Series Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 6 (2001 – 2002)

Been a while since we did one of these, wasn’t it? Hold on, lemme check… Yup, December 2020, Jesus Christ. Shocking delay aside, my rewatches and reviews of this show finally continue. So let’s fucking gooooooo. Oh, and spoilers for the end of season 5, because that stuff ties into a few plotlines for this season. So if you haven’t watched that and don’t want spoilers… begone, come back later. As for the rest of y’all…

Ladies, gents, and non-binaries… “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” season 6.

Picking up months after Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) heroic sacrifice at the end of season 5, she gets brought back to life by her friends. And we follow her as she’s reeling from that, seeing how what effect it has on her, all the while a new, yet familiar threat rises in Sunnydale, along with the usual subplots of the various members of the gang. Season 6 of “Buffy” has some interesting ideas within its narrative, and even has some great episodes and moments. But in the grand scheme of things it is quite dour and joyless. Yes, there is still fun to be had, ranging from the delightful “Once More With Feeling” to the charming “Tabula Rasa”, the latter of of which featuring one of my favorite visual puns in anything ever. But despite there being a decent amount of good stuff, there’s also a lot of things that really drag down this season for me. There’s the aforementioned tonal issues. The first half of the season isn’t quite as bad for that, but good god, the back half is almost pure misery all the time. Occasionally the seriousness leads to some good drama (the last episode for example, I think is damn good), but generally it becomes such an onslaught of pain that it becomes numbing. What doesn’t help is the general big bad of this season, which is a few people who’ve appeared in previous seasons. Not inherently the worst idea, and their specific plotline is oddly prescient to our society today. But in terms of how well it works within the show? Not really a big fan. They just become kind of annoying and don’t really add anything in terms of dramatic value. I see a lot of potential throughout the season, and there are some great fucking ideas throughout, but they either feel undercooked, incorrectly utilized, or missed. So yeah, in terms of story this season is a very mixed bag.

The characters here… you know, the characters of this show are usually a highlight. And obviously I still generally love them, but something about their development throughout this season is, once again, a mixed bag. Buffy herself remains pretty great, and her arc this season is one of the better ones, with Sarah Michelle Gellar once again absolutely fucking killing it. The only other arc I’ll talk about in a slightly longer format is that of Spike, played by James Marsters. Back in the earlier seasons he was the best. A Billy Idol-inspired vampire who was a crackerjack of charisma, violence, and badassery… Spike this season is a pathetic simp, and it’s one of the biggest mistakes the show’s made. Marsters still kills it with the material given, but the character’s development just doesn’t work. The rest of the cast, some get good stuff, some get less good stuff. Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Amber Benson, Emma Caulfield Ford, Michelle Trachtenberg, Anthony Head, they all put in good work.

The score for this season was composed by one Thomas Wanker (don’t laugh). And I think he did a good job. His style is generally understated, having a lower, more subtle tone that carries through, which I think sounds really good. This season also saw the return of Christophe Beck, as he did the music for the episode “Once More, With Feeling”, an episode which has some top tier tunes. So yeah, that’s cool. As for licensed tracks, there’s a handful used throughout, and they work pretty well in their respective scenes.

Season 6 of “Buffy the Vampire slayer” was, as always, written and directed by a whole slew of talented people, all bringing something interesting to it. It’s all generally well shot, with solid action and effects for the time.  Editing in some scenes can be a little too quick, but on the whole the craft is good. I don’t really know what to add, these guys basically found their groove around season 3, and there’s been much different in terms of improvement, it’s just a show that is well put together.

This season has been quite mixed in its reception. It has a 63% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On Metacritic it has an audience score of 4.9/10. And while there’s no season average, the show overall has a score of 8.2/10 on imdb.com.

Season 6 of “Buffy” is, as you’ve most likely gathered from my ramblings, a bit of a mixed bag. While it does sport some really good episodes and moments, on the whole it’s quite a mess. The story is mixed, the characters are pretty good, the performances are great, the music’s really good, and the directing is really solid. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for season 6 of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is a 7.20/10. So while it does have a fair bit of missteps, I’d still say it’s definitely worth watching.

My review of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” season 6 is now completed.

Just one more season to go.

Announcing the Month of Spooks 2021!!!

Month of Spooks posters from other years, lovingly provided by The Craggus

Hey there, friends! I hope you’re doing well! It’s that time of year again. If you’re somehow new to my shenanigans, please allow me to explain. Every year since 2015, I’ve dedicated the month of October to covering a lot more spooky content. It more or less just started as a way for me to force myself to watch more horror movie, as I didn’t consider myself much of a fan back in the day. But over time it’s become this big, proper tradition where I talk about a lot of spooktacular things, even allowing friends in the blogosphere to join me. And with this being the seventh annual Month of Spooks (Seven? Christ, that makes me feel old), I ain’t about to change that.

So what will happen exactly? Well, on this blog specifically there won’t be as many different genres covered. Only horror and horror-adjacent content will be covered. So if you hate my ramblings AND spooky shit, then it’s gonna be an absolute nightmare for you to be here. Outside of this blog though, I will reach out to a couple of writer friends to see if they’d like to participate under this silly banner of mine. And hell, if you think this sounds like a fun communal activity and would like to participate, you can reach out to me on twitter @TheMarckoguy, as that’s the easiest way to reach me.

I have a good feelings about this year’s Month of Spooks. Really looking forward to October 1st.
Have a good one.

Series Review: Guilt – Season 1 (2019)

Have you ever lied? If you said no, then that’s most certainly a lie, because we’ve all done it at some point. And since you lied to me, doesn’t that make you feel a little guilty? Anyhow, let’s talk about a Scottish tv show.

Ladies, gents, and non-binaries… “Guilt” season 1.

While driving home from a party, brothers Max (Mark Bonnar) and Jake (Jamie Sives) accidentally run over an old man, killing him. The two then do their best to cover their tracks and move on with their lives. However, as with most stories, things don’t work out quite so easily. Right off the bat, “Guilt” had me hooked. It had a great setup for a crime-thriller narrative that they then told in an often darkly comedic way. It made for one hell of an engaging watch… for part of it. The first two episodes I thought were genuinely great, starting with its relatively simple premise and building cleverly upon it. But then the remaining two episodes screwed itself a bit by convoluting matters. I get that thriller narratives tends to have a few twists and turns to them, that’s par for the course. But I feel like “Guilt” has a few too many, messing with the tightness and flow of the story. I was still entertained throughout the last two episodes, and there are a few really good moments (including the ending). I just felt that it got a little messier than it needed to. Overall, it’s pretty good.

The characters in this show are colorful, flawed, and overall quite interesting. Mark Bonnar plays Max, the older of the two brothers. A successful lawyer with a snazzy house, snazzy clothes, and an overall snazzy life, it’s interesting seeing what a stressful situation like this does to him. It reveals quite a bit and provides some great character development, with Bonnar being absolutely phenomenal in the role. Next we have Jamie Sives as Jake, the younger of the brother. Normally a quiet record store owner, seeing how he tries to deal with the guilt (HA!) of the whole “Oops, accidental murder” situation is fascinating. And Sives is great in the role. I also want to quickly mention that these two actors work wonderfully together, with the clashing of the characters’ personalities making for some excellent character drama. Anyhow, we also get supporting work from people like Ruth Bradley, Moyo Akandé, Emun Elliott, Sian Brooke, and more, all doing very well in their respective roles.

The score for the show was composed by Arthur Sharpe, and I think he did a pretty good job with it. He has an interesting way of blending traditional thriller cues with some light rock elements, which gives the show a very fun soundscape. There’s also a handful of licensed tracks used throughout, and they work quite well in their respective scenes.

“Guilt” was created and written by Neil Forsyth, with directing duties handled by one Robert McKillop. And I think they did a really good job on that front. The direction of this show has this really vibrant energy about it that keeps it from ever getting dull, making it feel like it moves along at a clip, which helps keep scenes engaging. Helping further this is Nanu Segal’s terrific cinematography, and some fantastically snappy editing by Nikki McChristie and Colin Monie. It’s just a really well crafted show.

This show/season has been pretty well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 100% positive rating. On Metacritic it exists, but seems to have no real consensus. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7.3/10.

Despite getting a little tangled in its own twisting web towards the end, season 1 of “Guilt” is still a highly enjoyable batch of episodes. It has a good story, great characters, fantastic performances, really good music, and great directing/editing/cinematography. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for season of “Guilt” is an 8.35/10. So while flawed, it’s still worth watching.

My review of “Guilt” season 1 is now completed.

I love Mark Bonnar, he’s such a good actor.