My Buffy Journey

Because every Buffy fan feels the need to share the story of how they fell in love with such an amazing show...

My first exposure to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) was  seeing ads for it when I was watching my then-beloved 7th Heaven on the WB. By having the word "vampire" in the title, it scored two strikes against it. First, it was going to be a scary show, and I don't do horror (seriously, can't even watch Hocus Pocus, which is supposed to be a comedy and a kid's movie). Second, if it was about vampires it was a "bad" show, in the way that a conservative labels things as bad; yes, I used to be that conservative. But you also have to remember that I was only 13 years old when BtVS went of the air. I'm glad that I didn't watch it during its original run.

I wasn't exposed to BtVS again until my junior year of high school when, to end the year in my AP English class, we watched numerous episodes of BtVS and then spent time analyzing them. I think it took me less than one episode to decide that I loved the character Buffy Summers. She was that strong female lead whom I always gravitate toward in movies and TV shows. We watched Halloween (2x06), Helpless (3x12), The Zeppo (3x13), Pangs (4x08), Something Blue (4x09), and Hush (4x10) that I remember. Then my AP Chem class borrowed the DVDs from our English teacher to watch Once More with Feeling (6x07), and I remember snippets of that as well.

The two weeks of class ended, and I wanted to see more. Unforunately, that meant getting up by 6am to see it on TV, so, no such luck. Even with satellite, I didn't find BtVS on TV again until a little over a year ago. I caught a few episodes on TV last summer before discovering that the entire series was on Netflix. So, a little over a year ago, I began watching the series on Netflix. I finished before Thanksgiving. And I was hooked. Since that time, I have rewatched all of BtVS once and watched the spinoff Angel the Series (AtS) in its entirety once. I bought the Once More with Feeling soundtrack. This summer, I bought both series on DVD. I can name every episode, spout off quotes, sing every song from Once More with Feeling, and find Buffy references in most conversations and occasions. I'm beyond hooked.

I love the show for its mixture of genres: horror, comedy, drama, romance, etc. You name the genre, you can probably find it somewhere in the series. I love the dialogue; so many quotable moments. I love the emotional ups and downs throughout the series. I love the music (after season 1...). And most of all, I love the analysis that can be done with the series.

My first real exposure to BtVS came with analysis attached, so, as I was diving deeper into the series, I went looking for further analysis. That's when I found Critically Touched, a site full of analytical reviews and forums. After lots of reading there, I decided to embark on my own analysis. Thus began this blog. I intend to take a critical look at each episode. At some point I would also like to delve into musical analysis of the series.