Favorite Season of Buffy?

[shadowkat]

[Figure this should be safe and won't get any pedantic arguments/fights. But you never know with the Buffy fandom. At any rate, mind my blood-pressure in responses, I have a sinus head-ache from hell and a hellish work week with crazy bureaucrats and pedants. This is a mild distraction.]

[ETA: Almost wish I asked where you are in the viewing of series. Are you brand new to the series, watched it live in the 1990s-2003 (and since seen it 20 times or more, okay that may be an exaggeration...then again maybe not), or only watched the first three seasons all the way through and haven't seen most of the later seasons yet...although not really sure it matters one way or the other..]

[Poll #1822636]

Comments

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

Of the seasons I've seen completely (S1-S4), I'd say yes, S3 is my favorite. Interestingly, I was actually warned off S5-S7 as having some good stand-alone episodes, but having frustrating/bad season arcs and character development. I've only seen a handful of episodes from each, though, so I don't really have an opinion on them overall, just impressions. I remember finding Spike much less interesting once he was good/had a soul. I also remember getting kind of annoyed at the way S6 and S7 seemed to involve a lot of time spent with everyone sitting in Buffy's house/the magic shop talking and not really doing much? Also every time Xander was on screen I could not fathom why he was still in the show.

Those were my impressions. I guess eventually I'd like to see S5-S7 completely, but I wasn't thrilled about S4's second half, and so I remain dubious about how much I would enjoy the later seasons.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I guess eventually I'd like to see S5-S7 completely, but I wasn't thrilled about S4's second half, and so I remain dubious about how much I would enjoy the later seasons.

Curious...have you watched the entire series? (ie. all the episodes?)

Have you watched all of Angel?

Because that does make a difference. The series becomes incredibly serialized towards the end of S4. To the point that you really can't skip episodes without losing something. Whedon does that in all his series, he dumps the whole episodic formula halfway through and goes straight serial.

I'm not sure there's any true stand-a-lone's after S4. Although I may be wrong about that. I haven't watched it in a while.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

I haven't, of either. I'm currently at the beginning of S4 of Angel, although I skipped most of S3 because the whole demon-vampire baby plot made me really, really frustrated. (I kept reading summaries and skipping around to see if it got better. Mostly it didn't.) I watched S1-4 of Buffy, but like I said, only selected episodes from the later seasons, all out of order. Xander and Anya's wedding disaster episode was the first episode I ever saw of either show. After that I think I saw bits of S6 and some time after that I started watching the series in order. Although I still saw S1 of Angel before S3 of Buffy, so...yeah.

I've been spoiled for just about all the plot points, and I am aware that S5-7 of Buffy are very serialized. From what I know of the plot, though, it seems they're also a steady downward march into ever-increasing despair as everyone's lives are ruined, and honestly, I can only watch Whedon destroy his characters' lives so many times before I get tired of it. Serialized fiction is not really my thing, either. I'm reminded of the Dresden Files books. The first few, which were very case-of-the-week, I enjoyed. Once the whole series became about this huge global battle between good and evil, I got bored fast.

Like I said, I feel like I should eventually watch S5-7 for completion's sake, but I've gathered enough about them to make me guess that I probably won't enjoy them as much as the earlier seasons. This is entirely my own thing, though. I'm well aware my experience of Buffy is really odd and completely counter to how it was meant to be watched. It's a very emotional show, but when you know most of the twists going in... it's hard to get very invested. I'm a little more attached to the characters in Angel (well, besides Angel himself) but I'm trying not to let myself like them too much because I know horrible horrible death awaits pretty much everyone. ):

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Eh...Watching a serial out of order, and spoiled, is a bit like reading the ending of an Agatha Christie mystery. (Been there done that with the George RR Martin books, I was spoiled on the first three books and read sections of book three before finishing books 1 and 2, which ruined the series for me. Had to wait 5 years before I tried reading book 3 in its entirety.) So, watching Buffy and Angel thoroughly spoiled and out of order did without question ruin or "spoil" the entire series for you. Again...it's a bit like reading the end of a Sherlock Holmes mystery novel.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

The spoilers certainly took away from my emotional connection to the show (although mostly I don't mind spoilers; it's how things happen, not what, that intrigues me) but I suspect I would have found problems with it anyway. Even with my patchy knowledge of the later parts of the show, I find myself getting really, really angry over key plot points and writing choices, even starting in S4. So even if I hadn't been spoiled, I feel like those elements would still have made me reluctant to keep watching. Like I said before, I can only watch characters be tortured or torn apart so many times, and what I know of S5-S7 is that it is one long endless march into misery. I don't need to see that. Since none of the characters I really like are in those seasons anyway (except maybe Anya), I'm not all that likely to watch them. Maybe eventually, but I'm not looking forward to it.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

The latter seasons really aren't that bad. I personally think S2 and Firefly and god, don't get me started on Dollhouse, are far worse in some respects. But it may all be relative? Or mileage varies?

I mean it depends on what you consider really torturous or what triggers you? I stopped watching Breaking Bad after the first season, because it was too violent and I could not stand the characters. Yet, Game of Thrones which admittedly has a lot more violence, didn't bug me. True Blood's violence - which is really gory, I shrug off. But I can't watch Bones - it's too gross.
And I hated the X-Files - too much torture, violence and gore.

At any rate, mileage varies on this. If you haven't already, you might want to look at all the other comments. Also, if you can find them my essays - I'm an insane Spike fan. He was my favorite character of the cast. My least favorites of the people who were in the actual credits or front montage - are Angel and Cordelia. I was also not that much of a Faith fan, but you already know that.;-)

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's definitely a 'your mileage may vary' situation, and that's fine. I think what I enjoy least is emotional trauma of characters or writing in plot devices that are only there to make the characters miserable. You have to have some of that, but at a certain point it becomes too much and it seems more like the writer is actively trying to prevent the characters from ever being able to recover. That's the vibe I get from the later seasons.

I have read the other comments, and like I said, it's not like I won't ever watch the later seasons-- I may get to it eventually. I'm just not really all that enthusiastic about them.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

YMMV or your mileage may vary is always the case with tv shows, along with the brilliant axiom - you are not watching the same tv show your friends are watching if it appears to be the same.

It's why people's opinions are all over the place.

I don't know why you'd want to watch something you don't like. Seems a waste a time to me...I mean quite a few people on my flist tried to get me to love Breaking Bad, and I just finally decided, eh, not for me.
Great show - just not my cup of tea. Plus too many tv shows too little time.

You might like The Wire better, if you haven't seen it already. It's violent...and yeah, grim, but not quite in the same...soap operaish way.