Story Arcs

[Elithustra]

I'm curious to know - what part of Season Five do you think could have been left out?

[Cangel]

Joyce dying.
That's all I can think of right now

[TrueVengeance]

Hmm...I dunno I loved all of it lol. Maybe Spike falling in love with Buffy? [it annoyed me kinda what can I say lol]

[Bored of the Dead]

I'm curious to know - what part of Season Five do you think could have been left out?

Why would you think anyone would want any part of season 5 to be left out?

Everything that happened, happened for a reason and helped make the season great.

If YOU have a problem with a story arc in this season, by all means post away and give your reasons, but I think it odd to start a thread like this about this season.

Alot of people have stated season 7 had too much going on, a thread like this would make sense there, but I don't get the point for here.

[Joyce Summers]

I would have to say Joyce dying. But that's for my own reasons not because I thought it was a bad storyline. And you kinda needed her to die for all the haywire Buffy and co falling apart in season 6.
Maybe also Riley leaving? I liked Riley....but I also understand why he had to leave,
So it's hard to say I'd want to get rid of any arc because they were all integral.

[Elithustra]

Bored of the Dead - I had no intention of stepping on toes and was just testing the waters with this one. I sometimes felt personally that things in Season 5 would have worked at a different time, but thank you for pointing out that really, the more appropriate arena for this type of question would have been in Season 7.

I think for me, Joyce's dying was totally pointless. I remember watching 'The Body' and thinking that it was somehow connected to Glory, that Glory had 'sucked' Joyce's brains, but I was wrong about that.

:)

[GATEGOD]

I would have to say Joyce dying. But that's for my own reasons not because I thought it was a bad storyline. And you kinda needed her to die for all the haywire Buffy and co falling apart in season 6.
Maybe also Riley leaving? I liked Riley....but I also understand why he had to leave,
So it's hard to say I'd want to get rid of any arc because they were all integral.



I don't want to sound mean :silly: but Joyce dieing gave us the greatest episode, in my opinion, of Buffy. The Body. My favorite by far in this season and one of my tops for the entire show. The story leading up to it I didn't like that much but this one episode brought everything together, and did in a way that was so different from all of the other episodes. I loved it, so that arc I'd keep ;) Maybe the Tara/Willow storyline :silly: could go .. but then another one of my fav's 'The Killer in Me' wouldn't have ever happened.. So I'm going to say everything should stay the way it is.

[Elithustra]

Get rid of the Tara/Willow! Oh, you teaser! :)

[Bored of the Dead]

Bored of the Dead - I had no intention of stepping on toes and was just testing the waters with this one. I sometimes felt personally that things in Season 5 would have worked at a different time, but thank you for pointing out that really, the more appropriate arena for this type of question would have been in Season 7.

I think for me, Joyce's dying was totally pointless. I remember watching 'The Body' and thinking that it was somehow connected to Glory, that Glory had 'sucked' Joyce's brains, but I was wrong about that.

:)

Please don't misinterpret my response - it is just I wondered if you had a reason for asking, if there was a storyline in this season you disliked.

I am all up for discussing the pro's and con's of a storyline in a season.

Like the one that people keep suggesting here is Joyce dying when in fact, that is one of the 'key'(hehe) storylines of the season and indeed Buffy's growth as a woman in the show.

If Joyce hadn't have died, we would not have had Buffy feeling so lost and alone in season 6. We wouldn't have had Buffy realise that no matter how many demons she fights, how many Big Bads she defeats, sometimes she is powerless to save the ones she loves.

Joyce dying was the second most important arc of season 5 just after Dawn.

Season 7 is generally discussed to having far too much going on, so again I was wondering if maybe you'd put the wrong year accidentally.

Edit:

I don't want to sound mean :silly: but Joyce dieing gave us the greatest episode, in my opinion, of Buffy. The Body. My favorite by far in this season and one of my tops for the entire show. The story leading up to it I didn't like that much but this one episode brought everything together, and did in a way that was so different from all of the other episodes. I loved it, so that arc I'd keep ;) Maybe the Tara/Willow storyline :silly: could go .. but then another one of my fav's 'The Killer in Me' wouldn't have ever happened.. So I'm going to say everything should stay the way it is.

Why would that sound mean?
Its not like Joss had Kristine Sutherland killed just to make the episode more real!
However, I love 'The Body' but I think the effect of her death after that episode on Buffy and Dawn is more important than The Body itself.

Also, Tara/Willow could go. Are you freaking nuts?
That was the best, most realistic storyline of the entire series.
It helped alot of real life people come to terms with their own sexuality and face dealing with it.
This is one of the shows greatest assets in that it actually touched people.
Buffy has been a great show for allowing people to see their own issues played out in such a human way and without the Tara/Willow stuff we lose that.
I'm sure that there are many people on this very board that were touched by that storyline more than a sexy hellgod hell bent on getting home.

[Elithustra]

I think I did misunderstand a bit, Bored, but that's all cleared up now and I see what you were saying. I think I asked because I was in that area at the time and the idea came to me and in my excitement, wham, we have ourselves a new thread!

I do agree that the death of Joyce brought Buffy into a different phase of adulthood, much faster than most have to go through, and I still just think it was such a sudden, unexpected thing, despite Joyce's previous illness, or continued one.

I also think that throughout Season 5, the Tara/Willow storyline could have been developed more. How, I'm still not sure. Sometimes I feel blessed in how fantastic it was, sometimes cursed in how it wasn't always enough. Thereagain, it wasn't Willow The Vampire Slayer, nor Tara The Teenage Witch, y'know?

[Buffy obsessed fan]

I don't think any of season five should have been left out. Joyce dying; important. Willow/Tara; Important. Riley leaving; important. Spike falling in love with Buffy; important. Dawn; important...All of season five is important, if any of these things were left out, things in season six and seven would have been different. If Joyce didn't die, Buffy wouldn't have to grow up and what not. If Willow and Tara hadn't been together, Willow wouldn't have gone evil. If Riley hadn't left, Buffy wouldn't have been so easy to give up her life. If Spike hadn't fallen in love with Buffy, he wouldn't have got a soul in season seven, so he wouldn't have helped save the world the way he did. If Dawn hadn't come into it, Buffy wouldn't have died to save her, so all of season six would be different, because she wouldn't have the whole needing to feel thing. The whole season was important.

[Elithustra]

You think Buffy was ready to give up on her life just because Riley left? I know she got depressed about it, but I didn't think it was that bad!

But when you point things out like you did above, BOF, you make a really good point.

Alright, my next question would be, do you think any characters, minor or major, could have gone down a different path? Such as, do you think Spike could have reverted to his bad-ass ways more? Do you think Harmony could have played a bigger role?