.jeri.

Even though this review comes years after the show ended, I thought I'd mention that it has spoilers if you haven't seen the show yet.

I was wandering around on Hulu in the fall trying to decide what could entertain me while I did data entry at work when I came across Buffy. First off, yes, I am allowed to have a little entertainment while I work as long as I get my job done. Some of the data entry I do is very repetitive, so I actually often work faster when I have something keeping me going. I knew that a few of my friends liked this show, so I decided to give it a go.

At first, I had to get over the initial shock of the fact that this wasn't a dark drama show, which was the impression I had gotten of it over the years. The vampire look seemed cheesy, and I was surprised that Buffy was battling all sorts of other demons besides vampires. Once I had watched for a while and gotten the feel of things, it felt like the show itself had gotten its own groove, and I enjoyed a lot of the humor, the cool musical choices playing at the local bar, the pop culture references, and the characters themselves.

Over the seven seasons of the show, I didn't love everything. I was disappointed with Willow's character in general. She was so naive and lovable, and that disappeared. And I didn't care so much about the fact that her character became interested in women so much as the fact that it didn't feel believable because she didn't seem to have any chemistry with Tara, who was kind of boring overall. I also didn't care for the direction they took her witchcraft obsession because it didn't feel true to the nature of her character. I'm sure there are plenty of fans who disagree, but oh well.

I did like pretty much everyone else, though, especially Anya and Spike, and I definitely found myself in the Spike camp by the show's end. I liked that his love grew over time and proved itself in so many ways, whereas Angel was mostly mysterious and "destined" for Buffy, and didn't have to do anything to win her over except be himself. Right now I'm in season three of watching Angel's spin-off show, so I'll let you know what I think of that later on.

I liked when the show went off on wild tangents, especially when an episode would begin in an established setting (like the episode where everyone loves Jonathan) and was written as if it were a normal reality, and only as the episode progressed did the characters realize that something was amiss and figured out that a spell had been cast. Of course, the show I hear everyone talk about is Hush, which is all silent, and I really liked that one except for the fact that I couldn't exactly watch it while doing data entry! Actually, as I went along with the show, I started getting more into it and found myself staying late after work to finish watching an episode, or whipping out the laptop at home to catch another episode so I could see what would happen next. The other episode everyone talks about is the musical, which I enjoyed, but probably not as much as the fans did just because I had seen Dr. Horrible before watching Buffy, and its music and lyrics were so much better than that episode.

Anyway, I fell for the show, and wonder how I might have liked it if I had watched it when it actually came out. I know a lot of fans seem very attached to it and talk about how it helped them grow up. I didn't form an attachment like that with the show, but I did start to feel attached to some of the characters, and there were a few episodes that actually got to me emotionally.

Overall, I'm glad I decided to give the show a go. I watched all seven seasons in about three to four months, and like I said, now I'm in the middle of watching Angel as well. Great show!