The first thing that comes to mind when discussing or describing season 7 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is that its reputation is a direct result of fans not being pleased with some choices made rather than the actual quality of writing. Sure, this season is uneven, but its highs more than make up for its more uneven sections.
The main criticisms of season 7 are centered on the middle section of the season, when the potential slayers start showing up. I don't know if any of these episodes are bad, exactly, but they're not incredibly good and do slow the pace a little. I imagine they would have been frustrating on television, but they're only mildly annoying on DVD.
Season 7 doesn't begin spectacularly well, but there are enough gems to make it very strong overall: "Same Time, Same Place", "Selfless", "Sleeper", and especially "Conversations With Dead People", which is easily one of the best episodes of the entire series. Following "Sleeper", the season dips, as has been noted by others. My issue with people consistently claiming this is one of the weaker seasons (which it most certainly is not) is that the opening and closing sections are so good they cancel out the six episodes in the middle of the season that everybody complains about. Virtually everything from "Lies My Parents Told Me" and forward is brilliant, especially the series finale, which is miles better than "The Gift" as far as I'm concerned.
Drew Goddard enhances the writing team, and all his episodes are great. The rest of the writing crew do a good job as usual as does the core cast, as do(warning! Blasphemy ahead!) the actresses who play the potentials, who aren't nearly as annoying as say... Adam or Glory. All in all this is a really excellent season of television that is easily among the better seasons of Buffy, although not as good as seasons 3 or 6.
As a final note: who didn't like having Faith back?
Season average based on all episodes: 7.63/10
Ranking of seasons with average rating:
1. Season 3: 8.23/10
2. Season 6: 7.86/10
3. Season 7: 7.63/10
4. Season 2: 7.10/10
5. Season 5: 6.86/10
6. Season 4: 6.36/10
7. Season 1: 5.33/10
Series average: 7.05/10
Rating as a whole: 8/10
The main criticisms of season 7 are centered on the middle section of the season, when the potential slayers start showing up. I don't know if any of these episodes are bad, exactly, but they're not incredibly good and do slow the pace a little. I imagine they would have been frustrating on television, but they're only mildly annoying on DVD.
Season 7 doesn't begin spectacularly well, but there are enough gems to make it very strong overall: "Same Time, Same Place", "Selfless", "Sleeper", and especially "Conversations With Dead People", which is easily one of the best episodes of the entire series. Following "Sleeper", the season dips, as has been noted by others. My issue with people consistently claiming this is one of the weaker seasons (which it most certainly is not) is that the opening and closing sections are so good they cancel out the six episodes in the middle of the season that everybody complains about. Virtually everything from "Lies My Parents Told Me" and forward is brilliant, especially the series finale, which is miles better than "The Gift" as far as I'm concerned.
Drew Goddard enhances the writing team, and all his episodes are great. The rest of the writing crew do a good job as usual as does the core cast, as do(warning! Blasphemy ahead!) the actresses who play the potentials, who aren't nearly as annoying as say... Adam or Glory. All in all this is a really excellent season of television that is easily among the better seasons of Buffy, although not as good as seasons 3 or 6.
As a final note: who didn't like having Faith back?
Season average based on all episodes: 7.63/10
Ranking of seasons with average rating:
1. Season 3: 8.23/10
2. Season 6: 7.86/10
3. Season 7: 7.63/10
4. Season 2: 7.10/10
5. Season 5: 6.86/10
6. Season 4: 6.36/10
7. Season 1: 5.33/10
Series average: 7.05/10
Rating as a whole: 8/10