Favourite season?

[Clare]

What is your favourite season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and why?

[partcynic]

Now that I have a bit of free time, I'm going to try and fill in these various discussions - I'll try for one a day, and see how the response rate goes.

Anyway, when it comes to judging a season's quality, there are a number of ways you can go. Personally I'd consider:

- Average episode score (if you've rated the eps)
- How many really great eps (8,9 and 10 scores) there are
- How many poor eps (0,1,2 scores) there are
- Quality of the year's story arc
- Development and consistency of characters
- Development and consistency of the show's universe
- Emotional impact of the season as a whole.

I'll now try and put the seasons in order by these criteria. The first three are just a case of doing some quick number checks:

Average episode score = 2,3,1,4,5,7,6
Most great eps = 2,3,4,5,1,6,7
Least poor eps = 1-4 (tie), 2-3 (tie), 5,7,6

The rest are more subjective.

Story Arc Quality = 2,3,1,4,5,6,7

To me, that order is pretty intuitive. The best eps in S2 were almost all connected to the Spike/Dru/Angelus arc, while the Faith/Mayor material in S3 was strong overall, but had a few weak moments. S1 beats out the remaining years because its arc was simple and uncluttered, while the thoughtful quality of the flawed S4 plot puts it above the over-long, hole-ridden arcs of the final three years.

Character Development and Consistency = 2,3,4,1,5,6,7

Again, this one's easy. S2 goes at the top because its character development was excellent across the board, while seasons 3 and 4 also score highly. S1's short length and introductory purpose didn't leave it much time for development (except for "Never Kill A Boy..." and "Prophecy Girl"), and a similar thing happened in S5 as the Dawn/Glory story took up a hefty chunk of the year. In seasons 6 and 7, there was no development - instead, the characters simply acted in whatever way the writers wanted for the narrative or thematic point, regardless of whether the behaviour made sense or was interesting to watch. As a result, they go at the bottom.

World Development and Consistency = 3,4,2,1,5,7,6

Seasons 3 and 4 go way up here because they dealt with items important to the show's universe, which really needed to be answered (what was truly going on in the higher ranks of Sunnydale; and that the government knew about demons and was trying to use the supernatural to its benefit). Seasons 2 and 1 weren't as strong, but world development didn't become an issue until S5, with the introduction of Dawn (the monk's spell is near-impossible to believe, even in the Buffyverse. It's one heck of a piece of magic to re-write thousands of people's lives). S6 plummets because of its suddenly transforming magic into a highly addictive drug (why had no-one on the show ever exhibited signs of being hooked before?), while S7 fails for trashing a large segment of the series' mythology for its ham-fisted 'women rule, men drool' theme.

Emotional Impact = 2,3,5,1,4,6,7

I doubt anyone can argue with the emotional impact of "Surprise/Innocence", "Passion", and "Becoming", so S2 is the clear victor here. The emotional arcs of S3 were also great ("Lover's Walk"; "The Wish"; "The Prom"; even "Graduation Day"), while "The Body" and "The Gift" keep S5 high. Seasons one and four had less affecting material (though that wasn't a problem, as the things they covered still worked well), and the final two years relied on soap-opera tear-jerking ("Hell's Bells") and tossing out cheap moral platitudes (most of the S7 speeches) instead of any real emotional depth. Therefore, they once again come last.

So, for me it seems that S2 is the winner (and it gets my vote in the poll), with S3 a very close second (though those two years are so good, I can't really choose between them). Seasons 1 and 4 are tied a tiny bit behind them, then S5, and S6 and 7 tied at the bottom. Putting it graphically, it would look a little like this:

2=3
1=4

5

6=7.

So, that's my treatise on which season is best.

[Clare]

Wow, that's a really thorough way of working it out.

Well, since I haven't reviewed all of the episodes yet, I'll just have to go by my general feeling towards the seasons.

I prefer the earlier ones as they focus mainly on Buffy and the Scoobies fighting demons and dealing with some personal issues whereas with the later seasons they started focussing more on the personal issues (ie. Willows magic addiction, the Spike/Buffy pairing, Dawn being the key, etc) rather than fighting different demons. For me, after season 4 (and partly during season 4) the show lost some of its spark because there were more story arcs which were heavily focussed upon. Atleast with the Angel/Spike/Dru story arc, Buffy and co. were still fighting other monsters and dealing with some other issues, not just thinking how to stop them.

I agree with you, Partcynic, about the character development and consistency of the characters being very well done in the first 3 seasons - especially season 2.

I like season 2 as it's an emotional season (and it's done well, it's not forced unlike in later seasons) but I like season 3 as it has some of the best episodes and it introduces the new slayer, Faith.

So, without having fully reviewed all of the episodes I don't think I can say definitely which season I prefer - but it is either season 2 or 3.

[partcynic]

Sept 24, 2008 8:41:11 GMT -5 Clare said:

...the show lost some of its spark because there were more story arcs which were heavily focussed upon. Atleast with the Angel/Spike/Dru story arc, Buffy and co. were still fighting other monsters and dealing with some other issues, not just thinking how to stop them.

I think that's a great point. In s2 and s3, the arc episodes were also self-contained stories, with items that progressed the yearlong plot occurring within the context of a monster-of-the-week tale (such as Angel turning evil happening in the larger story of fighting the Judge in "Surprise/Innocence", and Faith's staking the deputy Mayor occurring as a part of the Balthazar plot in "Bad Girls"). In later seasons, the writing staff lost the ability to do arc development within episode plot development, and it meant that things dragged and became that much duller to watch (especially on repeat viewings).

[Twisted Slayer]

I like season seven. I am way too lazy to do what partycynic just did, LOL. I love season seven because it just seems like it's more action and challenges.