Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Seven

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Seven, 2002-2003. The vampire-hunter faces a hopeless battle.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by David Solomon (5 episodes), James A. Contner (3), Nick Marck (2), Michael Gershman (2), David Grossman (2), Marita Grabiak (2), Rick Rosenthal (1), Alan J. Levi (1), Michael Grossman (1), Douglas Petrie (1), David Fury (1), & Whedon (1). Written by Jane Espenson (6 episodes), Drew Goddard (5), Petrie (4), Rebecca Rand Kirshner (3), Drew Z. Greenberg (3), Fury (3), Whedon (2), & Marti Noxon (1). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, with Nicholas Brendon, Emma Caulfield, James Marsters, Michelle Trachtenberg, & Alyson Hannigan.

Concept: C
Story: B
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: C
Enjoyment: Buffy's Greatest Hits. There aren't any ambitious or novel episodes to stand out as memorable, but the story keeps you hooked (despite seeming too simple to carry 22 episodes). And they manage to find an epic, satisfying way to conclude the series, which is impressive considering they'd already killed the main character as a previous season finale. B

GPA: 2.6/4

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Six

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Six, 2001-2002. The vampire-hunter is raised from the dead with evil magic.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by David Solomon (5 episodes), David Grossman (3), James A. Contner (3), Douglas Petrie (2), Nick Marck (2), Michael Gershman (2), Whedon (1), Turi Meyer (1), David Fury (1), Rick Rosenthal (1), & Bill L. Norton (1). Written by Fury (4 episodes), Jane Espenson (4), Marti Noxon (3), Petrie (3), Steven S. DeKnight (3), Drew Z. Greenberg (3), Rebecca Rand Kirshner (2), Whedon (1), & Diego Gutierrez (1). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, with Nicholas Brendon, Emma Caulfield, James Marsters, Michelle Trachtenberg, Alyson Hannigan, & Amber Benson.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: C
Enjoyment: Every single potential source of joy in the show is systematically destroyed. Unlike early seasons, when they seemed to think brooding was romantic, or season five, when they were coping with heavy drama, this season it's just straight-up depression. And even the comic relief characters are given buckets of misery to wallow in. Not fun. C

GPA: 2.3/4

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Five

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Five, 2000-2001. The vampire-hunter inexplicably has a little sister.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by David Solomon (4 episodes), David Grossman (3), James A. Contner (3), Whedon (3), Nick Marck (2), Dan Attias (2), Marti Noxon (2), Michael Gershman (2), & Christopher Hibler (1). Written by Jane Espenson (5 episodes), Douglas Petrie (4), Noxon (3), David Fury (3), Rebecca Rand Kirshner (3), Whedon (3), & Steven S. DeKnight (2). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, with Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Marc Blucas, Emma Caulfield, James Marsters, Michelle Trachtenberg, & Anthony Stewart Head.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: A
Dialog: A
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: Gellar is great. B
Music: Bonus points for silence. B
Enjoyment: It's as if time-travelling Joss Whedon read my complaints about previous seasons' moping/brooding, and adjusted the show accordingly. About halfway through the season, the boring boyfriend character is cut, and suddenly they have room to focus on telling great stories. And boy howdy they take advantage of it. A

GPA: 3.1/4

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Four

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Four, 1999-2000. The vampire-hunting teenager goes to college.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by James A. Contner (6 episodes), Whedon (4), David Grossman (4), David Solomon (3), Michael Gershman (2), Tucker Gates (1), Michael Lange (1) & Nick Marck (1). Written by Marti Noxon (5 episodes), Jane Espenson (5), Whedon (4), David Fury (4), Tracey Forbes (3) & Douglas Petrie (3). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, with Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, Seth Green, James Marsters & Marc Blucas.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: C
Enjoyment: I don't know how, but they managed to come up with a love interest for Buffy that's even more tedious than Season Three Angel. Between that and a main villain who's not any fun, it's a pretty weak season. On the other hand, the other characters are all great (with the exception of Oz, who gets a pretty crappy exit), and there are a handful of stand-out episodes. "Hush" in particular is one of the best hours of TV I've ever seen. B

GPA: 2.5/4

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Three

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Three, 1998-1999. The vampire-hunting teenager mopes a lot and fights some monsters.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by Whedon (5 episodes), James Whitmore, Jr. (4), James A. Contner (4), David Greenwalt (2), Michael Lange (2), David Semel (1), Michael Gershman (1), David Grossman (1), Regis Kimble (1) & David Solomon (1). Written by Whedon (5 episodes), Marti Noxon (5), Jane Espenson (3), Douglas Petrie (3), David Greenwalt (2), Dan Vebber (2), David Fury (2) & Thania St. John (1). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: C
Enjoyment: The soap opera aspect is extremely tedious this season. There's plenty of humor to keep the show fun, but otherwise they spend a lot of time stalling with character relationships that were already resolved last season but have to keep going because Angel doesn't have his own show yet. C

GPA: 2.2/4

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Two

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Two, 1997-1998. The vampire-hunting teenager fights more monsters.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by Whedon (5 episodes), Bruce Seth Green (5), David Greenwalt (2), David Semel (2), John T. Kretchmer (1), Ellen S. Pressman (1), David Solomon (1), Michael Lange (1), James A. Contner (1), Michael Gershman (1), Deran Sarafian (1) & James Whitmore, Jr. (1). Written by Whedon (7 episodes), Marti Noxon (6), David Greenwalt (3), Dean Batali (3), Rob Des Hotel (3), Ty King (2), Matt Kiene (1), Joe Reinkemeyer (1), Carl Ellsworth (1), Howard Gordon (1), David Fury (1) & Elin Hampton (1). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good). Occasionally great.
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Better than season one. About half of it follows the pattern of the first season (monster shows up, buffy kills it), while the rest is full-on soap opera. The former is getting tedious, while the latter is uneven but interestingly unpredictable.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season One

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season One, 1997. A vampire-hunting teenager moves to a new school.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by Bruce Seth Green (3 episodes), Charles Martin Smith (1), John T. Kretchmer (1), Stephen Cragg (1), David Semel (1), Scott Brazil (1), Stephen Posey (1), Ellen S. Pressman (1), Reza Badiyi (1) & Whedon (1). Written by Whedon (5 episodes), David Greenwalt (3), Rob Des Hotel (2), Dean Batali (2), Ashley Gable (2), Thomas A. Swyden (2), Dana Reston (1), Matt Kiene (1) & Joe Reinkemeyer (1). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 1/4 (Bad)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Fun, but slightly repetitive and very low budget. I expected it to be better, based on how much people love it (and how much I love Firefly). Presumably it will improve in later seasons. The level of thought that seems to go into everything is promising.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.1/4 (Okay)