#buffy season 6

[clockwards]

don't know where the post is about people saying buffy and spike are just having casual sex in s6 but im shaking hands with op arguing against it. listen.

spike and buffy are the LEAST CASUAL PEOPLE ALIVE. it does not matter what they do or say, these fuckers constantly have to be as emotionally charged as possible. their first (actual) kiss is literally set up as the most cinematically theatrical romance. the curtains close on a kiss. buffy has such severe guilt/internal debate over her relationship with him because she knows it's not just sex, it's not just physical. we all know they're shadows of each other, destined and doomed, yadda yadda yadda, but more importantly they know it!! as soon as spike admits he's in love with her he does nothing to dissuade the idea. also the doublemeat palace episode. him fully saying he would support her and it hitting her so hard she tears up. she knows. she knows he would and she knows what it would mean to accept. i don't even remember the point of this post i'm just feeling crazy about them. spike who she trusts with dawn (an externalised manifestation of the purest part of her) and spike who trusts her with his soul. what about anything these two do is casual. buffy grins after sex in s6e13 (that whole post sex scene is so important to me they're so insane). and anyway the most important trait about buffy is that she's a liar and she will lie about how she feels at all times to satisfy the moral compass she presumes everyone around her wants her to adhere to. also tara and buffy's friendship is really important to me. i swear that's relevant. okay bye

#ranting all this to my mother who introduced me to btvs in the first place #her 👁️👁️ thank you i know #spuffy #spike #buffy summers #dawn summers #tara maclay #buffy season 6 #season 6 #btvs #buffy the vampire slayer

[spuffybot]

“Not too long ago I probably would have welcomed it. But I realized…I’m not saying I’m doing backflips about my life but I didn’t…I don’t…wanna die. That’s something right?”

I was thirteen when Buffy season 6 aired. I was incredibly depressed, and I didn’t have any words to contextualize how I felt. It seemed like no one around me felt the same, no one understood. It was isolating and scary. I didn’t know how to make sense of it. So when Buffy, my hero, the person I wanted to be like more than anyone in the world, was so depressed she openly talked about wanting to die, it changed everything. I had never seen anyone on tv deal with depression in a way that felt real and relatable before in my life. This wasn’t a one episode public service announcement about the dangers of being depressed, this was a nuanced, season long character arc where the main character dealt with isolation, detachment, self destructive behavior, and wanting to die. Buffy’s depression was so deeply embedded into every single episode. I know this season is polarizing for a variety of reasons but for me it will always be comforting. Watching Buffy feel like a stranger in her own home, unable to relate to her friends, unable to find her footing in her life, made me feel incredibly seen. Season 6 was my lifeline, it was a constant reminder that if Buffy feels this way, it’s ok that I feel this way. She was the only person who understood. I still rewatch this season whenever I’m feeling disconnected or sad. I’m forever grateful for this season.

#tw depression #tw suicidal ideation #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy #buffy summers #buffy season 6 #btvs

[thepunkmuppet]

UGH I decided to rewatch That Scene in seeing red and all the spike stuff in the episode leading up to it, and just… it was so good. his and buffy’s characterisation, their performances, the writing, all SO GOOD. and then That happens and it’s all out the window for me.

not just because I personally hate seeing my favourite character (since I was 10) attempt to sexually attack my other favourite character, though yeah that might be a fucking factor jesus christ. but because it just doesn’t make sense. with spike, and specifically with spike and buffy, he can talk the talk and do nasty stuff in the bedroom all he wants but when it comes down to actually, genuinely hurting her, the end of season 5 onwards shows that he could NEVER. we actually had a tamer version of this in crush, when he ties her up. I’m sorry, but that taught him. there was a change from then on out.

yeah he has that mentality of “she loves me, she wants it”, and yeah that makes sense considering both his personality and the way buffy has acted within their relationship. and NO I’m not saying “she asked for it”, what I’m saying is she has on many occasions said no when she meant yes, and that has become pretty much the foundation and the appeal of their relationship for both of them. it doesn’t justify anything, it just means that it technically makes sense why a soulless and therefore selfish character like spike would take her actions in this way and push it to an extreme. but yeah personally it just doesn’t sit with me. it’s horrible.

if it had stopped before the bit where he pins her down, it would have got the point across. still nasty and horrible, still condemnable, but honestly just him trying to kiss her and her ending up falling on the bath and hurting herself would get the point across to spike, buffy and the audience in exactly the same way. it’s so unnecessarily brutal, and yeah, I know he’s a soulless monster, so I do sound like a bit of a knob, but genuinely he wouldn’t do that. after all that tenderness, all the genuine care he expresses for her with both words and actions from season 5-6… with her screaming and crying, there is NO WAY he would go that far, not at that point in his arc.

but that’s just my take I guess FUCK I literally HATE this scene what the hell

#I rewatched it for reference for the fic I’m planning #and god it’s just… it would be so good if it was good yk?? the foundation of it is so so good but the actual scene ruined my goddamn life #tw sa mention #btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #btvs spike #spuffy #btvs s6 #buffy season 6 #tw sa #btvs seeing red

[faerywhimsy]

This is where we left off (2002-4):

This is where we're picking up (2023):

This is why people are losing their minds over it.

#slayers: a buffyverse story #angel the series #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy season 6 #buffy season 7 #drusilla #spike btvs #jonathan levinson #rupert giles #clem #tara mclay #cordelia chase #anya jenkins

[angelique-of-the-volturi-guard]

So here’s the thing: I think a good chunk of the BTVS fandom thinks of Giles as a father figure to Buffy (of which I am one). But he discourages her from it, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that his trauma with his own father wasn’t healed. His representation of who fathers are supposed to be is already unhealthy, and he can see the absence of Hank in Buffy’s life is a void that needs to be filled in terms of guidance and wisdom. But he’s also very aware of what he’s capable of (i.e. Eyghon, what he did to Ben, etc.) and believes (as many abused children do) that he doesn’t fit the idyllic version of fatherhood that he might have wished for for himself. He isn’t particularly warm on first glance (though he can be), did a lot of terrible things in his life, doesn’t have a steady partner. He can anger and isn’t an infinite well of patience and forgiveness. He cannot conceptualize the idea that he’s the closest thing she has to an involved father figure in her life because that idea is terrifying. Because as a Watcher he can do his job fine but what the hell does he know about being a dad when his own was terrible to him? He doesn’t want her to get hurt by another father figure in her life, and especially not by him. Not because he doesn’t love her or care about her that way but because he feels he is deeply inadequate for the role.

Giles is already traumatized severely. He was attacked at the watcher academy at age 18 by a lorophage demon that killed several people as part of his training. Several watchers including his father had to stop the demon and save him before he died. He wasn’t much older than Buffy when he faced his own mortality, but being alive far longer than her, he faced far more death with little time to process it. His friend Deirdre who died when he was rebelling with dark magic. Not to mention that as a watcher he’s seen a ton of death by his job alone. Then you have Buffy’s first death and Jenny’s brutal death in season 2, not to mention the whole thing with Ethan being back and dragging up his past, then losing his job as a watcher, and a librarian by the end of Season 3.

By season 4 Giles is struggling. He has no employment, Buffy is growing less dependent on him, and he’s struggling to come to terms with what to do with his life. But as he’s trying to prepare to move on with his life, Buffy tells him she needs him and he stays because he loves and cares about her. But after Joyce’s death and her resurrection, he realizes that she’s relying on him so much that she’ll never move forward with him as a crutch. When he’s stepping back he doesn’t perceive this as an abandonment. He’s trying to give her a chance to figure it out on her own. And despite the fact that he is sad to go he knows he’s trying to do right by her. She perceives it as an abandonment and so do we, because why wouldn’t we? This is her show and her perspective. We’ve seen all the love they both have for one another and the respect. But this is a man who has lost so much already. Who has had no time to really process the fact that he has suffered egregiously. Who doesn’t really know a life outside of the job. Who has been shown to seek normalcy when he can.

Of course he loves Buffy like a daughter, and of course leaving her was incredibly hard. He’s been by her side for years. He’s not leaving her as she perceives, he wants her to grow. She can’t see it that way because of all of the trauma she’s gone through, and who could blame her? Getting ripped out of heaven must have been awful. For the life of me I’ve been trying to figure out why he left right after that (okay I know it was Tabula Rasa but close enough) and what I keep coming back to is the fact that he’s not just watching her fall apart- it’s everybody. Dawn is a Kleptomaniac, Willow is getting into the dark magic, Buffy is depressed and a shell of her former self, and Xander and Anya have their share of issues. He’s been the go to man for all of them for so long, and I don’t think his decision was driven as much by Buffy alone as it was by a feeling of burnout and pressure. He cannot carry all of this by himself but this is literally what he’s been doing the whole time.

This is a man who has tried to make up for his mistakes. He’s held himself accountable for his actions. And Buffy and her friends aren’t taking that accountability for their problems by that point. He told them at one point to think of him as an uncle because he can’t see himself as a father figure, but ultimately stepping away to take care of himself and allowing all of them to find their footing is very much akin to a dad stepping back from the lives of his kids to give them a chance to stand on their own. And they all end up rising to the occasion in the end like he believed they would. And despite that, he always shows up for Buffy when she needs him most.

He is a Dad to the lot of them (Buffy especially of course) in the ways that matter, but is completely blind to it because of his own thought distortions and trauma, and I think he gets penalized a lot for it in S6 & 7. And while I absolutely hated the way his arc was handled (he deserved a way better S6 & 7 in terms of his character development, finding his place in the world, and healing himself), I get why he saw things as he did. The early seasons are a better reflection of who he is on the whole as a person (esp seasons 2 & 4) but I get riled up when I hear people talking about him abandoning Buffy in later seasons when he’s literally in the midst of some of the worst trauma of his life. It’s not an accurate representation of what he was trying to do and I think he deserves more grace. He was trying to do what he thought was right, and it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love or care for Buffy or the rest of the Scoobies. But he is a whole person, who suffered massively, and deserved the same compassion that he gave those he cared about and didn’t get it back from the Scoobies and the fandom when he deserved it and needed it most.

Anyway just my two cents but this has been bugging me for a while.

#mun post #outofguard #btvs #rupert giles #character musings #buffyverse #buffy summers #buffy season 6 #buffy s7 #willow rosenberg #tara maclay #xander harris #anya jenkins #Dawn summers #ethan rayne #jenny calendar #spoilers

[three-blogs-in-a-trenchcoat]

literally why is everyone sleeping on buffy/willow my girl said "i'm going to break the laws of nature and subject myself to infernal torment to bring you back" like how is that not the most romantic shit ever

#btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #willow rosenberg #buffy x willow #willow x buffy #buffy season 6

[babygirlgiles]

Re-watching Dead Man’s Party and Snyder telling Buffy that someone with her “talents and abilities” should work at Hot Dog on a Stick and saying she’d look cute in the little hat, and now knowing that in s6 she works at Doublemeat Palace, essentially the same thing, where she has to wear a stupid little hat, because of how limited her life is due to the responsibilities she has because of her “talents and abilities”. Wow. Wow wow wow. I am clinically unwell about this. I’m gonna gnaw through a brick.

#btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #Buffy summers #btvs meta #like imagining a whole new layer where she must have felt like she really was everyone’s worst assumptions about het #that the messaging she’d been getting all through high school that she was never gonna amount to anything had been right the whole time #that’s she’s proven them all right by being a flunkie drop out working a dead end job #and ofc none of that is true but that’s not how she feels at the time bc her mindset is just so… she’s struggling #and in the conversation with Snyder how her mom is there to defend her and stand up for her #and how her mom pushes back against the idea that she’s a delinquent who doesn’t deserve a chance #but when she’s living out what Snyder foreshadowed her mom isn’t there anymore #and same with giles who’d defended buffy against her moms worst assumptions about her before Joyce even knew she was the slayer #and he’s not there anymore either so she’s just left to believe all these awful things #WOW!!!! #wow. #dead man’s party #buffy season 3 episode 2 #buffy season 6

[raisedbythetv89]

No but the symbolism of Spike and Buffy’s relationship makes me INSANE 😭😭😭

All they’ve ever done is dance - soulless he is death - darkness - shadow - evil. As a slayer she is ALWAYS “dancing with death” and trying to out run her death wish aka her desire and attraction for Spike.

End of season 5 she stops dancing with death and instead embraces it literally with open arms diving in head first - the same night she invites Spike back into her home and entrusts him with Dawn’s safety because she has been given a way to embrace Spike/death selflessly to save the world and her sister. The scoobies can’t fight her about Spike’s presence with the threat of Glory and the apocalypse - again she finds a way to get what she truly desires without guilt or shame because of the valid reasons outside of her own feelings and desires.

When the scoobies brought her back they not only took away actual heaven from her which was described as peace, safety, and security everyone she loved was ok without her protecting them - they took away her “valid reasons” aka ones outside herself to embrace Spike/her death wish which had also given her peace because she had finally been free of the guilt imposed by angel and the scoobies for wanting “bad things” like a souless vampire who loved her and to be free of the burden of being a slayer.

Because she already embraced and accepted her deepest “darkest” (according to the scoobies) desires at the end of season 5 when she comes back in season 6 she just doesn’t have the strength or desire to resist them again and the scoobies guilt and judgement just no longer holds the same weight after the choices they made. So she succumbs to her death wish aka Spike in a unhealthy way because she’s in complete denial and pretending all her actions are outside of her control - telling Tara “she lets Spike completely take her over” when actually Spike is always taking all of his cues from her.

She has completely let go of any accountability of herself which is why she tries to turn herself into the police so someone else will hold her accountable for her (begging Tara PLEASE tell me I’m wrong aka please tell me to stop because I CANT stop wanting to still be dead)

Which is why as soon as she does accept that she does want Spike/to still be dead (“it’s killing me”) she ends it and tries to revert all the way back to before she was the slayer because she never learned to truly accept and embrace all facets of herself as a slayer just because they’re apart of her and she wants “bad things” because of them (re: season 5 she only embraced death aka spike because she had valid reasons to justify her desires - aka she still needed outside validation to be ok wanting the things she wants that she knew her friends, watcher and angel wouldn’t approve of) which is what she finally does in the finale of season 6 with death and makes peace with it and shifts from trying to protect dawn to training and empowering her (incorporating Buffy’s own innocence and girlhood into her life as a slayer instead of trying to keep them separate) but when Spike leaves to get his soul he stops being a representation of death for Buffy and her acceptance of her love for him becomes a separate journey for her in season 7 that I think is symbolic of her journey towards loving herself and believing she deserves love, tenderness and affection even though she’s a slayer who loves a vampire, is a warrior instead of a normal girl, and still has hope despite all the horror she’s seen because she sees the change aka the hope for redemption in Spike. Because if she can forgive and love William the Bloody she absolutely can forgive and love herself for all her mistakes and any harm she feels responsible for. Which is why Buffy ASKING for tenderness from Spike is such an absolutely monumental moment and why she’s so much stronger after that night especially after Spike returns the belief and support she gave him before he was taken by the first ten fold in his speech to her that night.

#I’m literally losing my mind #spuffy #spuffy meta #spike and buffy #buffy season 6

[ceoazula]

Buffy Summers | Numb Little Bug

#mine #i first came up with this idea months ago #buffy #buffy summers #buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #amv #amvs #buffy amv #buffy amvs #btvs amv #btvs amvs #my amvs #buffy season 6 #btvs season 6

[i-cant-feel-my-eyebrows-barbara]

okay so I can safely say after it taking months for me to get through and I'm still not even done with it, season 6 of buffy is HORRENDOUS (for me at least, enjoy what you want lmao)

like I completely understand that this season is supposed to focus more on the internal struggles of the scooby gang and its supposed to be rough and raw at times, but DAMN. I feel so stale and crusty every time I've sat down to watch a few episodes. I also almost feel like halfway through season 6 is where the show feels like it's on the other side of the hill after peaking in season 5. I haven't even gotten to seeing red yet!!! And I'm dreading it bc tara is one of the only things I'm here for atp!!!

I just want warren to get flayed already guys I was ready for him to get fish fileted when he was so ready to SA that woman to be their sex servant that was fucking disgusting and I wish someone ripped his dick off and threw it in the L.A. river for that

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #buffy #buffy season 6 #btvs s6 #i dont even know if i have high hopes for s7 anymore i just gotta get through the rest of s6 #buffy spoilers #??? #does it even need a spoiler tag its been out for 20 years

[tara-maclays-gf]

thinking about buffy season 6…. i understand why it isnt for some people but i love it. buffys inability to find joy and meaning in a life that has ultimately given her so many responsibilities she doesnt know how to handle and seeing all of the people who love her around her but still incapable of finding joy. ough its just really relatable to me idk

#btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #buffy season 6 #and im also very partial to willows arc in the season #and its zanders best moment in the entire show #also im a dawn defender #i HATE seeing red though i consistently skip it on rewatches

[ynyseira]

"Newly Engaged." Giles/Anya in Tabula Rasa.

Artwork for Summer of Giles

#summer of giles #corel painter #made with wacom #my art #digital art #rupert giles #anya jenkins #tabula rasa #buffy season 6 #buffy the vampire slayer

[btvspolls]

The show was originally intended to conclude with the season 5 finale. Do you think it should have?

#btvs #btvs polls #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy season 5 #buffy season 6 #pretty sure we know where the spuffy girlies are gonna fall on this one

[thepunkmuppet]

also, HAPPY 27TH ANNIVERSARY YIPPEEEEEE <333

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #buffyverse #btvs meta #btvs poll #btvs season 6 #buffy season 6 #buffy summers #btvs 6x17 normal again #poll #tumblr poll #im genuinely so interested to see what people actually think of this ep #because I love the open ended ending and have multiple interpretations myself #I’m also thinking of writing a normal-again-verse fic so stay tuned if you love the episode lol!!

[tuiyla]

Buffy season 6!

Okay I finally have a moment to write this out and it’s now or never so here goes, beginning of Buffy season 6 thoughts. Seen up to episode 6.

I knew going into it that it was a controversial season and obviously I’m yet to see most of it but I really enjoyed the tone the opening three episodes set. It was dark and ominous but not in the “for the sake of it” kind of way. BtVS got more saturated, if not substantially tonally more jovial when Angel the Series started but the start of season 6 almost felt like the Wishverse, what with gangs ransacking Sunnydale and Buffy nowhere to be seen. When I first accidentally found out that Buffy would die once again and return yet again, I didn’t think much of it. In that, she has died once and sure, we got an episode long PTSD and Kendra and Faith as a result (sigh, Faith) but the world didn’t feel fundamentally different. Due to many different factors, including the excellence of Buffy’s sacrifice in The Gift, this time it felt different. The Scoobies, while not quite a shell of their former selves are markedly different. Life went on but the absence of Buffy is felt in every corner. Everyone is effected but standing out the most is Willow, now leader and powerful, perhaps too powerful witch.

Willow’s development has been fascinating to follow and though she didn’t have the most to do in season 5, her not so quiet progression was all too clear when she took on Glory. And Willow’s game face when faced with the loss of Buffy is as serious as it was with Tara’s, such is the depth of their friendship. Alyson Hannigan, newly promoted to the special last but least position of the credits portrays Willow as beautifully as ever and brings a whole new dimension to her. This isn’t the same Willow Rosenberg who was too afraid to talk back to Cordelia in the pilot. She knows what she wants and what she wants is Buffy, alive and well and back with her family. Her path this season is set, even if I didn’t have vague (and not so vague) ideas of what’s yet to come. And Willow’s hardened determination is only highlighted when juxtaposed with her more relaxed self after Buffy returns. Hannigan taps more into the old Willow when Buffy’s back: her smile, her jokes, as if the weight has been lifted from her shoulders now that her friend is back. Now that the chosen one is back. But all is not well with Willow, and part of that is all being far from well with Buffy.

When it clicked what they were going for with Buffy at the end of episode 3, I felt a special kind of delight. The one you get when you know you’re about to witness something great. In this case, a fascinating journey and conflict for Buffy. They can never know but they will. Her friends will eventually have to face the fact that they ripped her right out of heaven itself. I wasn’t sure about her initial shock at first, in that I wasn’t sure it was going to be appropriately serious but also adding to her as a character. But the revelation that she’s not just startled, she’s resentful is delicious drama. And already in season 6 we have what I can only logically conclude is the build-up to Spuffy. Buffy is now so emotionally distant from her friends and even, to a degree, from Dawn. This enormous secret that she has to keep comes with having to pretend she’s grateful for something that she actually resents and tries so hard to wrap her head around. And here comes Spike, someone she doesn’t have to pretend with, someone who, if in a twisted and remote sort of way, is the closest to getting it. What an interesting way of building up Buffy’s side of the relationship, how refreshing that they’re putting the storytelling effort in instead of just catering blindly to what would be aesthetically pleasing. Granted, I still cannot yet say whether I will be satisfied with the way Spuffy unfolds but colour me intrigued at this point in time.

I had a few more thoughts after the first six episodes but really Willow and Buffy in the first three was the bulk of it and what excites me most about this polarizing season. I will say three gripes I’ve had just to let it out. One is the coffin of it all, obviously, Buffy’s friends being skilled enough to pull a resurrection off but not thinking to actually dig her body up before returning her soul into it. Also on the topic of the resurrection, why is everyone fully convinced that Buffy, saviour of the world on several occasions, defender of the innocent, hero to all went to hell? Or a version of hell, anyway. I get that so far in the Buffy lore there wasn’t much about any sort of heaven, just the different kinds of hell, but surely Giles or someone would stop to think, gee surely Buffy would have gone to heaven if there was one. I’m fine with the concept of them wanting to resurrect her regardless, fits very well with Willow’s story and of course their grief would be stronger than any notion of Buffy possibly being at peace. But still.

And finally, I really hope the Trio are just a decoy “Big Bad” and will soon be shoved out of the way to introduce... anyone else. They’re played for laughs so obviously they aren’t the actual Big Bad but I don’t think their comedy is funny, at all. Jonathan just pisses me off so much, someone who has SO MUCH to be grateful to Buffy for being a little shit. And as a group they’re just pathetic, not amusing. I don’t see how them messing with Buffy was played for comedy when girl is suffering enough as it is. She was ripped from nirvana and put back into the wheel, and we’re going to spend an episode, potentially more on some little shits inconveniencing her? No, please, get rid of them asap. Continue what the first three eps were building to and I’ll be happy.

#and that is mostly it #phew now i can progress when i get the chance #s6 here i come #btvs lb #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy season 6 #btvs

[confusedguytoo]

So in season 6 of Buffy when Giles comes back he rips Willow for the risks of the resurrection spell. I seem to be unique in hating him for it, but besides his attitude I have a problem with the idea that there was some unique risks

Okay, Willow did NOT create the spell to resurrect Buffy. It was an established ritual with established tools to use. I have seen one or two people suggest maybe it had never succeeded before but I can't buy that.

They were acting certain that as long as everything went right Buffy WOULD be resurrected. That's a level of certainty that suggests the spell has worked in the past.

If 100% of the previous attempts had resulted in Osiris smacking down the caster, there's no reason to assume you're failing at a resurrection rather than succeeding at asking Osiris to smite your ass. And nothing like the stuff Giles had worried about had happened with those previous attempts

#buffy the vampire slayer #willow rosenberg #rupert giles #buffy season 6 #buffyverse