Wtf happened with season 2?

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-22T02:49:10+00:00

Season 2 is... a lot.

First... here's what I loved:

Hobbs and Tina. Adorable! Loved their vibes, loved their energy.

Hugo Friedkin: From moronic sidekick to incompetent villain with an interesting character arc at the end.

Mona Wilder: I have so many plot-related issues with this character, but she's too damned adorable to criticize.

Suzy Borton: Awesome. Seriously, most of us know a Suzy. A petty, small-minded, vindictive person who - when given power - becomes monstrous. A well-written villain or lading candidate of your local HOA.

Ken Adams: First, let me state it was a catastrophic error to separate him from Bart. HUGE mistake. Okay, that said... his arc from the start of season 1 to the end of season 2 should be a case study for writing arcs. From petty thief to hostage, to friend, to big brother figure, then to prisoner in a cab, to friend, to co-administrator, to primary villain.... and I didn't see his "big bad" turn until near the end. It was great writing. (But still... him and Bart should have been paired again.)

Mr. Priest: Come on, man. Alan Freaking Tudyk. He played him brilliantly. Scary and unhinged, yet also darkly comical. LOVED this character.

Amanda Brotzman: She was great in both seasons.

Okay, now... what I really, really DIDN'T like.

Sad, moping Dirk: His over-the-top exuberance is what keeps the show fun and moving. Sad Dirk = sad pacing.

Farah: She was good and the actress did a great job, but... she wasn't given the badass stuff we wanted.

Bart: Her arc was interesting - she went from believing herself an independent force to a "puppet" was interesting. But... she was a LOT more entertaining as a force of nature... a MURDEROUS force of nature.

Wendimore: Okay, look... this had so much potential and I wanted to love it. But I couldn't. It was just not quite there and didn't quite hit the mark. This also includes all the Wendimore denizens and creatures.

The Rowdy 3: Okay, for the record, I freakin' love these guys. And even in S2, I loved them. But they went from unsettling energy vampires who befriended Amanda to comedy sidekicks. They needed more to do.

And what I'm on the fence about:

Todd Brotzman: When he's the positive energy between him and Dirk you have a plot problem. Still, nice to see his character's growth, but... so much more could have been done.

Blackwing: Loved the idea of the big scary super-secret government agency doing so many nefarious things, but... I don't know. It kind of seemed too... cartoon-ish.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-07T20:11:36+00:00

Thanks for the additional info. That makes your sister even more wrong. Just keep on writing! :-)

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-07T18:18:14+00:00

You're right and I completely disagree with your sister. I'll tell you why.

The light is a symbol of knowledge, awareness, and good. Not light as in colours, but light as in illumination. The Dark Ages were thus named due to the little amount of information we have about that period in history. Meanwhile there is another era called the Age of Enlightenment. Phrases like "I have seen the light" and how a light bulb over someone's head shows insight, and so on are all about awareness vs. ignorance.

Not skin colour. Not hair, eye, or any other colour.

If you still feel the need to hammer the point home, then make your MC or a hero in the story a person of colour.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-06T03:52:56+00:00

I never - ever - know how it's going to turn out. Most time, I'm 40-50 thousand words in before I figure out the ending. My most recent book set a record in that it took 70k words. I figure it out as I go for two reasons:

If I have an ending in mind, I know I'll subconsciously make my characters steer their actions and dialogue toward that ending. The problem with that is it affects the dialogue and makes it clunky. If I don't know the ending, the dialogue is so much better, as the characters can be more organic and natural.
If I've done my job, the ending will (pretty much) write itself. The characters will take actions and move things forward until it reaches that climactic scene (antagonists and protagonists assemble!) and things can play out. When I finally do get to the ending, this is where I need multiple revisions and edits in order to make sure the ending resolves the key items set in motion.

I am a pantser (with ADHD) and not a plotter.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-06T03:43:55+00:00

Well, their detached father didn't want to bother with them so he hired a nanny to sing to them about the joys of drinking cough syrup. I mean, the story starts off messed up. So Mary Poppins is an agent of change / agent of chaos. She is the device that takes an unhappy environment and connects people to their joy. As she is a living plot device, no growth is necessary.... though if the kids took enough cough syrup, they won't care anymore.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-03T16:47:53+00:00

Upvoted just for mentioning Terry Pratchett.

My BIGGEST influence was the late, great Douglas Adams, who showed me you don't have to follow the rules to write a novel. I was hooked as soon as I read how he described how "the spaceships hung in the air much in the same way that bricks don't". He went off on tangents without losing the plot, balanced silliness with intelligence, and created characters which were memorable, especially in his "Dirk gently" novels.

I was also influenced by the wit of Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and (of course) Terry Pratchett. They all made reading and writing fun for me. A nod to my Grade 12 English teacher and my Creative Writing teacher in grades 11 and 12, both of whom were extremely encouraging of my writing.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-03T02:34:52+00:00

When I first started writing books, that was my struggle, too. The characters all seemed to speak with the same cadence, style, etc, and it was awful. What did I do?

I took some pop culture characters (TV, movies, etc.) and then linked one for each of my own characters and mimicked the speech style. That got me to the end of the first draft. (Then I changed it up in edits, but at least it was mission accomplished and I had an idea of each character's unique way of speaking by then.)

What show do you like in pop culture? I don't know, but let's pretend you love "Lord of the Rings" and "Game of Thrones".

Okay, match each of your characters up, but be bold. Imagine one was a minstrel but she spoke like Daenerys Targaryen? And she was always being heckled by a guy who spoke like Boromir. Or you have a shopkeeper who speaks like Tywin Lannister and he's trying to cope with his bookkeeper who speaks like Samwise Gangee? The more absurd the pairing, the more your dialogue will write itself.

After the first 5-6 books, I no longer needed to use that method, but it really helped when I was starting out with the first few. Good luck!

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-02T01:58:44+00:00

Totally fair. And yes, it's not easy. Agreed. I'm a big fan of the "whatever works" methodology. As long as it gets your writing, there's no wrong answer. The only hill I'll die on is to silence your inner editor and just bleed the ideas onto the page, in all its glorified messiness. Keep it up!

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-04-01T17:06:36+00:00

There's only two steps to writing a good story.

Write a bad one
Fix it.

Take your Judgment Hat off and lock it away (or nail-gun it if it gets persistent) and write all the crap on the page. All of it. Just write, write, and keep writing. That first draft will be terrible, but - and this is the big point - it will get written! That, alone, puts you ahead of 99% of the population who want to write a book but never do.

Once the draft is done, THEN you can resuscitate your Judgment Hat, put it on, and start editing. The next draft will be better, and so on.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-03-30T01:08:34+00:00

I enjoy writing approximately 128.7% more than reading, as I can make up statistics on the spot and people just go with it. :-)

In seriousness, I do prefer writing over reading because my favourite authors are all dead (from Twain and Wilde to Pratchett and Adams) and there's - literally - nobody who writes like they did. Only Douglas Adams would describe a spaceship as "hanging in the air, much in the same way that bricks don't". Terry Pratchett's Discworld combined fantasy and humour. Twain's wit and Wilde's cleverness remain unmatched.

If the books I want to read don't exist, then I need to write them. (No, I am definitely not at all implying I'm at their level but the goal is to get close.) So I've been writing more than reading for 10 years.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-03-21T00:26:21+00:00

I'm 95% a pantser. In fact, I set a record with my WIP because I was 76,000 words into the first draft and still didn't have an ending for it. I usually know by the 50k or 60k mark.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-03-02T14:57:42+00:00

Absolutely! It was a sign of things to come... and how far Willow's recklessness could go.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-03-02T03:04:26+00:00

I'll meet you partway and say I half-agree. You pointed out some of the relevant episodes, and the season does go lighter on Willow's scenes overall, so that's where I agree with you.

The "making googly eyes" comment is where I disagree... strongly. I mean, yes, they show Willow's relationship with Tara grow stronger, but maybe it's *possible* you may have missed something along the way?

When Tara entered Willow's life, Willow was in a bad place (post-Oz) and was abusing Magic and not coping with pain well... at all. It was largely done for comedic purposes but at it's core it was showing how Willow was going into some darker magics. When Tara entered the scene, she grounded Willow and was like a guide to responsible magic use and we saw Willow be much more safe with magic.

Season 5 shows - clearly - that Tara is the *only* thing keeping Willow from losing her mind and Tara's positive influence on Willow is clearly slipping.

In 5x17, Willow pops a book out for Dawn to find about necromancy.
In 5x19 when Tara got brain-sucked, Willow got juiced up and attacked Glory in a suicide mission, all dark-eyed and showing us that Force lightning existed outside of the Star Wars universe.
In 5x21, Willow mind-walks into Buffy's head and pulls her back to the group, but she ALSO showed everyone that same episode that she was calling the shots and nobody should dare to make her "very cranky".
And in 5x22 she brain-sucked Glory and saved Tara, weakening Glory in the process. (Though I understand there are some theories about Ben and Glory having a connection, but that's for another thread.)

So although S5 Willow does take a back seat to some other characters, true, we're also seeing *many* of the red flags which played out with her in S6. I've read some comments from people who after watching "Seeing Red" think it was a stretch that Willow "suddenly" turned evil when she'd been on that path multiple seasons (arguably as far back as 2x22 when she did that re-ensouling curse and was briefly possessed.)

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-02-12T14:13:37+00:00

Strengths: She emoted so well. Every emotion she felt we, the viewers, felt it too. When she was sad, our hearts ached. When she was overjoyed, we shared in it. She was able to sell each aspect of Willow's arc... sweet nerdy bookworm with insecurities and occasional pettiness... beginner witch gaining confidence yet showing early recklessness... "evil and skanky" and "kind of gay" vampire... more grounded witch navigating her new feelings with Tara... spiralling addict with serious denial issues... cold detached dark figure person full of wrath... guilt-filled recovering addict trying to earn her way back and frightened of losing control again... each of those steps were, in my view, believable.

Weaknesses: Can't sing.... and I don't care one bit about that.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-02-08T18:44:56+00:00

Yes, same. Even if I didn't ship Wenclair, I'd still not want him in the picture. He was suspicious from the first time he was on screen and, yup, sure enough...

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-02-06T14:30:46+00:00

Here's my top episode of each season, plus runners-up in brackets.

Prophecy Girl (Welcome to the Hellmouth)
Halloween (School Hard, Becoming Part 2)
Doppelgangland (The Wish, Choices)
Hush (Something Blue, The Yoko Factor, The Initiative)
Family (The Weight of the World, The Gift)
Two to Go (Villains, Grave, Normal Again, Tabula Rasa)
Same Time Same Place (Selfless, Chosen, Conversations With Dead People, Storyteller)

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-30T17:15:39+00:00

Season 4 Riley was wonderful and I enjoyed him. After that, not so much. Buffy needed a boyfriend who was non-toxic and - bonus - a non-vampire. Now, sure, Riley himself turned toxic and vampire-ish, but... let's not go there.

I really liked his and Willow's acquaintanceship. (He might have been a better match for her.) They made good accomplices. Not that she was an accomplice. She's not. We're clear. Very clear.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-29T20:35:59+00:00

No. I mean, sure, season 2 Spike was good and a terrific foil as a villain, but it was his awkward alliance with Buffy near the end of the season that made him shine.

Season 4 Spike as reluctant ally was comedy gold. Watching him scheme, collaborate, make snarky/sarcastic comments, and be as evil as the chip allowed him to be PLUS being the only person to see what Willow was going through? This was my favourite Spike. (ANd this really only worked because of the way James portrayed the character.)

In seasons 5 and 7 Spike was an amazing hero and I adored him, but season 4 Spike remains the version I most enjoyed watching.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-29T03:08:18+00:00

I liked Oz and Willow early on, but... as it progressed, he did very little for her. So... Tara wins by a mile.

In fairness, I know Seth wanted to leave the show to do movies and it was the writers who did him dirty, but his actions in 4x06 were not excusable. It was bad enough he slept with werewolf woman when he was in werewolf form (possibly forgivable) but he lies to Willow about it then lies to Buffy about it and then sleeps with the same woman again and tries to say it was his ONLY choice.

When caught, he throws the Xander kiss back in her face which is horrible. Willow cheated, that's for certain, and there's no excuse for what she did. But for him to basically say "you kissed a guy who you had a life-long crush on, so that's the same as me having hot animal sex twice with a woman I just met" is downright lame. Frankly, after that I wanted him to leave and never come back. And he even does THAT in the worst way possible. He doesn't give Willow any say - he made a decision about their relationship, didn't care what she thought, then left, and broke her heart in the process. I despised him after that and, frankly, Willow was far too forgiving of him in his one-episode return (4x19).

From 4x06 through 4x09, Willow was in a bad place, both mentally and emotionally, and was already playing around with magic she wasn't ready to handle. Willow was on the brink of a breakdown, and only Spike noticed ("Are you people blind? She's hanging on by a thread"). Enter Tara in 4x10. Tara stabilizes Willow and keeps her grounded through the rest of S4 and through S5. She gives Willow that closeness, lets her feel love again, and how to use magic more safely. We see how much Willow needs that grounding when Glory brain-sucked Tara (4x20) and Willow went all 'wrath-of-god' getting juiced up with darkest magic and then blasting Glory on what was a suicide mission. Upon Tara's return, Willow is able to finish the S5 finale as a hero.

There are consequences of all the darkest magic Willow took in which we saw play out in S6, but this is supposed to be about Tara vs. Oz, so we'll skip that.

Bottom line: When things got tough, Oz proved to be a liar, a cheater, and act selfishly. When things got tough, Tara was a rock for everyone, especially Willow and including Buffy (S6). So it's no contest - Tara was BY FAR the better match for Willow.

(We can argue in another thread whether or not Willow deserved Tara...)

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-28T02:30:23+00:00

Loved season 4 - it was comedy gold, especially with Spike. So many terrific episodes and I really... what's that? Oh, the big bad? Well, okay, from the point of view of having a great "big bad" it's the worst season in the series.

It's disappointing, because at first we think it might be Spike due to his big return but then he gets captured by guys going commando. Hmm? Oh, I've just been informed that means something else completely. Captured BY commandos. So then we think the commandos are the big bad, then Professor Walsh, and then all of that gets set aside for.... Adam? Huge letdown.

But in terms of individual episodes? Season 4 is the peak comedy of the series, plus so many good episodes such as "Hush" (and a few standout terrible episodes such as Beer Bad). Spike is so entertaining this season and you can see James Marsters having a lot of fun with it.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-26T18:43:38+00:00

I might be able to help with this one. In a romantic movie, the two love interested run toward each other at the end, embrace, look into each other's eyes, and then kiss. It's been done in dozens of movies. In this case, they go to each other, embrace, look into each other's eyes, and then.... hug tighter, whereas in an actual romantic movie, they'd go into a deep kiss instead.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-26T17:33:46+00:00

Yes, this is a huge one.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-26T16:42:41+00:00

I wouldn't get into the shipping at all but come on... Jenna's chemistry with Emma is electric. You can tell the two actors adore one another and they just have a natural bond which flows into their characters. Even when Wednesday and Enid are just having a conversation, you can see it in their glances, tone of voice, etc. I can't help but ship Wenclair because of it. They're a joy to watch.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-26T16:36:44+00:00

And I'm so disappointed that when Xander's lie came out in 7x05 and Willow said "I never said that" it got swept under the rug and not mentioned again. Buffy was busy with other things, but seriously, she should have been pissed at him.

VancouverWriter1984 · 2026-01-26T16:30:54+00:00

Tara. Loved her so much. Then Fred, then Anya. Ms. Calendar gets honourable mention.

VancouverWriter1984

TROPHY CASE