Buffy The Vampire Slayer

BtVS turned 5 and with it became spectacular!

I would say, in my opinion, this season ranks up there with seasons 2 and 3. The Arrival of Dawn, The Magic Box, The Death of Joyce, The Breakup of Riley and Buffy, and Tara’s Family mark some of the key moments that made this season momentous on all levels. NOT to mention the "key" most important and heartbreaking moment in all Buffy history. Her death. From the "Previously on Buffy..." to "She saved the world alot," "The Gift" was a spectacular episode. On the DVD, which I would say was pretty good, The Gift was not shown in it’s full entirety. I wonder. WHERE WAS THE DAMN AWESOME PREVIOUSLY ON BUFFY!?!?!?! I don’t know why but they decided to leave that out cause that was an awesome way to begin what many of us thought was the final ep. Anyway, I give this DVD ****. Not 5 because of that key not putting in the Previously on Buffy. Watch everything on this DVD including Commentaries, featurettes, outtakes(which are actually on there! :> ), and my fave ep, The Replacement with Nicholas Brendan’s twin!!! Other awesome eps: The Body ( I cried), I Was Made For You (With slimey Warren), and Buffy vs. Dracula ( hilarious!!!!)

User Rating: rating

Season 5 deserves 5 stars!

This is probably one of my favorite Buffy seasons, if not the best one out there. As the final season on the WB the finale is probably the most emotionally charged as a special goodbye courtesy of creator Joss Whedon. New characters and relationships are introduced and solidified in many cases. Buffy gains a family member yet loses another one, ends a relationship and plays with starting a new confusing one. Xander and Anya, and Tara and Willow grow much closer this season, as does the viewers attraction to the relationships formed on the show. The supervillan this season is none other then a slightly insane fallen God by the name of Glory who is looking for a magical ’key’ that will let her return home - at the expense of the Earth.

The big theme of this season is acceptance - of what the characters can’t control, of new people in their lives, and of what they must do to benefit others, particularly shown in the 100th episode, "The Gift".

The thing aobut Season 5 is that there isn’t as many singular episodes that stand-out but an amazing rippling effect that makes you appreciate all the details of the finale that much more. However some particularly well-done episodes include "The Body" which features no score whatsoever, a rare case for most dramatic tv series, particularly for this episode. "Blood Ties" Is a great metaphorical episode for youths watching and a powerful ’key’ to the season. "I Was Made To Love You" The first episode featuring one of the famed robot girls (like the Buffybot) is interesting only as precursor to the impact of the Buffy-bot created by Spike. Finally "The Weight of the World" and "The Gift" are both incredibly well done and lead to a powerful ending and goodbye as Buffy leaves the WB and heads to UPN for the final two seasons. A must have season as the acting is phenomenal and sets up the most relationship-filled seasons to come.

User Rating: rating

deceptions

The fifth season of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER feels casual, exuding, particularly in its first few episodes, an almost thrown-together quality. Coming off of season four, which contains some of the show’s best episodes but probably has its weakest "arc" up to that point, Season Five seems to be following a similar line. It is funny, well-staged, and full of fascinating new characters and developments, but it is difficult, at first, to get a bead on where the season is going.

A friend of mine says most dramatic shows have five or six good years in them, before decline sets in or they are cancelled, and I think she’s right. NYPD BLUE worked for six years before it collapsed under the weight of too many teen-idol replacements for Smits and Caruso; THE WEST WING’s fifth season was a travesty without Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme around to guide things; and even a sitcom like FRIENDS, whose character arcs resemble those of dramatic programs, had a hard time keeping things interesting after year five. There’s no set formula, of course, but it’s fair to say that a program’s cast and crew might get a little bored after awhile, might have trouble finding new shadings for their characters or new spins on their environments, and might begin to take it easy and coast. Seen in this light, the initial slacker quality of BUFFY year five becomes both more comprehensible and also a little ominous— when a program’s first episode is given the distinctly Marvel Comics-esque title "Buffy v. Dracula," its not hard to imagine the blood in the water and the sharks circling.

Such fears were, for many fans, confirmed by the appearance of Dawn, Buffy’s heretofore unseen, uncommented-upon little sister. Some fans and critics immediately dubbed her "Oliver," a reference to the mysterious "cousin" that appeared in later seasons of THE BRADY BUNCH, and whose name has become shorthand for a show’s desperate attempts to add characters and keep things alive near the end. Who was this strange, annoying little girl? Why had we never seen her? And why was every character on the show already acting as if we had?

As if the "new relative" gambit wasn’t enough, BUFFY’ s writers also tossed in the Mysterious Illness ploy for Buffy’s mom, and the Hot New Relationship plot for Buffy and Spike, in what initially seems like a wan attempt to recreate the old magic of Buffy and Angel. By the time, in episode six, Tara’s family arrives to inform the Scooby Gang (and viewers) that this quiet girl has a Dark Secret, fans can be forgiven for thinking that the WB had secretly switched our usual BUFFY blend with episodes of GUIDING LIGHT.

Silly us— with ep seven, "Fool For Love," everything clicks into place, plot points are clarified, and suddenly it all begins to make sense, and to take on a tremendous emotional power. The remaining fifteen episodes are some of the show’s best, and looking at the season as a whole four years after its initial airing, it’s remarkable how cohesive it really is. One of the major themes of the year is deception, and by offering their audience a seemingly loose and occasionally incomprehensible start to the year, creator/auteur Joss Whedon and his staff were able to place viewers in roughly the same emotional position as their characters.

By the time Season Five rolled around, Mutant Enemy knew it had a hit on its hands, and an intensely loyal fan base. They could now take their show (and its viewers) to different places, and really get under the skins of their characters. They had been doing this all along, of course, but Seasons Five and Six of BUFFY are full of a desire and yearning that is dark, fascinating, and sometimes unsettling. Far from coasting to syndication, the show would take more chances than ever.

It’s notable that both Seasons Two and Five come, on DVD, in red/reddish boxes— a color of passion, heartache, blood, and love. Season Five finds the show’s characters undergoing a level of trauma not seen since the second half of Season Two, and the final resolution of that trauma is, like the end of season two, both gut-wrenching and utterly logical. I won’t give more detail than that, except to note, again, how well-paced this year is, interspersing more dramatic eps with funny ones, allowing moments for the whole ensemble to shine, and keeping the flow so loose and unpredictable that, when twists and suprises come, they really are twists and surprises.

This was also a year of behind-the-scenes goodbyes: it was the last season shot by Buffy’s great secret weapon, cinematographer Michael Gershman, whose beautiful balance of dark and light (in all senses) had held the show together since its first episode; it was the last year to prominently feature the lush scores of composer Christophe Beck, whose strings had always sonically captured the beautiful adolescent passions of the characters; it was the last full season for Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), whose character would continue to appear, but only in recurring "guest star" status; and it was the last year the show would appear on the WB, since contract negotiatons and public spatting led to the show’s vamoosing to the UPN network the following year (this also meant it was the last time— for awhile— that there would be character crossovers between BUFFY and ANGEL, since the latter continued to air on the WB, which imposed a "ban" on such occurences after BUFFY left home).

In so many ways, then, Season Five marks a turning point for BUFFY, a year in which, even for a show which had always taken chances, questions of change and growth seemed central, both within the narrative and on a stylistic level. I wouldn’t start watching BUFFY with Season Five, but it’s a crucial year for a crucial show, and well worth one’s time.