Gloom: Your rankings are much like mine, at least in Buffy.

Buffy: 5 3 (6 4 2) 1 7

Watch from the beginning 3 step love Joyce's "Honey, try not to get kicked out" . Flutie's "Whoa!", Willow's "Not legally".

Seasons 3: best arc from the beginning, even development without a misstep, every episode matters, and Richard Wilkins III

2 good arc best finish, a couple of marking time episodes

4. I liked Riley and the Inititive 'K? overall arc below 3 and 2 but some great best. episodes. ever. Pangs, Something Blue, Hush, Restless

1. still finding it's feet, as yet merely the best TV show running, and they were all so young and full of hope. poor things, they had no idea what was in store.

6. I like it. It had some great episodes. but still rank it low from lost promise. It went off rails "Smashed, Racked, Gone, Double meat" mid season, but it was still Willow's season. Started so well Killing Bambi, and her "I'm telling you nothing will go wrong" response to Xander's "What if something goes wrong?" (That's not answering the question Will - but I think you knew that) and flaying Warren Mears "water cooler vengeance"

5. peaks were a little lower than other seasons , but death was her gift

7. Again started and finished well, but after Selfless and Conversations the depression in the middle was so wide. PLus why did none of them say "Just who are you and what have you done with Giles"?

Usual lurker with a first post! Woo. Had to weigh in on the Buffy love (and not-love). Watched from Season 1 (Praying Mantis lady was my first episode!) but Joss owned me at "Lie to Me."

While watching Season 6, I hated it. It just hurt SO much. But then again, I felt the same way about Season 3 - the whole "Faith as the dark side of Buffy" stuff just killed me, and all of the Buffy/Angel "can't be together but I need you" stuff as well. I just remember watching every week and cringing because I felt for everyone so much, and the same thing in Season 6.

However, the end of 6 (specifically the Return of Giles, I think) redeemed 6 for me... except for one thing. Initially, after S5 ended, interviews surfaced with Joss & Co. saying, "The theme of Season 6 will be "Oh grow up"." But then the theme turned out to be Buffy's depression and Willow's power issues (which as many others have pointed out took a left turn at Alberquerque and missed the boat). OK, so that's the theme.

But then Buffy's depression didn't resolve in the way that depression usually resolves. No one helped her (except one crying jag on Tara, which was lovely in a heartbreaking way). No therapy, no meds (not that I expected to see either literally, but a supernatural equivalent maybe?) and not even a gradual learning to cope. We had several points in the season in which Buffy seemed to take a turn for the better, then bam! Back to depression. (Which, a friend of mine pointed out, is consistent with real mental health... but I kept expecting them to be the start of a gradual upswing.)

And then at the end? Buffy has an epiphany, grows up, and lets go of the depression. NOOO! We're back to the first theme, but those two themes - like the themes of magic and drugs - are unmixy things. Recovering from depression is not an equivalent to maturing as a person. Seeking help for depression could be! Heck, laughing with Giles about her life could be! But not the way it played out. Unless we were meant to see the last scene as confirmation for her growth earlier in the episode? Dunno. It lost me.

So I don't know. Overall, I think they took great risks with S6; it was just a tough story to tell over a whole season. When it was funny, it was uproarious, I thought. But man, when it hurt, it hurt.

(By the way, hello everybody! I'm constantly amazed at the great conversations here and how discussions never evolve into flames. Amazing! Sorry for the long post! And I would post my seasons ranking, but I can't decide other than Season 7 = bad. And I think Prophecy Girl is THE Buffy episode. Hits every note. Gorgeous. :) )

(ETA: I realized that in my long post I never made my other point, which was, if they're going to do "real" problems (according to some interview I read back then, they decided to do realism, not metaphors) then I wanted to see real solutions! Thus my rant about healing Buffy's depression. I wanted to see her do it, fight those inner demons and win, not lose to them and then just poof! All better.)

Welcome, Jill!

It boggles me people lurk so long. I guess I need to give my opinion too much. Hi. Nice to meet you.

And "In Loving Memory of J.D. Peralta"? Who's J.D. Peralta? I'm sure he deserves better than this episode for his loving memory.

She. Her name wasn't really J.D., she had a law degree (a juris doctor) and so it earned her the nickname. She found out she had cancer, which took hold and killed her very quickly. She was very young.

Was one of those things when fans came through and sent a lot of cards to Marti and her family, and Marti sent thank yous back with a lovely tribute to J.D.

And that's all I know.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm like a pathological lurker, or something. Not really shy in real life; just always feel like I'm breaking up the conversation online without much of real interest to say. :)

Thank you Cindy (back a few posts) and Allyson for the info on J.D. Peralta; I remember wondering when the episode aired who that was. How sad. I'm glad Marti and the rest of ME were able to dedicate an episode to her, and I'm sure Wrecked was an episode Marti was proud of and thus wanted to dedicate to her. (Our opinions of the episode itself notwithstanding!)

Coincidentally, I was just discussing with a friend how the break between Wrecked and Gone was possibly the worst hiatus ever - six weeks left hanging on that scene of Buffy sitting in her bedroom with all that garlic. It was an agonizing wait to find out what happened!

Hush is on right now! (Stupid me -- I meant Restless.)

Too bad I have to miss most of it. (Stupid work.)

Watched the one before Restless this morning (and of course, had to see the end, so was late for work). Even season 4 had some good stuff. I still remember Jack Esteve (someof you may remember him from days of yore) calling me and screeching "That kicked fucking ASS!!"

Primeval.

Even though the Initiative storyline only half-assed worked for me, I adore this episode. I adore it, because of the Enjoining spell. I so hoped some sort of resolution to the S7 problems would have a tie-in to that spell. After all, that's what woke the First Slayer for Restless.

I have many favorite episodes, and in most ways, Primeval isn't any of them. But that spell, for me, is emblematic of the series as a whole.