Here’s the podcast with a discussion of each season of Buffy and all your final feedback.
A Buffy for all Seasons
Download: Final Feedback
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The next podcast will appear on Monday 28th April 2014 for the Awards podcast. VOTE NOW!!
The Buffy Rewatch 
Hey guys, I got a little behind on the feedback podcasts, but just a note, the Charmed reference I was referring to in Chosen is the fact that Willow, upon finishing, says “Oh my goddess.” The title of the fifth season finale for Charmed was “Oh My Goddess Parts 1&2” so, that’s what that was. Supposedly Joss really liked that title name, and so he included it in the dialogue. Anyway, yeah, that’s what the reference was.
By: Ashley on April 21, 2014
at 11:32 pm
Hi Robin and Cordia,
Just wanted to say thanks for the podcast, I wish I could have been more organized with my life and gotten more involved in the discussions but it still has been an absolute pleasure listening every week for the past year.
I wish I had posted this for the feedback podcast but thought I would post it here anyway as I feel I must vent – One of my greatest disappointments with the Buffy series as a whole is the complete diminution of Giles’ character over the seven seasons. He is my favourite character (every time I re-watch the show I like him more). Anthony Stewart Head is an amazing actor, he handles both drama and comedy perfectly – so many of the best moments of the earlier seasons involve him and in the later seasons when his character is reduced in importance and his moments still manage to shine though. Yes, he was Buffy’s father figure but there were also other dimensions to his character that were independent of Buffy that we got to explore in the earlier seasons (thinking Jenny and Ethan). The last hint of this we get is in the entertaining but disappointing “A New Man.” The last character episode he gets is in season 4?
The mid life crisis arc in seasons 4-5 got old fast (pun intended) and it was clear that the writers didn’t know what to do with him so they just made him silly. In season 5, there was a spark of hope when Buffy asks him to be her watcher again but this storyline is pushed off to the side after the first few episodes as the season becomes focused on Dawn (grr). Even with the introduction Magic Box – which could have been a new start for him or at least provided the opportunity for a Giles episode, it became more about Anya’s love of capitalism. The way they wrote him out in season 6 was unsatisfying. His ‘betrayal’ of Buffy over Spike in season 7 did not feel in character and this conflict was never fully resolved. There was a scene missing between them in the final episodes. They managed to find time for everyone else including the annoying Potential dynamics and Andrew. Maybe Anthony Stewart Head would not have wanted to leave the show if he was being given consistently dynamic material to work with.
Considering how integral he was to Buffy as a father figure and mentor and his ability to also stand on his own as a character I believe the writers completely dropped the ball with him. What a complete mishandling of a core Scooby. Sigh. This is a lingering disappointment I have with the series 12 years later.
All the best,
Lindsay
By: Lindsay on April 23, 2014
at 2:11 pm
Just listened to the final feedback podcast. Can’t wait for the awards show. Super sad to see you guys go, but I was excited to hear that Cordia will be doing a Gilmore Girls rewatch. As a teen I would watch it as it aired and the reruns. It’s a great show so I am looking forward to following that. I haven’t checked out the history of Byzantium yet Robin, but I will get around to it. I do like history and ancient civilizations, plus I like listening to you voice as you talk about things. There is something about british accents that is pleasant to hear.
By: Ashlie M on April 24, 2014
at 3:00 am
🙂
By: thebuffyrewatch on April 24, 2014
at 11:42 pm
Just listened to the final feedback, love this podcast so much. I will for sure miss it, glad you had fun with the first and last lines. The last names were a fun find too!!
A quick request is that a link to Corida’s new Gilmore Girls podcast appears somewhere here!! I would love to listen to that show (and be a first time Gilmore Girls watcher). I’m hoping at least a quick comment can appear here when the site is ready! Thanks again for ALL THE AMAZING THINGS YOU DO!
By: Josh D on April 24, 2014
at 5:57 pm
Will do
By: thebuffyrewatch on April 24, 2014
at 11:42 pm
Awesome! Thanks! Can’t wait for the awards show!! COME ON LUKE!!!
By: Josh D. on April 25, 2014
at 1:24 am
Hi all.
First, I’d like to belatedly join the praise for the podcast.
Following the final feedback episode and ahead of the awards show, I’d like to say a few words in Riley’s defence.
a) They make good use of the character to explore the theme of the man who is frustrated he doesn’t do as well in his career as his female partner who happens to be in the same field. Another role reversal: In the real world it’s often the other way around – men get promoted faster, etc.
b) They make good use of the character to explore the theme of challenging authority from a different perspective. Riley’s confidence crisis with respect to the initiative is the closest the show got to making political statements in my opinion. Here you have a man who discovers that the government’s armed forces don’t always make the world a better place, either because the government’s plan were not well-thought out or because of the problematic actions of individuals working for the government (compare to today’s debates about the wars we are fighting and how we are fighting them). Even more relevant is the debate on the use of robots/drones in warzones? Is it ethical? Could something go wrong? Probably (think Adam).
c) The initiative may not have been a credible threat, but who says it should have been one? I thought that it was an interesting expansion of the Buffy-world. More importantly, the initiative plugs a logical hole in the show that you guys have been complaining about time and again: Where are the authorities? I think most of your questions concerned the police (why aren’t they doing anything? etc). Well, here is your answer. The police isn’t doing anything because the government told them to stay away because they’re on the case. That they bungled it is a different story. Therefore, I must conclude that some of your criticism of the initiative was misplaced.
By: Zombie Joseph on April 25, 2014
at 2:12 am
Hey everybody – I finally finished the feedback show, so I’m back where I started, commenting from the past.
– Sorry about the sound quality on my comment. I was rushing to get it done and using a new microphone, so it’s my fault.
Two more things I wish I had said:
1. The show was bad at mystery but sometimes good at surprise. Some of the most memorable moments – Angelus, the frat house elevator, Giles and Ben, Spike and the Annointed, etc. – worked for me because I didn’t see them coming.
2. It’s kind of surprising how casual the show was about mythology. The writers just let things slide, like how much sunlight killed vampires or whether they breathed. Sometimes , it felt like we were learning more, but in hindsight, I’m not sure that anyone on staff ever had a consistent idea about how magic worked or what it means that demons don’t have souls or whatever. Most of the time, I think that might have been a net positive, because it freed the writers to let things evolve. By the end, though, it was starting to fray.
By: Joseph on May 2, 2014
at 4:51 pm