Spontaneous Musings

I get the impression that a lot of the criticism of BtVS centers on the redemption for characters like Spike, Willow, Anya, even Buffy and Xander and Giles, being 'too easy' on Buffy, and that AtS dealt with the difficulty of people changing more. I can see that, but really, a) as you say, the shows are just different in focus, and b) BtVS is also a show about adolescents and young adults - including Spike and Anya, whose development was largely arrested when they became demons. People change more rapidly at that age. And besides, I think BtVS also, especially from Buffy's statement 'war' in Graduation Day onward, is really strongly a war narrative in addition to the other genres. War, or constant violence, brings out extremes in people - and the end of the Sunnydale chapter of the war convincingly represents a real chance for the survivors to start anew, IMO. Not that murderers in non-war environments can't change, but I think the pressure-cooker effect does explain people changing more quickly than people seem to change IRL. It's ultimately fiction anyway - and we have to suspend disbelief regarding characterization to a degree. But I find the BtVS model credible, including cases of characters changing quickly from their worst to their best.