Season Five was an interesting creature. On one hand, it contained moments of singular eloquence and emotion which cemented the show in many critics' minds as one of the greatest programs ever produced. But on the other hand, it was a mass of false starts and pointless leads which got all jangled up and cut off much of the season's potential.

Or, in plainer terms, some of the stuff in season five went flat nowhere - or came out of nowhere. Not just a point or two but entire themes and plotlines. And the rampant, dangling plot threads just plain pissed me off. Things like...

1) Buffy finding her inner Slayer. Hey, remember this: "You think you know - what's to come? Who you are? You haven't even begun." Think that whole mysterious jazz was about Buffy getting in touch with her profound ability to swan dive? Buffy began the season with a serious quest to get in touch with her untapped potential abilities. She was training, she was meditating, she was using the Force! Yeah, well, a few episodes later, they abandoned that nonsense to concentrate on watching Buffy be miserable for a change instead. Buffy all but quit training - or going on patrol, even! I got the distinct impression that this season was supposed to be about Buffy connecting with her inner power. Well, surprise! Instead, it was about seeing just how miserable and pissy one young woman can possibly be. After the last couple of years she's had, I sure didn't begrudge her such a horrible outlook on life (and didn't blame her for deciding that sacrificing herself was the best possible solution), but I'm getting mighty tired of Joss (& Marti) sacrificing the "vampire slayer" part of the show in order to focus on beating Buffy down some more. [Sheesh, and that was how I felt *before* Seasons 6 & 7!]

1a) Special adjunct to Buffy discovering her inner power: Buffy's uncontrollable need for the hunt and kill. Oh, that growing darkness! She just can't sleep without a good slay! Wait, nevermind. Scratch that. She's just fine and can in fact go amazingly long periods and not even think about slayage. Plot line uncerimoniously dumped.

2) Buffy needs Giles to be her Watcher again, to stay and help her be the best Slayer she can be and guide her through this exploration of her true nature. Well, actually, despite a wonderful scene about how much she needs him, Buffy apparently really needed Giles to stay in Sunnydale to watch her sister and look up stuff. It must be nice to be needed. Okay, that's not totally fair - Buffy did rely on Giles a lot for support and help through some very difficult times, but those things had everything to do with their close relationship and squat to do with him being her Watcher.

3) What on earth were the Knights of Byzantium *doing* the whole time?! They just hung out in the forest making s'mores? I seem to recall a Knight telling Buffy that they'd be coming after her relentlessly, into the thousands if need be, to destroy the Key and any who would protect it. Maybe I missed a subtlety, but that "relentless pursuit" looked a lot like "ineffectual ass-sitting". I think this was one of the season's elements that suffered from "The Body". Well done as that episode was, I really think it interrupted the flow of a season that was already having a terrible time keeping track of its elements.

4) And while I've got my rant on, can I just say... A moment of "blood sisters" bonding suddenly translates at the last minute into "The monks made Dawn out of me - she *is* me!"? Okay, I knew when Buffy did the "Summers blood" thing at the hospital that it would be important later on, but it seemed sloppy and ill-contrived that Buffy could suddenly be so very certain in her conviction that Dawn *is* her. That bit came out of nowhere.

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