Buffy was one of the episodic TV shows on when I was younger much like The X-Files that I heard about and was curious about and missed during their initial run. My ex-wife and I watched it in a void of knowledge out of nowhere in about 2011ish, and this is my second time through the entire series.
Buffy is a great episodic monster of the week series that evolves into something much bigger as it goes. It had a great idea to have a monster of the week format while building to a "big bad" in almost every season, which would be the overarching story with its own recurring characters and would build in tension and complication throughout the season.
Season by season, briefly:
Season 1 a short season focuses on The Master and has Angel as a more possible baddie as well. 3 stars.
Season 2 Spike and Drusilla show up, The Judge and The Annointed One split Big Bad, Angel's and Buffy's love affair becomes a major plot point more. 4 stars.
Season 3 Faith joins as another slayer, Principal Snyder and The Mayor are the big bad, Willow gets into witchcraft, Angel begins his slow departure. 5 stars.
Season 4 Riley and The Initiative start, Adam is the big bad, Spike turns good, Willow is now a real witch, this one is solid, but a mild step down, 4.5 stars.
Season 5 Dawn joins the cast for an incredible season of trickery about the god Glorificus, witchcraft and the mystical "key". Giles leaves the show and Anya is full fledged cast by now. 5 stars.
Season 6 is somewhat evident that they had planned to end the show at season 5, but 6 is excellent if only because of an incredible turn in episode Turning Red. No real big bad sorta, the three evil "mastermind" dorks begin the turn of Buffy becoming a bad sitcom. 3.5 stars
Season 7 The First is a somewhat vague threat taking the form of dead people, Buffy has backing by a bunch of potential slayers, and it really seems like they sorta just kill time waiting to pull some triggers. Comedy is bad, the characters seem a bit unfocused. The ending is a good emotional moment but yea 2.5 stars.
This show really has some excellent and memorable moments and stand alone episodes, and the writing in season 4 and 5 is some of the best in television overall I'd say having basically only ever watched about 5 shows. The B grade charm is front and center, it leans into "what if a soap opera had demons in it" cheese factor in just the right way at times. I feel like the last two seasons are the added on end of credits extra at the end of a Marvel movie, but they're still fun for sure.
Overall this is a highly entertaining show that story-line-wise is better than the X Files for me. While the X Files had more interestingly written stories, they all go nowhere (spoiler alert) and a lot of them just sorta drag on or die out without any resolution. Buffy is great acting, writing, and fun from top to bottom. 4 stars.
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