2/5 WHY????????????????????
  by jackbauerfan
Season 5 of Buffy. The first truly awful season. And I mean awful. After I watch season 4, I asked a friend of mine, who had already seen the whole series, if I should even bother watching the last three seasons. She assured me that season 4 was just a small misstep, and that they pull it back together in this season. So I rented season 5 and started watching it with a renewed sense of optimism. When I finished the season, I had one thing to say. I'm surprised they were able to make two more seasons after this one. The plot, the characters, the villians, Dawn, everything in this season was just awful.

Okay, let me start at the beginning. The first episode, "Buffy vs Dracula, was not horrible. Dracula seemed sort of stupid when I first saw the episode. But once I realized who the main villian of this season was, I was begging for her to be removed, and for Dracula to come back. Compared to the rest of the season, this episode was okay. But at the end of this episode, we get introduced to Dawn. Uuugggghhhhhh. I could not stand her. At first, I actually thought they were just going to pretend she had been there the whole time. I'm serious. I thought they were were overwriting the previous seasons and saying that Buffy had always had a younger sister. But when they explained how Dawn had gotten there, I was overjoyed. I thought she would be gone sometime soon, since her character was so annoying. Instead, they decided to keep her on for the rest of the series. Despite the fans abject hatred towards this character, the writers kept her on for the last three seasons of the show. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?????? Dawn has got to be one of the most pointless, brattiest, annoying characters in fiction. Now I know Dawn is sort of supposed to be annoying. But they didn't do it right. She should have been annoying to the rest of the characters, but not to the audience. Look at Spike in season 4, when he first got the chip put in his head. The rest of the cast couldn't stand him. But we loved him. We loved every moment of screen time he had. Neither the audience, nor the rest of the characters could stand her. She served no purpose other than to make our lives miserable.

I didn't care for most of the other characters in this season. Now I don't know about you guys but, as far as I'm concerned, the characters get less and less likeable after season 3. I mean it. Willow turning gay, Xander basically becoming a deadbeat, Buffy turning 20 and still acting like she's 16, they all went downhill. The only exception was Giles. I actually started to like him more in the later seasons. It's too bad he stopped being a regular character after this season. The rest of the characters are also pretty bad in this season. Anya is annoying as always, Tara is as bland as always (although we do get a little background on what kind of family she came from), and Riley is even kind of whiney in this season. He did a few things in this season that didn't really make sense. I still don't hate him as much as most fans, though. I was a little sad to see him go. (They remove him when fans hated him, why didn't they do the same to Dawn?)

The plot of this seas was terrible. Basically, this Goddess named Glory, also called the Beast, wants to get out of our dimension and back into her heaven dimension. She needs "the key" to open the doorway to her dimension. But as she opens the door, more doors to other dimensions will be opened. All kinds of creatures from all kinds of dimensions will be let into our dimension. The world as we know it will be destroyed. This is a decent conflict, but there's just one problem. It's not enough to take up a whole season. It would have been a good plot for an episode, or maybe even a two-part episode. They milked a whole season out of this plot. And they did the same with Glory. She has got to be one of the worst villians ever. She comes in on the season's fifth episode, "No Place Like Home," and she's there for therest of the season. Again, she is not an interesting enough villian to carry a season. I mean, imagine if Drusilla had been the main villian of season 2, and the whole season had consisted of her trying to open Acathla. That would have gotten real old real fast. Which is exactly what happened here. This is the first season of Buffy that didn't really have an episodic feel to it. As we got further into the season, the episodes kept ending on cliffhangers. It was like watching a season of "24". Now don't get me wrong, 24 is a great show, in fact it's my favorite show. But that kind of thing just didn't feel right for this series. I can't really explain it. In the earlier seasons of Buffy, they were able to, every once in a while, break off from the over-arching plot and put in an episode that dealt with something else. And that was nice. I really missed that about these later seasons of Buffy. Especially when the plot was as lame as this.

Now I loved the final episode. It was amazing. It was my second-favorite season finale in this series. For a while, Joss Whedon was considering ending the series right here. If he had, it would have been one of the best series finales of all time. Because the actual series finale was a pile of crap. Buffy and her friends prepare for the apocalypse which seems to come about every May. I love how they joke about that. Anyway, a huge battle ensues. Buffy finally defeats Glory, and then runs off to save Dawn. Giles then kills Glory by smothering Ben. Oh yeah, Glory has a brothernamed Ben, who his sometimes him and sometimes her. For some reason. Despite this retarded plot device, it was cool to see another glimpse of Giles' dark side. Unfortunately, this is the last time we ever see it. Buffy realizes that "death is her gift", and she sacrifices herself to save Dawn and the rest of the world. The season ends with a shot of a gravestone which reads: Buffy Summers. Beloved Sister. Devoted Friend. She Saved the World. A Lot.

To recap, this was the worst episode of Buffy so far. The plot, the characters, and just about everything else was terrible. But this is actually not my least favorite season of Buffy. The saving grace is the season finale, one of the best episodes of television, in my opinion. Oh yeah, and Buffy's mom finally dies.

And that is what I think about that.

4/5 The Best Season Buffy
  by S. A. Faulding
I bought this season because the first one wore out. Joss Whedeon gives a hint about Dawn two full seasons in advance. great storytelling.

5/5 For every slim set collector
  by Angelus (Croatia, Europe)
If you're a fan of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, than this item is for you... For everyone who wants to collect the series in slim sets, I recommend this... There are 3 slim DVD cases, each with 2 DVDs.

5/5 Outstanding product, quick shipping
  by Eric Nelson
Buffy season 5 is amazing. I ordered it overnight and got exactly what I paid for. No complaints from me. I would buy from this person again.

5/5 now my series is complete
  by Michelle Breakey
Every Buffy fan has to have the complete series. I got this at an excellent price in mint condition