Stuff I don't like as much as I'm supposed to, Part 1: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Well, this should be an inexhaustible source of posts when I can't think of any other topic. The subject is just what the title says: stuff that other people say I should really like, but which I don't like that much (or at all). These won't be reviews because I won't be trying to be fair. It will be just me sounding off.

SPOILER WARNING: This post has spoilers for season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; also for the first arc of Sailor Moon the manga.

The premiere of this series is devoted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV series, of which I have watched on DVD the first episode and what I gathered were the best episodes from the second season. (See what I mean about not being fair?) The first episode didn't interest me enough to watch any further. First of all, it didn't strike me as being like high school. Rather, it was like a Hollywood version of high school, where even the "plain" characters are pretty or handsome by non-Hollywood standards and everyone is constantly being witty (that's the writers' intent, anyway). Second, I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to buy the whole defeating-vampires-with-martial-arts shtick. And third, like I said, it just wasn't that interesting to me.

Some months later, after encountering a bunch of intelligent people who were fans of Buffy on the internet, I decided to give the show another try. This time, I wanted to see the series at its best. And as far as I could tell from reading books, websites etc. it was at its best in Season Two, and the best episodes from that season were the two-parter where Angel reverts to Angelus and the two final episodes, plus one other which I don't remember too well now. Again, I just wasn't that interested. I was particularly annoyed with the finale, because 1) the setup for Buffy killing Angel just after he's turned back from Angel is so obviously and ridiculously contrived, and 2) the teenage girl killing her boyfriend because he's possessed scenario was done better in the first arc of Sailor Moon the manga (which is otherwise pretty forgettable).

And I'm not even going to get into the plot's obvious illogicalities (some of which, to be fair for one second, may have been explained in the episodes I didn't see).