Volume 97, Issue 1
Thursday, May 22, 2003
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The show that slayed all other television: Buffy says farewell
 |
Gazette
file photo |
| BUFFY WANTS YOU... to watch reruns of her show, now that the series is over. Hey, what did you think we were talking about? |
By Emmett
Macfarlane
Gazette Staff
Television bore witness to the end of one of the most dynamic and well-written
series ever this week.
Mired with a frighteningly cheesy name and based on a laughable 1992 movie
flop, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer drew almost instant praise from
critics everywhere as its creator, Joss Whedon, creatively blended humour,
horror, drama, action and romance. Perhaps Buffy's greatest accomplishment
was its fully developed, real characters, who live in an unreal world
with vampires and demons set in a California town called Sunnydale (home
to 14 graveyards and apparently, one high school).
What began as a "buff babe beating the monster-of-the-week show"
in 1997 evolved into a series with continuous, layered, season-long story-lines.
Over the course of its seven seasons, Buffy and her small group of friends
matured, often having the hardest time dealing with real life problems
while still combating the latest super-villain trying to end the world.
And although every episode contained the requisite dose of blood, action,
fighting and – usually – more blood, it was the real life situations
that were at the heart of the show.
From broken households, loved ones dying of cancer, love triangles, boyfriends
being vampires and losing their souls if they have sex with you (okay,
so maybe the love triangle thing isn't too realistic, but you get the
point), Buffy attracted more than its fair share of female viewers.
Case in point: near the beginning of Tuesday's series finale, Buffy and
Angel (making a quick cameo) get into a mini tiff over Spike, another
vampire with a soul who also has eyes for the Slayer.
Just as the scene starts to smell of daytime soap opera and male viewers
develop acute gagging, Buffy tells Angel to quit going "Dawson"
on her, and they resume planning their battle against evil. It's a small
example of how Buffy managed to take advantage of teen angst
romance while handily slamming the convention at the same time.
Buffy leaves a considerable mark on the television universe,
and although it deserves recognition similar to that given to M*A*S*H,
Seinfeld and ER, it's unlikely to get it.