I have this theory, and I may be off-base here, but that people who have been or have people very close to them who have been clinically depressed tend to like S6 better than those of us who haven't been through that sort of thing.

It also seems to me that people who came to the show later, like Season 4+, tend to be bigger advocates of Season 6. This isn't universally true, I hasten to add, but I do see it a lot.

It also seems to me that people who came to the show later, like Season 4+, tend to be bigger advocates of Season 6. This isn't universally true, I hasten to add, but I do see it a lot.

On a related note, there seems to be a trend that whatever season you started watching is the favorite. It doesn't hold true for me (came in during 2, but 3 is my favorite and I prefer 4 to 2 just barely), and I like the later seasons a lot too.

Jim is, quite unnervingly, me. I watched from the first season, but season 3 is my favorite. (Joss had me at "I see you've seen the softer side of Sears," coupled with Buffy's befriending Willow.) I can never say, "They should have stopped after season 5," because I'll take any Buffy episode I can get, but the last two seasons seemed more tired and unfocused.

I had no problem with Buffy's depression (and yes, I've been depressed myself) and the magic as crack thing didn't really bother me. Willow had always been insecure and it seemed in character that she would get caught up in being powerful, although admittedly they pushed the drug metaphor too hard. It's just that the Trio didn't seem like worthy villains to me, and they were played too much for laughs. Also, I would have liked to see Buffy slowly learning to cope, rather than just having a "I want to live" epiphany at the end. Season 7 had, as everyone has noted, the too-many-Potentials problem and the why-can't-Kennedy-die-first problem, but even worse, it had not-Giles. I think it would have been better if he had literally phoned in his performance ("I've found three more Potentials and a surviving watcher, and we're going to hole up in a cave in France.") until the end. I also didn't buy Dawn's transformation from Whining Dawn to MarySue Dawn, and there was way too much Andrew for my taste. I liked him best in duct tape.

I watched from the first season, but season 3 is my favorite. (Joss had me at "I see you've seen the softer side of Sears," coupled with Buffy's befriending Willow.)

Joss had me at "Amy's a witch! No, wait, her mother's a witch! No, wait, they switched bodies! This show is cool."

Joss had me at Darla turning out to be the vamp and not the bimbeau she was with.

although admittedly they pushed the drug metaphor too hard

I managed to fanwank myself using the theory (I think it was Cindy's) that everyone grabbed on to the magic=crack as an excuse so they didn't have to face up with what was really going on (ie some deep-seeded personality issues for Willow). Unfortunately, while there's nothing in the text against that theory, there's not much there to support it either. If they'd gone that way in SOME way, it would have mitigated most of my problems with the way that storyline developed.

They had me with the title. I never saw the film, but I remember even back thenm laughing with delight at the title. In the early days I always used to think that if you couldn't see why it was a truly inspired title, you probably wouldn't like the show...

And the magic-as-crack thing was such a mistake. It was needless - Willow's insecurity and thus need to feel powerful, arrogance about magic and capacity for selfdestructive anger when she's upset are deep, established character points as far back as season 3. It's totally in character that she'd overuse magic when life got hard, and that she'd go off the deep end with it in extremis.

I have this theory, and I may be off-base here, but that people who have been or have people very close to them who have been clinically depressed tend to like S6 better than those of us who haven't been through that sort of thing.

See, with a couple of other people, knowing people with clinical depression is one of the reasons I didn't like season 6. In my case, it's because of the intense desire to bitchslap most of the characters. It's particularly apparent on the financial episode. Willow and co have used most of Joyce's money and now they're broke and dumping it all on her. There is no way she should have been expected to look after her sister, continue slaying and earn a living, whilst suffering from clinical depression. That's not your standard 'pressures of growing up', that's just ridiculous.

And yeah, I know things very like that happen to people with depression in real life, but -

Here's the thing. It's like Lyta on Babylon 5. In the third season she gets screwed over, by the good guys, for no good reason. And then nobody ever mentions it again. Even when they're discussing potential reasons she might be seriously angry. She never yells at them for it, they never think about it, it just disappears.

And that's one of the reasons I really dislike season 6. Things like whta was done to Buffy and the spell Willow cast on Tara just disappear. (That's an exaggeration, both of those things have some reprecussions, just what seem to me to be tiny ones) I have huge emotional reactions and am really invested in what they show on screen, and then they just leave it. No closure. Which drives me so nuts I have to write long rants about it. And it then becomes very difficult to watch the episodes again, when I know, none of the stuff that's setup will pay off.

They had me with the title. I never saw the film, but I remember even back thenm laughing with delight at the title. In the early days I always used to think that if you couldn't see why it was a truly inspired title, you probably wouldn't like the show...

I watched it from WttH (and I liked it) but they didn't really have me until "Angel" when Buffy's cross burned into Angel's chest. I was such a BUFFYNANGLE4EVAH!!! girl back then.

I think it's a fairly accurate theory about the people who watched BtVS from the beginning and who disliked S6 and S7. It wasn't so much that they were bad (although they were) but also, the tone was so different. There was less wit after "Tabula Rasa" and everything got so heavyhanded.

And, although this is contradictory to what I said upthread, I do get upset when people (including ME writers) try to blame some of S6's fan reaction on the fact that it was 'dark' and some people couldn't handle it. Yes, it was dark. But, jesus, what the hell was S2 if not dark? The difference is that the writing was better in S2 and the tragic events were cathartic, not merely depressing.