The hardest thing in this world
Season Six made me want to throw things much of the time--though I admit, in retrospect, that it hangs together relatively well as a season, especially considering what I now realize is the thesis of the season: the hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Which isn't an excuse, exactly--but it's a helpful guideline for understanding the horror.
Most infuriating, I think--the storyline that made me consider walking away from the series, full stop--was "Hell's Bells" and the events therein. It's just so unnecessary. Xander and Anya were happy. They would have continued to be happy. And--and okay, I've actually heard Joss's whole speech about writing married people, and it's the worst, weeniest cop-out ever--what is he saying, here? Is he trying to tell us that marriage is not a rich vein of story material? Is he trying to say that people committing to each other for life, trying to "live in this world" in permanent relation to another human being, with affection and sacrifice, is boring to him? Really?
I could go on in this tone of insufferable self-righteousness, but we have more to get through.
I was not spoiled for Tara's death, and was suitably shocked when it happened; I actually checked Amber Benson's IMDB page in a moment of "but that can't be it!" panic, especially after being so pleased to see her in the opening credits, just the once. Though, as carmen_sandiego said, I'm sort of glad I didn't know. I spent most of S5 waiting for Joyce's death and cringing every time Buffy turned a corner, and I think an entire season of waiting for sweet Tara to eat it might have been too much for me.
All this to say: DAMMIT, JOSS. Why does it always have to be the nice ones?
That said, I think one of the great disappointments of later-seasons Buffy is the slow but very real loss of Willow's Willowness. I loved early-seasons Willow. And while I respect the writers' choice to make her less of a nerd...I, uh, liked her that way? This season, I wasn't wild about the magic addiction plot--it's just not that interesting--but it was nice to see the on-the-wagon Willow go back to using "the Net" (hee) and, like, her brain or whatever.
And then there's Buffy and Spike.
I'm almost reluctant to comment on Buffy/Spike so far--despite everything that's gone on between them this season, we're so clearly not at the end of their story. But I guess the central question thus far is: Is Spike in love with Buffy? And I think the answer to that is, Spike is as much in love with Buffy as he knows how to be in love. He feels something for her, for sure, and I think we're meant to see him interpreting that something as love--desire, anyway, tinged with self-sacrifice. I found their "relationship," if that's what we're calling it, simultaneously depressing and totally understandable; I hated Buffy's use of Spike and the amount of time the show took to call her out on it, but also liked that he was able to relate to her in a way nobody else could. The rape-attempt scene--which I hate to make the point, but it's certainly the culmination of their relationship so far--was heart-clenchingly scary and awful and long, but I think it's consistent, and I think it's realistically complicated in terms of where it comes from within Spike. I think it's a plausible take on his overwhelming desire for Buffy and his inability to deal with that at all, as well as his nature as a vampire--a violent and sexual creature, with or without the chip. And I don't think, despite being an act of incredible hatred and horror, that it's a permanent curse--it's rock bottom, certainly, but it's also a catalyst for better things.
(There's also the question of whether Buffy's in love with Spike--to which I would say...more than she's ready to admit.)
In any case, this is what I'm so excited about when it comes to S7. If Buffy in general is the story of people growing up, I love that maybe Spike's story is the story of someone becoming a man. Literally. Bring that on, will you?
Also:
I'm surprised at how fond I've become of Dawn--Michelle Trachtenberg can act?--and especially of Dawn and Spike together. But not in that way! Just in the way where they hang out and watch TV and he tells her the truth about stuff except for that time when he tried to rape her sister. And speaking of watching TV in the crypt with Dawn, you know who else I love? Clem. Clem is amazing.
Not gonna lie: I cheered out loud when Giles showed up at the end of "Two to Go." Everything just feels better when Giles is around.
KITTEN POKER! That is terrible and hilarious, and I love that they're all cute and fuzzy and crawling all over the table. HAAAAAA.
Anya is my favorite favorite favorite! Not because I love her clothes (including her fabulous wedding gown and her pretty gray dress in "Once More, With Feeling,"), but they certainly don't hurt. Also, I'm not going to say I ship her and Giles, but I'm not going to say I don't ship her and Giles. Who's with me?
Obviously I loved "Once More, With Feeling." Be honest: is there anybody who doesn't? I also loved--equally, if not more--"Tabula Rasa." So basically a two-episode point of light in a whoooooole lot of dark-night-of-the-soul action.
Twenty-two episodes to go! LET'S DO THIS.