Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Sometimes I think about what my life would be like had I been completely happy in each and every moment leading up to the one now. Would I be a happier person because of it? Well, it’s hard to say. I suppose I’d need to quantify what "happy" really meant to me. Too much of a good thing can eventually become boring. Without the struggles I’ve had throughout my life (which, to be clear, are nothing compared to some), I can say with confidence I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I wouldn’t have the drive and determination that I do. I wouldn’t have the need to create that I do. I also think I wouldn’t be a very useful person to have around. Sure, I want to be "happy," but I can’t help but think being satisfied is something much more difficult to attain and much more rewarding to experience. The road to satisfaction is often riddled with struggle — that’s what makes the end so satisfying!

This thought brings me to the oft deplored sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I know there are many people out there who hate this season, and for a myriad of reasons: too much darkness, claims of poor writing, lack of humor, mishandled characters, and more. Some of these complaints have a bit of merit, but I feel that most of them do not. I’m not going to lie to all of you: this is a flawed season of television. That being said, it might just be the most daring and risky I’ve ever seen. Never before or since have I seen a show willing to go so far, so realistically far, to show the depths of depression to a group of established, likeable characters. I can sympathize with those who say that it can be depressing to watch, because it can be. This is definitely best viewed in a condensed time period.

However, I feel this is the perfect season to explore much darker themes, as we’ve got an established group of innately moral (besides Spike, but he’s moving towards the light) and likeable, yet complex characters. This means there’s little risk of having the audience unsympathetic to the characters’ plight, while being able to explore the established flaws of these people in great depth. The tone of the season feels very naturally placed to me within the overall schema of the show.

When I first saw the season, it brought me to tears at several key points, but I was also literally filled with hope and a renewed sense of excitement for the characters and the series as a whole by the end of it. I’ve mentioned this before in a couple of my episode reviews, but without the contrast between light and dark, it becomes impossible to differentiate between them. Translated into TV terms, without showing the reality of darkness in our world and occasionally in our souls, we cannot possibly appreciate the beauty that stands in opposition of it. To show anything different sums up to television that feels fake to me. Additionally, television that doesn’t have extremely well-developed and at least relatively entertaining characters always struggles to find a place in my heart. The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have always had my heart. I care for them, I like them, and I’m rooting for them.

Season 6 contains quite a few episodes with troubled plots, yet I must cheer for these same episodes because they still generally give me a lot to think about. This has caused me to have a much more difficult time awarding appropiate scores. I can’t give the season full marks because it just doesn’t put the complete package together, like S5, but I am utterly thrilled to have witnessed it and to have seen these writers go where few have gone before. I would always rather watch a show that’s aiming for something huge and only partially succeeding at it over a show that aims for nothing, and succeeds completely at it (the vast majority of television, people). With this in mind, this is the season of Buffy I have the most respect for, and it may be my favorite season for it.

To further what I’ve already said, S6 is also the most complex of the entire series’ run. The gray areas explored through Spike and Buffy’s relationship were expertly crafted — intelligent, riveting, and at times downright sexy. However, where Spike and Buffy’s journey wildly succeeded, Willow’s unfortunately did not. What started out as an extremely promising continuation of her development got led wildly astray, and easily represents one of the biggest mistakes of the entire series.

Click on the link for more :

http://www.superjer.com/buffy/season_6_review.php