Except there were people who liked that episode.
I enjoyed it thoroughly. I also like Pylea an awful lot. I have no problems with comic relief episodes or runs. Season Two, especially, was perfectly paced up to the point of Pylea, and I'm not sure if they could extend it much further without it getting overdone. Thus, it was either something different at the beginning of the season, or something different at the end, and I like the way they chose to go about it. I agree that TGiQ could probably have been replaced with something better for the overarching plot, but it didn't stop me from loving the ride of the episode, so funny. And the Fredllyria scenes were fricking amazing: honestly, a whole episode around those would've done me even better, but I enjoyed the cheap humor.
If I didn't hate Saint Cordy, I'd have long ago decided that my Angel opinions were unreconciliable with most (or at least the most outspoken and often eloquent) of the Buffistas. And my love for Waiting in the Wings seems to bely even that agreement a bit.
While we're at it, I think Season Five is my favorite Buffy season, and Season 6 is my third favorite, after 3. And ten episodes into season 7, I thought it was going to be the best season yet: compared to the first 10 episodes of most seasons, it was a pretty solid run. Plus, I happen to find Beer Bad to be one of the most enjoyable episodes in all of Buffy - it's probably in my top ten most watched - though I think I'm with many of you in thinking Restless is the best 43 minutes the show ever achieved.
Deep Space Nine.
Smacks forhead!
And I just finished watching the entire run a few months back. Yeah, they did pretty good there considering some of the meta problems on top of just keeping a show going 7 years. I think the closest thing to pandering I can think, aside from Vic as previously mentioned, was finding ways to keep bringing The Intendent back, and I wasn't about to complain about that.
The problems with Bashir were definitely more of the "neat idea/good, enthusiastic actor" school of not thinking the implications through, IMO.
I hated Deep Space Nine with a passion. I didn't make it past the first season (except for the Dax ep in which she utters the wondrous line, "She used to be my wife."). Avery Brooks, while v. pretty, is among the worst actors I've ever seen. His "acting" grated on my nerves so badly, I couldn't enjoy the show. The only characters I even really liked were Dax and the gooey dude (police officer?). The rest of them annoyed the living hell out of me.
Avery Brooks, while v. pretty, is among the worst actors I've ever seen.
Whoa, I can read each of the words individually as English, but together they make no sense.
I didn't make it past the first season
On a more serious note, season 1 was by far the weakest. The show didn't get really interesting until they started arc-ing it up a bit.
I don't even take much issue with Ezri. She should have been a he but as many chances as DS9 took, I think the implications of that would have been too much for them to deal with.
I hated Deep Space Nine with a passion.
Gloomcookie just made me cry.
Bashir-as-Bond was glorious.
"Kiss the girl, get the key. They didn't teach me that in the Obsidian Order."
Another unpopular opinion: LOVED Voyager.
Today, my favorite Buffy seasons are, in order of preference:
3
2
6
4
5
1
7
Two and Three swap with each other on occasion, as do Four and Five, with six mixing it up with them, every once in a while, usually because four has cut ahead of it. Sometimes, my
Becoming
love is so strong, I give season 2 top billing, just because of that (with a side of S/I, and IOHEfY). I don't care what Joss thinks about Surprise/Innocence (which I do love), or what the critics say about
The Body,
and
Hush,
or my own, extreme delight in OMWF,
Becoming
is the two finest hours of television anyone will ever make.
Episodes that still light my fire (in no particular order, after Becoming):
Becoming
(I don't split the hours)
Surprise/Innocence
Restless
Primeval
Passion
Hush
Checkpoint
Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest
NKaBotFD
The Pack
Angel
Prophecy Girl
When She Was Bad
School Hard
Halloween
Lie to Me
The Dark Age
I Only Have Eyes for You
Phases
BBaB
All of Season 3, save Anne, which is also good
All of Season 4, save The Freshman and Living Conditions, which are good
Buffy vs. Dracula
You know what, I can't even do this. My top ten episodes would contain 50 titles. My top 100 would contain the whole gross. I just love the wonderful show with the silly name. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. I'm looking at the episode list, season by season at Buffyguide.com and, as you can probably tell from my list which wouldn't have ended, except that I stopped composing it, and I kept thinking, "Yep, gotta include that. Oh, and that. Oh and that one had the funny with the..." yeah.
A:ts hit me somewhere else--deeper, and darker. My love for it is different. But if I had to choose only one TV series to watch in my life, before the Powers that Be folded time, my last words before the clocks turned back would be, "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer."
Episodes that still light my fire
Yep. Note the earlyness of most of that list, key for me too.
my last words before the clocks turned back would be, "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
Ditto. I'd like to have this board to talk about it, and watch-n-post, etc. The Bronze added so much to my already extreme enjoyment of the show.
