10 Reasons Why The First Three Seasons of Buffy Are Better Than the Rest

A Top 10 list by JAMIE!

1. They were in high school. Being in school gave them a reason for all being at the same place at the same time and not having jobs (and for hanging around with a middle-aged librarian). Also, seeing Buffy juggle teenage life with slaying was a big part of the story. It kept her character grounded in real life and made her more relatable to the audience. After they graduated it became more difficult to legitimately explain why these people were always together.

2. Cordelia. Cordelia was amazing. She is one of the most quoteable characters on the show and always told it like it is. Cordelia is what reminded the audience that slaying vampires wasn’t normal to most people. The whole evolution of Cordelia’s character from antagonist to part of the Scooby gang was brilliant. They tried to replace her blunt-talk with Anya but it just wasn’t the same.

3. The villains were better. The first three seasons had simple but effective villains like Spike and Drusilla and the Mayor. After season 3 we get an annoying robot, a goddess (I love Glory, but bringing gods into the picture was a unnecessary idea), Willow gone bad (meh) and The First, which was so complicated I can’t even really explain how it worked.

4. One-episode story arcs. What I love most about the first three seasons is that you can pretty much turn on any episode without knowing what was going on and there was a brand new 40-minute story that would be introduced and solved in one episode. This is also helpful when trying to introduce newbies into the wonderful world of Buffy. In the last few seasons, it became more more complicated and almost impossible to watch them out of order.

5. Angel. Good or bad, I liked having him on the show. At first he was the mysterious love interest. Then he was one of the greatest villains in the show’s history. Whether he was good or bad, Angel definitely added something to the show, just ask one of the many people who consider their love to be one of the greatest (although I might not agree on that subject). Don’t even get me started on what happened in the Season 8 comics.

6. Bad Spike. His chemistry with Drusilla, his English mannerisms, and his pure lack of morality made him a villain that was frightening but fun at the same time. After he got that stupid chip it all went downhill for Spike who went from being one of the most badass snarky villains on TV to a whimpering comic-relief Buffy stalker.

7. Fun Buffy. I liked Buffy better when she was fun and quippy. After awhile Buffy becomes really emo and boring. Granted her mom dies and she has to work to support her and Dawn and lots of people try to kill her, and then she dies and everything, but still, I don’t want to watch Buffy mope all the time. She becomes less of a likable heroine when all she does is sulk and feel sorry for herself.

8.  Faith. The is she good is she bad Faith provided an foil to Buffy’s unwaivering heroism. She was likeable at first and fit in well with the gang after being introduced in the third season. Then she teams up with the Mayor and provides a real threat to Buffy. We don’t see her for a while after the third season and when we do there’s nothing terribly exciting or memorable about her, compared to her first stretch on the show.

9. The Bronze. The Bronze was a cool place to hang out, get boyfriends, and slay vampires. It definitely beats the magic shop.

10. No Dawn. I don’t hate Dawn the way some people do, but they were doing just fine without her. When Dawn magically appears Buffy has to become the annoying parental-type and take care of her, which related back to the previous point. Dawn can be kind of annoying herself to be honest, and really never added anything to the show other than a less-than-stellar storyline about a key.