Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy has always been the least guilty of TV pleasures. Granted, as with all cultists, Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans were often forced to defend themselves to the uninitiated. But honestly, defending the show has never been particularly hard, or even momentarily embarrassing.

Simply put, for seven seasons, Buffy has been one of the smartest, scariest, sexiest and wittiest shows on television. Too often dismissed as a teen show or a genre show, Buffy was a well-acted and often brilliantly written comedy/drama that, under its fantasy guise, treated the pains and joys of life with admirable and sometimes shocking realism.

Yes, some episodes were better than others, as were some seasons. The show worked best when the "Scooby Gang" was together in high school, and least well last season, when it was splintered by self-pity and ennui. But when you look at the seven seasons as a whole, what is most striking is the show’s consistency and artistic integrity.

So perhaps it’s best that the show is leaving us now. Starting tonight on UPN (8 ET/PT), Buffy kicks off a four-episode run to its May 20 series finale. It will be missed, but creator Joss Whedon - the frighteningly talented force behind the series - is probably right when he says the show has reached a logical conclusion.

You can get the basic idea of the show from that title that so many adults seemed to find off-putting: Buffy slays vampires. But if you look at the title again, you’ll see the show isn’t about what she does, it’s about who she is. She was called to this role, which allowed Buffy to explore issues of responsibility most other series ignore.

At heart, the vampires Buffy and her friends fought were metaphors for the monsters we all face - particularly in high school, where every decision seems like life and death, and every problem seems like the end of the world. The unexpected bonus in Buffy was the kids were right. They were facing down the apocalypse. And they did so while chatting in a slangy appropriation of pop culture references that was amusing without ever becoming forced or annoying.

What was amazing, however, was not just how apt the metaphor proved to be, but how adaptable it was. Without ever straying from its basic story and characters, Buffy could swing from outright horror to comedy to heartbreaking family drama. Over the years, it touched upon many of life’s toughest issues: separation, rejection, the death of a parent or a lover, the alienation of old friends, the cruelty of a partner who no longer loves you.

But the issues didn’t just fly by; they had weight and repercussions. Life didn’t come free on Buffy: Mistakes were paid for, and while things were forgiven, they were never forgotten. That’s one reason the characters could often be difficult, particularly Buffy herself, who like most saviors, and a good many actors, was best admired from a distance.

Feel guilty for liking a show like that? Never. But I’ll tell you what I do feel as it departs.

Slayed.