It occurs to me that I just stopped Bitching About Buffy and Angel. The world got super heavy, and it didn’t seem appropriate at the time, and I wasn’t really in the mood.
But for anyone who might be interested, I finished them both. Here are my thoughts.
The last season of Buffy felt weird to me. There were more OOC moments in season 7 than in all the other ones combined. The last season of Angel made me feel all kinds of things. The last season of Buffy? ... Not so much. Which is sad, because I feel like that’s when Spike as a character really came into himself, and I could leave just about the whole season, but that would be leaving off the best bits of Souled!Spike, and I can’t do that. I thought I was going to have to hate him forever, but then he went and got himself a soul and didn’t make any excuses for being an unutterable dick at the end of the previous season and generally just made himself available without being overbearing. He just grew a lot.
Then he seemed to regress a bit when he popped up on Angel later, but not completely.
Giles....man, who was that? Last season Giles is not my Giles. I was almost convinced he was dead and the First was wearing his face. I will forever miss the tweed, but s7 Giles was OOC af. S7 BUFFY was super OOC, at least for the last half of it, even accounting for the being ripped out of Heaven bit.
Faith’s character flatlined. I just don’t feel like she redeemed herself at all. Reformed maybe but not redeemed. And she just generally gets on my fucking nerves. I understand why people like her, I’m just not one of those people. I think it’s because I’m a lot like Faith in some ways. I give no fucks and will fight anything and anyone. Not as successfully, but the spirit is willing. You can be ballsy and brazen and take charge and grab life by the balls without being a conscienceless asshole. I know. I did that. I watched Faith and had hardcore flashbacks to my 20s. Except I didn’t...like...MURDER AND TORTURE PEOPLE WITHOUT REMORSE. She did it with glee.
Willow, as always, was precious and wonderful. Xander, as always, was a fucking dumbass. Did I bitch about him leaving Anya at the altar? I can’t remember.
Allow me to do so now.
Like....what the fuck?
I repeat....what the fuck? When I first started Buffy and was bitching about how much I fucking hated Xander Fucking Harris, a friend was like, ‘Yeah, he takes a long time to pull his head out of his ass, but he gives up a lot in the end. He sacrifices something most important to him for the greater good.’ And so, I spent the whole fucking series waiting for this Moment of Ultimate Sacrifice™ that was going to redeem him...and it wasn’t until a couple of eps AFTER the wedding ep that I realized that was what they had been talking about. Like...
No.
That was not sacrifice. That was Xander being a selfish fuckhead. What should have happened was he saw that vision of the future and took some fucking notes and resolved to be a better fucking person. Like, ‘All this bad shit happened after you did this.’ Man, how helpful to have the benefit of hindsight before the fact. Just...DON’T DO THAT THING. BE BETTER. Here’s a list of shit you need to work on. But noooooooooo. He couldn’t just try to be good enough for Anya and support her emotionally even if he ended up not being able to financially. He couldn’t have been more sensitive to his children’s emotional needs and shit. I guess that was too hard. *plays tiny violin* It was better to LEAVE HER AT THE FUCKING ALTAR?? And even then he could have fixed the fucking situation. He was still willing to have a relationship, he just didn’t want to get married. Like....newsflash. Marriage doesn’t make you a piece of shit. Being a piece of shit makes you a piece of shit. They were actually good for each other, too, and typically I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy, but by glob, she loved him. Yes, she was too good for him, but instead of being grateful and working on himself, he decided to run and then to deny her the one thing she wanted out of the relationship and just...
Fuck Xander Harris, okay? Fuck. Him. I am so glad I never have to see his stupid fucking face ever again. *spits on Xander Harris*
RIP Anya, tho. All the tears. I fucking loved her.
That all said, s7′s Big Bad was not as big or as bad as I think I expected it to be. Nathan Fillian’s character was just obnoxious and exhausting. The First was too easily thwarted throughout the earlier episodes, and Angel bringing in that amulet was too fucking convenient to ignore. And considering what was in that vision....even if Buffy had accepted that infusion of strength, it wouldn’t have fucking been enough. Even with aaaaaall the Potentials. And The Potentials.....man, for something that originated in like Africa, there were a lot of white girls from America involved. Like, and it’s not even so much that as there was almost none from anywhere else. The world is a big fucking place. The Watcher’s Council surely had more/better records on girls from other countries. Hell, the white British girls damn near outnumbered the girls of color from anywhere else combined. It was just....excessive. But I guess....’it was the 90s’. Chalk it up there with the rampant fucking misogyny, I suppose.
Andrew grew on me. I will hate Dawn until the end of fucking time. (Of fucking time, y’all.) The only good - like really good - thing that came out of s7 was Spike. Well, there was Robin. And, man...did I ever want Buffy to end up with Robin...but Spike was just great. Even when he was kicking Robin’s ass. Neither of them were right or wrong, it was just a shit situation. Like, I understand Robin doing what he did. I’d have done it, too, if it was my mom. But I think it really shows a complexity of character that Spike didn’t just roll over because he now had a soul, which would have been predictable. And it showed growth that he left him alive. Spike’s still got his problematic elements, but he’s also just a really good character, partly because of those elements. He’s got that nice balance of good and bad, that vast, pleasing literary gray area. He had a good ‘end’, too. And accepting and acknowledging that Buffy didn’t really love him, but appreciating the gesture, and her making the gesture? *chef’s kiss* I just...I love him.
All in all, tho, the last half of the last season of Buffy left me supremely unsatisfied. Series-wise, it wasn’t a terrible show. I love Buffy’s character. Love love love love her. I love Willow and Giles and Anya. (I’m a little neutral on Tara, but Willow loved her, and that’s good enough for me. Her death ruined me, but really only because it ruined Willow.) I still miss Oz. I wept over this show, y’all. It ripped my heart out more than once. I’m glad I finally watched it. But honestly? I never, ever want to watch it again. I’m good. I’m done.
ANGEL, though....
Angel had far fewer ‘rip my heart out’ moments, but there were some, and they were doozies. Still, I feel like Angel was an overall better show. It was made for a more mature audience. It got hella fucking weird in places, but it was more down-to-earth in the storytelling and the characterizations...I think. It felt more...intimate? Is that the word I’m looking for? I hate to say realistic. It was just more grown up. It was...about grown ups. It never pissed me off quite as badly as Buffy did or as often. It was just a more solid show with better writing.
The last season, strangely, might be my favorite. S4 felt like the show was flagging a bit. That whole Connor/Cordelia thing was....ew. Connor was....bless him, he was annoying. I wanted to slap him several times. Their kid was....Ugh, I think there was unexplored potential there, but generally, it was really off-putting. The last season put the wind back in the sails, though. The ending was abrupt. I wasn’t satisfied. But unlike with Buffy, I wanted more.
I was so tickled to see Leslie again. And with a bunch of sexy tats, too. He was scrappy. I like him.
Angel as a character never really grew on me. Once I was able to put his pedo shit out of my mind, I warmed to Angel a little, but.... Angel is fucking boring, y’all. He wasn’t sexy enough to get away with being so broody. Or rather, the brooding didn’t make him sexy. But the times when he wasn’t broody were almost worse. Upbeat Angel just made me uncomfortable. Buffy could have done better. But then, that whole romance always felt rushed and forced to me anyways.
Who doesn’t love Lorne (or should I say Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan), tho? I’m glad they made him a regular.
Cordelia really grew up. Thank glob. I adored her. The real her, not what the fuck ever took her for a ride in order to birth itself.
I loved Gunn, too. I really think they were way too hard on him for what happened to Fred. Like, what the fuck would they have done differently? Honestly? I think beating up on Gunn just made them all feel better about the situation. Gunn included. In general, I felt like maybe his character leveled off a bit early, but he and Fred were really cute, and I kind of hate that they basically had them break up just so they could try to hook her up with Wes.
Speaking of Wes....
Wanna know who really had a character journey?? Wesley Fucking Wyndam-Motherfucking-Price. Ugh, I hated him when I met him. I thought he was a pervy bastard. Plus, he was so stiff and snooty and...he made me just
But, y’all.
Y’ALL.
By the end of Angel, he was fucking HUSBAND MATERIAL. Like, gib me sum ov THAT. (That is how you brood, Angel. THAT is how to make brooding sexy. TAKE NOTES.) And he was all rugged and ballsy and fucking masculine to be so fucking scrawny and he just radiated this low-key Dom energy and it was like fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck me. (I mean, did you see the way he pulled Lilah’s hair? Like Damn.) I took umbrage with him laying lips on Fred while she was still with Gunn. That was so super uncool and non-consensual and just wrong on a number of levels and I really thought he was better than that at that point. But that aside *snips scene out of canon and throws it in the trash* his love for Fred was so pure and sweet and wonderful. I bawled when he died. BAWLED.
But not as hard as I bawled when Fred died.
FRED, y’all. Uuuuuuuuuugh. FREEEEDDDDD. FRED WAS A PERFECT HUMAN BEING. I usually don’t like just purely good characters. If they aren’t written well, they seem flat and uninteresting and unrealistic. Fred was done well. FRED WAS A FUCKING ANGEL FROM HEAVEN AND HER DEATH SCENE MADE ME CRY SO HARD I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE SICK. I’m crying rn, y’all, just thinking about it. Ugh. UUUUUGH. FRED. *weeps*
Okay, I’ve taken a moment. But like, the whole series could have been utter shit and I’d still have been grateful for it just because it introduced me to Winifred Burkle. And how fucking awesome is Amy Acker for the way she played Illyria?? I looked at her and I saw nothing of Fred. That was really top notch.
One of the best things about the last season of Angel, tho, was...again...Spike. Why didn’t he have a spin off of his own? I’d have watched seasons and seasons of Spike. *squishes the soft poet boy with his terminal case of ‘fight me’* And...wtaf? HE WAS SUPPOSED TO GET TO BE A REAL BOY AT THE END. HOW many season did they play up that fucking prophecy? And then they fought over it. And then Angel signs it away. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO TO SPIKE. I’m still mad about it. There’s no way any of them survived the finale. Not even Lorne, I don’t think, sadly. Spike got fucking robbed. WE got robbed. I really wish Angel had been picked up for at least one more season, because I think it still had potential. Buffy was played out by the end but Angel could still go places.
*sigh* Oh, well.
So........I think that’s all I have to say about that. Thanks for taking this journey with me. And...I’m sincerely sorry if I pissed you off. I was purely and honestly reacting to things as I encountered them. I just had big feels and expressed them. If I hated on a character you love, know that I think that love is super valid. Just like if you hate on a character I super love, I’m cool with it. We’re both entitled to our opinions. We can love and hate whoever and whatever we want. I’m not anti any of this (except the sexism and racism...and possibly Xander Harris, but I don’t hate *you* for loving him). There’s no right or wrong, just difference of opinion. I respect the hell out of loving a thing. Yes, even if that thing is Xander Fucking Harris.
As often as this experience pissed me off, I enjoyed it....even the parts that pissed me off. I enjoyed that it evoked a response. That’s why we watch this stuff, right? So yeah. It was a Good Thing. I won’t be rewatching it 4-5 times like Supernatural, but I made friends with some characters and shed some tears and that’s enough.
<3