A Moment That Almost Made You Stop Watching

[iloveromy]

For me I almost stopped watching Buffy after Xander and Anya didn't get married. Season six was dark that I was really needing that light at the end of the tunnel. But in the end I stuck with Buffy AND Angel and the journey was worth it. Even though I really would have liked to see Xander and Anya get married. I really do think it would have been interesting to explore them as a permanent couple... hmm the road not taken.

[henzINNIT]

Same for me. I didn't agree with breaking them up, AND the episode absolutely sucked.

[ladyparasyte]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I know it seems like the norm that young love doesn't usually work out. But you know, sometimes it does. It gets kind of old breaking everyone up and leaving them all unhappy.It doesn't all have to be tragic love.

I can't really say I ever gave up on watching the show though.

As far as Angel, evil Cordelia was really getting me close to thinking about quitting. Just not what I wanted to see. Just too much.

[Rachster]

I don't think there was ever a moment when i thought about not watching anymore,even when Anya and xander broke up it was never that big to me i loved them as a couple but i think the breakup really put Anya on her own feet .

And the closest i ever came to giving on on Buffy was probably during season 4 that was the only season i ever got bored with

And as for angel i never ever thought about stopping even with things like Connor and Cordy the storyline kept me watching.

[Joe]

Angel Season 4 around the time you could tell Cordelia was out of character along with her relationship with Connor, I was actually thinking about selling that season (which now i regret, b/c I never would've gotten to season 5)

[iloveromy]

Yeah for Angel it would definitely be the Connor and Cordelia story. Ick.

[BennyTheKey]

In season 6 when Buffy slept with Spike ! also when Anya and Xander didnt get married

I know its not "watching" but when Buffy slept with Satsu....It didnt want to make me stop reading it but it is out of characther, but thats got nothing to do with the thread,

[stakey]

Iv never had a moment where I thought no way cant believe that happened bugger this show or anything, but i have to agree with the breaking up of xander and anya.

But then again, without them breaking up I never would have gotten my favourite episode of all time 'selfless'. I think the idea was to explore Anya as a character finding her independance and not relying on her attachments to other people to get through life but with all the plots that bogged down season 7 I think this one just got kinda lost amougst all those bastard potentials etc.

But its always nice to have one couple who stick through it al together, for example say chandler monica in Friends.etc. With all ross rachael drama and joey etc its nice to return to a solid couple you know and who will always be together and I think Xander and anya as a married couple would have been a great foundation in Season 7 which although is one of my favourites is still very over the place plot wise. Season 5 worked so well as we had the 2 loving couples of xander and anya and tara and willow to stick with while buffy and dawn were going through all this drama.

[jellymoff]

I had a pretty hard time with "Seeing Red" and Spike trying to rape Buffy. I understand why it happened, and since Spike was evil, its even suprising that it didn't happen earlier. It was just so hard to watch. Every time I see that episode and Spike walks in to that bathroom my stomach hurts. I am a big Spike fan, and it almost made me give up on the character.

[hitnrun017]

Not something that would make me stop watching, but the whole "end of the world" thing got tiring after awhile, it was obvious everytime that the world wasn't going to end. It worked sometimes because big moments that happened (Buffy's death, Buffy killing Angel), but it got old.

[Slayer489]

There was never a moment on Buffy or Angel where I felt like anything was wrong or considered giving up on the shows. The stories were great and worked out really well. Even season 7, I like the big epic battle feel to it that didn't have much time for social events and character development, despite it being the last season. Still love it for what it is. Also, Xander not marrying Anya took the characters in completely different directions that weren't expected and we wouldn't' have the stories of Xander and Anya that we have after 'Hell's Bells'. The whole point of the end of that season was to show that EVERYTHING and EVERYONE was going so downhill and then at the end of the season, coming back to the light, which is what I think Buffy and Dawn looking around them at the end of 'Grave' symbolized. Just my two cents.

Although, when Buffy and Satsu slept together in 'Wolves At The Gate part 1' I was actually shocked and considered giving up on the comics because I just felt they had abandoned the character of Buffy and taken her down this road that was so out of character. But when I read the arc as a whole and looked beyond the shock factor I accepted it.

Great thread by the way!

[VampSlayer]

When I found out Willow was gay, when she and Tara kissed. Then I started watching it like a few weeks later, cause I needed my Buffy. xD

[fedaykin]

Not a moment per say, but Angel S4 did make me stop watching Angel (I only recently watched S5 and found it to be highly redeeming).

I also had a hard time with Seeing Red, because I've always been a fan of Tara and Willow/Tara, and just as we started to get to know her as something other than Willows girlfriend she gets (IMHO clumsily and lazily) plot deviced into oblivion.

[Rachster]

Jun 12, 2008 13:14:08 GMT -5 jellymoff said:

I had a pretty hard time with "Seeing Red" and Spike trying to rape Buffy. I understand why it happened, and since Spike was evil, its even suprising that it didn't happen earlier. It was just so hard to watch. Every time I see that episode and Spike walks in to that bathroom my stomach hurts. I am a big Spike fan, and it almost made me give up on the character.

I agree with that, whenever i re-watch season 6 i always hate coming to seeing red i know the rape thing was needed for spike to get a soul but watching it is just horrible

[Skytteflickan88]

Jun 12, 2008 13:23:15 GMT -5 VampSlayer said:

When I found out Willow was gay, when she and Tara kissed. Then I started watching it like a few weeks later, cause I needed my Buffy. xD

lol

So it took you a season to understand that Willow was gay? Or perhaps you didn't watch all the episodes and missed it, because Willow's gayness was pretty obvious in season 4 and they didn't kiss untill The Body.

For me, Tabula rasa almost made me stop watching. Seeing Willow doing that to Tara & Buffy made me wonder what else Willow hade made tara do... in the the name of their happiness of course.

That made me see that the line between good and evil can be prett thin. If I wasn't watching the whole thing on DVD I might have stop watching for a while. if i had to watch season 6 epsiodes once a week, I'm not sure i would have made it.

I've known since season 3 that willow can be surprisingly selfish, but that was almost too much.

With Angel, the first epsiode in season 4, Deep Down. This scene:

WESLEY: I believe you're looking for this.

FRED: Angel. Oh, my god.

GUNN: Is he gonna be all right?

WESLEY: In time - maybe.

GUNN: He's out of it.

FRED: Oh god.

GUNN: It's okay.

FRED: Look at him.

GUNN: It's gonna be okay.

FRED: What do we do? Wesley... Where are you going?

WESLEY: I'm done here.

GUNN: What took you so long to tell us about Connor?

FRED: You knew what he could do to us.

WESLEY: You're human. He wouldn't have hurt you. I thought you were safer not knowing.

FRED: We were safer? You really don't care anymore, do you?

WESLEY: He'll need more blood. I'm fresh out.

(The door closes behind Wes.)

I hated how the gang abandoned Wesley, because he was trying to protect an infant. And the line "You really don't care anymore, do you?" made me want to choke her. True, Wes should have told about what connor had done, but he had just brought Angel home and she says that. ugh!

[henzINNIT]

Jun 12, 2008 13:08:59 GMT -5 @mikey said:

Xander leaving Anya at the altar is hands down the poorest writing decision the team ever made. It was completely out of character and didn't make sense. Also, Anya's death would have been much more tragic if they were married.

It didn't make me want to stop watching, but it was the first time I really legitimately felt like Joss got it wrong.

Yeah exactly. I agree fully. I was watching it and just thought they were taking the piss. Tradegy for the sake of tradegy.

[ded1]

My "moment" was after season 5.It didn't really have anything to do with what was on the show,though.Television generally takes really good shows and beat them into the ground by continuing them after the show should have ended simply because they're popular.More times than not,though,I feel that they ruin the show due to over-exposure.

I felt(and still do to some extent)that season 5 was a powerful and strangely touching ending to the 5 year journey of Buffy Summers.My large concern with continuing after season 5 was that they would end up ruining the entire series by simply going on longer than they needed to.

I actually was glad that I had watched season 6.While it would never be listed as a favorite season,it was still a good season with some definite strengths and a compelling overall story.

Truthfully,the only reason I watched all of season 7 was because I knew that it was the final season.I was actually glad when it ended

[Greer]

I was pretty upset when Xander & Anya didn't get married. It did seem very out of character, and I know now that Joss doesn't like anyone to have a happy ending. I know the tragic endings really make the show more interesting, but could just one couple stay together? I was also pretty peeved when Tara died, it just felt like he was killing off people just for the sake of doing it. It'd be nice just for one of the characters to have a happy relationship.

Also, I didn't stop watching, but Kennedy's whole character. That girl just irritated the heck out of me. I wish that she wouldn't have been introduced, it would've been more enjoyable for me.

In regards to the comics, I felt that the whole Batsu thing was very out of character for Buffy and it just felt odd reading it. It made for a good story arc, but it just didn't sit well with me.

[barryshaft]

I didn't really have any moments where I felt like completely giving up...but the beginning of Season 5 of Angel was pretty slow going... While the writing in the season is top notch (much more so after the first five episodes) I still don't really like the Wolfram and Hart plot nor do I dig the way the prior two seasons worth of character development were erased for the sake of getting rid of the "Previously On" section of the show...

A lot of the moments listed it just seems like people would give up if something didn't go the way their shipper desires wanted it to. I never really got into the whole "shipping" thing so I was never bothered by any of these bumps in their relationships as it was more about each character's personal journey then who they ended up with.

[brandonr]

Like others, there was never a moment when I wanted to stop watching Buffy. I don't think Joss could've come up with something to make me stop watching either show. I didn't think that Anya and Xander's breakup was out of character at all. I didn't think they were going to get married in the first place, so that was really no surprise to me.

I similarly hated the evil Cordy thing in S4--if they wanted to get rid of someone, they could've picked someone else--and I really didn't like Connor at all in S4. I've heard that a lot of people felt the same way. I never liked Connor as a character until he came back in S5, "Origin", where he found out exactly that.

And with all the deaths that Joss had, I hated him for a little bit, but I got over it.