I just finished watching the full run of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on cable. I was never interested in the show when it was first airing. I remember thinking, “Who would want to watch a retread of a mediocre movie that came out years ago?”
Whoops.
Anyway, a couple of questions came to mind as I was was watching.
(Spoiler alert)
After Buffy died at the end of Season 5, shouldn’t another slayer have emerged? Maybe I’m forgetting something, but I don’t think this was ever addressed.
And I read somewhere that Joss Whedon had Dawn’s arrival planned long advance and planted clues and/or allusions to her in earlier seasons. Can anyone provide examples of this, or is it just some Internet nonsense?
And was anyone else disappointed that there weren’t more casualties in the series finale. (I’m looking at you, Faith.)
When Buffy died at the end of season 5, a new slayer wasn’t called because Buffy’s triggering mechanism had already been activated by her first death (at the end of season 1), which activated Kendra. Kendra’s death at the end of season 2 activated Faith.
When Buffy drowned briefly in S1, Kendra was called as a Slayer. When Kendra died, Faith was called. The Slayer line of succession went through Faith, not Buffy.
In the dream/vision sequence between Faith and Buffy in the S3 finale there’s a reference to 500 and something days, which was approximately the real number of days between the events of the episode and the intro of Dawn, and also a reference to “little sis.” In another dream sequence in the S4 finale there’s a reference to making a bed “before dawn.”
I always felt that Anya should have died saving Xander, rather than saving Andrew. It would have made more sense dramatically, with the former vengeance demon using her final act to protect and forgive the man who once left her at the altar, and would have been the ultimate showing of her growth as a human.
Of course, it gave Andrew his important function of “storyteller,” in telling Xander how she died heroically.
Joss peppered the earlier seasons with all sorts of clues as to what was to come. Otto mentioned the countdown from “Restless” and the references between Faith/Buffy. Joss also foreshadowed Willow’s future with a line from “Doppelgangland”:
*Willow: It’s horrible! That’s me as a vampire? I’m so evil and… skanky. And I think I’m kinda gay. *
They didn’t off Faith in the finale because at the time, they were considering a spin-off featuring Eliza’s character.
I’m watching Buffy for the second time now (I’ve just started season 3 - poor Angel) and when Faith first appears, Buffy’s mother comments on Buffy’s jealousness, saying that it’s a good thing she’s an only child. I wondered if that statement was deliberately planted.
Just a note to say I will keep my eyes open. My 10-year-old son (!) and I are watching the series on DVD right now - he is SO addicted. Some topics require more…explaining than I’d like (I don’t look forward to the episode where Buffy and Mr. Boring (what’s Mark Blucas’ character’s name?) spend the episode basically in bed…
Yikes. What did you do about Buffy and Angel’s sex scene in season 2? There’s also Faith and Xander and Oz and Willow in season 3. And I don’t think I’d let a 10-year-old watch season 6.
We haven’t gotten to Buffy and Angel - we are exactly 1/2-way through Season 2. I am worried about Ms. Calendar’s…well, what happens to her (I don’t know why I am worried about spoilers, but I am…). We watch it together and discuss stuff, so far so good. We skipped Inca Mummy Girl because it was off the main Big Bad arc and he didn’t like the look of the mummy. Everything else has been fine (well, The Pack eating Principal Flutie was a bit of a shock for him!)
I don’t know if we’ll watch Season 6 - too much of a downer, IMHO…save it for later.
Riley - that’s right; I just think of him as Mr. Boring.
One note: It has been fun to see Danny Strong, aka Jonathan of the Killer Nerds, make his fleeting appearances…
Interesting. I just assumed that if she died again, a new slayer would be triggered again. Didn’t occur to me that it was a one-time-only deal.
I have a hard time believing Joss had Willow’s sexual orientation in mind beforehand. During her Xander crush and Oz relationship, I detected no ambivalence or attraction to women. I don’t object to the direction he took the character; I just never got the feeling that it was a natural outgrowth of what had happened before.
I wonder if the “I’m kinda gay” line got him thinking of that possibility?
Joss has repeatedly said in interviews that he had “options” for both Willow and Xander early on. Gay/Bi was always a possibility for either of them. He was just waiting until the right story came along. Or not.
I’ve heard the same thing. In the case of “The Wish,” you can pull out evidence of gay/bi leanings for both Willow and Xander.
Frankly, I wish they had wound up going with Xander in the gay role, since Willow and Oz are my favorite TV pairing ever, and Xander’s character and romantic life wound up being a huge bore-fest for the last three seasons of the show.
I still think it was ham handed. “I’m madly in love with Xander but he never notices me. Now I’m madly in love with Oz and we hump like bunnies. I’m still carrying a torch for Xander thouh. Oh no, turns out I was gay all along!”
I had heard the same, and coulda sworn I’d read it myself, until someone called me on it and asked for a cite in another thread, and I was flabbergasted to be unable to unearth one. Just people saying that he’d said it, but no actual quotes or article dates. This was quite a while ago, and I got the creepy feeling like maybe the poster calling me on it WAS Joss, and he knew he hadn’t ever said it. Prob’ly not, of course, but it was quite an object lesson for me in repeating hearsay over the internet. Kind of like Woody Allen and Marshall Mcluhan in Annie Hall - you never know when you might actually be speaking to the person you’re “citing”!
But maybe you have better Google-fu than I…got cite?
(And I agree that Willow’s gayness came out of nowhere and was rather insulting. What, is “bisexual” anathema?)
Faith to Buffy in Season 3 finale dream sequence scene you’re referring: “Miles to go - Little Ms. Muffet counting down from 7-3-0.”
Season 4 - This Year’s Girl: Buffy and Faith in a dream sequence again, making a bed -
BUFFY: I wish I could stay, but…
FAITH: Oh, you have to go.
BUFFY: That’s just that…
FAITH: Little sis coming. I know.
BUFFY: So much to do before she gets here. Now I really have to…
Season 4 finale - *Restless * (yes, another dream sequence):
TARA: You think you know … what’s to come … what you are. You haven’t even begun.
BUFFY: I think I need to go find the others.
TARA (softly) Be back before dawn.
The FX reruns had quite a bit chopped out of them to make more time for commercials. If you ever get the hankerin’ to watch it all again, or you want to watch Angel, go for the DVDs. Netflix has them.
Angel’s line, which I noted was chopped out of the FX reruns, pretty much seals it that Joss was already thinking that far ahead.
AFAIK, Whedon didn’t have a planned out story arc for the entire series (a la J. Michael Straczynski). He tended to keep his options open and work on things as they came, but clearly Willow was heterosexual when she was with Oz.
She certainly appeared heterosexual. Lots of gay folks give every appearance of being completely straight until they suddenly realize they aren’t. Often enough, the performance is convincing enough they even fool themselves.
