For some, the new year is marked by time spent with family, time off from school or work, and resolutions both failed and achieved. For me these past few years, the new year has been marked by Buffy.
I first watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer in its entirety during my winter break of seventh grade. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I quickly became obsessed. I watched seven years of television in the span of two months. I, unfortunately, wrote fan fiction about my favorite couple (Spike and Buffy, of course). And then I forgot about it. That is, until the next winter break when I was scanning through Netflix for something to watch and came upon Buffy yet again. Almost every winter break after that I’ve re-watched it and fallen in love with it all over again.
Too 90s? As if.
The show has come to mean a lot to me, which may sound silly since it revolves around a 16-year-old girl named Buffy, who is obsessed with shopping and boys, being chosen to protect the world from vampires, demons, and other Hellmouth-ish ghouls. There are more than enough cheesy scenes, horrible CGI, cringe-worthy 90s outfits, and sad montages set to indie rock to place the show firmly in the “bad” category. I’ve tried to convince countless friends over the years to watch the show, and I’ve had an absolutely abysmal success rate. The recent overexposure of vampires makes people wary, and the show’s undeniably 90s tone (leather pants, puka shell necklaces, floppy discs, oh my!) makes them roll their eyes. And, well, it’s not hard to see why people don’t take a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer seriously.
However, there are many, many reasons to take Buffy and her gang of Scoobies seriously. I’ve almost finished my re-watch for this year, and I’ve found myself relating to the show more than ever. The challenges Buffy and her friends go through are relevant at any age or any decade. The show treats issues like trying to fit in in high school or falling for a boy you can’t have with just as much gravity and respect as it does those of death, depression, and sexual violence. Basically, this show is the best, and as I’ve been re-watching it the last few months, I’ve found four things that I think make it something special:
1. The Characters
If the show only featured Buffy as a character, I would still think that it was worth watching. Buffy is the epitome of an empowered, powerful female character: she’s funny, independent, caring, and a serious ass-kicker. She has the ability to be both the Chosen One with all of its responsibilities and duties and a typical teenage girl who cares about boys and shopping and gossip. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
She surrounds herself with a loyal group of friends (who are just as likable as she is) known as the Scooby Gang for their work investigating supernatural mysteries. There are witches, soulless and soul-filled vampires, werewolves, vengeance demons, and carpenters. Every character has depth, and every character undergoes major transitions and arcs that feel organic but still move the show in interesting directions. All in all, I think the reason I keep coming back to the show is my love for the characters, both individually and as a group. Buffy just wouldn’t be the same without its Scoobies.
2. The Writing
The Gentlemen steal Sunnydale’s voices for an episode.
There’s a reason this show has books dedicated to its slang: the writing and the ways characters speak are witty and fresh. For me, at least, the show never gets old despite the basic premise—Buffy and her friends defeating evil—not changing throughout seven seasons. Buffy has some of the best episodes in all of television, and the writers are never afraid to shake things up or try something new. Despite the aforementioned witty banter being its “thing,” the show had an episode almost entirely devoid of dialogue. The show had maybe three or four bad episodes out of one hundred and forty-four, which is itself a testament to the creative and impressive writing.
3. Season Six
Many fans of the show rank this season as their least favorite, but every time I finish it, I always end up wanting to go back to the first episode to watch it all over again. Without giving too much away, this season gets seriously dark, and I think the show is all the better for it. Buffy and friends face loan applications, mental illness, addiction, toxic relationships, and the death of loved ones while the villains wield guns instead of magic or stakes. This season has always felt the most real and in some ways relatable, and the final two episodes are, in my opinion, almost flawless. Also, there’s a singing episode!
Buffy isn’t just another vampire story; it’s a funny, emotional, occasionally dark, always fun coming-of-age story that is relatable on so many levels. Do yourself—and me, so we can talk about it—a favor and put it on your list of shows to binge. When the apocalypse comes, you’ll know whom to beep.
Image Credit: Feel Grafix, Wikia, TV Guide, Rebloggy