It Ain't Snowing, but the Weather's Great for Slaying

I just finished watching the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and before you jump down my throat, hear me out.

This is one of the better, more cohesive television series ever written.

I won’t deny that I started watching the series because I saw a picture of Sarah Michelle Gellar on the local TV Guide-type magazine, and I thought: hey, I could look at that girl for an hour a week.

And then I actually watched it, and it was everything someone who is into sci-fi and comics could want.

First: great action. I’m pretty sure Gellar didn’t do all of her own stunts, but I do know she did a lot, and even if it wasn’t her, the fight scenes were pretty good martial arts, especially for television.

Second: great writing. Joss Whedon, who has become somewhat of a god-among-men for the nerd set (with Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, he has quite a following), has the amazing ability to put together single stories, long plot-arcs, and great dialogue. Taking a cue from the Spider-Man school of super-hero banter, Buffy is the queen of the snappy comeback and the awful pun. As the seasons go on, it becomes so that even her enemies comment wryly about her use of the jokes. Beyond that, there is also the specialized vocabulary that Buffy’s friends (“Scoobies”) develop, that at times annoying, still stays consistent throughout the series.

Granted, there is overacting at times, and the drama sometimes gets very dramatic, but overall, the show was always well-written. Throw in some gems such as the episode “Hush” (which is slightly overrated as being “ground-breaking,” but is still very well done) and the musical episode “One More Time, With Feeling”, where the actors, despite not all being the greatest singers, do well nonetheless, are classics.

Yes, these two examples, like a number of others, hint at the “gimmick episode”, and yet such shows rarely do not advance the plot of that particular season. Again, with our two examples, “Hush” reveals Buffy’s identity to Riley, and the musical shows Buffy’s true feelings about being brought back from the dead (at this point, you should know that Buffy is no stranger to dying).

Perhaps the one flaw in the writing (and perhaps this is more a direction thing), is the more than PG-13 rating on some of the sex scenes. Now, I’m no prude, but I’m also aware of the limits of television. Since they can’t go for the gusto, then I’m of the opinion that hinting can do as much for viewer as actual “showing.” In other words, back in the days of the hard-core MPAA, a kiss in a bedroom was often enough to signify that sex was about to happen, and, when the next scene came on the screen, the audience knew that the characters had slept together. In one episode of Buffy, though, it ends with Buffy clearly unzipping Spike’s pants and then being penetrated. If this sounds graphic, well, that’s because it was. Clearly, you don’t see the actually penetration, and the actors are fully clothed, but it still probably goes beyond the decency for a show that, although written for adults, is obviously watched, at least by this point in the series, by young people as well.

Note: This rant above needs to come with a caveat, that being it is up to parents to monitor what kids watch, not the writers. I wholly believe this, and I am not blaming the writers for “corrupting” the kids, or putting the parents in awkward situations in having to answer questions that they may not be ready to answer. In fact, as I think about it, it is not up to the writer to do anything but write what he believes pushes the plot forward or will be entertaining. That being said, I think that such scenes, while giving us a little insight into the characters, were not completely necessary, at least not as given to us on the screen, and perhaps could have been cut back or edited differently.

It is interesting to know, too, that these scenes definitely seemed to become more frequent when the show moved from the WB network to the UPN. If you are aware of these two networks, you’ll realize that the UPN is considered the, shall I say “wacker,” network, and therefore maybe this change is not so surprising.

Third: great acting. The nice thing about this series is that it took a group of unknowns (yes, Sarah Michelle Gellar had been on a soap opera before, but how many soap opera actors can you name?), and allowed them to grow and develop. Gellar, obviously, but Alyson Hannigan and Nicholas Brendon created careers with this show. James Marsters and David Boreanaz as well. They all were able to combine comedy, action, and drama to create well-rounded characters.

Now, I’ve mentioned some overacting, and I can’t think of anyone who was in character for 144 hours who is able to do so without some sort of overacting, and I believe they keep it within reasonable bounds. One thing I’d like to say about Buffy’s character, though, is that as the series goes on, she has a tendency to go Harry Potter on us (broody, know-it-all, screw-my-friends), but I think Whedon does a good job of explaining that (and, for that matter, so does Rowling with Potter).

Despite any negatives I might have regarding this series, it remains for me one of the best stories I’ve ever encountered. It is highly compelling and extremely entertaining, and I recommend it to anyone. You don’t have to be a sci-fi person to enjoy this show, although it might add to your appreciation. So definitely watch it.

I have also come to the conclusion that shows on DVD, especially dramas, are inherently better than watching on television. Yes, there is the suspense of having to wait each week (and between commercial breaks), but, no matter what, you will be waiting. And this way, the story is completely fresh in your mind. Watching all seven seasons in a short period of time is like reading a seven novel series that has been out for years. It’s all the same story, it’s all continuous, and therefore should be watched as such. I’ve come to the decision that there are a few shows I had some inkling to watch, but haven’t, and now I’m going to wait until they’ve run their course, get the DVDs, and watch it that way. In the long run, it saves time, and keeps me from being beholden to the television schedulers.

Here’s a link for the first season: http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=024543233015&itm=5

Obviously it’s expensive to buy them all, so if you can, just rent them or buy them used. Then, if you like them, buy them. I think they’re good enough to bear multiple watchings, but I know it’s an investment. No matter what, though, I think you’ll be doing yourself a favor by watching it.