Season 7: Goodbye Sunnydale

[Clare]

Review and discuss season seven here - also include your scores for each of the episodes.

Which episode was your favourite and which was your least favourite? And why?

[partcynic]

S7 Episode Ratings

4 7x01 Lessons
1 7x02 Beneath You
5 7x03 Same Time, Same Place
1 7x04 Help
2 7x05 Selfless
4 7x06 Him
3 7x07 Conversations With Dead People
3 7x08 Sleeper
4 7x09 Never Leave Me
1 7x10 Bring On the Night
1 7x11 Showtime
3 7x12 Potential
3 7x13 The Killer In Me
4 7x14 First Date
2 7x15 Get It Done
5 7x16 Storyteller
0 7x17 Lies My Parents Told Me
4 7x18 Dirty Girls
0 7x19 Empty Places
2 7x20 Touched
2 7x21 End of Days
5 7x22 Chosen

Average = 2.59 (unchanged)

Overview

S7 was the worst year of "Buffy", in large part because it got stuck with the most onerous clean-up job imaginable. The bad stories and character mangling in S6 would have been difficult to recover from even if the writing team were fully engaged and passionate, but with Joss Whedon caring more about "Firefly", Marti Noxon stepping back as executive producer, and no-one else wanting to take the lead, we instead got a rudderless show on auto-pilot.

It also didn't help that Joss and co. never really heard the true problems of S6 - the primary fan feedback was 'it was good, but too dark, lacked a real Big Bad, and the lesbian character shouldn't have died'. S7 thus gave us a year that was every bit as slow, dull, shallow and willing to destroy characters as S6, but with a worthless Big Bad and a new girlfriend for Willow. What a disappointment, and how sad to see the show go from the heights of S1-4 to such depths.

As this overview is going to be inescapably negative, let's take a moment to discuss what worked. I respect the first third of the season for having at least tried to correct the errors of S6 and recapture the show's old magic - the second half of "Him" has some top-notch comedic moments (the rocket launcher!), the Buffy segment in "Conversations with Dead People" has excellent character insight, and with its memorable monster, humour and genuine emotion, Jane Espenson's "Same Time, Same Place" could have easily slotted into the classic era. Of the writers, Jane was the only one who still had it in S7, and her other offerings ("First Date" and especially "Storyteller") are strong, being among the only eps from the last two seasons I'd watch with any regularity. And finally, although the plot of "Chosen" is a mess, it's still as enjoyable a finale as I could have hoped for, which allowed the show to end with dignity.

Now onto the punishment. The rot of the season comes from two things - its disregard for the characters and its terrible arc. Despite desperately needing some TLC after S6, most of the main characters ended up being sidelined or ignored in favour of nonentities like the potential Slayers, Andrew and (to a lesser extent) Principal Wood. Xander sat around all year before arbitrarily losing a eye, Anya's return to vengeance amounted to nothing (and then she was pointlessly killed off), Dawn disappeared, and most of Tony Head's screen-time was wasted on a stupid red herring (is Giles the First? I wish he were, because then "Lies My Parents Told Me" might actually make sense!)

Elsewhere, Willow alternated between saying 'I'm scared of magic' (to explain why she couldn't just snap her fingers and fix every problem, a la "Smashed") and hooking up with her tacked-on new girlfriend Kennedy - shame that Alyson Hannigan and Iyari Limon had no chemistry! And miserably-hilariously, our once-wonderful heroine went from tearful promises to show Dawn the world to plotting with Xander to drug and kidnap her, and saying she'd be willing to kill her if the mission required it.

Finally, there was Spike, whose screentime steadily increased as his character deteriorated. It must be said that James Marsters was the only actor still bringing his A-game this season, but his efforts were wasted on either Shatnerian posturing (early-season) or the castrated romance novel piffle that was the remainder of the Spuffy arc. The season nosedives once Spike becomes the focus of its story, and the 'triggered Spike', 'kidnapped Spike' and 'Wood's vendetta against Spike' arcs were all rotten ways of funneling unwarranted attention to a character three years past his sell-by date.

Then there's the First arc. Ignoring that Mutant Enemy itself had stated that trying to fight some ancient source of evil was stupid and pointless ("Angel" S2, most notably "Reprise"), we got an 'epic' story about the First - an evil that doesn't actually do anything - and our heroes responding to it by... not doing anything, except saying over and over how terrifying this completely unscary thing is. The big arc eps "Bring on the Night", "Showtime" and especially "Empty Places" are all among the nadirs of the show, not even having the camp potential of an ep like "Wrecked". Factor in the deus-ex machinas that pop up near the end of the season (the scythe, Angel's amulet) and that none of the First's actions during the year are consistent with its stated goal in "Chosen", and you have a total failure.

Still, at least it was good that the show ended here rather than being dragged out any further (I know that there are comics etc., but I'm not interested in them) - and no matter how bad things got by the end, for five years, "Buffy" was arguably the best thing on television, and watching it again in 2024, much of its brilliance remains. A huge thank you to everyone who was involved with it, and I hope this board will still be around should I decide to revisit the series again.

S7 Awards

Best Episode - "Same Time, Same Place". A huge surprise on first viewing, as it felt like the show was completely back on track - shame it didn't stay there for long!

Worst Episode - "Empty Places" - not only of the season, but of the show. A nonsensical scrap of a plot, a mess of a theme, no humour, no drama, and relentlessly serious despite being substance-free. The 'kicking Buffy out' scene is the worst-written in the series, as none of the "Buffy" characters are actually in it.

Best Writer - Jane Espenson. The only writer still trying, and the only one to recognise much of the year's foolishness (mocking Buffy's speeches in "Storyteller").

Most Valuable Player - James Marsters. Little Spike did was actually worth seeing, but James always did his best, whereas most of the cast were phoning it in.

Best Scene - Buffy and Willow at the end of "Same Time, Same Place". It dealt with the episode's emotional issues with honesty and compassion, and is the last true moment of friendship and humanity in the series.