My question about sacraficing Angel and Firefly for all-Joss-all-the-time on Buffy came back up! Kewl. (I was against it on grounds of not wanting a super crazy Joss BTW.)

I was actually just piping up to say I went from a serious Dawn hater to an extreme fan of the shiny haired one. I love me some Dawnie and one of things that pisses me off the most is how she got shafted in S7 (even down to all her great lines getting cut in Chosen - "Nobody gets me" should have been the One True Dawn Quote).

Yeah, from my perspective while no one season of any Mutant Enemy show post-1999 is as good as the first 3 seasons of Buffy, I've gotten more enjoyment from them collectively than I would have from a mere 2 additional years of All-Joss-All-the-Time.

And the individual high points (how not to hold a wine tasting, Cordy's "the Bitch is back!" speech to reclaim her apartment, diminutive lawyers brimming with subtext, Jayne in the airlock) hold their own against what went before.

I just can't give up the wine cellar full of lawyers

I work for the Attorney General, and I would still give that up. Yes, my love is strong.

On the other hand, I ain't getting wishes anytime soon, so I don't have to give it up and I still get all of Firefly to look forward to in 17 days.

You Dawn haters are all brutal, uncaring people, who have never had a thirteen year old sister mystically appear out of nowhere in your lives.

I can't believe I associate with such callous, heartless people.

ihsk.

Content?

eh. 3,2,4,1,7 (haven't seen all of 5 & 6) with s3 finale being my favorite end, closely followed by 4 and 2 in a dead heat. All the finales are pretty kickass, though.

I mind Dawn only which she shrieks. Which is(was) all too frequently. The scene where Xander is calling for Anya in Chosen lost some of its poignancy due to Shrieky!Dawn.

This reaction is probably due to the fact that I, much against my will, have been known, when violently surprised, to shriek.

I've gotten to the point where I at least shriek and go into a defensive stance simultaneously.

Season 5 was great and would have been an excellent way to end the series. In Season 6, the show started to suffer but had bright spots. Season 7 was just frustrating and irritating.

Yes, this. But of course I'll still buy all 7 seasons on DVD. I haven't brought myself to rewatch seasons 6 or 7 yet, and I usually end up liking the seasons better when I watch them over a short period of time.

Towards the end of season 7, I honestly felt like the writers themselves didn't like the character of Buffy anymore, and it showed.

Towards the end of season 7, I honestly felt like the writers themselves didn't like the character of Buffy anymore, and it showed.

From all the interviews I've read, I think you are correct - but their dislike for the character came out of tension on the set and the separation they witnessed among the cast over the years.

Shall I vague that up a bit more?

Shall I vague that up a bit more?

Well...Joss himself said that (a) the characters became informed by the actors over the years and (b) that he wanted to address Buffy's "separateness" in the last season. He specifically indicated that SMG had borne the weight of responsibility of being the star of the show, but that she'd also pulled away from the ensemble.

Dead Man's Party is on Space (our Sci-Fi). I've had that categorized as Monster of the Week in my mind for so long, I'd forgotten how good the first 20 minutes of Buffy trying to re-integrate were. Pretty good stuff. And hey, Marti Noxon.

Marti's emotional stuff really resonates. Her MotW stuff is not so great. That's a MotW that doesn't do anything for me, but I love the Scooby interaction in that episode (even though I want to put everyone but Cordelia, and possibly Oz, up against a wall and slap them when they're so hard on Buffy).

"Buffy didn't really die in Prophecy Girl, either -- otherwise Baywatch is chasing Minear in the body count. I never really took Buffy's "death" seriously until I saw all the episodes that treated it as a fact of canon."

This has a Princess Bride flair about it, doesn't it? Mostly dead? :) I think that Buffy's misfortune in the S1 finale barely met the threshold -- but did indeed meet it -- for the next Slayer to be called. Hence we get Kendra and my oft-fanwanked Crisis of the Slayer Succession.

For what it's worth, I think Buffy has died four times: 1. S1 -- Prophecy Girl 2. S5 -- The Gift, when she hurls herself into the gate 3. S6 -- When Warren shot her and Dark!Willow removes the bullet 4. S7 -- Chosen, when she was stabbed from behind and collapses to the ground. I think she died a little there too, but briefly.

Is that one time too much? Or two?