While I am a huge fan of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (I'm a fan of the whole series, not just the famous musical episode) I am only just now seeing many of the episodes in the show's seventh (and final) season which was recently released on DVD. A few things strike me about it. First, we yet again see the show's writers take it in an entirely different emotional direction. Yes, Buffy's usually fighting evil - but the different versions of evil, the nature of those fights, and the development of the show's lasting characters mean that every season has a distinct feeling. That said, more than most this season seems like it's one for the fans. It's not reaching X-Files levels of being wrapped up in it's own mythology, but in season 7 it moves in that direction, and I really wonder how people who came into the series late would 1) relate to the early seasons which we markedly different and 2) just plain like it. It seems to me that there is a lot that would be hard to understand if you dropped in late. But the flip side of it is that I think it's kind of dull. As someone who's watched the series, knows the mythology, already knows about the season's enemy (first glimpsed in "Amends" in season 3), and has already seen a lot of the intra-group conflicts and behaviors - I'm bored. Not "Episode 1-bored", but it's not all that it could be, and this is definitely not my favorite season (though I'll understand if it is the favorite season of Spike fans everywhere). And the level of bickering and despair is tiresome, and a bit unbelieveable given what the characters went through and overcame in seasons five and six. Plus, I think Willow gets off awfully light for what she did at the end of season six.
Still there are a few brilliant things about the season. Two of the episodes, "Selfless" and "Conversations With Dead People", are among the show's best, it clearly reinvigorates the original girl-power theme, and, above it all, Tom Lenk's performance as Andrew is probably the best comedy that's done in all seven years of an extraordinarily witty and amusing series. His uber-nerd lines are great of course and combined with his delivery and acting that character was one of the best things on TV in years. It's only fitting that he gets his own episode (which also meant we got the added bonus of seeing Danny Strong's Jonathan one more time, even if it would be the last time).
Posted by armand at November 30, 2004 11:38 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Culture