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Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Sixth Season (Slim Set)

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Season Six, to alot of fans, was a disaster train wreck! But don't be fooled by their analysis of this season because its one of the best seasons ever of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"! This is the season that took risks, and triumphed unnoticed by the fans, except a few. This season is misunderstood by many who first viewed it and therefore they disliked it, just like they disliked the final season,(Season Seven), but it wasn't because of the stories of this season, it was the gap of broadcasting that ruined the flow of the storyline, and therefore, this season needs another glance again, without interruption, and you'll understand what the point of this season was all about.

Many say it was dark, and yes it was the darkest feeling season since Season Two, and later Season Seven, but life itself, can get dark sometimes, and this was the point the series 6th year was trying to point out. If you've noticed, every season's theme has a metaphor in them, and this year was having the Scooby Gang bracing their darkest storm that could be thrown at them.
How is that? You may say, well, I'll tell you...

Ever since the very first episode, we've grown to love these wacky fun loving kids! In the First Season, it was the introduction period, the Slayer, her Watcher and friends gathering in the library, fighting monster of the week big baddies, along with school issues every teenager at one time or another will find theirselves in, plus a trial of a Slayer. In the Second Season it grew larger, they had to battle not only school, but love hormones, a lover gone bad, new annual baddies, like Spike and Drusilla,and the death of a close one, and trials of a Slayer. In the Third Season, still it was school, a rogue Slayer named Faith, a baddie named "the Mayor", and trials of departing loves and trials of a Slayer. The Fourth Season was college life, new baddie named Adam, and a government containment place for studies of demons, and again trials of a Slayer. The Fifth Season was departure childhood, going into adulthood, and fighting a big baddie named Glory, and the death of a dear one they'd miss forever, and also introduction of a sister. And now Season Six takes them farther, somewhere that the Scoobies had never faced before....and that was "life"!

Every year they've faced bad things, but they were never in a position of being left alone, to survive on their own, and to be a grown up. Someone here mentioned that its been six years later since they started their adventures, and that they were adults now, and they needed to center their lives as adults, and that person was right. It was time to move onward, brace whats ahead, no matter what lie uncharted. We had to see how these characters would react, if they were put in a position to where they'd hit rock bottom, to see how they'd reach the top again, to see really, how much strength they really have, besides magic, or mysttical slayer powers, and thats the storm one must face, to overcome their trials with triumph.

In this season, Buffy had to quit her hopes of returning to college, and get a real life job to pay the bills, make sure Dawn doesn't get taken away from her care, and at one point, she comments that her mother was the super woman of the family on how she couldn't believe she could do all the stuff that Joyce did! Xander has to confront the word "commitment" as he gets prepared to marry the woman he loves, and Willow has to overcome her craving for magic, which she deals with throughout the season by trying to give it up. The point, they each failed, they hit the bottom of the boat, as Buffy fell into depression, had an affair with Spike, (who in this season overcomes some major points in his life too), Xander's fear of turining into his father, leaves him leaving Anya at the altar, later turning her in the way of vengeance again, and Willow, she gets the sour lemon, as she gains Tara back,(who left her because of Willow's crave of magic), but she also loses Tara in the one of the most vicious and real murders of the series, which drives Willow into becoming evil with rage, and almost destroying the world. At the end of the season, all of them faces their problems, and they begin the start of rebuilding what they lost as they hit rock bottom througthout the season, as Buffy and Spike seperate, he goes to get a soul, she tries to tear down her gap with Dawn that they made during the season, and Xander and Willow come to terms with theirselves as they each step out of the eye of their own inner demons, their storms!

Note:
This season has great episodes! There's "Bargining", "Once More,With Feeling", "Dead Things", "Normal Again", "Seeing Red", and "Villains" to "Two to Go' & 'Grave". Each actor portrailed each character to heart so much, that their feelings grabbed ahold to you, as if you were the one's who were going through them as well! Also,do know that this season is *very graphical* in some scenes, this was the most *provocative season* in the series whole 7 year run. There is a few gruesome scenes in some episodes, and some very [physical] in tone,(especially with the Spike and Buffy, and Willow and Tara romantic storylines), but they were to make a point, that was needed for the story of the season.

It's a great and wonderful, powerful season,with a powerful message that was overlooked, this season took dangerous risks, and truimphed with their goal. Also know that this season is the *only* season that centers the Slayer and the Scooby Gang around the true hard cold life that we all may face once we reach adulthood, if not already. Many fans should charish this season to heart, it was indeed an unheard, unreconized, classic season for the series! I love this season! Enjoy, you won't regret it!

Note: Insert standard spoiler warning of your choice here!

Season Six of BUFFY is the show's most controversial by far. Sarah Michelle Gellar has stated that she found the mid-season episodes between her and Spike to be degrading and unpleasant and many fans would agree with her. This was the season that Joss Whedon left the show as the day-to-day show runner and turned over the reins to Marti Noxon, though he nonetheless remained deeply involved with the show, supervising the story arcs and individual episodes, as well as writing and directing several episodes.

There is no question that Season Six contained some very memorable moments. There is also little question that the season had some weak episodes--especially at around the two-thirds mark--as well as some not-very-popular story arcs. The least popular aspects of the show was the self-destructive tendencies and actions of all the major characters and the lameness of the show's "big bads," the geek threesome known as The Trio. But in fact, the Big Bad of Season Six is each individual against him or herself. Buffy, struggling with her inadvertent removal from heaven by Willow, suffers economic difficulties, eventually taking a fast food job, eventually numbing herself with a demeaning sexual relationship with Spike. Willow becomes more and more addicted to using magic, to the point that it first threatens to destroy her relationships and eventually the world. Xander, fearful that his impending marriage to Anya cold lead to the same kind of family that he grew up in, leaves Anya a the altar. Anya, crushed by being deserted by Xander, reverts to being a vengeance demon. Dawn's kleptomania gets out of control until the others discover her problem. Giles makes an error by going back to England, imagining that Buffy needs to learn to live on her own. Only Tara does not engage in self-destructive behavior, but her accidental killing spurs Willow's killing spree at the end of the season. The season's motto could be: We have met the enemy and he is us.

There are titular villains. Warren, the robot-constructing geek from Season Five's "I Was Made to Love You," Jonathan, the geek who first appeared in the BUFFY pilot (he was considered for the role of Xander before Nicholas Brendon got the job), and Andrew, whose brother was involved in a flying monkey incident no one seems to remember, team up to take over Sunnydale. They are uber dorks, obsessed with the whole panoply of comic book culture and Star War action figures. Though them manage to pull off some stunts, apart from Warren's accidental killing of both his ex-girlfriend and Willow, they are a pretty silly lot. They are more like perpetual comic relief. BUFFY was always trying to do new things and I applaud them for doing so (the effort to always be fresh was one of the reasons it was such a great show), but I think it is safe to say that having them as the Big Bads was a bit of a mistake. In the end, their greatest contribution was in providing victims for Willow's rampage at season's end. Indeed, the single most horrifying moment in the history of the show had to be the terrible instance in which Willow, after catching and briefly torturing Warren for killing Tara, magically removes his entire epidermis. Not just on BUFFY, apart from some moments in THE SOPRANOS, I know no more terrible instance in the history of TV. Clearly they wanted to demonstrate just how far Willow had gone.

Although the season's story arcs were not especially satisfying, there were a number of unforgettable episodes. The season begins with a great sequence of episodes, as Willow with the assistance of Tara, Xander, and Anya raise Buffy, who had died a mystical death at the end of Season Five, from the dead. Their fear, based largely on Angel's being sent to a hell dimension at the end of Season Two, was that Buffy was suffering unspeakable torture in a different hell dimension. But we later learn that she was, in fact, in a place of great peace and repose, a place she could only describe as "heaven." The first six episodes see Buffy struggling to deal with her return to a place that now felt like hell. All these early episodes, even if not strong all the way through, contain at least some great moments.

Then come Episodes 7 and 8, not just the best episodes of the season, but among the best in the run of the show. "Once More, with Feeling" is often cited as the very best episode of BUFFY, and to those who wish the show had ended at the end of Season Five, my response is always, "Would you really have wanted for there never to have been "Once More, With Feeling?" This was the musical episode and while many shows have attempted musical episodes, this one stands far above what any other show has either attempted or achieved. What is amazing is how fine the episode was despite not having a world of musical talent on the show. Only Anthony Stewart Head (who had taken over the lead in THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW in London in the original production and sung on albums by his brother Murray, the original Judas in JESUS CHRIST, SUPERSTAR), James Marsters (who headed his own rock band), and Amber Benson (who played Tara) had especially good voices. Though not a trained singer, Sarah Michelle Gellar nonetheless acquitted herself quite well both singing and dancing, and Michelle Trachtenberg, though not a singer, put her dance training to good use. Joss Whedon contributed a very fine group of songs. In one of the best guest appearances in the run of the show, veteran Broadway hoofer Hinton Battle (perhaps best known as the Scarecrow in the entire run of THE WIZ on Broadway) played the demon Sweet, who was accidentally summoned to Sunnydale, and who was responsible for the singing and dancing afflicting everyone. The most amazing thing about the episode was the way that the songs advanced every story arc in the show and greatly accelerated the action. The best songs were Buffy's Disneyesque "Going Through the Motions" that started the episode; Tara's singing of "Under Your Spell" to Willow (ironic in that she learned she was literally being controlled by Willow through magic); Spike's passionate expression of his love/hate for Buffy in "Rest in Peace"; the wonderful duet between Tara and Giles; and the great production number that preceded the battle-that-never-occurred with Sweet, "Walk Through the Fire." Not should also be made of Anya's great bit in an early group number in which the Scoobies are trying to figure out why everyone is singing and dancing. After singing that she has a theory that it "must be bunnies," the group very ignores her only to have her scream in a great hard rock voice:

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposed
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses
And what's with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?
Bunnies! Bunnies! It must be bunnies!

The popularity of the episode can be seen in the fact that it is the only episode to have its script published separately and the soundtrack has been released on compact disc.

"Once More, with Feeling" was followed by "Tabula Rasa," probably the funniest episode ever on BUFFY. After Tara catches Willow manipulating their relationship through the use of magic, Willow complicates things by attempting once more to make them all forget that she had used magic to control others. But the spell misfires and instead everyone in the group, including Willow, forgets who they are. The scene in which everyone tries to figure out who they are is a classic, the best part being Spike, who has been going about in a dreadful suit as a disguise to escape a loan shark (a demon with literally the head of a shark, the only really awful note in an otherwise stunning episode), deciding that his is Giles's son and that his name is Randy. When Buffy finds no ID, she tellingly decides that everyone should call her Joan, with echoes of St. Joan in her choice.

Unfortunately, while there are few out and out bad episodes, there are few absolutely stunning episodes until the ones that end the season. The one major exception is "Normal Again," which resembles many of the alternative reality stories of Philip K. Dick. Buffy is injected with some venom by a demon she fights, and the result is that she imagines that she is actually in a mental institution where she has been fantasizing for several years that she was a vampire slayer in a town called Sunnydale. Or is reality breaking through to make her cease fantasizing for a while. We fans, of course, can't imagine that all six seasons were a delusion, but it is nonetheless a brilliant episode.

Although I don't believe that this is one of BUFFY's best seasons, I can't give this less than five stars simply because even during this season BUFFY remained one of the most brilliant shows on TV. Not everything in the season succeeded, but they nevertheless continually strove to produce a special show. The show took risks; they never played things safe. The problem with taking risks is that sometimes things don't work out. Still, all in all this was a season with more to delight over than to regret.

The Sixth Season of Buffy was indeed different. A lot of people seem to have had a problem with the darkness of the season, the emphasis on real life problems. However, I think the creation of the trio was brilliant. This season was all about exploring how the characters responded to real life challenges, as was the case with the trio. What made them so brilliant was the viewer could trace the devolution of the trio from mischivious to truly evil. They were normal people, a trio to match the early trio of Buffy, Xander, and Willow who allowed their greed and discontent to consume them, especially Warren. I found the trio truly chilling, if only because of all the monsters on Buffy, they were the only ones that were a glimpse of what a human being could become in reality.
Moreover, this season had many of the best episodes of the series. Once More, With Feeling is brilliant, I think in anyone's estimation. Tabula Rasa also is very funny. The finale of the season was a slam dunk, and Xander's yellow crayon speech was incredibly poignant. All the characters faced their inner demons by the seasons end; some triumphed, others were left in the following season to pick up the pieces from their disastrous choices.
I also can't wait for Season 7 to be out on DVD

Season Six of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" will not go down as the most celebrated in the series run. But it has already earned a well-deserved reputation as the most darkly adult of them all. A couple of episodes were of truly standout quality, including the Diego Gutierrez-penned psychological set piece "Normal Again" and the oft-praised, Emmy-robbed Joss Whedon musical extravaganza "Once More, With Feeling," which will have you under its spell. There were even a couple of quirky surprise episodes where Buffy lived up to its earlier comedic form, most notably in the episodes "Life Serial" and "Tabula Rasa."

The season started in a difficult place--Buffy's resurrection by her well-meaning friends pulled her out of heaven into the "hell" of Earth--and things never really got better, as the characters began a season-long slide into miasma. Long-time viewers of the show will be able to understand fully the heart-rending moments such as Giles' departure (twice), Xander's continuing troubles with Anya, and the shocking death of a major character in the season's nineteenth episode, "Seeing Red." But enough background material is presented in context that even newer viewers will be able to fathom the significance inherent in these moments. (I should know...this season was my first introduction to the Buffyverse.) They can also grimace as the show's characters, clearly coming apart at the seams, begin to act entirely abnormally...as two healthy relationships grind to a shuddering halt, a third--clearly unhealthy for both participants, though desired by both--explodes on the screen with violent and graphic power, finally culiminating in a shocking attempted rape.

With its themes of growing into adulthood, the denial of reality, the dangers of addiction, and learning to let go of what was, "Buffy" Season Six attempted more than any season of the show to that date. If it occasionally sputtered and faltered along the way, I think the fault can be laid at the door of overambition--not due to the fact that the cast and crew were "goin' through the motions." And for every uneven development, there are some truly excellent ones--the delicious creepy ambience that turns blood-curdlingly real in "Dead Things," Buffy's stunning revelation at the close of "AfterLife," and the final climax in "Grave" (which strains credulity but which manages to affect nonetheless) are all examples of the season's most memorable moments.

Two major characters die. Two old friends return. And there's a snazzy demon named Sweet who loves jazz. If you're a longtime fan, or just curious about the '90s cult phenomenon that was "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," you owe it to yourself to pick up this set. You'll love it. I've got a feeling...

Seasons One through Five of Buffy were very close to universally enjoyable: to see them was to love them. Many erstwhile Buffy fans, on the other hand, dislike season Six. Having died at the end of Season Five, Buffy's friends resurrect her at the beginning of the season, and the recurring question is: Did she come back "right"? In Seasons One through Five, the monsters Buffy and the Scooby Gang are all external, but in Season Six, although there is a relatively minor threat posed by the dorky would-be villains Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew, all the genuine monsters are internal. Traumatized by her unexpected removal from what she suspects was heaven, Buffy spends the entire season exploring her own dark pages.

Many Buffy fans (including my daughter) were uncomfortable with the darkness, with Buffy's self-destructive behavior, with her less-than-heroic behavior. But I loved this season as much as any. It is a different Buffy, an older Buffy, a Buffy who struggles with life's everyday problems, not always successfully. If the first three seasons was high school Buffy, and the fourth and fifth seasons were college Buffy, then the sixth season was adult Buffy. I haven't conducted a scientific survey, but I have a very strong suspicion that this season appeals far more strongly to Buffy's older viewers. Younger fans may not feel as acutely Buffy's dilemmas about whether to pay the phone bill or the electric bill, how to placate a social worker to keep Dawn from becoming a ward of the state, or her struggle to see past a sea of petty problems to regain a glimpse of the grander scheme of things, but most adults will.

Not only Buffy, but all of the Scooby's go to some very dark places. Dawn struggles with a serious shoplifting problem. Willow becomes more and more dependent upon magic, to the point of addiction. Xander leaves Anya at the altar, leaving their relationship in shambles and wrecking both of their lives. Giles senses that he is in the way of Buffy's growing up, and with great reluctance decides to leave and return to England. Spike becomes more and more obsessed with Buffy, and after their brief but enormously self-destructive affair, attempts to rape her and leaves Sunnydale to change radically his entire existence (and as we learn in Season Seven, he succeeds). Tara, troubled by Willow's growing dependence on magic, leaves her, and shortly after reconciling with her, is accidentally killed, sparking Willow's emotional and spiritual breakdown. The season, however, ends on a note of hope. Although Willow comes excruciatingly close to destroying the planet out of her agony at Tara's death, she is diverted by Xander's love and friendship. Although Buffy has spent the year struggling with rediscovering a desire to live, at the end of the season she decides that she does, and expresses to Dawn a desire to show her many of the things that makes life important. Spike finds a salvation that quite nearly drives him insane, in being granted a soul by after surviving a series of trials. Only Anya ends the season in an unbearable place.

Despite the darkness of the season as a whole, there are nonetheless many spectacular moments and some hysterically funny ones. The highpoint of the season is unquestionably the seventh episode, the justly celebrated musical "Once More, With Feeling." Many television shows have attempted musical versions of the show, but none have even remotely approached the excellence of this episode. The songs are all at least good, and some are quite good indeed. All the performers do their own singing. Sarah Michelle Gellar does a pretty decent job singing her songs, but several display excellent voices, especially Anthony Head (Giles), James Marsters (Spike), and Amber Benson (Tara). Dawn sings lightly, but demonstrates some surprising dance ability, obviously the result of some formal training. The brilliance of the episode isn't merely the competent musical numbers, but the fact that each one carries the plot forward far more effectively than a nonmusical show would have. We learn that all are under the spell of a musical demon, played brilliantly by Broadway song and dance man Hinton Battle (the Scarecrow in the original stage version of THE WIZ), and must reveal their deepest feelings in song.

The episode that follows "Once More, With Feeling" is "Tabla Rasa," arguably the funniest in all of Buffy. A spell that Willow casts goes awry, and all the gang while at the Magic Box temporarily lose their memories, including their memories of one another and their own identity. The scene where all awake, trying to figure out who they all are, is hysterical, especially Spike's realization that he, like Giles, is a "Nancy boy" and their conclusion that he must be Giles's son "Randy" (deducted from a label in the coat he is wearing). Buffy tellingly decides that her name must be "Joan" (with obvious overtones of another great female hero, Joan of Arc), and discovers that she must be a superhero because she is "wicked strong."

The season as a whole has both many terrifying moments and many funny ones. Buff's appearing in her Doublemeat Palace fast-food uniform combines both. Willow's apotheosis as the darkest of evil sorceresses in the final episodes is very nearly overwhelming, and is completely evil when, after skinning Warren alive for having killed Tara, she looks at her friends before going off to complete her revenge against Jonathan and Andrew and says, "Two to go."

Buffy's move from the WB to UPN ushered in an era of lesser quality. While many people feel that the major issue with this season is that it's too dark, I feel that it's not the darkness where the show makes a major stumble, but in the stories. Over the course of the season we're faced with multiple false epiphanies by Buffy, non-sensical changes to established canon (most notably the dramatic shift from the subtle metaphor of magic=sex in Season 4 to the blatant magic=drugs in this season), and subpar characterization, such as the non-use of Xander for most of the season. Arcs that could have been great have terrible execution. Willow's descent in darkness is set-up well, but when the trigger is pulled in the two-parter Smashed/Wrecked, it just feels false. The sight of Alyson Hannigan having to act through withdrawl is almost painful to watch. Similarly, the wedding arc between Xander and Anya is pushed to the side until it comes to an unsurprising conclusion that, in the end, has little impact overall.

The production values also take a hit, with the moster design turning subpar, the lighting becoming almost too bright, a shrinking number of sets (Get used to seeing Buffy's house and the Magic Box a lot), as well as the growing feeling that Sunnydale is populated only by the Scoobies.

Which is not to say that the season is without merit. Once More With Feeling is a tremendous hour of television, and almost makes the purchase worthwhile for just that episode alone. Normal Again is a wonderfully dark look at what would happen if Buffy were to go insane and turn on her friends. Life Serial is a wonderfully comic episode (the Mummy hand sequence in particular) that is sure to evoke more than a few laughs. Even the worst episodes of the season had a few moments that displayed the old greatness of the series.

While this season certainly did not live up to the previous seasons, it still remains above average viewing.

I never watched "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" while it was on the air. Instead, I picked up the habit on DVD, and have been digesting the show season by season that way. More than a few people had told me that "Buffy" was great... at least until it got to its sixth season, at which point the show started to suck. So, after seeing the enormously good fifth season, I was both terribly anxious for the sixth season and a bit apprehensive, because I expected the show to not be as good.

Well, that's just not the case. Out of the twenty-two episodes to be found on this set, not a single one is less than excellent. There are no episodes that achieve utterly stratospheric levels of awesomeness like, say, "The Body" and "The Gift" do in the fifth season, but a few -- "Once More, With Feeling," "Tabula Rasa," and "Gone," for example -- come very close.

From what I can tell, the objections some people have to season six center around three things: (1) that it's depressing, (2) that there isn't really a master villain (such as past seasons had with Angel, the Mayor, Adam, and Glory), and (3) that Giles is only in a few episodes. These are all legitimate complaints, I suppose, but each can also be refuted, so that's what I'm going to do. If you haven't seen season five, you might want to quit reading; there will be spoilers for it, but none for the sixth season.

Complaint #1: the sixth season is depressing. Well, how could it not be? Keep in mind, Buffy died at the end of season five, and when she was brought back, it would be emotionally unrealistic for her to not be totally screwed up for a while. One way of looking at this season is that it's about the process of Buffy becoming okay with the fact that she is alive and breathing. And trust me, when you watch the season with that thought in mind, it makes a lot of sense, and has some real weight to it. Heck, almost every character goes thorugh a similar process: certainly Willow and Xander do, and I'd say that Dawn, Spike, and Anya do, too. See, the idea is that they are all really becoming adults for the first time, and therefore, the problems they are dealing with are representations of adult problems. For a lot of people, these problems -- with debt, death, addiction, and despair -- make for depressing viewing, and are not the sort of thing they want to see in a show about funny monsters; but "Buffy" was never about funny monsters. It WAS always about emotional truth, and thus, season six is not only a logical extension of the show, it's the only place the show could have gone after season five while still retaining the things that made it great in the first place.

Complaint #2: there isn't a Big Bad villain for the season. Not true. First of all, there's The Trio. They're silly villains, yes, but they are utterly in keeping with the theme of the season: as is made clear in the special features on the DVD, these pathetic guys who were incapable of growing up were pefect villains in a season that was all about the necessity of growing up. Perhaps some people also were uncomfortable over the fact that these three guys were sort of a mockery of the type of geeky fanboys who stereotpyically gravitate toward shows like "Star Trek," "Babylon 5," and, um, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I'm one of those guys, and it doesn't bother me, so it shouldn't bother you, either. Really, though, the Big Bad of the season is to be found within each of the main characters: Buffy is fighting herself, Willow is fighting herself, Xander is fighting himself, so forth and so on. I don't want to be too specific; it'd give away too many things that should remain surprising. This element of inner struggle, to me, is much more interesting than would have been yet another demon bent on the destruction of the world. "Buffy" had done that before, several times; here, the creators decided to do something different. For some people, it didn't work, but I think those were people who weren't paying very close attention.

Complaint #3: there's not enough Giles. Well, Giles has always been the father figure on the show, not only for Buffy, but for Willow and Xander, as well, when you think about it. And if the season is about the three of them growing into adulthood, it makes sense for them to do so with their father figure absent. Again, it is a creative move designed to strengthen the season overall, and it works. Also, when Giles IS around, he is absolutely awesome. There is one scene in particular in which he is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Trust me; you'll see.

My final opinion of this season is that it's the best one yet. It's hard to get better than seasons three and five, but this one does it. It isn't necessarily the most happy story ever told, but since when is that a prerequisite for goodness?

The DVDs themselves are good; the video quality is excellent, and the audio is very good for television. The image is full-frame, with the exception of "Once More, With Feeling," which is letterboxed. Sadly, Fox did not see fit to anamorphically enhance that episode, which sucks if you have a widescreen TV; but that's no reason not to buy the discs, and if you have a standard TV, like me, you'll never know the difference. The bonus features are pretty good, with several interesting documentaries, including a behind-the-scenes look at the musical episode and a retrospective of the entire series that even (gasp!) includes interviews with Sarah Michelle Gellar, who normally skips that sort of thing. Best of all is the Joss Whedon commentary track on "Once More, With Feeling"; he does commentaries better than anyone else I can think of.

Highly, highly, highly recommended.

After Buffy's death at the end of season five,it was clear Buffy's sixth season would be very different.And it was.Season six is Buffy's most daring and most disturbing season.This season is way too mature for people who think it's a bad idea to have a season with no big bad and no real big story arc.Instead it's a big character study.In fact,this is THE season for character development.Buffy,Xander,Willow,etc.They all suffer a lot during season six.There are so many great episodes in season six and so few bad episodes.People hate this season not because it's full of bad episodes.They hate it because it's too brutally honest and misses many of the elements Buffy normally has.I actually would put this season ahead of all the others except three and five.
This season has a lot of huge drama like Tara's death or Willow turning evil.And there are episodes like Doublemeat Palace that are a whole lot better than people think.I admit the season gets too repetitive in its middle chunk but it does get back on track and most of it is amazingly daring and honest.Some people actually hate this season not because of the darkness but because of how inconsistent it is.I don't think it's very inconsistent.There's stuff to like in every episode and it's a nice change of pace after the roller-coaster that is season five.Season six rules.Get it.I just wish it came way before July 2004.I noticed a lot of people started to love season four after they saw it on dvd and I hope the same happens with season six.Of course the best thing about season six is the Musical episode Once More With Feeling.Probably the best single hour of Buffy it is.

Well, I read the reviews of this season, and--based on mixed comments-- bought the set without high hopes for being satisfied. I was astonished to discover that Season Six is now my favorite season!

I found season five, seemingly universally praised, to be protracted and ponderous, and the character of Glory/Ben one of the least interesting villains in any season. In fact, my least favorite scene in the six I've watched was during the final episodes when Glory and Ben wrestle with each other metaphorically, and time seems to stop for a decade or two, or three.

In a bad way, that is.

So, I began season six with a lingering sense of dissatisfaction, and the thought that if everyone loved the previous season, and were mixed about the one I was about to watch....etc.

I don't want to spoil Six for anyone reading, and there have been extensive and impassioned overviews of the themes and major points in this set by reviewers in this forum already. I would just like to say that I heartily disagree with the reviews that describe Six as "uneven." There is a taut focus to the themes; interesting, intense writing in nearly every episode; the best opening sequence of episodes in any season; a return to a mordant, dry wit that was conspicuously and unfortunately absent from season Five: and the most compelling villain in Willow. In addition, in a seemingly "stand alone" ep, "Normal Again," the writers devise a totally thought-provoking alternative to a universe increasingly self-referential after so many seasons, and both a clever and deeply disturbing episode that encapsulates Buffy's own arc during the season. I have never enjoyed her character as much as I did, watching her struggle to be in the world during season Six

I recommend this season highly!

Too dark. Too depressing. Too many dark character arcs. Too kinky, too many nerdy villains, no compelling "big bad," what's up with spike, and, well-- too dark.

Does that cover the list of complaints? Am I forgetting anything? Lord only knows, Buffy-holics can be fierce, persnickity taskmasters (particularly the online folk), and I wouldn't want to miss a single nitpick.

Season Six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is easily the most divisive of the show's seven-year run (to paraphrase a wise swampland muppet, there is only love or no love-- there is no try). It is also one of the show's very best, and listening to the litany of concerns that even the most devoted fans have with this season brings to mind the exchange between Woody Allen and the aliens in STARDUST MEMORIES: "We love your films. Particularly the earlier, funnier ones."

Series creator/auteur Joss Whedon has stated in numerous interviews that BUFFY was designed to be loved and adored beyond all reason, and as its spin-off ANGEL finally reached its magnificent conclusion a few weeks ago, bringing to a close the stories of what fans affectionately refer to as "the Buffyverse" (or the WhedonVerse)-- and leaving fans of quality television bereft in a universe of soul-sucking reality television and jeffy foxworthy-- it's clear that Whedon succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. Spin-offs, novelizations, comics, videogames, action figures, ep guides, conferences, conventions, oodles of websites and at least a dozen academic collections testify to the intense feeling fans had for the program.

I mention this because it's impossible for me to separate my appreciation and understanding of the events of season six from this fan culture, and that culture's divided response. At the end of season five, contract disputes with the WB led to the show's departure from that network, and its debut on UPN. Without wanting to give away any plot twists, I'd like to propose that season six -- in addition to offering heartbreaking drama, hilarious comedy, and the single best musical in recent memory-- also acts as a kind of metacommentary on both network politics (the show's characters going through the same kinds of growing pains as the program itself went through in moving to a new home) and, much more daringly, on the dangers and limitations of fanboyism.

What does that mean? Well, watch the box and we'll talk (no spoilers, remember, although I'm dying to tell you about this moment when...and then it turns out it's his sled...and...). Suffice to say that, even for a show as consistently risky and daring in its tonal shifts, stylistic pastiches and character arcs as BUFFY, Season Six finds Whedon and Co. pushing everyone to their limits. Yes, it's dark, although even a quick perusal of the previous five seasons suggests that darkness has always been a key element in BUFFY (she *is* a vampire slayer, after all). Yes, there are scary, depressing things that happen (although anyone who's sat through Buffy Season Two should be prepared for that possibility). Characters change, relationships alter, and not everything conforms to the formula of good/evil that had been established (and also played with, deconstructed) over the previous seasons.

But guess what? This sort of ambiguity has been part of the BUFFY make-up since the first season. It was clear, at least since Season Two, that the show was not going to be the campfest that its title (and forgettable movie parent) suggested, and that, under the guise of a "teen show," Whedon and Co. were going to deliver some of the richest, most complex emotions on TV.

Too dark, too depressing, too kinky-- and yet, upon reflection, everything that happens in Season Six is a logical outgrowth of what had come before. Pulling the rug out from under fan expectations has been one of the show's hallmarks from the first epsiode, and previous years have seen shocking plot twists, from an extreme makeover of a key character in season two, to the surprise arrival of another in season five. One of the joys of Buffy has been the show's willingness to thwart expectation and push character and audience alike to new and strange emotional places (inevitably, once the outrage dies down, fans look back on these arc-altering episodes nostalgically). The writers do so gracefully, wittily, movingly and logically-- the changes never seem like just a stunt-- and it's to the writers' credit that they trusted their audience enough to, after six years, take them to even harder places (given the difficulties many had, the writers arguably trusted them too much). Better that than another police procedural regurgitation where NOTHING EVER CHANGES.

Remember, too, a crucial component of the BuffyVerse's success-- hope (no shadow without light). As a show with the word "slayer" in the title would suggest, there has been violence and pain in the show's run, but never nihilism, the kind of flip, darkness-for-its-own-sake conservatism that infects the work of Alan (SIX FEET UNDER) Ball, for instance. The difficulties and consequences the show's characters face are always mixed with humor, whether it's a throwaway joke or a full-scale musical episode (the masterful "Once More With Feeling," the single best thing on television during the 2001-2002 season). Ultimately, it is that hope that justifies all of the darkness of the season, and when the characters reach a kind of understanding and grace in the season's final minutes, it is an extraordiarily moving capstone to a magnificent six-year run (don't get me started on the painfully disappointing seventh year, there's no time...).

Too dark, too depressing, too kinky-- and as cancellations and reality gluts are apparently proving, too damn cool for contemporary television.