The Itch of Literature...
Feel I have been around long enough to actually do something about my rather pathetic introduction though I still hold with the fact that though I hate to admit this I'm a teacher and probably know more about Buffy than most of my students! Love the show and its post-modern complexities - if that sounds pretentious I also think it's a cracking piece of tele to lose yourself in for 45 minutes!
I certainly still believe I should really be marking and preparing right now but this is the effect BtVS has on me! Shocking distraction!! :)
Have been having a muse as Litchick is wont to do and thought about my favourite episodes:
Season One: Prophecy Girl - That wonderful characterisation really begins! Though really I was in from 'You've dropped your...stake'
Season Two: Phases - Seth Green gets chance to shine and show what he's really made of (fur mainly it seems).
Season Three: Ah so many but I have gone for Dopplegangland. A gem from the title onwards and I'm with Joss Whedon, one Willow just not enough plus some hellishly clever foreshadowing!
Gingerbread was also in the running for its wonderfully humourous take on the teenage rebellion. Dead people are talking to you Mom. Do the Math...
Season Four: My favourite despite the fact it is universally loathed it seems! Love Riley, love Tara's arrival (despite the bad hair and awful run!) love the Initiative, love the Frankenstein tie-in with Adam! Very close run thing, with Who Are You? Hush, New Moon Rising and Restless all in the running. Think Who Are You? just wins out for astounding performances, Tara's declaration and the superb Giles/Faith-Buffy exchange - actually I beg you to stop...
Season Five: The Body - outstanding performances all round. Stands up to multiple re-watching and I defy the world's greatest BtVS hater to not be moved or impressed. On the downside we had those flippin knights all season - grrr argh!
Season Six: Dark but still clever. Once More With Feeling was a remarkable piece of modern television and it worked! Grave also takes a piece of this honour pie for making me cry - crayon breaky Willow did for me entirely!
Season Seven: A giant positive step backward to the early high school days! Then I struggled a little with all the potentials but still, some classic moments. Same Time, Same Place is my current favourite, but reserving full judgement until the uncut run!
The end...no, surely not?! BtVS was far superior to most shows of its ilk and it is that, with some exceptional writing and an underlying intelligence that has allowed it to be at the top of its game for so long. It is this which will allow it to continue to keep a loyal following. I find it remarkable that a show like BtVS can appeal to so many different ages and be watched on so many levels (pretention rising, valiantly fought back...). Key has been Whedon's sheer bravery in allowing the characters to mature, this is exactly the problem with shows like Dawson's Creek, the formula works so 'they' stick to it until the point you refuse to believe that the bunch of self-absorbed whingers haven't yet grown up! The maturity factor has squared the circle of the seven seasons. Exemplified I believe by Willow. She has grown through painful high-school times, to sexual awakening and then reawakening, on to powerful drug addiction and then ultimately she proves the strongest of them all, a greater hero than the titular valley girl who in the end needed the innate strength of those around her. Massive metaphors, superbly played. I really did love it!!!
Feel free to pop in and leave me a message if you fancy a BtVS ramble with a pretentious so-and-so looking for distraction...
Litchick :)
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