Still amusing in places, but certainly one of Dawn's more annoying hours.

- I never liked Wrecked and I freaking hate it now.

- For some reason, I used to really like Dead Things.

- I never understood why nobody ever seemed to like Sam. Now I don't understand why I never saw why.

- Older and Far Away. Dawn's most annoying hour. And Xander actually asking Willow to perform magick? What the hey?

- Hell's Bells. The last stop on the Xander Character Assassination Express. Also, no Giles, which is pretty inexcusable.

- Seeing Red. Completely misses the point of the whole show.

- Villains through Grave. A - Spike was so getting that chip out. If he wasn't, he was acting grossly out of character. B - They completely failed to earn Evil Willow. Dark Willow, maybe, but not Evil Willow. C - Xander's awfully whiny. I don't care if he saves the world, it's annoying.

Life Serial, OMWF, Tabula Rasa, and Normal Again remain the only four episodes that I really truly like in that season. And I maybe have a soft spot for Gone (which I didn't like so much the first time I saw it).

Comments

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

That's funny -- I got started on Buffy with the musical episode, as well. And I agree: the stuff that I liked that season, I don't much like at all anymore.

My best friend made me watch the show, and I never understood why she didn't much like how it was going until I watched Becoming (parts one and two) about a year later. And I was like, "Oh, THAT's why. It used to be so much better!"

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Yeah. For me, the real love kicked in when I met Oz and Faith for the first time. And high school Xander. Then I was totally sold.

Angel took a little longer for me to angle into, but eventually it rivalled Buffy in the quality television department. At least in my book.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

I really started to like AtS with the Connor season. There was just somethign with that character that resonated with me a lot. And, as I got more into the fandom for both shows, I started to like AtS just as much as BtVS.

Oz always reminded me a bit of Chris Knight from Real Genius -- a really cool and witty guy who was just a bit too cool and witty to be unscripted.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I agree with you there (except that I never really saw Real Genius), but I was really taken by the stoicism. Usually a quieter character like that is written because they're too masculine to express anything or they're really shy. Or they've taken a vow of silence.

Oz seemed like a realistic approach to the subject in that some people just don't talk unless they feel it absolutely necessary. He was a lot goofier in his early appearances, and became more of a Zen guy in Season Three as a regular.

I like the Oz who mocks monkeypants.

I understand Connor. I don't like Connor, but I get him. He was just too screwed up all of the time. There was no real light at the end of the tunnel for him, and everytime a glimmer did appear, he did something to shut it off again. It really grated on me.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

I liked Oz, don't get me wrong. I just thought that he was a bit too cool and idealized as a character.

I have a weakness for tragically hopeless characters. I like AtS's ending for the same reason I liked Connor.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

*nod* Yeah. You did get the impression that Oz is the character Joss wished he was in high school.

The ending of Not Fade Away was brilliant and totally in keeping with Angel, the character and the series. Very Wild Bunch-y, which makes sense, since Angel pretty much lifted his rousing "are you with me?" speech from Peckinpah's movie.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

Alas, that is a film with which I am not familiar.

I know, I know. Bad nerd.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Nah. I'm used to mentioning films and being met with blank stares. I have an unusual perspective on film for a person my age, since my mother basically raised me on Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and Boris Karloff. My dad had to sneak me out to the theater so I could see modern movies.

The Wild Bunch and The Searchers are two of Joss's favorite films, incidentally. I really need to watch more Westerns. When done correctly, it can be a more transcendent genre than horror (which, I suspect, is the reason Joss picked it for Firefly).