10 Things We Miss The Most About Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Published on June 12, 2015. Updated August 28, 2015

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is still regarded as one of the best drama series starring teenage characters, running for seven amazing seasons from 1997-2003. While creator and writer Joss Whedon is heralded as one of the best showrunners and creators of recent years, having him behind the scenes only made the actors that much better. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers still reigns as one of the best independent, strong and witty female leads for any show and although it has been awhile since this TV masterpiece last aired, it is without a doubt greatly missed, and for many reasons. Check Out 10 Things We Miss The Most About Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

10. The Friendships

Let’s be real, as a fan of Buffy you only hoped that there would be a group like “The Scooby Gang” that you could join with your best friends and combat the difficulties in life, just hopefully not actual evil forces. Lead by best friends Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, these three exemplified true friendship because through everything they had to face, they did it together, and let’s be honest things got really weird. Maybe the plotlines had no basis in reality but the relationships were true to high school, and we miss being able to connect with the character’s of Buffy even if we weren’t demon slayers.

9. Rupert Giles

Every group of teenagers needs their mentor. In One Tree Hill it’s Whitey/Coach Durham, in The O.C. it’s Sandy Cohen, in Friday Night Lights it’s Coach Taylor, but before those wonderful men entered our lives Buffy gave us Rupert Giles portrayed by Anthony Head. Not only was he the Watcher of Buffy, his wisdom had him appropriately planted as the librarian of Sunnydale High School where he could be available to guide or provide advice when necessary. Instead of being creepily close to the teenagers, Giles was a perfect father figure for Buffy and a charming mentor to all. We miss him in all of his glory of wit and British charm.

Source: 20th Century Fox

8. Storylines

For being based around highschoolers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer dealt with some very heavy and dark stuff, which isn’t too surprising given the role of fighting evil in the show, but this made the show that much better. Several episodes stand out for multiple reasons, again thanks to Whedon’s brilliant writing, but also because of the acting involved, leaving audiences genuinely scared, or sad, or excited. Episodes such as “Hush” where there was an extended period with dialogue, the musical episode “Once More With Feeling,” and “Normal Again” all resonated with fans, but “The Body” stands out not only for the series but for television dramas as a whole. There is little supernatural activity in the episode which deals greatly with the sudden death of Buffy’s mother. The show was not just another “teen drama” it was truly riveting from episode to episode.

7. The Theme Song

As with most shows, the theme song is actually a beloved part of the show and not something to be fast forwarded or ignored and Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s is just another thing we miss about the show. Punk-pop band Nerf Herder provided us with the music for Buffy‘s opening credits and it fits perfectly to the dynamic, energy and themes of the show. With no lyrics, the song starts with a classic haunting sound before launching into a more modern upbeat sound reflective of the action of the show. A sign of a really good show is one that gives you goose bumps in anticipation before the episode even begins thanks to great theme music, and Buffy has just that.

6. Spike

Yes, we miss the show which means we miss everyone involved but of course we miss Spike who was expertly played by James Marsters. Through everything that happened over the seven seasons we were graced with Buffy on our screens, Spike without a doubt had the biggest journey of character development. As a vampire who begins as one of Buffy’s recurring enemies, things get even more interesting when love develops, who could forget when their angry sex brought an entire house down? In the end he ended up charming us as well as Buffy as he became an ally to The Scooby Gang and eventually sacrifices himself for the greater good.

(Photo by Online USA)

5. The Bronze

A lot of dark and heavy stuff goes on in Sunnydale and although Buffy and her friends deal with it with impressive poise, as all normal teenagers they need a place to unwind, or meet up and that gave us The Bronze. Every show has a central “hangout” and The Bronze ranks up there with some of the very best. Although situated in the “bad part” of Sunnydale it was the town’s most popular club thanks to the fact it allowed minors in, but didn’t serve them alcohol and managed to stay in business even though it had yearly “Fumigation Parties” to kill cockroaches. The team could relax or dance up a storm at The Bronze to act like normal teenagers for once although as a central location was also the scene of a lot of important moments, we miss wishing we could go there and we also miss the amazing ’90s indie rock it featured!

Source: 20th Century Fox

4. Willow and Tara

We definitely loved and now miss Willow and Oz, but we miss the relationship between Willow and Tara for several reasons. The relationship did not come off as some sort of draw because two attractive young women were in a relationship, it felt very real and we became invested it, not to mention it helped develop the character of Willow greatly. We also miss it because Buffy was not afraid to take a chance on portraying a lesbian relationship between teenagers, which still was not seen that often on TV in the late ’90s and early 2000s. They were great together, and great for the show, not to mention caused one of the best storylines with Willow’s transformation to evil following Tara’s shocking death. We miss Willow, and we miss Tara cause we can’t get over her death still and we miss them together.

Source: 20th Century Fox

3. The Wit

Again, thank you Joss Whedon for being a mastermind and genius when it comes to movie and television production. Thanks to Whedon at the helm of creation and writing, the show was packed full of a great script delivered expertly by the actors. Everybody held their own as their character making it hard to pick a favorite and even newcomers and guest stars are lodged in our mind thanks to the portrayals and the “Buffyisms” we got from there. The wit, and humor balanced out the dark themes that ran through the show adding yet another level of greatness to the show. Buffy’s confidence, intelligence and all around awesomeness led to some amazing insults and one-liners, that is hard pressed to find with the same consistency in today’s shows.

Source: Amazon

2. Buffy and Angel

We miss Angel in all of his dark, handsome broodiness that was enough to warrant his own show, but as all Buffy fans know, he was missing something without Buffy by his side. A key point in all series, especially shows centered around young people is love, and no relationship was more enticing, gripping and of course dramatic than that between a gorgeous Vampire and a stunning Vampire slayer. Buffy was a fiercely independent woman but we didn’t blame her for falling for spike and we certainly didn’t blame her for falling for Angel. We miss watching the excitement and the ups and downs of this very unique relationship, Bella and Edward have nothing on the original Vampire/Human relationship that we all love.

1. Buffy

Last, but certainly not least we miss Buffy the Vampire Slayer herself, Buffy Summers. Although Sarah Michelle Gellar had to fight for the part we can’t imagine anyone else putting as much into the role and making the show as successful as it was. Unfortunately having a show led by a strong female character is somewhat of a rarity but one of the things that makes the show so amazing. Buffy was confident, sassy, smart, and brave, making her a terrific heroine and leader for the show, and with Charmed off the air as well, we miss these kinds of women gracing our screens.