Which Buffy Is Your Least Favourite & Why?

thetopher

thetopher

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Basically what it says; which is your least favourite 'Buffy' season to season and why so?
(Just talkin' about the TV show, not the comics.)
 
Season 6 Buffy, because I feel that her depression drags down her characterization and keeps her standing very still and Season 7 Buffy because she loses her spark, is completely isolated from her friends, allows Spike and his soul to manipulate her (this is more the writing of her character rather than a character flaw) and ends up becoming a harsh, self-righteous dictator who hides behind Spike and ends up treating lots of other characters like crap. She actually starts the season more like her old self but by the middle of the season she's become unrecognisable.
 
Hmmm....I suppose I'd also go with S7 Buffy. I love her in all seasons, truly, but I think we see less of her on her own in this season and she doesn't handle some of the overall plot points well, often coming off as cold.
 
S6 Buffy easily. Willow gave her a second chance at life, and she was somewhat less than grateful 😛 I do think this is a very compelling Buffy, though. Her problems resonate with me. I've often fantasised about being invisible, not to spy in locker rooms, but to be able to watch the world without being part of it. However, a Buffy that reminds me of myself is a Buffy that is harder to love.

I wanna point out that Buffy may be a weaker version of herself, but she still makes an effort to care for Dawn and she does not abandon Willow.
 
WillowFromBuffy said:
S6 Buffy easily. Willow gave her a second chance at life, and she was somewhat less than grateful 😛
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Willow pulled her out of Heaven, where she was at peace and complete and happy and at rest and then traumatized her by being so stupid as to not dig up her grave first, forcing Buffy to literally live her worst nightmare and causing Buffy's PTSD and adding to her depression, yet Buffy's supposed to be grateful? I don't think so.
 
RachM said:
Willow pulled her out of Heaven, where she was at peace and complete and happy and at rest and then traumatized her by being so stupid as to not dig up her grave first, forcing Buffy to literally live her worst nightmare and causing Buffy's PTSD and adding to her depression, yet Buffy's supposed to be grateful? I don't think so.
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Yes. I know very few people feel like me, and it baffels me, and I am completely unable to understand why. I'd love to discuss my ideas about heaven versus life with you, but I am not sure if it would be a good idea. I am either unable or unwilling to understand any other perspectives on this.
 
WillowFromBuffy said:
Yes. I know very few people feel like me, and it baffels me, and I am completely unable to understand why. I'd love to discuss my ideas about heaven versus life with you, but I am not sure if it would be a good idea. I am either unable or unwilling to understand any other perspectives on this.
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Everyone obviously has their own real world thoughts on Heaven/after life etc., but within the context of the show, it is made abundantly clear that Buffy was at peace while she was in "Heaven" and that Willow's actions clearly traumatized her and were detrimental to Buffy and trying to diminish that and stubbornly stick to an interpretation which paints Willow in an undeserving flattering light is ... well ... trying not to be too mean here, but it's kind of ridiculous.
 
Buffy s7. I am sympathetic to Buffy in s6 given her depression so this makes me empathetic towards her. I think she makes bad decisions but because the story tells me we are all supposed to know they are bad and because they are all due to her trauma and depression, I don't dislike her as much as feel bad for her.

But s7 Buffy seems to be on the mend, oddly?, and yet she feels very distant/different/cold. She says some things that make me want to throw pillows at her. If Buffy was my best friend in s7 I would sit her down and be like - "dude I love you like cheese cake but can we talk?"
 
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RachM said:
Willow pulled her out of Heaven, where she was at peace and complete and happy and at rest and then traumatized her by being so stupid as to not dig up her grave first, forcing Buffy to literally live her worst nightmare and causing Buffy's PTSD and adding to her depression, yet Buffy's supposed to be grateful? I don't think so.
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It's the thought that counts.
 
RachM said:
Everyone obviously has their own real world thoughts on Heaven/after life etc., but within the context of the show, it is made abundantly clear that Buffy was at peace while she was in "Heaven" and that Willow's actions clearly traumatized her and were detrimental to Buffy and trying to diminish that and stubbornly stick to an interpretation which paints Willow in an undeserving flattering light is ... well ... trying not to be too mean here, but it's kind of ridiculous.
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I am fine with being ridiculous. Don't get me wrong. I accept Buffy's account of Heaven. I just believed Buffy would rather be fighting in the world than slumber in the afterlife. Being proven wrong hurt, and it somewhat diminished Buffy in my eyes.

I am not saying that I cannot forgive Buffy. I feel very qualified to emphasise with her pain. Like Willow, I guess I had a somewhat inflated view of Buffy. S6 humanised her.
 
For me it is Season 7 by far. Any given season I will ALWAYS understand her pov even if I don't agree with it.
Hiding the fact Angel comes back in S3? Bad, but I get it given your previous history.
Putting her sister before the fate of the world? Totally understandable because you're so attatched to her that you feel you have to fight with everything you have to save her.
Depression and Spike-shagging/battering? Torturous to watch but okay, its classic self-destructive behaviour brought on by trauma. *Micheal Jordan voice* Stop it, get some help

But God, in S7, by mid-season she is just wierdly disconnected from everything, half her descisions make no sense and the other half just make me angry. The way she treats everyone by the end makes me kinda glad she got' kicked out' of her own house so she get some perspective and go back to being the character I love, the heroine who cares about and values others in ways other than tactically.
But there's some truly awful stuff before we get to that point; calling a teen suicide victim an idiot is one example, letting a mind-controlled mass murderer stay in her house is another, the list goes on.
 
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Antho
Antho
OMG i’m So agree with you
FaithLehane16
FaithLehane16
I'm on the same page.
WillowFromBuffy said:
I am fine with being ridiculous. Don't get me wrong. I accept Buffy's account of Heaven. I just believed Buffy would rather be fighting in the world than slumber in the afterlife. Being proven wrong hurt, and it somewhat diminished Buffy in my eyes.
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But nowhere does Buffy ever express this. She has to learn (through a very long and hard journey) to like/enjoy life again (and honestly, she never fully does). She spends the majority of Season 6 wanting to die, traumatized by Willow's actions and trying, at every turn, to escape life. This belief that she would rather be fighting is all your belief, based on pretty much no canon evidence, which makes your argument very hard to take seriously.
 
RachM said:
But nowhere does Buffy ever express this. She has to learn (through a very long and hard journey) to like/enjoy life again (and honestly, she never fully does). She spends the majority of Season 6 wanting to die, traumatized by Willow's actions and trying, at every turn, to escape life. This belief that she would rather be fighting is all your belief, based on pretty much no canon evidence, which makes your argument very hard to take seriously.
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She expresses this in Amends, when she tries to talk Angel down from committing suicide (please, don't point out to me that Angel would likely not have gone to Heaven). If you look closely at what I wrote, though, you will see that I used the past tense of 'believe' and say that I was proven wrong. I wish Buffy would be happy to be back. I would have admired her more if she was.

Is my subject position really so alien to you?
 
WillowFromBuffy said:
She expresses this in Amends, when she tries to talk Angel down from committing suicide (please, don't point out to me that Angel would likely not have gone to Heaven). If you look closely at what I wrote, though, you will see that I used the past tense of 'believe' and say that I was proven wrong. I wish Buffy would be happy to be back. I would have admired her more if she was.

Is my subject position really so alien to you?
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Apologies, I did not notice that you'd written in past tense, I thought that you were referring to Season 6. That was my bad, sorry.

And, in this case and within the context of this show and season, yes I do find your subject position alien. Buffy was at peace. She was happy. Willow's actions traumatized her, gave her PTSD and directly added to her depression. Why should Buffy thank her for that?
 
WillowFromBuffy said:
I just believed Buffy would rather be fighting in the world than slumber in the afterlife.
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RachM said:
But nowhere does Buffy ever express this.
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WillowFromBuffy said:
She expresses this in Amends, when she tries to talk Angel down from committing suicide
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I think it's pretty clear that her opinion has shifted by the end of S5. The fighting has taken it's toll and she's had to give up so much.

"The hardest thing in the world is to live in it"

She doesn't want to die, not really, but she makes peace with death as a release from her burden, as a freedom from the pain and struggle of living.

(NB: @WillowFromBuffy I do acknowledge that you have said you were proven wrong- I'm not arguing against that)
 
Season 7. She's an arrogant hypocrite who forgets that she got as far as she did because of her friends, her team, who helped her through and saved her butt time and time again, but she treats them as flunkies. I barely even recognize her in this season.

Of course Buffy thrown out of her own house was too much. That's not how General Buffy would've done it, but it gives the "poor Buffy, let Spike wipe away your tears" scene the writers were aiming for, not giving a damn about the story or characters as usual this season.
 
WillowFromBuffy said:
t I was proven wrong. I wish Buffy would be happy to be back. I would have admired her more if she was.
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That’s kind of harsh on Buffy. It sounds like your angry or look down on her for not wanting to spend the rest of her life fighting and resent that she enjoyed paradise. She died on her terms, it was her choice and she died saving everyone. That’s a great way to go. You seem to be also be overlooking the fact that Willow made this choice for Buffy, took away her agency and didn’t even bother to dig up her first. What, is Willow just going to constantly resurrect Buffy forever? That’s kind of hellish if you think about it, Buffy never being allowed to rest.
 
RachM
RachM
Beautifully said!
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