Considering Buffy is several years old, there will be spoilers in this post, so if for some reason you've been procrastinating but still don't want to do know the details of the series, you might want to skip this one.
After a failed attempt a couple years ago, J and I finally made it through all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Overall, I thought it was a pretty entertaining show. Season 4 was amazing and probably my favorite. Some of the other seasons weren't as good, but there were some great episodes, including the musical episode and the one titled "Hush" which was creepy and well done. Two episodes I found particularly well done, even if they did make me cry, were the two that centered around Joyce Summers' death. I remember watching it and thinking that Joss Whedon, the creator, was spot on with the reaction that sudden death brings to loved ones.
Having said that, the series was a supernatural soap opera. Sure, there's slaying, but there's also interspecies love affairs (vamps and humans, demons and humans), issues between friends, family drama, and teenage angst. Even after the gang moves out of high school, they're still filled with early twentysomething angst.
I enjoyed most of the plots, but some of the characters were annoying. Okay, MOST of the characters were annoying, especially the main ones. Buffy is a pain. She has a few good moments, but her superior martyr complex gets old and she tends to be self centered. Her friends are about the same. Willow overplayed the nerd angle until she went psycho. I did enjoy Evil Willow though, especially because she pointed out all the things wrong with the other characters. Xander was the comic relief, and even he got whiny.
The characters I loved: Rupert Giles is amazing. I love Anthony Stewart Head anyway and the character of Giles just totally tweaks me...in a good way of course. Spike was the coolest vampire in the whole show and I was definitely Team Spike the whole time. Sure, he was pretty nasty in the first few seasons and then kind of got fluffy later, but he was always the epitome of cool in my opinion. Anya, the vengeance demon turned human turned demon turned human again, was also a great addition to the cast.
The characters I hated: Freakin' Dawn. While I may have disliked many of the other characters, I think the show took it's shark jump turn when Buffy's random little sister was introduced. Of course, she wasn't actually human, just a key that had been made human and woven into the fabric of everyone lives so Buffy would protect her, but I spent most of the time wishing Buffy would just hand her over and be done with it. Dawn's character was horrible...whiny, selfish, painfully awkward in some parts, and just annoying. I told J that the show would have been better if in every episode someone just whomped her on the head and reminded her that she wasn't actually human. This would have effectively sent her off crying and I wouldn't have had to watch her. The only other character I actually hated was Warren, another reason why Evil Willow was pretty cool since she effectively took care of him.
I'm glad I watched the show though. I now feel like a (delayed) part of pop culture and now move on to watching "Angel" (not my fave character in Buffy but J says the series is good and I miss Cordelia).
ALF
No comments:
Post a Comment