Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Smart teen show is good, but the Slayer is missed

Here’s a great little compare-and-contrast exercise: Catch an episode of Veronica Mars Sunday night, followed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Evaluate. Discuss.

As with any good test, there is no wrong answer. Both are great shows, so no matter which you like better, you can’t really lose.

When Buffy went off the air in 2003, fans lamented the loss of a butt-kicking heroine who cracked wise while cracking ribs.

True enough, there weren’t a lot of shows that fit that description.

Of course, Buffy was much more than that. Early in its run it was a dead solid perfect look at the travails of high school, with actual monsters filling in for the metaphorical ones that roam the halls in real life. It was still a great show after the gang went off to college, but rarely reached the consistent heights of those first years. When it left, it was much missed.

When Veronica Mars debuted last fall, we had something to fill the gap; comparisons popped up everywhere. Here we had a much more literal look at high school through the eyes of another butt-kicking heroine, only one who used her brains instead of her fists. It, too, is a really good show, though it hasn’t risen to the level of the best Buffy episodes. Turns out the heightened realism of Veronica’s world just isn’t as powerful as the metaphorical world Buffy and her pals inhabited.

However, Kristen Bell’s portrayal of Veronica compares favorably with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s star turn as Buffy. It’s a completely different performance, with killer quips (more literal than figurative in Buffy’s case) about the only thing they share. Buffy was clever enough, but Veronica gets by almost solely on brains. It’s hard to imagine we’ll ever see her drive a stake through anyone’s heart, but there’s only been one season; give her time.

"Empowerment" is a gooey kind of word that usually doesn’t mean much, but it’s apt in both of these shows, and should be in more. It’s great that Veronica came along to help fill the Buffy gap. It’s a shame the gap existed in the first place.