Suomi ranks the Buffy Seasons (8 Viewers)

[Loufoque]

SORRY but Season 7 was SHIT

It was DULL, badly-paced, overly-centred on Spike; Willow was reduced to someone who was just around to cast the odd spell after hesitating over it for a while; Xander and Anya were pretty useless and they barely brought back ANY of the former characters they could have done. Buffy as Buffy was bad enough this season, let alone The First as Buffy as well.

PASS.

 

[Suomi]

SORRY but Season 7 was SHIT

It was DULL, badly-paced, overly-centred on Spike; Willow was reduced to someone who was just around to cast the odd spell after hesitating over it for a while; Xander and Anya were pretty useless and they barely brought back ANY of the former characters they could have done. Buffy as Buffy was bad enough this season, let alone The First as Buffy as well.

PASS.

* No more overly centered on Spike than season 6. And why is that a bad thing? Hes got emotional RANGE

*Willow needed a comedown after last season - loosing her girlfriend and destroying the world, she was hardly gonna go straight back into everything was she? And her Kennedy plot was one of the main romantic features of the season. Oh, um, she also saves the world.

*Anya has an ENTIRE EPISODE about her, and Xander's role in the group is gradually established in this series, finally confirmed as the one who sees everything.

*Who else could they have brought back? Riley and Oz would have no reason to be back, Cordelia has her own problems in "Angel" and Tara is dead. They brought back everyone they could

 

[Suomi]

also, you have to remember that there are a LOT of new characters in season 7; its no wonder why the roles of Xander/Anya etc are less prominent

 

[VoR]

I didn't like Willow and Kennedy. Didn't work for me.

 

[Suomi]

I didn't like Willow and Kennedy. Didn't work for me.

me neither, i think that's the general consensus. Kennedy just isn't likeable!

 

[Diddy]

Ooh WONDERFUL *gets sack for not working*

thanks for whiting out the Angel spoliers, i'm working through the seasons PRESENTLY. Finished Season 1 & 2, but the rest is at the MERCY of my DVD rentals people.

What wonderful commentary!
I notice nobody mentioned the "Season 8" coming out in March 2007 in the medium of COMIC (graphic novel, whatever)? *floods*

 

[Loufoque]

* No more overly centered on Spike than season 6. And why is that a bad thing? Hes got emotional RANGE

*Willow needed a comedown after last season - loosing her girlfriend and destroying the world, she was hardly gonna go straight back into everything was she? And her Kennedy plot was one of the main romantic features of the season. Oh, um, she also saves the world.

*Anya has an ENTIRE EPISODE about her, and Xander's role in the group is gradually established in this series, finally confirmed as the one who sees everything.

*Who else could they have brought back? Riley and Oz would have no reason to be back, Cordelia has her own problems in "Angel" and Tara is dead. They brought back everyone they could

TECHNICALLY the did everything right. But it was all half-arsed and rushed in my book. Willow and Kennedy was RAMMED on viewers, not allowed the time to grow like Willow's other relationships (no, there wasn't time but don't start something you can't FINISH). Yes, Willow technically saved the world, but was I the only one who thought her role in the finale was ridiculously small, especially given that she was BY FAR the most powerful member of the group?

Yes, Anya got her own episode but she could have been written out after that really. I'm glad she wasn't because her occasional one-liners were once again the comic highlight of the season, but in terms of STORIES, she was done.

Xander's seer role was just shoved in to give him some closure I felt. Anyone who had watched the show for six years knew what Xander's role was, there was no need to SHOVE IT DOWN OUR THROATS and then tear his eye out in truly IRONIC fashion.

As for bringing back other characters, there were SO MANY MORE that they could have got back in for a day. Think Kendra, think Glory (for more than her tiny cameo), think Jesse, think Jenny, think ANY CHARACTER WHO DIED. It would have been far eerier and effective than having Buffy and Spike play the First at every opportunity.

 

[Diddy]

Please refresh my memory on who Jesse was?


oh, and since Suomi is clearly a full-blown LOON, can you find me that quote from Anya to Xander about what will happen to him now he has syphilis (in that Native American curse episode .. Pangs, was it?)

I seem to remember being MUCH AMUSED but my Season 4 is MIA at my sister's at the moment

 

[Loufoque]

Jesse was Xander and Willow's best friend who died in the first episode.

 

[Diddy]

oh I SEE! I was having a Team Rocket memory-block...

I agree with you on the marvellous Kendra and Glory though. I never cared much for Jenny, bit of a prickly bitch I thought, and techno-pagan??

 

[Toyah]

They way Anya was killed off, in such a shitty fashion too, still RILES me to this day

 

[dUb]

As for bringing back other characters, there were SO MANY MORE that they could have got back in for a day. Think Kendra, think Glory (for more than her tiny cameo), think Jesse, think Jenny, think ANY CHARACTER WHO DIED. It would have been far eerier and effective than having Buffy and Spike play the First at every opportunity.

TRUTH

 

[dUb]

Emma Caulfield DEFINITELY had hostility towards the show and SMG - FACT

 

[delirium]

Emma Caulfield DEFINITELY had hostility towards the show and SMG - FACT

How did she have hostility towards the show? At the end of show party she seemed to get along with everyone and seemed genuinely sad it was finishing.

 

[dUb]

Were you THERE?

I will NOT have my "so-and-so has hostility towards such-and-such" statements QUESTIONED ANY MORE

 

[dUb]

Oh HERE we are. From tvguide:

DW: By some accounts you were pretty determined to leave BUFFY by the end, and you wanted Anya killed in the series finale so that even if there was a BUFFY movie or whatever, it’d be clear that you would not be back. Is that true?

Caulfield: Well, that’s all been exaggerated. I had a fantastic experience on BUFFY and I thought it was a great show, but in some ways I didn’t feel that character was reflective of everything I could do. And by the end, I felt very unappreciated by certain people. Almost everybody was great, but certain people…

DW: You don’t want to name names? Even off the record?

Caulfield: No. No reflection on you, but I’ve been burned too many times! It wouldn’t be smart for me to say, but the people I’m talking about know who they are. By the end it was just no fun to come to work and be continually disrespected. But if they ever do a BUFFY movie and (BUFFY creator Joss Whedon) wants to bring me back as a ghost or something, I’d be glad to do that.

Also

"I had been ready to go for a while — [for various] reasons," she tells TV Guide Online, cryptically. "It had nothing to do with [series creator] Joss Whedon; I love him. There were just certain politics around there that made it very difficult to grow."

So it wasn't really hostility towards the show but there were ISSUES with somebody. I'll take a STAB in the DARK and suggest somebody called SMG.

 

[Suomi]

They way Anya was killed off, in such a shitty fashion too, still RILES me to this day

that was the point though, that sudden, no fuss death is such a shocker but in reality, would there be time for reflection admist fighting and exposions ? In fact, NOTHING was planned to be mentioned about the death, but Joss felt that at least something had to be said about it, so he added these lines by the bus:

Xander: How , how was she?
Andrew: She died saving my life. She was a hero.


Which is obviously a lie; Joss points out that for once Andrew's storytelling did some good - giving Xander some comfort in how she died, yet the viewers have all that dramtaic irony knowing that she died just like most people do

 

[VoR]

I must say, I'm not really a member of the Andrew fanclub, but I did really like the friendship between him and Anya. They had some wonderful scenes together, mostly comic, but also Anya's lovely little monologue about humans.

 

[Suomi]

Please refresh my memory on who Jesse was?


oh, and since Suomi is clearly a full-blown LOON, can you find me that quote from Anya to Xander about what will happen to him now he has syphilis (in that Native American curse episode .. Pangs, was it?)

I seem to remember being MUCH AMUSED but my Season 4 is MIA at my sister's at the moment

from "Pangs"

Anya: I inflicted a lot of putrefying diseases on men when I was an avenging demon. You look like you're getting all of them.
Xander: Okay, I'll stay. But you should go. You could catch it.
Anya: We'll die together. It's romantic. Let me get your trousers off.


is that it ?

You can read a review of it in my top ten Buffy episodes ever which is on this site somewhere

 

[Suomi]

I must say, I'm not really a member of the Andrew fanclub, but I did really like the friendship between him and Anya. They had some wonderful scenes together, mostly comic, but also Anya's lovely little monologue about humans.

Not just comic but it's almost my favourite moment in "The Body" when talks about the illogic of death

Anya: But I don't understand ! I don't understand how this all happens, how we go through this, I mean I knew her and then she's, there's just a body, I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead, it's stupid, it's mortal and stupid, Xander's crying and not talking and I was having fruit punch and I thought that Joyce would never have any more fruit punch and she'd never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair, not ever and no one will explain...

 

[Apoca]

Anya: But I don't understand ! I don't understand how this all happens, how we go through this, I mean I knew her and then she's, there's just a body, I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead, it's stupid, it's mortal and stupid, Xander's crying and not talking and I was having fruit punch and I thought that Joyce would never have any more fruit punch and she'd never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair, not ever and no one will explain...

Absolutely. I loved that part.

 

[delirium]

Were you THERE?

I will NOT have my "so-and-so has hostility towards such-and-such" statements QUESTIONED ANY MORE

Let's start a Buffy WAR based on random generic statements

 

[Diddy]

from "Pangs"
is that it ?

mm no, something about how so-and-so will happen, then so-and-so, then you go crazy and then die. I can't remember .. and completely RUINED it. It's more her cheerily indifferent matter-of-factness that I liked :p

also when Giles was getting it on with that black woman, and Anya venutred that aforementioned black woman was Giles' sex buddy (or something similar). Then deadpan Giles says something like "Yes, that's the most horrifying thing you could have said" ..

OH I DONT KNOW, ITS PROBABLY ALL IN THE DELIVERY AND I HAVENT SEEN THEM FOR A FEW YEARS AND THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK

 

[delirium]

also when Giles was getting it on with that black woman, and Anya venutred that aforementioned black woman was Giles' sex buddy (or something similar). Then deadpan Giles says something like "Yes, that's the most horrifying thing you could have said" ..

That is from everyone's favourite episode of all time that i have temporarily forgotten the name of. THE GENTLEMEN... I could've just deleted that first bit and started again.

Anyway... WHERE'S THE REST SU? :Oi:

 

[Diddy]

it was HUSH!

on closer inspection, it's season FIVE, not four that my sister has, so maybe I will give it a SPIN

 

[delirium]

it was HUSH!

It works for me.

That episode is all about the scene with the OHP.

 

[Diddy]

Oh I WHOLLY agree

*makes staking motion*

 

[delirium]

*knocks*

hello?

 

[Suomi]

hello!


I have an exam on Wednesday and it takes me 35 minutes to write these properly! But I will do one by the end of the day i PROMISE

 

[delirium]

YAY

Fabbo (it's my word of the day). I'm sure you can incorporate your knowledge of Buffy AND history so that your Buffy work is useful.

 

[Diddy]

hooray!

I'll purposely not read it until tomorrow so I can do something at work tomorrow

 

[Suomi]

Actually I DO feel a bit Gilesy right now, cos I have to look at Ancient Aramaic and Syrian translations..lots of big dusty books

 

[delirium]

I hope you are wearing tweed while doing this.

 

[Suomi]

naturally!

 

[Toyah]

With leather elbow patches!

 

[delirium]

I WAS PROMISED THE EARTH AND GOT SHIT ALL

 

[delirium]

You know... Season Six has HEARTILY grown on me. I absolutely hated it when it first came out and it almost put me off Buffy. But when I got the DVDs and watched it all within... oooo... a day (!), I loved it again. Particularly the last few episodes. The very end is tosh but until then it was fab.

 

[delirium]

Ooo - and re: Season 7... I forgot just how much I loved "The Killer In Me". The part when Willow breaks down and starts hysterically sobbing about how Tara was her baby, and that they should have been together forever. AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

I nearly cried tears of actual PAIN. It was so sad

 

[Buddha]

I enjoyed Season 7 but the whole First thing just wasn't utilised at all. The 'is Giles the First' storyline was did APPALLINGLY and the initial premise of The First messing with everyone's heads and being a very creepy psychological villain was squandered so that it became a pantomime villain, going 'MWAHAHHA I SHALL KILL YOU ALL!' while the supervamp/spike/caleb ran around getting physical. The final two episodes had great moments but also a lot that pissed me off. That magical scythe appearing from nowhere was a slap in the face to anyone who'd watched it for seven years; it made no sense that Buffy had, earlier in the season, taken several episodes to kill one supervamp, but suddenly the newly slayered up girls were kicking their asses; anya's death was fumbled something awful and it always annoyed me how the premise of there being loads of hellmouths and there being 'potential slayers' just appeared without (as far as i can recall) having ever been mentioned in the previous six years.

 

[delirium]

I'm sure other hellmouths were mentioned earlier. Wasn't it the case that when the Mayor turned into a horrible beastie, that it needed to be over a hellmouth? Thereby suggesting there is more than one?