Buffy The Vampire Slayer

After the disappointment of Prison Break's second season, I rewatched the first two seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. My brother's girlfriend was kind enough to get them for me for Christmas, and I breezed through the first season, forgetting I had seen all of it. Season 2, however, I had only seen half of. So it was a nice place to revisit.

I first started watching Buffy in grade school when I was around 13 or 14 with all of my friends. We would watch it and call each other afterwards to discuss it, and had fanclubs designating each other our own character to represent and.... it was insane. Looking back at the fanatical devotion my friends and I had towards this cult classic makes my obsessions with LOST, Dexter and Heroes make all the more sense. My love for all things morbid, cheesy, and seductive all derived from this one show. This was the one thing that changed my life forever. Or brought it to the surface, I guess. It's all perspective I suppose.

Anyways, watching the previously seen Season 2 episodes and new-to-me episodes was the most enjoyable television marathon experience to date. It pulled me back to the days when I had no bills to pay and the world could turn out to be anything I wanted it to be. It reminded me of how I wanted to be that strong, powerful woman figure that Buffy was at all times. It made me realize that she is possibly the reason I joined the Military in the first place. I never wanted to be taken care of, I wanted to take on adult roles from the get-go and have no one to answer to but myself. Buffy was my role model, in a weird sense. But she always ended up alone in her endeavors, and I found the same fate followed me in my "Independent Woman" mindset. Not that I am not still an independent woman, but I have learned to let others in, and can play both strong woman and supportive lover at the same time.

Besides all of those deep inner revelations, I couldn't help but love the camp that goes along with the extremely dark and morbid themes of this show. Xander reigns as my supreme favorite in this show, always making the pop culture references and sacrastic comments that I would think, but never say in their often mortal situations. His insecurities and humor matched with Willow's demure intelligence and Buffy's strength all add up to one perfect protagonistic personality; or in this show's case, a protagonistic team. Rupert Giles adds the sophistication and legitimacy a group of 17-year-olds needs to be so deadly against decade-old monsters and vampires. It is clearly a perfect crime-fighting team.

What I didn't expect when re-watching the series was how bad David Boreanaz' acting is as Angel. I remember being so frightened/intrigued by his character and always wanting more of him when I watched this show ten years ago.

Wait a minute, did I just say "ten years ago"? Holy crap, I have reached that point in my life, haven't I? Oh man....

Anyways, Angel's terrible acting made me realize why all of these teenage girls are going fucking gaga over that stupid Twilight series. I saw that movie and left the theater laughing in disappointment. Were these people serious? How could something like this make so much money? The same exact way Angel and Buffy did ten years ago. Angel's performance as the tortured vampire with a soul is exactly the same thing as Edward Cullen in those damned Twilight books and movies. He even has the same hairdo and wardrobe. It's quite sad, really.

But what Twilight doesn't have, and can never match in charm and Bad-Assness is Spike. Maybe they have a similar character, but as far as I'm concerned, that character can go fuck itself. Spike is played by James Marsters, who, unlike David Boreanaz, can actually act his way out of a box. He is believable as an evil and ruthless undead creature with emotions, but no soul. One thing the Catholic Church told me back in my day (NOT ten years ago) is that animals have feelings, but no souls, so it's okay if we kill them and eat them. Spike, in this sense, is a true vampire, or animal, and has no soul but feels jealousy and affection for Drusilla and other creatures along the road. He is a lovable villain, which brings me to another realization.

Spike is the root of my love for gray-area villains. Why do I love Sylar, Samuel, and Lestat? It's all Spike's fault. It's because of the beautiful web Buffy and friends have spun for each other on the Hellmouth which is Sunnydale. Nothing is ever black and white, even when you are a vampire slayer, and the person in front of you is a vampire. That vampire may have something you need and want to make a deal with you, or he might love you and have a soul for the moment. Or maybe he is just a blood-sucking asshole. You never really know in this show, and that's why it works. It's not like every vampire is a sweet vegetarian pussy in Twilight. Joss Wheden wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty when he had to, and I thank God for it every day.