1. Not sure about this. I mean if everyone is treated equally then I don't think you can say that the issues faced by High School kids are any less worse than those of adults, different maybe, but certainly in their own way just as tough. For all its flaws I think the debut season of Buffy does a really good job representating some of these issues, and the second season too. Xander's crush on Buffy and the scene where she tries to let him down lightly being a perfect example, and the theme of bullying is also handled really well.
2. Oh Cordy is far from a one-note character in Buffy. She may start that way, but that is partly to set up her growth and to subvert the stereotype. She goes on to be way more complex, witty and sharp than your avenge Queen Bee😉 The version of Cordy in the early seasons of Angel is just an extenison of that. IMO over time they try to make the character too dark and it just doesn't work.
3. Yeah four is the one I'm really mixed on too. Such an up and down season, but the highs are so high than I guess it still ranks as one of the best for me. Also, visually I like how the new space of the College is constructed compared with that of Sunnydale High.
4. Thing is if you only judge Spuffy on 6 I can see how badly it might come across but to me you have to judge it for me from season 4 up to 6 at least, maybe even since Spike's debut. Judging it based on that I think shows just what a bold and rich relationship it is.
And I agree that there are far more bad episodes in 2 than 5, but then I think most of them are in the early part of the season and when you get into the Angelus arc the season bar Go Fish doesn't look back. Its close between those two seasons for my second favourite after 3.
1. the limitations of a high school setting and such is just so parochial. I guess I need to emphasize that I really liked s1 and s2 despite the many poor episodes, and like everyone else I think S3 is among the best (S5 and S3 are more or less a tie for me, albeit for different reasons. I prefer S5 slightly, but I admit that to be more for personal reasons). I said later on that, quoting thetopher's post, I agreed that the high school themes were executed well, and better, than the themes of the later seasons. So I agree with you there. That's just how I see it, I guess: the high school themes were fun and nostalgic, but for me also things I look back upon and consider inconsequential by comparison to life afterwards. To me, life doesn't even really start until after you leave high school, with respect to the point about insular life that I mentioned in the original post, as well as for other reasons. We are talking about what we prefer after all; that's how the thread started. I don't think I can improve upon clarifying what I said in the first post right now to be honest. I see the high school experience as insular, and I see the version of Buffy the vampire slayer as insular too. But like I said, I liked those seasons too.
2. I guess so. For the majority of the first 3 seasons of Buffy she was more of a one note character than on Angel, by
comparison (italics). That's more or less what I said in the first post. Cordy doesn't really evidence a lot of diversity and nuance of character until an advanced stage of S3 Buffy in my opinion.
3. Yeah I agree, 4 is probably the most underrated season. To me Season 4 is the mirror opposite doppelganger of S2: the stand alone episodes are amazing, but the main story stuff is what is more often than not bad, whereas with S2 it is the stand alone episodes that are more often than not bad, and the main story stuff that is the best. And both Seasons have about as many cast aside episodes as the other. I really want to like S4 for the main story too; I keep trying to appreciate it more on that level with each rewatch.
4. I stand in the middle in a lot of ways on the Spuffy stuff. Personally, I enjoy Spike in seasons 4 and 5. I enjoy him in many respects even in 6. But on the other hand, I sympathize a great deal with people who believe that it became too much at the same time, because Spuffy came to dominate and define the show in important respects for many of the later seasons, to the detriment of the possibilities. They painted themselves in a corner by prioritizing Spuffy, and then took too long to resolve the situation so as better to focus on other things in the show. In fact, it was never really resolved. Bangel wasn't resolved per se either, but they moved on from it, and in that sense it was resolved. So in a way I do blame Spuffy for diverting creative energy from what could have been a much, much better S6, because I feel the dark themes and ideas were set up beautifully by S5 but were not followed up on or capitalized upon the way they could have been. There were many reasons for this actually, and the Spuffy preponderance was by no means the only reason, but it was part of it.
