The Thing You Disliked Most About S6?

[EVIL UU]

[MENTION=12670]AnthonyCordova[/MENTION]

What do you mean exactly?

Buffy is a nerd. She references Cronenberg films, watches old school Dracula movies and complains about unrealistic moves while watching martial arts flicks and that's just the tip of an iceberg that's Buffy's nerd factor - basically, obscure stuff, nerd cred through the roof. The Trio on the other hand are a stereotypes - they are fake, obsessed with mainstream franchises ( Star Wars, Star Trek and so on ) nerds are supposedly into. I mean, Andrew summons demons, right? Well, there's an entire franchise of video games going on since the 80s that's just about that - summoning demons. Andrew doesn't reference it, he doesn't even reference freaking Pokémon.

Public enemy number one of modern feminism? I must say I've never heard that theory before...

They just call them neckbeards now, since the whole nerd thing got trendy.

Or are you saying that this is the position of the "feminist" writers of the show?

That's exactly what I'm saying. The big bad of season six is feminism-friendly anti-intellectual stereotype.
[MENTION=11975]Robb Stark[/MENTION]

He's evil.

As opposed to Warren?

OK, so Warren wants to brainwash a woman to use her - he is a misogynist. Spike wants to brainwash a woman to use her - he is not. Warren attempts to rape a woman - he is a misogynist. Spike attempts to rape a woman - he is not. Warren tries to kill the slayer because of his obsession with women and power - he is a misogynist. Spike tries to kill the slayer because of his obsession with women and power - he is not. Warren gets himself a sex bot - he is a misogynist. Spike gets himself a sex bot - he is not.

Cognitive dissonance much?

 

[Robb Stark]

As opposed to Warren?

OK, so Warren wants to brainwash a woman to use her - he is a misogynist. Spike wants to brainwash a woman to use her - he is not. Warren attempts to rape a woman - he is a misogynist. Spike attempts to rape a woman - he is not. Warren tries to kill the slayer because of his obsession with women and power - he is a misogynist. Spike tries to kill the slayer because of his obsession with women and power - he is not. Warren gets himself a sex bot - he is a misogynist. Spike gets himself a sex bot - he is not.

Cognitive dissonance much?

...No. Once again, you've just glossed over about 90 percent of what I said in my last post. Spike is a soulless vampire. Warren is not. There is a huge difference. All of the actions you just listed occur when Spike doesn't have a soul, when he's been killing and maiming for centuries.

And, once again, you're ignoring context. Spike does some ridiculous, disgusting things in S5 and S6, but the sex-both example is a poor one. He's using that to replace Buffy, as twisted as is it, that doesn't make him a misogynist. Also, which woman does Spike try and brainwash? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just genuinely don't remember that.

Also, since you must have just missed them, here are the points you neglected to answer:

You're just omitting the fact that for everything you listed Spike was a soulless vampire.

altough he clearly does not do this for all of the women he's in constant communication with. We don't exactly see him lambasting his life's woes on Willow, Darla, Tara, Joyce or Dawn.

He blames Angel/Angelus for the vast majority of his problems as well. Does that mean he hates men?

And if Spike, with or without a soul, despises women so much, then how do you explain his relationships with Dawn and Joyce?

At the risk of being blunt, if you can't even attempt to debate those then there is a huge hole in the credibility of your argument. If you can't even debate the central point, the crux of my post, well...I don't really know what to tell you.

 

[AnthonyCordova]

Buffy is a nerd. She references Cronenberg films, watches old school Dracula movies and complains about unrealistic moves while watching martial arts flicks and that's just the tip of an iceberg that's Buffy's nerd factor - basically, obscure stuff, nerd cred through the roof. The Trio on the other hand are a stereotypes - they are fake, obsessed with mainstream franchises ( Star Wars, Star Trek and so on ) nerds are supposedly into. I mean, Andrew summons demons, right? Well, there's an entire franchise of video games going on since the 80s that's just about that - summoning demons. Andrew doesn't reference it, he doesn't even reference freaking Pokémon.

Just because you reference something obscure doesn't automatically make you a nerd. I've never seen Cronenberg, but if I referenced the movies of Tarkovsky or Bergman or Fellini would that make me a nerd? Of course not, that would simply make me a man of good film taste. If a person made an obscure joke to someone about melancholia that referenced Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, would that make them a nerd? Not at all: that would just demonstrate that person is literati and acquainted with forgotten classics. From a cursory scan of wikipedia it seems Cronenberg is artistically credited and is taken seriously by film enthusiasts. So if this is true, a fan of Cronenberg kind of falls into a different category (like my previous examples). And besides, let's be real here, popular nerd culture doesn't share a lot in common with good taste IMO.

I don't think Buffy qualifies as a nerd. There is more to being a nerd than just the kinds of movies you like too. She's not socially awkward, she dresses in standard fashion (ie she doesn't self-consciously choose nerdy stuff to wear to make a statement or anything; she dresses like a normal person with a good fashion sense If I may say so) and she's balanced. She likes lots of different things (many normal things) and she is well-rounded. She doesn't lean heavily in any one direction, especially not towards the nerdier end of things. I can't remember anything specifically (this is my first run through the series) but I vaguely recall her making many 'normal people' references too.

I don't even think early Willow is an all-out nerd. I think it's debatable. Sure, she doesn't have a lot of friends and she's good at computers and school, but not everyone who is good at school is a nerd (and certainly not every nerd is good at school either). I'd rather label early Willow as an eccentric rather than a nerd. To me there is a difference. But enough already. I hate conversations about the definitions of nerd. I really, really, really don't care enough to argue with anyone about it. *reaches for his beer*

They just call them neckbeards now, since the whole nerd thing got trendy.

Is that another word for hipsters? I have to say I don't like hipsters very much. That's a whole other topic of conversation though, so that's all I'm going to say.

That's exactly what I'm saying. The big bad of season six is feminism-friendly anti-intellectual stereotype.

Well...maybe the trio are anti-intellectual stereotypes. My first reaction was that they were obvious caricature (which is easy to see when you compare them to other characters from the show...see previous posts) but calling them stereotypes implies some similar things I would say. I guess our disagreement is about whether or not they are a good feature of the show. I view their creation as a tremendous error of judgment on the part of the writers. They undermine everything else about the show (see previous comments) and contribute nothing of value when considered in isolation from everything else (see previous comments). And I should add I could have easily felt differently about them if they had been executed properly and had been made plausible, realistic, human and had not been so dumbed down. In other words, if they had been more like the other characters of the show I could have liked them.

If I were making evil antagonists for Buffy that embodied everything that modern feminism stands in opposition to, I would have gone in a very different direction. And if it's going to be done with caricature, why bother? (As an example) You can't introduce any serious or meaningful social topic on the Big Bang Theory. It would immediately get lost in the completely stupid (profoundly ironic seeing how they are supposed to be so smart) insipid banter and unrealistic aspects of the characters and the show in general. (sorry to bring that show up so much but it's such a good example of painfully cartoonish caricature).

 

[Lyri]

Jumping in here and I don't care that I'm interrupting, lol.

In my honest opinion, the Trio in S6 did exactly what they were supposed to do - distract the viewer from the real Big Bad of the season.

Willow is the Big Bad of this season and if you look closely enough, you can see it from as far back as 'Flooded', when she has the 'discussion' with Giles about bringing Buffy back from the dead. Which is also conveniently the first episode the Trio appeared in.

The Trio were designed to be as awful and sucky as they were to lull us into a false sense of security and distract us from how dark Willow was getting. Upon first viewing, we were too busy wondering what the hell these guys were all about and just what exactly they were going to do to become and real, credible threat to Buffy and the others as the season wore on. Until we get to 'Two to Go' and we realize that, no, wait, Willow just killed Warren. Which means he's not the Big Bad. It's been Willow all along.

 

[AnthonyCordova]

[MENTION=6332]Lyri[/MENTION]

I actually in large part agree with nearly everything you are saying, but the trio is still poor caricature. They could have been executed very differently (and more effectively, compellingly, humanly) and accomplish the same task... Ahh forget it. I've said everything I want to say about that already LOL. I'm just going to finish drinking this beer and move on. But you make a good point that needed to be said 🙂

 

[Lyri]

[MENTION=6332]Lyri[/MENTION]

I actually in large part agree with nearly everything you are saying, but the trio is still poor caricature. They could have been executed very differently (and more effectively, compellingly, humanly) and accomplish the same task

But that's my whole point - they were SUPPOSED to be bad caricatures. They were supposed to be over-the-top, unbelievable, eccentric, STUPID, because it kept our focus on them.

How many of us - even as the teenagers some of where back then - sat there watching S6 for the first time and thought 'what the hell is going on with these guys? They're not even real life'? It stopped us from wondering if this was some sort of decoy, precisely because they were too stupid to be considered a credible threat. They HAD to be better, right? There HAD to be something more going on with them. And then Warren got darker and darker, and he became someone who could have truly been the Big Bad of the season, and suddenly, it all made sense, because Warren was just using the other two to gather as much power as possible to take Buffy out, possibly because he blamed Buffy for ending his relationship with Katrina and he wanted revenge. Because that was the only thing that could have made the Trio make sense, right?

And then, suddenly, Warren's dead and we're all left adrift because WILLOW was actually the Big Bad all along. And, looking back at the season, and looking at it objectively, it's not hard to see it coming from as far back as 'Flooded', like I said.

 

[AnthonyCordova]

[MENTION=6332]Lyri[/MENTION]

I might have to concede that point to you. I hadn't thought of that.

 

[thetopher]

But that's my whole point - they were SUPPOSED to be bad caricatures. They were supposed to be over-the-top, unbelievable, eccentric, STUPID, because it kept our focus on them.

How many of us - even as the teenagers some of where back then - sat there watching S6 for the first time and thought 'what the hell is going on with these guys? They're not even real life'? It stopped us from wondering if this was some sort of decoy, precisely because they were too stupid to be considered a credible threat. They HAD to be better, right? There HAD to be something more going on with them. And then Warren got darker and darker, and he became someone who could have truly been the Big Bad of the season, and suddenly, it all made sense, because Warren was just using the other two to gather as much power as possible to take Buffy out, possibly because he blamed Buffy for ending his relationship with Katrina and he wanted revenge. Because that was the only thing that could have made the Trio make sense, right?

And then, suddenly, Warren's dead and we're all left adrift because WILLOW was actually the Big Bad all along. And, looking back at the season, and looking at it objectively, it's not hard to see it coming from as far back as 'Flooded', like I said.

I'm not sure about this. In a way I agree and it is a very good explanation as any for the presence of the trio. (Although I think the fact that they're not 'growing up' like the rest of the cast is is more important, plus the comic relief aspect.)

But my problem, like a lot of S6, lies in the execution of the idea.
I can see what the writers are trying to do, I get the 'life is the Big Bad' theme and the 'growing up is painful' arc, but I think its spoiled by bad writing/ even worse charactisation. How evil is Spike this week? How depressed is Buffy? Should she be more or less depressed than the week before? Why is she? What do we do with Dawn? Ooh, lets have some 'funny' wedding stuff...🙄

I don't think the writers, at this time, were talented enough to get us to watch 22 episodes about ennui and pull it off without having a lot of people become bored/angry/depressed/disappointed, and feeling on some level, the their characters were now greatly diminished.

Could Joss have done it...maybe, but I don't know, he was barely involved in S6, and looking back he has said that he didn't think that it was dark enough.
Which I find is an astonshing assertion to make. 🙁

 

[IntoTheDust]

Season 6 is my 5th favourite season and i do have some things i dislike.

Continuity was kind of all over the place. Characters went through phases of acting either out of character generally or acted as if events of a previous episode hadn't occurred. Also, it was obvious the writers had different ideas about what the Spike/Buffy things was about so they'd play the relationship differently from episode to episode.

Uh i do agree to an extent about the season having too much sex, but it kind of was a storyline of itself so i get why it's there.

The Dark Willow arc goes from being amazing to being awful. The first few episodes before they did the whole addiction thing were really strong. It was about Willow's personality and explored some of the negative aspects. But then it seemed like they decided to ramp up the whole addiction thing (probably the least subtle metaphor ever) and remove pretty much all responsibility from Willow.

Also, i'm probably in the minority here, but i was just not interested in the whole Spike getting a soul thing. I didn't think it was an interesting twist or an interesting story. Especially as it meant the attempted rape was basically pushed aside with barely any aftermath.

I actually like the trio as whilst they did become dark as the season went on, i thought we needed a bit of lightness/humour to the depressing lives of the characters.

I think a lot of the writers ideas on paper sound really good, but for some reason the execution is pretty weak.

Well, it turns out i had more to say about Season 6 than i thought! 😛

 

[thetopher]

Season 6 is my 5th favourite season and i do have some things i dislike.

Continuity was kind of all over the place. Characters went through phases of acting either out of character generally or acted as if events of a previous episode hadn't occurred. Also, it was obvious the writers had different ideas about what the Spike/Buffy things was about so they'd play the relationship differently from episode to episode.

Uh i do agree to an extent about the season having too much sex, but it kind of was a storyline of itself so i get why it's there.

The Dark Willow arc goes from being amazing to being awful. The first few episodes before they did the whole addiction thing were really strong. It was about Willow's personality and explored some of the negative aspects. But then it seemed like they decided to ramp up the whole addiction thing (probably the least subtle metaphor ever) and remove pretty much all responsibility from Willow.

Also, i'm probably in the minority here, but i was just not interested in the whole Spike getting a soul thing. I didn't think it was an interesting twist or an interesting story. Especially as it meant the attempted rape was basically pushed aside with barely any aftermath.

I actually like the trio as whilst they did become dark as the season went on, i thought we needed a bit of lightness/humour to the depressing lives of the characters.

I think a lot of the writers ideas on paper sound really good, but for some reason the execution is pretty weak.

Well, it turns out i had more to say about Season 6 than i thought! 😛

This. 🙂

I agree 100%.

Even with the whole Spike soul thing- at the time I was excited, but in hindsight I had to wait until Angel to even like soulled Spike at all, he was just such a tool in S7. 🙁

I mean it's like they tried their best to ruin Xander, Buffy, Willow, Spike and Anya, (they just ignore Dawn, and kick Giles out. 😡) and judging by a lot of the opinions of people on these boards they succeeded, at least partially.

 

[Blaze]

Just sort of jumping in here, I'll admit I haven't gone through all the posts so sorry if anything has already been discussed.

But my problem, like a lot of S6, lies in the execution of the idea.
I can see what the writers are trying to do, I get the 'life is the Big Bad' theme and the 'growing up is painful' arc, but I think its spoiled by bad writing/ even worse charactisation. How evil is Spike this week? How depressed is Buffy? Should she be more or less depressed than the week before? Why is she? What do we do with Dawn? Ooh, lets have some 'funny' wedding stuff...🙄

I disagree with this. The writing is not the best we've seen from BtVS, but it's still some of the best writing on TV. Where I disagree more is with characterization. I think that a season like this was needed because that's exactly where the character were heading as far a character development. Buffy's depression I could see from a mile away, and Willow is one of the more consistent character in the verse (even if she evolves for the worst). I love that they didn't make Spike good, again consistent with the character he was a the time. I often hear that s6 was OOC for a lot of characters, but I disagree with this, I think s6 had good characterization and continuity. The only one I'm unhappy about is Giles, because he does a 180 compared to earlier seasons and decides to leave.

I don't think the writers, at this time, were talented enough to get us to watch 22 episodes about ennui and pull it off without having a lot of people become bored/angry/depressed/disappointed, and feeling on some level, the their characters were now greatly diminished.

I accept that things could have been done better to appeal to a broader audience, but I can't help but think that part of the reason people get bored with "real life problems" is a societal issue (aka. people don't want to hear about abuse, depression and addiction, and they don't want their hero to deal with those issues). The reason I like this season so much is because I wish more show touched upon this (without getting soapy and unrealistic, yes even an in your face magic metaphor is more realistic than some of the crap on TV).

Could Joss have done it...maybe, but I don't know, he was barely involved in S6, and looking back he has said that he didn't think that it was dark enough.
Which I find is an astonshing assertion to make. 🙁

I completely agree with Joss here. I think part of the reason people don't like the depression arc is because it didn't dwelve deep enough into it to really make it important. I realize that I'm very much in the minority here as far as this idea goes, but I think if they would have let Joss get an even darker tone, things would have been better.

 

[thetopher]

Just sort of jumping in here, I'll admit I haven't gone through all the posts so sorry if anything has already been discussed.



I disagree with this. The writing is not the best we've seen from BtVS, but it's still some of the best writing on TV. Where I disagree more is with characterization. I think that a season like this was needed because that's exactly where the character were heading as far a character development. Buffy's depression I could see from a mile away, and Willow is one of the more consistent character in the verse (even if she evolves for the worst). I love that they didn't make Spike good, again consistent with the character he was a the time. I often hear that s6 was OOC for a lot of characters, but I disagree with this, I think s6 had good characterization and continuity. The only one I'm unhappy about is Giles, because he does a 180 compared to earlier seasons and decides to leave.



I accept that things could have been done better to appeal to a broader audience, but I can't help but think that part of the reason people get bored with "real life problems" is a societal issue (aka. people don't want to hear about abuse, depression and addiction, and they don't want their hero to deal with those issues). The reason I like this season so much is because I wish more show touched upon this (without getting soapy and unrealistic, yes even an in your face magic metaphor is more realistic than some of the crap on TV).



I completely agree with Joss here. I think part of the reason people don't like the depression arc is because it didn't dwelve deep enough into it to really make it important. I realize that I'm very much in the minority here as far as this idea goes, but I think if they would have let Joss get an even darker tone, things would have been better.

I will say this: as much as I dislike S6 and how it went, I do admire the bravery of the writers to dare go to such an unpleasent place.
And I also admire all the actors who worked hard to sell their characters going through hell and coming back again.
And it is still very good television. Better than the best of some other shows I've seen.

I do like BTVS when it takes risks, I just wish that some of the characterisation had been much more consistant, that some of the arcs had been developed more, (Xander/Anya relationship problems, Buffy pulling herself out of her depression would've been nice.) and that some of the riskier decisions) Spike's attempted rape of Buffy and Dark Willow specifically) had been handled better down the line, but that's S7's problem.

I'm not so much of an arse that I can't see why people like this Season. I even, on some level, get why some people say it's their favourite.
Liking something can often be an illogical, instinctual thing (hell, it is for me and Season 7. 🙂) you can love it just as much because of its faults as well as its strengths. 🙂


Ah, who am I kidding, I'm just not gonna fight with a Fuffy fan. We've got to stick together. 😀

 

[Xin Rong]

I will say this: as much as I dislike S6 and how it went, I do admire the bravery of the writers to dare go to such an unpleasent place.
And I also admire all the actors who worked hard to sell their characters going through hell and coming back again.
And it is still very good television. Better than the best of some other shows I've seen.

I do like BTVS when it takes risks, I just wish that some of the characterisation had been much more consistant, that some of the arcs had been developed more, (Xander/Anya relationship problems, Buffy pulling herself out of her depression would've been nice.) and that some of the riskier decisions) Spike's attempted rape of Buffy and Dark Willow specifically) had been handled better down the line, but that's S7's problem.

I'm not so much of an arse that I can't see why people like this Season. I even, on some level, get why some people say it's their favourite.
Liking something can often be an illogical, instinctual thing (hell, it is for me and Season 7. 🙂) you can love it just as much because of its faults as well as its strengths. 🙂


Ah, who am I kidding, I'm just not gonna fight with a Fuffy fan. We've got to stick together. 😀

I completely agree, Season 6 might not have been enjoyable to watch, but it was very realistic, it didn't cater to popular demands, which is part of what made Buffy great. I didn't love this season but I really appreciate the show for tackling the difficult issues that it did, and ignoring the mainstream demands, I'm sure thousands of people love this series and respond to the issues that it's brought up.

Plus, it was great for a show that has supernatural elements to deal with resurrection in a none-positive way, rather than just a yay I'm alive again 🙂

 

[Blaze]

I will say this: as much as I dislike S6 and how it went, I do admire the bravery of the writers to dare go to such an unpleasent place.
And I also admire all the actors who worked hard to sell their characters going through hell and coming back again.
And it is still very good television. Better than the best of some other shows I've seen.

I do like BTVS when it takes risks, I just wish that some of the characterisation had been much more consistant, that some of the arcs had been developed more, (Xander/Anya relationship problems, Buffy pulling herself out of her depression would've been nice.) and that some of the riskier decisions) Spike's attempted rape of Buffy and Dark Willow specifically) had been handled better down the line, but that's S7's problem.

I completely agree with this. This is also why I agree with Joss that it should have been darker. Not darker in the sense that the issues should have gone farther than they did, but darker in the sense of seeing more repercussion to Spike's AR, to Willow killing someone, to Willow being addicted (she went cold turkey a bit too easily for me). In my mind dwelving deeper into the issues would have mean a better handling of the storylines. What we got was good, but it seems they only "went there" half way before coming back. Buffy just pops out of depression, there was no real developpment, no real linkage between storylines. I believe this is mainly due to popular demand and Sarah hating depressed Buffy, so Joss sort of pulled out of that storyline. In the end, this just made things worst because some stories in season 6 ended up having no fallow up, no consequences, and basicly magically vanished. On this point I completely agree with you. s6 might be my favorite, but I do see the faults in it. And again as you mentioned, a huge problem was that s6 and s7 were disjointed. I wouldn't say that the writer's cornered themselves with s6, but I think they tried to hard in s7 to go back to what the fans wanted to see, and the results was poor (I'm saying that even if I love s7 also). In the end, Buffy truly is at its best when it's not doing fan service (again, no that s7 was fan service, but they did try improving the appeal in comparison to s6).

I'm not so much of an arse that I can't see why people like this Season. I even, on some level, get why some people say it's their favourite.
Liking something can often be an illogical, instinctual thing (hell, it is for me and Season 7. 🙂) you can love it just as much because of its faults as well as its strengths. 🙂

Again, this is something that I can agree with. A lot of the reasons I like s6 are personal to me, so I don't take offence when people dislike the season. When it comes to s6, I can be pretty bias (but aren't we all a bit bias when it comes to our favorites 😉) And again, I love s7, and the finale is my favorite finale of any shows (tied with AtS), but that being said I think it has the most flaws of any seasons. It doesn't make it any less enjoyable for me.

Ah, who am I kidding, I'm just not gonna fight with a Fuffy fan. We've got to stick together. 😀

haha, another thing we can agree on! Fuffy shippers unite!! (I swear there used to be more of us on this board, not sure where everyone went)

 

[Bluebird]

I can't make up my mind about a lot of elements of Season 6: Buffy's spiritual malaise, Willow's magic addiction, Buffy's relationship with Spike, everything. I think I like season 6, but I need time to process everything. I'm not sure what my final feelings will be.

There is one thing I'm certain I dislike though: the trio. For many reasons. The greatest reason being that they are just pure caricature. They're like characters from the Big Bang Theory (a show I really dislike): everything about them is grossly exaggerated, for humor's sake. They are not plausible: real people don't act, think or behave like they do. They are caricature of the traits of real people. I don't know a better way to put it. Their presence in the show has been disruptive for me.

I do agree that they're portrayed as a caricature but I do think there's some development of their initial childish behaviour. Andrew had to have some kind of redemption to fit into season 7 but Jonathon died after a good realisation of who he is and how he fits in the world after rejecting Warren's ideas in season 6. That, to me at least, makes up for some of their shortcomings in writing.

 

[HushSarah]

The big evil (aside from dark Willow albeit still slightly off) aka the nerds weren't all that interesting. And I'm a nerd so I relate but I don't think they were taken seriously even though Warren did what he did to Buff and Tara. I really cringed when they had screen time. I thought Danny Strong on his own was a good character but Andrew and Warren weren't really working, it felt cheesy. I didn't believe it. I thought Adam in S4 was a better big bad than the nerds.

 

[bespangeled]

I enjoyed season 6 - but I see the entire season theme to be 'Consequences' - even without magic there are always consequences. Each person made some bad decisions - each character suffered the consequences.

It also showed a real change in characters as they adapted. Look at Buffy shivering in Angel's arms, and then compare her dragging down Spike zipper and impaling herself. Huge change in character there.

I hated the overuse of the addiction metaphor. But I also wish that a 1000 yr old demon and an ancient ball of green energy were not used mainly for comic effect. Anya and Dawn were completely wasted.

 

[wickedtiger86]

The addiction story-line never really rung true for me.

I can't really put my finger on why other than one of my parents is a recovering addict (Because they are technically always recovering, no matter how long it's been.) and I know quite a bit more about the psychology and consequences of it than I would like to.

Having that view on it makes the show seem a little hollow on the subject I guess. I've never really been able to articulate why it bothers me so much but, it does.

 

[bespangeled]

The addiction story-line never really rung true for me.

I can't really put my finger on why other than one of my parents is a recovering addict (Because they are technically always recovering, no matter how long it's been.) and I know quite a bit more about the psychology and consequences of it than I would like to.

Having that view on it makes the show seem a little hollow on the subject I guess. I've never really been able to articulate why it bothers me so much but, it does.

Yes - just like depression, it never really goes away. And it doesn't help that in the first episode of season 7 Giles blows the whole thing to pieces by telling Willow that she can't give up magic because it's part of her.

 

[MarlieTheSlayer]

The fact that no one excepts Giles offers Buffy money. It seems so OC for me.
But what REALLY annoys me is the fact that Buffy is suddenly not "depressed" anymore. This scene really makes me pissed off:

BUFFY

Things have sucked lately, but it's
all gonna change - and I want to be
there when it does. I want to see my
friends happy again.
(more emotional)
And I want to see you grow up. The
woman you're going to become...
Because she's going to be beautiful.

Dawn takes this in. Moved.

BUFFY (cont'd)
And she's going to be powerful.
Buffy moves close to Dawn again.

BUFFY (cont'd)
I got it so wrong. I don't want to
protect you from the world - I want
to show it to you.
Both of the girls are near tears now. Buffy touches Dawn's face tenderly.

BUFFY (cont'd)
Oh, Dawn... There's so much I want
to show you.

NO NO NO, I just don't get it. Suddenly she's over the fact that she was ripped out of heaven; and after barely surviving Willow's plan to destroy the world, she wants to live again?!