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There's a few things I expect from the Buffy people for next season. I expect them to keep the fun in - the angsty problems regarding paying the gas bills must be in the past now. I expect a dose of reality to creep back in again. We need some goddam context around the place, we need some recurring characters who are in the background rather than the foreground, we need some problems in their lives that are identifiable with and aren't soul-destroyingly real or soul-stealingly fantastic. Most importantly, their roles must now be secure for a while. It's important that they skip past a good deal of the bollocks regarding this and get down to brass tacks again. And this brings us to the most important aspect - pro-activeness. It's time for Buffy and her crew to stop being reactive and start being pro-active.
So my suggestions - get them working together in a more adult democratic way, get Willow to be away for the first half of the first episode with Giles at the Watcher's Council. Play up Willow's relationship with Giles, the fact that he used to abuse dark magic as well, and explore the reasons that he doesn't do it any more - a sixties episode might be quite cool here. And then have Willow start training as a Watcher in addition to her college stuff. Good opportunity for the working her to death stuff that kept Buffy and Giles' relationship so tense early on.
Dawn is a decent age now and certainly comparable to how old Buffy was in early episodes, so she should now start acting like Buffy did in those episodes. Like she's actually having fun and making friends with a sister who's the coolest fucking kiss-ass vampire killing bitch in the world. An episode concentrating on her and a relationship with a boy would NOT be a bad thing if it was done right.
Xander and Anya are tricky now. Probably trickier than they've been for a while. Marriages don't make for exciting drama. But Anya's a vengeance demon again so she's now suddenly actually useful. So you can undermine the difficulties of showing the relationship all the time by sending her off on a mission.
Which brings me back to the essence of what this series should be about. It should be about everyone's efforts to turn their lives around - to really commit to positive change. And to be prepared to work. And simultaneously to be about not being hit-at any more, but to actively try and take back their town (MOO style) from the creatures of the night.
This is Buffy getting Anya to scout around for news of the demon realm, while Xander worries. This is Willow being trained on the job by Giles researching potential threats in a pre-emptive fashion. This is detective work, research, self-discovery etc. And most importantly, it's everyone walking out of step with Spike, who should return suddenly overwhelmed by what he's done in his part, completely confused about what it means to be a vampire with a soul again, needy and desperate, while everyone around him is getting on with shit....
That's my two cents anyway... |
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