This text accommodates point out of sexual assault.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6 is notoriously disagreeable viewing, and an interview with James Marsters revealed why the season was so darkish. Buffy the Vampire Slayer efficiently aged with its viewers, changing into extra mature with every passing yr. This labored nicely in season 5, and arrange an ideal tone for the ultimate season 7, however season 6 went too far.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6 relies on human horrors. Enormous occasions essentially have an effect on every of the Scooby Gang: Buffy is traumatized following her resurrection, Xander leaves Anya on the altar, and Willow is hooked on darkish magic. For the primary and solely time, even the season’s massive unhealthy is human. The Trio, who’re principally an annoyance to Buffy, enact schemes rooted firmly in misogyny – a theme that permeates the season, culminating in Tara’s dying and Spike sexually assaulting Buffy. In an interview with The A. V. Membership, James Marsters defined the motivation behind such a darkish season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Joss Whedon Needed To Make Buffy Darker In Season 6
After the obvious conclusion in season 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer returned with season 6, and a a lot darker tone than any earlier season. James Marsters (who performed Spike) discussing the season remarked, “In six, I actually acquired afraid to learn the scripts. As a result of I used to be going to need to do no matter they considered to whoever they considered to do it. There have been simply no guidelines anymore. And I used to be really terrified.” There actually had been no guidelines in BTVS season 6, and no characters had been secure, from both an premature (and unpopular) dying, or a harrowing sexual assault.
Marsters recollects Joss Whedon telling him, “It’s not about giving the viewers what they need. It’s about giving the viewers what you suppose they want.” Evidently, season 6 was the season Whedon thought Buffy followers wanted, however the backlash suggests it was not the season followers needed. Whedon’s dedication to a darker season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer demanded a level of realism from his writers. As Marsters recollects, “all through the complete collection, [Joss] was asking his writing staff to give you their worst day.” Whedon used his writers’ lives to fish for tragedy, basing the entire season on real-world human horrors, reasonably than the usual supernatural.
Why Buffy Season 6’s Human Horrors Did not Work
The best failure of Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6 was the shortage of a correct villain. Different seasons had been unified with the overarching presence of the Large Dangerous, however The Trio was so ineffectual they might not fulfill this function. As an alternative, they briefly turned every central character into the villain of the season. Buffy, Xander, and Spike are every sooner or later portrayed in a destructive mild, constructing to Willow (performed by Alyson Hannigan) changing into the villain within the finale.
With out the dedication of the entire season, Willow’s flip because the Large Dangerous was unconvincing. Moreover, whereas The Trio was ineffectual, they had been loathsome sufficient for audiences to rally behind Willow on her murderous rampage, difficult the viewers’s allegiance. The truth is, the Trio operate extra as comedian reduction than because the season’s villain, which delegates Xander’s character into the function of dramatic tragedy, as an alternative of the happy-go-lucky sidekick beloved by audiences.
Moreover, after years of turning Spike into the present’s antihero and discovering narratively justified causes for Spike to stop his misdeeds, Whedon chooses this level to remind viewers that Spike is evil, in probably the most disagreeable second of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ever. If Whedon needed to problem his viewers, he seemingly achieved so with Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6. Whedon could have been too profitable, pushing many followers away and prompting a slew of destructive essential responses. Whereas there’s actually loads to like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6, Whedon’s darkish tone could have overstepped the mark, making the present extra harrowing than horrifying.
