S Rou
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- Joined
- Jan 29, 2017
- Messages
- 261
- Age
- 32
I often hear it said by many fans that the first few seasons (particularly 1 - 3, but also 4) we're far better than the last seasons (5 - 6). Personally, I find myself agreeing that the earlier seasons we're far better than the later seasons. This isn't just about Bangel vs. Spuffy. This is about a great many things from the overall feel of the seasons to the big bads to the character lineups to the storylines, etc.
I personally am a huge Bangel shipper, so obviously I prefer the earlier seasons. Buffy and Angel just had something so incredible that he never had with anyone else whether it be Darla or Cordelia or whoever. Likewise, Buffy could never have what she had with Angel with anyone else whether it be Riley or Spike or whoever. Angel loved Buffy so much that even after she sent him to Hell because she had to and he was trapped there for hundreds of years because time moved differently there, when he came back, he still loved Buffy. This, to me, is so much more intense and powerful than Spike getting his soul for Buffy. Whedon himself has flip flopped about which pairing he personally prefers, but he has always maintained his stance that "Bangel is the greatest love story that he will ever tell," as he recently admitted in the he twentieth anniversary celebration when he did the interview.
Regarding Willow's and Xander's romances, I feel that Tara and Anya are their true soul mates and this is one of the things that I preferred about the newer seasons. I liked Cordelia with Xander , but I think Anya goes much better with him. As far as Oz goes, for me, it's not even a question, Tara goes far better with willow than oz does. I never considered Oz to be a particularly great character. I felt like he was very bland and his only purpose on the show was being Willow's boyfriend. I've seen some that agree with me on this and others that don't. There is no denying that willow loved Tara far more than oz and she even chose her over Oz. Ozs departure really didn't bother me much, but I found myself missing Cordelia a lot. She has amazing development on Angel the series, but no one can ever replace classic Cordelia.
Another thing that bothers me is Jenny calendar. Her death was very tragic and although I am not contesting it even though I wish that she would have lived, I really loved her appearances on the show and thought she had great chemistry with Giles. The writers tried to give him a new girlfriend d (I think her name was Olivia) and she seemed okay, but we only saw her in like one or two episodes and I think Jenny was just so unforgettable.
As far as big bads go, I thought that the first two seasons with the master and the Angelus-Spike-Drusilla thing were incredible. I found the mayor to be a bit bland, despite how awesome season 3 was. But ultimately in S3, Faith was the one that really made the season in terms of who the villain was much moreso than even the mayor did. Buffy's and Faith's chemistry was incredible and the plotline was amazing. Faith was very interesting and you couldn't help but feel sorry for her because she definitely had a rough life. In S4, I found Adam to be odd... He was nowhere near as memorable as the master or the vampire trio or even Faith... But S4 was still good overall and definitely seemed to serve as a trial for Buffy with her having to move on from Angel. I just wish that everything after season four would have been different. In season five, glory was a good villain, but I thought she deserved a better ending where she and Buffy fought or something rather than the one she got at the end of five with turning into the guy and just dying. For such an epic villain, she had a shitty ending. With the trio of nerds in season 6, I thought they were ridiculous and Whedon could have done so much better. Dark Willow was interesting, but I don't think she was necessary and I think that killing Tara was a huge mistake and it was the most heartbreaking thing on the show since Angel left.
As far as the overall feel of the seasons goes, I think that the earlier seasons had much better and darker feels to them than the newer ones did. The newer seasons really didn't seem to be that dark and they were more about Buffy dealing with adulthood and babysitting Dawn's annoying a**.
This brings me to my next point. Dawn. I, like most of the fandom, thought that her presence on the show was an absolute annoyance. She dumbed it down and made it so much more juvenile than it needed to be. I found her to be the worst thing the show ever came up with and honestly, as breathtakingly beautiful as buffys speech and sacrifice were at the end of S5, I think dawn should have died instead of Buffy and all memories of her should have been erased (which apparently to is what happens when she dies as evidenced by a scene from the comics where her disappearance means the loss of all memories involving her.
In S5, I think that killing off Joyce, as sad as it was, was a very good yet sad idea because it made Buffy truly transition to adulthood and she completely lost the loving comfort of her mother, which is one of the scariest things one can imagine.
I also that Drusilla deserved a much better ending than what she got. She was such a great character and I feel that Spike , without her, completely lost his edge and turned into a whiney, lovesick puppy over Buffy. Spike was much better as villain.
I've said this before on others posts and I'll say it again, I think that a much much better ending for the show should have been that everything went as it did up until the end of season 5. Instead, dawn would have died and all memories of her would have been erased. Tara and Anya both would have lived and instead of the nerd trio and dark willow Arc in S6, I think that Drusilla should have come back and got Spike to get his edge back and we could've had something along the likes of season 2 for season 6. Angel could have made a guest appearance at the end of 6 to help Buffy fight Spike and drusilla. And Cordelia could have made a guest appearance too and it would have been interesting to see how everyone would react to the person she became in her absence from Buffy's show. The season could have ended with Buffy and angel making some kind of truce or something with Spike and drusilla and they would return in the next season to help Buffy fight the First. For season 7, Angel could have come back as a permanent cast member or at least made a significant amount of guest appearances (this would have been around angel S4 which is when the show started to really go downhill in a lot of fans' eyes with Connor and the whole Cangel thing that many fans hate and then Cordelia tragically dies). I think Angel should have been freed of the curse and he and Buffy could finally be together and then they would fight the first and Spike and drusilla would help them. For me, I think this would have been a much much much better ending for buffys show than what we actually got.
Yes, I know my Bangel bias shows lot, and I definitely wish everyone could have gotten a much happier ending (Tara and Anya never dying, etc.), But I felt like the show had such a crappy ending compared to what it should have had.
What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Your own opinions about whether the earlier or later seasons we're better and how the show should have ended?
I personally am a huge Bangel shipper, so obviously I prefer the earlier seasons. Buffy and Angel just had something so incredible that he never had with anyone else whether it be Darla or Cordelia or whoever. Likewise, Buffy could never have what she had with Angel with anyone else whether it be Riley or Spike or whoever. Angel loved Buffy so much that even after she sent him to Hell because she had to and he was trapped there for hundreds of years because time moved differently there, when he came back, he still loved Buffy. This, to me, is so much more intense and powerful than Spike getting his soul for Buffy. Whedon himself has flip flopped about which pairing he personally prefers, but he has always maintained his stance that "Bangel is the greatest love story that he will ever tell," as he recently admitted in the he twentieth anniversary celebration when he did the interview.
Regarding Willow's and Xander's romances, I feel that Tara and Anya are their true soul mates and this is one of the things that I preferred about the newer seasons. I liked Cordelia with Xander , but I think Anya goes much better with him. As far as Oz goes, for me, it's not even a question, Tara goes far better with willow than oz does. I never considered Oz to be a particularly great character. I felt like he was very bland and his only purpose on the show was being Willow's boyfriend. I've seen some that agree with me on this and others that don't. There is no denying that willow loved Tara far more than oz and she even chose her over Oz. Ozs departure really didn't bother me much, but I found myself missing Cordelia a lot. She has amazing development on Angel the series, but no one can ever replace classic Cordelia.
Another thing that bothers me is Jenny calendar. Her death was very tragic and although I am not contesting it even though I wish that she would have lived, I really loved her appearances on the show and thought she had great chemistry with Giles. The writers tried to give him a new girlfriend d (I think her name was Olivia) and she seemed okay, but we only saw her in like one or two episodes and I think Jenny was just so unforgettable.
As far as big bads go, I thought that the first two seasons with the master and the Angelus-Spike-Drusilla thing were incredible. I found the mayor to be a bit bland, despite how awesome season 3 was. But ultimately in S3, Faith was the one that really made the season in terms of who the villain was much moreso than even the mayor did. Buffy's and Faith's chemistry was incredible and the plotline was amazing. Faith was very interesting and you couldn't help but feel sorry for her because she definitely had a rough life. In S4, I found Adam to be odd... He was nowhere near as memorable as the master or the vampire trio or even Faith... But S4 was still good overall and definitely seemed to serve as a trial for Buffy with her having to move on from Angel. I just wish that everything after season four would have been different. In season five, glory was a good villain, but I thought she deserved a better ending where she and Buffy fought or something rather than the one she got at the end of five with turning into the guy and just dying. For such an epic villain, she had a shitty ending. With the trio of nerds in season 6, I thought they were ridiculous and Whedon could have done so much better. Dark Willow was interesting, but I don't think she was necessary and I think that killing Tara was a huge mistake and it was the most heartbreaking thing on the show since Angel left.
As far as the overall feel of the seasons goes, I think that the earlier seasons had much better and darker feels to them than the newer ones did. The newer seasons really didn't seem to be that dark and they were more about Buffy dealing with adulthood and babysitting Dawn's annoying a**.
This brings me to my next point. Dawn. I, like most of the fandom, thought that her presence on the show was an absolute annoyance. She dumbed it down and made it so much more juvenile than it needed to be. I found her to be the worst thing the show ever came up with and honestly, as breathtakingly beautiful as buffys speech and sacrifice were at the end of S5, I think dawn should have died instead of Buffy and all memories of her should have been erased (which apparently to is what happens when she dies as evidenced by a scene from the comics where her disappearance means the loss of all memories involving her.
In S5, I think that killing off Joyce, as sad as it was, was a very good yet sad idea because it made Buffy truly transition to adulthood and she completely lost the loving comfort of her mother, which is one of the scariest things one can imagine.
I also that Drusilla deserved a much better ending than what she got. She was such a great character and I feel that Spike , without her, completely lost his edge and turned into a whiney, lovesick puppy over Buffy. Spike was much better as villain.
I've said this before on others posts and I'll say it again, I think that a much much better ending for the show should have been that everything went as it did up until the end of season 5. Instead, dawn would have died and all memories of her would have been erased. Tara and Anya both would have lived and instead of the nerd trio and dark willow Arc in S6, I think that Drusilla should have come back and got Spike to get his edge back and we could've had something along the likes of season 2 for season 6. Angel could have made a guest appearance at the end of 6 to help Buffy fight Spike and drusilla. And Cordelia could have made a guest appearance too and it would have been interesting to see how everyone would react to the person she became in her absence from Buffy's show. The season could have ended with Buffy and angel making some kind of truce or something with Spike and drusilla and they would return in the next season to help Buffy fight the First. For season 7, Angel could have come back as a permanent cast member or at least made a significant amount of guest appearances (this would have been around angel S4 which is when the show started to really go downhill in a lot of fans' eyes with Connor and the whole Cangel thing that many fans hate and then Cordelia tragically dies). I think Angel should have been freed of the curse and he and Buffy could finally be together and then they would fight the first and Spike and drusilla would help them. For me, I think this would have been a much much much better ending for buffys show than what we actually got.
Yes, I know my Bangel bias shows lot, and I definitely wish everyone could have gotten a much happier ending (Tara and Anya never dying, etc.), But I felt like the show had such a crappy ending compared to what it should have had.
What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Your own opinions about whether the earlier or later seasons we're better and how the show should have ended?
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