Purplemess317
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Dawn would have died instead of buffy that would have made a wayyyyy more interesting storyline
Change one thing in S5
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DeadlyDuo
Scooby
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I agree. We'd then see Buffy struggle with her sense of failure because she couldn't protect Dawn.
Purplemess317
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Exactly having to sacrifice dawn in order to save the world would've been pretty dope... not because she wanted to but she couldn't save her in time idk but defeat glory and lose dawn all in the same token would have been a great season 6 storyline
Cordeliagirl
Oh, Buffy, we're sisters! With different hair.
Bring Cordelia back and have Xander and Cordy back together and Have Percy with Williow , not with his girlfriend, and have buffy with John, and have Giles with Anya, and no Dawn.
HowiMetdaSlayer
who's John?! o_O
Mr Trick
Scooby
HowiMetdaSlayer
𝕔𝕠𝕔𝕠𝕒 𝕒𝕕𝕕𝕚𝕔𝕥 ☕️
Mr Trick
Scooby
Surprised me too. I mean I like what they did with him and Willow. I could even see a friendship but no romance. She's way out of his league😛
nina98
Did I get it?
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This is the season where the show jumps the shark. And there are lots of reasons why, but if I can pick just one, it's what they did to Buffy. As in, turning her into a single mother whose men always leave. The two key plot points that irreversibly screwed up Buffy's character development:
- Introduction of Dawn. It's been said earlier in this thread - the problem wasn't Dawn herself. It was what it did to Buffy. She was an only child and we were watching the journey of her growing up. In one second, they altered her personality and shut down her growth trajectory. She was the never the same character after that.
- Having her run after Riley when he left. She should have purposefully stopped and told him to go. All the men in Buffy's life leave (and the one who doesn't, just tries to rape her). We get it. We more than get it. We've been hit over the head with a hammer about it over and over and over. But if we're supposed to be watching the story of growing up and particularly of a strong woman character, how stupid is it that not once is she strong enough to break that cycle and do the leaving herself? Riley's descent was clumsy, unfair to the character, and should have been handled better. But having gotten to this point, it was a huge growth opportunity for Buffy to be strong enough to walk away from the man who had cheated on her and then blamed her for it. How realistic is it that every boyfriend she had left her and she never once (besides Owen) walked away? How is this empowerment? I can see the pattern starting out there, but just like Buffy as a slayer was a subversion of the woman who always gets killed in the horror movie, why did they not gradually empower her in her love life as she grew up? And having sex with Spike was not it. Blech...
- Introduction of Dawn. It's been said earlier in this thread - the problem wasn't Dawn herself. It was what it did to Buffy. She was an only child and we were watching the journey of her growing up. In one second, they altered her personality and shut down her growth trajectory. She was the never the same character after that.
- Having her run after Riley when he left. She should have purposefully stopped and told him to go. All the men in Buffy's life leave (and the one who doesn't, just tries to rape her). We get it. We more than get it. We've been hit over the head with a hammer about it over and over and over. But if we're supposed to be watching the story of growing up and particularly of a strong woman character, how stupid is it that not once is she strong enough to break that cycle and do the leaving herself? Riley's descent was clumsy, unfair to the character, and should have been handled better. But having gotten to this point, it was a huge growth opportunity for Buffy to be strong enough to walk away from the man who had cheated on her and then blamed her for it. How realistic is it that every boyfriend she had left her and she never once (besides Owen) walked away? How is this empowerment? I can see the pattern starting out there, but just like Buffy as a slayer was a subversion of the woman who always gets killed in the horror movie, why did they not gradually empower her in her love life as she grew up? And having sex with Spike was not it. Blech...
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I don't think they shut down her growth trajectory, they accelerated it. Buffy had been school-girl and college girl and in S5 she was became grown-up. Don't most women become carers one way or another in their lives? Either for children or aged parents or both and that's what happened to Buffy.
Buffy was meant to be everygirl, and as such I think the writers wanted what happened to her to reflect what happens to real women. Personally I think they did a great job, and S5 is excellent, partly due to the inclusion of Dawn, but I understand tastes vary.
I have a lot of sympathy with this point of view. I don't think anyone enjoys seeing Buffy chasing after Riley, but that has been her m.o with men upto this point, so it isn't out of character. I think the audience were meant to think she was making a mistake, and that she shouldn't be running after a man who'd treated her badly and in that sense the wrtiting worked really well.
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