Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite TV show, ever. In fact, I can't even imagine a day when it won't be my favorite show. That's said, it wasn't flawless. There were perpetual pacing problems, and to me, they seemed to worsen, from season 4 on. Even then, there were pacing problems evident to me in every season (possibly save season 1, because it was only a mini-season, and so I can't hold it to the same standards).

NOTE: When reading my complaints, please keep in mind: Those who can, do; those who can't, bitch on posting boards, then note what I am doing.

In the early seasons there seemed to me more blatant stand-alones, that for me, mitigated the pacing problems. I was fine with the off-pace of season 2, because the placement of the stand-alones made me feel like I was watching two series. I was watching a serial (soap), where the plot started with the Annoying One and the Master, and carried on to Spike and Drusilla, with Angel reverting into Angelus.

The soap served to show Buffy and her friends (and us) what they were made of, what they could do, and where their weak and/or blindspots endangered them. In short, it showed them their shortcomings, such that they could learn to overcome even the most seemingly insurmountable of foes. The revelations about the Little Bads/Medium Bads/Big Bad were paced to be woven into the B plot of each of the core four.

The stand-alones served many of the same character-driven purposes, but from another point of view (or something, I'm having trouble articulating this). The day-to-day challenges the Scoobies faced in the stand-alones used monster metaphor to great effect, to tell me about high school, young love, and family problems. And they served as big breaks in the serial, the soap opera—if you will—such that it wasn't a problem that Buffy and friends went from something silly like Bad Eggs, to the sudden jolt of Surprise, or from the wacky Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered to the heartbreak of Passion, or from Xander. In a Speedo. Wet. (mmmm) of Go Fish to (arguably) one of the main two points of the entire seven seasons as told in Becoming. I could accept that things had happened off screen, in between any two given episodes. Most of the time, it felt like time had passed. I didn't have this sense of minor plot points being stretched out over hours, and enormous developments being crammed into about a quarter of the time they deserved, in season two.

Contrast that season with season 7. We had a potential stalked and killed by the FE's minions in the teaser of episode one. That continued at least for a couple of episodes. We had The Parade of Big Bads Past in the final scene. The big bad was basically exposed in episode 1! Then we had how many episodes following, with "From beneath you, it devours," hammered into our skulls. On top of that, we were cleaning up our messes from season 6: Jonathan and Andrew's involvement with Warren; Spike's attempted rape of Buffy; Willow's magicks abuse, and flaying of Warren and betrayal of the gang; Anya and Xander's aborted wedding.

Soap fans are fairly patient about not much happening in any given episode, but in part, that's because soap fans generally get five hours a week of story. BtVS was a weekly drama, with only 22 episodes/hours a season. A good ten episodes (approx., I'm too lazy to research this, today), so ten hours, in the center of the season accomplished about as much as was accomplished in season two's two hours of Surprise/Innocence.

Add in the Potentials and McHottie, and all the time spent on misdirection, whether it was Dawn, Not!Joyce, or Pod!Giles, and there was just way too much static. It threw everything off. Then we have to cram in Faith's story (which is very important to Buffy's journey as hero). If I tell myself the story of season 7, it is a good story. When I watch it, I feel a bit like I do when reading an important story, based on a fantastic idea, written by a fair-to-middling author.

and all the time spent on misdirection, whether it was Dawn, Not!Joyce, or Pod!Giles,

This is the thing that bugs me as much as anything. All of sudden we had a red tide of red herring in S7. And none of them fucking panned out as interesting. Or even necessarily coherent. It was cheap. Obviously a misdirect can be a key part in building narrative suspense - not the way they did it. So much time wasted on bullshit. Grrrr. Let Giles be Giles! Let Xander do...something. I didn't mind Principal Hottie - he was one of the intriguing figures of S7. But they really made a mistake by stuffing the house with potentials.

It was supposed to build a siege-like pressure, but all it did was disperse focus.

Half the number of potentials, with names and a semblance of a story, would have given twice the dramatic punch. Or, shocking thought, you've got a bunch of people with seven years or so of carefully built back story, use them. I loved Andrew because he's cute, but he took time from other folks.

I loved Andrew because he's cute, but he took time from other folks.

I'm not sure that was a mistake by itself. The show had long been able to integrate new characters into the group, and it didn't become clear until pretty late that S7 would be the last. Maybe he didn't deserve quite so much emphasis, or at least needed to provide more of an impetus to everyone else's story, but I liked his story.

But not enough wrod in the world to show my agreement on the "too many potentials" line of argument.

I loved Andrew because he's cute, but he took time from other folks.

I think Andrew's story was one of the few things that was fresh and interesting and consistently entertaining in S7. Obviously the writers enjoyed writing for his character and didn't feel so constrained as they did with the show's own mythology.

I think we need to see Andrew one last time.

I think Andrew's story was one of the few things that was fresh and interesting and consistently entertaining in S7.

Here's where we part company. I'm hoping Illyria's time-manipulation powers mean that if she should ever meet Andrew and be sufficiently annoyed by him, she can go back in time and kill him retroactively before Buffy Season 7 happens.

Matt, but then you miss "Storyteller." Which may have been the last Great Buffy Ep.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite TV show, ever. In fact, I can't even imagine a day when it won't be my favorite show. That's said, it wasn't flawless.

This would look kick ass on a t-shirt. And I appreciate being able to honestly discuss the best and the worst of BtVS without it turning into a flame war.

Let Xander do...something

This was a huge beef for me in S7. Xander is such a cherished character for me and to see him banished to the background was very disappointing. I am sure the idea was to have all the core scoobies appear in the series finale, but honestly, I wish they would have put Xander *out of his misery and just had the balls to kill him off instead of poking his eye out.*

With the cancellation of Angel (and really, I don't have my money on getting it moved to a different network) some folks here and other places have lamented that this is the end of the Buffyverse. I honestly don't feel like it is. Maybe I'm in denial, but I think there are stories left to tell in film and TV.

edited to remove spoilerish comments

Mariposa, the full 144 episodes of BtVS can be discussed in here without spoiler font. The only thing you have to be careful of is discussion of current series. For instance you can't compare something on Buffy to something from this season of Angel, unless the Angel stuff is white fonted. In fact, I think we try to avoid talking about the current season of Angel in here at all.

It's a little confusing, because this thread was once a NAFDA thread. You're safe discussing all of BtVS in here.