I've just been watching some of Buffy season 2 on DVD. As I've been watching, it has really been striking me how the first three seasons really were the best overall. After they escaped the horrors of high school and adolescents, some of its charm was lost. Season 4 had the fun "starting college" thing, which has some of the tone and confusion of high school...young people trying to find themselves and still pass their classes. Yet the whole Initiative thing felt a little flat, as far as ubervillians go. Then we got Dawn, Buffy left school, and Joyce died. There were still many excellent episodes, but the rest if the seasons never quite matched up to the first.
I've also been getting a kick out of seeing Danny Strong's first appearances, before his character even had a name. He was just that goofy, hapless kid. Also, there is the Oz factor in season 2, which I am digging. I love Oz. Xander's great, too, but if I had to pick one, I'd totally date Oz.
the early seasons always seemed more "fresh", despite many of their plotlines which seemed shamelessly lifted from degrassi jr. high or 90210 (with the whole vampire twist of course). the was the oz thing, quark as the principal, and other bit parts like ethan and ms. calendar. the latter seasons were plagued by sub-par villans (glory = ANNOYING), and other indicactions that the whedon empire was spreading itself a little thin. yes, i'm still bitter that firefly was cancelled.
there seemed to be much more focus on the "concept episodes" (hush, the musical, the lynch-esque episode) and less on character development and season-lot plot developments. the scooby gang comraderie seemed to detract from the drama/thriller noir feel of the first two seasons.
season three was probably my favorite season. the mayor was by far my favorite villan, the xander/willow thing (just can't get as excited about willow playing for the other team, sorry) and of course faith.
danny strong also appeared in the unaired pilot episode that i've seen (am i dork yet?) which featured among other things, a different (much less cute) willow.
Which episode was "Lynch-esque"?
the one with uhh... the cheese slices? and the play. they're all dreaming.
there were a few other obvious film references (like the principal and apocalypse now), come to think of it.