In which we ramble about the Buffster. Without talking about her once.

Hard to believe that it's been more than 10 years since Buffy ended it's run on TV after 144 episodes and 7 seasons of varying quality. The final episode, Chosen, aired on May 23rd, 2003 to mixed response. It laid dormant survived by it's, at times superior, spin-off. For a year at least (until people got cocky and started making demands). Since then we've seen both series from the Buffyverse revived in an official capacity with Buffy Seasons eight and nine from Dark Horse comics, and Angel: After the Fall from IDW, before the character went through some awkward changes and was spun-off from season nine with Faith. Hurrah for a history recap, because really I'm just here to take the easy way out and make a list thread all about the Buffyverse, specifically Buffy the Vampire Slayers TV run here with possibly others to follow.

Favourite character: There are a lot of great characters in the Buffyverse, good and evil, alive and dead. Narrowing the focus a little to just Buffy makes it a little easier. Nobody is going to argue that Wesley or Cordelia were better characters on Buffy than Angel because people don't like to be wrong. So that discounts them, and Buffy's first vampire love. Phew. But of those that remain, there are still some great choices. But I don't think it matters because it's Giles. He's awesome, from start to finish and criminally underused. Even when he's not around he's shaping the lives of Buffy and her friends. His story isn't over just yet, though.

Favourite season: Season 2. Sure it's early, and cliched because everyone loves it, but it holds together so well. It pushed that boundaries of what the show could do and elevated it to a new level. Season 5 was pretty great for similar, but entirely different reasons. Plus, Angelus looked way better in leather pants than Glory could over hope to.

Favourite episodes: Passion, from season 2. The Wish, The Prom, Dirty Girls. Might as well make it a five, Selfless? Yeah, Selfless (regardless of how any follow up to that episode was dropped). That will do. This list is changing constantly and I wanted to avoid the usual stuffing with Whedon-penned episodes, though I am adamant The Passion was ghost written by Whedon. It had to be. These episodes were chosen today because of how they form a central spine and hang powerful, shocking, character serving moments again and again. From Angelus murdering Jenny, to the deaths and dustings of the Wish to Xander no longer seeing, all of these moments serve to push our Scoobies further into the darkness, yet showing just who they are deep down.

Least favourite anything:  Sarah Michelle Gellar's hair in season three. Seriously, that hair is awful. Uh, Adam wasn't entirely successful either. Pretty much anything related to the Initiative can be lumped in with Adam. Oz being a non-entity was a pretty bad move, too.

Look at that hair. Who though that was a good idea?

So there we go. Some vague ramblings about Buffy to give you an idea of everything, without saying anything. Turns out it was a lot harder to speak independently of the spin-off than I thought it would be.

PS: Season six is not that bad, but the middle chunk of season seven isn't great.