In 1997, Joss Whedon became a household name with the launch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a progressive pop culture phenomenon which actively sought to rip apart the damsel in distress stereotype with one of television's first true female superheroes.
With talks of a reboot now underway, Whedon will once again use the Buffyverse as a gateway to a wider lens of character representation, with a more diverse cast taking on the show's now iconic roles.
Looking back at Buffy's seven year history, the fandom of the series has only grown as newer generations continue to study the show, but even with all its upsides, not everything Buffy did was always well thought out. On occasion, the vampire-slaying fantasy series broke away from simple logic for the sake of storytelling. At other times, it was simply a matter of the writers' room forgetting details which appeared in early seasons. Either way, there's a lot that has irked the BtVS community over the years, with Whedon providing little to no clarification.
As we prepare to make way for a new look into the Buffyverse, we're putting the original show under the microscope to bring attention to some of the burning questions still lingering more than fifteen years after the series finale. While the new Buffy may not shed light on any of the issues, hopefully the new showrunner, Monica Owusu-Breen, will avoid these pitfalls.
Join us as we take a peek at the 20 Things Wrong with Buffy the Vampire Slayer We All Choose to Ignore.
The Slayer's Money Problems
In the season six episode "Doublemeat Palace," Buffy begins working behind the counter of a degrading fast food establishment.
Apart from Xander's career as a construction worker and Anya and Giles' gigs at the Magic Box, the Scooby Gang's are rarely finances addressed in the show, yet Buffy's able to retain her Slayer position without much financial support.
Given the high-ranking status and long-lasting reputation of the Watchers Council, it stands to reason that a Watcher would likely receive some sort of incentive to keep guard over the Slayer, but from Buffy's clear financial problems, it's evident that she isn't compensated for her work.
How is it possible that other Slayers have traveled the world without any means of getting by?
All the Other Hellmouths
Positioned beneath Sunnydale High's library, covered by the Seal of Danzalthar, the Hellmouth is a hotbed for supernatural activity which attracts many monstrosities to the sunny, quaint town.
According to the Buffyverse mythos, not only are the barriers between dimensions weakened by a Hellmouth, but each one contains a portal which gives its user access to both earth and Hell.
Apart from the Sunnydale Hellmouth, the show also makes mention of a second known Hellmouth in Cleveland, Ohio, although other unspecified cities are also hinted at.
With so many supernatural spots in existence, one major plot exclusion from the show has been why reports of world wide phenomenon are never depicted. It also raises the question of why Buffy never leaves Sunnydale when other Hellmouths would most likely cause problems in other locations around the globe.
Joyce and Buffy's house is constantly getting wrecked
Following her expulsion from Hemery High School, Buffy and her mother Joyce moved to 1630 Revello Drive in Sunnydale. The Summers home would gradually become a welcome hangout for the Scooby Gang and, despite frequent supernatural mishaps, Joyce would continue to have an open door policy, inviting almost anyone inside.
As Buffy's sole guardian, Joyce was sadly mistreated for her kindness as her home was destroyed on several occasions. In time, the house would suffer an attack by Angelus, a fight with the demon Ovu Mobani, and a kidnapping by the vampire Cyrus.
In all the time that this was happening, Joyce's house would be magically repaired or cleaned up without a single mention of the incident, which means Joyce was either the kindest mother a Slayer could have or the house magically cleaned itself.
Breathing Vampires
The controversy of breathing vampires has been a hot topic of discussion in the BtVS community for two decades. The heavily debated conflict began when Angel and Xander came to Buffy's rescue shortly after she was drowned by the Master in season one.
Angel cannot administer mouth-to-mouth to save Buffy, so he asks Xander for help.
The only problem is Angel is shown panting from shortness of breath a few moments earlier.
Throughout the series, the obvious plot hole crops up on multiple occasions. Clearly, the lack of attention is a fault of the writers' room, unless all the vampires just enjoy simulating the act of breathing when no one's around to notice.
Buffy's Changing Abilities
Although the Slayer is handed a life of extreme responsibility, she is also endowed with incredible powers. Among her abilities are enhanced strength, superhuman agility and heightened resiliency and healing. Throughout the series, Buffy can be seen throwing human-sized subjects, outrunning a motorcyclist, and withstanding blunt force trauma, but depending on the fight, her abilities appear to fluctuate wildly.
As an indicator of the varying level of powers, Buffy's strength, resiliency, and healing all appear to vary to fit different storylines, rather than her retaining similar levels for all her abilities throughout the show.
In addition, in the pilot episode, Giles mentions that Buffy would be able to sense all vampires when they're around, though this minor detail appears to have been forgotten as she is later seen being surprised by vampires in later episodes.
The Big Bads Are Too Patient
The Big Bads of the Buffyverse are the seasonal top-of-the-heap villains that rival Buffy and the Scooby Gang from year to year, managing to outmuscle and outmaneuver the protagonists for an extended stay until finally receiving their just desserts.
Although most of the Big Bads gave Buffy all she could handle, their greatest flaw was their convenience. Buffy is rarely overwhelmed by multiple big bads at a time.
The newest one seems to show up like clockwork right around the time she's just finished dusting off the previous.
What's even more convenient is how these almighty villains never appear when Buffy is facing off against a lesser opponent in a weekly monster-of-the-week episode, showing extreme patience when they should be on the attack.
The Absence of Buffy's Father
Appearing as a minor character in season one, Buffy's father Hank separated from her mother Joyce around the time Buffy was called to be the Slayer in 1996. Although he is briefly mentioned throughout the series, he's largely forgotten in later episodes and fails to show up shortly after Joyce passes away in season five, leaving both Buffy and Dawn without any kind of financial or emotional support.
As mentioned in season five, Buffy tried reaching out to her father shortly after the news of Joyce's passing, though she couldn't get a hold of him as he was traveling, but what's more perplexing is that he never pops up to offer them a place to stay.
Surely, he would've discovered what had happened at some point, making it highly unlikely that he wouldn't reach out.
Vampire Rules Are Inconsistent
The rules involving vampires change from show to show. In Buffy, the rules are established in the Slayer Handbook, which outlines all the significant ways to ward off the vicious attacks of all supernatural creatures.
By the Slayer Handbook, the centuries old ways of vampires should never change, making it all the more confusing that the vampires never seem to follow their own logic.
Throughout various episodes, either Spike or Angel have been easily hurt by exposure to sunlight, while other times any kind of exposure is depicted as only partially bothersome.
In other moments, vampires' strengths have also varied with some easily able to bust through an iron door, while others find it hard to match up with the likes of Xander in a one-on-one fight.
The Lack of Male Slayers and Female Vampires
In the Buffy season nine comic book arc, the Buffyverse was introduced to its first male Slayer with Billy Lane, an openly gay teen coping with homophobic bullying in high school before emerging as a vampire hunter, despite not being called.
Originally created as a reversal of the ditzy blonde trope in 1980s slasher flicks, Buffy was always intended as a message of female empowerment. As a result, females were the Slayers while males were most often depicted as vampires.
While this makes sense thematically, it doesn't quite add up narratively. Given that the Slayer is intended to be a weapon for all mankind, is it not rational that a male would serve as that weapon at some point in history? Likewise, why would women be depicted less often as vampires when they're just as likely to be sired as men?
Xander's Mistreatment of Women
Xander is one of the series' more controversial characters. As a blue-collar working man with inadequacy issues about his own masculinity, he often represents the condescending male who objectifies women, while simultaneously getting along with women more than men.
Despite his kind-hearted nature, he's a walking contradiction.
Xander's treatment of women has been put under the microscope by fans over the years. He began with unreciprocated feelings for Buffy before entering into a secretive relationship with Cordelia, then cheated on her with Willow, had a one-night stand with Faith, and lastly a long-lasting relationship with Anya, who he left at the alter.
Still, with all his failed partnerships, he's one of the most beloved members of the series.
The Confusing Slayer Lineage
At the start of the series, the introductory lines lay out the background behind the Slayer. According to the show's mythos, only one girl is called upon once a generation to defend society against the vampires and various other maleficent forces. It's a simplistic explanation, only the Slayer lineage isn't so simple.
When Buffy drowns in season one, her demise activates a second Slayer - Kendra. Only Buffy is soon resurrected, resuming her role as the Slayer while Kendra retains her powers as well.
When Kendra meets her end, Faith is activated, meaning once again two Slayers exist simultaneously.
To make matters worse, Buffy's life is later cut short again, only no one is activated because she already passed away one time previously. It's a whole mess which could all be done away with by simply keeping one Slayer activated at a time.
Characters' Inconsistent Power Levels
By standard definitions of strength, it's hard to get a definitive reading of Buffyverse characters' powers. At different times throughout the series, various characters have exhibited higher or lower levels of power.
In the case of Willow, for instance, she was at her peak by series' end, tapping into her powers to activate all potential Slayers and save the world from the First. Likewise, a character like Angel was strongest when he was soulless.
Throughout the series, each character has put on their own fighting displays, though they've all struggled at times facing opponents that would otherwise seem routine. In Willow's instance, her powers were escalating, but for Buffy, who many would expect to be the strongest of the series, an otherwise easy vampire may give her a hard time when it served the story.
Sunnydale High's Conduct Policy
In season one of Buffy, Sunnydale High's principal Robert Flutie is viciously devoured by a pack of students possessed by the spirits of hyenas. For the next few seasons, Robert Snyder would take the reigns, covering up the school's supernatural phenomenons through contrived explanations while keeping in contact with the season three Big Bad Mayor Richard Wilkins.
Although Snyder's involvement in Sunnydale's cover-ups would largely explain how the school was able to come away clean with so many students' early demises, there's no plausible way the constant untimely ends of half the school wouldn't have gained national recognition, let alone caused controversy throughout the town.
After the school's destruction in season three at the hands of the Mayor, Sunnydale was rebuilt, though little seemed to change with the school's conduct policy or sense of awareness.
All of "Once More, With Feeling"
As the most technically complex and stylized episode in Buffy's history, "Once More, with Feeling" was a critically-lauded and fan-worshipped musical that took months of preparation. Requiring hours of extra voice work and dance training, the final product became highly regarded as the best episode of the series, though little of it made sense.
When the entire town of Sunnydale begins spontaneously singing and dancing, the Scooby Gang discover a demon named Sweet is responsible. By the episode's conclusion, it is revealed that Xander summoned Sweet as a way of seeing a happy ending for his marriage plans.
While the episode is fun, it makes little sense why Xander would keep the entire town singing if he knew the cause.
Not only are his actions reprehensible, but they're impractical.
The Initiative's Secret Existence
Secretly housed underneath the UC Sunnydale Campus, the Demon Research Initiative was a highly classified US agency tasked with the capture and physiological study of hostile subterrestrials. Established during World War II, the Initiative was able to maintain its tight-lipped existence for decades before running into Buffy in season four.
After encountering the Initiative's director Maggie Walsh, Buffy discovers that the facility is operating under a project which intends to create cybernetically enhanced human-demon hybrids.
While the revelation is a major plot point for season four, it makes little sense why Buffy, along with the support of the Watchers Council, wouldn't have noticed Initiative commandos roaming about town earlier, especially given the fact that it's clearly indicated that the facility has been working in Sunnydale for years.
The Trajectory of Warren's Bullet
The relationship between Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay was a transcendental moment for television, presenting a fresh perspective on an openly lesbian couple that was far from perfect. In the season six shocker that left fans reeling, Tara's life was tragically cut short when she was struck with a stray bullet after a failed attempt on Buffy's life by the notable Scooby Gang enemy Warren Mears.
Although Tara's end left many fans in turmoil, others were left scratching their heads at the plausibility of the bullet trajectory that took her life.
Given Warren's entry into Buffy's backyard, the bullet should never have came remotely close to entering the bedroom window, let alone been able to hit Tara in the torso, leading many to believe the bullet must have been infused with some kind of dark magic that defied the laws of physics.
Too Many Deus Ex Machina Moments
A saving grace for all the show's characters, the deus ex machina plot device is not only an example of lazy writing, it's a conveniently placed twist which robs a series of its "anything goes" attitude.
As a series with a vampire-slaying female protagonist, Buffy began as a risk-taking concept, but as the show played more into its moments of last second, life-saving plot points, fans rarely bought into its seemingly dangerous world.
In many instances throughout the series, Buffy can be witnessed saving her friends from harm in the closing minutes of an episode,. Perhaps the worst offender is in the show's series finale, when Buffy gives Spike the amulet which would miraculously cause the collapse of the Hellmouth and end the Scooby Gang's battle against the First.
No One Questions What's Happening in Sunnydale
One particular effect that comes with living over a Hellmouth is that a town's residents can often have their perspectives distorted by its influences. That's one logical explanation for why no one in Sunnydale ever seems to talk about the town's supernatural shortcomings.
Another explanation is simply that everyone feels uncomfortable talking about something that could threaten their very existence.
What's really unclear is why anyone stays in Sunnydale, but beyond just choosing to ignore everything going on, a more important plot hole is why few outsiders have come to the town's rescue.
Seemingly, nothing in Sunnydale would appear normal to the rest of the outside world, so how is it that so many creatures fly under the radar in such a small location?
There's Only One Slayer
In the series finale "Chosen," Willow taps into some powerful magic which rewrites the rules of the Slayer Handbook by activating all potential slayers around the world, helping the Scooby Gang win during the Battle of the Hellmouth.
As the strength in numbers depicted in "Chosen" clearly indicate, multiple slayers are advantageous, thanks to their abilities and increased set of eyes and ears around the world.
With an unknown amount of Hellmouths around the world and an unimaginable amount of supernatural forces to be reckoned with, it's only logical that more than one Slayer should exist. Why would the Shadow Men only create one Slayer to protect the world to begin with?
No One Would Want to Live in Sunnydale
Apart from its horrible location atop of a Hellmouth, the city of Sunnydale is an enigma in and of itself. With a population of 38,500 inhabitants, the town features many elements of a much larger city without the apparent populace or economic sustainability to support it.
Home to forty-three churches, twelve gothic cemeteries, a small private college, and an entertainment district, there's little to justify how Sunnydale has stayed financially afloat.
Shortly after leaving Los Angeles, Joyce chose Sunnydale as her new home, potentially due to the attractions of the town, but in reality, with so much supernatural activity surrounding the area, there's no way an increased body count wouldn't ward off potential home owners. Logically, no one in their right mind would ever buy a home in Sunnydale with so many cemeteries and so little work.
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What else about Buffy the Vampire Slayer doesn't quite add up? Let us know in the comments!