# Well, it looks like I'm done with Buffy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054 "2002-03-25T19:13:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/21 "2002-03-27T13:31:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by capacitor \* > \*\*Hey, my hope is that they don’t do what I heard they are about to do with the later episodes, from what I read of the spoiler boards. Of course, in season 5, almost all the spoilers got it wrong on which Scooby member bites it. \*\* Bing! Exactly. Just like the _Survivor_ spoiler boards they are wrong 80% of the times, and only talk about the 20% of the times that they didn’t missed it completely. BTW: I liked Season 4, and Season 5 (except for Dawn which seem to be too transparent an attempt to appear to the pre-teen set) even parts of Season 6 (the musical) but the season has drifted a bit as the writers have tried to be too clever. Still, I will keep watching- I have a good feeling about the last couple episodes for this season. _-me_ ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/22 "2002-03-27T13:34:41Z")
Well, you’re right. It does seem like I’m wanting conflicting things about the show. If my complaints seem unfocused, I don’t know why that is. What I really want, simply put, is to go back to characters I could care about. Which is to say, characters that stand up, do the right thing, and so forth. Not a bunch of whiny, self-centered, uncommunicative jerks. Grown up? No, they’re acting more like immature high school students than they did in high school. But looks like it doesn’t matter. I feel the same way I felt in season five or six (I forget) of the X-Files when I realized the show was going nowhere, that it had spun out of control, and no one on it cared about it making any kind of sense anymore. I bailed on it then and never missed it. I suspect the same is for Buffy. I only watch one show on TV pretty much, and now that’s zero. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/23 "2002-03-27T14:01:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Legomancer \* > \*\* > So poor me. Clearly the show is now over my little head. Tell you what, I’ll spend those Tuesday nights gettin’ all brainyfied so I can once again have the smarts to enjoy the show. \*\* I suggest you start by writing an essay examining the use of off-screen sourced music in The Road Warrior, and its use in indicating the death of key characters. Either that, or go back and read some more Heinlein, which is one of the few places you’ll consistently find characters that stand up and do the right thing. Or, you could say this season’s big bad is a crisis of faith-- and the difficulties young adults have in trying to make their own way in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/24 "2002-03-27T17:03:09Z")
I have a problem. I agree with both sides here. I don’t much care for the darker, more-convoluted way this season has gone, but I appreciate that the characters are involved with “real life” problems of being in the “about to leave college” age group. Unfortunately, I happen to think that my own real life (such as it is) is disturbing and annoying enough that I don’t really want to watch some of my favorite TV characters bungling up their own lives too. It seems to me these guys are pretty lcuky in a way: If they choose to take it, they actually have _direction_. They don’t seem to see the road that Angel has gone as a viable option. They have spent the past six years defeating evil and doing the right thing, etc. etc. hero stuff etc. It looks like they just want to forget that its something they’re good at. Xander, failing all else, has gone into construction. Besides the fact that he couldn’t do anything else, he’s making a good living at it. Unfortunatly, it’s a dead-end job. Willow is wrapping up college … for what? What the hell is her major and what does she intend to do with it? Buffy, well, Buffy has made a lot of the same mistakes I made, but at least her life has purpose. Before I had a family, my sole reason for being was to survive to the next day. I think what I’m getting to is they need a focus. Hopefully we’ll get that by the end of the season. And something more than “beat the Big Bad of the year.” Reckon that’s why I keep watching. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/25 "2002-03-27T19:10:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gorgon Heap \* > \*\* > Xander, failing all else, has gone into construction. Besides the fact that he couldn’t do anything else, he’s making a good living at it. Unfortunatly, it’s a dead-end job. \*\* ??? Hardly, especially if he’s as together and talented at it as they are portraying him to be. He could end up quite wealthy and very satisfied with his work. stoid ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/26 "2002-03-27T19:20:24Z")
Sorry, **Stoid** , that was my pathetic attempt at empathy. I fully understand all of what you said, it’s just that physically laborious work isn’t something I personally strive to do, so I don’t have any common ground to speak from. I wasn’t dissing the construction industry o rthe ficticious character we are discussing, just my shallow opinion of the bearing it has in a show about killing demons. [a-hem] :o ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/27 "2002-03-27T19:51:15Z")
I dunno - according to this spoiler page, some interesting things could be happening soon. (be careful - linked to the page I list here is another page with extra spoilage - pretty heavy duty stuff about a potentially dead Scooby member and this season’s Big Bad…) [http://www.angelicslayer.com/tbcs/spoilers.html](http://www.angelicslayer.com/tbcs/spoilers.html) ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/28 "2002-03-27T20:59:23Z")
Wow, **Wordman** , that spoilers site is a mess. I didn’t know which one of the three thousand links to look at, so I started picking at random and none of them had anything interesting to say. Reckon I’ll just have to actually watch the shows, huh? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/29 "2002-03-27T23:05:56Z")
Hmmm - don’t know what to say **Gorgon Heap** - I tried the link I had posted in the thread and it took me to where I expected it to. I scrolled down the page and saw normal spoilers, and also a link to “extra spoilage”. Clicking on that, I saw news regarding which Scooby is expected to die and who the Big Bad will turn out to be… ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Martin\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_E)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/30 "2002-03-27T23:20:36Z")
**Legomancer** > [@](#): > > I realized this weekend that I still hadn’t watched the last new episode of Buffy. Perhaps you’re growing up. [http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/cool7.gif](http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/cool7.gif) ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/31 "2002-03-27T23:32:05Z")
Saw last night’s episode, which obviously was a repeat. Thought it was pretty lame. Willow and Amy practicing magic and making people dance was reminiscent of Bewitched, complete with sound effects and sparklies. It made me cringe. And then we had Buffy and Spike beating the shit out of each other and getting a rise out of it… Sigh The thing that made Buffy great was its quirkiness and its character development. It’s inevitable, I suppose, that characters can’t be quirky and interesting forever. Look at Ally McBeal, whose characters have outlived their natural shelf life by years. I also find it depressing how the show has gotten so dark. I miss Buffy’s flippant attitude and the villain’s one-liners. I’m going to have to agree with Lego. I think Fonzie has jumped the shark. It’s a shame, too, cause it was a really fine show in its heyday. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/32 "2002-03-28T02:10:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gorgon Heap \* > **Willow is wrapping up college … for what? What the hell is her major and what does she intend to do with it?** I don’t know what Willow’s major is, but she has said that what she wants to do is fight evil. She said that to Buffy back when Willow told Buffy that she was going to UC-Sunnydale with her. The only course I remember seeing her take was Maggie Walsh’s psych course, and I imagine she got an incomplete what with the prof getting murdered halfway through the semester. Or do you get a 4.0 when your prof dies, just like when it’s your roommate? Assuming Willow doesn’t get killed off at some point, I always sort of envisioned her becoming a Watcher. I often have thought that a cool ending to the series would be a “25 years later” scene with Willow approaching a new Slayer and revealing to her her destiny. On the subject of Willow and by extension the “magic as crack” concept, check me to see if this makes sense. Most of Willow’s spells prior to the Battle of Glory’s Living Room were small and tended to be prop-based and invocational. Protection spells, floating pencils and the like. I’m thinking that it’s the non-prop stuff, the direct manipulation of the stuff of magic, that’s addictive. The teleportation, the transmutation of elements, tossing off of lightning bolts etc. that she started around the time of the BoGLR without the intermediary of either props or invoking the name of one or more dieties is what she’s addicted to. Or is this just mindless ramblings? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/33 "2002-03-28T02:25:25Z")
> [@](#): > > On the subject of Willow and by extension the “magic as crack” concept, check me to see if this makes sense. Most of Willow’s spells prior to the Battle of Glory’s Living Room were small and tended to be prop-based and invocational. Protection spells, floating pencils and the like. I’m thinking that it’s the non-prop stuff, the direct manipulation of the stuff of magic, that’s addictive. The teleportation, the transmutation of elements, tossing off of lightning bolts etc. that she started around the time of the BoGLR without the intermediary of either props or invoking the name of one or more dieties is what she’s addicted to. Or is this just mindless ramblings? It seems like there are two forms of magic in the Buffyverse: pure magic, which is dangerously addictive and only available to a few magically pre-disposed people, and ritual magic, where extra-planar being are asked to intervene on the caster’s behalf. Ritual magic requires a lot more preparation and strict adherence to a formula or incantation, but anyone can do it if they follow the instructions just right. Watchers in particular seem particularly skilled at this type of magic. The stuff Willow got into is the “pure” magic where the caster herself channels the energy, apparently causing a sort of high, like a drug. Using pure magic depends on one’s natural inclinations towards it, and may be genetically based. (Tara constantly refered to the fact that Willow, despite having less experience than her, was still vastly more powerful, indicating that Willow had some sort of natural talent for it.) Incidentally, Tara said she’d “always” used magic, even as a child, because her mother was also a powerful witch. Which means Tara is apparently some sort of mystical crack-baby. Explains a lot about her, no?😛 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/34 "2002-03-28T07:35:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Incidentally, Tara said she’d “always” used magic, even as a child, because her mother was also a powerful witch. Which means Tara is apparently some sort of mystical crack-baby. Explains a lot about her, no? Like maybe she has some immunity to the addiction thing? “Ritual” was just the word I was thinking of and then I never typed it. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/35 "2002-03-28T13:30:22Z")
Magic isn’t crack or heroin or any of the ‘hard’ drugs. It’s booze. Some people just can’t handle it at all. Some binge and recover, binge and recover. Most folks can handle it in moderate amounts. And some – like Willow --get addicted. ---
**Author:** ![Lauralee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lauralee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lauralee)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/36 "2002-03-28T19:52:15Z")
I’m still watching - still waiting for Xander to die. I swore off spoilers after last season, so I don’t know what the end of this season looks like. But rewatch Restless and tell me Joss isn’t setting it up for Xander to bite it. And Warren must go. And the annoying little sheepboy who follows him. Never can remember his name. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/37 "2002-03-28T21:45:40Z")
I haven’t read any of the real spoilers yet, but I’m hoping that Spike goes bad again, kills Xander, and runs away with Anya. I think that would be great. I used to root for Buffy and Spike, but I’m tired of the way they all treat Spike. so let him turn bad and wreak major havoc. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054/38 "2002-03-29T00:49:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*I don’t get why so many people put down the fourth season. I found it to be one fo the strongest in the show’s entire run. It had a wealth of strong episodes (Hush, Something Blue, the Thanksgiving episode, among others), an interesting villain, and more character development than you can shake a stake at. It started Spike off on the most interesting character arc on the show yet (Sorry, but season two Spike is just boring. Yet another vampire, but this one’s got a sexy accent! Ooo!) > > And, dammit, I like season six. It’s departure from the previous seasons, and I say that’s a good thing. Whedon and co. are still willing to innovate with the show. They aren’t content to just find a formula that works and drive it into the ground, like every other show on TV. They take risks. Even if the risks don’t always pay off, the fact that they’re willing to take them is reason enough to keep watching. \*\* My problem with the fourth season was that I hated Riley and the second half of the season made me ill since there was so much slayer/farmboy sex. However, some of my favorite episodes ever(something in blue; Pangs) were in it, so some parts of it were highly enjoyable. It’s sort of like this season…Until Smashed I thought this season might turn out to be my favorite. Now, I think there’s potential for it to get better, but it’s gotten pretty silly. I still don’t have a favorite season though ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-it-looks-like-im-done-with-buffy/100054.md?page=1)