I thought the white hair thing was because of the women who watched the slayer...the one caleb killed. I think you misinterpretated and forgot a lot of supporting details. Willow was turning into warren....like you saying buffy was a shadow....this has been something shes always felt that shes alone. Also season 6 was about people making big mistakes in life and how we deal...buffy sleeping with spike. Dawns stealing. Spikes attempted r@pe. Willow going evil. Zander breaking anyas heart. Anya becoming a demon again. Angel is just more self loathing because he intentionally inflicted pain and torture...spike killed a slayer. I disagree with your anylasis. You miss so many key details and make up plots that were never even there.
You brought up season 6, which this video addressed, but you have nothing to add about this video's breakdown of season 7. What are those "many key details"? What plots did 5x5 Takes make up? If I may, I think you're misusing your add medication and rambling about nothing
Something I found really interesting is that season seven explicitly states that Buffy's power comes from a demon within her, which creates interesting parallels with Willow, Faith, Anya, and Spike, and then the show just never explores this
@@5x5Takes You didn't even talk about spike in this vidoe ? He had a major role in this session and the fact he dies in the end ( Yes he comes back in Angel session 5) but he does die
I was always a bit bothered by how Tara's death was just glossed over by the rest of the Scoobies. Like you mentioned, she was like a sister figure to Dawn, and even Buffy seemed to be close enough to confide in her in Season 6. I know that there was a time skip, but I was always confused how there was such a lack of reaction to it (same with Anya's death).
The time skip was the same one they do every year. 2 months isn't really a skip of any serious magnitude, since some episodes are a month apart chronlogically.
Not to mention Cordelia's death. With Fred, it definitely weighed on the rest of season 5, but more so for the sake of Wesley's arc. At this point, there's a clear-enough pattern to indicate how a certain showrunner REALLY feels about beloved female characters who are not physically threatening (an inherently masculine trait)
@@bernardsoul5186 I know!! Clearly they knew how to write/portray grief well, The Body is a testament to that, but it's like for the other characters they just CHOSE not to. I wish the other characters were treated with the same amount of care for an actual meaningful send-off. They were done so dirty.
It's the characters for me. Giles isn't Giles. Willow is scared to be Willow. Xander isn't funny. Buffy is kinda mean (even though I think she needed to be). But regardless of the reasoning, none of the characters were being the versions of the characters that made us love them. The story is fine. The arc is fine. But making our favs into versions of them we might not even want to root for, and using the rest of the time to focus on a bunch of characters we didn't know til halfway through the season, was just a bad choice.
@@t.s3994 but the show is about growing up the vampires and demons are metaphors just like the chosen slayers the chosen slayers represent that Buffy is not the only one to grow up and that’s what the show was showing us the good and bad of growing up willow not willow cause she was a addicted her lost her girlfriend, Buffy not Buffy cause she died lost her mom and the love of her life change in character happens in real life hence the change in character good and bad
Spike isnt even spike, and i love spike, but spike was almost th most intresting when he showed he cared, while playing tough, and sensitiv and insightful. While excusing when he shows that. Also he should be dawns big brother, and wood, i imagine if you cut the uuuh spike crazy or evil time, have wood confront him fast, for killing his mother only and his past, and them form a reationship where spike talks his emotional stuff out, and wood to hold him acountable. They could become bros even, and have fun. And give wood more sides also opening up,... who too was criminally underued and not given a season arc of her coming into herself. one episode wasnt enough. Through i realy like she stood up to buffy. They were right. Becaue yeah bufy was always flawed but never that extreme. I get she is mean and scared but that is never satisfactiory expored either, she has one talk with faith, and its not treated as really important or her opening up, to her friends. Which could be an amazing touchy And why did she split so early and mess up, when her messing up that big early, wopuld have given her a linger character arc of struggling of her role. Ok its whedon, i think, but she shousnr be a girlboss framed, she should be very insecure, but les when she gets to devide reponsibility later. And her bouncing back with that, to overdo herself and break and kill potentials. But she firted with that, was called out, back and fourth. Or you frame it from not buffys perspective but ho othrs interact with her, distanced , but she i shown ipactful and subtile before hoe alone she is.
It really is funny and bizarre how magic is one of the most prominent allegories of the show and the most confused. Somehow it switches from representing female empowerment and Lesbian love to paralleling drug addiction and other self-harming coping mechanisms, to just your run of the mill power vs self control and then back to female empowerment right at the end.
"if you could be ... you know, plain old Willow or super Willow, who would you be? I mean Buffy, who was I? Just some girl. Tara didn't even know that girl." 6x10, Wrecked
Magic has always been presented as power/substance abuse. Why do people forget Giles's past? He used magic as a teen to get high. He always warned Willow about it in seasons 2 and 3, both Oz and Tara were afraid of how reliant she is on magic. It was only used as a lesbian subtext during season 4.
If you watch Passion of the Nerd, he points out that Willow turns to magic when she shouldn't pretty early on. As early as season 3, trying to magic away her lusting for Zander.
Yeah magic has always been shown as something dangerous and very much drug like. Even in the early seasons they show this with repressions to both Xander and willow using magic in ways they shouldn’t. Willow had three separate seasons where she made a decision to use magic with dire consequences.
@@5x5Takes Yep, it’s a hard literary parallel to draw attention to in our hierarchical hyperindividualist world, but Willow especially needed to hear Xander’s speech to Dawn in Potential, what with thoughts like that. Heck, even Slave Knight Gael, a minor character in a DLC (Dark Souls III) that not everyone might have played is a character study for that sense of selflessness. And perhaps due to its proximity to the present, is a more apparent lesson that the greater awareness found in Xander, Cloud in Final Fantasy VII, or even Frodo and the Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings?
That would be boring (therapy always is) but it would be entertaining to have them actually have more talking scenes and not replace them with speechifying scenes.
This is a fantastic essay and hits on all the things this season fails to achieve. I'll add: 1. As much as it focuses on plot, the plot itself doesn't really make sense and is ultimately resolved by a series of MacGuffins, the most important of which was given by the Big Bad from the spin-off show! 2. As much as I love Spike, the season spends way too much time on him. They knew that it would take a lot of Buffy/Spike screen time to build that romance after how Season 6 ended. And as a result of that, Buffy's only developed relationship this season is with Spike, rather than her friends or Giles. And what's more, the show doesn't even fully want to fully let them discuss what Spike did to her. Rather, they just keep making Spike a helpless victim so that Buffy feels compelled to save him, even though there's really no justified reason why she should feel this way. 3. Xander/Dawn completely fade into the background and have almost nothing to do. 4. Buffy acting like a cold, hardened general is upsetting to watch. Actually more upsetting than seeing her depressed in Season 6. At least then she was trying to be hopeful and had friends to help her.
While you are right about this season building up Buffy and Spike relationship, that never payed off in my opinion. Buffy eventually fell in love with him but all that build up end in nothing. They kinda act like they are together but we never get to see it. I will always be conflicted about how they handle their relationship in season 7, while a like all the build up, I don't think gave a satisfying conclusion.
100%. I always experience mixed feelings about Spuffy in S7 cause while part of me loves the devotion and trust they gain in each other, and that that development does make sense from their antagonistic yet understanding connection in the previous seasons, they really do throw Buffy's character under the bus to do it. I ship Spuffy but I only want Buffy to date Spike if SHE really wants to, and the show doesn't show many compelling reasons for this. I love Spike too, but we see him brood more about what he's done than actually try to take accountability. Arguably, the way he helps Buffy isn't that different from what he'd be doing in S5 anyway. It's hard to see his actual commitment to the 'good fight' as he calls it.
You explained exactly why I dislike this season ! I've rewatched the show lately after 15 years, season 7 is deffo my least fav season. The scoobies are acting out of character and the show became the Spike show but without the spike we actually enjoyed
One of the big issues is that Willow's plot line happened mostly between seasons six and seven, not during. Giles took her to England and she was taught how to safely use magic by the coven there. It was all done off screen and told to the audience in about a thirty second conversation between Willow and Giles. Are there not enough witches in America or something?
There was talk about a British spinoff called Ripper, based on Giles' character. One rumour suggested Willow's training would be featured in this show. Later, other storylines were tossed around but in the end the various parties couldn't come together and the show never happened.
@@tsuritsa3105 I wouldn't leave Willow in Sunnydale, where a moment distraction/sorrow can lead to her easily finding a bunch of bad mojo again. You take Addicts to rehab. You don't let them sit around at home and tell you they will "definitely change"
@@tsuritsa3105 I was agreeing with you. Sorry that wasn't clearer. Because yes, it should have been onscreen. We should have had Willow and Giles getting 1/3rd of of the the few episodes showing her growth. Problem is, we very rarely see any of this onscreen. We're told people are going to get training and then all of a sudden they show up with new skills/abilities.
I still overall like this season for it's standout good moments, (I love so much of the dialogue and speeches) but I think the biggest weakness is the inconsistent threat the First Evil poses. The main plot of the show is just the First having vague plans surrounding a secondary villain until that conflict is resolved. It starts out with mind controlled Spike, but then he gets better. Then it's the Ubervamp, but it dies. Then we get Caleb, who is utterly terrifying, but he's only around for a couple episodes and then dies. The First is always banking on another character to further its vague campaign of general evilness. Insane Spike, the Turok-han, and Caleb are all interesting and menacing in their own way, but they always get beaten before they can really have a significant impact. Which is doubly weird because The First on its own I think is a really solid villain. It relies entirley on emotional manipulation and is a true master at it, especially with the genuinely creepy ability to embody both a dead person's physical appearance, but also their mannerisms and personality. The best villains are the ones who can form intense connections with the protagonists, and because the first is such a multifaceted being it could do that with any character. Yet, despite being a villain who could function quite well on its own with just large armies as its threat, the First deliberately sidelines itself for the sake of other antagonists. There's no problem with having secondary villains, but there's certainly a problem having three in quick succession. It just exacerbates all the issues with meandering plot the season already had.
The biggest problem with the First is that he got two episodes to be scary - and one of them was back in S3 (Amends). The rest of the time, he's not a scary villain; he's "the Taunter" - an ineffective voice trying to goad people into doing things.
I find that's kinda the of point the First Evil. It's the first but it doesn't have a body of it own so it has to have over to do it bidding. Evil is always going to be there it's never going to go away.
@@mikelaw9317 It should have appeared as Jenny to taunt Giles, Joyce to taunt Dawn, JEsse to taunt Xander, Angel to taunt Buffy. Show up as Faith's Watcher Linda/Kakistos, to taunt her. Show up as Halfrek to mock Anya.
@@kyleellis1825 Honetly with dawn and faith buffy actually could work to doubt themselves. Life faiths compex relationship, and her sister must as hurt. uut else, yeah it should have taunted them all teperate and spook them with some tough mental trauma reminder. Honestly you could even have anya taunt xander instead if she is , is she dead enough as human?! She could be. But yes angel haunting her. An hafrek, yesss.
I feel a little bit like the Scooby relationships had a similar arc for season 4, season 6, and season 7. Season 7 felt a bit like they just repeated lessons the characters should have already gotten to. And I just found myself like "why does Buffy never earn their trust as a leader no matter how many times she proves herself?" And "why doesn't Buffy trust her friends no matter how many ways they prove themselves?". It felt like a forced character arc without realistic cause and effect and with everyone appearing to have this emotional distance that, I agree, wasn't earned. Good take 👍 Thanks for this.
yeh the whole turning on buffy thing was done right back in season 3s early dead mans episode, season 4 it was part of the arc of moving from school to college and in season 6 it was built in to the themes of that season, for the 7th it was already done very well many times so was just a waste of time that could have been used elsewhere as it was done far better before
Okay this, everything about this, you not only hit all the nails on the head, you made me see nails I felt but couldn't put my finger on. I loved season 6's depth and gravity, season 7 felt like the cookie dough metaphor, unfinished. Buffy is and always will be one of my favourite shows of all time that I rewatch almost every year, but season 7 is always rough.
I think the problem with going with Jonathan was the 'I killed my best friend' arch. It's easier to believe Andrew would do that. It's harder to believe that Johnatan would, so if they want to include the storyteller episode, and the whole videotaping everything, Andrew was the better choice. That doesn't undo what you said about Johnathan being a deeper character, but I understand why they went with Andrew.
This is so well articulated. And a nuanced take that isn't about tearing the show down. This video demonstrates how good Buffy the show was: the final season is still enjoyable television, but it doesn't manage to be more than the sum of its parts in the way that previous seasons had been. The fact that we expected a show *could* be better than S7 shows how incredible the earlier seasons were.
I also hated how Amy placed the hex on willow in the name of justice. Amy was portrayed as reformed but in reality her actions are evil an unjust. The episode did not place consequences for Amy.
Yes. A lot of what you’ve said here really resonates. Although the season doesn’t cathartically /satisfactorily conclude a lot of the emotional/ relationship dynamics explored in previous seasons, feels somewhat cathartic to hear you addressing these issues in this! It felt kinda empty & rushed, all the warmth & bonding they’d built between the scoobies , complex character arcs & relatable inner/outer relationship conflicts lacked meaningful closure. So much depth built over this long running series dashed over the need to create an ending & epic battle in the finale. I don’t envy writers trying to end this series but it felt lazy. Agree that Anya deserved more development than she got too.
It would have been great if in The Killer In Me during Willow's break down she had acknowledged how not good of a gf she had been. How she felt responsible not only for her death but for the breakup long before it. In season 6 (and earlier) willow uses magic as a quick fix. In season 7, she barely uses it at all. It seems there's a middle ground that she has to find, but even by the last episode, she hasn't really found it, and part of that is because she labels all her problems as being that she killed someone, not that she abused the person she loved
It is really telling that when i finished season 6, i thought they were tearing down these relationships just to bring them up again bigger and better. Well… not only they didn't but they did empty places, where everyone acts so out of character that is infuriating, and they never talked about that! No one ever apologized! It's like it was made just so we can have Spike get his moment alone with Buffy. By the way, i freaking love Spike but i don't like how they put him front and center and dismissed other characters just to make him look better, And i loved your video hahah ❤️
But that’s how the real world works when u grow up and what has the creator and writers on the show said Buffy slaying is literally battling her own demons as well as everyone on the show , that’s why they may have been no resolution cause sometimes when u grow up you don’t get those u just accept and move on
You said it at the start of the video, the beginning of the season felt right, the episodes were great until we got to the half of the season. The producers knew SMG was tired of playing Buffy but it wasn’t until half way the season she said she didn’t want to continue, so many plans had to get scraped in other to make the final season work as such. So I understand many of the choices they had to make. I still remember they started promoting this as the final season by episode 17/18, before that there were rumors, I guess they tried everything to convince SMG to stay.
That is false. 100%. Half-way through season six is when SMG gave them notice that season 7 was her last. Season 7 aired advertised as the last season.
I don't hate Season 7, but I liked it significantly less than subsequent seasons. All the ingredients were there. The table was set, but it just didn't feel like a complete meal. Something was missing and I could never put my finger on it. I think you hit the nail on the head with this video. Willow and Buffy's friendship is probably the most compelling example of female friendship ever put to screen. Too often female friendships fall into two categories competitive frenemies or a sidekick who blindly stands by the protagonist no matter what without any of her own needs or interests outside of a character quirk or hobby to differentiate them. Willow and Buffy feel like two complete people who have somethings in common, but not everything. They compliment each other well, but Willow never felt like Buffy's sidekick who would follow her directions blindly. She was a fully realized person with her own thoughts opinions and struggles that were built upon over 6 seasons. She showed her willingness to resort to magic to solve emotional problems back in Lovers Walk. We saw her affirming that she was her own person with her own struggles when she and Buffy had their confrontation and resolution in Dead Man's Party. I think Willow feeling the pressure of being the big gun had started all the way back in Anne. I would have loved to see that aspect of her character explored in Season 7.
Your final conclusion is spot on, "plot focus on a character driven show". But the much bigger issue is that the plot is terrible. Just try to recall the actual plot separate from the characters. Everything is vague and unexplained, including central motivations. Major plot points are resolved with macguffins and deus ex machina plot devices out of nowhere. And everything in the second half of season 7 gets sacrificed to this messy plotline. Plot focus to further built the lore and universe in the final season would've been actually fine. These things usually ensure a more lasting legacy and fan focus down the line. But in order to do so, the plot needs to be good. A strong antagonist with clear motivations shouldn't have been difficult for the writers, considering previous seasons. And resolving a single episode story with a cheap plot device is okay, resolving a whole show with two magical doodads out of nowhere is just too much.
I'm a year late on this (whoops) but THANK YOU for making this video. I've long had similar problems with season 7 and it was so nice to hear someone verbalise them so well. To add to your analysis, one of my biggest problems with the season is Xander. He gets some of the best character-centric episodes throughout the series, and 'Hell's Bells' put a spotlight on the fact that despite his progress, he still needed to unpack his family trauma and realise his value as a leader and provider. Instead of taking on the parental/paternal role vacated by an out-of-character Giles in a house full of teenage (*cough* underage *cough*) Potentials, he has sexual fantasies about them and his character is treated like a joke in 'First Date' (my least favourite episode in the entire series). Then his partner and former fiance of 2-3 years dies tragically and is swallowed up by the Hellmouth, and he says... "that's my girl". Just?? HUH?????
THANK YOU. This encapsulated all of my disappointments with S7. In particular, I feel like you took all of my jumbled thoughts about Willow's arc and laid them out. Her descent through magic from S2 through Tabula was about control, acceptance, and avoidance of uncomfortable emotions. Then it completely flipped and, as you said, became a generic thing in S7 and we never explored the underlying issues that had been driving her towards Wrecked and DW.
Underrated comment. Could you expand more on the avoidance-acceptance struggle that she has? It's the part of Willow's character that interests me most.
@@pendafen7405 Then you are on the right track - that part of Willow's character is core to her arc. Willow is the classic social outcast in S1 and early S2. She is proud of her intelligence and educational accomplishments (Alyson specifically played her that way), but she is definitely not one of the cool kids. With the performance of the re-ensouling spell on Angel, she - as Giles puts it - "opens a door" to her power. She has a special strength and uses it not only to help her friends, but to "solve" uncomfortable or painful emotional situations (by making them go away, not by working through them). There is a whole string of examples for both kinds of uses for her magic, but some of the main ones are: the de-lusting spell in Lover's Walk that she tries to do without Xander's consent; the spell with Anya in Doppelgangland when she doesn't want to feel weak and mousy anymore; her near cursing of Oz in Wild at Heart; everything in Something Blue; her first real use of dark magic against Glory (*driven by anger over what happened to Tara*); her restoration of Tara's mind in The Gift; her willingness to go really dark to resurrect Buffy; and finally the memory wipe spells that violated first Tara's mind and then everyone else's in Tabula Rasa. This arc took years to develop and each step was understandable, even as it slowly got darker. This weak, shy girl saw the benefits of her power to both help her friends and to take shortcuts to avoid negative emotions, but she didn't really acknowledge the risk of using increasingly powerful and dark magic to get what she wanted. The problem with the storytelling is that as soon as you get to Smashed/Wrecked, it becomes a hit-you-over-the-head opiate addiction metaphor and it loses all nuance. Her use of magic never had a physical addiction/withdrawal component before that and they didn't show her needing to use increasingly powerful magic to get her fix or something. She wasn't addicted to magic - she was addicted to the power that she obtained through magic.
This is a great review, I think I agree with everything you say. It may be simplistic, but I do feel a great deal of the faults that are described here are, at least in part, the result of the presence of the Potentials. Season 7 starts off really good, Dawn finally feels integrated into the group, the show seemed to be finding it its footing again; and then Giles knocks on the door, the brats rush in and suck all of the air out. After that, the narrative becomes unfocused and disjointed. There are too many people to focus enough of a story on; and the through line of the story is all over the place. I mean, what was the First's objective? It seemed to changed each episode. And how did the finale actually resolve it? I've also come to the conclusion recently that it should have been Xander who died in season 6, instead of Tara. There are so many reasons why it was a mistake to kill Tara; and the one "good" reason to kill her was to send Willow over the edge; and that could have been achieved by killing Xander. They still could have had Xander come back on the cliff, as a spirit, and talk Willow down and say goodbye. _Then_ in season 7, you bring Nicky back as the First and Bob's your Uncle. It's a win-win, because you keep the core cast together through the series, Nicky could have been in Conversations with Dead People, talking to Willow in the library, instead of a random stranger Willow never met.
When I saw the video title, my first reaction was sadness, because I quite like season 7. But you are spot on in your analysis, and it just reinforces why I *like* the season but don’t *love* it (with some exceptions for a handful of individual episodes or moments). I’ve never really been able to articulate what was missing from this last season, and you’ve really put that structure together for me. Still, unlike many fans, I don’t hate it and never have (no, not even the Potentials! Though I could have done without the racism… 😒). I love seasons 5, 6, 3 and the second half of 2. And of course tons of individual episodes, scenes and story arcs from the entirety of the series. And I’m loving your channel and perceptive analyses, especially addressing Buffy and Person of Interest. Thank you, looking forward to the next one!
Kennedy is just so meh. Like both Tara and Oz were special and the relationships with Willow feel powerful, strong and defining. Oz being willows first serious relationship and Tara being the one who willow discovers who she is through and has a beyond powerful love for. Kennedy just feels a bit forced just so Willow has a love interest. I feel like after a loss of someone as important as Tara, Willow wouldn't be able to have another relationship so soon. She would need a lot longer to recover, heal and eventually move on.
I just finished a rewatch of the series, and the funny thing is that I absolutely agree with all your points about the characters and missed opportunities, and, yet, in every way I find S7 far, far more entertaining than S6 and had way more fun watching it, and can overlook the issues to simply enjoy the show. Similar to how all the character breakdowns and analyses of S6 to reveal the profundity of that season, which I all agree with, doesn't change the fact that S6 is unwatchably miserable. I watched Buffy as it aired for the most part, and the thing is back in 2002, *no one* liked S6. It's only in retrospect that many seem to have found value. Most importantly, from what I'm to understand, the actors hated S6 and, according to SMG, she was constantly begging Joss to "fix" the show for S7 and he supposedly promised that he would. I stopped watching for a while in S6 then went back later when S7 was airing and remembering thinking, "Oh, thank god, it's actually a show again, they're dropping the 'Dawson's Creek with vampires' era of Buffy finally." S6 made me dislike the characters that I had grown to love. Getting a little distance from the internal life of the characters to have basically an entirely plot-driven season is a huge breath of fresh air. It gave me the distance I needed to find the show entertaining again. During this last rewatch of the series, it took me months and months, almost half a year, to trudge through S6 and convince myself to watch another episode. Then I finally got to S7 and blew through it in half a week. and no matter how much one can pick apart what was done right and wrong for the characters' arcs, or what's more meaningful, what's more a payoff, etc, it doesn't change that S7 is simply more entertaining, far better paced, and offers a solid cohesive supernatural storyline with an external evil to anchor the experience, which makes up for the character betrayals for me. In some senses I'm like "to hell with character storylines anyway, S6 made me hate them all". Also, for the serious S6 loyals here, please please don't comment with an accusation that I don't know what depression is or what a hard day is. I get that a lot when I criticize S6, and I find it very rude and shallow and ignorant. Yes, in my life, I have been made intimately familiar with addiction and emotional/sexual abuse and identity loss. That's why I like Buffy more when it's escapist, instead of getting off on its own misery and looking for wounds to dig its fingers into.
What a fantastic video! I have never felt the need to try and be friends with someone online but man! Every time I watch one of your videos I think to myself I would love to be friends with this person and have just random conversations with you. You have a fantastic way of describing feelings and what an insightful way of seeing story telling. Well done
Great video. It is a shame that the timing of things meant Danny Strong's career was taking off just at the moment when it would have been perfect to give Jonathan that redemption arc. His success is awesome, but the timing leaveshis story feeling unfinished. I think there's a lot of real-life complications that led to the half-bakedness of the season, a lot of creative people leaving for other jobs. The more we learn about BTS issues the more I understand people jumping ship.
It would’ve been so much more satisfying to see Jonathan get the redemption arc and join the scoobies as opposed to Andrew. Especially since he’s been around since the beginning
@@irvinmaddox4192 It would have been the correct thing to do but Jonathan was rather... boring as a character imo & they had already put him in 2 spotlight epi's already (when he was up in the school tower & his magical 007 take). Andrew was actually untapped nerdyhumor that I enjoyed. The way the group was insulting him all the time - Giles telling him to go with Spike & he puts his hand behind his head & pushes him to get up saying "off you go then" - his storyboard & food issues.. I liked the comic relief to some bad writing.
I liked Andrews acting and comic timing. He came across more as Warren's sub than his own character. Seeing Jonathan would be a different choice to fill that narrative
This is an instant like because you said the way I feel about Season 7 precisely. Every issue I have with it you explained coherently and concisely. It could have been so good. And it just isn’t.
(in re: "Killer in me") ...Fucking THANK YOU!!!!!! I am dealing with a lost loved one, my wife,, and while I don't plan on having a new partner in my life, I have heard people's experience in beginning new relationships after loss. I was really impressed that I thought this episode was going some place really deep with the presence of grief in a new relationship and the solve ...a kiss!? Another fucking kiss? The same thing that brought up all these very serious feelings, with no intervening processing or working through, with no acknowledgement of the realness of these feelings and how to honor them. I went from being deeply moved to so deeply disappointed my head spun.
My favorite Buffy seasons to rewatch are 4-7, and every time I get to the end of the show I am reminded of how desperately I wish that they’d continued the series as an animated show instead of the graphic novel/comics. Having heard about how exhausted SMG was in the role of Buffy by the end of the show, and the abuse Charisma Carpenter experienced at the hands/under the leadership of Joss Whedon in both BTVS + ATS, I’m glad that the show(s) ended when they did, because I would hate to watch 10 seasons of extra Buffy/Angel if that was the cost. I’m a big fan of the comics (and the original movie😅) as well, but I still yearn for more BTVS-verse show, because that’s the format I think it works best in, narratively, character-wise, etc.
I absolutely agree with your criticism here...while I was actually on board with the themes of isolation and burden of leadership that were set up with Buffy(bec they are questions asked since the very beginning), I was left very unsatisfied by the end cause I felt very little actual resolution was achieved, I wasnt expecting the Scoobies or Buffy herself to go back to their season 5 selves but I was definitely expecting them to actually address the stuff that happened in s6 and the roots of those issues in a meaningful way...it seems like the writers didnt actually know how to rebuild what was broken in s6 (the most upsetting example for me is how they completely brushed over Buffys trauma from Seeing Red and instead she spends the season babying her assaulter) so what we get instead is a band aid on top of a gaping wound
I'm late for this but anyway.... I always thought that maybe the problem with S7 was that the writers didn't know it was going to be the last season when they started writing it. So the earlier episodes seem like they're building up to Classic Buffy 2.0, with a new high school and 16 yr old Dawn who's being trained to slay making friends with two outcasts like S1 Buffy did, while Buffy herself (along with Robin) is working at the school for secret supernatural reasons just like Giles was. Anya starts an arc about her identity as a demon vs a human, starting to find that her new humanity isn't going anywhere and that even without Xander she still wants to be a part of the Gang. Willow has been cleansed of dark magic but is still struggling with dark impulses and learning to use magic responsibly for the first time. Buffy finally starting to get the hang of adulthood without all the depression. Spike's entire re-ensoulment journey. Xander just being Xander but a little less problematic and more self-possessed. Everything in early S7 seems to be building up to a refreshed version of the status quo where the characters have mostly overcome their darkest moments and are rebuilding themselves and their stories as adults -- plus Robin as a new and interesting character who had lots of potential (haha) as a new scooby. Then mid-season strikes, and the writers have clearly realised by now that it's the last season and any final concepts they want to explore need to be done NOW. So the potentials start coming in to kickstart the exploration into the Slayer's role and history (which they hinted at in late S4 and early S5 but then basically scrapped it in favour of sick Joyce and Dawn's mystery - which was a great plot ofc, but left threads hanging about Buffy's Slayerness plot), that brings Robin's plot into the picture and even Faith's, etc... but it's all too rushed. Too many new characters all at once, and all living at Buffy's, so you barely ever get the core gang together on their own again. The Slayer plot AGAIN is poorly explored, basically just dipping into the demonic possession aspect of it and then moving on with no further reflection, and meawhile a lot of the character arcs get compressed and disjointed to fit around the bigger plot. We don't get enough of the core gang nor enough of the new characters to make it worthwhile, so the second half of the season is just zooming through all of these people and troubles and the less-than-stellar "threat" of the First Evil who's only power is to pretend to be other people to say mean things, and by the time it's over there's a whole new status quo but we still feel bereft of closure for a lot of the main characters while also not feeling satisfied with the new status quo because there was no time to properly explore what it meant or to make us care about the new Slayers. Basically season 7 should have been two seasons. S7 setting up the new status quo for the main gang, introducing Robin and exploring more of the nature of Slayerness, and maaybe even letting Dawn be friends with those two new kids for more than half an episode??? And maybe Robin's mystery could have been played closer to how Glory's alterego's went (I forget his name, but you know how he seemed nice but had a secret identity? Robin's story went a bit like that and could've been much better if it'd been done properly). And then S8 would have the potentials coming in and the First Evil, but with more of the main arcs developed beyond where S6 left off, Robin's role better determined, Spike's healing more advanced, and then we'd get more time to properly explore the potentials, bring back Faith, give Willow a new gf, etc, without it feeling forced.
SMG quit mid season ish and I know Hannigan atleast was super shocked so that’s probably why. I also know Whedon wanted a two hour finale for chosen but they wouldn’t give him one
Wow, thank you for this. I really like Season 7 but your critique here is spot on, this is one of those videos I come away from feeling like I've learnt more about storytelling and character development and good writing, thank you for your work! The only thing I would say, and this is a nitpick just because I really appreciated your perspective, I would LOVE your insight into the use of Spike in Season 7 in particular, I know you touched on it a bit when talking about Robin Wood, but I would be so interested to see what you thought about that. Outside of that though I greatly anticipate future Anya/Selfless content, she's such an incredible and underserved character!
absolutely. i very intentionally withheld on that, because i have so much to say it would derail the video. i might, someday, admittedly with a bit of hesitancy to ruffle too many feathers. tldr, i think spike in s7 is an especially messy narrative to untangle. lots of mixed messages, no doubt the result of what we now know was a writers room at war with itself
@@5x5Takes Even based on this comment, I'm sure if you did ever decide to do a video, it would be very nuanced and thoughtful :) but I definitely understand the hesitancy too, especially given the context of the season as you pointed out - either way I just wanted to say this was a fantastic video and I really appreciate you sharing your perspective, I feel like I learned a lot and can now vocalise the aspects of Season 7 I didn't enjoy as much as the parts I did!
@@5x5Takes Seconding the desire for a Spike video. He is one of my favourite characters, and yet I also feel he's one of the most corrupting elements of this season. I can't help but feel like he is the reason for the distance between the main Scoobies - not least because the show keeps saying through Buffy how Spike is there for her while the Scoobies are apparently not. It tears down the Buffy/Giles relationship specifically so that Buffy can side with Spike. They include moments of Buffy caring for an injured Spike that are meant to indicate her feelings for him, but they always frame it with her ignoring someone else's injuries (Xander in First Date, Dawn in LMPTM). It makes me resent him, and don't want to resent him. And yet, even though the show arguably centres Spike, it does no justice to him. He is saddled with the narrative dead end that is the trigger plot, hangs around in the background for a while, and then dies. It is supposed to be the season he grows into being a "champion", but where is the growth? He actually regresses in some way - putting back on his iconic coat which was something he stripped from the corpse of a woman he murdered. His character focus episode has him refute any responsibility for this. We don't actually get a decent exploration of Spike post-soul between Beneath You and Angel S5. And that's just so frustrating.
I agree with you about season 7. It missed the mark for me in so many ways. There are things to like, but overall I was very disappointed. You did a great job analyzing the problematic aspects of the season. You brought up great points I hadn’t thought about. Subscribed.
Thank you for this. Definitely vibing with you on all these things. I nearly choked remembering that Spike’s attitude to Wood’s mum was, “she wanted it”… and Buffy kinda signs off. With Whedon, I often think misogyny seems to be his favourite colour to paint with 🤔
Judging by the narrative of the Buffyverse + his behaviour behind the scenes he obviously has a problem with pregnancy and motherhood. The only women he seems to be interested in are young, pretty, petite white girls. Feminist my a**!
Initially Whedon wanted to have no parents in the show at all, so Joyce is a bit of an outlier. I feel that in the first 3 seasons she is mostly used as a plot device rather than as an independent character, which often makes her look like a terrible mother and person. She is great in season 5, but I feel they did that mostly to make her death feel more impactful. She is pretty, white and thin though, just not superyoung. If you look at how pregnancy is portrayed on Angel you get a much clearer picture of what I mean. Pregnant women are damsels in distress and motherhood is irrelevant. Darla kills herself to save Connor, Cordelia falls into a coma and then dies after giving birth to Jasmine. (Cordelia's character was first destroyed and then killed when Charisma Carpenter got pregnant just because Whedon was angry about it.) Cordelia already had to be saved several times by Angel & co. from demonic pregnancies before season 4.smh All the important female characters in the Buffyverse (save Joyce) are exactly as I described them in my previous comment. Whedon didn't even want to hire Amber Benson to play Tara because he thought she was 'fat'. There's an interview somewhere where he creepily elaborates on this. Clearly the guy doesn't own a mirror. And don't even get me started on the portrayal of POC in the Buffyverse.🤦♀️
Season 7 was arguably the first season of Buffy I saw in its entirety (I can't say for sure because I would always catch the show during reruns), so I have a weird relationship with it in that it's the season that made me fall in love with the show, but now looking back on it with the full context of the rest, I 100% understand why this season is regarded so lowly. I think it helps that the beginning and end of the season are so strong, it more or less makes me forget about the meandering in the middle.
Bravo, just bravo! At some points, you spoke my heart, at others you changed my mind. I'm only just finding accounts like yours and am quite grateful for your analysis.
One of the missed opportunities to me is how they over look the Wood/Slayer Mom vs Buffy/Dawn parallels. Buffy has feared what her being a Slayer could do to Dawn, and this would be a good way to re-explore that dynamic with a living example of what "Slayer Neglect in service of The Cause" could do to a person.
Excellent video. At the time, we were all so wrecked by S6 that 7 kinda got a pass for not breaking us on the wheel of depression again. I still love it, irrationally. Not as much as 6 and the back half of 2, all of 3,5. It's on a par with 4, both are unbalanced but feature some fantastic episodes
I didn't enjoy Season 7 either. I seem to recall there was a desire to make this last season a little 'darker', when making things darker was all the rage. This seemed crazy, as one of the things that set Buffy apart from all the other occultish shows out there was that it wasn't dark - which actually made the darker moments more poignant when they came. In truth, I kind of felt that the show had a natural ending after Season 5, and it carried on with no real need to. Season 6 was reasonable, but there didn't really seem any point to it. Season 7 just felt like they wanted to end it, but just took 22 episodes to do it, and they were just throwing ideas at it as an exercise. It also didn't help that in the UK it got shown on a different channel, so from being 45 minutes and no adverts, it went to an hour with 15 minutes of ads spread over long ad breaks - some of which weren't even put in the right place for the adverts.
I love everything you said and agree 100%. This is my favorite show of all time and I remember when season seven started I thought it started so great and then eventually went downhill for the very same reason as you pointed out such a good review.
I'm not sure if I ever properly watched this season, just random episodes I happened to catch on TV (I think season 5 is when my viewership peaked, just by luck), so I don't have the best reference point for the points in this video, though I appreciate the thought and effort in here. Maybe I'll revisit the season and this video after.
The main issue is season 5, they ended the story of the hero, season 6 they allowed them to be human and grown, in season seven they work like "let's just rush the show"
So much screen time was wasted on the potential slayers hanging around for most of the season. They could've come in for the last 6 episodes, at most, and still make a meaningful finale. Season 7 didn't need new recurring characters (w/ the exception of Principal Wood being the son of a slayer), there was more than enough to cover with the main four + Anya, Spike, and Faith. And there was absolutely no reason for Andrew to be in season 7 instead of Jonathan
Eh, I liked Andrew being the guy at the end instead of Warren or Jonathan. I felt it fit with the theme of "there is no such thing as a nobody" or its darker side "the worst of men must live and the best of men must die". Out of the Trio Warren was the major evil guy whose redemption might have been compelling, and Jonathan was the morally complex guy who we sensed could become a hero, and Andrew was the invisible, nobody comic relief. And I think it's fitting that he becomes a main character in that way - kind of a statement that the circumstances make the man more than the other way around. The world isn't always a narratively straightforward place where heroes and villains get to complete their arc, there is a randomness that makes it that sometimes the would-be heroes or villains randomly die and an unimpressive specimen is in a situation to be villainous or heroic instead, and they can *become* a legit narrative hero or villain from that point on depending on their decisions and how things play out.
The end of season 6 was one of the hypest things I ever saw, and i was so excited to see how willow would relate to her friends again after what happened. I expected lots of recovery and deep conversations but then... Willow goes back to Sunnydale and her friends can't see or hear her. Ok, that was a dud episode, maybe now she's back - no its basically never mentioned. My disappointment with this season is huge, i think the last straw was Xander lising an eye and buffy seeming to not even care when willow is with him in hospital. Just.... what If it's been cancelled after season 6 I'd be sad, but at least the potential story would still be there
WHY do they write willow offering bonding time and comforting xander and his MISSING EYE and write in buffy icily leaving? and then cutesy banter in chosen? either create tension and address it, or earn that connection. you don’t get both!
@@5x5Takes I just imagine what would have happened if Xander had lost an eye in any of the previous seasons... dealing with it would take at least a full episode, and maybe an arc for him accepting it, with support from his friends. This season he does and..... not much
Great analysis on Season 7 of Buffy. I always liked the season, but I didn’t love it, and you were able to put into words why I didn’t love it. There were some great individual episodes, but the season never messes. They made a mistake of having too many Potentials, they never developed anyone except Kennedy, and they only developed her because she would be Willow’s new girlfriend. There was so much “potential” wasted with all the characters. The worse waste was with Faith. Everything you said about how Faith was wasted was dead on. I wonder if the creatives on the show had just run out of gas and had nothing new or interesting to say about these characters any longer and just hoped that producing shocking scenes would shock us into not noticing. Like you I loved Buffy, it’s still one of my favorite shows, and on the positive side, it didn’t end like Game of Thornes.
Something that sort of bothers me is that as much as nobody else can understand buffy as the slayer, buffy can't understand anyone else either. She doesn't know what it's like to be a watcher, she has no clue how addictive magic is for willow, and xander says himself that she'll never know what it's like to be just outside of the spotlight like he is. Buffy is incredibly empathetic and I love her for it, but I kind of wish somebody had gotten to say to her face that she's not the only person with a role no one else can fill. If willow and buffy had gotten that cathartic conversation you talked about I think that should have been a part of it
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. But I actually like that Spike still feels no guilt about killing the Slayers. He feels the pain for the others he killed. But to him the Slayers were warriors he killed in battle (albeit after hunting them down).
I actually came around to like Season 7 more on the rewatch. In the initial viewing, the first episodes were intense - they really managed to raise the stakes and I honestly thought Giles had died and The First was impersonating him. It was expertly done. Then, things start to unravel. The lowest point for me I think was when they voted Buffy out of her own home, as if this was some stupid reality show or something. Baffling choice. I also didn't like how they built it up so much that anyone could die, especially Andrew, and then almost no one important dies (and neither does Andrew). They made that super vampire so powerful and scary when it was just the one but then when it was thousands of them, suddenly anyone could fend them off, even non-powered people. Felt too easy. And I hate how in the midst of it all they just discarded Anya. Barely even made a dent. You kinda overlooked Dawn in this season but I guess that's appropriate as so did the show. They made a big fuss about a conflict between Buffy and Dawn and how she was going to choose to save the world over Dawn's life and then it just... didn't happen? Dawn was hardly my favourite character but she still reserved better.
I didn't like that they took Anya out while Andrew made it. I actually did enjoy Andrew in 7 because of his awkward nerdy humor. But ya, them booting Buffy out of the house infuriated me esp. Dawn being the one to tell her leave! If I were Buffy I'd have reminded her what I did for her up on that tower to spare her life & that it's technically not even her house since she's not "real" lol.
@@avarysse5782 The whole series felt disjointed, but kicking Buffy out of her own home was bizarre and seemed more like an artificial move to force the plot along, with the main players all acting out of character. I watched the first six series when they first came out, but that episode made me lose interest in S7, and I only caught up with it years later.
@@dexine4723 Ya, I forget where I originally left off in the series when it was playing - but I didn't like the dark magic going on either. S7 is definitely not a favorite for me! Alot of Buffy fans accuse us of not liking a matured Buffy but that's got nothing to do with it. S7 was all over the place & I didn't like the Potentials either. I liked some things from the season but I'm not running out to buy the s7 DVD's for those parts
This season is horrible... the potentials are terrible actors there to fill screen time because the main characters made too much money, the plot makes no sense, and the finale... lets just kill Anya too. Why? So Joss can traumatize more of his audience like he gets off doing.
Great video. I think the issue with Buffy the vampire slayer, is that from the beginning, it claims to have like a "moral." There is a point to these stories we are told, a metaphor, a lesson. And many episodes from season 2-6 DO seem to have some some sort of metaphorical lesson to be learned. But then we get to season 7 and it's like... wait, what are supposed to learn from this? One small example: Willow murdered people, along with Andrew and bunch of other people but ...when they cry we're supposed feel they're ok now? This is the lesson you are teaching? It's too late to claim these aren't morality tales, they have been presented that way the whole time. But by season 7, the lessons don't make sense anymore.
I love it. Sure, she's kinda walking through part sometimes, but it's fine. The way they wrap everything up was awesome, really. Sure is a lot better than the Magic = Drugs arc or the monster of the week as seen in Seasons 1 & 2 mostly. 6 is my favorite. Even with what I see as a fail regarding the Anya/Xander wedding choice. That never should have happened.
I felt the same way about season six I wanted to love it but I didn’t after once more with feeling and tabula rasa but season seven ended at the same time that I graduated from high school so that’s why it holds a special place in my heart.
The great thing about season 7 is that they didn't screw anything up, they just left too much meat on the bone. They just ran out of time, which left us all wanting more. I feel like that's the main takeaway from this analysis video and I agree with that part of it.
Thank you so much for making this video. The IKEA analogy is spot on - there are so many interesting ideas and rich themes laid out on the floor, and then they're just... there. Here they are. Look at them. Ok now let's put them away. Nothing is done to showcase or link any of them. There's also the general problem of having just Too Many characters. There's nothing individually wrong with Robin, or Andrew, or Kennedy, or the Potentials, but at a certain point you just reach capacity in a cast. This season doesn't seem to realise that it has finite time, and every character they bring in means less time to develop everyone else. They all suffer for it. As you say, there's nothing inherently wrong with a plot-based final season, but the plot is just... not very good? Most of the First's plans are just vagueries that never seem to coalesce into anything. What was it's plan with Spike? Why was the trigger there? Why didn't it just use his victims to open the seal instead of trying to manipulate Andrew? Why did it dig up the Scythe? And the final resolution is built around, let's face it, two magical macguffins with very little buildup or establishing of their power. And that's fine - Buffy has always has fairly shoddy plotting in a lot of places, but that was never an issue when the focus was on the metaphors and characters. It becomes a problem when the characters get lost, and all we have to focus on is the remaining plot. Anyway. Thanks for making this. I too mourn the S7 that we almost got, because it looks like that season would've been so good, and this... wasn't quite.
The bookend seasons are easily the weakest of the show. Season one can be forgiven. It’s a starter season. Season 7 is more difficult to let off the hook. As clumsy and overwrought as season 6 could be, you understood its purpose and aim. I’m often confused by what many season 7 episodes are even trying to say. Many episodes seem completely lost thematically and character wise. The characterization in season 7 is so hollow and so cheap. Buffy in particular just becomes a bore. And yes, there is a severe lack of fun and wit. I see there are suddenly a lot of season 7 defenders these last few years. And it’s not a terrible closer to show. It doesn’t really damage the show. But it is a disappointing one, especially from a character and character relationship standpoint.
Just stumbled across this video and unfortunately it seems to be consistent with other of the creators shows that in the season the show is cancelled they rush to cram as much in as they can and we don't get the slow burn build that we'd normally get in other seasons. Great video. This season did have so much potential, pun intended... But but enough time to properly execute all of the ideas.
Buffy last season was ruined by the writers listening too much to the criticism they got in season 6. They brushed aside everything they possibly could remaining from season 6 and shoved Willow with a new forced love interest, instead of dealing with it, all to appease a vocal minority (who mostly changed their minds as they grew older) and some vocal pissed off lesbians. While I like the plot's idea it was done poorly, with how the season started they had no time to flesh it out. They either needed to commit completely to a serialized season or have all the potentials as background cannon fodder. The way they handled it they didn't have enough time for our main characters or to develop the potentials enough. It also didn't help that aside from Amanda and Vi, they were all annoying (except for Chao-Ahn, but she was a caricature, not a character).
@@kahp1072That’s my biggest disappointment, so much time was wasted on meaningless scenes that could have been more focused on them, Ida been happy if the whole season revolved around them, getting his soul back was a huge deal and there just wasn’t enough focus on that, and instead we get Buffy dating Robin and kissing Angel I’ll never forgive Whedon for giving us a final Buffy and Angel kiss over a final Buffy and Spike kiss when he has his soul back, the episode when the girls all fall in love with AJ cause his magical jacket was a complete waste it brought nothing to the story, that could have been replaced with a flashback episode of Spike after he completed the trials and was overcome by guilt and how he ended up in the school basement and maybe a scene of him watching Buffy from afar before she knew he was back, and the potentials I can’t stand so boring and annoying.
Ohhhh this title already makes me sad. But I appreciate it just as much as I appreciated your defense of season six. I love the last two seasons of Buffy simply for giving us more Buffy, even if they are clunky in their execution and provide untrue portrayals of the characters we came to know and love. Excited for the breakdown regardless!
Hate Kennedy. If they wanted to give Willow a new love interest.. go for Faith. Probably wouldn't have been as good as the fic I read where that happened.
@@mariposa9506 Oh. You must not know about the original idea. There’s also a thing called bisexuality. The original idea was for Faith and Willow to get together but Faith’s actress was busy and couldn’t come film right away.
The thing about Empty Places is that… what were they planning to do without their strongest player? Buffy, right or wrong, has several apocalypses under her belt and you’re sidelining her. It’s not even betrayal as much as it is silly. One active slayer and a bunch of regular teenagers.
You know not long ago I got myself into the vast world of comics, and I recently found out that there is a huge comic series around buffy published by dark horse comics like so many volumes
Other than the episodes with Caleb, the entire season 7 pretty much sucked ass. I mean honestly, just to address the Tara situation alone is a conflict in itself. For instance, chronologically speaking, Tara had only been dead a couple of months at most, not even a full 12 month period. Yet still, in the final episode, Willow's getting her drool on with Kennedy, a character that most of us despised to say the least. Then of course, there was Anya, one of the shows most beloved characters. Simply wiped out in a blink by the sword slash of some random member of the blind brigade. No goodbyes, no speeches, and no actual closure. Finally, there's the so called 'big bad' itself in the form of the First. A creature, who through the amazing power of talking someone to death, posed the last and 'greatest' threat. Really? Really guys? So yeah, season 7 definitely left more to be desired. Umm hmm.
I preferred it to season 6, but 7 definitely had peaks and troughs. Its highs were really good but its bad moments were some of its worst. When they actually start making fun of themselves for constant rallying speeches you know even they realised it.
I agree with this, more than anything I felt like this season just felt rushed. I think this is partly because Joss didn't really want it to be the last season, and was trying to wrap up character developmentts that he thought he has longer to deal with. You can feel a significant difference in the final season of Angel which is both plot driven and character driven and manages (in my opinion) to really successfully wrap up the characters well. I think the chasm that had been built in season 6 were meant to take longer to heal and they rushed this healing and during season 7. I will say I do think there's good character work, I love the moments of Spike and Buffy in this season, those moments are the ones that seem the most fleshed out and where Buffy seems most like herself and to truly have learnt from season 6. That being said I entirely agree that her relationship with the scoobies felt empty and lackluster. They had all had so much brought to the surface in S6 and none of it really got it's time in the light. But as I said I think it's because they didn't have the time. They needed the plot to progress to the finale.
This is unfortunately how I feel too. I'm sure I'm extra hard on S7, because it's the last one and I like so many of its ideas. However, 7 both tries too many new things (the underdeveloped potentials) and rushes so fast toward a conclusion that it skips build up and "cops out of fallout." You make such a great point that the season about shared power is the one where Buffy's relationships are weakest. The Scoobies have acted out the message of Chosen all series, but are siloed in the finale itself. I wish those relationships had driven the finale, like they do in Primeval and Grave. I also so wish Buffy's leadership had evolved. I see her behaviour toward the potentials as a comment on cyclical abuse: Buffy's harsh and unkind because she can't bear to watch more girls go through what she did and hates herself for becoming like the Council. I find this fascinating and wish the season had done more with it before trying to sell a triumphant ending. Buffy's failure to connect makes sense, but it backtracks on the momentum of S6 and early S7. We needed something that would segue Buffy's struggle in Empty Places back to the wisdom she showed in Lessons or Help.
An excellent unpacking of the greatest overt issues I sincerely wondered why so many obvious issues were not explored… I guess the writers had grown fatigued with the concept in only a few seasons and that became apparent when they began making episodes that were caricatures of the characters and the program It’s like they made it a cartoon long before they made it animated instead Of developing it into an actual adult drama that it could’ve been by developing the characters in a different way
My biggest gripe with season 7 (other than the main cast being underutilized) is how everyone is still sad and reeling after the soap-opera drama of season 6... but there is no actual drama going on anymore (in their personal lives, anyway). They're all depressed and isolated, but all the juicy, over-the-top stuff that caused it (which was great to watch) has already happened. Nobody's getting left at the altar or screwing a house down or shooting up magicks in season 7, but they're still depressed from it all. It's boring. So, while you raise some really valid points, if the characters had spent all of season 7 talking their issues out, it would have been even more boring. I think you may overestimate how much friends in their twenties actually share with one another. Webster makes a good point in his appearance: everyone is alone. Season 7 really drives that home.
Hi! Completely unrelated to the content of your video, but I wanted to thank you for recommending POI. I got to your channel originally because I'm a Buffy fan and watched your video of why you should watch POI. You sold it to me and started watching it and loved it very very much. And as I was watching, I thought that someone really should do what Passion of the Nerd did for Buffy. I even dreamed a bit about doing it myself. So thank you very much for your breakdowns and analysis, they are all wonderful! And also I'm watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend so... are we friends now? Haha.
Lots of good insights here. Personally I can't stand Andrew, the Potentials don't work, and all the non-Spike Scoobies feel under-served. And thus we get a bang average season of Buffy to go out on.
I think that an essential element of any relationship is trust, and I think that season 6 BROKE so much of Buffy's trust in Willow (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Scoobies), and that's the core reason why she can't seem to bridge that personality gap/clash in season 7. I agree that it feels like a missed opportunity that they never really get their heart to heart, but... I also think it was narratively deserved that they didn't. There may also be a case for Buffy intentionally trying to keep from overwhelming Willow, since her dependence on Willow's magic had an (indirect) hand in Willow's spiral of control-seeking behavior leading up to the events of S6. And honestly, how much leadership authority and power would I want to hand over to the girl who ripped me out of heaven less than two years before? Honestly, I think Buffy's standoffishness and her hardline tactics as "General Buffy" make a ton of sense. She can't afford to be emotional anymore - look what happened all through Season 6. She HAS to create distance, or she'll fold again... And the disconnects between her and the rest of the Scoobies are all cousins to the main trust issues she has with Willow. Pair that with the no-breathing-room-ness of the First Evil trying to rise, the apocalypse to end all apocalypses zooming down the pipeline: it makes sense to me that the characters, in and of themselves, never START those conversations, because they feel they won't have time to really unpack and finish those conversations. It's something to save for later, for IF they survive. And I, in my own headspace, choose to believe that, sometime down the line, they do. I don't know if they'll ever get back to the fully-connectedness and "parts of a whole" they codified in S4, but I think they do find some common ground again to grow new relationships from. Yes, even Willow and Buffy...
Really great video -love to see your in depths for each episode CWDP made me hope that The First would play more mind games. I know some actors weren’t available but there were so many options spike as the first terrorizing Buffy, Buffy as the first blaming Giles, Angel as the first mocking Xander (fun fact Blue in the episode was co written by Whedon) There’s lazy stuff this season that just bugs me - weird costumes, all the blood looks like food colouring, lines that don’t fit the characters. It just doesn’t feel like Buffy
Complex season with a supernatural take of the phrase "you are your own enemy", The first is a metaphor of the inner voice that judge you, but with the supernatural twist that if the army of vamps killed enough potentials, and just left Buffy and Faith for the last, manage to end the slayer line, and in that way this being will go Exorcist style on any human similar of what happen to Caleb. This is a season about changes, and about you can´t be the same in life, you might be at the same place, but you need to let go the past, and move forward. The speeches of Buffy explained the nature of the enemy, this is a supernatural enemy that from beneth it devours, the speeches of Buffy worked as a shut down element of those voices, as a way to create an strong mindset for the potentials. These speeches reminds me the speeches of Rick Grimes on TWD, but for some reason Buffy was more effective than Rick. One very important speech is when she said to Willow and Spike that stop to hold back, and be sorry about, because she knew this weakness will be a door for The First. Buffy understand The first better than anyone. I agree that should be Jonathan and not Andrew, we saw more of Jonathan, that point is really true. Willow was healing but had an step back after CWDP, in that episode The first created a mental scar on her. In some way Willow doesn't want to use magic, because she was afraid to lose control once again. Woods was a some kind of a Blade character homage, but this time he wasn't a vampire, he was a principal, and yeah he has a big problem with Spike. I don't think the season is out of balance, more like the nature of The First, the phrase said "divide and conquer",This force managed to turn apart the scoobies. Because manipulation will be easier on isolation. So yeah very complex season, that is a metaphor of depression, I guess, or fear to grow up. Because this is a season with a lot of responsibilities.
Maybe they picked Andrew, because it's more unexpected? I just don't know, as Jonathan had consistently shown signs of being able to redeem himself and even trying to help Buffy. One example being when in S6 Jonathan "attacked" Buffy in order to tell her about breaking Warren's "balls" in order to break a spell. Jonathan makes the most sense. I guess another reason might be them wanting to give Danny the chance to play a darker character by having Jonathan dead so he can be The First? Other than those two reasons I always wondered why Andrew as well.
My thought was that they already heavily used Jonathan & honestly he was an Ok character but .. boring imo. Andrew was spicey and I thought him surviving gave more comedy material that I enjoyed.
Forgive me if I’m misremembering- but did you ever release a video on the Darla/Angel relationship? If so that video was excellent and I wish I could see it again!
I don't know what happened behind the scenes but I think that the writers bit off more than they can chew or I don't know maybe they didn't want to make anymore seasons or had budget issues it does feel like they were just trying to wrap everything up quickly also I hate that Anya had to die that really sucked
![I wish I could (and I don't) love Wes [Angel the Series]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QesOzxN3Vss/mqdefault.jpg)
I thought the white hair thing was because of the women who watched the slayer...the one caleb killed. I think you misinterpretated and forgot a lot of supporting details. Willow was turning into warren....like you saying buffy was a shadow....this has been something shes always felt that shes alone. Also season 6 was about people making big mistakes in life and how we deal...buffy sleeping with spike. Dawns stealing. Spikes attempted r@pe. Willow going evil. Zander breaking anyas heart. Anya becoming a demon again. Angel is just more self loathing because he intentionally inflicted pain and torture...spike killed a slayer. I disagree with your anylasis. You miss so many key details and make up plots that were never even there.
thank you for watching!!
You brought up season 6, which this video addressed, but you have nothing to add about this video's breakdown of season 7. What are those "many key details"? What plots did 5x5 Takes make up? If I may, I think you're misusing your add medication and rambling about nothing
@@bernardsoul5186 don't make jokes about add medication dude :/ that's ableist af
@@peachy_lili I'm on Strattera myself for my adhd 😂
Don't make assumptions
@@5x5TakesThe most polite and delicate “get fucked” I’ve heard you say. 🤣
Something I found really interesting is that season seven explicitly states that Buffy's power comes from a demon within her, which creates interesting parallels with Willow, Faith, Anya, and Spike, and then the show just never explores this
yup.
Well because the whole Series has been exploring it.
@@5x5Takes You didn't even talk about spike in this vidoe ? He had a major role in this session and the fact he dies in the end ( Yes he comes back in Angel session 5) but he does die
please go into more detail about spike :(
@@michaelhawkins7389 the first half of the season Spike had a useless and boring storyline and his plot armor was thicker than ever. Here you go.
I was always a bit bothered by how Tara's death was just glossed over by the rest of the Scoobies. Like you mentioned, she was like a sister figure to Dawn, and even Buffy seemed to be close enough to confide in her in Season 6. I know that there was a time skip, but I was always confused how there was such a lack of reaction to it (same with Anya's death).
The time skip was the same one they do every year. 2 months isn't really a skip of any serious magnitude, since some episodes are a month apart chronlogically.
I think it’s weird Spike never found out Buffy was shot while getting his soul? Like that was kinda a big deal
Not to mention Cordelia's death. With Fred, it definitely weighed on the rest of season 5, but more so for the sake of Wesley's arc.
At this point, there's a clear-enough pattern to indicate how a certain showrunner REALLY feels about beloved female characters who are not physically threatening (an inherently masculine trait)
@@bernardsoul5186 I know!! Clearly they knew how to write/portray grief well, The Body is a testament to that, but it's like for the other characters they just CHOSE not to. I wish the other characters were treated with the same amount of care for an actual meaningful send-off. They were done so dirty.
@@weronikawiniarska4573 Or even keep them alive, I mean, going back to Miss Calendar, just about every major character that dies is female.
Season 7 introduces 5,000 characters that I don't care about...and, all but ignores the characters I have loved for years.
Well said. 😢
It's the characters for me. Giles isn't Giles. Willow is scared to be Willow. Xander isn't funny. Buffy is kinda mean (even though I think she needed to be). But regardless of the reasoning, none of the characters were being the versions of the characters that made us love them.
The story is fine. The arc is fine. But making our favs into versions of them we might not even want to root for, and using the rest of the time to focus on a bunch of characters we didn't know til halfway through the season, was just a bad choice.
That's part of my problem with the season
@@t.s3994 but the show is about growing up the vampires and demons are metaphors just like the chosen slayers the chosen slayers represent that Buffy is not the only one to grow up and that’s what the show was showing us the good and bad of growing up willow not willow cause she was a addicted her lost her girlfriend, Buffy not Buffy cause she died lost her mom and the love of her life change in character happens in real life hence the change in character good and bad
Spike isnt even spike, and i love spike, but spike was almost th most intresting when he showed he cared, while playing tough, and sensitiv and insightful. While excusing when he shows that. Also he should be dawns big brother, and wood, i imagine if you cut the uuuh spike crazy or evil time, have wood confront him fast, for killing his mother only and his past, and them form a reationship where spike talks his emotional stuff out, and wood to hold him acountable. They could become bros even, and have fun. And give wood more sides also opening up,...
who too was criminally underued and not given a season arc of her coming into herself. one episode wasnt enough.
Through i realy like she stood up to buffy. They were right.
Becaue yeah bufy was always flawed but never that extreme. I get she is mean and scared but that is never satisfactiory expored either, she has one talk with faith, and its not treated as really important or her opening up, to her friends. Which could be an amazing touchy
And why did she split so early and mess up, when her messing up that big early, wopuld have given her a linger character arc of struggling of her role.
Ok its whedon, i think, but she shousnr be a girlboss framed, she should be very insecure, but les when she gets to devide reponsibility later. And her bouncing back with that, to overdo herself and break and kill potentials. But she firted with that, was called out, back and fourth.
Or you frame it from not buffys perspective but ho othrs interact with her, distanced , but she i shown ipactful and subtile before hoe alone she is.
They just grew up. It was a problem for me too when I was younger. Now I've rewatched the whole show and I've found all changes just natural.
Well said, OP
It really is funny and bizarre how magic is one of the most prominent allegories of the show and the most confused. Somehow it switches from representing female empowerment and Lesbian love to paralleling drug addiction and other self-harming coping mechanisms, to just your run of the mill power vs self control and then back to female empowerment right at the end.
"if you could be ... you know, plain old Willow or super Willow, who would you be? I mean Buffy, who was I? Just some girl. Tara didn't even know that girl."
6x10, Wrecked
Magic has always been presented as power/substance abuse. Why do people forget Giles's past? He used magic as a teen to get high. He always warned Willow about it in seasons 2 and 3, both Oz and Tara were afraid of how reliant she is on magic. It was only used as a lesbian subtext during season 4.
If you watch Passion of the Nerd, he points out that Willow turns to magic when she shouldn't pretty early on. As early as season 3, trying to magic away her lusting for Zander.
Yeah magic has always been shown as something dangerous and very much drug like. Even in the early seasons they show this with repressions to both Xander and willow using magic in ways they shouldn’t. Willow had three separate seasons where she made a decision to use magic with dire consequences.
@@5x5Takes Yep, it’s a hard literary parallel to draw attention to in our hierarchical hyperindividualist world, but Willow especially needed to hear Xander’s speech to Dawn in Potential, what with thoughts like that.
Heck, even Slave Knight Gael, a minor character in a DLC (Dark Souls III) that not everyone might have played is a character study for that sense of selflessness.
And perhaps due to its proximity to the present, is a more apparent lesson that the greater awareness found in Xander, Cloud in Final Fantasy VII, or even Frodo and the Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings?
Honestly they should have just replaced all of Andrew’s cumulative screen time with the Scoobies having group therapy.
That would be boring (therapy always is) but it would be entertaining to have them actually have more talking scenes and not replace them with speechifying scenes.
I don’t hate S7 as much as a lot of the fandom does, but… you definitely raised valid points. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it.
S7 is like a rollercoaster of good & bad for me. It's my least favorite season. I still love S1-5.
This is a fantastic essay and hits on all the things this season fails to achieve. I'll add:
1. As much as it focuses on plot, the plot itself doesn't really make sense and is ultimately resolved by a series of MacGuffins, the most important of which was given by the Big Bad from the spin-off show!
2. As much as I love Spike, the season spends way too much time on him. They knew that it would take a lot of Buffy/Spike screen time to build that romance after how Season 6 ended. And as a result of that, Buffy's only developed relationship this season is with Spike, rather than her friends or Giles. And what's more, the show doesn't even fully want to fully let them discuss what Spike did to her. Rather, they just keep making Spike a helpless victim so that Buffy feels compelled to save him, even though there's really no justified reason why she should feel this way.
3. Xander/Dawn completely fade into the background and have almost nothing to do.
4. Buffy acting like a cold, hardened general is upsetting to watch. Actually more upsetting than seeing her depressed in Season 6. At least then she was trying to be hopeful and had friends to help her.
While you are right about this season building up Buffy and Spike relationship, that never payed off in my opinion. Buffy eventually fell in love with him but all that build up end in nothing. They kinda act like they are together but we never get to see it. I will always be conflicted about how they handle their relationship in season 7, while a like all the build up, I don't think gave a satisfying conclusion.
100%. I always experience mixed feelings about Spuffy in S7 cause while part of me loves the devotion and trust they gain in each other, and that that development does make sense from their antagonistic yet understanding connection in the previous seasons, they really do throw Buffy's character under the bus to do it. I ship Spuffy but I only want Buffy to date Spike if SHE really wants to, and the show doesn't show many compelling reasons for this. I love Spike too, but we see him brood more about what he's done than actually try to take accountability. Arguably, the way he helps Buffy isn't that different from what he'd be doing in S5 anyway. It's hard to see his actual commitment to the 'good fight' as he calls it.
I love General Buffy.
You explained exactly why I dislike this season ! I've rewatched the show lately after 15 years, season 7 is deffo my least fav season. The scoobies are acting out of character and the show became the Spike show but without the spike we actually enjoyed
One of the big issues is that Willow's plot line happened mostly between seasons six and seven, not during. Giles took her to England and she was taught how to safely use magic by the coven there. It was all done off screen and told to the audience in about a thirty second conversation between Willow and Giles. Are there not enough witches in America or something?
There was talk about a British spinoff called Ripper, based on Giles' character. One rumour suggested Willow's training would be featured in this show. Later, other storylines were tossed around but in the end the various parties couldn't come together and the show never happened.
I mean, I can understand Giles taking her to England, where he has contacts. But it still should have been On-Screen.
@@tsuritsa3105 I wouldn't leave Willow in Sunnydale, where a moment distraction/sorrow can lead to her easily finding a bunch of bad mojo again.
You take Addicts to rehab. You don't let them sit around at home and tell you they will "definitely change"
@@kyleellis1825 I...said taking her to England made sense....
@@tsuritsa3105 I was agreeing with you. Sorry that wasn't clearer.
Because yes, it should have been onscreen. We should have had Willow and Giles getting 1/3rd of of the the few episodes showing her growth. Problem is, we very rarely see any of this onscreen.
We're told people are going to get training and then all of a sudden they show up with new skills/abilities.
I still overall like this season for it's standout good moments, (I love so much of the dialogue and speeches) but I think the biggest weakness is the inconsistent threat the First Evil poses. The main plot of the show is just the First having vague plans surrounding a secondary villain until that conflict is resolved. It starts out with mind controlled Spike, but then he gets better. Then it's the Ubervamp, but it dies. Then we get Caleb, who is utterly terrifying, but he's only around for a couple episodes and then dies. The First is always banking on another character to further its vague campaign of general evilness.
Insane Spike, the Turok-han, and Caleb are all interesting and menacing in their own way, but they always get beaten before they can really have a significant impact. Which is doubly weird because The First on its own I think is a really solid villain. It relies entirley on emotional manipulation and is a true master at it, especially with the genuinely creepy ability to embody both a dead person's physical appearance, but also their mannerisms and personality. The best villains are the ones who can form intense connections with the protagonists, and because the first is such a multifaceted being it could do that with any character.
Yet, despite being a villain who could function quite well on its own with just large armies as its threat, the First deliberately sidelines itself for the sake of other antagonists. There's no problem with having secondary villains, but there's certainly a problem having three in quick succession. It just exacerbates all the issues with meandering plot the season already had.
The biggest problem with the First is that he got two episodes to be scary - and one of them was back in S3 (Amends). The rest of the time, he's not a scary villain; he's "the Taunter" - an ineffective voice trying to goad people into doing things.
I find that's kinda the of point the First Evil. It's the first but it doesn't have a body of it own so it has to have over to do it bidding. Evil is always going to be there it's never going to go away.
@@mikelaw9317 It should have appeared as Jenny to taunt Giles, Joyce to taunt Dawn, JEsse to taunt Xander, Angel to taunt Buffy. Show up as Faith's Watcher Linda/Kakistos, to taunt her. Show up as Halfrek to mock Anya.
And that is really fully used in omne episode when it gaslights wiliow and the potentials! Like the oh, that potntial is dead and , creepy.
@@kyleellis1825 Honetly with dawn and faith buffy actually could work to doubt themselves. Life faiths compex relationship, and her sister must as hurt. uut else, yeah it should have taunted them all teperate and spook them with some tough mental trauma reminder.
Honestly you could even have anya taunt xander instead if she is , is she dead enough as human?! She could be. But yes angel haunting her.
An hafrek, yesss.
I feel a little bit like the Scooby relationships had a similar arc for season 4, season 6, and season 7. Season 7 felt a bit like they just repeated lessons the characters should have already gotten to. And I just found myself like "why does Buffy never earn their trust as a leader no matter how many times she proves herself?" And "why doesn't Buffy trust her friends no matter how many ways they prove themselves?". It felt like a forced character arc without realistic cause and effect and with everyone appearing to have this emotional distance that, I agree, wasn't earned.
Good take 👍 Thanks for this.
yeh the whole turning on buffy thing was done right back in season 3s early dead mans episode, season 4 it was part of the arc of moving from school to college and in season 6 it was built in to the themes of that season, for the 7th it was already done very well many times so was just a waste of time that could have been used elsewhere as it was done far better before
Okay this, everything about this, you not only hit all the nails on the head, you made me see nails I felt but couldn't put my finger on. I loved season 6's depth and gravity, season 7 felt like the cookie dough metaphor, unfinished. Buffy is and always will be one of my favourite shows of all time that I rewatch almost every year, but season 7 is always rough.
Yeah I can't ever rewatch season 7 but I do love season 6
I think the problem with going with Jonathan was the 'I killed my best friend' arch. It's easier to believe Andrew would do that. It's harder to believe that Johnatan would, so if they want to include the storyteller episode, and the whole videotaping everything, Andrew was the better choice.
That doesn't undo what you said about Johnathan being a deeper character, but I understand why they went with Andrew.
This is so well articulated. And a nuanced take that isn't about tearing the show down. This video demonstrates how good Buffy the show was: the final season is still enjoyable television, but it doesn't manage to be more than the sum of its parts in the way that previous seasons had been. The fact that we expected a show *could* be better than S7 shows how incredible the earlier seasons were.
I also hated how Amy placed the hex on willow in the name of justice. Amy was portrayed as reformed but in reality her actions are evil an unjust. The episode did not place consequences for Amy.
I’m a Kennedy defender so I choose to believe Kennedy dealt with her offscreen.
We are supposed to see in the ep that Amy's reformed act is an act. We aren't meant to think she's good.
Amy was portrayed as an ex-rat spurned and as someone caught up by magic from an early age.
Yes. A lot of what you’ve said here really resonates. Although the season doesn’t cathartically /satisfactorily conclude a lot of the emotional/ relationship dynamics explored in previous seasons, feels somewhat cathartic to hear you addressing these issues in this! It felt kinda empty & rushed, all the warmth & bonding they’d built between the scoobies , complex character arcs & relatable inner/outer relationship conflicts lacked meaningful closure. So much depth built over this long running series dashed over the need to create an ending & epic battle in the finale. I don’t envy writers trying to end this series but it felt lazy. Agree that Anya deserved more development than she got too.
Conversations with dead people was the episode that broke me. It was just incredibly emotional.
It would have been great if in The Killer In Me during Willow's break down she had acknowledged how not good of a gf she had been. How she felt responsible not only for her death but for the breakup long before it. In season 6 (and earlier) willow uses magic as a quick fix. In season 7, she barely uses it at all. It seems there's a middle ground that she has to find, but even by the last episode, she hasn't really found it, and part of that is because she labels all her problems as being that she killed someone, not that she abused the person she loved
It is really telling that when i finished season 6, i thought they were tearing down these relationships just to bring them up again bigger and better. Well… not only they didn't but they did empty places, where everyone acts so out of character that is infuriating, and they never talked about that! No one ever apologized! It's like it was made just so we can have Spike get his moment alone with Buffy.
By the way, i freaking love Spike but i don't like how they put him front and center and dismissed other characters just to make him look better,
And i loved your video hahah ❤️
I agree, although I will add that Spike had to apologize, just not anyone else. The weird double standard made it more frustrating.
But that’s how the real world works when u grow up and what has the creator and writers on the show said Buffy slaying is literally battling her own demons as well as everyone on the show , that’s why they may have been no resolution cause sometimes when u grow up you don’t get those u just accept and move on
@@jaidenlawrence3746 In terms of storytelling, though, you HAVE to have resolution
You said it at the start of the video, the beginning of the season felt right, the episodes were great until we got to the half of the season. The producers knew SMG was tired of playing Buffy but it wasn’t until half way the season she said she didn’t want to continue, so many plans had to get scraped in other to make the final season work as such. So I understand many of the choices they had to make. I still remember they started promoting this as the final season by episode 17/18, before that there were rumors, I guess they tried everything to convince SMG to stay.
That is false. 100%.
Half-way through season six is when SMG gave them notice that season 7 was her last. Season 7 aired advertised as the last season.
I don't hate Season 7, but I liked it significantly less than subsequent seasons. All the ingredients were there. The table was set, but it just didn't feel like a complete meal. Something was missing and I could never put my finger on it. I think you hit the nail on the head with this video. Willow and Buffy's friendship is probably the most compelling example of female friendship ever put to screen. Too often female friendships fall into two categories competitive frenemies or a sidekick who blindly stands by the protagonist no matter what without any of her own needs or interests outside of a character quirk or hobby to differentiate them. Willow and Buffy feel like two complete people who have somethings in common, but not everything. They compliment each other well, but Willow never felt like Buffy's sidekick who would follow her directions blindly. She was a fully realized person with her own thoughts opinions and struggles that were built upon over 6 seasons. She showed her willingness to resort to magic to solve emotional problems back in Lovers Walk. We saw her affirming that she was her own person with her own struggles when she and Buffy had their confrontation and resolution in Dead Man's Party. I think Willow feeling the pressure of being the big gun had started all the way back in Anne. I would have loved to see that aspect of her character explored in Season 7.
Your final conclusion is spot on, "plot focus on a character driven show". But the much bigger issue is that the plot is terrible. Just try to recall the actual plot separate from the characters. Everything is vague and unexplained, including central motivations. Major plot points are resolved with macguffins and deus ex machina plot devices out of nowhere. And everything in the second half of season 7 gets sacrificed to this messy plotline.
Plot focus to further built the lore and universe in the final season would've been actually fine. These things usually ensure a more lasting legacy and fan focus down the line. But in order to do so, the plot needs to be good. A strong antagonist with clear motivations shouldn't have been difficult for the writers, considering previous seasons. And resolving a single episode story with a cheap plot device is okay, resolving a whole show with two magical doodads out of nowhere is just too much.
I'm a year late on this (whoops) but THANK YOU for making this video. I've long had similar problems with season 7 and it was so nice to hear someone verbalise them so well. To add to your analysis, one of my biggest problems with the season is Xander. He gets some of the best character-centric episodes throughout the series, and 'Hell's Bells' put a spotlight on the fact that despite his progress, he still needed to unpack his family trauma and realise his value as a leader and provider. Instead of taking on the parental/paternal role vacated by an out-of-character Giles in a house full of teenage (*cough* underage *cough*) Potentials, he has sexual fantasies about them and his character is treated like a joke in 'First Date' (my least favourite episode in the entire series). Then his partner and former fiance of 2-3 years dies tragically and is swallowed up by the Hellmouth, and he says... "that's my girl". Just?? HUH?????
THANK YOU. This encapsulated all of my disappointments with S7. In particular, I feel like you took all of my jumbled thoughts about Willow's arc and laid them out. Her descent through magic from S2 through Tabula was about control, acceptance, and avoidance of uncomfortable emotions. Then it completely flipped and, as you said, became a generic thing in S7 and we never explored the underlying issues that had been driving her towards Wrecked and DW.
Underrated comment. Could you expand more on the avoidance-acceptance struggle that she has? It's the part of Willow's character that interests me most.
@@pendafen7405 Then you are on the right track - that part of Willow's character is core to her arc.
Willow is the classic social outcast in S1 and early S2. She is proud of her intelligence and educational accomplishments (Alyson specifically played her that way), but she is definitely not one of the cool kids. With the performance of the re-ensouling spell on Angel, she - as Giles puts it - "opens a door" to her power. She has a special strength and uses it not only to help her friends, but to "solve" uncomfortable or painful emotional situations (by making them go away, not by working through them).
There is a whole string of examples for both kinds of uses for her magic, but some of the main ones are: the de-lusting spell in Lover's Walk that she tries to do without Xander's consent; the spell with Anya in Doppelgangland when she doesn't want to feel weak and mousy anymore; her near cursing of Oz in Wild at Heart; everything in Something Blue; her first real use of dark magic against Glory (*driven by anger over what happened to Tara*); her restoration of Tara's mind in The Gift; her willingness to go really dark to resurrect Buffy; and finally the memory wipe spells that violated first Tara's mind and then everyone else's in Tabula Rasa.
This arc took years to develop and each step was understandable, even as it slowly got darker. This weak, shy girl saw the benefits of her power to both help her friends and to take shortcuts to avoid negative emotions, but she didn't really acknowledge the risk of using increasingly powerful and dark magic to get what she wanted.
The problem with the storytelling is that as soon as you get to Smashed/Wrecked, it becomes a hit-you-over-the-head opiate addiction metaphor and it loses all nuance. Her use of magic never had a physical addiction/withdrawal component before that and they didn't show her needing to use increasingly powerful magic to get her fix or something. She wasn't addicted to magic - she was addicted to the power that she obtained through magic.
This is a great review, I think I agree with everything you say. It may be simplistic, but I do feel a great deal of the faults that are described here are, at least in part, the result of the presence of the Potentials. Season 7 starts off really good, Dawn finally feels integrated into the group, the show seemed to be finding it its footing again; and then Giles knocks on the door, the brats rush in and suck all of the air out. After that, the narrative becomes unfocused and disjointed. There are too many people to focus enough of a story on; and the through line of the story is all over the place. I mean, what was the First's objective? It seemed to changed each episode. And how did the finale actually resolve it?
I've also come to the conclusion recently that it should have been Xander who died in season 6, instead of Tara. There are so many reasons why it was a mistake to kill Tara; and the one "good" reason to kill her was to send Willow over the edge; and that could have been achieved by killing Xander. They still could have had Xander come back on the cliff, as a spirit, and talk Willow down and say goodbye. _Then_ in season 7, you bring Nicky back as the First and Bob's your Uncle. It's a win-win, because you keep the core cast together through the series, Nicky could have been in Conversations with Dead People, talking to Willow in the library, instead of a random stranger Willow never met.
When I saw the video title, my first reaction was sadness, because I quite like season 7. But you are spot on in your analysis, and it just reinforces why I *like* the season but don’t *love* it (with some exceptions for a handful of individual episodes or moments). I’ve never really been able to articulate what was missing from this last season, and you’ve really put that structure together for me. Still, unlike many fans, I don’t hate it and never have (no, not even the Potentials! Though I could have done without the racism… 😒).
I love seasons 5, 6, 3 and the second half of 2. And of course tons of individual episodes, scenes and story arcs from the entirety of the series. And I’m loving your channel and perceptive analyses, especially addressing Buffy and Person of Interest. Thank you, looking forward to the next one!
Okay, now I just wish Faith would have been Willows new love interest instead of Kennedy...
Willow+Faith could definitely work. They both have a lot in common.
Kennedy is just so meh. Like both Tara and Oz were special and the relationships with Willow feel powerful, strong and defining. Oz being willows first serious relationship and Tara being the one who willow discovers who she is through and has a beyond powerful love for. Kennedy just feels a bit forced just so Willow has a love interest. I feel like after a loss of someone as important as Tara, Willow wouldn't be able to have another relationship so soon. She would need a lot longer to recover, heal and eventually move on.
That would’ve been so good!
It might have made more sense, it was 'forced' when they brought Kennedy in. It was like an insult to Tara for me.
I love season 7 but yup Willow and Faith or Fred (or Amanda who had parallels with a younger Willow) would have been so much more interesting.
I just finished a rewatch of the series, and the funny thing is that I absolutely agree with all your points about the characters and missed opportunities, and, yet, in every way I find S7 far, far more entertaining than S6 and had way more fun watching it, and can overlook the issues to simply enjoy the show. Similar to how all the character breakdowns and analyses of S6 to reveal the profundity of that season, which I all agree with, doesn't change the fact that S6 is unwatchably miserable.
I watched Buffy as it aired for the most part, and the thing is back in 2002, *no one* liked S6. It's only in retrospect that many seem to have found value. Most importantly, from what I'm to understand, the actors hated S6 and, according to SMG, she was constantly begging Joss to "fix" the show for S7 and he supposedly promised that he would. I stopped watching for a while in S6 then went back later when S7 was airing and remembering thinking, "Oh, thank god, it's actually a show again, they're dropping the 'Dawson's Creek with vampires' era of Buffy finally."
S6 made me dislike the characters that I had grown to love. Getting a little distance from the internal life of the characters to have basically an entirely plot-driven season is a huge breath of fresh air. It gave me the distance I needed to find the show entertaining again. During this last rewatch of the series, it took me months and months, almost half a year, to trudge through S6 and convince myself to watch another episode. Then I finally got to S7 and blew through it in half a week. and no matter how much one can pick apart what was done right and wrong for the characters' arcs, or what's more meaningful, what's more a payoff, etc, it doesn't change that S7 is simply more entertaining, far better paced, and offers a solid cohesive supernatural storyline with an external evil to anchor the experience, which makes up for the character betrayals for me. In some senses I'm like "to hell with character storylines anyway, S6 made me hate them all".
Also, for the serious S6 loyals here, please please don't comment with an accusation that I don't know what depression is or what a hard day is. I get that a lot when I criticize S6, and I find it very rude and shallow and ignorant. Yes, in my life, I have been made intimately familiar with addiction and emotional/sexual abuse and identity loss. That's why I like Buffy more when it's escapist, instead of getting off on its own misery and looking for wounds to dig its fingers into.
What a fantastic video! I have never felt the need to try and be friends with someone online but man! Every time I watch one of your videos I think to myself I would love to be friends with this person and have just random conversations with you.
You have a fantastic way of describing feelings and what an insightful way of seeing story telling. Well done
Great video. It is a shame that the timing of things meant Danny Strong's career was taking off just at the moment when it would have been perfect to give Jonathan that redemption arc. His success is awesome, but the timing leaveshis story feeling unfinished. I think there's a lot of real-life complications that led to the half-bakedness of the season, a lot of creative people leaving for other jobs. The more we learn about BTS issues the more I understand people jumping ship.
Yeah, makes me really think the Maggie Walsh actress just wasn't going to put up with such on proffesionalsion from Joss and left early.
It would’ve been so much more satisfying to see Jonathan get the redemption arc and join the scoobies as opposed to Andrew. Especially since he’s been around since the beginning
@@irvinmaddox4192 It would have been the correct thing to do but Jonathan was rather... boring as a character imo & they had already put him in 2 spotlight epi's already (when he was up in the school tower & his magical 007 take). Andrew was actually untapped nerdyhumor that I enjoyed. The way the group was insulting him all the time - Giles telling him to go with Spike & he puts his hand behind his head & pushes him to get up saying "off you go then" - his storyboard & food issues.. I liked the comic relief to some bad writing.
I liked Andrews acting and comic timing. He came across more as Warren's sub than his own character.
Seeing Jonathan would be a different choice to fill that narrative
This is an instant like because you said the way I feel about Season 7 precisely. Every issue I have with it you explained coherently and concisely.
It could have been so good.
And it just isn’t.
Great video. You reviewed this season with great care and love for this show. You articulated what I’ve felt about it for a long time.
(in re: "Killer in me") ...Fucking THANK YOU!!!!!!
I am dealing with a lost loved one, my wife,, and while I don't plan on having a new partner in my life, I have heard people's experience in beginning new relationships after loss. I was really impressed that I thought this episode was going some place really deep with the presence of grief in a new relationship and the solve ...a kiss!? Another fucking kiss? The same thing that brought up all these very serious feelings, with no intervening processing or working through, with no acknowledgement of the realness of these feelings and how to honor them. I went from being deeply moved to so deeply disappointed my head spun.
My favorite Buffy seasons to rewatch are 4-7, and every time I get to the end of the show I am reminded of how desperately I wish that they’d continued the series as an animated show instead of the graphic novel/comics.
Having heard about how exhausted SMG was in the role of Buffy by the end of the show, and the abuse Charisma Carpenter experienced at the hands/under the leadership of Joss Whedon in both BTVS + ATS, I’m glad that the show(s) ended when they did, because I would hate to watch 10 seasons of extra Buffy/Angel if that was the cost.
I’m a big fan of the comics (and the original movie😅) as well, but I still yearn for more BTVS-verse show, because that’s the format I think it works best in, narratively, character-wise, etc.
not that it would be a good idea but could you imagine a TV adaptation of the comics? centaur Dawn would break people's brains lmao
Oh noooo I need more Buffy videos from you! I’ve watched them all 😭
down. what you interested in hearing about?
I absolutely agree with your criticism here...while I was actually on board with the themes of isolation and burden of leadership that were set up with Buffy(bec they are questions asked since the very beginning), I was left very unsatisfied by the end cause I felt very little actual resolution was achieved, I wasnt expecting the Scoobies or Buffy herself to go back to their season 5 selves but I was definitely expecting them to actually address the stuff that happened in s6 and the roots of those issues in a meaningful way...it seems like the writers didnt actually know how to rebuild what was broken in s6 (the most upsetting example for me is how they completely brushed over Buffys trauma from Seeing Red and instead she spends the season babying her assaulter) so what we get instead is a band aid on top of a gaping wound
I'm late for this but anyway.... I always thought that maybe the problem with S7 was that the writers didn't know it was going to be the last season when they started writing it. So the earlier episodes seem like they're building up to Classic Buffy 2.0, with a new high school and 16 yr old Dawn who's being trained to slay making friends with two outcasts like S1 Buffy did, while Buffy herself (along with Robin) is working at the school for secret supernatural reasons just like Giles was. Anya starts an arc about her identity as a demon vs a human, starting to find that her new humanity isn't going anywhere and that even without Xander she still wants to be a part of the Gang. Willow has been cleansed of dark magic but is still struggling with dark impulses and learning to use magic responsibly for the first time. Buffy finally starting to get the hang of adulthood without all the depression. Spike's entire re-ensoulment journey. Xander just being Xander but a little less problematic and more self-possessed. Everything in early S7 seems to be building up to a refreshed version of the status quo where the characters have mostly overcome their darkest moments and are rebuilding themselves and their stories as adults -- plus Robin as a new and interesting character who had lots of potential (haha) as a new scooby.
Then mid-season strikes, and the writers have clearly realised by now that it's the last season and any final concepts they want to explore need to be done NOW. So the potentials start coming in to kickstart the exploration into the Slayer's role and history (which they hinted at in late S4 and early S5 but then basically scrapped it in favour of sick Joyce and Dawn's mystery - which was a great plot ofc, but left threads hanging about Buffy's Slayerness plot), that brings Robin's plot into the picture and even Faith's, etc... but it's all too rushed. Too many new characters all at once, and all living at Buffy's, so you barely ever get the core gang together on their own again. The Slayer plot AGAIN is poorly explored, basically just dipping into the demonic possession aspect of it and then moving on with no further reflection, and meawhile a lot of the character arcs get compressed and disjointed to fit around the bigger plot. We don't get enough of the core gang nor enough of the new characters to make it worthwhile, so the second half of the season is just zooming through all of these people and troubles and the less-than-stellar "threat" of the First Evil who's only power is to pretend to be other people to say mean things, and by the time it's over there's a whole new status quo but we still feel bereft of closure for a lot of the main characters while also not feeling satisfied with the new status quo because there was no time to properly explore what it meant or to make us care about the new Slayers.
Basically season 7 should have been two seasons. S7 setting up the new status quo for the main gang, introducing Robin and exploring more of the nature of Slayerness, and maaybe even letting Dawn be friends with those two new kids for more than half an episode??? And maybe Robin's mystery could have been played closer to how Glory's alterego's went (I forget his name, but you know how he seemed nice but had a secret identity? Robin's story went a bit like that and could've been much better if it'd been done properly). And then S8 would have the potentials coming in and the First Evil, but with more of the main arcs developed beyond where S6 left off, Robin's role better determined, Spike's healing more advanced, and then we'd get more time to properly explore the potentials, bring back Faith, give Willow a new gf, etc, without it feeling forced.
SMG quit mid season ish and I know Hannigan atleast was super shocked so that’s probably why. I also know Whedon wanted a two hour finale for chosen but they wouldn’t give him one
THey did know t was the last season. Where are these rumours coming from.
Wow, thank you for this. I really like Season 7 but your critique here is spot on, this is one of those videos I come away from feeling like I've learnt more about storytelling and character development and good writing, thank you for your work! The only thing I would say, and this is a nitpick just because I really appreciated your perspective, I would LOVE your insight into the use of Spike in Season 7 in particular, I know you touched on it a bit when talking about Robin Wood, but I would be so interested to see what you thought about that. Outside of that though I greatly anticipate future Anya/Selfless content, she's such an incredible and underserved character!
absolutely. i very intentionally withheld on that, because i have so much to say it would derail the video. i might, someday, admittedly with a bit of hesitancy to ruffle too many feathers. tldr, i think spike in s7 is an especially messy narrative to untangle. lots of mixed messages, no doubt the result of what we now know was a writers room at war with itself
@@5x5Takes Even based on this comment, I'm sure if you did ever decide to do a video, it would be very nuanced and thoughtful :) but I definitely understand the hesitancy too, especially given the context of the season as you pointed out - either way I just wanted to say this was a fantastic video and I really appreciate you sharing your perspective, I feel like I learned a lot and can now vocalise the aspects of Season 7 I didn't enjoy as much as the parts I did!
@@5x5Takes Seconding the desire for a Spike video. He is one of my favourite characters, and yet I also feel he's one of the most corrupting elements of this season. I can't help but feel like he is the reason for the distance between the main Scoobies - not least because the show keeps saying through Buffy how Spike is there for her while the Scoobies are apparently not. It tears down the Buffy/Giles relationship specifically so that Buffy can side with Spike. They include moments of Buffy caring for an injured Spike that are meant to indicate her feelings for him, but they always frame it with her ignoring someone else's injuries (Xander in First Date, Dawn in LMPTM). It makes me resent him, and don't want to resent him.
And yet, even though the show arguably centres Spike, it does no justice to him. He is saddled with the narrative dead end that is the trigger plot, hangs around in the background for a while, and then dies. It is supposed to be the season he grows into being a "champion", but where is the growth? He actually regresses in some way - putting back on his iconic coat which was something he stripped from the corpse of a woman he murdered. His character focus episode has him refute any responsibility for this. We don't actually get a decent exploration of Spike post-soul between Beneath You and Angel S5. And that's just so frustrating.
@@emilyadair8380 you hit so many points. this is the video i would make
I agree with you about season 7. It missed the mark for me in so many ways. There are things to like, but overall I was very disappointed. You did a great job analyzing the problematic aspects of the season. You brought up great points I hadn’t thought about. Subscribed.
Thank you for this. Definitely vibing with you on all these things. I nearly choked remembering that Spike’s attitude to Wood’s mum was, “she wanted it”… and Buffy kinda signs off. With Whedon, I often think misogyny seems to be his favourite colour to paint with 🤔
Judging by the narrative of the Buffyverse + his behaviour behind the scenes he obviously has a problem with pregnancy and motherhood. The only women he seems to be interested in are young, pretty, petite white girls. Feminist my a**!
@@Itcouldbebunnies I don't know. Joyce was a good character in my opinion...
Initially Whedon wanted to have no parents in the show at all, so Joyce is a bit of an outlier. I feel that in the first 3 seasons she is mostly used as a plot device rather than as an independent character, which often makes her look like a terrible mother and person. She is great in season 5, but I feel they did that mostly to make her death feel more impactful. She is pretty, white and thin though, just not superyoung.
If you look at how pregnancy is portrayed on Angel you get a much clearer picture of what I mean. Pregnant women are damsels in distress and motherhood is irrelevant. Darla kills herself to save Connor, Cordelia falls into a coma and then dies after giving birth to Jasmine. (Cordelia's character was first destroyed and then killed when Charisma Carpenter got pregnant just because Whedon was angry about it.) Cordelia already had to be saved several times by Angel & co. from demonic pregnancies before season 4.smh
All the important female characters in the Buffyverse (save Joyce) are exactly as I described them in my previous comment. Whedon didn't even want to hire Amber Benson to play Tara because he thought she was 'fat'. There's an interview somewhere where he creepily elaborates on this. Clearly the guy doesn't own a mirror.
And don't even get me started on the portrayal of POC in the Buffyverse.🤦♀️
"she wanted it" .....death. He's talking about her death wish.
@@spikesecho724 thanks.
Season 7 was arguably the first season of Buffy I saw in its entirety (I can't say for sure because I would always catch the show during reruns), so I have a weird relationship with it in that it's the season that made me fall in love with the show, but now looking back on it with the full context of the rest, I 100% understand why this season is regarded so lowly. I think it helps that the beginning and end of the season are so strong, it more or less makes me forget about the meandering in the middle.
I think it has it's own meandering quality that I sometimes enjoy.
Bravo, just bravo! At some points, you spoke my heart, at others you changed my mind. I'm only just finding accounts like yours and am quite grateful for your analysis.
One of the missed opportunities to me is how they over look the Wood/Slayer Mom vs Buffy/Dawn parallels. Buffy has feared what her being a Slayer could do to Dawn, and this would be a good way to re-explore that dynamic with a living example of what "Slayer Neglect in service of The Cause" could do to a person.
Excellent video. At the time, we were all so wrecked by S6 that 7 kinda got a pass for not breaking us on the wheel of depression again.
I still love it, irrationally. Not as much as 6 and the back half of 2, all of 3,5. It's on a par with 4, both are unbalanced but feature some fantastic episodes
I didn't enjoy Season 7 either. I seem to recall there was a desire to make this last season a little 'darker', when making things darker was all the rage. This seemed crazy, as one of the things that set Buffy apart from all the other occultish shows out there was that it wasn't dark - which actually made the darker moments more poignant when they came. In truth, I kind of felt that the show had a natural ending after Season 5, and it carried on with no real need to. Season 6 was reasonable, but there didn't really seem any point to it. Season 7 just felt like they wanted to end it, but just took 22 episodes to do it, and they were just throwing ideas at it as an exercise.
It also didn't help that in the UK it got shown on a different channel, so from being 45 minutes and no adverts, it went to an hour with 15 minutes of ads spread over long ad breaks - some of which weren't even put in the right place for the adverts.
For Buffy addicts, season 7 is a good way to taper off of Buffy, instead of going cold turkey. (So is Angel.) I really like it for that reason.
I love everything you said and agree 100%. This is my favorite show of all time and I remember when season seven started I thought it started so great and then eventually went downhill for the very same reason as you pointed out such a good review.
I'm not sure if I ever properly watched this season, just random episodes I happened to catch on TV (I think season 5 is when my viewership peaked, just by luck), so I don't have the best reference point for the points in this video, though I appreciate the thought and effort in here. Maybe I'll revisit the season and this video after.
The main issue is season 5, they ended the story of the hero, season 6 they allowed them to be human and grown, in season seven they work like "let's just rush the show"
So much screen time was wasted on the potential slayers hanging around for most of the season. They could've come in for the last 6 episodes, at most, and still make a meaningful finale. Season 7 didn't need new recurring characters (w/ the exception of Principal Wood being the son of a slayer), there was more than enough to cover with the main four + Anya, Spike, and Faith. And there was absolutely no reason for Andrew to be in season 7 instead of Jonathan
Eh, I liked Andrew being the guy at the end instead of Warren or Jonathan. I felt it fit with the theme of "there is no such thing as a nobody" or its darker side "the worst of men must live and the best of men must die". Out of the Trio Warren was the major evil guy whose redemption might have been compelling, and Jonathan was the morally complex guy who we sensed could become a hero, and Andrew was the invisible, nobody comic relief. And I think it's fitting that he becomes a main character in that way - kind of a statement that the circumstances make the man more than the other way around. The world isn't always a narratively straightforward place where heroes and villains get to complete their arc, there is a randomness that makes it that sometimes the would-be heroes or villains randomly die and an unimpressive specimen is in a situation to be villainous or heroic instead, and they can *become* a legit narrative hero or villain from that point on depending on their decisions and how things play out.
The end of season 6 was one of the hypest things I ever saw, and i was so excited to see how willow would relate to her friends again after what happened.
I expected lots of recovery and deep conversations but then... Willow goes back to Sunnydale and her friends can't see or hear her. Ok, that was a dud episode, maybe now she's back - no its basically never mentioned.
My disappointment with this season is huge, i think the last straw was Xander lising an eye and buffy seeming to not even care when willow is with him in hospital. Just.... what
If it's been cancelled after season 6 I'd be sad, but at least the potential story would still be there
Great video btw, one of your best
WHY do they write willow offering bonding time and comforting xander and his MISSING EYE and write in buffy icily leaving? and then cutesy banter in chosen? either create tension and address it, or earn that connection. you don’t get both!
@@5x5Takes I just imagine what would have happened if Xander had lost an eye in any of the previous seasons... dealing with it would take at least a full episode, and maybe an arc for him accepting it, with support from his friends. This season he does and..... not much
You definitely need to do a video on season 5 it's my favorite season in the series 😀
And Angel just showing up for the finale was disappointing
Andrew is the Jar Jar Binks of the season
But he was so amusing. I didn't really ever like Jonathan. Even in Superstar.
Great analysis on Season 7 of Buffy. I always liked the season, but I didn’t love it, and you were able to put into words why I didn’t love it. There were some great individual episodes, but the season never messes. They made a mistake of having too many Potentials, they never developed anyone except Kennedy, and they only developed her because she would be Willow’s new girlfriend. There was so much “potential” wasted with all the characters. The worse waste was with Faith. Everything you said about how Faith was wasted was dead on. I wonder if the creatives on the show had just run out of gas and had nothing new or interesting to say about these characters any longer and just hoped that producing shocking scenes would shock us into not noticing. Like you I loved Buffy, it’s still one of my favorite shows, and on the positive side, it didn’t end like Game of Thornes.
Something that sort of bothers me is that as much as nobody else can understand buffy as the slayer, buffy can't understand anyone else either. She doesn't know what it's like to be a watcher, she has no clue how addictive magic is for willow, and xander says himself that she'll never know what it's like to be just outside of the spotlight like he is. Buffy is incredibly empathetic and I love her for it, but I kind of wish somebody had gotten to say to her face that she's not the only person with a role no one else can fill. If willow and buffy had gotten that cathartic conversation you talked about I think that should have been a part of it
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. But I actually like that Spike still feels no guilt about killing the Slayers. He feels the pain for the others he killed. But to him the Slayers were warriors he killed in battle (albeit after hunting them down).
It still doesn't make Spike look any better.
I actually came around to like Season 7 more on the rewatch. In the initial viewing, the first episodes were intense - they really managed to raise the stakes and I honestly thought Giles had died and The First was impersonating him. It was expertly done. Then, things start to unravel.
The lowest point for me I think was when they voted Buffy out of her own home, as if this was some stupid reality show or something. Baffling choice.
I also didn't like how they built it up so much that anyone could die, especially Andrew, and then almost no one important dies (and neither does Andrew). They made that super vampire so powerful and scary when it was just the one but then when it was thousands of them, suddenly anyone could fend them off, even non-powered people. Felt too easy.
And I hate how in the midst of it all they just discarded Anya. Barely even made a dent.
You kinda overlooked Dawn in this season but I guess that's appropriate as so did the show. They made a big fuss about a conflict between Buffy and Dawn and how she was going to choose to save the world over Dawn's life and then it just... didn't happen? Dawn was hardly my favourite character but she still reserved better.
dawn almost had an arc. and then they forgot about her too
I didn't like that they took Anya out while Andrew made it. I actually did enjoy Andrew in 7 because of his awkward nerdy humor. But ya, them booting Buffy out of the house infuriated me esp. Dawn being the one to tell her leave! If I were Buffy I'd have reminded her what I did for her up on that tower to spare her life & that it's technically not even her house since she's not "real" lol.
@@avarysse5782 The whole series felt disjointed, but kicking Buffy out of her own home was bizarre and seemed more like an artificial move to force the plot along, with the main players all acting out of character. I watched the first six series when they first came out, but that episode made me lose interest in S7, and I only caught up with it years later.
@@dexine4723 Ya, I forget where I originally left off in the series when it was playing - but I didn't like the dark magic going on either. S7 is definitely not a favorite for me! Alot of Buffy fans accuse us of not liking a matured Buffy but that's got nothing to do with it. S7 was all over the place & I didn't like the Potentials either. I liked some things from the season but I'm not running out to buy the s7 DVD's for those parts
This season is horrible... the potentials are terrible actors there to fill screen time because the main characters made too much money, the plot makes no sense, and the finale... lets just kill Anya too. Why? So Joss can traumatize more of his audience like he gets off doing.
Great video. I think the issue with Buffy the vampire slayer, is that from the beginning, it claims to have like a "moral." There is a point to these stories we are told, a metaphor, a lesson. And many episodes from season 2-6 DO seem to have some some sort of metaphorical lesson to be learned. But then we get to season 7 and it's like... wait, what are supposed to learn from this?
One small example: Willow murdered people, along with Andrew and bunch of other people but ...when they cry we're supposed feel they're ok now? This is the lesson you are teaching? It's too late to claim these aren't morality tales, they have been presented that way the whole time. But by season 7, the lessons don't make sense anymore.
I love it. Sure, she's kinda walking through part sometimes, but it's fine. The way they wrap everything up was awesome, really. Sure is a lot better than the Magic = Drugs arc or the monster of the week as seen in Seasons 1 & 2 mostly. 6 is my favorite. Even with what I see as a fail regarding the Anya/Xander wedding choice. That never should have happened.
I love season 7 enough for both of us. Balance is great!
I felt the same way about season six I wanted to love it but I didn’t after once more with feeling and tabula rasa but season seven ended at the same time that I graduated from high school so that’s why it holds a special place in my heart.
The great thing about season 7 is that they didn't screw anything up, they just left too much meat on the bone. They just ran out of time, which left us all wanting more. I feel like that's the main takeaway from this analysis video and I agree with that part of it.
Thank you so much for making this video. The IKEA analogy is spot on - there are so many interesting ideas and rich themes laid out on the floor, and then they're just... there. Here they are. Look at them. Ok now let's put them away. Nothing is done to showcase or link any of them.
There's also the general problem of having just Too Many characters. There's nothing individually wrong with Robin, or Andrew, or Kennedy, or the Potentials, but at a certain point you just reach capacity in a cast. This season doesn't seem to realise that it has finite time, and every character they bring in means less time to develop everyone else. They all suffer for it.
As you say, there's nothing inherently wrong with a plot-based final season, but the plot is just... not very good? Most of the First's plans are just vagueries that never seem to coalesce into anything. What was it's plan with Spike? Why was the trigger there? Why didn't it just use his victims to open the seal instead of trying to manipulate Andrew? Why did it dig up the Scythe? And the final resolution is built around, let's face it, two magical macguffins with very little buildup or establishing of their power. And that's fine - Buffy has always has fairly shoddy plotting in a lot of places, but that was never an issue when the focus was on the metaphors and characters. It becomes a problem when the characters get lost, and all we have to focus on is the remaining plot.
Anyway. Thanks for making this. I too mourn the S7 that we almost got, because it looks like that season would've been so good, and this... wasn't quite.
The bookend seasons are easily the weakest of the show. Season one can be forgiven. It’s a starter season. Season 7 is more difficult to let off the hook. As clumsy and overwrought as season 6 could be, you understood its purpose and aim. I’m often confused by what many season 7 episodes are even trying to say. Many episodes seem completely lost thematically and character wise. The characterization in season 7 is so hollow and so cheap. Buffy in particular just becomes a bore. And yes, there is a severe lack of fun and wit. I see there are suddenly a lot of season 7 defenders these last few years. And it’s not a terrible closer to show. It doesn’t really damage the show. But it is a disappointing one, especially from a character and character relationship standpoint.
It's as if it had several writers with different visions/points they wanted to make and highlight?
Season 7 is not the best, but it's still a good enough ending.
Why Andrew?
Because of the bike ride scene with Spike 🤣
Just stumbled across this video and unfortunately it seems to be consistent with other of the creators shows that in the season the show is cancelled they rush to cram as much in as they can and we don't get the slow burn build that we'd normally get in other seasons. Great video. This season did have so much potential, pun intended... But but enough time to properly execute all of the ideas.
Buffy last season was ruined by the writers listening too much to the criticism they got in season 6. They brushed aside everything they possibly could remaining from season 6 and shoved Willow with a new forced love interest, instead of dealing with it, all to appease a vocal minority (who mostly changed their minds as they grew older) and some vocal pissed off lesbians.
While I like the plot's idea it was done poorly, with how the season started they had no time to flesh it out. They either needed to commit completely to a serialized season or have all the potentials as background cannon fodder. The way they handled it they didn't have enough time for our main characters or to develop the potentials enough. It also didn't help that aside from Amanda and Vi, they were all annoying (except for Chao-Ahn, but she was a caricature, not a character).
I agree. Heck, look Buffy and Spike relationship. They love each other but we never get to see them together as a healthy couple.
@@kahp1072That’s my biggest disappointment, so much time was wasted on meaningless scenes that could have been more focused on them, Ida been happy if the whole season revolved around them, getting his soul back was a huge deal and there just wasn’t enough focus on that, and instead we get Buffy dating Robin and kissing Angel I’ll never forgive Whedon for giving us a final Buffy and Angel kiss over a final Buffy and Spike kiss when he has his soul back, the episode when the girls all fall in love with AJ cause his magical jacket was a complete waste it brought nothing to the story, that could have been replaced with a flashback episode of Spike after he completed the trials and was overcome by guilt and how he ended up in the school basement and maybe a scene of him watching Buffy from afar before she knew he was back, and the potentials I can’t stand so boring and annoying.
Ohhhh this title already makes me sad. But I appreciate it just as much as I appreciated your defense of season six. I love the last two seasons of Buffy simply for giving us more Buffy, even if they are clunky in their execution and provide untrue portrayals of the characters we came to know and love. Excited for the breakdown regardless!
Fantastic essay - you really articulated things that pieced together the problems with this seaosn
I think that conflict between the actors was a huge part of why much of the chemistry just did not gel this season.
Hate Kennedy.
If they wanted to give Willow a new love interest.. go for Faith.
Probably wouldn't have been as good as the fic I read where that happened.
Since faith isn't gay it would be even more awkward and forced than Kennedy, and that's really saying something.
@@mariposa9506 Oh. You must not know about the original idea. There’s also a thing called bisexuality. The original idea was for Faith and Willow to get together but Faith’s actress was busy and couldn’t come film right away.
@@mariposa9506 lmao you think faith is straight
The thing about Empty Places is that… what were they planning to do without their strongest player? Buffy, right or wrong, has several apocalypses under her belt and you’re sidelining her. It’s not even betrayal as much as it is silly. One active slayer and a bunch of regular teenagers.
You know not long ago I got myself into the vast world of comics, and I recently found out that there is a huge comic series around buffy published by dark horse comics like so many volumes
Other than the episodes with Caleb, the entire season 7 pretty much sucked ass. I mean honestly, just to address the Tara situation alone is a conflict in itself. For instance, chronologically speaking, Tara had only been dead a couple of months at most, not even a full 12 month period. Yet still, in the final episode, Willow's getting her drool on with Kennedy, a character that most of us despised to say the least. Then of course, there was Anya, one of the shows most beloved characters. Simply wiped out in a blink by the sword slash of some random member of the blind brigade. No goodbyes, no speeches, and no actual closure. Finally, there's the so called 'big bad' itself in the form of the First. A creature, who through the amazing power of talking someone to death, posed the last and 'greatest' threat. Really? Really guys? So yeah, season 7 definitely left more to be desired. Umm hmm.
I preferred it to season 6, but 7 definitely had peaks and troughs. Its highs were really good but its bad moments were some of its worst. When they actually start making fun of themselves for constant rallying speeches you know even they realised it.
I agree with this, more than anything I felt like this season just felt rushed. I think this is partly because Joss didn't really want it to be the last season, and was trying to wrap up character developmentts that he thought he has longer to deal with. You can feel a significant difference in the final season of Angel which is both plot driven and character driven and manages (in my opinion) to really successfully wrap up the characters well.
I think the chasm that had been built in season 6 were meant to take longer to heal and they rushed this healing and during season 7. I will say I do think there's good character work, I love the moments of Spike and Buffy in this season, those moments are the ones that seem the most fleshed out and where Buffy seems most like herself and to truly have learnt from season 6. That being said I entirely agree that her relationship with the scoobies felt empty and lackluster. They had all had so much brought to the surface in S6 and none of it really got it's time in the light. But as I said I think it's because they didn't have the time. They needed the plot to progress to the finale.
Season 7 always felt off to me but I never could completly understand in what way. I think your video really understand more why, great work 😄
This is unfortunately how I feel too. I'm sure I'm extra hard on S7, because it's the last one and I like so many of its ideas. However, 7 both tries too many new things (the underdeveloped potentials) and rushes so fast toward a conclusion that it skips build up and "cops out of fallout."
You make such a great point that the season about shared power is the one where Buffy's relationships are weakest. The Scoobies have acted out the message of Chosen all series, but are siloed in the finale itself. I wish those relationships had driven the finale, like they do in Primeval and Grave.
I also so wish Buffy's leadership had evolved. I see her behaviour toward the potentials as a comment on cyclical abuse: Buffy's harsh and unkind because she can't bear to watch more girls go through what she did and hates herself for becoming like the Council. I find this fascinating and wish the season had done more with it before trying to sell a triumphant ending. Buffy's failure to connect makes sense, but it backtracks on the momentum of S6 and early S7. We needed something that would segue Buffy's struggle in Empty Places back to the wisdom she showed in Lessons or Help.
Very well said. A lot of good points. Great video!
An excellent unpacking of the greatest overt issues
I sincerely wondered why so many obvious issues were not explored…
I guess the writers had grown fatigued with the concept in only a few seasons and that became apparent when they began making episodes that were caricatures of the characters and the program
It’s like they made it a cartoon long before they made it animated instead Of developing it into an actual adult drama that it could’ve been by developing the characters in a different way
My biggest gripe with season 7 (other than the main cast being underutilized) is how everyone is still sad and reeling after the soap-opera drama of season 6... but there is no actual drama going on anymore (in their personal lives, anyway). They're all depressed and isolated, but all the juicy, over-the-top stuff that caused it (which was great to watch) has already happened. Nobody's getting left at the altar or screwing a house down or shooting up magicks in season 7, but they're still depressed from it all. It's boring.
So, while you raise some really valid points, if the characters had spent all of season 7 talking their issues out, it would have been even more boring. I think you may overestimate how much friends in their twenties actually share with one another. Webster makes a good point in his appearance: everyone is alone. Season 7 really drives that home.
I think I like "No Shit Giles" better than "No Shit Sherlock"
Hi! Completely unrelated to the content of your video, but I wanted to thank you for recommending POI. I got to your channel originally because I'm a Buffy fan and watched your video of why you should watch POI. You sold it to me and started watching it and loved it very very much. And as I was watching, I thought that someone really should do what Passion of the Nerd did for Buffy. I even dreamed a bit about doing it myself. So thank you very much for your breakdowns and analysis, they are all wonderful! And also I'm watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend so... are we friends now? Haha.
@Sic Semper Tyrannis And in both shows Amy Acker rocks a ballerina outfit at some point.
They definitly saw it, as yeah she gets to play god. And th gand off lawe misfits that are faied in a lot is strong too.
You are being watched :P
Lots of good insights here. Personally I can't stand Andrew, the Potentials don't work, and all the non-Spike Scoobies feel under-served. And thus we get a bang average season of Buffy to go out on.
Can you do video about Buffy and Faith on what could have been?
I love season 7 it's my favorite.
I think that an essential element of any relationship is trust, and I think that season 6 BROKE so much of Buffy's trust in Willow (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Scoobies), and that's the core reason why she can't seem to bridge that personality gap/clash in season 7. I agree that it feels like a missed opportunity that they never really get their heart to heart, but... I also think it was narratively deserved that they didn't. There may also be a case for Buffy intentionally trying to keep from overwhelming Willow, since her dependence on Willow's magic had an (indirect) hand in Willow's spiral of control-seeking behavior leading up to the events of S6.
And honestly, how much leadership authority and power would I want to hand over to the girl who ripped me out of heaven less than two years before? Honestly, I think Buffy's standoffishness and her hardline tactics as "General Buffy" make a ton of sense. She can't afford to be emotional anymore - look what happened all through Season 6. She HAS to create distance, or she'll fold again...
And the disconnects between her and the rest of the Scoobies are all cousins to the main trust issues she has with Willow. Pair that with the no-breathing-room-ness of the First Evil trying to rise, the apocalypse to end all apocalypses zooming down the pipeline: it makes sense to me that the characters, in and of themselves, never START those conversations, because they feel they won't have time to really unpack and finish those conversations. It's something to save for later, for IF they survive.
And I, in my own headspace, choose to believe that, sometime down the line, they do. I don't know if they'll ever get back to the fully-connectedness and "parts of a whole" they codified in S4, but I think they do find some common ground again to grow new relationships from. Yes, even Willow and Buffy...
Really great video -love to see your in depths for each episode
CWDP made me hope that The First would play more mind games. I know some actors weren’t available but there were so many options spike as the first terrorizing Buffy, Buffy as the first blaming Giles, Angel as the first mocking Xander (fun fact Blue in the episode was co written by Whedon)
There’s lazy stuff this season that just bugs me - weird costumes, all the blood looks like food colouring, lines that don’t fit the characters. It just doesn’t feel like Buffy
Complex season with a supernatural take of the phrase "you are your own enemy", The first is a metaphor of the inner voice that judge you, but with the supernatural twist that if the army of vamps killed enough potentials, and just left Buffy and Faith for the last, manage to end the slayer line, and in that way this being will go Exorcist style on any human similar of what happen to Caleb.
This is a season about changes, and about you can´t be the same in life, you might be at the same place, but you need to let go the past, and move forward.
The speeches of Buffy explained the nature of the enemy, this is a supernatural enemy that from beneth it devours, the speeches of Buffy worked as a shut down element of those voices, as a way to create an strong mindset for the potentials. These speeches reminds me the speeches of Rick Grimes on TWD, but for some reason Buffy was more effective than Rick.
One very important speech is when she said to Willow and Spike that stop to hold back, and be sorry about, because she knew this weakness will be a door for The First. Buffy understand The first better than anyone.
I agree that should be Jonathan and not Andrew, we saw more of Jonathan, that point is really true.
Willow was healing but had an step back after CWDP, in that episode The first created a mental scar on her. In some way Willow doesn't want to use magic, because she was afraid to lose control once again.
Woods was a some kind of a Blade character homage, but this time he wasn't a vampire, he was a principal, and yeah he has a big problem with Spike.
I don't think the season is out of balance, more like the nature of The First, the phrase said "divide and conquer",This force managed to turn apart the scoobies. Because manipulation will be easier on isolation. So yeah very complex season, that is a metaphor of depression, I guess, or fear to grow up. Because this is a season with a lot of responsibilities.
They probably couldn't use Jonathan for the whole season. I think Danny Strong was on Gilmore Girls around this time.
I think Buffy’s finale season should have been two seasons. Sort out character issues, and then have plot heavy second parter for the big finish.
Idk if I’ve ever commented on this video, but it’s very well done 👏🏽 very smart ❤
Maybe they picked Andrew, because it's more unexpected? I just don't know, as Jonathan had consistently shown signs of being able to redeem himself and even trying to help Buffy. One example being when in S6 Jonathan "attacked" Buffy in order to tell her about breaking Warren's "balls" in order to break a spell. Jonathan makes the most sense. I guess another reason might be them wanting to give Danny the chance to play a darker character by having Jonathan dead so he can be The First? Other than those two reasons I always wondered why Andrew as well.
That's a good point; having The First cosplaying as Andrew wouldn't have nearly the same weight.
My thought was that they already heavily used Jonathan & honestly he was an Ok character but .. boring imo. Andrew was spicey and I thought him surviving gave more comedy material that I enjoyed.
Forgive me if I’m misremembering- but did you ever release a video on the Darla/Angel relationship? If so that video was excellent and I wish I could see it again!
nope! but i’d like to
I don't know what happened behind the scenes but I think that the writers bit off more than they can chew or I don't know maybe they didn't want to make anymore seasons or had budget issues it does feel like they were just trying to wrap everything up quickly also I hate that Anya had to die that really sucked