Buffy The Vampire Slayer:
The 2002/03 Season
by Joe Steiff

Desperately trying to hit the reset button...

A few years ago, viewers of Buffy The Vampire Slayer stood proud of a quality TV show that seemed too easily dismissed by television institutions as just another genre piece. There were once plenty of examples of excellent writing, not just of genre television, but in general, and the show easily surpassed the X-file ratio of good episodes to bad. But no longer.

Like many who once championed this "little show that could," now I'm just embarrassed, and my new-found reluctance to admit that I watch the show is slowly evolving into not going out of my way to watch it. My VCR is no longer set to tape every episode in case I have to work late. If I'm home, I'll watch, but if I'm not, there is no longer the feeling that I'll miss something important if I haven't taped the episode.

My students and colleagues no longer spend our free moments on Wednesdays discussing the previous night's episode. And our former outrage at Emmy voters for ignoring Buffy has gradually become grudging acceptance that they might know what they're doing -- this series doesn't deserve a writing Emmy. That's not to say that there haven't been some amazing episodes, and certainly The Body stands as one of the best hours of television produced, but a single episode does not necessarily warrant an award for best series writing.

Joss Whedon, series creator, has been quoted as saying the current 2002-03 season could be subtitled, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The First Season. There are a number of ways to interpret such a comment, but if this is indeed the first season, it doesn't hold a candle to whatever he considers that season recently released on DVD as the first season.

The question is why would a series need to position itself in such a way? Usually because it's gotten off course. Think Dallas.

Word was already out last year that this new season would be "lighter" and "more fun" than last season, which indeed was dark and brooding. Last spring, this promise of a cheerier Scooby Gang seemed about to be fulfilled, the ground work being laid for a kinder, gentler, happier vampire slayer. Xander and Anya were about to be married, Tara and Willow were reunited, Buffy was making some sort of peace with whatever that relationship with Spike was all about.

But then incorporating story elements that seemed to be written more out of spite for the show's fan base than to advance the series, Tara is killed, Xander walks out on Anya, Spike attempts raping Buffy, and Willow begins killing humans. Yeah, I can see that kinder, gentler, happier series just over the horizon - or is that hell?

So is the current series happier? Well, if you count everyone acting like they have amnesia or no moral center (no mention of Tara's death, really; Buffy befriending her would-be rapist like all good girls should; and scenarios that allow for the brutal beating of romantic partners), yeah, this is a blast.

When Joss Whedon first turned over the reigns to Marti Noxon a while ago so that he could go concentrate on Angel (which now is actually more interesting than Buffy) and create things like the god-awful Firefly, I refrained from expressing my fears that a person credited with some of the series' most awkwardly written episodes would be calling the shots. So much for giving someone the benefit of the doubt. She has surpassed my worst fears.

All that can really be said for last season is that it had two episodes that stood out - one a desperate attempt at "hey, look at us" (the "musical" episode) and the final episode which was probably the best episode of the year but at quite a price and ultimately doing little to repair the damage done to the series.

The current season's premiere was well directed, creating suspense and dread, but ultimately little joy. The quasi-creation of Dawn's own Scooby gang (though all is not what it might first appear) is too derivative; once again we have sidekicks of an ineffectual male and worshipful girl. Sunnydale High is back just in time for Dawn to become the new slayer (Geller's contract is up this year), I mean, go to high school. We do have prologues to each episode that hint at future developments in the season but are dropped by episode 4 or so. We have the ominous "from below" line of dialogue in nearly every episode. But ultimately, the "new" Buffy The Vampire Slayer has become somewhat laughable with interpersonal machinations now in the realm of the worst daytime soap opera (my ex who raped me is marrying my little sister while I carry his love child and my sister has been - oh, you get the picture). Perhaps amnesia is just what the doctor ordered. Not for the characters, but for this place in television history.

Reading several interviews with show writers, it seems that Buffy The Vampire Slayer might at this point be more interesting as a case study than a show. Perhaps it's a cautionary tale that writers shouldn't read their show's fan sites - the series does seem to have been bending over so far backward to make sure it wasn't taking story advice from its fans that the back stopped bending and simply broke. Or perhaps it's a warning of how series can run out of creativity. Or maybe it's an example of how difficult it is to rescue a series once it's story editor and writers have painted it into a corner, and the paint is a color you hate. Or it's a demonstration of the need for creators to choose their successors more carefully. Or proof that a series jumping networks rarely survives.

Maybe Buffy The Vampire Slayer would have been better off sent to an early grave -- Season Two probably remains its high point. At the point of jumping to UPN, perhaps the series was already rotting.

Whatever it is, the new Buffy The Vampire Slayer, this start over, is like hanging out with a friend who has betrayed you. You might spend time together, but you'll never trust her again. More importantly, you'll never unabashedly enjoy being with her again.