As much as I love Buffy, I am ready for the show to be over. I think it did "jump the shark" and the time was season five: Dracula and the insta-sister. (Heck, both showed up in the first first episode.) I didn't see it right away, but ever since then, all of the things that made the show so fun to watch were starting to drain away. Now we are in season seven, and Buffy is getting on my nerves. For on thing, the character of Buffy has changed from a happy-go-lucky kid with Big Responsiblities to a whiny, bitter woman with a major chip on her shoulder. The set-up used to involve having a new adventure every week and facing the horrors of high school (and then college), with Big Plot showing up in small parcels over the season, with a big climax at the end. Now the huge potential cast of classmate characters has diminished, and the main characters are actually the people in charge. There are no parents, teachers, principals, or even Watchers to keep them in line. Every episode is Big Plot, with only minor variations on how the Big Plot is presented.
There are still moments, but the endearing humor isn't quite so endearing, and the pathos isn't quite so pathetic...well, actually it is pathetic, but in a bad way. On exception to that was the closing scene of this week's episode, "Potential", wherein Xander reaches out to Dawn with some very wistful words of wisdom. That actually moved me, because it felt real and right. (However, every time Buffy opened her mouth, I wanted to throw something at the screen.)
Don't get me wrong, I will watch the show till the bitter end, but I hope there is no season eight. Angel is still working for me, but I feel that it might also be slipping in the direction of too much Big Plot. (We may look back and see pregnant Darla, and the insta-aged Connor to have been the shark jumping.) I really feel that the currently star-crossed Firefly is the best that Joss has going right now, with all the things that drew me in to B&A in the first place, plus a little more. I am desperately hoping that Joss and Tim really will pull through on this one.
Only time will tell.
