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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 5 (2000-2001)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 5

Season 5 reviews:

- Episode 1: Buffy vs. Dracula 7/10
- Episode 2: Real Me 7/10
- Episode 3: The Replacement 8/10
- Episode 4: Out of My Mind 8/10
- Episode 5: No Place Like Home 9/10
- Episode 6: Family 9/10
- Episode 7: Fool for Love 10/10
- Episode 8: Shadow 8/10
- Episode 9: Listening to Fear 7/10
- Episode 10: Into the Woods 7/10
- Episode 11: Triangle 8/10
- Episode 12: Checkpoint 9/10
- Episode 13: Blood Ties 8/10
- Episode 14: Crush 6/10
- Episode 15: I Was Made to Love You 6/10
- Episode 16: The Body 10/10
- Episode 17: Forever 7/10
- Episode 18: Intervention 9/10
- Episode 19: Tough Love 8/10
- Episode 20: Spiral 6/10
- Episode 21: The Weight of the World 7/10
- Episode 22: The Gift 10/10

Phew! 100 episodes down... 44 to go, if I decide to keep this up. To be honest, I'm not sure. As I already said, I think The Gift is the perfect way to end the series, and I'm not convinced that I'll get much pleasure out of Seasons 6 and 7, unless I can distance myself from them enough to laugh at how ludicrously bad they are, rather than becoming depressed by how hollow and soulless all the characters become.

In any event, it now seems clear that Season 5 is my favourite season. Before I started these personal Buffy reruns way back when, I had Season 2 pegged as my favourite and Season 5 as my second favourite. I was somewhat thrown when Season 3 overtook Season 2 not only in the average "out of 10" ratings, but also in terms of personal enjoyment. I wasn't too surprised that Season 4 had a lower average rating than either Seasons 2 or 3, but I wasn't expecting Season 5 to come out the clear winner both numerically and personally. With an average of 7.91/10, which can be rounded up to 8/10, it has the highest rating of all the first five seasons (and, somehow, I doubt Seasons 6 and 7 are going to steal the crown!). The characters, acting, writing and directing are of an almost uniformally high standard, with no episode dropping below a 6/10 rating, and more episodes rated higher than that than any other season. Yes, it's not perfect, but TV never is, is it?

I think I've said everything I want to say about Season 5 in the individual episode reviews. The only question now, to quote Once More with Feeling, is "Where do we go from here?" Do I watch Seasons 6 and 7 or not. I think perhaps I will - it's been a long time since I saw them, and there a number of episodes that I've only seen once (gee, I wonder why). In any event, I want to see if they're as bad as I remember them being. Who knows? Maybe I'll have an epiphany and proclaim them to be misunderstood classics.

I somehow doubt it, though.

19:55