4/5 One Last Solid Season
  by jackbauerfan
And I mean great. This season was very different from any other season of Buffy. Most of the other seasons follow a similar plotline. Evil guys appear, Buffy and her friends take care of them. This season kind of abandoned that plotline. Instead, they focused on problems or flaws that the main characters are facing. There are big bads in this season, the three nerds, or the trio as they are sometimes called. They consist of Jonathan, the class dork who almost committed suicide in season 3, Warren, the guy who made the Buffy robot in the previous season, and Andrew, who is the brother of Tucker, the guy who tried to sick the hellhounds on the prom in season 3.
The season starts out with Buffy and all her friends fighting some demons in the cemetery. After a prolonged fight scene, they dispatch the demons. Then we find out that it isn't really Buffy, it's the Buffy-bot. Her friends want everyone to believe that Buffy is still alive so that Sunnydale will still be a safe place. Now there are two problems I have with this. First, if they want people to believe that Buffy is still alive, why did they erect a tombstone for her? Secondly, who is the new slayer? Isn't another slayer supposed to be called after the last one dies? Like at the end of season 1, when Buffy died, and Kendra was called? Whatever. So Giles decides to go back to England, believing that, with Buffy gone, there is no future for him Willow, Xander, Tara, and Anya decide to do a spell to bring Buffy back. They think she is in some kind of hell dimension. They do this very weird and dangerous spell, which succeeds. Just in the nick of time, too. A demon motorcycle gang have heard that Buffy is dead. They decide to invade Sunnydale. Buffy emerges from her coffin, in a confused and delerious state. She beats all the demons, and reunites with her friends. She tells them that she was in a hell dimension, and thanks them for bringing her out of it. Later she tells Spike, who is still hanging around Sunnydale, that she was really in Heaven. Every moment she spends back on the earth is torment. She tells him not to tell her friends.
I thought this was a very good setup for the season. It was very different from anything we had seen before in this series. Buffy does not want to be alive. Now this is different from her whining about not wanting to be the slayer. She does not even want to be alive. And she is still the slayer. She ends up starting a physical relationship with Spike, even though she hates him. Despite the fact that it gives her a release from life, she is disgusted with herself. And she also takes a job at a fast food place. Sure. Let's throw that in there. Make her life really depressing. At the same time, her friends are going through problems of their own. Willow and Tara are struggling with their relationship because Tara is so bland. Oh, and also because Willow is starting to become addicted to her magic. Willow is going to some guy and letting him do spells on her. I think this was supposed to be a metaphor for being addicted to drugs. Okay, whatever. Willow also starts to take her magic too far. For instance, she alters Tara's memory after they have a fight. She and Tara separate for a while. Meanwhile, Xander and Anya decide to get married. But at their wedding, an old man who claims to be Xander from the future appears and tells him that they cannot get married. He shows Xander a vision of the future, in which Xander and Anya have a very disfunctional family. It seems that Anya cheats on Xander, and they have a domen-kid. In an argument they have, Xander appears to kill Anya. Shocked from the vision, Xander is not sure what to do. Then it is revealed that the old man is really a demon who was cursed by Anya and wants revenge. They kill him, but the damage is done. Xander sees his own alchoholic parents fighting, and decides to leave Anya at the alter. Anya is enraged, and the head-vengeance-demon-guy gives her her powers back. She becomes a vengeance demon again. Now Dawn...I hate Dawn...Dawn is being as bratty as usual. See, I thought that with Glory no longer a threat, Dawn would just disappear or something. Nope. She's there `till the end of the series. And she is such a brat in this season, possibly even worse than before. I know she lost her mother and her sister temporarily, but c'mon. When is she gonna grow up already? When are the writers going to make her into a likeable character, or at least give her something to do besides make our lives miserable? Well, never.
I'm going to devote a short paragraph to talking about the musical episode, "Once More With Feeling". Now I'm not a big fan of musicals. I think they're stupid. However, I enjoyed this episode, to a point. I think they dragged it out a little too much. Where most episodes are about 40 minutes, this one was about an hour. They could have cut out one or two songs. I don't think it was anywhere near the best episode of the series, but it was entertaining.
I mentioned the trio of nerds earlier. I liked them for the first few episodes. They were funny, and they helped to lighten an otherwise dark season. But as the season went on, I realized that they were the big bads of the season. I was horrified. They were simply not evil enough to be real villians. But as time went on, Warren started to get darker. He starts to assert authority over Jonathan and Andrew, and he ends up murdering his ex-girlfriend in an attempt to rape her. He ends up getting some mystical stones which gives him enhanced strength as well as invulnerability. He and Buffy fight, and he starts to get the upper hand. With Jonathan's help, however, Buffy manages to smash the stones and defeat Warren. Warren manages to escape from her. He later comes to her house and shoots at her, wounding her. One of his stray bullets goes in the upstairs window and kills Tara. Oh, well, not like there was much of a character to kill off, anyway. Willow goes crazy. After starting to get a handle on controling her magic, She goes evil and kills Warren. Now I'd like to point out that evil Willow is very similar to Vampire Willow from season 3. I just thought that was interesting. As far as villians go, dark Willow was not really the best. She just seems too sweet to be evil. But she wasn't horrible, and it worked okay.
So Willow pursues Warren and Jonathan, intent on killing them. Buffy tries to get through to her, but is unsuccessful. Willow ends up trying to destroy the world, and is stopped just in time by Xander. Having overcome his cowardice and self-pity, Xander manages to talk Willow out of her evil state by telling her that he loves her, no matter what she does or is about to do. Willow eventually breaks down sobbing in Xander's arms. I loved this scene. I like it whenever Xander gets to do something. I loved that Buffy was unable to get through Willow, but Xander did by reminding her of their lifelong friedship. After Willow is stopped, Buffy realizes that her depression was very selfish and stupid. She tells Dawn that she wants to live in the world and show Dawn the world...or something corny like that. The season ends with Spike winning his soul back because he wants Buffy to like him...yeahhhhh.......I'll have more to say about that is my season 7 review. Which is going to be extremely painful for me.


5/5 GREAT season!
  by Arlandra Jett (Cincinnati, OH, USA)
Buffy's back from the dead and better than ever. This season has Spike & Buffy, Evil Willow, Spike & Buffy, Xander and Anya getting married, Spike & Buffy, memory spells, singing demons, supervillians being flayed, dead girlfriends, and have I said Spike & Buffy? This is personally my favorite season of all, even though there's not a hint of Faith. Buy this, everyone!!

1/5 Problems with region
  by Edmundo Weiderpass (Brazil, São Paulo)
I'm from Brazil and the DVD does not run in our DVDs players, due region limitations.

It would be interesting that, when Amazon detects a international sell, a warning should be displayed, telling the customers that they might have problems due to region definitions. A link to an article explaining region definitions/limitations/how to convert/alternatives would be very usefull too.

At the moment I'm watching the episodes at my computer. This is not confortable.



3/5 a plunge into darkness
  by Zaftig Artist (SLC Utah)
Sure, the nature of Buffy is all dark and ooky, with saving the world from its demise to the Hellmouth, but the witty humor, which makes this series entertaining on multiple levels, dissipates in season 6.

5/5 Several Power Packed Episodes
  by Octobersgift (Houston, Texas)
Even though The Troika was a kinda dumb concept for Uber-Villians, it was also hilarious !! Each one of the Supernerds were brilliant comedians who made their material SING. Speaking of singing...This is the season that contains the Emmy Award winning "Buffy the Musical" episode. In reviewing the entire season - the real Uber villians were the Scoobies themselves. They each embark on a journey of exploring the pain and demons which live inside themselves. The balance of light and dark was stunning to watch.

The writing from this season was incredibly raw and the acting was super fine. Smashed (Ep 9), Normal Again (Ep17), Villians (Ep20), Two to Go (Ep 21), and Grave (Ep 22) shimmer with emotion and remind fans why we never wanted this series to end !