OTH: Buffy the Vampire Slayer- "End of Days" / "Chosen"

Saying goodbye to our girl. Final thoughts on season 7 and the series as a whole!

Season 7, Episode 21

Aired May 13, 2003

Directed by Marita Grabiak

Written by Jane Espenson, Douglas Petrie

Synopsis: Immediately following the previous episode, Buffy gravitates towards the scyhte she sees, and while Caleb tries to taunt her, implying that this is comparable to an Excalibur or Mjonir, Buffy is Arthur or Thor today and is worthy of grabbing it. Caleb is now spooked and the ante is upped. While he initially intends to try to pry it from Buffy, the First, in her image, tells him to back off and let Buffy make her way to the sewer, where Faith and the Potentials are. The Potentials who survived the explosion carry an unconscious Faith out as they try to avoid a trio of Turok-Hans, the ubervamps. Buffy jumps down just in time and effortlessly slays them with her new weapon, and helps take the girls back to the house. There, they see the Scoobies make their way through rations picked up from the abandoned groceries before they switch to concerned nurses who try to ail the battered girls. Amanda and Kennedy try to make amends to Buffy and say that they were being punished for sending her away, but she has no patience for this and suggests that Faith did the right thing, as Buffy could have just as easily fallen for the trap herself. When asked if she’s staying around, Buffy doesn’t have an answer but informs the girls that their rest time will have to be brief, as the clock is running out. Fortunately, Slayers (usually) heal fast. After checking in on a still-unconscious Faith, Buffy asks if Giles knows anything about her new weapon and why it would make Caleb and the First quiver. He doesn’t have an answer, so she asks him and Willow to do some good old-fashioned research to see what they can dig up. Unfortunately, the two come up with nothing but dead ends, and the only solution seems to involve magic, which Willow is unsure of reclaiming. They might not need to, though, as Giles finds a clue that alludes to the scythe being of Egyptian origin, which is at least a new lead. Buffy then has two notable meetings back to back, first with Faith, as she shares their new weapon. Faith confesses that after years of isolation and jealousy regarding Buffy’s position, she now understands what it’s like to be her and doesn’t envy it, realizing how lonely it is. But hey, they’re both hot chicks with incredible power, so a little bit of loneliness is fine. As she lets Faith rest, Spike arrives and they do something both of them seem afraid to- talk about their previous evening. Spike tries to shrug off how important their time together was, but Buffy won’t let him, making sure he knows that his unyielding compassion is what gave her the strength to take on Caleb and come back with the weapon that can take him down. Spike then confesses that he’s terrified that she doesn’t feel the same about him that he does for her, but it sounds like Buffy may be coming around to that. But she leaves Spike once again to focus on a new lead. Now that she knows the scythe is of Egyptian origin, she enters a pyramid that’s located in her favorite graveyard and meets an elderly woman who calls herself one of the Guardians. They watched over the Watchers and Slayers for centuries and have crafted the scythe for her for the final battle, which is nigh- Caleb arrives and cuts the Guardian open. Unlike last time, Caleb isn’t as much of a pushover, as we saw him borrow power from the First earlier in the episode, but just before he takes Buffy down once and for all, she gets a lift up from a surprise guest- Angel! He agrees to stay out of the fight and watches Buffy get back up and gives Caleb a good whack with the scythe. When he falls down, we cut to Spike, who stands by and watches the two former lovers embrace.

Also in the episode, Anya and Andrew rob the local, empty hospital of supplies for the wounded Potentials. When they dig through the supplies, Anya admits to how bad she felt when she abandoned Sunnydale during the last apocalypse back in season 3, which has Andrew note how she’s starting to come around towards humans. While she scoffs at the idea, Anya eventually admits to it and the two have a wheelchair fight before returning to the house. Additionally, at Buffy’s command, Xander knocks Dawn out with chloroform and drives her away. When she wakes up, she takes a taser and knocks Xander out and drives back to Sunnydale.

Instead of a big two-part finale, our penultimate episode is a relative calm before the storm, only featuring fight scenes at the beginning and end, taking the chance to tie some knots before a (predictably) explosive finale. Although from what I understand, the show did want to wrap things up with a two-parter, but UPN wouldn’t give the crew an additional episode, so they made cuts throughout instead. Personally, I think we could have skipped “Him”, but hey, that’s just me.

“End of Days” allows for some explosive final moments before the crew heads to war, but a couple of things I want to note include one group pairing that I really enjoy- Anya and Andrew. Both are taken arguably the least seriously in the Scoobies- Anya for how ridiculously blunt and tactless she is and Andrew for being a lame nerd who was forced to be a part of the action due to unfortunate happenstance- yet they’re also relatively worthy additions to the crew, with Anya’s knowledge of parts of the demon world and Andrew’s random, but useful studying of other sectors she and the others aren’t as familiar with. While they’re ultimately not meant for a romantic pairing, as Anya’s heart still belongs to Xander and Andrew, uh, goes another way, I like how the last episode pits them as unlikely, but fit friends.

My other favorite moment of the episode is Buffy and Faith’s time together. The latter’s development has proven to be legitimate, but she still struggles to match Buffy’s rationale, and while that has been tested with their recent encounters, Buffy ultimately is the more competent leader of the two. Still, she recognizes that Faith isn’t without her strengths, as she’s good at giving the Potentials morale, while Buffy has intentionally given most of them the cold shoulder as to not get attached.

This article is hitting the email length limit, so I’ll stop here. Plenty more to go through, though.

I keep saying that I don’t like using spoilery screencaps for these, but is there any other choice I could make?

Season 7, Episode 22

Aired May 20, 2003

Written & Directed by Joss Whedon

Synopsis: Following the end of the previous episode, Buffy and Angel continue their embrace, and as their lips move from each other, they play catch-up. That, however, is rudely interrupted by Caleb returning for one last fight, which Buffy handily uses to kick his scrawny ass and slices him up for good. As she and Angel escape the pyramid, he gives her an amulet that isn’t meant for her, but rather someone with a soul who’s more than human, which could be for him but also doesn’t appear to be. Angel then states that he’s ready for the fight, but Buffy tells him to return to LA, insisting that she needs him to have a second party ready in case her crew fails. Angel understands, but he knows that there’s more to this and asks if she’s sending him away because of Spike. He can’t see Spike in the other side of the pyramid being taunted by the First, but Angel can smell him on her and asks if they’re dating. Buffy doesn’t say yes, but she confirms that Spike is, in fact, in his heart and reminds her ex that Spike now has a soul just like him, all of which makes Angel insanely jealous. Buffy doesn’t have time for this and sends him back home as she goes back to hers, where she finds Dawn and Xander back from their aborted attempt to get out of dodge. Too tired to argue, she goes down to the basement to see Spike working out his frustration and asks if he can smell Angel on her. He can, but Spike also admits to sneaking a peek at them in the pyramid, but tries to shake off how jealous he was. Instead, he focuses his attention on the amulet, piecing together that it’s meant for him. Buffy initially acts coy, suggesting that it’s meant to be for a champion, but she ultimately gives it to him, entrusting Spike with the power it holds, and then invites herself to spend the night in the basement with him. While Spike eventually falls asleep next to Buffy, she is awoken by the First in Caleb’s body, who gives her one final omen that she cannot win, which Buffy steadily tells them that she will win. And she has an unorthodox plan to succeed, which involves using the full extent of Willow’s powers. While our witch is a little unsure if she can still pull that off, she, along with everyone else is on board with Buffy’s plan, which involves her opening the seal, going into the Hellmouth herself and invoking the power of the Slayer and spreading it to all of the Potentials. Now it won’t be just her and Faith at full mast, all of the surviving Potential Slayers will have their abilities shine with them. And she wants to do it ASAP, ie tomorrow, before the First has their full army ready. No more waiting. After a solemn night at the Summers house, everyone heads to the new Sunnydale High and recalls their points of attack. Buffy meets Faith, Spike and the Potentials in the basement, where they open the seal and jump down into the Hellmouth, which looks like a cross between Mordor as envisioned by Peter Jackson and Hell as envisioned by your nightmares. The crew stop and stare at the Turok-Han army as they wait for Willow’s spell, which she’s focusing on in the principal’s office, to work. Willow uses all of her strength to give the Potentials their full power, and we see her succeed as her hair changes into an angelic blonde as we see the spell become a success. Kennedy, who waits with her girlfriend, is impressed by her (or really, their) new power, and Willow hands Kennedy the scythe that she used to invoke it over to Buffy. We see a massive, incredible fight inside the Hellmouth, which also starts sprinkling into the halls as everyone else who stayed inside- Giles and Robin, Anya and Andrew, Xander and Dawn- fight off the ubervampires who make their way to earth with swords. Back in the Hellmouth, the fight goes well until Buffy gets stabbed in the back and can’t get up. Faith comes up to help her, but instead Buffy offers her the scythe as she needs to go back and fight. While it looks over for our Slayer, she meets with the First one last time in her image, who taunts her some more, which only results in Buffy getting the strength to step back up and continue her fight. As it rages on, Spike steps to the side and feels the power of his amulet come through, bringing incredible lights from inside of him, killing any vampire in his way. The school is imploding and leaking into the Hellmouth, and we see the newly-born Slayers return to earth and make it to one of the school buses for shelter. We see most of the crew make it out alive, with one exception, a dying Anya lying on the ground after protecting Andrew from an attack. While everyone else is leaving, Buffy refuses to let go of Spike, who is clearly not able to make it out. Before she goes, Buffy tells Spike that she loves him, which he refutes but thanks her anyway. She escapes just before the Hellmouth collapses within itself and the school meets the same fate as its old self, and while the bus drives off without her, she’s able to chase it and jumps on top of it. They drive just out of the Sunnydale city limits and see the town fall into itself, no longer existing. We lost Spike, Anya, as well as Amanda and a few other Potentials, along with Robin Wood, who suffered some serious damage and had just enough energy to drive everyone away from town. Spike and Andrew share some parting words to each other about Anya, while Faith is saddened to see the nicest, most compassionate and probably best lover she ever slept with (sorry Xander) not survive. No more Sunnydale, no more Hellmouth (on the west coast, anyway), no more mall. No one knows what to do next, and when Buffy is asked, all she can do is smile.

We’ve hit seven seasons, 144 episodes, and a lot of vampires being turned to dust. No matter how many times I make it to see Buffy stare into the abyss where Sunnydale once stood and give off one last smirk, it still hits me.

The first time I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer was as a teenager closer to Dawn’s age at the beginning of her run than Buffy at the start, watching episodes on and off with my sister and later borrowing (and soon inheriting) her DVDs, and I was blown away by the themes and the writing. It’s smart, self-aware and simultaneously reverent, which I fully dug into when I watched it and Angel for a second time shortly after graduating high school and became fully devoted to the series and Buffy’s plight. During a depressive point after graduating with my Bachelors, I gave the series a third watch, this time skipping Angel, and as a couple of years older than we saw Buffy at this point, I started to realize just how much Giles’ tired yet loving self resonated with me. During this fourth visit, now in my early 30’s and following the unfurling of Joss Whedon’s legacy, some cracks start showing, but I still view the series in high reverence. It may be nostalgia talking, but this is still a special show.

And “Chosen” works as a big, sweeping way to say goodbye. It’s not as long as the crew wanted, sure, but they’re used to dealing with curveballs now, and I think that they succeeded at making this feel as special as the show itself. We get one last big brawl, but also a few more moments to say goodbye. Some are comical, like a late night round of Dungeons & Dragons with three people you’d expect to be into it (Xander, Andrew, Amanda) and someone you really wouldn’t (Giles), while others are impactful while maintaining their point, such as Dawn’s refusal to let Buffy even imply at saying goodbye.

Buffy has never been an especially subtle show, but it was made for an audience who largely miss subtlety (yes, calling out the YA audience here), and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Still, the show largely succeeds at the big emotions it swings for, remaining honest with what it has to say. The themes over this season have been obvious, as the show questions the notion that no man, even a Slayer, is an island, but up until the end, I don’t think the series loses its agenda and continues to grow with its audience. In “Chosen”, Buffy refutes her destiny as the sole protector of the human world to give the power to anyone who can claim it, which proves her maturity within her job and damns the entire dated concept of leaving the evils of the world for just one young girl like her to face alone. It’s a powerful gesture that shows how far the character and her obligations have come.

Additionally, Buffy does the best it can with its small budget. The effects may not look great, but at least the camerawork is often fresh and the cuts are tastefully rapid during the show’s major fight scenes. I think the Hellmouth looks surprisingly effective, even if I get the feeling that its texture is meant to be Lord of the Rings-lite. That’s not a bad influence to take, and Whedon (along with help from David Solomon based on the commentary) does a good job keeping the fight fresh.

The fight scenes feel almost like filler, though. What remains important are the little moments between characters. Buffy and Spike’s scenes hold the most significance, as the two have finally found a groove with each other, resulting in Spike hearing what he’s always wanted to hear. His reply to Buffy’s silent “I love you” is a classic bit of deprecation that fits the character and show so well. Even if this is Spike’s last moment alive, he won’t allow her to remove his dignity for even a second, so of course he has to deny it.

The other characters have plenty of notable moments, but Angel’s return is significant for a few reasons, most of all how it reflects a few of his and Buffy’s most iconic encounters. His exit into the darkness recalls how he left her behind at the end of season 3’s “Graduation Day”, deciding that it was for the best that he leaves her and sets up shop in Los Angeles instead. Whedon makes note of that in the commentary, but what really stuck out to me during this watch is how Buffy telling Angel to stay in LA and let her do her thing recalls the first season’s “Sanctuary”, which had him tell Buffy the same thing. That was meant to indicate how Angel was finding its own identity and doing its best to differentiate itself from Buffy. I don’t think it was a coincidence that this was her last encounter in the series.

Although another thing that I want to note is how Angel was only featured at the beginning of the episode and didn’t stick around for the finale fight. This is a popular trend in series finales for long-running shows, where returning former stars are only briefly featured. Recall Michael Scott’s cameo in The Office finale, or Rhoda and Phyllis’ one scene for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. These characters already had their stories completed in the series, any more would be superfluous as opposed to the characters who never left. Doubly so for Rhoda, Phyllis, and Angel, who left for their own shows- we were still seeing their stories, their appearances are just cherries on top of the sundae.

The rest of the cast get more meaningful moments, even Giles, who stopped being a part of the regular cast following the fifth season. Despite this, Whedon made sure to have one moment with him and the rest of the original Scoobies- give or take Cordy- have one last little silly scene to remind us, the audience, of what this show is all about.

“Chosen” was a damn fine way to say goodbye to a show that meant the world to a lot of people. Buffy was never one of the highest rated shows on television- season 7 averaged 4.1 million in the ratings, about a quarter of what the #1 show that year, CSI, managed- but everyone who stuck through to the end came out feeling invigorated and challenged. Buffy gave the gift of her strength to any girl in the world who has the potential for it, and I think that can reflect into anyone who was watching the show. Maybe you can’t literally jump into hell and fight ubervampires head on, but we have the ability to fight for ourselves and accept better than the bare minimum, and Buffy was there to remind us that we can. And for that, bless the show.

But if you think that was a good finale, wait until you see how Angel wrapped up the next year.

Season 7 Overview:

I see some fans call the seventh season the weakest, below even the rough first year, and I just can’t abide with that… although I did enjoy this viewing a little less than I did the last time I watched it.

There are a lot of ideas thrown around in an attempt to make this last season feel as epic as possible, but the show’s budget just isn’t there enough to justify that scale, which is why there’s a lot of down time and “cheater” episodes (such as episodes with as few fight scenes as possible or where certain characters end up missing). This is meant to feel like the last season, but also a season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which means that you need some unique or silly episodes to balance out how heavy the plot can get. At your best, you can get a masterpiece like “Conversations with Dead People”, which has a who’s-who of the writer’s room handling different but related storylines, while the worst case scenario is something like “Him”, which repeats concepts and beats that we’ve seen years ago that only makes the show seem confused or tone death. The breakeven point would result in something like “Storyteller”, an entertaining diversion that ultimately doesn’t quite succeed at making the most irritating character as likable as hoped for.

The show feels a little divided at times, and it doesn’t help that Marti Noxon wasn’t around to give the show her undivided attention for the majority of it, which even if the previous season had its issues, I don’t think you could say the same thing about it. The Potentials, in particular felt overcrowded and undercooked and seldom make much of an impression, even though they’re intended to be essential parts of this season.

I’ve said before that a season of Buffy is best defined by its Big Bad, and I think that comes down to just how do you describe the First to begin with. It’s an unresponsive, unspeakable evil that defies all logic and convention, but one that leaves an impression when you can make it out. The First does a good job of spooking its opponents by recalling their past torments, but ultimately comes off as kind of half-baked.

Sticking to my rating scale, I’d give season 7 a B. Was it the right call to end the show here? Maybe. Well, yes, especially if this is any indication of what could have happened.

Still, I’ll always think positively of Buffy. The HBO shows may have been able to do more with less restrictions, but even two out of three Davids are on the record expressing their appreciation for that scruffy little sci-fi soap opera on the fledging WB. Even if The Sopranos would never have made an episode as ridiculous as “Beer Bad”, I think Buffy deserves to stand up to it tall and proud. Alan Sepinwall chose to focus on both shows as part of a dozen drama series in his book, The Revolution Was Televised, for a reason. These series are still being studied for how to make the perfect TV show to this day.

Where Did We Go From Here:

The 20th anniversary EW photoshoot. I still love it; Sarah and David holding hands right next to James especially. I would like to see Seth Green next to Alyson and Nicholas Brendan should switch places with Alexis Denisoff, and both Anthony Head and Eliza Dushku should have been here. Also get Joss out of there.

Twenty six years ago, an adaptation of a modestly successful campy horror flick aired on a fledgling network as a mid-season replacement. I don’t think many people were expecting this series to change how television is conceived, how blockbusters are written, and how women are represented in the media, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer did all of this and more. On the last night of the WB, before it folded into the CW, “Welcome to the Hellmouth” aired one last time to remind audiences of the channel’s legacy, alongside the pilots for Dawson’s Creek and Angel. To this day, the show continues to find new audiences on DVD, syndication, Hulu, or other methods, and still has comics, novels, analytical literature and other kinds of merchandise made to this day. Additionally, Buffy studies remain popular in college courses, as professors around the world continue to pick apart the show’s themes with eager students.

I occasionally hear people say that they wish Sarah Michelle Gellar had more of a career post-Buffy, but it sounds like she’s pretty happy with her life. Mrs. Prinze has been acting since the age of 4 and has continued to receive steady work in the years since, including a return to her Emmy-winning role in All My Children. Sarah has recently said that she remains proud to have portrayed at least two characters who are regularly used for Halloween costumes; besides Buffy, her other most iconic performance came the year prior to the show’s last season when she played Daphne Blake in the live-action Scooby-Doo alongside future husband Freddie Prinze Jr. She’d return to the role a year later in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and also made a big splash that year in the western remake of The Grudge, which she’d return to its sequel for. She’s also been in a few television series post-Buffy; besides All My Children, she played twin roles in CW cult favorite Ringer and co-starred with Robin Williams in CBS sitcom The Crazy Ones before his untimely death. After a few years away from the spotlight to focus on her family, Sarah took on voice acting with the role of Teela for Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe reimagining for Netflix, and has returned to the front of the camera for a brief role in Smith’s Clerks III, alongside the film Do Revenge and Paramount+’s Wolf Pack series. I’d say for every generation since Gen X, Sarah has become a legend.

The story behind the character of Lily Aldrin is that she was based on How I Met Your Mother co-creator Craig Thomas’ wife, Rebecca, who agreed to allow their stories to be shared on the condition that Alyson Hannigan portrayed her. At this time, Mrs. Denisof was interested in taking on a sitcom role and played the character for nine seasons, winning a People’s Choice Award along the way and even found room for her husband, Alexis Denisof (aka Wesley Wyndam-Pryce) to play a recurring role, alongside other guest stars from the Buffyverse. Additionally, she’s returned to her other-other most famous role, American Pie’s Michelle Flatery, twice since Buffy finished in 2003; a fifth film is on the way, but it’s currently unknown if it will bring Alyson and the cast back or if it will feature a new cast. On top of this, Alyson has been hosting Penn & Teller: Fool Us since 2016 and has took on a steady list of roles on top of that. You may have recently seen her house used in an episode of This is Us.

Nicholas Brendan’s biggest role post-Buffy was playing technical analyst Kevin Lynch in Criminal Minds, where he recurred from seasons 3 until its 10th. He’s been in a variety of work on top of that, such as co-starring in the short-lived Kitchen Confidential sitcom on Fox alongside Bradley Cooper, although one role I want to point out is that he portrayed Huntsboy 89 in Disney’s American Dragon: Jake Long, a show I’ve always had a soft spot for (and is very influenced by Buffy, making this arguably come full circle). Unfortunately, Nicholas has had a rough time in the past decade or so, as he’s struggled with depression and alcoholism, but I’d rather leave this on a positive note and not share his arrest history.

James Marsters has become a fixture of genre work in the years since Buffy, which includes him playing Brainiac on Smallville and Captain John Hart in Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, both series that are proudly influenced by Buffy despite their pedigree beforehand, and was also Magistrate in Hulu’s Runaways adaptation, which has ties to Whedon. And of course, he kept the role of Spike going during the last season of Angel. But you may (sadly) remember James’ role as Piccolo in Dragon Ball Evolution, which is still heavily derided among fans of the franchise. He’s had a chance to redeem himself by voicing Zamatsu in Dragon Ball Super and has done plenty of voice work in the years since, including numerous Marvel and DC characters. However, his top priority in the years since retiring the role of Spike is watching after his niece and sending her to medical school. That may be why James has been a regular at cons for decades, to keep the money coming in.

Emma Caulfield Ford has been in various works on and off since ending her tenure as Anya, arguably most notably as the Blind Witch in Once Upon a Time and Sarah Proctor, aka Dottie Jones in WandaVision, which she’ll return to in the upcoming Agatha: Coven of Chaos. Last October, Emma announced that she has been suffering from multiple sclerosis for years, and while that has affected her work, she continues to act.

Michelle Trachtenberg has stayed busy since wrapping up her time as Dawn Summers, starring in films as varied as EuroTrip and Ice Princess, had a brief role in Six Feet Under as Celeste, the pop star whose private toilet Keith peed in, and portrayed Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl. In 2010, she received the lead role of NBC medical drama Mercy for one season and has took on various roles ever since, including brief appearances in the new Gossip Girl. But she’ll always be Harriet the Spy to me.

Anthony Stewart Head was only a guest star in Buffy’s last season, but I’d be remiss to not mention his career as well- it’s not Buffy without Giles, after all. Tony has kept quite active, getting to show off his pipes once again in Repo! The Genetic Opera, which makes little sense but I love anyway, and has done plenty of additional notable roles on top of that, such as Uther Pendragon in Merlin, the prime minister of Little Britain, Stephen Caudwell in both the Channel 4 and NBC versions of Free Agents, and most recently as Rupert Mannion in Ted Lasso. It’s funny how his two most recognized roles to American audiences have him play Ruperts. Tony seems to live a good life, coming and going as he pleases from his farm in Bath.

Marti Noxon’s pitch to Fox didn’t work out, but she’s had plenty of success in the years since Buffy, being responsible for series such as Bravo’s Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, Lifetime’s UnREAL, HBO’s adaptations of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects, as well as writing the films I Am Number Four and the remake of Fright Night, and To the Bone, revolving around an unheathly thin Lily Collins. She also has had a successful history as a consulting producer, for series such as Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Glee, and even Mad Men. Long live Marti!

Jane Espenson has kept prolific in the years since Buffy, most notably being a main contributor to Battlestar Galactica and its spin-off works. She’s also written and contributed to Gilmore Girls, Game of Thrones (winning a Writers Guild of America award for being a part of its staff) and Jessica Jones, to name just a few examples. Her most recent contributions includes work for Whedon’s The Nevers and the recent Fantasy Island reboot.

David Fury joined Lost as a co-executive producer and writer for its first season before switching over to 24, handling both roles from the fifth until its last season, and would move over to Fringe for its fourth and fifth seasons. He remains an in-demand writer for genre and continues to offer scripts for various projects.

Rebecca Kirshner became a co-executive producer for Gossip Girl’s seventh and final pre-revival season, and would later become the showrunner for 90210’s second and third season. Her most recent work has been developing the animated series Kiri and Lou.

Doug Petrie, who I can’t believe forgot had written for Trachtenberg in Harriet the Spy, became a co-executive producer for two seasons of CSI, a consulting producer on Pushing Daisies, and most notably, an executive producer for Daredevil’s first season, and co-showrunner for its second season and The Defenders.

Drew Z. Greenburg has been busy in the years since Buffy, handing in scripts for The OC, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Arrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and plenty of others. Chance are if you’ve watched a genre show in the past 20 years, it has some of his DNA in it.

Drew Goddard joined Buffy late in its run, but I’d be remiss to mention his work. He remained close to Whedon, co-writing The Cabin in the Woods with him and directing it himself, while he’d enter the graces of another disgraced (albeit for different reasons) Geek God, JJ Abrams, becoming a writer for Alias and Lost, and a supervising producer on the latter, as well as writing Cloverfield for him. He’s also responsible for the Daredevil series and became an Academy Award nominee for The Martian’s screenplay.

David Solomon has directed for many of the shows mentioned above, keeping things in the family as he remains (or remained, I can’t find any evidence that he’s still working) an active name in the industry.

However, James A. Contner did retire in 2009, leaving behind a legacy of impactful direction for film and television. Besides contributing to Angel and Firefly, his other credits include The X-Files and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Joss Whedon was already a big name among geeks by the end of Buffy’s run, and his star would only continue to rise in the years since. Besides contributing comic book stories based on his characters, he’d start an acclaimed run of Astonishing X-Men and finish a less-acclaimed turn in Runaways, but he’d soon become a draw on the big screen, first by continuing Firefly’s story in 2005’s Serenity. While that didn’t bring a bigger crowd in for the franchise, Whedon would soon break box-office records by directing Marvel’s The Avengers, and its sequel, Age of Ultron. He also came in to replace the grieving Zack Snyder for 2017’s Justice League, a move that ultimately has not endured to fans, who consider his take the worst of both his and Snyder’s impulses. 2021’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a much more acclaimed take on the original vision. Whedon would also stay active in television, developing Dollhouse for Fox, The Nevers for HBO, guest directing episodes of The Office and Glee, and even doing an early webshow, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which garnered Whedon his long-awaited Emmy.

While rumors had persisted for years of him having a poor attitude on set, in 2020, Justice League actor Ray Fisher announced that he took part in an investigation regarding Whedon’s behavior during the film’s production, which was done with support from the film’s cast and resulted in Whedon parting ways with HBO for The Nevers. In early 2021, details had surfaced after the investigation had wrapped and various people involved had their NDAs expire, including from Charisma Carpenter, who participated to reveal that long-standing rumors of the abuse she suffered from Whedon on the Angel set were true. Other cast and crew members from Buffy came to admit that not only were Charisma’s claims true, but that they had their own bad experiences with him. The most damning confession came from Michelle Trachtenberg, who revealed that he has banned from her dressing room when she was only 15.

A year later, Whedon would get his chance to share his side of the story, which didn’t make him look any better. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but Joss Whedon’s actions shouldn’t be ignored or forgotten, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer is bigger than just him. I think the legacy is worth remembering despite his actions.

Watcher’s Guidebook:

• “So, it’s true- scythe matters.” “I’m ignoring that.”

• Is Robin prettier than Faith? I dunno, but D.B. Woodside is a handsome man.

• My heart warmed when Giles repeated “the earth is definitely doomed” before sending the golden trio out to their fields.

• Meanwhile, in LA: Let’s ignore the rest of Angel’s fourth season, which I talked about above. Instead, please stick around for the fifth, which is possibly the show’s best. Spike survived the Hellmouth’s implosion and has to work with Angel Investigations in their new headquarters- Wolfram & Heart. It gets better from there, I promise.

• Next Time: There is no next time! There are comics that are supposedly canon which follow the series, but I’m not covering printed media with this series… unless someone buys me the season 8 omnibus. However, I will be focusing my attention onto the next series in Our Television Heritage- Aaron Sorkin’s defining legacy, The West Wing! Check your emails three Wednesdays from now.