l. a.

I constantly see people mourn the innocent and carefree days of the high school era and I just… don’t? it of course does have its charm and especially is fun to see if you did not have the American high school experience, 90s one as well. But it also is quite dark too, s2 is really hard to watch in the second half when Buffy is going through psychological horrors of Angelus.

I also find it telling that so many people seem to loudly prefer Buffy when she's A) a minor and B) constantly kowtowing to the men in her life versus Buffy become an independent, self-actualized woman who trusts her own judgment and doesn't apologize for being right in the face of extreme and frankly unearned doubt.

I constantly see people mourn the innocent and carefree days of the high school era and I just… don’t? it of course does have its charm and especially is fun to see if you did not have the American high school experience, 90s one as well. But it also is quite dark too, s2 is really hard to watch in the second half when Buffy is going through psychological horrors of Angelus.

I had almost the exact same experience. S3 was the season I struggled to get through the most during first watch and now that I’m rewatching I’m struggling to finish it again lol

Buffy and the Scoobies never clear the air about the issues popping up in episode 2.

The fact that Angel comes back. Buffy was coming to terms with the terrible choice she had to make. It would have been amazing if she continued to grow and heal. Then Angel comes back, and she backslides to square one. Also I hate Angel.

They took away Buffy’s natural rebelliousness and made her a lot more prim and proper to contrast with Faith.

Everything about Faith’s arc.

I see a lot of fans who like Faith and the Mayor’s relationship and describe it as fatherly. It is clearly (to me, anyway) that the Mayor is labor trafficking Faith.

The Madonna/whore thing they had going with Faith is so annoying.

And then you get amends, where Angel conspicuously fails to make amends, then threatens to commit suicide in front of her, and this is... romantic apparently? Just what the fuck is happening.

Like I guess if you're heavy into angst, but it is Not For Me, Thanks. I think S3 kills Bangel deader even than him losing his soul did, for me. Soulless Angel treating her poorly makes sense, but then they pull this shit when he's 'good' and present it as romantic, and I'm just not about that life.

(If I weren't already over their entire relationship, him calling her a brat alone, never mind the context, would kill it dead. Directly to jail. You do not get to date a teenaged girl then act surprised when she is a teenaged girl, AND ALSO Buffy actually accepts him breaking up with her, she's just not happy about it; she acts more mature about it than Angel did.)

And this all comes after the setup of S2 with shit like Angel acting like Buffy bores him to tears half the time (Ted being a prime example, she's worried about her mom while she's literally tending Angel's wounds, and Angel acts like this whole conversation is such a chore), and I'm supposed to believe they're suddenly soulmates? I don't even believe he likes her. Thinks she's hot, thinks she proves he's redeemed, wants to possess her, sure. Actually enjoys her company? Not so much.

Then you have all the non-Angel sins of S3, the poor handling of Eliza's limited availability, just... season three has some really interesting characters and concepts, and some very fun one off episodes, but as a whole season of TV it fails to work for me on multiple levels.

Eleuterio Pagliano (Italian, 1826-1903)