# Buffy fan: If you'd have your druthers, what would you have changed about the show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-fan-if-youd-have-your-druthers-what-would-you-have-changed-about-the-show/177425 "2003-05-25T18:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-fan-if-youd-have-your-druthers-what-would-you-have-changed-about-the-show/177425/81 "2003-05-29T17:59:06Z")
> [@](#): > > But she’d age and die eventually, right? And Spike trying to kill them all isn’t really the same thing: he was just doing it for kicks, not because he was created specifially to do it. After all, other Slayers had been killed by vampires and such nasties. Let me clarify. You know the First’s plan to kills on the potentials? That was Spike’s plan in **Pretty Maids**. Like I said, it was an absolutely horrid book, so I only made it half way through, and I don’t know how many girls he actually killed. He was doing it to get a necklace for Dru for her “birthday”–a necklace that would allow her to see her reflection and had other magical powers. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-fan-if-youd-have-your-druthers-what-would-you-have-changed-about-the-show/177425/82 "2003-05-29T18:01:32Z")
How did he know who the potentials were? ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-fan-if-youd-have-your-druthers-what-would-you-have-changed-about-the-show/177425/83 "2003-05-29T18:54:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \* > You know the First’s plan to kills on the potentials? That was Spike’s plan in **Pretty Maids**. Like I said, it was an absolutely horrid book… I didn’t think it was horrid, but it wasn’t very good, either. Sadly, from what I can tell, it’s one of the best of the **Buffy** novels. It’s definitely not canon, though – it came out before “Fool for Love,” and Spike kills a different second slayer. (That is, not Nikki.) What would I have changed about the show? I don’t have many plot- or character-specific ideas. Biggest change: keep the “filler” episodes that more or less disappeared after season 4. Whether or not the individual episodes worked, they helped the writers pace the seasons better than in later years, when every episode seemed like a frantic effort to tie in to the overall story arc. Filler episodes let things breathe. Also, “life” makes a crappy Big Bad. **Buffy** ’s strongest moments were driven by simile – Angel losing his soul after sex was _like_ a boyfriend turning into a jerk after his girl puts out. But it also worked on a narrative letter. In later seasons, the writers all too often used metaphors instead – magic wasn’t _like_ an addiction, it _was_ an addiction; Caleb wasn’t _like_ an evil religious representative of the patriarchy, that was his only function. Specific stuff: while I never hated Dawn the way some people did, I would’ve had her sacrifice herself at the end of season 5 – and have everyone forget she existed. Maybe everyone but Anya, or Buffy, or something. She could’ve been tragic; instead, I was mildly annoyed that Buffy sacrificed herself for a girl that we didn’t feel nearly as attached to as she did. Other Dawn option: have the monk’s hastily constructed spell stop at the borders of Sunnydale. Everyone in Sunnydale remembers Dawn; everyone outside doesn’t. Hank Summers makes a guest appearance, wondering why he’s being asked for child support for a girl he never had. And have Angel, Faith, Cordelia, Oz or Wesley show up and wonder who the new girl is. On the other hand, I’m glad they stuck with their description of Dawn as a normal girl and didn’t get into “key powers.” Kudos on that one. I dunno. Sometimes I think the biggest rule Joss broke and couldn’t get around was “always leave 'em wanting more.” By the end, I wanted **Buffy** to end, sad as I was to see it go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-fan-if-youd-have-your-druthers-what-would-you-have-changed-about-the-show/177425.md?page=4)