Musing on Buffy

[angelophile]

So, I finished watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3 on DVD last night and was trying to remember - was that the point where the show stopped being good? Oh, I can remember some nice parts from later series, but they seemed to get fewer and farther between. It's only now, looking back on a season I haven't watched in eight years or something, that I recall how entertaining the show was.

Oh, certainly not flawless and there's plenty in the show that's worse than I remember (OMG MELODRAMA. HAHA GAY JOKES), but from before Whedon started to become a predictable caricature of himself. It seemed to be a slow decline after that and somehow the show ended up someplace I didn't care for or about. What was it? The loss of the high school setting? The introduction of the boring supporting characters? The sidelining of Xander and the loss of some of the other memorable supporting cast? The fact that Whedon identified himself as a feminist but increasingly began to victimize his female characters?

Or was it always bad and I never noticed? I mean, I come back to it now and it does seem like Whedon consistently pairs physical strength in women with some form of emotional fucked-up-ness, almost as if they have to exist side by side. Or that there's something "wrong" with women who have casual sex. (I'm thinking Faith, here, particularly, who's up front with her sexuality and therefore "bad".) That's a trope that's as old as time, seemingly, but it seems at odds with Whedon's self proclaimed feminist credentials. The vampire Willow being all heightened sexuality and described as a tramp does make me cringe, still.

But there's still something likable about early Buffy which is definitely missing from later seasons. I'm hard pressed to put my finger on what, though. Maybe it's the villains. There's no doubt in my mind that Spike and Dru were bloody good fun. The Master was a good subversion of the arch-villain archetype. And the Mayor, well, gosh, he was just wonderful.

It just seems like this was the last season I genuinely enjoyed, rather than taking the "well, bits of it were good" view.

Am I wrong? Right? Just babbling? You decide.

Also, what the hell happened to Nicholas Brendon's career? I never see him anymore.

Comments

[foxhack.livejournal.com]

Nicholas Brendon is a recurring character in Criminal Minds.

Oh, he's going to jail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Brendon#Arrest

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

News to me on both counts. As is the fact he suffers from alcoholism. I'd literally heard nothing about him since Buffy ended.

[fullmetal-cute.livejournal.com]

I'd say after season 3 was the last season I'd call great. Everything after that was pretty much a steady decline... and this is coming from someone who loved and adored Spike, mind you.

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

I still loved Spike, I just didn't love what was done with him, if that makes any sense?

[fullmetal-cute.livejournal.com]

Makes perfect sense to me.