Scenes/Storylines From Buffy/Angel You Don't Think Were Well Written

[Revolver]

Joss and crew get a lot of praise. Why shouldn't they? Still, they're just human beings. They must have made some creative decision at some point that you were unhappy with or thought could have been done better. What scenes stand and storylines stand out to you?

I always see the brief Xander/Willow kissing fling in season three as a poorly thought-out plot device to break up Xander and Cordelia. It was kind of out-of-the-blue with the flimsy excuse that they were wearing formal clothing! For several episodes, the two of them have an attraction to one another that cannot be controlled. Then they get caught. Xander and Cordelia break up, but soon enough, Willow and Oz are back together and there isn't even any real tension between Xander and Oz! So Xander never has these type of feelings for Willow before, then they kiss constantly for a couple of weeks, then these feelings are just gone and there are only shortlived consequences between Willow/Oz/Xander? The whole thing seemed kind of forced to me.

 

[The_Final_Cylon]

Yeah that's pretty much one of the only things I disliked about season 3, it was a rather badly done.
I mean, things like that can happen, teenagers + hormones=silly mistakes but I don't think they did it very well. If they just did it because they needed to break up Cordelia and Xander they could have done a lot more interesting things.

 

[Big Damn Hero]

The whole of Angel season 4 😛

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Lindsey's last day in Not Fade Away. There was absolutely nothing personal to him there. All the others got something that actually related to their character - Lindsey could have been anybody...

 

[xaphania]

The Veruca/Oz storyline in S4. I know that it had to be cut short because Seth Green was leaving, but I didn't like how it was played out.

I also didn't like Angel returning in Chosen and his whole attitude there, I felt it was way out of character considering what has just happened over on AtS in that timeframe.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I also didn't like Angel returning in Chosen and his whole attitude there, I felt it was way out of character considering what has just happened over on AtS in that timeframe.

I'd agree with that. The crossovers just got silly towards the end. Faith seemed to be the only character that could flit and stay consistent.

 

[BuffyElevated]

Joss and crew get a lot of praise. Why shouldn't they? Still, they're just human beings. They must have made some creative decision at some point that you were unhappy with or thought could have been done better. What scenes stand and storylines stand out to you?

I always see the brief Xander/Willow kissing fling in season three as a poorly thought-out plot device to break up Xander and Cordelia. It was kind of out-of-the-blue with the flimsy excuse that they were wearing formal clothing! For several episodes, the two of them have an attraction to one another that cannot be controlled. Then they get caught. Xander and Cordelia break up, but soon enough, Willow and Oz are back together and there isn't even any real tension between Xander and Oz! So Xander never has these type of feelings for Willow before, then they kiss constantly for a couple of weeks, then these feelings are just gone and there are only shortlived consequences between Willow/Oz/Xander? The whole thing seemed kind of forced to me.

Remember Xander's reaction to Willow being kidnapped in "When She Was Bad"? He told Buffy if they hurt Willow he would kill her. What about Giles or Mrs. Calendar?? 😉 Also, in "Phases", he seemed to show jealousy over Oz and Willow's relationship.I don't think it was poorly written or a flimsy excuse at all. In fact, those of us who were rooting for Xillow in the beginning got what we had been waiting for for 2 1/2 years. 🙂

One plotline I always thought was really stupid was the whole Initiative thing. I don't think it was poorly written (well, maybe except for Adam's lines, which were so cheesy IMO), but I didn't like that whole direction it took.
One episode that I thought was horrible was "I Robot, You Jane." Willow is supposedly extremely smart, yet she falls in "love" with some guy she's only talked to online? Wouldn't she have had more sense to be cautious of people?

Anyway, there are certainly some storylines that I didn't like, and definitely at least 1 episode each season I wished they hadn't done. But overall, I respect them for what they are: plot progressors. 😉

 

[atticus]

I have always hated the " Willow's Addiction" plot line throughout season 6. Buffy is a show that works in metaphors, this was pretty much hitting you over the head with metaphor. Drugs are bad. And just in case we didn't get it was referencing real life, we had withdrawal symptoms, sage stealing for a fix, losing loved ones because of your habit. And socializing with the bad druggy people. I found the whole thing so "real" that it became laughable. IMO it just never mixed right in the fantasy world of Buffy. Saying it's magic instead of drugs didn't help.
Of course this led to Dark Willow, which didn't work for me either. Because it really damaged the character of Willow, and I never really liked her after it. This wasn't Cordy, being taken over by someone else, and behaving like a bitch. This was Willow, she skinned because she wanted to skin, she beat the crap out of her friends because she wanted to. It was all her worse traits for everyone to see. And I hated that. Beneath lovely cute, shy, quirky, smart Willow is an evil Bitch. Great character development there. Oh, and she can get away with the skinning because she's Will, and we love her.
After season 6 , for me, I didn't love her, I barely liked her.

 

[Flannen]

Superstar. The whole episode just does my head in! I don't find it funny at all and Jonathan is SO annoying!

 

[BillyidolwannaB]

The only things i didn't like were the Cordy and Connor relationship, and when they killed Tara in s6. Its like they only killed Tara just to make Willow go crazy, i just wish they came up with something else so Tara could have been in s7, then i wouldn't have to suffer Kennedy. Come to think of it, if i could pick one 'verse thing to change it would be no Kennedy. She's worse than Tara dying.

 

[Buhbi]

I didn't like Riley coming back in season 6 I think it was (I'm not a Riley fan) Because Riley coming back = Buffy using Spike even more =( Plus what was with those egg monster thingy's, was Spike actually the doctor? I just didn't get how that came about.
Although Harmony is hilarious, I think she was a bit overused in both Buffy and Angel. I vote more Cordilia less Harmony. It would have been great to have Cordilia come back to BTVS.
And killing off all my favourite characters, just not cool. Especially replacing them with people like Kennedy:fighting1

 

[Tranquillity]

Yeah, I never liked the Willow/Xander secret affair story, it was just really akward. Also the who of "As you Were" - too many plot holes and a horrible script.

 

[The_Final_Cylon]

Kennedy.
As you Were...and Riley in general.
Conner/Cordy...and most of Angel season 4
The initiative.
Willow's addiction.
Bringing Lindsey back and therefore ruining his perfect exit in season 2.
Buffy 'using' Spike.
I'll probably think of even more later.

 

[MinwaraYana]

I have two.

1. This Year's Girl - The Buffy/Faith fight scene at the end, they have long history, but what they said and how they fight was just, hmm "Cat fight"??? It's like Faith wasn't serious to kill Buffy. Just messing around. And the taking boyfriend issue isn't really what they should have talked about. It's too "cat fight".

2. When Marcus Hamilton revealed that his power is in his blood. It seems like he's too stupid to just say it to Angel. If I remember correctly, he said "blood" more than once in the sentence. He was just unbelievable easy.

Bringing Lindsey back and therefore ruining his perfect exit in season 2.

I agree with you. I loved him when he left like a hero in season 2(with "cop sucks" on the back of his car 😀).

Plus what was with those egg monster thingy's, was Spike actually the doctor?

Yeah, he was actually the doctor. And this is one of bad storylines because he is better than that. 😉

 

[Crazy Flakes]

Well, aside from the fairly obvious ones (Beer Bad, the Willow/Xander thing in season 3, pretty much all of season 4 of Angel, and the Initiative/Adam arc in season 4 of Buffy), I HATED Angel coming back in Chosen.

As much as I hated the whole amulet thing (it was a total deus ex machina), the main thing that irked me was just Angel's being there. Now, I know some Bangels out there might think, "Oh, you just don't like Angel's appearance in Chosen because you like Spuffy!", but that's not it at all. In fact, if anything, I thought that the scenes with Angel gave us good closure on his relationship with Buffy. It's just that his being there took so much away from the other characters. If the writers had just stopped listening to the fans for a minute and had taken the first ten minutes or so of the episode to focus on the characters that we had spent seven years getting to know and love, the episode could have been SO much better. And if they DID feel that they absolutely, 100% needed to include Angel in the episode, I wish they had at least had a character from Buffy cross over to Angel on its finale to even things out, since it almost seemed unfair to the show.

Plus, there's the whole thing with it not sticking to Angel continuity at all. I mean, hadn't Cordelia just gone into a coma that Angel didn't think she'd ever wake up from? Why the hell would he just suddenly switch to being all chipper and sarcastic and Buffy-loving? And it certainly didn't help that, even if you ignore the Cordelia thing, he was acting kind of out-of-character...I can't remember Angel ever being that happy, especially not when he was around Buffy.

 

[Five]

What I hate the most is how Spike stole huge timescreen from Willow, Xander and Giles in S7.

I'm also not a big fan at all of the whole "Well Willow can't be grieving for a whole season, she needs to be with someone STAT" thing... Come on, Tara was certainly the love of her life, you don't get over that six months later by giving in to some bitca.

 

[VisionGuy]

Angel's appearance in Chosen- That was terrible. He was acting out of character. Considering he just lost his son, the woman he loves, and was forced to align himself with the enemy, you would think he'd act a little broodier. I also don't like the fact that it was Wolfram and Hart who stopped The First by giving Angel the amulet.

Evil Cordy- Now I like Evil Cordy but I don't like the fact that she wreaked all her havoc behind the scenes. She didn't leave that damn bedroom after the audience found out she was evil. And the fact that she used Connor to do everything. It would have been better if Cordelia did all the leg work herself.

Coonor/Cordy- Everything about Cordelia or Connor's characters became about their "relationship" in season 4. It was terrible.

The Willow/Xander fling- It came out of nowhere and then it was never heard about again. I also don't like the fact that they made Xander such an asshole during the whole thing. He wasn't guilty about the fact he was cheating on Cordelia. At least Willow showed remorse and tried to control herself. Xander just had his cake and ate it too with a smile on his face.

I might think of more later.

 

[Blaze]

Things that I didn't like that much

-Connor and Cordy, do I need to say more

Things I'm disappointed by

-not making Dawn's character grow up at one point
-Kate just dissapearing all of a sudden
-not having enough four core scooby momment in Chosen, and overall in the last season

-Blaze-

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

One episode that I thought was horrible was "I Robot, You Jane." Willow is supposedly extremely smart, yet she falls in "love" with some guy she's only talked to online? Wouldn't she have had more sense to be cautious of people?

When you're a 'starved of affection' teenager and someone begins to show you that affection, logic flies out of the window.

Willow was the perfect one for that story which I felt was admirably done...until they made him a robot monster, then it was bizarre.

My biggest issue is with Giles in season 6.
He had no business leaving when he did, after Buffy had just told them all where she had been.
It was absolutely absurd to believe that her 'father' would leave her at her most vulnerable.
I realise that ASH wanted to leave BUT it was so terribly written - even if we did get his awesome song and Tabula Rasa.

 

[VisionGuy]

-Kate just dissapearing all of a sudden

YES! I love Kate. It would have been awesome for her to show up more. Especially in season 5 when Angel took over Wolfram and Hart. She could have been fighting for the powers alongside Spike. Although, that would have ruined the Lindsey plot.