Sparked by
superplin's old
post:
I loved Buffy through the earlier seasons and admired her and thought she was great, but I never loved her more than in late season 5 and season 6, when she was depressed and downtrodden and angry. I loved her most when she was overwhelmed by the world, when she was thisclose to the breaking point, and when she sometimes crossed over.
Spoilery through Buffy S6
I saw her on the screen beating up Spike with so much self-hatred, and I saw myself in her.
Well, obviously not beating up Spike.
But I understood her then, felt like I had lived under her skin, felt that horrible pressure when nothing works, when everything is just one more thing that wears you down. And while I love Buffy in the earlier seasons, she's not me then. She's ten times better than me, smarter and faster and braver, and I admire her for that. But I've never had real moments of righteous anger, or of kicking villain butt, or of facing death and going on anyway.
So while I adore Buffy before her mother died, I understand Buffy afterwards.