SMG: "This season we're going for a lighter route"

[Joshua]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa6h_uV4Wkc

In this interview I found on YouTube where SMG discussing s6 and s7 she mentioned how dark things were for s6 and that s7 will be the lightest BTVS has gotten since the first-three seasons.

Was season 7 originally supposed to be light and a different season than what we got?

 

[Blaze]

Na, I think s7 was pretty light already. I mean, they seriously dropped all serious issues and almost acted as those never happened (addiction, killing, rape). They literally decided to forget those in order to have a lighter season, which in my opinion was a bad choice in retrospect, because the lingering effect of all those events and how broken the group really was could still be felt and it was a shame that the writer's opted not to address those issues.

But as far as s7 being one of the lightness season, I sort of agree. I think it was on par with s1. I actually think s2 is pretty dark, maybe even the darkest after s6. s3 is also dark in some aspects, so I don't think s7 is darker than those highschool years.

 

[thetopher]

Thematically S7 is very much like S1, (strong start, strong finish.) and it is a lot lighter.
You have 'Lessons' 'Him', 'Storyteller' that are pretty comedic episodes.

But I agree that the S6 themes that they were lumbered with should've been handled better or at all, the Spike/Buffy thing, Willow's addiction to magic etc.

For example give Willow an actual redemption arc, don't just stick her with a clumsy romance halfway through the season because you're terrified of fan backlash due to Tara's death.
Deal with Buffy's reaction to the whole 'Spike tried to rape me' thing, don't just sweep it away- its insulting.
The trick with good writing is to take character stuff, the loose ends, from the previous seasons, and run with them to create new stories. That should've been done more.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

Hmm. Now that I think about it, season 7 starts off light get a little bit dark around Sleeper-Showtime. Then is pretty light except for The Killer in Me and LMPTM. Even the ending stuff, while dramatic is fairly light. So yea it's the lightest season since S1, which also has it's dark moments but overall light. I think that S4 is fairly light but maybe that's just me. I agree that season 2 is pretty dark and then season 3 is a good mix of light and dark and not overly dramatic. I think that season 7 could have been better if it was a little more like season 3. It could have dealt with all the aftermath of season 6(like season 3 does with season 2) and still keep it light without being dramatic.

 

[sk]

I don't know... when I think of the lighter seasons I still think of the earlier ones.
Especially season 1 - 4.

Never really thought of season 7 as a particular "light" season. Even if it do has its moments with episodes like 'Him'.

But I must agree, when I think about it, that season 2 for example is quite dark.
So I'm not exactly sure why I still consider it to be funnier than season 7.
Perhaps I just think they had better one-liners back then... 🙂

/SK