Random thoughts on Buffy’s Sixth Season...

I believe that the reason Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not widely accepted as the best show ever is because most people, men & women alike, have a problem with a strong female lead (and/or Sarah Michelle Gellar). So the fault lies not in Buffy, but in ourselves.

When asked “What’s the best season of Buffy?” many people say Season One (commonly referred to as the year when Buffy loses her virginity to a vampire with a soul, who loses said soul when he climaxes that night & ends up acting like a real asshole the next morning. Poor Buffy.). They’re wrong. The best season is season six.

Before 2001’s sixth season, I never watched the Buffy show. But somehow, even with my television set off, I could sense that Buffy as a series was peaking & I started with scattered episodes of season six. Immediately, I tried my best to find the missed Buffy episodes and download them on a program that would eventually brain damage my computer. The amazing plot of Season Six revolves around Buffy being brought back from the dead. After throwing herself into a hell dimension to save the world(Season Five), Buffy’s friends decide to rip her out from hell’s grasp. They succeed. Only problem? She was in heaven. Damn.

And after heaven, earth seems like hell. So Buffy spends an entire season downward spiraling & self-destructing. All 22 episodes. And you know what that means: Lots of sex to numb the pain. Yay! I’m talking hot violent sex that brings the house down (literally), Invisible sex (literally), & sex in a mausoleum (metaphorical). And you know what? For a slayer, she sure likes sleeping with Vampires. Buffy the Vampire Layer is more accurate.

Quick: Your favorite Buffy character. Mine is Anya (Emma Caulbield), a vengeance demon turned human, who falls in love with joe schmo Xander(Nicholas Brendon). Experienced more in revenge than love, she’s constantly discovering the intricacies of relationships while maintaining a tactless approach when asking Xander for sexual pleasure. Her wedding day episode is an ultra campy half demon/half human ceremony that captures the universal anxiety associated with merging two families into one. That’s what Buffy’s about. Using absurd fantasy as social commentary.

Do you like Drugs? Or Lesbians? Or Allyson Hanigan? Than you’ll love Buffy’s best friend Willow, a lady-loving Wicca played by Hannigan whose use & abuse of the dark arts leads to an unhealthy magic/drug habit. If you think waking up after a coke binge is hard, imagine the come down from magical drugs that don’t even exist in the real world. It makes for great drama & a valuable lesson on drug use. By the way, did you realize that when one lesbian witch goes down on another lesbian witch, they float? In case you never get around to season six of Buffy, just thought you should know.

-Nikita Burdein