No More Whedon Before Bed

Back at the end of April, I picked up a new habit. Due to SO many friends telling me of its brilliance over the past 10 or so years, I decided to give Buffy the Vampire Slayer a try.

If you know me well, you know that I’ve ALWAYS loved Buffy. But not in TV form. Well, (don’t tell Lauren) I have had a massive crush on Sarah Michelle Gellar since I saw her in I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2 11 years ago. (Teri, remember when we went to IKWYDLS in the theater, and Miranda wasn’t quite 17 and wouldn’t lie about her age? Good times.)

My love for Buffy was purely cinematic. Now that I’m older and watch the movie, I laugh at how ridiculously stupid it is. But, to a 6th grader who loved horror, comedy, and Kristy Swanson, Buffy was pretty much the greatest movie ever. (I still find it better than Citizen Kane, though. What a lame movie.)

When I heard that the new WB network was creating a TV show of Buffy, I freaked out a little. I remember the night that it premiered. We were having a late dinner and finished just in time. I turned it on, and I remember my mom groaning about how “disgusting” it was. I didn’t find it disgusting, but it was not the Buffy I loved. It was too serious. The vampires had stupid crinkly foreheads. When they were staked, they turned into dust. This Buffy SUCKED.

I was in high school, and NOBODY I knew had given the show a try, so I couldn’t compare my opinion to others’. I decided that like Baby Boom, Parenthood, and Look Who’s Talking, a TV show can only ruin a beloved childhood movie. The best option was to not watch it and just wait for it to be canceled after a season or so. (Sidenote: I’m actually excited for the NEW TV adaptation of Parenthood.) (Second sidenote: I apparently really like parentheses tonight.)

Fast forward back to April of 2009. I was browsing DVDs at Wal-Mart, and spotted the first season of Buffy for $15. After years of recommendations and an obsession with Dr. Horrible and Firefly, I figured it was worth the $15 to try it.

I LOVED IT.

Watching it as an adult, I got it. I realized that it was so much more than a cheesy high school vampire show. I watched the first disc and the next time I was at Wal-Mart, I bought seasons 2-3. I started watching the show every night before bed. I have a hard time shutting my brain off before bed, and usually watching TV helps me do that. I got into some episodes so much that it was hard to fall asleep some nights. I would usually get through 2 episodes before I’d fall asleep. Some nights, I got through an entire disc of 4 episodes.

By the time I was into season 2, I realized that I would definitely want to see the whole series, so I bought seasons 4, 6, and 7. (Not a single Wal-Mart carried season 5, and I couldn’t bring myself to spend $40 at Best Buy for it.)

Halfway through season 2, I started to realize that I was going to have to get into Angel as well, so I started buying those sets. By the end of May, I had 2 discs left in season 3 of Buffy, so I brought those on my trip to California along with season 4 and the first season of Angel. By the time I was home, I had finished 3 and was watching 4 in tandem with Angel. As I got busier with Joseph rehearsals, both shows slowed down a little. As I got busier dating Lauren, the slow pace continued (worth it). When Joseph ended, the pace picked up a little, but quickly slowed down again as school started.

A few weeks ago, I FINALLY finished Buffy. It was bittersweet. My favorite season was 3, and I felt like it peaked there. Other than some amazing standalone episodes (Hush, The Body, Once More with Feeling, etc.) I never really loved the show as much as the first 3 seasons. I never really cared for Anya or Dawn. I missed Oz. Willow’s sudden lesbianism and witchiness seemed to come from nowhere. Tara didn’t grow on me until Willow first started getting evil. Riley was no Angel. Spike became cool and fascinating, but I did NOT like him as a love interest for Buffy. I HATED the nerds in season 6, and I wish Andrew could have died then instead of staying through the end of the series. Caleb was pretty much the coolest villain since The Mayor, but he came out of nowhere at the end and it made me realize how much better season 7 could have been if he would have been there the whole time.

I still loved Buffy when all was said and done. The final episode almost made me tear up, but not quite. I would have gone through withdrawals if I didn’t have a final season of Angel.

Here’s the problem with Angel, though. I loved the first two seasons, up until the stupid final story arc of season 2 where they went to Lorne’s homeworld. LAME. Although, it brought us Fred, who I loved. Season 3 was pretty darn good for the most part. I NEVER liked the character of Connor, though. And I actually started to miss Darla after she left the show. Season 4 sucked, though. It sucked in a way that no Joss show has ever sucked before. It was a big pile of poo, other than the return of Faith, who I love and had missed since she went to prison. The latter part of the season was especially awful. I found myself struggling to get through it, and even though I had been watching it in tandem with Buffy, I started watching more of the latter.

Another problem with Angel was the fact that I hate, hate, HATE Cordelia. I wish she could have gotten killed on graduation day, nstead of spinning off to Angel. I could have even dealt with her getting lost in the ensemble of Buffy. It was hard to care about a show when I hated a main character. It was REALLY hard to care about it when she and Angel started having feelings for each other. And when she went whacko in season 4, it almost ruined the show for me.

And then came season 5.

Wow.

If the whole series could have been as good as season 5, I would be blogging about how the quality of Angel surpassed its parent show. It killed me watching season 5 and knowing that it was the last. I didn’t even mind Connor (still didn’t like him, though) or Harmony. I liked what they were doing with Lindsey enough to ignore his butt-ugly hair. I love that Marcus was a MUCH better fit for the show than the tranny demon goddess in season 4 (though not as good as Caleb in Buffy). I didn’t even gag myself when Cordy came back for an episode.

It wasn’t without problems, though. Illyria was annoying, and I had major Fred withdrawals. The episode about the Nacho Libre-type wrestler was irritating. The finale was frustrating due to the lack of closure. However, it was a decent ending to the Buffyverse.

Oddly enough, the point of this blog wasn’t to talk all about the two shows, but to share what happened as I wrapped up my time with Joss.

Right after I finished Buffy, I went to the Shakespeare competition in Cedar City. The first night I was there, I didn’t sleep well. Not because I was starting to get this awful cold that I STILL HAVE. Not because I was worried about the competition. Not because the boys in the room next to me were talking too loudly. I didn’t sleep well because I was having insane dreams about killing zombies all night. I don’t really remember details, other than the fact that Lauren’s sister Courtney was there, and I kept trying to protect her and keep her from seeing the zombie carnage. Also, Buffy was there helping me to kill the zombies. I wouldn’t really call them nightmares, because I wasn’t ever scared, but DANG! Those dreams kept me up all night.

I kind of forgot about the dreams until this week.

A few nights ago, I finished Angel around 2:30 in the morning. I couldn’t stop watching it, knowing that I was that close to the end. The rest of that night, I had more intense dreams. This time, I fully blame the fact that I got no resolution to Angel.

I can’t remember all the details, but I remember hanging out with the Justice League as though it was a common occurrence. We got a call that something was going down with Angel Investigations in Los Angeles, and we went to help. On the way, we had to go down poles to get to the Batcave. Each member of the League and I took our own pole, but Batman and Robin went down the same pole at the same time. I guess this confirms that they’re gay.

We ended up participating in the battle between Angel and the minions that Wolfram & Hart sent after him, but we didn’t kill all of them. Many of them ran away, and we went back to our lives until we were needed again.

The next part I remember was waiting for a piano student to show up. Somebody was giving me crap about teaching piano instead of fighting in the apocalypse, but I don’t remember who it was (I want to say it was Angel himself). I said I was planning to go back and fight after this ONE lesson, and they warned me that it was a bad idea.

My student showed up, and it was a boy. (I’m pretty sure it was the kid from the episode where Lindsey was in the Hell dimension.) When I opened the door to let him in, I noticed it was raining outside. I also noticed that several large SUVs with darkened windows were pulling up on the street in front and parking. The boy’s mother had walked him up to the door, and she told me she’d be back to get him soon.

Over the course of the lesson, I started to realize something wasn’t right. The boy was acting strange, and the rain was more intense outside. I remember the lesson ending, and talking to the boy’s mother about how the ultimate betrayal would be if Wolfram & Hart were able to infiltrate my piano studio. She looked at me with a blank expression and said “Sorry.” I realized that she was evil, and that my downfall had begun. I looked at the SUVs and noticed that some men had gotten out of them and were drowning as they walked across my flooded yard to get to my house.

AND THEN I WOKE UP.

It was stressful. Borderline nightmare. I had no Justice League, no Angel Investigations-- nothing. I was all alone, and they had gotten to my piano lessons.

I’m back to watching comedies before bed now. I spent a couple nights watching Halloween episodes of Roseanne, and now I’m on the second season of Rodney.

It kind of stinks that the only way to continue the stories of Buffy and Angel is through comic books. I actually thought about getting into them, but I read some synopses of them, and I think it’s best to keep my memories of the shows as they are. Unless, of course, they actually do my prophesied Justice League of America crossovers.

I’m going to rewatch Firefly soon (get ready, Lauren – I’m introducing you) and I’m going to look into getting Dollhouse on DVD or Blu-Ray.

But in the meantime, I’ll have my dreams. (And really long blogs with lots of parentheses.)