Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a cultural force so large that it occupies its own corner of Mount Rushmore for Western pop culture. The show ran from 1997 to 2003, never a ratings giant but a critical hit and a fan favorite. Its influence runs through TV Tropes, urban fantasy, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also gets hot takes, and one of them is that the show should have ended after season 5.
Noxon Takes Over
Between seasons 5 and 6, Buffy switched networks and showrunners. Joss Whedon stepped away to create Firefly, and longtime producer Marti Noxon took over. Noxon’s season is darker and more explicit than what came before. Buffy spends the season depressed, working dead-end jobs, struggling with money, and having a toxic affair with Spike.
Some of that is defended. The “Spuffy” relationship has its fans, and the show’s darker tone appeals to viewers who want something heavier. But the biggest problem is the villains. The trio of antagonists in Season 6 are three misogynistic nerds who are angry that Buffy is the protagonist and they are not. In retrospect, they are the least metaphorical big bads in the BtVS rogues’ gallery.
Whedon Returns and Leaves
After Firefly was canceled, Whedon came back for Season 7. But Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to leave the show, and the season compressed its plans into just 14 episodes. The result is uneven. Some of it works, but there is not enough room for the story it is trying to tell.
The advice for newcomers is simple: skip past season 5. Season 1 is uneven, so you can miss most of it and still catch the first and last episodes. “Nightmares” delivers some of the show’s best scares. Seasons 2 and 3 are required. Season 4 has “Hush,” which might be the best single episode of the series. If you make it to season 5 and still want more, you are clear to watch it.
The Case for Cutting
The argument is that Season 6 leaves the writer cold, and Season 7 is a mess. The musical episode “Once More With Feeling” is the highlight of Season 6, but it ends on such a down note that it ruins the rest of the season. Season 7 is a compressed rebuilding effort that never quite reaches its goals.
The takeaway is that you can watch the whole run without missing the point. End with season 5, which sends the show off as one of TV’s best cult successes, and simply pretend the later seasons never happened.
| Season | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Miss most, keep first and last |
| 2 | Required |
| 3 | Required |
| 4 | Required (“Hush”) |
| 5 | Required |
| 6 | Skip |
| 7 | Skip |
That is the position, and it is a bold one. The show’s defenders have plenty of reasons to disagree. The Trio are surprisingly accurate social commentary, and the “Spuffy” relationship has its own devoted followers. But the case for cutting holds that the show’s best moments are clustered in its first five years.
See the video the story is built around at Polygon.
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