Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season Six

Finished season six. Some bits of humor -- here in California we have "Long's Drugs" chain of drugstores. In Sunnydale, they have "Short's Drugs" with the same logo and everything.

To be honest, for some reason I heard from a friend that seasons six and seven left a bad taste in their mouth. To me, season six was just as powerful as the rest. Tara's death, Buffy's resurrection, her institutional hallucinations in "Normal Again," (the closing scene in that one made me wonder what was reality and what was fantasy) and the finale with Xander repeating "I love you" to Willow -- all powerfully moving. Tara's death and the shooting of Buffy, especially. Whedon has a gift for capturing the emotion and helplessness in moments of shock and sudden loss.

A few things might have not met expectations. Buffy's love interest shifting to Spike -- not getting it nor seeing it. Or perhaps the expectations of a sustaining tension with evil throughout the season (like Glory from season five) were not met. The Trio weren't very scary; lost, desperate, and petty, yes -- but not scary. Or perhaps they couldn't handle the increased imagery of the romance between Tara and Willow. I found it greatly refreshing. It's love between two people. The emotion is the same, regardless of gender.

Favorite season six quotes: "The hardest thing in the world is to live in it," and strangely enough, from the finale, the lyrics to the closing song, "to be loved is to love." Although Buffy beating the demon with a piece of copper pipe and screaming "full copper re-pipe" comes in a close third in "Flooded."

Buffy's job at Double-Meat Palace triggered some flashbacks to my high-school KFC job, especially the smell of grease. Even before I became a vegetarian, I stopped eating Crispy Chicken. And don't get me started with employees playing hacky-sack with the discarded wings. x_x

I enjoyed the musical "Once More With Feeling." Especially the evil character with the charisma. Weird, but in my opinion well-done weird, mostly. A few songs seemed to only serve as filler. Have to hand it to Whedon -- did not see that one coming. Whedon surprises, just like Hush (season four) and The Body (season five).

One thing I noticed this season which I haven't noticed before is the writers, the directors, and the producers of each show, as well as the guest stars in each. I am not sophisticated enough to tell the difference in the shows, yet. I guess one just records who one likes and who one doesn't so much and sees if the pattern is consistent from one writer's/producer's/director's show to the next.