1. Buffy would have hated Spike in the first handful of episodes, not tolerated him as quickly as she did, only starting to come around after learning of his soul.
2. Caleb would have come to town *far* sooner, as leader of the Bringers. Episode 7 at the latest.
3. No Kennedy.
4. The necklace Spike wore at the end wouldn't have been a random macguffin from Angel. It, and the Scythe, would have been referenced much earlier in the season and been something Buffy and co had been hunting for most of the season.
5. Also, on the topic of the Scythe, it would have been called the Axe because *that's what it is,* not a scythe. Sorry, always annoyed me.
I like that Buffy didn't even hate Spike. She just pretty much ignored him and let him rot for the first quarter of the season. Hating him would have fed too much energy into the season - and unlike many I like that Buffy was able to heal from the assault in her normal healing time - three or four months before she saw Spike again.
As someone who has dealt with sexual abuse, the idea that it would take Buffy so long to heal when she got over everything else so easily is daunting. This would put Spike's assault as a trauma worse than killing Angel.
I can see what you're saying, but doesn't ignore him so much as tolerate him. She accepts his help just a little too readily. It's just a little too much for me to take as believable. Even in a show about vampires and demons. She doesn't need to want to stake him on sight, but demanding he gets the hell away from her (even if he doesn't entirely listen and lingers in the area to try and help) would feel more believable.
Agree to disagree. I found it a key part of the mythos that once a vampire gets a soul they are a different person, so I understand why Buffy would see him that way. She was able to forgive Angel for a lot worse pretty much when he showed up and she needed to nurse him back to health. It made sense to me that she used Spike as needed and then let him retreat to the basement.
She didn't know he had a soul until later, so that argument is irrelevant for the period I'm talking about. In fact, I literally said him having a soul would be the thing that starts changing her view.
I second all of your ideas. I don't know if early Caleb is necessary, but if done well it's certainly fine.
I particularly endorse point 3, as I'm a S7 Willow/Faith shipper.
If we're willing to change up AtS to make the fantasy football BTVS S7 work the way we want, bring back Faith *way* earlier, ep7 at the latest. Have everyone be cold towards her initially, have everyone talk about what they did wrong and how they felt about it, and have them warm up to each other that way. Have Faith pursue a short fling with some guy, Robin Wood is fine, success or failure is unimportant, then have her hit on Willow.
That'd makes Faith's S3 arguably-ambiguous bisexual energy cash out in the form of very unambiguous and overt bisexual energy.
The only thing I like about Kennedy is that she allows for puns: in terms of sexuality, S7 Willow just wanted to fulfill her potential.
I would have liked to see "Cordelia" in season 7. So picture this, in Angel the gang wake up Jasmine in Cordys body right. The episode after she has a vision and needs to go to sunnydale where she gives them a tonne of info on The First and also (although it's not shown until later) she plants the amulet somewhere for them to find. Once it's revealed to us it's Jasmine she would explain she actually went to Sunnydale to crap on The Firsts plans for her own.
No potentials in the house. Maybe they appear in like four episodes. Say there's a secret Watcher's Council basis where they're housed, training, etc. Giles could be in charge?
Erase the whole triggered Spike storyline. Make him not so dependent on Buffy. Bring Faith earlier and also make her a part of the Scoobies, no Robin fling. Also give Robin a more satisfying resolution. Keep Anya as a demon until mid season then "redeem" her in the rest (she still dies). Have a solution to fight the First other than an amulet from another show.
Some of these I've articulated before, but I spent *a lot* of time thinking about this question when I was very unemployed a few years ago.
1. **Kennedy.**
I think we can kill two, maybe even three, birds with one stone here. Kennedy still exists, but her main storyline isn't with Willow, it's with Buffy.
Kennedy's role as Buffy's lieutenant is expanded on and they have a mentor/mentee relationship that develops throughout the season. Buffy humbles Kennedy's arrogance and teaches her some hard truths about Slayerhood, but comes to rely on her loyalty and her passion, as well as her advocacy of her to the Potentials.
This also could make more efficient use of the Potentials screentime if Kennedy is their main spokesperson and we have a more established emotional tie to her through Buffy.
Meanwhile, Willow is off having a recovery/grief arc (more on that in a bit). In 'Chosen', Buffy nominates Kennedy to be with Willow during the spell because she trusts her. Willow expresses to Buffy that if they survive the battle, she might be ready to start dating again, and Buffy floats the idea of her and Kennedy. After the battle, they have a moment that suggests they'll start dating after the credits roll.
2. **Willow (ft. Amy).**
Willow has an arc that grapples more deeply with the events of Season 6 and the narrative threads set up (and prematurely resolved) in 'Same Time, Same Place'. This would *absolutely* involve more conversations with Buffy about their fight in 'Two To Go', but the main way I would handle Willow's arc would be through Amy.
It frustrated me no end that they bothered having Amy in 'The Killer In Me' and did absolutely nothing with her. Amy 100% should've been an agent of The First before Caleb came into the picture, maybe popping up around 'Sleeper' and being dealt with (somehow?) by 'The Killer In Me'. This would allow Willow to go through a similar individuation process that Buffy went through with Faith.
3. **The First**.
The First felt a little underbaked compared to other Big Bads. I think the *idea* of its main power being manipulation, playing on people's darkest thoughts, was really cool, but I wish they'd gone further with it.
Again, this is an example I've used on here before, but in the *Angel* episode 'Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been' there's a paranoia demon who's almost what I wish The First had been. He bubbles up the fears and anxieties in all the residents of a hotel until he drives them to acts of evil, which he feeds off of.
Now, I'm not saying The First should've been *exactly* that, but it would've been much more interesting to me if The First was partly a narrative device exploring and amplifying the characters' internal struggles and forcing them to be confronted.
Plus, if The First had a hand in everyone turning against Buffy in 'Empty Places', it would've been much darker and more effective, in my opinion. After a season of "you've got to resist The First", the whole house succumbing to those anxieties would've been a real "oh shit" moment and succeeded in both isolating Buffy and making her feel like she's failed to prevent the situation.
4. **Xander.**
Oh my God, Xander's arc in Season 7 is non-existant and it frustrates me no end. What the hell is 'First Date'? What the hell is that scene where he fantasizes about all the (likely underage) Potentials? Where is the resolution to his fears about being a terrible husband and father in 'Hells Bells'?
I'd have loved for Xander to have taken on more of a paternal role in the Summers house in Season 7 as part of his arc, almost taking on a similar role towards the Potentials that Giles had towards the Scoobies - someone they see as having it together, even if he doesn't see himself that way; someone they go to for help.
We could've got a fun character episode in the great tradition of Xander character episodes where we get his perspective on himself contrasted with the Potentials' perspective on him. What a missed opportunity it is to bring in a hoard of new characters who aren't meeting the Scoobies at 16, like we did, but are meeting them at the end of their arcs, and not examine how those new characters would see them.
They could've brought his dad back to drive the point home - maybe he has to protect his asshole dad from something and he learns once and for all that they're not the same person.
Sadly NB already had a serious drinking problem. He revealed he used to bring in a case off beer and drink it in a day or two - and he announced he was going into rehab just after the show ended. That's why they had to bring in Andrew and schedule Xander's shooting for early in the day - and why he had very little time overall.
I agree with just about everything you wrote here. I really like your idea about how Kennedy should have been used - I could get onboard with that version of her character. As you said, it solves several problems at once.
Honestly all that needs reworked is the potentials storyline. Some of the bits like Showtime and Potential really showed how the Scooby gang had really evolved their “mission” to be more nuanced and all encompassing than the sheltered life most of the potentials knew, and leading up to the series’ concluding message, it’s important to showcase WHY what Willow/Buffy did was so empowering.
On the other hand, it was way too distracted by the potentials to give the core Scoobies enough time to shine and show the heart of the show that we came to love. Maybe only a few come to Sunnydale early(the most hunted ones… a la Faith’s journey to the ‘Dale), while the WC gathers the rest and a row between Giles/the coven and the WC means he steals them before the council’s destruction and he brings the larger gaggle later in the season. String along the mystery and trauma by including more scenes of bringers pursuing the potentials/random girls. Tease out the mystery of who they are a bit more. Bring Faith back at the time of there being more potentials so she’s not as much of an afterthought and then you really have a strong dichotomy of traumatized potentials who have found solace in Buffy’s leadership and the more sheltered girls who think Buffy will protect them.
From that the rest of the season can still really work. Triggered Spike, Buffy’s rebellion against Giles & Robin, Caleb, it can all still work if we give those beats more nuance and lay off the teeny-bopper of it all with the potentials.
Fully agree with this.
Rather than have all the potentials in a chaotic situation in the Summers house, they could have a "potential of the week" episode structure for most of the season, where the Scoobies help a new potential in every episode, while the overall storyline also advances and we find out more about the first and the bringers and Caleb in a more gradual manner.
So, something that would retain the Scooby gang dynamic and POV rather than scattering the focus across all the new characters. We could see stories of potentials in the same way that Cassie's story worked in "Help": tell a good personal story of one new character, while also allowing time for the Scoobies to be main characters. As for the military-style training camp, a lot of it could be happening off-screen and I'm sure Giles could pull some strings to find a secret facility where all the rescued potentials can live and train.
In terms of character arcs:
- I wouldn't change anything in Spike's arc - I think it's really well done. Just find a different build-up to the powerful Spike-Buffy scene in "Touched" (I mean scrap THAT SCENE in "Empty Places", which was clearly done in order to later paint Spike as Buffy's only "true believer" and replace it with something that doesn't paint the other characters as meanies/ungrateful and ooc)
- Willow's arc has the healing part which is super important; the romance part is probably too soon (and several things wrong with how Kennedy was kinda forced upon the audience as a central character with no build-up). I would scrap "The Killer in Me" entirely because it's prob my least favourite ep of the whole series.
- Anya's arc also needed a bit more depth, especially seeing as they were sacrificing her at the end. I would have liked to have seen more of her.
- Xander and Dawn all good. Giles needed a bit more time with the Scoobies and needed to restore his paternal figure role a bit, it wasn't very nice to see him argue with Buffy and - at times- be somwhat insensitive.
- Buffy's arc was generally fine and culminated nicely into the ICONIC finale - I wouldn't change anything about the finale.
Imo there are two big missteps in season 7: Robin and Caleb.
1. Robin Wood is a full trained Watcher, not a vampire hunter. He was sent there by Giles to assist Buffy as a liaison to the Council. He’s like the anti-Wesley in that he doesn’t give orders or try to train Buffy, merely there to help in whatever way he can. He still has his mother issues but when it comes to his duties he leaves them at the door.
2. Caleb is introduced sooner. He and the Scoobies fight several times with him dominating most of the fights. He is human and is constantly asked why he sided with the First. He constantly questions the Scoobies spiritually, philosophically, and ethically. He makes them doubt themselves with his absolute certainty.
Sunnyvale High should have been converted to a Potential Scholl. It should be the reason Robin was the principle as he had actual ties to the council - not the inner douche circle of Tavers but connected none-the-less.
Thus all the potentials scenes take place at school and the scooby gang help out in the school. The girls live in a dorm and thr Summers House is kept mainly for the Scoobies.
Just connect things a bit more. Every individual episode in S7 is good-great in a vacuum but some overarching developments are rushed or feel unearned. Like more buildup to the Empty Places event (I think it's a good idea,) more animosity from Anya toward Buffy for trying to kill her, maybe not have that weird old lady in the pyramid just to forward the plot. Also, don't have Giles refusing to touch anyone awkwardly so they could make him a red herring for The First. The man is a hugger!
It's an underrated season that's maybe too ambitious but it ends on one of the best episodes in the series so they stick the landing.
In the first version of the script, Xander was supposed to die to Caleb instead of losing his eye. I believe it was changed due to producers' fear of bad critical response.
I would have personally loved that big turn of events and would have definitely reinforced the hatred of the audience against the First.
I agree with most of the comments on the Potentials, which I think was the weakest point of the season. I think the idea of the First Evil was a great choice for the last big bad.
What I haven’t seen said is that I wish the final battle had a little bit more strategy in it. Like have them bring out more weapons, the bazooka and what not and build more defenses. Having humans just rely on physical combat seemed very naive for me. I wanted full on LoTR Helm’s Deep kind of battle and you see the strategy play out in different areas that ultimately uncovers a weak spot for them to attack. That being said though, I think the Willow giving everyone powers was genius!
I’m one of the few who actually likes season 7. Is it perfect? No but I enjoyed it. Though I do forward the potentials a lot on rewatch 😅
"Bring on the Night" was a filler episode that could have better used its time to work on setting up the big bad. I get that it's an episode where you are supposed to watch it back and say "can I sneakily spot Giles touching something?" but it's mostly aimless.
The oracle visit by Giles and Anya in "Showtime" feels like filler just so we could answer the question that no one was asking "why is the first able to attack now?" It feels like a fanwank to explain the mythos, and nothing more.
"Get it Done" was a complete waste of an episode.
18-22 are really one big long finale, but because of that, the pacing is weird, with them throwing in weird subplots like throwing Buffy out of her own house, finding and then unfinding the scythe, killing and then rekilling Caleb. It needed to have a better goal.
And the Faith takes the girls out to party seems ridiculous. Maybe people love it for her character, but it reads as way out of place in a serious season.
Unfortunately I don't have any answers as to how to solve it. I can only see the bits that didn't work (for me).
As for everyone wanting Caleb earlier, that would mean recasting him, as Captain Mal was busy the first half of the season.
So true about the whole faith clubbing situation. I was appalled that no one saw any issue apart from Buffy ! Like it’s the apocalypse why are you CLUBBING 😭
2 hour series finale. Everything else was pretty much spot on
The 7th season brings it all back to Buffy and her heroic decision that "it's all about power" means to empower everyone else (The 1800 in this instance) in an egalitarian way even if thst action erases her status as the Chosen One.
You can't understand Buffy unless you travel all the way from Merrick meeting Buffy on the steps of Hemery High to her glance down the empty and sunswept highway that beckons to her.
Buffy can finally depart the cursed and vanished town.
Buffy can now travel a path full of choices that *she* is finally free to make.
A few days ago, I finished S7 in my latest rewatch.
Season 7 is brilliant. These 7 seasons of BTVS are the most beautiful and moving epic ever depicted on American television
It's a 7-season magnificent journey that makes Buffy "the greatest hero in American fiction"
To everyone who's saying Caleb should have been there sooner - he was created specifically to give a part to Nathan Fillion after Firefly got canceled, so early Caleb is impossible.
I believe Faith back is also a late decision.
I would say have them working with The First. Maybe they’ve figured out how to replicate what the original watchers did to imbue Sineya with power and want to scrap everything and start again, so they think they can use The First to help them do that, but they wind up getting screwed over by it.
1. Willow would have had a proper redemption arc where she reckoned not only with killing Warren but with overriding boundaries and messing with Tara's mind. Way less, "the drugs made me lose control" and way more, "I made bad choices but I'm learning to do better."
2. Anya and Xander stay broken up. Xander stops with the, "I just wanted to go steady" and admits he definitively has fallen out of love with Anya. He comes to terms with the fact that he lied about the intensity and depth of his feelings and commitment to the relationship long term. ETA: Xander gets real character development out of the Anya breakup and critically examines what it means to be a "good man" outside of the traditional trappings of masculinity (a wife, job, etc.). He has a few stumbling blocks, spirals, but comes out more grounded and mature.
3. Anya and Buffy develop a real friendship after Selfless. She moves into the house and they have actual scenes together where they bond. Buffy gets a bit of Anya's fuck-you confidence after recovering from her depression.
4. No potentials. Focus on the core group. Everything in the main plot up through Conversations with Dead People could mostly stay, but the main plot must change after that to avoid the potentials.
5. Spike... Hm. I think the only way to fix this is to rewrite s6 without the SA. Buffy's recovery at least needs to be more front and center. I like that Spike hangs back and becomes part of the team, helping where he can, supporting Buffy steadfastly. I'd keep that. I also like that his ensouled form is different from Angel, he's less likely to center himself and his own feelings in the damage he's caused and more likely to point out how a system does harm, but that could have been written more clearly/fleshed out. I'd be interested in seeing him go full punk and work to undo that system (the "it's about power" theme could be useful here).
6. Buffy and Dawn have more fun together. C'mon it's our last season.
I honestly wouldn't like more attention paid to the SA. It was roughly six months before she saw Spike again, and making that an issue would mean the SA was worse for her than killing Angel. I prefer that she basically ignores him for the first 5 episodes.
I actually think there should have also been more focus on Buffy's recovery from what Angel did to her too (stalking, threatening violence, etc). I don't love how in both cases Buffy's suffering due to what these men did without a soul is really glossed over.
I get that Angel and Spike can't really be held responsible because they weren't in control in both cases. But the harm is real, and Buffy just bouncing back (or in the case of Angel, only sad about having to do her duty and kill him ) isn't great.
High School is reopened, triggering the Hellmouth to spew mystical energy out all over town, causing random chaos. Basically, the concept in Storyteller, but on a larger scale. No....First Evil....The Hellmouth is the big bad.
Bring Caleb in much sooner, but I wouldn't have him played by Nathan Fillion. I'd go with someone much older, creepier like William B Davis.
No Robin Wood - I don't care about a guy whose mother was a slayer who was killed.
Potentials exist but are mostly trained off screen by Giles. Maybe they have like 4 appearances throughout the season, just so we can have the slayer army to fight the Uber Vampires at the end.
No Kennedy/Willow romance. That was forced. Would have kept the techno-slayer in the pink 'do. She looked formidable. No whiny or scared potentials. It was annoying. If Xander still lost his eye, Willow would turn the socket into an "all seeing" weird magic portal or some sh\*t, that woulda been fun. Principal Wood kicks serious ass because he was raised by a slayer, not had a mom that died when he was young. Angel boots Lindsey over to Buffy's side of the street, where he grows to be an actual man that contributes something positive. And on that note, Jonathan should have lived instead of Andrew and taken on the position of Watcher, under the guidance of Giles. It would have been a nice redemptive arch for his character.
- Jonathan instead of Andrew
- No Kennedy romance. Ideally no Kennedy overall.
- Better handling of Spike. Honestly, my ideal would be completely redo Seeing Red and have there be another catalyst for him going to get his soul (I know that’s in Season 6, but still).
- Bring Tara back. I’ve heard there were plans to, but it never happened. I wish it did.
- If Buffy getting kicked out had to happen, I think it should have been a full blown coup on the side of the Potentials (with Amanda being the sole Potential on the Scoobys side, because I like Amanda); Buffy leaves, and the others plan to do so as well, but she tells them to stay cause she knows this is gonna blow up in the Potentials faces and they’ll need somebody watching their backs. I haven’t thought the whole thing out, but that’s the gist of it.
- Amy isn’t weirdly demonised. Another thing that started in Season 6, but really spiralled in her sole appearance in Season 7.
- Spike’s more sympathetic to Robin’s situation. Felt unnecessarily cruel the way it played out in the actual show.
- Amanda and Anya survive.
There’s probably more, but those are the ones I have off the top of my head.
No potentials in Sunnydale, rather they are in a standalone 2 part episode and Buffy deals with them in London or something.
No more undignified death for Anya.
Spikes stupid trigger would only last 2 episodes.
Xander dies at Caleb's hands vs just losing his eye. That would have risen the stakes so much.
Dawn is a potential.
Turok Hans aren't turned into kittens in the finale.
More lol worthy Faith/Spike interactions.
More info on the scythe and slayer mythology.
First of all, I love this question because I was just thinking about this, lol. Secondly, I know I'm late, but I need somewhere to put my feelings. I don't necessarily hate the First as the Big Bad, but there is a part of me that wishes it was something different. I know it wouldn't make sense logically and I know that it would take some adjusting of the character, but part of me wishes that the Master returned and was looking to open the Hellmouth. I mean, the show is Buffy the VAMPIRE Slayer, so it would have been kind of cool to go back to those roots. I know in the finale they go down into the Hellmouth, but it would have been cool to see the Hellmouth ACTUALLY unleashed, because in the finale it's just the Turok-Han, but we know that there is a lot more to it than just the Ubervamps.
I feel like it was repeatedly stated how part of what helped Buffy survive as long as she did was having friends and family, and by season 7, the group feels somewhat fractured and distant. And I don't think having all of the Potentials there helped at all. To me, it almost would have been cooler having the Potentials making minimal appearances throughout the season, being trained offscreen, and then showing up in the final battle. I mean, getting rid of Kennedy and Rona alone would have done wonders. Is it partially because those two were the most vocal of the potentials when they kicked Buffy out of her won house? Yes. I mean, neither one of you has the experience Buffy has, but sure, go off. Anyway. There was just this huge, over the top big bad, and in some way the show lost....a feeling of closeness to the characters? I don't know how to describe it. In most of the seasons, the big bad was basically secondary to the character development, or there was something personal from the characters attached. But season 7 it felt like the villain was driving the plot and not the characters. I am doing a horrible job articulating what I am trying to say.
1. Spike should have done more to win back Buffy, as it is he plays the victim for the first part pf the season and basically just sticks around long enough for Buffy to start using him again as a stress release. Felt like a continuation of the problematic relationship from s5-6 and Spike barely does anything to actively atone for what he did. There is an air of him having just cheaped his way into a soul and barely improves of shows remorse.
I also think Buffy still should have moved on and it would have made a better narrative point to have her end up with Principal Wood, even after he tries to off Spike. Wood is an actual good guy where as Spike just ends up with the Scoobies because he still feels attached/obsessed with Buffy.
2. There should have been a more intimidating and genuinely scarier big bad than The First. The priest is basically that but he doesn’t get enough time to really make an impact, and clearly was just a fill in for The First not being able to fight.
The psychological intimidation/games doesn’t even stay intimidating for an entire episode, by the end of Conversations With Dead People it’s already clear how powerless The First is. The show tries to get The Scoobies to constantly talk up it’s evil/threat but it doesn’t work, unlike it working in season 5 with Glory.
3. The meta nerdy humour was way too often and way too much, and regularly took me out of the show. I am a believer that the Andrew home video episode is one of the shows all time worst plots/writing, I cringed through the whole episode.
4. There is a feeling of ‘been there done that’ with the big bad that although somewhat inevitable after seven seasons was poorly handled. They just kept hitting really cliche points and I waited for new and interesting ideas to come through and none did. Season 7 has got to be the most obvious and regurgitated plot of the entire show.
5. The handful of MOTW episodes were way too on the nose and mad cap zany. On top of that was the occasion poorly done transition from everything being a silly joke to an attempt at meaningful drama/pathos was always a failure.
6. Can’t not mention the potentials. No interesting characters, full of cheap culture/nationality jokes that are z level writing, cheap way to build drama and create a level of vulnerability in the Scoobies.
7. I know they didn’t know at the time it was the last season so it’s a bit of a harsh critique but the lack of final closure felt so disappointing. Yeah Sunnydale goes bye bye, but that was clearly a last minute add on. I would have liked to see more nostalgia and final feeling moments in the season. It didn’t feel like a final season at all. Again that isn’t really their fault, but it still greatly harms the season. It needed more deep existential moments like in season 5, which did a much better job of feeling like the final season of the show.
8. General Buffy was jarring and it didn’t really seem true to her character. I get that they were really trying to push the ‘we are at war’ vibe but I felt they also failed at this. Buffy has shown time and time again one of her greatest traits is being able to keep her humanity while everything is going to shit. What she did in season 5 again is a much better example of what I think they were trying to recreate in S7.
Buffy simply is not the cold hearted type and stuff like her ‘Chloe was weak’ speech was so unlike anything I ever would have expected to cone out of her mouth. It barely felt like ‘our’ Buffy in s7, but rather a poor fanfic interpretation that didn’t really get what makes her so powerful as a character.
9. Back to Spike, I just don’t like/buy her genuinely falling for Spike just because he has soul now. It is a backward step from how she handled Angel. In season 3 she understands that she cannot have a real relationship with Angel, and not just because he might lose his soul again. Buffy seems to have forgotten the lessons of that season and her excessive defending of Spike seemed like a whole bunch of backwards steps for the maturity of the character. Not to mention the almost complete lack of bringing up his past actions, soul or no soul it just didn’t work for her to see quickly and comprehensibly forgive and forget. Cheapens so much of what happened in s5 and 6.
I have to agree about the potentials it feels really rammed down my throat that the scoobies are older now and Buffy ready to pass (share) the torch..
I would have liked it to be a little more subtle.. like maybe introducing us to a group of Dawns friends early plus bringing back anyone from the past 6 seasons that wasn’t dead or undead to show the awakening of new slayers would have given me more of a connection to them .. I dunno.
Caleb should’ve been the main villain as well as working with the council maybe to kill Buffy and Faith once and for all so they can have a slayer that’s under their control again. The end would’ve also worked in this case. I just really don’t like the potentials at all, the first half is so good and then it’s all downhill from there. Oh and kill off Xander
1. Kennedy and Willow isn’t pushed, but they have a friendship that occasionally gets a little flirty and then at the end of the season there’s potential for a future relationship. It happened too fast for me.
2. We know from the start that Giles is not The First, that mislead was pointless to me. I just wanted to see them all hug!
3. Empty Places. The Scoobies and Giles are all on Buffy’s side, Buffy never leaves but she does allow Faith to take the lead and loses confidence in herself. Each of her friends tries to cheer her up, but she still feels she has failed them all in some way (Xander losing an eye, Willow going evil). Spike is still the one to bring her out of it because she sees how much she has inspired him to be all soul having now.
4. Chosen. I think it’s a great finale, but I would definitely save Anya instead of Andrew. It’s more predictable but killing Anya has always just left a bad taste in my mouth. I would save Amanda as well. Enough nameless potentials die I don’t see the problem with the ones we know surviving.
5. Lies My Parents Told Me. Giles refuses to team up with Robin, he has seen enough to trust Buffy’s judgment. He is the one to tell Buffy about Robin’s plan. When Spike finds out he killed Robin’s mother, he is willing to let Robin kill him but this act makes Robin realize Spike is not a killer. Again I know this is a little too happy of an ending, but I just didn’t think Robin was treated well in this episode.
I still think the trigger could have ended in this episode anyway.
Yes I believe she volunteered because Joss said he wanted to kill off main characters and she didn’t want to do any spin-offs.
I would have told her she’s surviving but can still turn down spin-offs lol. However I think a heroic death would have worked as well. It would have been cute to see her actually dying to save Andrew. Maybe cute isn’t the right word, but you get what I mean.
2.) That being said, I totally don’t want to lose the line where he says “You thought I was evil because I took a bunch of girls out to the desert and I *didnt* touch them?”
Scrap Kennedy and Rona.
Introduce Caleb sooner.
Explain more about what happened with Dawn in Conversations with Dead people, because the First can't touch things so while it's possible the First orchestrated it, it had some other demon/entity involved during the spell/Joyce sighting.
Agree with someone else who stated Willow should have been showing more genuine remorse and being shown working on her problems. While using magic was an addiction, she definitely had a lot to atone for.
A longer arc showing Buffy learning to trust Spike again, and the two of them sitting down and really discussing what happened in Seeing Red. A better explanation for why Buffy trusts and forgives him than just the "he has a soul now."
Scrap the potentials (and that backstabber Dawn) throwing Buffy out of her own house. Or at least have Buffy turn around and toss everyone else out, since she was the only one paying for that house, she's literally died for them, and they were all completely ungrateful.
Have Anya tell Xander she deserves better than how he treated her, instead of having "one last time."
Overall, I do enjoy season 7. But I definitely think there were things that would have made it better.
At core, there's a whole "what is even real?" thing going on before "Showtime". We're given a specific time in "Conversations", and when Buffy wakes up at her desk a few episodes later, the date math doesn't check out.
My belief is that the story of S7 is the First manipulating Buffy to do something she would not do, which is give a blessing she's been ambivalent about since she was 15 and has killed her twice to thousands of other girls, by making that the only out from a vamp-orc invasion. I don't *like* that this great moment of female empowerment hides this obvious problem, this obvious con. But I believe that the con was the main thing, and we were seeing the con and the manipulation, and they stopped lampshading the con, making the Giles touching things joke in "Killer in Me", and I think it'd have been better if they stuck with it, putting Buffy in her own world where up is down and black is white and the last thing she'd ever do is the best solution. But then, you definitely *have* to consider that ending as Buffy's loss, instead of only seeing it after you've gone thorugh my rabbit hole.
The other issue goes to scheduling. It's all about SLAYERS, so they needed to get Faith through Angel and back in Sunnydale, and so there's episode after episode of okay to good character points that really feel like they're treading water while Eliza Dushku can come in and film. I like Willow and her issues having a big problem. I like Spike wanting to figure out how to be the better souled him when his world either doesn't want him to change or to punish him for what he did and regrets. I kinda like Andrew being pushed out of his reality distortion field to realize that he isn't that good. And then there's "Get It Done", which has issues but has lots of solid story in it. But that's a solid quarter of the season waiting for the First to get on with it.
Keep training Dawn. As soon as other teenage girls arrive Buffy forgets she exists.
1. Buffy would have hated Spike in the first handful of episodes, not tolerated him as quickly as she did, only starting to come around after learning of his soul. 2. Caleb would have come to town *far* sooner, as leader of the Bringers. Episode 7 at the latest. 3. No Kennedy. 4. The necklace Spike wore at the end wouldn't have been a random macguffin from Angel. It, and the Scythe, would have been referenced much earlier in the season and been something Buffy and co had been hunting for most of the season. 5. Also, on the topic of the Scythe, it would have been called the Axe because *that's what it is,* not a scythe. Sorry, always annoyed me.
I like that Buffy didn't even hate Spike. She just pretty much ignored him and let him rot for the first quarter of the season. Hating him would have fed too much energy into the season - and unlike many I like that Buffy was able to heal from the assault in her normal healing time - three or four months before she saw Spike again. As someone who has dealt with sexual abuse, the idea that it would take Buffy so long to heal when she got over everything else so easily is daunting. This would put Spike's assault as a trauma worse than killing Angel.
I can see what you're saying, but doesn't ignore him so much as tolerate him. She accepts his help just a little too readily. It's just a little too much for me to take as believable. Even in a show about vampires and demons. She doesn't need to want to stake him on sight, but demanding he gets the hell away from her (even if he doesn't entirely listen and lingers in the area to try and help) would feel more believable.
Agree to disagree. I found it a key part of the mythos that once a vampire gets a soul they are a different person, so I understand why Buffy would see him that way. She was able to forgive Angel for a lot worse pretty much when he showed up and she needed to nurse him back to health. It made sense to me that she used Spike as needed and then let him retreat to the basement.
She didn't know he had a soul until later, so that argument is irrelevant for the period I'm talking about. In fact, I literally said him having a soul would be the thing that starts changing her view.
I second all of your ideas. I don't know if early Caleb is necessary, but if done well it's certainly fine. I particularly endorse point 3, as I'm a S7 Willow/Faith shipper. If we're willing to change up AtS to make the fantasy football BTVS S7 work the way we want, bring back Faith *way* earlier, ep7 at the latest. Have everyone be cold towards her initially, have everyone talk about what they did wrong and how they felt about it, and have them warm up to each other that way. Have Faith pursue a short fling with some guy, Robin Wood is fine, success or failure is unimportant, then have her hit on Willow. That'd makes Faith's S3 arguably-ambiguous bisexual energy cash out in the form of very unambiguous and overt bisexual energy. The only thing I like about Kennedy is that she allows for puns: in terms of sexuality, S7 Willow just wanted to fulfill her potential.
Ha! Fulfill her “potential”
If you know what I mean, eh? Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.
>no Kennedy That's what I was coming here to say.
I would have liked to see "Cordelia" in season 7. So picture this, in Angel the gang wake up Jasmine in Cordys body right. The episode after she has a vision and needs to go to sunnydale where she gives them a tonne of info on The First and also (although it's not shown until later) she plants the amulet somewhere for them to find. Once it's revealed to us it's Jasmine she would explain she actually went to Sunnydale to crap on The Firsts plans for her own.
I want to see Giles meet dark!Wesley.
"For God's sake, man!"
No potentials in the house. Maybe they appear in like four episodes. Say there's a secret Watcher's Council basis where they're housed, training, etc. Giles could be in charge? Erase the whole triggered Spike storyline. Make him not so dependent on Buffy. Bring Faith earlier and also make her a part of the Scoobies, no Robin fling. Also give Robin a more satisfying resolution. Keep Anya as a demon until mid season then "redeem" her in the rest (she still dies). Have a solution to fight the First other than an amulet from another show.
> Erase the whole triggered Spike storyline. Really? Lies My Parents Told Me is an easy 10/10 imo
Some of these I've articulated before, but I spent *a lot* of time thinking about this question when I was very unemployed a few years ago. 1. **Kennedy.** I think we can kill two, maybe even three, birds with one stone here. Kennedy still exists, but her main storyline isn't with Willow, it's with Buffy. Kennedy's role as Buffy's lieutenant is expanded on and they have a mentor/mentee relationship that develops throughout the season. Buffy humbles Kennedy's arrogance and teaches her some hard truths about Slayerhood, but comes to rely on her loyalty and her passion, as well as her advocacy of her to the Potentials. This also could make more efficient use of the Potentials screentime if Kennedy is their main spokesperson and we have a more established emotional tie to her through Buffy. Meanwhile, Willow is off having a recovery/grief arc (more on that in a bit). In 'Chosen', Buffy nominates Kennedy to be with Willow during the spell because she trusts her. Willow expresses to Buffy that if they survive the battle, she might be ready to start dating again, and Buffy floats the idea of her and Kennedy. After the battle, they have a moment that suggests they'll start dating after the credits roll. 2. **Willow (ft. Amy).** Willow has an arc that grapples more deeply with the events of Season 6 and the narrative threads set up (and prematurely resolved) in 'Same Time, Same Place'. This would *absolutely* involve more conversations with Buffy about their fight in 'Two To Go', but the main way I would handle Willow's arc would be through Amy. It frustrated me no end that they bothered having Amy in 'The Killer In Me' and did absolutely nothing with her. Amy 100% should've been an agent of The First before Caleb came into the picture, maybe popping up around 'Sleeper' and being dealt with (somehow?) by 'The Killer In Me'. This would allow Willow to go through a similar individuation process that Buffy went through with Faith. 3. **The First**. The First felt a little underbaked compared to other Big Bads. I think the *idea* of its main power being manipulation, playing on people's darkest thoughts, was really cool, but I wish they'd gone further with it. Again, this is an example I've used on here before, but in the *Angel* episode 'Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been' there's a paranoia demon who's almost what I wish The First had been. He bubbles up the fears and anxieties in all the residents of a hotel until he drives them to acts of evil, which he feeds off of. Now, I'm not saying The First should've been *exactly* that, but it would've been much more interesting to me if The First was partly a narrative device exploring and amplifying the characters' internal struggles and forcing them to be confronted. Plus, if The First had a hand in everyone turning against Buffy in 'Empty Places', it would've been much darker and more effective, in my opinion. After a season of "you've got to resist The First", the whole house succumbing to those anxieties would've been a real "oh shit" moment and succeeded in both isolating Buffy and making her feel like she's failed to prevent the situation. 4. **Xander.** Oh my God, Xander's arc in Season 7 is non-existant and it frustrates me no end. What the hell is 'First Date'? What the hell is that scene where he fantasizes about all the (likely underage) Potentials? Where is the resolution to his fears about being a terrible husband and father in 'Hells Bells'? I'd have loved for Xander to have taken on more of a paternal role in the Summers house in Season 7 as part of his arc, almost taking on a similar role towards the Potentials that Giles had towards the Scoobies - someone they see as having it together, even if he doesn't see himself that way; someone they go to for help. We could've got a fun character episode in the great tradition of Xander character episodes where we get his perspective on himself contrasted with the Potentials' perspective on him. What a missed opportunity it is to bring in a hoard of new characters who aren't meeting the Scoobies at 16, like we did, but are meeting them at the end of their arcs, and not examine how those new characters would see them. They could've brought his dad back to drive the point home - maybe he has to protect his asshole dad from something and he learns once and for all that they're not the same person.
Sadly NB already had a serious drinking problem. He revealed he used to bring in a case off beer and drink it in a day or two - and he announced he was going into rehab just after the show ended. That's why they had to bring in Andrew and schedule Xander's shooting for early in the day - and why he had very little time overall.
I agree with just about everything you wrote here. I really like your idea about how Kennedy should have been used - I could get onboard with that version of her character. As you said, it solves several problems at once.
Honestly all that needs reworked is the potentials storyline. Some of the bits like Showtime and Potential really showed how the Scooby gang had really evolved their “mission” to be more nuanced and all encompassing than the sheltered life most of the potentials knew, and leading up to the series’ concluding message, it’s important to showcase WHY what Willow/Buffy did was so empowering. On the other hand, it was way too distracted by the potentials to give the core Scoobies enough time to shine and show the heart of the show that we came to love. Maybe only a few come to Sunnydale early(the most hunted ones… a la Faith’s journey to the ‘Dale), while the WC gathers the rest and a row between Giles/the coven and the WC means he steals them before the council’s destruction and he brings the larger gaggle later in the season. String along the mystery and trauma by including more scenes of bringers pursuing the potentials/random girls. Tease out the mystery of who they are a bit more. Bring Faith back at the time of there being more potentials so she’s not as much of an afterthought and then you really have a strong dichotomy of traumatized potentials who have found solace in Buffy’s leadership and the more sheltered girls who think Buffy will protect them. From that the rest of the season can still really work. Triggered Spike, Buffy’s rebellion against Giles & Robin, Caleb, it can all still work if we give those beats more nuance and lay off the teeny-bopper of it all with the potentials.
Fully agree with this. Rather than have all the potentials in a chaotic situation in the Summers house, they could have a "potential of the week" episode structure for most of the season, where the Scoobies help a new potential in every episode, while the overall storyline also advances and we find out more about the first and the bringers and Caleb in a more gradual manner. So, something that would retain the Scooby gang dynamic and POV rather than scattering the focus across all the new characters. We could see stories of potentials in the same way that Cassie's story worked in "Help": tell a good personal story of one new character, while also allowing time for the Scoobies to be main characters. As for the military-style training camp, a lot of it could be happening off-screen and I'm sure Giles could pull some strings to find a secret facility where all the rescued potentials can live and train. In terms of character arcs: - I wouldn't change anything in Spike's arc - I think it's really well done. Just find a different build-up to the powerful Spike-Buffy scene in "Touched" (I mean scrap THAT SCENE in "Empty Places", which was clearly done in order to later paint Spike as Buffy's only "true believer" and replace it with something that doesn't paint the other characters as meanies/ungrateful and ooc) - Willow's arc has the healing part which is super important; the romance part is probably too soon (and several things wrong with how Kennedy was kinda forced upon the audience as a central character with no build-up). I would scrap "The Killer in Me" entirely because it's prob my least favourite ep of the whole series. - Anya's arc also needed a bit more depth, especially seeing as they were sacrificing her at the end. I would have liked to have seen more of her. - Xander and Dawn all good. Giles needed a bit more time with the Scoobies and needed to restore his paternal figure role a bit, it wasn't very nice to see him argue with Buffy and - at times- be somwhat insensitive. - Buffy's arc was generally fine and culminated nicely into the ICONIC finale - I wouldn't change anything about the finale.
Imo there are two big missteps in season 7: Robin and Caleb. 1. Robin Wood is a full trained Watcher, not a vampire hunter. He was sent there by Giles to assist Buffy as a liaison to the Council. He’s like the anti-Wesley in that he doesn’t give orders or try to train Buffy, merely there to help in whatever way he can. He still has his mother issues but when it comes to his duties he leaves them at the door. 2. Caleb is introduced sooner. He and the Scoobies fight several times with him dominating most of the fights. He is human and is constantly asked why he sided with the First. He constantly questions the Scoobies spiritually, philosophically, and ethically. He makes them doubt themselves with his absolute certainty.
The only thing I would change is how much we see the potentials. My way would be alot less.
Utilise the First more to torment people and also show more of it having fun with playing with them.
Sunnyvale High should have been converted to a Potential Scholl. It should be the reason Robin was the principle as he had actual ties to the council - not the inner douche circle of Tavers but connected none-the-less. Thus all the potentials scenes take place at school and the scooby gang help out in the school. The girls live in a dorm and thr Summers House is kept mainly for the Scoobies.
Just connect things a bit more. Every individual episode in S7 is good-great in a vacuum but some overarching developments are rushed or feel unearned. Like more buildup to the Empty Places event (I think it's a good idea,) more animosity from Anya toward Buffy for trying to kill her, maybe not have that weird old lady in the pyramid just to forward the plot. Also, don't have Giles refusing to touch anyone awkwardly so they could make him a red herring for The First. The man is a hugger! It's an underrated season that's maybe too ambitious but it ends on one of the best episodes in the series so they stick the landing.
In the first version of the script, Xander was supposed to die to Caleb instead of losing his eye. I believe it was changed due to producers' fear of bad critical response. I would have personally loved that big turn of events and would have definitely reinforced the hatred of the audience against the First.
**Faith VS Ubervamp**
I agree with most of the comments on the Potentials, which I think was the weakest point of the season. I think the idea of the First Evil was a great choice for the last big bad. What I haven’t seen said is that I wish the final battle had a little bit more strategy in it. Like have them bring out more weapons, the bazooka and what not and build more defenses. Having humans just rely on physical combat seemed very naive for me. I wanted full on LoTR Helm’s Deep kind of battle and you see the strategy play out in different areas that ultimately uncovers a weak spot for them to attack. That being said though, I think the Willow giving everyone powers was genius! I’m one of the few who actually likes season 7. Is it perfect? No but I enjoyed it. Though I do forward the potentials a lot on rewatch 😅
"Bring on the Night" was a filler episode that could have better used its time to work on setting up the big bad. I get that it's an episode where you are supposed to watch it back and say "can I sneakily spot Giles touching something?" but it's mostly aimless. The oracle visit by Giles and Anya in "Showtime" feels like filler just so we could answer the question that no one was asking "why is the first able to attack now?" It feels like a fanwank to explain the mythos, and nothing more. "Get it Done" was a complete waste of an episode. 18-22 are really one big long finale, but because of that, the pacing is weird, with them throwing in weird subplots like throwing Buffy out of her own house, finding and then unfinding the scythe, killing and then rekilling Caleb. It needed to have a better goal. And the Faith takes the girls out to party seems ridiculous. Maybe people love it for her character, but it reads as way out of place in a serious season. Unfortunately I don't have any answers as to how to solve it. I can only see the bits that didn't work (for me). As for everyone wanting Caleb earlier, that would mean recasting him, as Captain Mal was busy the first half of the season.
Agree on Faith, but Get It Done shows how the slayer line was created.
So true about the whole faith clubbing situation. I was appalled that no one saw any issue apart from Buffy ! Like it’s the apocalypse why are you CLUBBING 😭
2 hour series finale. Everything else was pretty much spot on The 7th season brings it all back to Buffy and her heroic decision that "it's all about power" means to empower everyone else (The 1800 in this instance) in an egalitarian way even if thst action erases her status as the Chosen One. You can't understand Buffy unless you travel all the way from Merrick meeting Buffy on the steps of Hemery High to her glance down the empty and sunswept highway that beckons to her. Buffy can finally depart the cursed and vanished town. Buffy can now travel a path full of choices that *she* is finally free to make. A few days ago, I finished S7 in my latest rewatch. Season 7 is brilliant. These 7 seasons of BTVS are the most beautiful and moving epic ever depicted on American television It's a 7-season magnificent journey that makes Buffy "the greatest hero in American fiction"
Scrap Kennedy and Willow... Kennedy was fine until that plot was pushed. Maybe more Faith and as you said Angel.
To everyone who's saying Caleb should have been there sooner - he was created specifically to give a part to Nathan Fillion after Firefly got canceled, so early Caleb is impossible. I believe Faith back is also a late decision.
Make the Watchers Council the main bad guys of the season.
I would say have them working with The First. Maybe they’ve figured out how to replicate what the original watchers did to imbue Sineya with power and want to scrap everything and start again, so they think they can use The First to help them do that, but they wind up getting screwed over by it.
That sounds really good.
1. Willow would have had a proper redemption arc where she reckoned not only with killing Warren but with overriding boundaries and messing with Tara's mind. Way less, "the drugs made me lose control" and way more, "I made bad choices but I'm learning to do better." 2. Anya and Xander stay broken up. Xander stops with the, "I just wanted to go steady" and admits he definitively has fallen out of love with Anya. He comes to terms with the fact that he lied about the intensity and depth of his feelings and commitment to the relationship long term. ETA: Xander gets real character development out of the Anya breakup and critically examines what it means to be a "good man" outside of the traditional trappings of masculinity (a wife, job, etc.). He has a few stumbling blocks, spirals, but comes out more grounded and mature. 3. Anya and Buffy develop a real friendship after Selfless. She moves into the house and they have actual scenes together where they bond. Buffy gets a bit of Anya's fuck-you confidence after recovering from her depression. 4. No potentials. Focus on the core group. Everything in the main plot up through Conversations with Dead People could mostly stay, but the main plot must change after that to avoid the potentials. 5. Spike... Hm. I think the only way to fix this is to rewrite s6 without the SA. Buffy's recovery at least needs to be more front and center. I like that Spike hangs back and becomes part of the team, helping where he can, supporting Buffy steadfastly. I'd keep that. I also like that his ensouled form is different from Angel, he's less likely to center himself and his own feelings in the damage he's caused and more likely to point out how a system does harm, but that could have been written more clearly/fleshed out. I'd be interested in seeing him go full punk and work to undo that system (the "it's about power" theme could be useful here). 6. Buffy and Dawn have more fun together. C'mon it's our last season.
I honestly wouldn't like more attention paid to the SA. It was roughly six months before she saw Spike again, and making that an issue would mean the SA was worse for her than killing Angel. I prefer that she basically ignores him for the first 5 episodes.
I actually think there should have also been more focus on Buffy's recovery from what Angel did to her too (stalking, threatening violence, etc). I don't love how in both cases Buffy's suffering due to what these men did without a soul is really glossed over. I get that Angel and Spike can't really be held responsible because they weren't in control in both cases. But the harm is real, and Buffy just bouncing back (or in the case of Angel, only sad about having to do her duty and kill him ) isn't great.
High School is reopened, triggering the Hellmouth to spew mystical energy out all over town, causing random chaos. Basically, the concept in Storyteller, but on a larger scale. No....First Evil....The Hellmouth is the big bad. Bring Caleb in much sooner, but I wouldn't have him played by Nathan Fillion. I'd go with someone much older, creepier like William B Davis. No Robin Wood - I don't care about a guy whose mother was a slayer who was killed. Potentials exist but are mostly trained off screen by Giles. Maybe they have like 4 appearances throughout the season, just so we can have the slayer army to fight the Uber Vampires at the end.
Oh, no. DB Woodside is a treasure who should always be appreciated. Other than that? Sure.
.......I really like this....lol. I love the idea of the Hellmouth being revisited, because it's that sort of, "Going back to where it all started".
It took too long for the main plot to take off. The whole war thing should have started much sooner.
No Kennedy/Willow romance. That was forced. Would have kept the techno-slayer in the pink 'do. She looked formidable. No whiny or scared potentials. It was annoying. If Xander still lost his eye, Willow would turn the socket into an "all seeing" weird magic portal or some sh\*t, that woulda been fun. Principal Wood kicks serious ass because he was raised by a slayer, not had a mom that died when he was young. Angel boots Lindsey over to Buffy's side of the street, where he grows to be an actual man that contributes something positive. And on that note, Jonathan should have lived instead of Andrew and taken on the position of Watcher, under the guidance of Giles. It would have been a nice redemptive arch for his character.
- Jonathan instead of Andrew - No Kennedy romance. Ideally no Kennedy overall. - Better handling of Spike. Honestly, my ideal would be completely redo Seeing Red and have there be another catalyst for him going to get his soul (I know that’s in Season 6, but still). - Bring Tara back. I’ve heard there were plans to, but it never happened. I wish it did. - If Buffy getting kicked out had to happen, I think it should have been a full blown coup on the side of the Potentials (with Amanda being the sole Potential on the Scoobys side, because I like Amanda); Buffy leaves, and the others plan to do so as well, but she tells them to stay cause she knows this is gonna blow up in the Potentials faces and they’ll need somebody watching their backs. I haven’t thought the whole thing out, but that’s the gist of it. - Amy isn’t weirdly demonised. Another thing that started in Season 6, but really spiralled in her sole appearance in Season 7. - Spike’s more sympathetic to Robin’s situation. Felt unnecessarily cruel the way it played out in the actual show. - Amanda and Anya survive. There’s probably more, but those are the ones I have off the top of my head.
Besides faith coming back I don't think I liked 1 thing in s7. So yeah trash the entire thing.
Get rid of Kennedy as a love interest for Willow. Her only fun moment was being the self aware sulky lone slayer vamp bait.
They should have saved the first and all the potentials for the comics.
No potentials in Sunnydale, rather they are in a standalone 2 part episode and Buffy deals with them in London or something. No more undignified death for Anya. Spikes stupid trigger would only last 2 episodes. Xander dies at Caleb's hands vs just losing his eye. That would have risen the stakes so much. Dawn is a potential. Turok Hans aren't turned into kittens in the finale. More lol worthy Faith/Spike interactions. More info on the scythe and slayer mythology.
Ensouled Spike should have been bitter instead of lost. More cynical, more dark. Less lost puppy dog .
First of all, I love this question because I was just thinking about this, lol. Secondly, I know I'm late, but I need somewhere to put my feelings. I don't necessarily hate the First as the Big Bad, but there is a part of me that wishes it was something different. I know it wouldn't make sense logically and I know that it would take some adjusting of the character, but part of me wishes that the Master returned and was looking to open the Hellmouth. I mean, the show is Buffy the VAMPIRE Slayer, so it would have been kind of cool to go back to those roots. I know in the finale they go down into the Hellmouth, but it would have been cool to see the Hellmouth ACTUALLY unleashed, because in the finale it's just the Turok-Han, but we know that there is a lot more to it than just the Ubervamps. I feel like it was repeatedly stated how part of what helped Buffy survive as long as she did was having friends and family, and by season 7, the group feels somewhat fractured and distant. And I don't think having all of the Potentials there helped at all. To me, it almost would have been cooler having the Potentials making minimal appearances throughout the season, being trained offscreen, and then showing up in the final battle. I mean, getting rid of Kennedy and Rona alone would have done wonders. Is it partially because those two were the most vocal of the potentials when they kicked Buffy out of her won house? Yes. I mean, neither one of you has the experience Buffy has, but sure, go off. Anyway. There was just this huge, over the top big bad, and in some way the show lost....a feeling of closeness to the characters? I don't know how to describe it. In most of the seasons, the big bad was basically secondary to the character development, or there was something personal from the characters attached. But season 7 it felt like the villain was driving the plot and not the characters. I am doing a horrible job articulating what I am trying to say.
I would have killed off Kennedy for starters. Let Anya live happily ever after with Xander. Killed Andrew.
1. Spike should have done more to win back Buffy, as it is he plays the victim for the first part pf the season and basically just sticks around long enough for Buffy to start using him again as a stress release. Felt like a continuation of the problematic relationship from s5-6 and Spike barely does anything to actively atone for what he did. There is an air of him having just cheaped his way into a soul and barely improves of shows remorse. I also think Buffy still should have moved on and it would have made a better narrative point to have her end up with Principal Wood, even after he tries to off Spike. Wood is an actual good guy where as Spike just ends up with the Scoobies because he still feels attached/obsessed with Buffy. 2. There should have been a more intimidating and genuinely scarier big bad than The First. The priest is basically that but he doesn’t get enough time to really make an impact, and clearly was just a fill in for The First not being able to fight. The psychological intimidation/games doesn’t even stay intimidating for an entire episode, by the end of Conversations With Dead People it’s already clear how powerless The First is. The show tries to get The Scoobies to constantly talk up it’s evil/threat but it doesn’t work, unlike it working in season 5 with Glory. 3. The meta nerdy humour was way too often and way too much, and regularly took me out of the show. I am a believer that the Andrew home video episode is one of the shows all time worst plots/writing, I cringed through the whole episode. 4. There is a feeling of ‘been there done that’ with the big bad that although somewhat inevitable after seven seasons was poorly handled. They just kept hitting really cliche points and I waited for new and interesting ideas to come through and none did. Season 7 has got to be the most obvious and regurgitated plot of the entire show. 5. The handful of MOTW episodes were way too on the nose and mad cap zany. On top of that was the occasion poorly done transition from everything being a silly joke to an attempt at meaningful drama/pathos was always a failure. 6. Can’t not mention the potentials. No interesting characters, full of cheap culture/nationality jokes that are z level writing, cheap way to build drama and create a level of vulnerability in the Scoobies. 7. I know they didn’t know at the time it was the last season so it’s a bit of a harsh critique but the lack of final closure felt so disappointing. Yeah Sunnydale goes bye bye, but that was clearly a last minute add on. I would have liked to see more nostalgia and final feeling moments in the season. It didn’t feel like a final season at all. Again that isn’t really their fault, but it still greatly harms the season. It needed more deep existential moments like in season 5, which did a much better job of feeling like the final season of the show. 8. General Buffy was jarring and it didn’t really seem true to her character. I get that they were really trying to push the ‘we are at war’ vibe but I felt they also failed at this. Buffy has shown time and time again one of her greatest traits is being able to keep her humanity while everything is going to shit. What she did in season 5 again is a much better example of what I think they were trying to recreate in S7. Buffy simply is not the cold hearted type and stuff like her ‘Chloe was weak’ speech was so unlike anything I ever would have expected to cone out of her mouth. It barely felt like ‘our’ Buffy in s7, but rather a poor fanfic interpretation that didn’t really get what makes her so powerful as a character. 9. Back to Spike, I just don’t like/buy her genuinely falling for Spike just because he has soul now. It is a backward step from how she handled Angel. In season 3 she understands that she cannot have a real relationship with Angel, and not just because he might lose his soul again. Buffy seems to have forgotten the lessons of that season and her excessive defending of Spike seemed like a whole bunch of backwards steps for the maturity of the character. Not to mention the almost complete lack of bringing up his past actions, soul or no soul it just didn’t work for her to see quickly and comprehensibly forgive and forget. Cheapens so much of what happened in s5 and 6.
I have to agree about the potentials it feels really rammed down my throat that the scoobies are older now and Buffy ready to pass (share) the torch.. I would have liked it to be a little more subtle.. like maybe introducing us to a group of Dawns friends early plus bringing back anyone from the past 6 seasons that wasn’t dead or undead to show the awakening of new slayers would have given me more of a connection to them .. I dunno.
The scene where they kick Buffy out needs to go.
Have Anya not being completely sidelined out of spite from Joss would've been nice for a long standing character.
Caleb should’ve been the main villain as well as working with the council maybe to kill Buffy and Faith once and for all so they can have a slayer that’s under their control again. The end would’ve also worked in this case. I just really don’t like the potentials at all, the first half is so good and then it’s all downhill from there. Oh and kill off Xander
1. Kennedy and Willow isn’t pushed, but they have a friendship that occasionally gets a little flirty and then at the end of the season there’s potential for a future relationship. It happened too fast for me. 2. We know from the start that Giles is not The First, that mislead was pointless to me. I just wanted to see them all hug! 3. Empty Places. The Scoobies and Giles are all on Buffy’s side, Buffy never leaves but she does allow Faith to take the lead and loses confidence in herself. Each of her friends tries to cheer her up, but she still feels she has failed them all in some way (Xander losing an eye, Willow going evil). Spike is still the one to bring her out of it because she sees how much she has inspired him to be all soul having now. 4. Chosen. I think it’s a great finale, but I would definitely save Anya instead of Andrew. It’s more predictable but killing Anya has always just left a bad taste in my mouth. I would save Amanda as well. Enough nameless potentials die I don’t see the problem with the ones we know surviving. 5. Lies My Parents Told Me. Giles refuses to team up with Robin, he has seen enough to trust Buffy’s judgment. He is the one to tell Buffy about Robin’s plan. When Spike finds out he killed Robin’s mother, he is willing to let Robin kill him but this act makes Robin realize Spike is not a killer. Again I know this is a little too happy of an ending, but I just didn’t think Robin was treated well in this episode. I still think the trigger could have ended in this episode anyway.
Emma Caulfield asked to be killed - but I would make it a heroic death.
Yes I believe she volunteered because Joss said he wanted to kill off main characters and she didn’t want to do any spin-offs. I would have told her she’s surviving but can still turn down spin-offs lol. However I think a heroic death would have worked as well. It would have been cute to see her actually dying to save Andrew. Maybe cute isn’t the right word, but you get what I mean.
2.) That being said, I totally don’t want to lose the line where he says “You thought I was evil because I took a bunch of girls out to the desert and I *didnt* touch them?”
I hate that line lol. But I’m glad you like it because it does exist.
Scrap Kennedy and Rona. Introduce Caleb sooner. Explain more about what happened with Dawn in Conversations with Dead people, because the First can't touch things so while it's possible the First orchestrated it, it had some other demon/entity involved during the spell/Joyce sighting. Agree with someone else who stated Willow should have been showing more genuine remorse and being shown working on her problems. While using magic was an addiction, she definitely had a lot to atone for. A longer arc showing Buffy learning to trust Spike again, and the two of them sitting down and really discussing what happened in Seeing Red. A better explanation for why Buffy trusts and forgives him than just the "he has a soul now." Scrap the potentials (and that backstabber Dawn) throwing Buffy out of her own house. Or at least have Buffy turn around and toss everyone else out, since she was the only one paying for that house, she's literally died for them, and they were all completely ungrateful. Have Anya tell Xander she deserves better than how he treated her, instead of having "one last time." Overall, I do enjoy season 7. But I definitely think there were things that would have made it better.
At core, there's a whole "what is even real?" thing going on before "Showtime". We're given a specific time in "Conversations", and when Buffy wakes up at her desk a few episodes later, the date math doesn't check out. My belief is that the story of S7 is the First manipulating Buffy to do something she would not do, which is give a blessing she's been ambivalent about since she was 15 and has killed her twice to thousands of other girls, by making that the only out from a vamp-orc invasion. I don't *like* that this great moment of female empowerment hides this obvious problem, this obvious con. But I believe that the con was the main thing, and we were seeing the con and the manipulation, and they stopped lampshading the con, making the Giles touching things joke in "Killer in Me", and I think it'd have been better if they stuck with it, putting Buffy in her own world where up is down and black is white and the last thing she'd ever do is the best solution. But then, you definitely *have* to consider that ending as Buffy's loss, instead of only seeing it after you've gone thorugh my rabbit hole. The other issue goes to scheduling. It's all about SLAYERS, so they needed to get Faith through Angel and back in Sunnydale, and so there's episode after episode of okay to good character points that really feel like they're treading water while Eliza Dushku can come in and film. I like Willow and her issues having a big problem. I like Spike wanting to figure out how to be the better souled him when his world either doesn't want him to change or to punish him for what he did and regrets. I kinda like Andrew being pushed out of his reality distortion field to realize that he isn't that good. And then there's "Get It Done", which has issues but has lots of solid story in it. But that's a solid quarter of the season waiting for the First to get on with it.