I'm done...

[OFAWB]

Guess who just finished watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer? I'll write about things more in detail later, after I've processed it all. I'm just letting you know that I made it through! I can't wait to get started on Angel...after a break, that is.

*Long, heavy sigh + tears + shaking*

 

[white avenger]

Yeah, I never watched "Angel" until after Season 7 was finished. One word of advice, there are several crossover episodes, like the Faith arc that started with 2 episodes on "Buffy," then concluded with 2 more on "Angel," among others. It works best to work out the sequence of the various episodes, then watch them in order as a miniseries.

 

[VisionGirl]

Yay! I can't wait to hear your thoughts. And cool, you're going to start Angel!

 

[Wesley Pryce]

I'm glad you liked Buffy,and that you finally finished it..CONGRATS!. 🙂 Angel has a different tone,but its a great dark show 🙂

 

[OFAWB]

All right. I really don't want to schock or upset anyone too much, but I am deeply dissatisfied by the way the show ended. Season 7, while it had some great moments, made the rest of the show seem like a waste.

It feels as though I've wasted four months of my life watching and discussing a television show whose ending has rendered the entire enterprise useless.

Despite a lot of trying, I never actually understood Buffy's character, much less liked her. She sent out mixed messages to those around her throughout the series (friendly, rude, protective, apathetic, loving, hateful, funny, serious), but did this even more in Season 7. Everyone who's human experiences a range of emotions, but Buffy's mood changes always seemed sudden and illogical to me. The constant stream of new characters and story arcs in Season 7 was unnecessary and distracting. Don't get me started about Buffy's treatment of Spike...I just don't see how it was 'obvious' that she cared for him, because even at the end of the show she was using him and lying to him. Robin and Faith? Nasty. Willow and Kennedy? Even nastier. Those moronic Potentials, kicking Buffy out of her own home and then pretending to be her best friend five minutes later? The nastiest.

To be completely honest, I'm regretting ever getting into BTVS. I know that a lot of people will say that one bad season can't negate the enjoyment I got from the other seasons, but that's not how I'm feeling right now. The way this particular show ended - with a million new mini-plots and characters entering the fray at the last minute, the realization that I never identified with or liked the heroine of the series, and the entire town being turned into an enormous crater - makes all the hours I spent on it seem worthless.

If you think this is shocking or wrong, be glad I didn't write this last night. I was much more frantic about it then. Perhaps I'll change my mind, but I will say it again: I am severely disappointed and regretful.

 

[EVIL UU]

See, that's why I always tell people to stop watching after season 5.

 

[JCoatsworth]

It feels as though I've wasted four months of my life watching and discussing a television show whose ending has rendered the entire enterprise useless.

Sorry you didn't like it, but I think that's quite a negative attitude you have. Wasted four months of you're life?! Weren't the first five seasons awesome? Was it not worth it?
When I watch the early episodes, I don't think about what comes after that. I focus on what's happening right now. I mean, I don't let Episodes I-III ruin the other three Star Wars films for me.

See, that's why I always tell people to stop watching after season 5.

Well, good thing that I didn't take your advice, 'cause I think season 7 and especially season 6 are awesome.

 

[OFAWB]

Sorry you didn't like it, but I think that's quite a negative attitude you have. Wasted four months of you're life?! Weren't the first five seasons awesome? Was it not worth it?
When I watch the early episodes, I don't think about what comes after that. I focus on what's happening right now. I mean, I don't let Episodes I-III ruin the other three Star Wars films for me.

Point taken regarding Star Wars. If you think I have a negative attitude today, imagine my attitude earlier! It was a lot worse.

I don't think I can stomach a re-watch, because knowing the way things are going to end makes the whole thing seem futile. Plus, I just really don't like Buffy the character...and that was something I felt throughout most of the show. It's embarrassing; I know I'm probably the only person who doesn't like her character. But I just don't get her or love her. And she's the heroine! I'm supposed to identify with her and understand her decisions, but I rarely have. That's a reality for me, even if I ignore Season 7.

 

[JCoatsworth]

Point taken regarding Star Wars. If you think I have a negative attitude today, imagine my attitude earlier! It was a lot worse.

I don't think I can stomach a re-watch, because knowing the way things are going to end makes the whole thing seem futile. Plus, I just really don't like Buffy the character...and that was something I felt throughout most of the show. It's embarrassing; I know I'm probably the only person who doesn't like her character. But I just don't get her or love her. And she's the heroine! I'm supposed to identify with her and understand her decisions, but I rarely have. That's a reality for me, even if I ignore Season 7.

Well, to be honest, Buffy isn't my favorite character either. Most of the time I like her, but sometimes I don't understand her actions either.
Anyway, the way you feel is the way you feel. If you don't feel like re-watching the show, you shouldn't do it, of course. But I don't really understand how the finale can have such an impact on the rest of the show. Maybe we're just different in that way. When they talk about the Slayer mythology in the early seasons I don't even think about potentials and all that stuff at all.

 

[Blaze]

I'm very sorry that you feel that way, just like [MENTION=10438]JCoatsworth[/MENTION], I can't say I really understand though. It's one thing to hate s7, but even then it's not the end of the series, maybe you should give the comics a try (although I feel like you'd hate them even more if you disliked s7). And also, there's actually a good amount of people that dislike Buffy, so you're not the only one in that aspect.

One thing I don't understand is how you find that Buffy treat Spike badly in s7. After the events of s6, I think she treats him the best, not only that she ever has, but the best that she could which regards to their past. For the first time they are friends, I love their relationship in s7.

S7 isn't perfect, I'll give you that, I'm also fine with people saying it's the worst season or that it's shit (even if I disagree), but the idea of it ruining the entire series if new to me (literally, first time I hear it), so please bare with me, I'm not trying to insult you or change your mind, I'm just trying to understand.

The way I see it, if it gave you 4 awesome months, then it's worth to keep as a positive memory, even if you never revisit it. It's like going out with someone and having a rough break up, I don't think it diminishes the positive experiences you lived with the person. And also, think on the bright side, you got to meet an awesome community on this board 🙂 One of the reason I love the series so much is that I got to meet so many awesome people and make new friends. I guess what I'm trying to say is to look at the positive, not the negative.

 

[Robb Stark]

I'm sorry it's had such a negative impact on you. Personally, I always try and take S7 for what it is. It's deeply flawed, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever and "Chosen" feels at times like it was written with a crayon, but at the same time the season had some amazing standalone episodes, I enjoyed Spike's arc and I thought Caleb was a great bad guy. Even "Chosen", when you don't think about it too much, is a pretty inspiring episode (or at least, I thought so).

The biggest problem with S7 is Buffy. I've always really liked her, but as the series wears on, and this becomes glaring in S7, her decisions become harder and harder to understand, and the way she treats people becomes harder and harder to reconcile with. That just gets worse in S8 (I haven't read S9 yet, so I can't speak for that).

My own personal theory on Buffy, not that it makes her behavior any more excusable, is that she never really recovered after returning from heaven. I feel like even though they tried to make the metaphor that she did, she has always been a little broken since then. Personally, I ascribe it to a lack of Angel in her life 🙂

All that said, I still love BTVS, and I still love Buffy. Angel is my favorite character, everything about him and his series just clicks for me, so I'd highly recommend watching his series. I actually like AtS quite a bit better than BTVS, so maybe it would be more up your alley.

 

[The Bronze]

Gotta agree with [MENTION=8404]Blaze[/MENTION] here.

[MENTION=12533]OFAWB[/MENTION] I think you just need to take a few deep breaths and put things in perspective. At the end of the day BTVS is only a TV series. If you've elected to spend your free time watching it and have gotten hours of enjoyment over 6 series then it's clearly not time wasted. Pick a cut off time (end of season 5 or 6 maybe) and say the series ends there in your personal canon. You'll soon forget about 7.

Personally I don't get the hate for Season 7, although it had plenty of problems I thought it was a step in the right direction after the misery and boredom of Season 6.

Also you're not alone in hating Buffy. I've had a few discussions on here with people who agree with you. I really don't understand it but everyone's different. Hopefully you'll cheer up soon 🙂

 

[OFAWB]

Thank you. (That's all I wanted to write, but posts have to have a minimum of 20 characters.)

 

[Wesley Pryce]

OFAWB,i understand how you feel,i really do. It is so sad that such an amazing show ends the way that it did. I wish it could have climaxed properly,and i have felt similar about other shows such as Smallville. With that being said,i also agree with everyone else that if you can enjoy the first five or six seasons and pretend that season 7 never happened then you can still enjoy BTVS and it can end the way you want it to. For me BTVS ends in early season 7,and Smallville ended with the season 7 finale. 🙂 So,make the show end where you want it to. 🙂

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I find that it is better to concentrate on certain episodes that you like rather than entire seasons because you can find good and bad examples in each season. I can watch The Puppet Show or Innocence or Band Candy or Earshot or I Only Have Eyes for You or Lovers' Walk or Doppelgangland or The Yoko Factor or Checkpoint or Bargaining Parts 1 and 2 or Once More with Feeling or Villains or Conversations with Dead People or Chosen, which are my favourite episodes. I absolutely hate Ted and Normal Again. To each his own.

No season is uniformly good or bad, although I have few favourites in Season 4 and Season 7 is not much better. The series as a whole was better than anything else (except maybe Angel) that was on at the time. Obviously, my favourites do not line up with other people, but then they don't have to.

I csn understand how your suspension of disbelief can be ruined by a bad episode - Normal Again did that for me, making me wonder whether I was crazy for watching this show. I was in the habit of watching an episode per day because I had the DVD's but after a few cycles through, I bogged down and gave up in the middle of Season 4. The amazing thing is, when Angel and Buffy were on, they were the best things on TV.

 

[Xin Rong]

I never liked Buffy from season 3 onwards, it doesn't stop me hating the show, and yes season 7 wasn't great, but it's not as bad as your making out.

I would definitely agree with earlier posts, and I wouldn't let dissatisfaction with one series ruin the whole show. It's like Friends, as the years went on the quality went down, until we were left with the worst thing ever, Joey's spin off. Does that mean I can't watch earlier episodes and enjoy them, no. I frequently do a Friends rewatch and love it.