The first ever episode that I attempted to watch of Buffy was Buffy vs. Dracula – I changed the channel within five minutes. My thinking was that that little blonde girl would never believably get the better of Dracula. However, one of my friends could not stop going on about how brilliant it was. Her exact quote was that it was “Twin Peaks good” (in our language that means it’s exceptional). Therefore, I gave it another go and watched the first and second seasons back to back over a weekend.
The first season was not in any way startling, but it intrigued me enough to carry on watching. Needless to say, as soon as I saw Spike crash his car into the Sunnydale sign, I was hooked.
Buffy is a fantastic, well-written show (Joss Whedon may just be one of the best screenwriters out there) that is filled with brilliant and diverse characters. Apart from the main Scoobies, (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow the Witch, Giles the Watcher and Xander the funny one with no powers) you also have OZ the stoic werewolf and Anya the ex vengeance demon, with a very literal turn of phrase. However, my favourite character is Spike, the punk vampire who has killed two vampire slayers and threatens to do evil deeds but is never that successful. In addition, Spike always manages to turn up in time to make insightful suggestions or to make good guys feel better about themselves despite his evil nature (and to put a girly point on it - the man just oozes sex). All of these characters enrich the show with their very unique sense of humour. Futhermore, their relationships with other characters in the show are as compelling as they are heartbreaking.
Each season has its share of fantastic, groundbreaking episodes. Hush, in season four is an almost completely silent episode while the all-singing, all-dancing episode – Once more with feeling adds some spice to season six.
Artistically, it should have ended after Season Five when Buffy dies by throwing herself by into a force field of mystical energy to save her sister’s life, but who cares about art. Would you have really missed out on Evil Willow or the Spike/Buffy relationship?
I have a few issues with the way it ended. Firstly, it got a bit too bleak and depressing in Season Seven. They killed off Spike (but it’s Ok he turns up in Angel Season Five so I can just about live with that). Moreover, the way Anya dies - that girl deserved a better death after putting up with non-committal Xander all those years. Nevertheless, the last season did have its moments, the graphics in season finale are amazing and the RJ obsessed episode was one of the funniest Buffy episodes ever (the image of Spike stopping Buffy from killing the Principal Wood with a rocket-launcher is hilarious).
Yeah, you may argue that Buffy and Angel banging on about how they can’t truly love each other can get annoying at times but it does not alter the fact that Buffy is best teenage drama ever shown on our screens and I wasn’t even a teenager when I started watching it!!!
