Buffy Season 6: The Troubled Experiment
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
I like BtVS a lot more after the two of them left, and I like Angel and Cordy a lot more on AtS. Angel becomes about 20 times more interesting whenever he's interacting with Darla than when he's playing Buffy's love interest.
Agreed. Buffy was holding Angel back. And Cordelia improved as a character by leaps and bounds, as did Wesley. Hmm, seems to have been a trend over there...
SMG's corrosive influence? Was I missing something?
Buffy peaked at season 3 but I think it was the right thing to let Angel and CC move away and achieve their potential elsewhere, Anya and other characters growing into their place.
As for Buffy forcing the power onto the Potentials, yes she did but it was a necessary evil if the Scoobs failed and the Turok-Han got out. And the new Slayers have it much easier than she and Faith did, they have thousands of other Slayers to rely upon, they're no longer alone. As 'Anne' and 'Who are you?' proved I'm not sure the Potentials CAN turn away from their destiny
I liked how Dawn turned out, it would have been too trite to turn her into another Slayer, much more interesting to have her develop into a junior watcher.
It may just be my conjecture but I think it was partly SMG's true personality influencing Buffy's increasingly bitchy persona in the later years of the show. Because the moment the character was in the comic book and not being played by SMG she went right back to her old hilarious cheerful self from the early seasons.
Wesley became the best developed character in the Buffyverse imho, after his move to Angel. And Cordelia was of limited continuing use on Buffy, but found a niche on Angel. For both sets of characters, the split was a great idea. Some years later, Angel did the same thing for Spike, turned a worn out character into a useful cast member again.
While I agree that these characters were made even more awesome when they moved to Angel, I still love them on Buffy. I really wish that Wes and Cordy had gone back to Sunnydale for an episode of two. I missed their interactions with the Scoobies.
Am I missing something?
I haven't seen anything cheerful about Buffy in season 8, except when she was out of her mind and under the influence of the Twilight-glow (which was very creepy). If anything, she's been more negative and mopey than ever - or downright whiny, as when she gave that speech to Satsu about how everyone who loves her dies/abandons her because there's something wrong with her. Not to mention her dreams like the one in "Always Darkest", which seems to imply that her self-esteem is pretty low and that she feels massive amounts of guilt.The only time we see her old cheerful persona from the last seasons is when we literally see her high school persona in that dream where she "goes back" to her past, and it's a drastic contrast to her present self.
The humor mostly comes from the way she's drawn (and maybe written). SMG played Buffy's problems in a more serious manner, while they are treated more humorously in the comics, which might be what you're referring to. But it has absolutely nothing to do with any cheeriness in Buffy's personality.
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Am I missing something?
The only time we see her old cheerful persona from the last seasons is when we literally see her high school persona in that dream where she "goes back" to her past, and it's a drastic contrast to her present self.
The humor mostly comes from the way she's drawn (and maybe written). SMG played Buffy's problems in a more serious manner, while they are treated more humorously in the comics, which might be what you're referring to. But it has absolutely nothing to do with any cheeriness in Buffy's personality.
I go for that, I don't think SMG influenced the character as much as she was written as a girl with a lot on her shoulders, she's no longer the schoolgirl who can always go back to Joyce and Giles at the end of a hard day's slaying. The only pure comedy ep in season 7 was HIM although it is a stonker
And SMG always seems fun enough to me. I don't think the comics have changed Buffy's personality at all. Yeah, of all the Buffyverse characters I think Wes made the greatest journey in terms of development closely followed by Cordy and then Spike
Buffy is absolutely more cheerful and fun in the comics! I haven't read the early issues recently but I remember being back to her fun old self again. Not to mention the experimentation
In my expereince that always makes people happy!
Buffy AND the audience!
I can't believe it when people tell me Cordelia and Wesley actually became well-rounded characters on Angel. I thought they were two of the most one-dimensional stereotypical characters on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", especially Cordelia, who was just a laughably cliched bitchy cheerleader-type.
I never really liked her, because she never even seemed like a real person, except when she was in the hospital and gave Xander the cold shoulder and cried after he left. That was the first time she seemed remotely human to me rather than just a collection of bitchy one-liners, put downs, and typical airhead 'beauty tips' talk. Wesley was just a snooty, British sissy. I can't imagine how they could ever become real, plausible individuals anyone could care about. I'm anxious to see "Angel" and witness how the writers tackle the challenge of making them more.
I didn't miss Cordelia and Wesley when they were gone. I thought Anya and Riley were big improvements...much more interesting characters and a big reason why seasons 3 and 4 were my favourites.
I never really liked her, because she never even seemed like a real person, except when she was in the hospital and gave Xander the cold shoulder and cried after he left. That was the first time she seemed remotely human to me rather than just a collection of bitchy one-liners, put downs, and typical airhead 'beauty tips' talk. Wesley was just a snooty, British sissy. I can't imagine how they could ever become real, plausible individuals anyone could care about. I'm anxious to see "Angel" and witness how the writers tackle the challenge of making them more.
I didn't miss Cordelia and Wesley when they were gone. I thought Anya and Riley were big improvements...much more interesting characters and a big reason why seasons 3 and 4 were my favourites.
Yeah, because being that desperate, lonely and horny that you'll have sex with a person of the same sex even though you're heterosexual, because your love life has been a disaster, your last lover died and then came back to life but preferred to let you think he was dead, you've been isolated from the rest of the world for over a year and the only people around you are a bunch of women, a gay man, and your old time friend you rejected 7 years earlier (and that you will eventually try to jump as well) - that is an obvious sign of fun and happiness.Buffy is absolutely more cheerful and fun in the comics! I haven't read the early issues recently but I remember being back to her fun old self again. Not to mention the experimentation
I hear that this is also one of the reasons why people love to go to prison.
Well, I guess I wasn't the target audience there.Buffy is absolutely more cheerful and fun in the comics! I haven't read the early issues recently but I remember being back to her fun old self again. Not to mention the experimentation
In my expereince that always makes people happy!
Enjoyed the threesome dream scene, though.
And Daniel Craig and Christian Bale fantasies were fun, too. 
Wow. Are you ever in for a stunner. Only G'kar/Londo's character arcs are more incredible than Wesleys and to a lesser degree, Cordy's on Angel.
Wait. You...you haven't seen Angel yet? Wow. You are in for a ride.
I'll just say that, thanks to Angel, Wesley went from being one of my most hated Buffyverse characters to being, by far, my favorite one.
Yeah, because being that desperate, lonely and horny that you'll have sex with a person of the same sex even though you're heterosexual, because your love life has been a disaster, your last lover died and then came back to life but preferred to let you think he was dead, you've been isolated from the rest of the world for over a year and the only people around you are a bunch of women, a gay man, and your old time friend you rejected 7 years earlier (and that you will eventually try to jump as well) - that is an obvious sign of fun and happiness.Buffy is absolutely more cheerful and fun in the comics! I haven't read the early issues recently but I remember being back to her fun old self again. Not to mention the experimentation
I hear that this is also one of the reasons why people love to go to prison.
Well, I guess I wasn't the target audience there.Buffy is absolutely more cheerful and fun in the comics! I haven't read the early issues recently but I remember being back to her fun old self again. Not to mention the experimentation
In my expereince that always makes people happy!
Enjoyed the threesome dream scene, though.
Buffy and Satsu were ships that passed in the night, no regrets and pleasurable for both
. I think this makes Buffy officially bi-sexual in my book, even if you only go into space twice it still makes you an astronaut. Loved her threesome fantasy as it was such a dream come true for shippers and it was nice to know her sexual fantasies are just as cheesey and hackneyed as everyone elses. Anyone who says that Wes and Cordy didn't grow has never watched Angel. Go out and buy the DVDs, have a great time and join me on the rewatch
From Buffy's side, yes. Satsu was in love with her and obviously hoped for more.Buffy and Satsu were ships that passed in the night, no regrets and pleasurable for both
I'm not sure it works that way.
If anyone who has ever had sex with people of both genders was to be considered bisexual, I think that there would be very few gay people left in the world, since most of them probably tried dating & sleeping with a person of the opposite gender when they were young and before they were certain of their sexuality. Plus all the closet gay people who get married and have children etc. And on the other side, all the people in all-male or all-female environments like prisons, English public schools and so on (which is pretty much Buffy's situation in most of S8).I think that, for someone to be bisexual, they have to be, if not almost equally, than significantly attracted to both genders/interested in sex with both genders. Buffy's relationship with Satsu just makes her a 1 on the Kinsey scale (predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual). I don't know how many people are 0. It's not impossible for a gay person to have sex with someone of the opposite sex or for a straight person to have sex with someone of the same sex, under certain circumstances, and derive an amount of pleasure from it, but that's still not their sexual preference.
And in universe, Willow and Kennedy disagree with you. Kennedy called her a faux lesbo
and they both commented to Satsu that she shouldn't hope for more because Buffy is not really into girls. Buffy didn't really have any other romantic options at the time (except for Xander, which is complicated for many reasons, like him being her long time friend), was shown having sexual fantasies exclusively about men throughout the season, and hasn't shown any interest in continuing to sleep with Satsu or with sleeping with any other woman. I'd think that if she had had some sort of sexual epiphany and learned that she was bisexual, she should be thinking "hey, lesbian sex is so good, I should try it again", instead of
coming onto Xander (who commented on her previously "trying to change sexual orientation" which she didn't deny) and going on to spacefrak Twangel (granted, influenced by the glowhypnol) and fantasize about sex with Spike.
edit: Maybe I should put at least some of this stuff in spoiler tags...
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