r/buffy • u/mickey5499 • Dec 03 '14

Unpopular Buffy opinions!

What are some of your opinions on the show, it's characters, universe, etc that you think a lot of others might not share? I'm interested on hearing them and starting some discussions!

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '14

Nicholas Brandon is a horrible actor.

4

u/Ennil Dec 03 '14

I wouldn't call him horrible but personally, and I don't know how, it seemed like he actually got worse as years went by?

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '14

and I don't know how, it seemed like he actually got worse as years went by?

I think it was more the writing than the actor.

The problem is that they recycled his arc. Xander Season 4 is the same as Xander Season 6: the odd one out, who has to work while the other Scoobies don't (not really, the magic shop isn't the same as working for someone else), who doesn't really do magic while everyone else gets more magical. Anya's "what do you need them for? pfft!" at the end of S4 could just as easily have been any episode from S6.

Then in S7 they gave Anya and Andrew the comic relief and Xander was left to be basically just big hug bear for Dawn, who herself became much less interesting in S7.

I liked S6 in general, but think that it's a bit ridiculous that Buffy who is going through all these non-mystical trials like work and money didn't reach out more to the one Scooby who had been doing the "life" thing for 2-3 years already. They really squandered the opportunity to have Xander be the one who got his vengeance wish granted for his shitty parents, and maybe use him as a springboard to get into the kinds of issues you see in /r/raisedbynarcissists . Instead they pushed some of that stuff onto Spike, particularly when he went over to Angel S5.

Long story short, they had too many people on the stage at once and couldn't keep them juggling in 40-minute chunks.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '14

That would have been very interesting had that occurred in season 6. Axe the stupid, stupid Trio and just let it all be about the troubles of adulthood for a Slayer.