Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the modern-day progenitor for every supernatural teen drama series that dominates television or streaming today. While series creator Joss Whedon is facing a massive backlash due to his on-set behavior in a variety of projects, the fond feelings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer remain. The series is, of course, very of its era (the late ’90s to early ’00s), which means some things that characters did have aged poorly.
Part of this is due to the changing socio-cultural norms over the two decades since Buffy‘s 1997 premiere. Viewing the series in 2021 is very different from viewing it in 1997. For one thing, viewers are connecting more online now than was possible when the show was originally airing and using that time to discuss their favorite characters. As the lead of the series, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) gets a lot of scrutiny for actions that have not held up in the present day.
10 Self-Centered
Buffy Summers was, mostly, a pretty good person who was saddled with a heavy burden at a young age. That doesn’t change the fact that sometimes she acted as if the world revolved around her. When people were dying, she was often more worried about boy trouble. This caused a major disconnect between her sense of duty and trying to find a normal life.
While it is a core conflict of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, other shows have tackled such things and handled it better with characters who don’t act like helping people is a major inconvenience at times.
9 Her Plans Sucked
When a character tries to save the world, they usually need to have a good plan. For the most part, the Scoobies came up with some really great ones. On her own, however, Buffy tended to lean toward improvising and using her environment to her advantage. That’s not always a bad move, of course. Still, it definitely got frustrating, especially when dealing with some of the mid-tier forces of evil.
8 What Do You Want, Buffy?
One thing Buffy continually seemed to want was “a normal life,” which is common of any Chosen One character. However, this was a little inconsistent throughout the series. For example, after dying long enough at the end of season 1 for a new Slayer to be called, Buffy seems to resent the fact she’s not really special anymore. This leads her to be outright rude to Kendra (Bianca Lawson).
Additionally, whenever Buffy is “brought down to normal,” she doesn’t seem to appreciate the “shot” at normality. This back-and-forth over what Buffy actually wants is a particularly frustrating part of the series.
7 Wanted To Forget Dawn
Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg) remains a pretty polarizing character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom. On one hand, some audiences think the hate for her at the time was relatively overblown and that she ended up being a decent character. On the other hand, some believe her inclusion in the series, even explained as being a magical Key given form for Buffy to protect, was a poor decision and marked a downturn in the show’s quality.
Either way, for all purposes, Dawn is Buffy’s sister. Buffy has the corresponding memories of this sisterly bond. However, when she finds out Dawn wasn’t human originally, her first reaction is to immediately find a way to erase her, which is just harsh. While Buffy eventually decides not to do anything, it still is not a good look for the character.
6 Literally Ditched Everyone In Her Life
After sending Angel (David Boreanaz) to a hell dimension in the season 2 finale, viewers learn Buffy had run away from Sunnydale, seeing her cry on a bus out of town. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3, episode 1 “Anne,” it’s revealed Buffy never returned home to Sunnydale in the interim. Instead, she works as a waitress under the name Anne while her friends continue fighting vampires back in Sunnydale and worry about her.
It’s a callous move on Buffy’s part, especially in regard to her utter lack of care for her loved ones. While the emotional toll of sending her boyfriend to a hell dimension must have been a lot, Buffy’s friends and family arguably had it worse as they didn’t know if she was alive or dead.
5 Emotional Distance With Her Friends
One of the core strengths of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the bond between the affectionately nicknamed Scoobies. Without her friends surrounding her, Buffy probably wouldn’t have been able to accomplish half of what she did over the course of the series. In later seasons, however, there seems to be a greater emotional distance between Buffy and her friends, starting with the group growing apart in season 4.
While that sort of distance between people is natural and happens, Buffy still ends up dragging her friends into various villain fights. It just ends up reading like friendship doesn’t mean as much to her as it does to the others in her group.
4 Mocking The First Slayer’s Dreads
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4, episode 22 “Restless,” the season finale focuses on the dreams of Buffy and her friends after the fight against the Big Bad in the previous episode. Due to them tapping into the power of the Slayer line, the First Slayer (Sharon Ferguson) hunts them down one by one in their dreams to kill them. This all culminates in Buffy and the First Slayer meeting in her dream and fighting.
Not only is the First Slayer, who is a Black woman, acting like an animal during their fight, but Buffy makes fun of her fashion and her dreads. If the whole scene happened as is in 2021, it would be game over for the series and Buffy as a character.
3 Black And White Morality
Buffy the Vampire Slayer could be a very deep show at times, which made it frustrating when Buffy showed a very black-and-white moral view of the world. The character operated under the idea the bad guys are bad and thus need to be taken out. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work like that, as changing media trends reflect. Even when Buffy the Vampire Slayer tried for a more shades of gray approach, such as in later seasons, it didn’t land as well as it should.
Ultimately, there’s no real growth in terms of Buffy’s moral and ethical development in the series, which shows an immature view.
2 Her Relationship With Spike
The Buffy and Spike (James Marsters) relationship during season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is, perhaps, one of the most divisive relationships in the series. After being resurrected against her will, Buffy enters a sexual relationship with Spike that is not healthy for either of them. While Spike’s issues have been well-documented, Buffy’s own actions aren’t great either, as she treats him pretty poorly.
Ultimately, the storyline shows how devastating a toxic relationship between two people not in good mental headspaces can be on both sides of the equation. Both Spike and Buffy’s actions in this relationship cause involuntary cringes all around to audiences of the series.
1 Humans=Good; Demons=Bad
While Buffy may have a very black and white sort of moral view of the world, the thing that ages most poorly about her is the lack of flexible thinking in regard to humans and demons. Buffy tends to be more likely to give human characters second and third chances, such as The Initiative in season 4, than demonic characters. While most demons do try to kill her, there are plenty of demons who are just trying to live their lives.
In most media since Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there tends to be a greater push for nuance in that regard. Humans in many of these shows can be even worse than the monsters. Additionally, the monsters can be the greatest heroes and allies to have. With that, Buffy seems almost prejudiced in her belief that all demons are bad and all humans deserve another chance.
