# Worst Season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer



## Zaelapolopollo (Oct 29, 2010)

So I'm in a huge Buffygeek mood.

I recently listened to an old Buffy podcast where they had several thousand people write in to vote for the best Season. Much to my surprise, the only season to not get a single vote was Season 1.

Kinda scary some people voted for Season 6....

But anyway, that inspired me to ask you all here which, in your opinion, is the *worst* season of Buffy?

I'll just say now I watched Season 6 once on TV years ago and have resolved never to watch it again. Contrived drama, character derailment, lousy villains... Just shit all around.


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## Magnum Miracles (Oct 29, 2010)

It's between Season 5 and 6 for me. I mean,they practically raped Spike's character in both seasons.

The only good thing to come out of Season 6 was badass Willow. Season 5 was good for Glory.


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## Nightfall (Oct 29, 2010)

I dislike Season 1 if mostly for the lousy special effects that look really bad in comparison to the rest of the show, from what I can remember. 

I would say the worst season for me is Season 5, for introducing Dawn and subsequently making her a major character. And because I found Glory to be a tiresome villain.


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## Narcissus (Oct 29, 2010)

Season 4, because I found Adam to be a boring villain. But "Hush" made everything worth while.

I enjoyed season 6 for "Once More, with Feeling" and Dark Willow.


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## Irishwonder (Oct 29, 2010)

Disliked everything from season 5 and up.  The show became way to preachy with adult responsiblities, lesbian witchcraft, and annoying little sisters.


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## Castiel (Oct 30, 2010)

4th was the one I enjoyed the least


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## DisgustingIdiot (Oct 30, 2010)

The first one was pretty bad as well. It only started to be good in season two.


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## Zen-aku (Oct 30, 2010)

the one were they shoved Riley down are throat


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## hitokugutsu (Oct 30, 2010)

Zen-aku said:


> the one were they shoved Riley down are throat



Didnt saw ervery season but this one I remeber as just plain annoying


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## Wuzzman (Oct 30, 2010)

I don't know why but i can't really stand the idea of bisexual pit stop to full lesbian buffy in the comics. It becomes a forgone conclusion that any real strong female main character will eventually be a lesbian. Which has become the new turn off to series with strong female leads now a days. The worst buffy season was maybe the riley one. I'm probably skipping something. Oh and that season when our friendly neighborhood watcher gets his magic shop.


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## Kira-chan (Oct 30, 2010)

4 and 6 were probably my least favorite.  I didn't care for 7 much either, it started out great but completely wasted its potential.


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## Rukia (Oct 30, 2010)

Season 4.  The Initiative.  Adam was the big bad.  Riley was the love interest.

Spike being chained to the bathtub saved the season from being a complete disaster though.


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## Synn (Oct 30, 2010)

Season 1 is the worst, by far!


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## Butcher (Oct 30, 2010)

2 and 6.

Way too much romance.


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## Ennoea (Oct 30, 2010)

Season 4/5/6 we too grim and dull overall for me but I still liked them. Season 1 is technically still the worst.


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## Narcissus (Oct 30, 2010)

Wuzzman said:


> I don't know why but i can't really stand the idea of bisexual pit stop to full lesbian buffy in the comics.



Wait, what? I know she had the fling with the other slayer, but I thought she went back to being straight after that, going back with Angel and everything.

And Riley is by far my least favorite character in the Buffyverse. How I prayed he would die a slow, painful, and bloody death.


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## Castiel (Oct 30, 2010)

Initiative was a good concept that could have been used better


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## Yakushi Kabuto (Oct 30, 2010)

I didn't much care for Riley either, but I did like season four for the involvement of Spike. Although I didn't much care for Tara as well. I actually rather enjoyed season 6. But yet again that's a Spike being there matters as well. I think I might have to say season 5 was the low for me. Didn't care for Glory or Dawn's existances.


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## Zaelapolopollo (Oct 30, 2010)

Me love Glory, Dawn and Tara. Well, me love Glory and Tara and tolerate Dawn because she's kinda cute and thus Joss set out to destroy her mind.
So I figure I owed her a break.

I've been rewatching Season 7 because I own it (I wanted to see how Buffy ended and this was back before I had high speed internet) and it had a lot of really good ideas. It just has a bunch of shitty execution.
Like the ending. The idea of awakening every Slayer? That's pretty innovative. The whole series used to start with that intro narrator saying "she alone must battle the demons" etc. and this is kind of finally putting an end to such a tragic thing as that.

But the fact is, the people who were made into Slayers are all terrible. I hate the Potentials with an undying fury. 
The only good newbie Slayer was the girl playing baseball. She seemed cool.

Also the barely tacked on explanation of the Scythe is just not very good. It's a blatant plot device but plot devices can be good things. When they are properly explained. The Scythe was not.

As for Season 4, it gave me Tillow so I can't hate it. Tillow is the sweetest, most true romance in the series. 

Which is why Joss had to destroy it. Fuck you Whedon, you Magnificent Bastard.

And while Willow/Tara is the most beautiful couple in the series, Faith/Buffy is my OTP.
So yes I've never heard of this "Satsu" and her badly written romance with Buffy.


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## -Dargor- (Oct 31, 2010)

For me its pretty much any Dawn/Riley moments from the earlier seasons. Those 2 characters put teen drama in my buffy and I hated them for it.

Then buffy being brough back from the dead and going all emo was bad. Spike going all crazy & emo was also bad. it got better afterwards with dark willow and the next season but meh.

The rest was good.


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## The810kid (Nov 3, 2010)

The initiative season sucked by Buffy standards. Riley was a boring love interest also this was the season Oz left and Oz was awesome. Adam was the most boring big bad and Maggie Walsh should have been the big bad. The high note of this season was the return of Spike and as a regular none the less


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## Wuzzman (Nov 3, 2010)

Narcissus said:


> Wait, what? I know she had the fling with the other slayer, but I thought she went back to being straight after that, going back with Angel and everything.
> 
> And Riley is by far my least favorite character in the Buffyverse. How I prayed he would die a slow, painful, and bloody death.



isn't angel busy stopping the daily Apocalypse in LA? They been poking at a buffy fucks anything that happens to share the same bed angle for a while.


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## Narcissus (Nov 3, 2010)

Wuzzman said:


> isn't angel busy stopping the daily Apocalypse in LA? They been poking at a buffy fucks anything that happens to share the same bed angle for a while.



I'm not sure, as I'm not quite up to date. Last issue I read was where Angel and Buffy returned from their paradise to save everyone from the legion of demons. I suppose after the Earth-changing (literally) sex she had with Angel her desire has increased.

Also, I can forgive season 1 as the show was just starting out and because the Master managed to be an amusing Big Bad.


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## Irishwonder (Nov 3, 2010)

Wuzzman said:


> isn't angel busy stopping the daily Apocalypse in LA? They been poking at a buffy fucks anything that happens to share the same bed angle for a while.



I sometimes honestly wonder, if the writers/showrunner when Joss left wasn't some middleaged pervert, who wanted to see what kind of compromising things he could get SMG to do.  There was some seriously degrading things towards the end of that show.

And for the comic book, at the end of buffy's series she 
*Spoiler*: __ 



and Angel had an entire issue of just them fucking.


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## Zaelapolopollo (Nov 3, 2010)

The Buffy and Angel comics are awful as I've said before.

But hey, they have one thing good about them that I've discovered.

Anybody remember a certain episode in Angel Season 5 called "Girl in Question"? (I've been rewatching S5)

It is the last mention of Buffy in the true continuity and it's all about how she's fucking some random dude.

The comics did something right in that they retconned this to not actually being Buffy at all.

So...way to go.

Then again Angel Season 5 went out of its way to demean and make the Buffy crew look bad.


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## Narcissus (Nov 4, 2010)

That episode of Angel was hilarious. But yeah, I liked that the comics retconned this. As for the comics themselves, I tend to enjoy them, though they are usually a hit or miss, with more hits for me so far.


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## Zaelapolopollo (Nov 6, 2010)

I just bought and watched all of Buffy Season 2.

Just want to use this as a General Buffy/Angel topic and say it was possibly the best season in either show.

Becoming was perfection.

Also want to comment on the irony that Angel's show totally dropped the ball on Angelus. He was way more intimidating in BtVS.


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## The810kid (Nov 6, 2010)

Zaelapolopollo said:


> I just bought and watched all of Buffy Season 2.
> 
> Just want to use this as a General Buffy/Angel topic and say it was possibly the best season in either show.
> 
> ...



Been a while since I've seen Buffy season two what were the differences between Angel's Angelus and Buffy's Angelus?


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## Zaelapolopollo (Nov 6, 2010)

Well there are a few differences.

1. To me at least, it seemed like he was way too over-the-top in Angel Season 4. Yes, Angelus is a Large Ham but it's always undercut with menace. If he makes a joke, it's funny because of how perverse and cruel it is.

However he became more ha-ha funny in Angel Season 4.

Though this could be simply a side-effect of Point 2.

2. He's not intimidating. He starts off locked in a cage then he escapes and cowers behind The Beast. THen he gets tricked into drinking from Faith. Then he whines and complains in Angel's mind.

The Angelus of BtVS was a composed, controlled monster. I don't see that cold cruelty in AtS Angelus.

Hell, Angelus never even succeeded in killing anyone on Angel's show. (The Beast is not a person and stabbing it in the back is lame anyway)


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## Achilles (Nov 7, 2010)

Season 4. I haven't watched it in years, but there was one moment of it that I truly enjoyed - Angel humiliating and beating the ever living shit out of Riley.

It's hard to chose who sucked more, Adam or Riley.

Season 7 could be worse, but I don't recall much of it because I haven't watched it since it's original run.


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## Banhammer (Nov 7, 2010)

wow, what a monument to anti's bad taste.


After the fall, bad? Good God, just shoot yourself


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## Zaelapolopollo (Nov 7, 2010)

On the note of worst seasons in either show, Angel Season 4 was pretty awful. 

I don't hate the character of Connor because the writers were so bad that I hate them more than their creation. 

See, sometimes a character is just inherently bad. The writers wrote them fine and put effort into them. it's just the character they put effort into is no good.

There was nothing inherently wrong with Connor. He is after all Angel's and Holtz's son. He has all the potential to be great. But the writers of Season 4 saw fit to make him whine as much as possible,  had him manipulated in every other episode... They just didn't even try to make him likable. They appeared to want us all to hate him.

So, the writers are at fault here really.

Also the whole character of Jasmine was really badly handled. Being a retcon will do that to you I guess.

So, the writers are at fault more than the character.


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## Narcissus (Nov 8, 2010)

Zaelapolopollo said:


> He starts off locked in a cage then he escapes and cowers behind The Beast. THen he gets tricked into drinking from Faith. Then he whines and complains in Angel's mind.



Because he didn't have control over any of this. He was locked in a cage beause they put him there before removing Angel's soul, which was a smart thing to do. And there was no way he could've known Faith's blood was drugged. Let's not overlook the way he was beating on her, and would've killed her otherwise. He was also manipulating the Beast. And he couldn't harm anyone for a while in Angel's mind.



> Hell, Angelus never even succeeded in killing anyone on Angel's show. (The Beast is not a person and stabbing it in the back is lame anyway)



Because everyone was more well prepared for him that time around. Not to mention the writers couldn't kill any major characters at that time. And the back stab seems very much like something angelus would do.

I agree he was better in S2 of Buffy, but there were reasons for that. I still liked him enough in  Angel.


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## Zaelapolopollo (Nov 8, 2010)

Narcissus said:


> Let's not overlook the way he was beating on her, and would've killed her otherwise.



She jobbed to him obviously. The plan was to have him drink and get drugged.

Even still, she gave him a pretty tough fight. Speaking iN OBD terms, I give him a 7/10 with mid-to-high difficulty.

Though Buffy, Angel, Spike and Faith are all about the same level and each one can give the other a decent struggle.

Faith vs. Spike be a great fight.

Anyway, your other points are valid enough. I am just coming off watching BtVS Season 2 like I said and it was just so great I guess I was being a bit harsh.


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## The810kid (Nov 8, 2010)

Zaelapolopollo said:


> She jobbed to him obviously. The plan was to have him drink and get drugged.
> 
> Even still, she gave him a pretty tough fight. Speaking iN OBD terms, I give him a 7/10 with mid-to-high difficulty.
> 
> ...



Yes it would be Joss only gave us a small taste from that little skirmish from season 7.  Imagine Souless William the Bloody Spike vs Faith before she faced her demons and was still in her murderous ways. Or Spike with a soul vs reformed Faith. Actually Faith and Spike had little interaction in the Buffy verse shame on Josh Whedon the interactions would have been gold. I think I'll make that a thread in the OBD sometime.


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## The810kid (Nov 8, 2010)

Zaelapolopollo said:


> On the note of worst seasons in either show, Angel Season 4 was pretty awful.
> 
> I don't hate the character of Connor because the writers were so bad that I hate them more than their creation.
> 
> ...



Actually season 4 is one of my favorite seasons in Angel up there with the 2nd season. I like that the whole team are at odds with eachother. 

Here are my pros for the season. 
-The whole Gunn and Wes rivalry/3way love triangle,
-The affair with Lilah, 
-The Temporary downfall of Wolfram Hart(seriously they hogged up too much screen time as the big bads), 
-The return of Angelus, 
-The return of Faith,
-Gwens intorduction, 
-Willow having a cameo, 
-and finally the Beast kicking Angel investigations ass.



Here are my Cons.

-Conner being a tool got old after Angel kicked him out
-It got boring once Jasmine was revealed to be the big bad
-The Beast Master was a disapointment and didn't meet the build up
-Cordelia's character sucked and Cordy was one of the best characters in Angel.
-The Connor Cordypairing

The idea of a fallen Powers that be was a good concept that wasn't executed well the idea seemed rushed.


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## Shɑnɑ (Nov 8, 2010)

Probably season 4 for me, Ugh! Riley was just was such a  bland addition to such a lively cast of characters.

I mean his and Buffy's relationship just was an uber snore compared to her and Spike, plus Riley seemed to hate her being stronger.


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## Zaelapolopollo (Nov 8, 2010)

Most men would hate their girlfriend being way stronger than them. It's not arrogance or conceit even. It's just healthy pride. 

Also Buffy/Angel > Buffy/Spike.


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## The810kid (Nov 10, 2010)

Zaelapolopollo said:


> Most men would hate their girlfriend being way stronger than them. It's not arrogance or conceit even. It's just healthy pride.
> 
> Also Buffy/Angel > Buffy/Spike.



I disagree. I don't know why Angel/ Buffy was is so loved. It had very little build up compared to other Angel Realtionships and Buffy's relationship with Spike. Angel Cordy>Angel Buffy  Angelus/Angel/Darla> Angel/ Buffy


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## Zaelapolopollo (Nov 10, 2010)

I am one of the many people who think Angel and Cordelia were great as friends and the romance part was a bit forced.


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## The810kid (Nov 10, 2010)

Zaelapolopollo said:


> I am one of the many people who think Angel and Cordelia were great as friends and the romance part was a bit forced.



It felt more natural to me as it grew slowly over the years and wasn't instant and over the top as Angel and Buffy's.


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