#btvs s6

[whatisyourchildhoodtrauma]

MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG as DAWN SUMMERS Buffy the Vampire Slayer | 6.06 "All the Way"

[charmedslayer]

You do this every night? Every time I close out the cash register. The dance of capitalist superiority.

[stronglikeayellowcrayon]

Behind the scenes of Once More With Feeling, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode (x)

[desicat-writer]

Spike can't bear that he made Buffybot this way.

Spike could have destroyed the bot.

Instead he's allowing her to be of use, even if he is ashamed. Even though it hurts to see her.

Character development y'all

[littlenastieswewhispered]

[tara-fantastico]

Okay, so I don't know if anyone else has payed much attention to this moment but there is a scene in early season six after Spoke amd Buffy had sex for the first time and Spike says something completely unhinged along the lines of: "you can't act all high and mighty with me anymore, slayer. I know where you live. I've tasted it", right? And so, before I had tumblr I spent a lot of time on pinterest and I came across a post that was screenshots of that scene. Now, in the comments someone had written something along the lines of: "tasted where she lives? So he licked her house?". And. For some reason. This was the funniest goddamn thing I had ever read. So, without further ado, the reason for this post:

[90s-kid-sad-adult]

oh God how I must hate you

[forthehonoroflove]

SPUFFY in 6x03: AFTER LIFE

+ BONUS

[btvsfan3211]

I honestly wish we had more Angel, Spike and Buffy interactions. Like in season 6 when Buffy and Spike were sleeping together and then Angel would come in while they’re sleeping together and be all shocked. That would have been entertaining. Because people say they were in a love triangle but Angel wasn’t even an option in the later season. He wasn’t even there. We needed more drama with the three of them. (I love drama leave me alone)

[witchothewest]

Watching Flooded and

GET A FUCKING JOB WILLOW AND TARA

OH MY GOD

You live in Buffy’s master bedroom and spent all of her money while she was dead and you’re not helping with the mortgage or utilities??!?

I have been so angry about this. For 20 years.

[whatisyourchildhoodtrauma]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER | 6.06 | 2.06 | 4.04

Buffy: "Right, exactly, so I should patrol to avoid any of that-- (Giles shoves an item in her hand) and I'm bagging."

[stronglikeayellowcrayon]

Photos in Buffy's room in Afterlife, Season 6 Episode 4.

[desicat-writer]

Thinking about Intervention. Sineya saying to Buffy, "You are full of love. You love with all of your soul. It's brighter than the fire ... blinding. That's why you pull away from it."

Then in s6 she wants the fire back and she turns to Spike. There isn't the trust, so she pulls away from it.

Then at the very end of the series Chosen, Buffy is holding Spike's hand and she doesn't pull away from the fire, she doesn't pull away from her love, and she tells Spike she loves him.

[paperpuzzles]

[lesbianabril]

My S6 BTVS rewrite

I know this season has a lot of haters but I actually love season 6, I don't mind the depressing parts (meaning: most of the season) because I think it all makes sense for where the characters are at, and I think that after fighting a literal God having a season where the villain is Life really works storytelling-wise.

Having said that, though, I think that a lot of things could have been handled better and since all I have are correct opinions I'm gonna tell you what those are.

1. Willow's magic addiction

Basically I think they went too far when the magic became drugs in the most basic sense, when they start acting like she's "taking a hit" every time she uses it.

I think all of the important plot points could have been kept while making willow's addiction to magic about her need to be in control of everything (and everyone). Up to Tabula Rasa I wouldn't change anything, her use of magic is wrong because she starts using it to bend the world at her will, empowered by having successfully brought Buffy back to life.

After Tara leaves her she starts using even more magic while being reckless with it, she injures Dawn and she commits to stop using it because she realizes it wasn't healthy for her or for the people she loves.

I would eliminate Rack and his stupid crack house hide out, and everything that has to do with the physical withdrawal of going "cold turkey".

I think this also makes Willow responsible for her actions, while making magic = literal heroin absolves her of the blame, in the end. The fallout of having to deal with her dependence of it would also be way more compelling.

2. Spike's attempted r4pe

I would keep their toxic relationship and everything that led up to that god-awful bathroom scene, my only change is that I would make it so Spike is trying to turn her instead.

Hear me out. It would make a lot of narrative sense because all through the season he's trying to convince her she's a dark being just like him, he wants them to be equals because he doesn't think himself worthy of her so he's trying to lower her to his level. So, after Buffy rejects him again he's not thinking clearly and, in his desperation, tries the only thing he swore himself he wouldn't do since he loves Buffy because of her goodness.

After it happens, Buffy feels betrayed, Spike leaves and decides to try to get to her level, to truly change himself instead of trying to change her.

This is a minor thing too but in this rewrite after Spike leaves we don't know where he went and we don't see him again until the start of s7 when he already has his soul. I know this couldn't be done because of James Marsters' contract but in my dream s6 we don't know what happened to him so when we see him again everything about his sudden disappearence and current mental state is a mystery and we find out along with Buffy.

3. Xander dies instead of Tara

Ok maybe this one is based on my dislike of Xander and my love of Tara but I think this would work really well:

Willow and Tara haven't gotten together yet, Willow is working on her more controlling tendencies and they're just friends right now. When Warren shows up Buffy is in the garden with Dawn and Xander went up to Willow's room to talk to her, so both Buffy and Xander get shot, Dawn takes Buffy to the hospital and dark Willow is born after she's not able to revive Xander.

After that things are mostly the same, only this time we get a grieving Buffy trying to deal with the sudden loss of both of her best friends. She's devastated and a part of her says that yes, Warren deserves to die.

After everything happens and Willow is close to destroying the world, Tara is the one who shows up, she appeals to Willow's humanity and, through her love and compassion, saves the world.

[inconsistentlywrittensoul]

I’m way behind on posting about my rewatch - there’s plenty I do want to say about S2, and there’s a whole essay about gender and Phases that I’m probably never going to write - but I’m into Season 3 and I really want to note how much early S3 establishes the issues that are going to drive Buffy’s long breakdown in seasons 6 and 7.

Firstly, Buffy's tendency to pull away from her friends, feeling she has to take care of everything for herself and protect them from her problems and her feelings rather than sharing them. It’s a consistent pattern, and we see it in her running away at the end of Season 2, and continually refusing to talk about what happened with Angel with both the Scoobies and Faith. When she eventually does try to talk to her assigned school counsellor about Angel, she explicitly says she can’t talk to anyone else about what’s happening (only to find him dead, which I’m sure didn’t help).

Of course, this isn’t just a flaw of Buffy’s - her friends have a pretty big role to play, especially Xander. His sanctimonious, judgemental whining about Buffy leaving, as well as anything to do with Angel, does a lot to push Buffy away. (Not to mention the first thing he does when he finds out Angel is back is try to manipulate Faith into murdering him.) It’s also hard not to suspect that Xander’s lie back in Becoming did a lot of damage - because of that, Buffy thinks even Willow hates Angel and wouldn’t understand her continued feelings for him. ‘Kick his ass’ made Buffy feel like literally no-one is on her side.

Regardless of the reason, here we see the beginning of the split that will make Buffy feel increasingly isolated and unable to trust or rely on anyone as the series continues into the depression years, especially Season 6. But we also see the start of a pattern that will become a central flaw in Season 7 - her inability to express empathy or care for anyone who she sees as a reflection of herself.

I’m actually not talking about Faith here - that’s related, but it’s also a whole can of lesbian worms I don’t want to get into right now. But aside from Faith, in the first few episodes of Season 3 there are two girls who mirror Buffy, specifically in her relationship with Angel. In Anne, we have Lily/Anne, who’s wants to spend the rest of her life with her older boyfriend, who has a criminal past and seems a little crappy but also genuinely loves her and is trying to be good to her, and who ends up being sent to hell. Then in Beauty and the Beasts, we see Abby, who started dating a guy who seemed nice at first, but who turned out to be an abusive monster. Both are very obvious parallels to Buffy in her relationship with Angel (in soul-having and soulless forms), and serve as ways for her reflect on that relationship.

But what I want to focus on is the fact that, while Buffy does try to help both girls, she’s also unusually harsh and unempathetic towards them. Her attitude is ‘This is how things are, and you need to set aside your emotions and just deal with it immediately and without emotional support’; it reflects how she treats herself, but it’s also a pattern in how she treats people whose challenges reflect hers. Which will come to a head in how she treats the Potential slayers in season 7, and the way she alienates everyone around her in part through her treatment of them (and therefore also her treatment of herself).

It’s just interesting to see these issues that will dominate the last couple of seasons come across so strongly in this early part of Season 3.