Right now, there are a fair number of decent shows on the summer schedule. Okay, three. Maybe four. Still, it’s enough, in theory, to tide me over for a bit. Plus, right now I should be packing, preparing for the big move in a week’s time. This, of course, explains why I decided it was the perfect time to rewatch season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Now, I am an unabashed Buffy fan. While it was still airing, some might have even said obsessive (I would have to disagree – what do you call the level between buying action figures and traveling to attend the conventions?). I watched every single episode as it aired – no delayed Tivo gratification for me – with the phone unplugged and the blinds drawn. This remained true throughout the frustrating later seasons as well. Even erratic, dark Buffy was better than no Buffy at all.
Still, if the show suffered from one major flaw, it is that it peaked too soon. The sheer brilliance of seasons 2 and 3 was hard to match, and many viewers quickly became disappointed in the show. There were enough excellent one-off episodes (“Hush,” “The Body,” “Once More With Feeling”) to convince me that the show still had a lot of life left, but they often were placed between forced drug metaphors and annoying little sisters. Even when it was good, it wasn’t as good as earlier seasons, and each week I watched the show, wondering if this was the week it returned to top form. It never really did.
And yet, watching it again without such impossibly high expectations, I can only remember why I loved it. I’m no longer horrified by unexpected and unwanted plot twists (seriously – a little sister?) and can appreciate everything the show did right. Sure, it was inconsistent, but so were earlier seasons, as anyone who remembers the swim team monsters or the magical Christmas snow of redemption can attest. The show was still witty and interesting and, although it can be painful to watch our strong heroine behave like a self-destructive college student, I can’t say that depiction is entirely inaccurate. I have entire parts of my brain dedicated to humiliating university incidents that I would happily lobotomize.
It’s a pleasure rediscovering this old show without the weight of its earlier excellence pulling it down. I’m not sure if I’ll be quite so generous when I get to the bimbo god or the crayon that saved the world, but I’m certainly going to try.
What about you? What shows improved upon a second viewing, and why?
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June 25th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I am the same with Buffy. I remember being outraged when I saw the finale for season 4. I hated it! What were they doing to my Buffy? And I wasn’t that keen on seasons 6 and 7 either. And you’re right, I think it is because I loved the earlier seasons so much. But, watching the later seasons now with a bit of distance, they’re not nearly as bad as I remember. I actually like them. The comic on the other hand…that’s losing me.
June 26th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I am watching the entire series of Buffy at the moment and I like it but I miss the characters that left (Cordelia! Oz!) and am mostly irritated by the new ones that have arrived (Tara – so wet! Dawn – so nonsensical!) I’m sticking with it though. At least until the singing one.
June 26th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Oddly, I’m rewatching season 4 of Buffy right now too (for the umpteenth time). I remember really hating Riley the first time around, but I gain more appreciation with each re-watch – if not for him specifically, for the relationship, for how fun it must have been for the writers to have someone so upright to play with, for the reveal (I just watched the episodes right before Hush, and I’ve never enjoyed the arc so much), and, okay, maybe for Riley too.
I find that, for me, quite a few shows (or more accurately, seasons or arcs of shows) have improved with a second viewing on DVD. I think that not having that week (or longer) of anticipation allows us to be more forgiving.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Rachel, I agree that watching the shows on DVD, without the breaks that occur in the regular tv viewing season, improves things. Personally, the only season I had trouble with was season 6. Intellectually, I understood what Joss was doing and what Buffy was going through, but it just went on too long, and her turn around in the last episode wasn’t realized quite as well as I’d come to expect. Anyway, I’m currently lending my discs to a friend, one season at a time. I can’t wait for their reaction!
June 28th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Shows that get better with a second viewing are the 80’s TV shows. Back in college we would watch The Dukes of Hazzard everyday on TNN, and got The A-Team DVD this past Christmas and they are both so cheesy now that they are enertaining on a whole new level.