Buffy Year 6 - the best season?

My ranking of Buffy's seasons:

Stephen Tempest...

Since ranking them is so difficult, I'm going to go for:

6
4 and 7
3
2 and 5
1

Wouter Valentijn...

Agreed, it is difficult.
I would say at this moment:

2 7
3 4 6
1 5

With 2 and 3 sometimes changing place.

Anim8rFSK...

lol

nice chart!

Season six combined one of the strongest arcs and most gripping and
fascinating character development with some excellent individual
episodes. It's my clear favourite.

Four had some of the absolute best stand-alone episodes, and I
actually liked Riley's story (sue me) but there wasn't such a strong
theme pulling through.

Seven had excellent emotional resonance and character development, and
did a pretty good job in tying up the overall story; but it was pulled
back by various plot inconsistencies and repetition, and the presence
of Andrew. Then again, it had Dawn finally reaching her full
potential (heh) as one of the funniest characters on the show. And I
liked the Willow/Kennedy thing (so sue me again).

Three has a couple of excellent episodes, like Doppelgangland,. and of
course it had Faith. It also had tedious Buffy/Angel unconsummated
angst and some fairly forgettable patches mid-season, not to mention
my least favourite season finale.

I used to rate Two highly, but re-watching has shown me how slow,
simplistic and teen-soap-opera-like much of it is, especially compared
to the later seasons. So even the presence of Becoming Part 2 (still
one of my top 5 episodes of the series) can't redeem it now.

Five I just found over-depressing. Yes, it's got one of the strongest
and most consistent overall season arcs, but that doesn't actually
make it fun to watch.

Finally, One suffers from the same faults as Two: overly slow and
shallow. Yes, I know it was a new show and they were just finding
their feet, and it's still better than lots of other stuff out
there... but something has to come in seventh place and this is it.

ravenlynne...

Ignoring the bad pun.....Faith is FAR from a flat charachter.

liliaeth...

I don't know, I think it's the acting.
Feels unemotional.
It's like Wes post s3, I like him well enough in fanfic, but onscreen
the acting makes him so unemotional that I get bored watching him.

Ian J. Ball...

What are you talking about?! There was no "6th" season of "Buffy"!!

Michael Bowker...

Ya Buffy ended on the brilliantly poignant ending: "She saved the world,
a lot!"

Ian J. Ball...

I don't remember this episode... was is after "Becoming" and "Anne"?...

ravenlynne...

It was on her gravestone I believe.

6 - man vs. himself (internal conflicts of various characters)
3 - buffy vs. the principal

BTR1701...

When did Buffy fight the principal? Do you even watch the show?

2- buffy vs. evil angel

5 - buffy vs. glory
4 - buffy vs. a.d.a.m.
1 - buffy vs. the master
7 - buffy vs. "the first" evil

Wes...

3
2
5
4
1
7
6

IMHO, number six is the best season, because it deals with people's
internal problems (such as addiction or loneliness), and not some
imaginary monster. Season 6 is easier to identify with for me as a

videonovels...

.

Do you have a source for these sales rankings?

Apteryx...

They're all about people's internal problems. In some seasons the
metaphors
are thinner. But even if you prefer the season 6 outline, that would
only
make it a better idea for a season, not a better season. To turn a good
idea
into a good series takes a lot of work. To know whether they managed
it, you
need to look in detail at each episode.

But season 6 does have a special place for me. My ranking of seasons
goes

1
2
3
4
6
5
7

Season 6 getting ahead of season 5 is all that stops the series being a

simple application of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

viewer, whereas I view the other seasons as unrealistic fantasy (when
was the last time I ran into a robot, goddess, or vampire?).

3D Master...

kenm47...

FWIW: IMO, the ONLY good thing to be said about Season 6 is that it was
better than Season 7.

Me: 2, 3, 1, 4 (despite having what I consider the three best episodes
of the seven seasons), 5, 6, 7

Ken (Brooklyn)

You've obviously been watching the wrong show. Go watch Gilmore Girls or
some such.

videonovels...

Shove a dildo up your hole. I'll watch whatever I want.

Mark Jones...

ravenlynne...

And you started that whole thread about polite posting. Heh. Too
funny.

El Puerco...

Ain't that always the way?

ravenlynne...

I notice he hasn't seen fit to respond.

Heh.

Anyway:

3
2
1
4
5
6
7

Mark Jones...

My rankings:

3
2
1
4
...that's all.

EGK...

I know how much you dislike everything once Dawn appeared but i'm curious.
Did you actually give up on the show or did you stick it out and watch
through to the end?

Mark Jones...

I watched all of Season 5, and caught most of S6 because my step-son was
still watching it, though I'd pretty much given up by then. I saw maybe
a handful of eps in S7 and never saw the finale at all.

3D Master...

Count your blessings. Count it. Count it! Count it!

3D Master

Nice symmetry, huh?

3D Master

EGK...

I tink you've got it almost exactly right. I sometimes flip-flop on the
last two but that's it. I used to think season 5 was better than 4 but now
I like 4 better because I find episodes more watchable in repeat viewing.

archang...

As a metaphor, maybe it worked. I dunno. I really hated the
out-of-left-field "magic is like crack" thing that they pulled. For me,

videonovels...

Magic is addictive had been a theme since season 4... possibly as early
as season 3 when Giles warned Willow not to delve too deeply.

As for metaphor, I think it was pretty direct in its points. I
personally identify with the "Buffy feeling lonely / lost" storyline.

S6 and S7 each started out with about 10 good episodes and then the season
arc really got going and they both stank. I mean, yeah, it's great to
have subtext and all, but if a show tries to build it by running roughshod
over its established continuity, that's not worth it.

As for your comment about identifying with it, I can't relate. S6
was about _magic_ addiction, which is every bit as allegorical and
fantastical as vampires or goddesses.

I'd probably rank the seasons 3, 2, 1, 5, 4, 6, 7.

Ian Galbraith...

Mel...

Actually, Season 2 The Dark Age, with Ripper and his friends getting
high on Eyghon.

Not magic and spells per se, but definitely in the same vein.

Oh god, I agree with troy heagy........ I feel dirty.

My ranking: 6,5,7,2,3,4,1

I like 6 and 5 the best because I guess I like dark night of the soul
type stories. Plus IMHO they achieve a synergy that the other seasons
lack. My favourite season of 6FU is S3 for much the same reason.

David Johnston...

ravenlynne...

I definitely liked season 2 the best. The show is about "imaginary
monsters". If I want to worry about internal problems (I don't) I'll
go watch the OC.

EGK...

That's one of the major points that many of us made about season 6. It
wasn't what captured our interest in the first place. It became a soap

videonovels...

I've never liked "imaginary" stuff. I've always felt that it's a waste
of my time to watch stories about monsters/vampires that Do Not Exist
in the real world. I enjoy genres that are either realistic or
future-realistic like Star Trek (someday, maybe 1000 years from now, we
WILL be venturing into space... exploring strange new worlds, et
cetera, et cetera).

But shows that could never, never happen like Buffy? Nope. I enjoyed
it for what it was, an amusing hour that used allegory to comment on
REAL problems in the real world (like an abusive boyfriend), but the
imaginary stuff about non-existent monsters? Nope. Never held my
attention.

Which is why I liked season 6 the best. It pushed the
imaginary/never-could-happen stuff to only a minor role, and focused on
real-world issues like addiction and loneliness and fear.

Season 6 was the most "realistic" of all the seasons.

William George Ferguson...

Ummm, the fact Surprise took place on Buffy's 17th birthday was kind of an
important part of the plot.

El Puerco...

Even so, wasn't Angel actually thousands of years old? I mean, he did spend
all that time in hell. Or does that not count?

So it fit my own preference for realism.

=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Espen_Schj=F8nberg?=...

Here you get everything the wrong way around.

The good thing with Buffy, is how it could deal with mean and real
questions in a totally ridiculous setting.

In season six, the writers did not understand this, and it's possible
they tried to make the setting a bit more realistic. (Given some of the
demons in S6, like the shark-demon, I don't think so, but to humor
you.) But the weirdness was still there. After all, the show was still
based on the existence of vampires and demons! Ergo, they made the
weirdness more visible, and suddenly more -not less- disturbing.

Also, the "real world issues" was there from the start, and it was the
reason why Buffy was such a difference from the other series. But the
problems were hidden, in metaphors. Now, the metaphors was gone, and
suddenly 'rape' was called , well, 'rape' etc. This made the series far
less good.

If you just can't see that, well, I guess you just cant.

:-)

Wouter Valentijn...

Maybe I'll elaborate on it and turn it into a webpage.

Evan Kirshenbaum...

Nope. It went to 12� with #3 (the first one I have--but I didn't buy

Ari...

Ooh, an extra two years. Of course that makes it all ok for a still
underage girl to sleep with her no neck cradle robbing boyfriend.
Personally, I'm more offended by the lack of neck, but the point still
stands. :P

El Puerco...

As a no-necked-American, I resemble that remark!

alphakitten...

Mine -

S7
S6
S5
S3
S4
S2
S1

mine new).

Anim8rFSK...

k, thanks. That's what I get for not double checking! I guess I don't
have any 10� Marvels then. Probably have some DCs though.

g

s-information-resources/marvel-comics-classic-covers/x-men-1.jpg

all twelve centers

ravenlynne...

So why the frak watch it? And why the frak make a post to discuss it?

Troy.Heagy...

.

I already answered that question. "I enjoyed it for what it was, an
amusing hour that used allegory to comment on REAL problems in the real
world (like an abusive boyfriend)."

I'm done feeding it.

EGK...

Wow!. Given your criteria for likes and dislikes, I can't even begin to
imagine why you would have watched the show in the first place. The whole
show is based around imaginary stuff. It's like someone sitting through
every opera they can find while claiming they hate musicals in other
languages.

opera almost as mundane as countless other shows you could watch. Marty
Noxon supposedly called BTVS, Party of 5 with monsters. I think she really
took that to heart in season 6.

The robot was a stand-in for any would be stepfather who plans to take
authority over his putative new daughter.

Wouter Valentijn...

Doctor Corby! ;)

Wouter Valentijn...

Not Adonais, Apollo.

Member of a group of aliens visiting Earth thousands of years ago.

Wouter Valentijn...

Salt Vampire, Dicoronium Cloud.

Wouter Valentijn...

Yeah..
Sylvia
Actually an alien from another galaxy of course.