ABC Wednesday - B is for Buffy

It's ABC Wednesday again, and B for me is for Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

In August, 2012, my sweetheart introduced me to this amazing, smart, fun and moving TV show. I’d never watched it before, because back when it was aired here in Brazil during the late 90s, it was set at a time when I was at work, and after a couple of seasons they stopped airing it, and it never had a rerun.

So it was a delight when I started following the adventures of this courageous girl against evil. It was cool to see such a truly powerful female character in action all by herself and not in some male hero’s shadow to justify her own legitimate power.

It was the beginning of our sweet tradition of watching TV series together on evening dates, keeping us even closer despite being in different hemispheres, which made Buffy very special to me. We would watch the episodes, then discuss and comment on them afterwards, sharing lots of fun moments. And that's what we still love to do, several TV shows and movies and games later... 

For those not familiar with Buffy, she’s a modern-times vampire slayer, living in a small town surrounded by...vampires, of course. And demons. And monsters (and some mean teen boys and girls, as in any other place). She’s this fearless young woman who didn't choose to be a leader. Because she doesn't want to be a leader, she doesn't want to fight. She doesn't want to see the darkest side of herself arising to break through the even darkest sides of creatures she definitely wishes they didn't exist, when all she wants is to have an impossible normal life, go to high school (she goes), date someone sweet (she tries to), hang out with her friends at the local night club (sometimes she even manages to do that). And yet, she fights, she leads the friends who help her in her challenges, and she never stops. And amidst all the dangerous madness going on, you see that the show goes deeper than the simply modern tough hero vs villains cliche. Each character has layers and layers of depth. A turmoil of feelings and emotions unfold in so many ways as the episodes progress, that you can hardly breathe watching them dealing with their own nightmares while fighting all those evil creatures. Doubts arise, fears come to surface, emotions explode, relationships are born and die, and all you can do is to watch and get moved by them. 

Carrying the weight of being the only hope of humankind would already be too demanding to anyone, but it's especially hard to someone who’s just leaving her teenager years, and who’s got so much energy and life inside herself, to someone who’s so fragile despite all her physical and mental strength. She walks the thin line between being a warm-hearted human and a emotionless creature, but she chooses to always feel, to always keep her inner fire burning, when it would have been much easier to fight and to live if she had decided blocking her heart and soul to her own needs, to be more efficient and objective in her quest. 

Joss Whedon brilliantly created and directed this show, keeping the audience’s hearts beating at high speed for 7 seasons (and kept them beating for other 3 more seasons in comic books version, with awesome art and storylines. I’m currently reading them, and all I can say is WOW!). His talent always amazed me, and there are episodes that truly took my breath away, so creative and unexpected they were. I wish I could say more about some specific ones, but it would ruin the surprise to anyone new to the show and willing to start watching it. So if you’re into great dialogues, great fight scenes, great characters and great emotions and fun, check this TV show out. You’re not going to be disappointed. 

To read another cool ABC Wednesday entry, visit my love and favorite author, at Under An Outlaw Moon!

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