Season 5 is it more depressing than Season 6 ?

L

LorneyTunes

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For me watching season 5 makes me more sad and depressed because Joyce dies, Giles wants to leave, Dawn comes into the show (not that its a bad thing but she can make me feel sad sometimes ) Riley leaves , Buffy dies .

Season 6 is more or less the characters drifting apart which can be seen in season 4 sometimes . But is it more depressing that season 5 what do you think ?
 
I don't know....I was always one of those people who found Season 5 to be the heavier/more depressing season but then I think the two seasons are heavy in such different ways that maybe it's incomparable.

For me it's season 5 because everything just seemed to be building up on top of Buffy- her Mom getting sick (then dying), finding out her sister of 14 years is her key of 6 months, having the constant threat of Glory on her family, realizing her own potentially short lifespan, Riley leaving, being head of a household, Glory taking Dawn, the threat of Dawn dying too.....season 5 depresses me more I think because while the badness of season 6 is shared amongst all the characters (each having their own story) in season 5 it seems to be Buffy who is the one suffering constantly, and in The Gift I always feel that same sense of peace she herself gets when she realizes how she can save Dawn. She was done, finished at that point and ready. But I've dealt with finding out a close relative was in fact adopted, I've dealt with cancer in the family and I've dealt with the death of a parental figure and all this was in fact before I was 20...so maybe it's an empathy that causes me to think season 5 is so much sadder and darker.

And while I love Dawn, I understand what you mean LT by saying she makes you sad sometimes; I get the same way sometimes. It's like Dawn signifies a lot of bad things to come and essentally BtVS as we have known it for nearly five years. And I always get that niggling feeling at times "but Buffy is really an only child....and things were so much simpler then" so I think it derives from that.

Whereas season 6 is very sad in Buffy coming back from Hell, Willow losing herself to the majiks etc these are all very BtVS specfic issues and so I can empathize with them less. And even the more human things have never happened to me (a Spuffyesque relationship, being left at the altar, kleptomania...) and the only part of season 6 that makes me reach the same amount of sadness I was forced into in season 5 is the death of Tara which as you all know doesn't happen to the very end.

But maybe someone who can relate more to season 6 or perhaps someone who hasn't experience death etc yet (lucky them) would find Season 5 the less depressing of the two, but for me it will always be season 5. I think it's a fantastic year and ironically one of my favorites, but it does always make me sad. And I think season 6 has a lot more break-in-lighter episodes such as OMWF, Tabula Rasa etc
 
L
LorneyTunes
Karma for being so open and great post :D
Blayke
Blayke
Fantastic Post. :)
Wow that is a great post I totally agree with you Cancer had tainted my life from my mother to my uncle , its hard and I can relate to season 5 alot.

But thanks for that amazing post Joyce 🙂
 
J
Joyce Summers
You're very welcome and I'm sorry about the cancer/your Mom/Uncle etc. It's a horrible thing to go through. :hug:
Season 7 is the season that depresses me the most. Maybe because it's the last (not including season 8 comic of course). I think the later seasons are harder, because the gang is not in high school anymore. They're grown-ups, they have to deal with grown-up things, with life. Life after high school are hard. It's the real world. Real world can be depressing.
 
Season 6 just seemed much more dank and bleak to me. Season 5 had its depressing moments but you had the feeling that everything was going to turn out alright in the end...season 6...I wasn't sure.
 
Yeah. Season 6 is very dark. Can anything be more depressing than that season? Everyone and everything just completely fell apart. It's my favorite season, acrtually. I like how all the characters were just sort of broken down to their base human selves. Does that make sense? That season was all about reality, and being a grown-up, and getting through the trials of life.
 
L
LorneyTunes
Its my fave season too hehe season 5 makes me very sad :(
Season 5 had a lot of depressing episodes, with Joyce's cancer and then her death but I think season 6 was a lot darker overall. The whole feel of the season was very dark so it seemed to run through every episode, whereas with season 5 it was just certain episodes that stood out as being that way.
 
J
Joyce Summers
But the question is which is more depressing, not which is darker.
I agree that season 5 was really sad and you wouldn't believe how I cried when Joyce died not only cause she died but during the time that I saw it, my uncle had just past away. I still relate more to season 6 though, maybe cause I almost lived through the same thing as one of the caracter. So to me it wasn't that much depressing but more like if I understood better what was going on so it was a bit harder to watch in a way because I new how it felt. And loosing Tara was obviously really hard,

-Blaze-
 
Man, I'm just not getting all this not liking S6 stuff. I absolutely love that season. Whenever I sit down to watch the show, I always seem to choose from S6. It's dark, but not in a depressing way in my opinion. Our characters are just trying to get through life. It's real and relatable. People die. It's a part of life.

I admit, one of the reasons I love S6 so much is all the hot Spuffy action. But that is not the only reason!

Tabula Rasa? A fabulous, hilarious, and ironic episdoe. A classic of the Buffyverse.

OMWF? Need I say more?

And personally, I love Dead Things. I think it's a really powerful episode that really brings us in to Buffy's head and shows us what she's going through.

Normal Again? Brilliant.

My only complaints are the Trio and Grave.
 
I pretty much agree with what Joyce has said.
But I think it's how you feel personally with what's happening with the characters you love / hate to be able to be sad.

If Joyce's death was in Season 6, that would've been the WORST season in terms of happiness.
 
PurplePoof said:
Season 6 just seemed much more dank and bleak to me. Season 5 had its depressing moments but you had the feeling that everything was going to turn out alright in the end...season 6...I wasn't sure.
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I agree with that, lots of bad stuff happens but the gang are very close throughout, unlike Season 4 & 6 where they were in their own worlds. So it doesn't seem as bad since they have each other. Plus Buffys heart was in the good fight in Season 5 so we could draw on her courage for optimism.
 
For me, season five really wasn't all that depressing or dark. I mean, there WAS the whole cancer story and Joyce's death...but it still didn't *feel* that dark. It was mostly just a little sad but there was a TON of comic relief in the season that made it a good balance. Season 6 is just completely dark, bleak, and made the world look like this miserable place and was just overall really depressing.
 
I have just started watching season 5 a few weeks ago and it was making me really depressed, Joyce has went mad and is saying Buffys fat , so Ive switched to watching Dexter to cheer myself up. Also reading Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows didn't help mucho.


To me it feels more sad because its just something I can relate to, and theres so much things being thrown at Buffy and her alone it seems a bit unbalanced , and out of control.
Buffy cannot fight the cancer or that she has a Fake but lovely sister, she is helpless. A hero stricken down by what her gift is, death something that she can take away but in the end gives her own life to save everyone.
 
For me, nothing tops the sadness of Season Six.
Everyone is in pain in that season. Everyone is completely wrapped up in their own lives, battling their own demons...they're not just drifting away from each other, they're being ripped apart and picked off one by one by their personal "Big Bad."

Season Five was sad, yeah, but Season Six was sadder, IMO.
 
Yeah, season 6 has always felt much more sad and depressing.

s6 starts on a sad note and continue so all through, while s5 on the other hand starts quite possitive with Buffy getting back into full slaying mode and Giles back as watcher.
Later s5 turns more dark but seeing it over the whole season I must say that s6 is worse (or better if you want)

/SK
 
sk73 said:
Yeah, season 6 has always felt much more sad and depressing.

s6 starts on a sad note and continue so all through, while s5 on the other hand starts quite possitive with Buffy getting back into full slaying mode and Giles back as watcher.
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Well, plus...I hate Joyce and Riley, so those two aspects weren't really sad for me. 😛
And The Gift is sad, but I knew ahead of time Buffy wasn't dead for good, so again...
 
How does one hate Joyce? I've never understood this. I thought she was about as awesome as moms get...
 
^ Oh God. I just can't stand her. I don't think there's a single episode where she wasn't grumpy about something. She's either complaining, or has the tone of someone who's complaining. You know, I actually can't even put my finger on why exactly I hate her, but I do. She grates me.
 
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