Thanks for picking up this point and developing it so well. I think you exactly articulate what I was trying to get at (albeit from the opposite POV: you having watched in time, me having watched in a marathon).
I'd add the one thought which is that I find the 'verse most interesting when read "backwards", i.e. in light of where things end up. The whole business of not wanting spoilers stands in the way of this sort of reading; as does the fact that we know that there was no master plan back on day 1 for the show's creators either. But it has the advantage of reading the show in light of which threads WERE developed, and that makes the whole thing look very structured. One tends, on this reading, to just disregard the details and themes that ended up not going anywhere. The dangling Ripper/Giles thread is one example. Xander-Buffy-Angel triangle (they were totally setting this up in seasons 1 and 2) is another. You can see that there were places the show could have gone, but didn't. But since you are watching from the perspective of what did happen, you already know this and can't be all that disappointed. The bits and pieces that DO get picked on look like beautiful foreshadowing when the whole thing is done. I'll do an essay on how Joss wrote the Chosen in such a way as to make Harsh Light of Day look essential at some point as a good example of this.
I also agree that a lot of the disagreements about the comics are arguments between German Chocolate cake lovers and lovers of Red Velvet cake. Although there are plenty of things in the show that I could point to as having 'failed' or as being opportunities missed, I basically REALLY like BtVS. I can think about it for long stretches, on many different levels, from many different angles. And while I don't have the luxury (yet) of reading season 8 backwards, I can see that the same sorts of details and resonances are being put into place that I expect it to be the case that when I do read it backwards, I will find it as lovely as I did the series itself.
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I'd add the one thought which is that I find the 'verse most interesting when read "backwards", i.e. in light of where things end up. The whole business of not wanting spoilers stands in the way of this sort of reading; as does the fact that we know that there was no master plan back on day 1 for the show's creators either. But it has the advantage of reading the show in light of which threads WERE developed, and that makes the whole thing look very structured. One tends, on this reading, to just disregard the details and themes that ended up not going anywhere. The dangling Ripper/Giles thread is one example. Xander-Buffy-Angel triangle (they were totally setting this up in seasons 1 and 2) is another. You can see that there were places the show could have gone, but didn't. But since you are watching from the perspective of what did happen, you already know this and can't be all that disappointed. The bits and pieces that DO get picked on look like beautiful foreshadowing when the whole thing is done. I'll do an essay on how Joss wrote the Chosen in such a way as to make Harsh Light of Day look essential at some point as a good example of this.
I also agree that a lot of the disagreements about the comics are arguments between German Chocolate cake lovers and lovers of Red Velvet cake. Although there are plenty of things in the show that I could point to as having 'failed' or as being opportunities missed, I basically REALLY like BtVS. I can think about it for long stretches, on many different levels, from many different angles. And while I don't have the luxury (yet) of reading season 8 backwards, I can see that the same sorts of details and resonances are being put into place that I expect it to be the case that when I do read it backwards, I will find it as lovely as I did the series itself.