What do you think about season 6?

[woogirl]

wickedtiger86, I agree with you. Scenes with Willow who try to handle with her addiction are really touching. She loses her love (I mean, Tara leaves her, come back andthen get killed), she hurts her friends. It's almost like in real life. I also know people with addictions and I think Alyson did a great job, her acting was amazing. Hysteria after Dawn's accident was worth of any award.

 

[wickedtiger86]

wickedtiger86, I agree with you. Scenes with Willow who try to handle with her addiction are really touching. She loses her love (I mean, Tara leaves her, come back and then get killed), she hurts her friends. It's almost like in real life. I also know people with addictions and I think Alyson did a great job, her acting was amazing. Hysteria after Dawn's accident was worth of any award.

Yes. That scene after she hurts Dawn was what I was thinking of when I complimented her. She does a great job this whole season but that's the scene that really stands out.

I think because she knows, even as she's apologizing, that she shouldn't be forgiven. And it was great for showing addicts need to want to be helped before they even have a prayer of getting any better.

So in that aspect, yeah, very very well done. 😀

 

[nmcil12]

Maybe I get it wrong, but I didn't like the end of the season.

So, Willow's addicted to magic, then Giles appears (I'd like to test that theory! everybody cheers up), Xander and his broken crayon speech make Willow cry and stop ending the world, when in fact Giles is full of "different charged magic energy" which will affect Dark!Willow and revert her to her normal human self. In other words, my drugs are better than yours.

I am another viewer who really disliked the resolution to the Willow magic addiction - And while I do not begrudge Xander he Great World Saving Day - contrasted to all that came before with the Dark Willow and Tara death, it felt completely inadequate to me. Even the premise that sends Willow into the finale of her deranged sorrow killer - that she feels to such a high degree all the sorrow and pain of humanity that she has to destroy the world.

I get that Willow is brought back from the brink by finding her link with humanity again, Willow in fact reflects the same theme that Spike must experience in his African cave trials. Buffy also has the same theme but played out in a much less dramatic ending with Dawn. Thematic all the stories in the finals episodes and the finale do connect, but I still personally found the Willow-Xander resolution for the powerful themes inadequate.

That is one of the great things about the series; how each viewer has to engage on a very personal level with all the characters and their stories. Season 6 continues to remain my favorite season for the powerful, complex and mature exploration of the characters and how life really can be The Big Bad that will devour you if you can't learn how to struggle and fight to take control of your life.

I have great admiration for the journey of transformation arc that Joss Whedon and the writers took on.

 

[Hale Caesar]

I love Season 6. At the end of my first watch it was my favorite season. I'm a Bangel and I really enjoyed Buffy/Spike, it was interesting to try to understand why Buffy was acting the way she was and her state of mind. Great season 😀

 

[Mithol]

I loved season 6. It's one of my favourites. But I have a lot of trouble ranking the seasons because I love them all so much. The only thing I know for sure is that I liked season 7 the least. But season 6 is awesome. Except for the fact that Giles leaves. But then he has that awesome comeback at the end, which is pretty epic.

 

[nmcil12]

The void 68:
"I think that fans of S6 tend to forget that the show has always been angsty, actions have always had consequences, characters have always made bad decisions and morally ambiguous choices, people have always died and the show has always been realistic. The thing with the early seasons is that they keep a balance. The depressing angst is balanced out with the happy and the fun. Life is all about balance, and so is good television. You cannot have light without dark, just as you cannot have dark without light. S6 tried to have dark without light, which is why it is not entertaining television."


One person, one opinion - speaking only from your perspective - what you find "not entertaining television" other viewers found extraordinarily powerful and provocative drama.

 

[Mithol]

I agree. Besides, s6 wasn't all dark. The nerds were funny and light. And so was Life Serial and all the episodes on that disc.

 

[kittenpoker]

And it was great for showing addicts need to want to be helped before they even have a prayer of getting any better.

I think they did a great job portraying the struggle of addiction and recovery too...but, in my experience, addiction is a strange and funny thing... there are people who really don't want to stop but are forced into recovery by some outside force and end up getting sober... and then there are those who do want to, who come into recovery programs on their own volition and struggle to stay sober...

It's weird.

 

[nmcil12]

I stand corrected. But, we don't know for sure if she completely gave up all her duties. I may have to re-watch the episode again, but we know LA had vampires and demons, etc. Even though she wasn't at the Hellmouth, she could have slayed some demons here and here, if they were attacking humans. It was in her instincts to protect them, like when she pushed that man away from the car. But, that's really speculation.



Lol, this goes back to OMWF again. She tried to kill herself there. She wanted to dance herself to death. But Spike stopped her. Both he and Dawn reminded her at that point she had to go on living. Although she was feeling pain, it would heal overtime. As Dawn said, "The hardest thing to do in this world is to live in it," which in fact were Buffy's words. She had to be strong and be brave, if not for herself, than at least for those who loved her. Depression can lead to people wanting to commit suicide. They think it can't get any worse than what they are feeling now. They don't think about how seriously it can effect their friends and family, but it can be very damaging.



It's not so much that she can't do it, but that she doesn't want to do it. She didn't want to study for finals (who doesn't, lol), but she had to. She didn't want to kill Angel, but she had to, in order to save the world. She didn't want to die at 16, the list goes on. In s6, Buffy tried going back to college, so she could earn a better job. Didn't work. She tried working in construction with Xander. Didn't work. She tried the Magic Box, as a last resort. Didn't work and she hated it. Buffy choosing to work at the Doublemeat Palace was to earn money and even to try to be normal. However, Spike, and even Riley, knew she was better than that and hated seeing her waste her time there.

Besides - Buffy working at the DMP is obviously the metaphor for her season theme - life is devouring her and will destroy her if she can't or won't fight against all the crap life is throwing at her. Who the heck works at fast food places other than primarily students needing money to just get through school/education or people who cannot find work anywhere else. Just look at the visuals and her exchanges with the other workers - that scene with that man whose ears are being plugged with grease and he can't hear anymore is one of the "reality" scary scenes of the entire season. Why else do they have Spike's first scene at the DMP be one where he is telling Buffy she is better than all this and that this job will kill her followed by their sex scene in the alley. The next time these two are dealing with scenes of death and killing is DTngs, where Buffy literally dreams of killing Spike and then in real life attacks him brutally and uses him as the object to sublimate all her inner demons only.

I think season 6 is the most interesting, dramatic and emotionally powerful season of the entire series -

 

[kittenpoker]

I think season 6 is the most interesting, dramatic and emotionally powerful season of the entire series -

It's coming up soon in my re-watch. I'm so glad I just read your post! Helps me see it in a better (less frustrated with Buffy) light.

 

[nmcil12]

It's coming up soon in my re-watch. I'm so glad I just read your post! Helps me see it in a better (less frustrated with Buffy) light.

Let me know when it comes up on your schedule I would love to watch and discuss with your group - better yet - let me know where the thread is and I can do all the remaining episodes.

 

[kittenpoker]

Let me know when it comes up on your schedule I would love to watch and discuss with your group - better yet - let me know where the thread is and I can do all the remaining episodes.

Oh, I'm not organized enough to have a group or anything...I'm just re-watching the show in order... about to finish season 5 (prob tonight) and start 6 (tomorrow)

still, I'd be happy to discuss the episodes with you and anyone else interested.

🙂

 

[BuffyUniv]

yeah... Season Six is Buffy "going dark", Willow "going berseker", Dawn "going abandoned", and right on Top "The Trio"😱

I used to think it was the worst Season ever, right to the garbage with it... and then... I kind of ended up stocked with it for research and I don't think is so bad at all 😕

It's surely at the bottom, when taken as a whole, but it has very good episodes, and I not only referring here to OMWF... and fabulous quotes

"Buffy: How have you been?
Amy: rat. And you?
Buffy: dead"
[Smashed 6009]

among others 😉

---------- Post added at 06:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:41 AM ----------

The Trio was funny???

Where they not a cliché on fans being geeks and needing to "get a life" maybe...
Actually they were Whedon's critic on "bad/negative fandom"

 

[zobothehobo]

So, I'm going to re-reply to this thread:

I think what makes season 6 so great to me is that it shows the beautiful complex journey one takes when they hit rock bottom. And it shows it in several different ways. It wasn't until earlier today in an appointment with my therapist when I, personally, truly understood the beauty in a journey of someone hitting rock bottom... But part of the beauty is that to an extent, we can all relate. And if you can't, you probably will before your life is over. A lot of the criticism this season gets is that it's "too dark," that everything happens all at once... but that's life. I mean, we've all had those days where everything seems to go wrong all at once... right? We've all had weeks, maybe even months like that. Some of us, maybe even years. Dark periods are not uncommon in life. And they're not easily escapable. It's not like "today sucks, tomorrow will be better." It's horrible to go through a major tragedy and/or trauma (whatever that may be), because you don't have a clear ending point to look forward to. And you don't know, something else could happen between now and then and make it all worse, and something could happen that makes it all better... You just don't know. The hardest thing about facing a major tragedy and/or trauma is that just the fact you're facing it reminds you that you don't know. You don't know how long it's going to take to be better... you don't know if it will. You don't know how your life is going to play out. You don't know what's going to happen. And that's terrifying.

I think to think about it from this view, makes the story of season 6 so much more emotional and telling. They start the season after this horrible tragedy/trauma of losing Buffy. And they think they can fix it, so they do. Then they find growing issues with one another in the stress of it all... and they all find out about all of these issues in OMWF/Tabua Rasa. Those are only episodes 7 and 8 of a 22 episode season. The rest of the season is the character attempting to answer the question raised in OMWF, "where do we go from here?" And by the end, they find in searching for the answer of where do you go, you miss the path you have to take. That's an incredibly important lesson from someone facing a major tragedy/trauma to understand. It's easy to get caught up in "what do we do? how can we make it better?" But if you do that, you miss what you have to do and most of the time, end up making things worse.

Season 6 is not a happy season, but who says happy is the only thing that can be beautiful? Have we not all heard a sad song that was beautiful? Have we not all seen a painting that conveyed a sad emotion that was beautiful? Have we not all read a book that ended with a particularly heartbreaking note? It's not a happy season, but it is what life looks like sometimes.

 

[Mithol]

Gee, that was so perfectly put.. And I agree with you totally. I love season 6. And I really don't understand the people who hate on it.

 

[kittenpoker]

Really really well said zobothehobo!!!

Also, it ends on a happy note, so it leaves me with an overall feeling of hope.

 

[nmcil12]

Gee, that was so perfectly put.. And I agree with you totally. I love season 6. And I really don't understand the people who hate on it.

I don't either, every single season and, IMO, every single episode has some interesting and important to say and that connected with that season major themes and connected to things in the future. Sometimes life does suck and even worse sometimes the extreme difficulties of a person's life destroys them. And sometimes addicts never heal or are able to recover their lives. I knew a young artist that suffered a terrible accident when he was very young and ended up with a broken back and was wheelchair bound ever after. That young man was an artist and a poet, but he could never find a true happiness and satisfaction with his life and eventually committed suicide. When they found his hidden poetry it was heart breaking to read how much he was suffering. So yeah, life is not always about balance and neither is great writing - some of the greatest works of literature have little to do with balance of joyful states and sorrow and pain but are relentless in the path characters take toward their destruction.

 

[MeatAbstract]

This was the last season I'd watched recently. I enjoyed Season 6 but it is dark. Buffy comes back changed, she develops this sexually violent relationship with Spike, distances herself from her friends, Anya and Xander split up, Willow gets heavy on the magic (an interesting story but I always figured if magic was as addictive as this Giles would of said way back in Season 2 "Hold on Willow...magic can be like crack") Giles leaves, Tara dies. It goes on like this. But despite being dark, looking on the dark side of relationships and good times, it is no where near as depressing as Season 5 which episodes like the Body and the general crap Buffy goes through in that season.

Overall, a very nice evolution for Buffy I thought, treaded into some dark territory but the show was growing up like its audiance.

 

[2NE1]

Season 6 definitely made me feel it was Buffy again. Season 4 and 5 felt a little too light-hearted for my tasting. I prefer dark aspects and this season is no exception. This season had more unique episodes one being the infamous and my favorite 'Once More with Feeling'. Then there are great comedic episodes (Tabula Rasa) and this season introduced many great characters (Halfrek, Clem etc)

Then we have the Trio who at first looked like stupid excuse for villains but halfway through the season they felt like real threats and at some point they scared the shit out of me 😛 Willow's addiction then later Dark Willow, Buffy returning from heaven and having those flings with Spike and Anya and Xander's issues, really made this season for me in terms of storyline. I was actually quite surprised at the amount of dark elements they put onto these storylines. I really thought it ended with Season 3 but I guess I was wrong.

The only downside to this season is Tara's death. I mean why did they kill her off 🙁 She was so amazing this season and she had alot going on for her. I wanted to see more kissing and sexy talks but I guess we all can't be pleased for too long 😛

 

[Evany]

Ok, lets talk about the infamous season 6!

Personally I have a love/hate relationship with this season. It brought the worst of everyone to the surface, but oh how I wished it would work out for Buffy and Spike. And in a way, a strange, twisted way, it did.

But let me start from the beginning. I don't think we have a main villain here. Ok, we have the Trio o idiots, led by an insane jerk, Warren, but I always had a hard time seeing them as truly evil (not like all the other villains from previous seasons, anyway). Then we have Willow, our sweet, yellow crayon Willow. How can I ever see her as a villain? She let herself get seduced by dark magic, like a drug and always had poor orientation about it. Giles could have done a lot more from the begging, but never thought about it until it was too late. This led to abuses such as resurrecting Buffy or the spell from Tabula Rasa. To me chasing the Trio and trying to destroy the word was a desperate, agonizing cry (and all the characters had one this season), caused by Tara's murder. Someone shot and killed the person she loved most, her first impulse was to avenge her. She just has too much power, pain and grief, is normal to run out of control, given her unguided situation.

If you want a true villain: LIFE! That's the message this season. Living the normal day-after-day is hard and cruel to the entire Scooby Gang.

Buffy was in peace and suddenly is reaped out of Heaven, forced to go back to a world full of pain, suffer and adversities not by an enemy but her own friends, people she loved and trusted, who knew well all that she had been through in her life and how she deserved to finally rest. But bringing her back wasn't enough, they constantly demanded from her, as if she had to thank them, and be happy to be back, not to mention Dawn's kleptomaniac problem (who only wanted to be treated like one of them, not someone they need to take care of), house expenses, unemployment and most of all: Spike!

Ok, I must confess I'm a little biased to talk about it, because Spike is my favourite character. In truth, he was the only one who left Buffy be herself after her resurrection. He was there for everything without any demand, accepting her fragility. Never pressure her to be the same person she was before or what he expected her to be, unlike all of her friends.
In a way, I think that's what made her get close to him, it made her crave is company, while she avoided her friends. And this terrified her!
After episode Smashed their relationship becomes more intimate and even though I hat Buffy' attitude towards Spike, I can understand it. She comes back, feels lost, pressured by everyone and the only person she fells good with is exactly the most unlikely one, but he makes her feel alive on those moments they spend together.
I know a lot of fans believe she's with him to punish herself, but to me is exactly the opposite. She's with Spike because she feels good, comfortable with him and punishes him for making her feel like that. The last scene of Dead Things where she beats him to a pulp is the proof. She's punishing someone she should hate, but in truth makes her feel alive, something her friends aren't able to do.

Spike, on his turn, accepts all this almost passively. He loves Buffy more than anything, more than life itself and that's why he allows this treatment, to give her what she thinks she want and he believes that deep down what she feels for him is stronger than she lets herself reveal.
But everyone has limits. And while everyone faces the scene in the bathroom from Seeing Red as a rape attempt, to satisfy his own need, I can't see it like that. To me Spike has the most desperate act of someone who's brought to his own limits of acceptance. He just begs not for a love's declaration but a little crumb of affection.
When he truly understands the depth of his act he does the unthinkable for a vampire, going to Africa and making a deal with a demon to go through a trial of excruciating pain, only to give Buffy what she deserves. His soul!
He knew he hurt her more than anyone else, but unlike the others he doesn't run from the problem on the first opportunity. He goes searching for something to redeem himself from what he did.
This is an extraordinary thing for a soulless vampire. He feels remorse of what he did. He's in such suffer that he leaves everything to go find a solution to turn him a little more human, worthy of Buffy. And that's amazing!

Wow"¦I didn't mean for this to get this big, and there's still so much to say. But maybe I'll add it later. This is my main thoughts of season 6.