Buffy the Vampire Slayer

 I have so many thoughts about Buffy, so I won't structure this as a normal review but use bullet points.

Buffy, at least the first five seasons, is the Star Trek of my generation.  It is the perfect combination of camp, camp action, comedy, and creepiness and terror.

The character of Willow was revolutionary-she not only had a lesbian kiss, but she had multiple relationships with women.  However, she is clearly a bisexual, even if the writers of Buffy did not know such a thing existed.  She was attracted to men, had a relationship with one.  In fact, her being attracted to a woman comes completely out of left field, and her previous attraction to men is thrown out. 

In the earlier seasons, the show was a perfect balance of the creepy and the comedic, but after season five it lost its steam.....I think the problem was the invention of the Big Bad story arc, which was also revolutionary, but it became predictable in this series, and similar series that followed, like the Flash.

The scariest episode of the entire run of Buffy does not deal with a supernatural event, but with the death of her mother by completely natural causes. I haven't seen a death of a character handled so well.  Buffy says when she finds her mother dead, Mom, Mom......and then finally Mommy.  It's so powerful.  It's a realistic examination of the reaction people have to death.  It ties in the story of the show, the plot of the show is a Slayer fighting evil, but the story of the show is about Buffy's coming of age.  She does all the things you need to do as you grow older, fall in love, lose your parents (either through death or distance) and have adult responsibilities thrust on you.  That's why the second two seasons fail, because they contribute nothing to this story. 

Also, if the story had ended at the end of season 5, Xander and Anya would have had the happy ending that they deserved.  Later on Xander leaves her as he is afraid that he would become his parents, which is a legitimate fear....but maybe get some therapy?  Work on yourself?  And he says at the end of the series that he still loves he but when he finds out that she died, he treats it like a joke.  Xander started the series off as a sort of author surrogate and a way that the audience can relate to the world of Buffy.  He's annoying and self-centered, but he matures, finds out that he does have a talent for something and believes in himself. This character development is thrown away.  I think an honest last episode should have had him crying like a baby......which would be understandable all things considered.

Buffy suddenly has a sister in season 5 and this is dealt with in a very good way.....at first you are surprised that they added the character and just expect you to accept it, but there's a twist.  But after this, they turn the character of Buffy's dad into a deadbeat, which he was not.  One of the plots of the early episodes was a situation where all your nightmares come true....and people had various nightmares, but Buffy's was that her dad would reject her.  And in the end of the episode, it's revealed that her Dad cares a lot about her.  Which is the case when he is mentioned until season 5 (apart from one cancellation, but things happen). After season 5, due to the invention of Dawn, he becomes a deadbeat.  I think it's explained by the magic of the monks that created Dawn, but I think in reality it's poor writing....they wanted Buffy to be thrust in this world where she has to take care of her sister (who she's had for 3 months) without any help whatsoever, but I think it did a disservice to her dad.

I don't know if anyone would bother watching the whole run of the series in this day and age, but the early seasons are definitely gold.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Race to Witch Mountain

 While this film is not a great or even a good movie, it is still much better than the first two parts of this franchise. Those films take the idea of aliens with superpowers visiting the Earth and presents it in a monumentally boring way. This film sticks to a formula of an alien or two aliens out to do good, but being pursued by nefarious government agents. Dwayne The Rock Johnson does a good job in this movie as a character who is down on his luck, but with a big heart. He is, of course, full of charisma and this movie came out before both his body and his ego ballooned. He does lose fights in this movie. The special effects in the first two films were bad, but they were made around 40 years ago. The special effects in this movie are also bad, and it's only 11 years old. I think perhaps they wanted to release it in 3D, or they did release it in 3D and now the version we watch has very bad effects. This is a forgettable film with a few nice scenes, so it's probably a movie to...
Read more

Scout's Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America

 This is not a particularly well done documentary, but I think it is a very important story. It's the story of how the Boy Scouts of America hid abuse from parents and the authorities. It's also the story of how an immensely powerful organization is using bankruptcy proceedings to evade justice. It's also the story of how an organization can claim on the one hand that it doesn't have any problems with abuse and on the other blame any problems it does have on homosexuals. Because, the logic goes, if they can keep homosexuals out of the organization, they can keep abusers out. But that does not make any sense whatsoever. Just think about the logic of that argument for one second, and you'll see how flimsy it is. It's an important story, as I have said, but I think the history of it is much better detailed in a podcast serious called behind the bastards. So if you want it better understanding of this topic you would do better to listen to that podcast about the fou...
Read more

The Pez Outlaw

 This is one of those rare documentaries that would actually be better told as a fictional movie than a documentary. It's the story of Steve Glew who made millions of dollars smuggling Pez dispensers into the United States. Steve's story is interesting because he grew up very poor, and he discovered something which would ultimately make him wealthy, but then he got bored with doing that, and he wanted to be more creative, and then he crossed a line which he was unable to come back from. Also interesting is how Steve's nemesis is presented as this arrogant villain, but in actual fact everything that Steve was doing was technically illegal. So you feel kind of bad for him because he seems to be a sweet, good-natured individual, but on the other hand it was a completely predictable failure. So an interesting watch
Read more