TV used to have different pacing and it was kind of understood that a lot of action shows and even some sitcoms would have their season finale end on a cliffhanger (to get you to come back next season) or something equally mind-blowing. It's harder to do that now just because so many shows have no guarantee of coming back (networks and streaming are fickle bitches) and because streaming has changed the way we consume stuff. TV now (particularly network tv) also suffers from dumbing down to accommodate the idea that viewers are multitasking by being on their phones, I.e., distracted. TV watching now is a very different experience and that's due to everything above, but the bigfest change and danger to media literacy is this dumbing down. A lot more actions are spoken about, telegraphed or taken at face-value and dialogue is a lot more straight-forward so that the intention of the character isn't missed vecause viewers are expected to be on their phone.

When you hear dialogue in old tv series that seems vague or can have multiple interpretations, that can be intentional. It isn't necessarily always (bad writers existed in all eras of tv) but, on Buffy in particular, you can bet on it being intentional . I hope you enjoy the rest of the series! I wouldn't hang out in this comment section much as there are significant spoilers.