The Big Bad

[jducoeur]

So is it just my imagination, or is it getting remarkably dangerous to be one of the leading ladies in the Jossverse?

I mean, consider the past three seasons. Two years ago, Willow got turned evil and became the Big Bad. Last year, Cordy got possessed by evil (more or less) and gave birth to the Big Bad. This year, Fred has died, been possessed by evil, and looks likely to be this year's Big Bad.

Okay, yes -- this *is* Joss, so there's likely more here than meets the eye. But this does seem to be turning into a somewhat disturbing pattern...

Comments

[tpau]

you got this on tape? can iborrow? not sure if i will hav ea chance to see it at [Unknown site tag]'s since she is away at game...

[jducoeur]

Hmm. You can borrow the tape, if you can get it back to us safely before the next episode airs. (That is, by Tuesday, so we can tape it Wednesday...)

[aquamonkey.livejournal.com]

not to mention his tendency to kill off female supporting characters. i can only recall a couple of times when he killed of males (jonathon and doyle) but he's killed off jenny, anya, tara, cordy, drusilla, darla, lilah, and joyce...

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

I mostly agree with your point: Joss is far more likely to have departing men walk off into the sunset (and later return), whereas women take the dirt nap. But I have some specific nitpicks and additions:

When did he kill Drusilla? He's grievously *hurt* her on occasion, but I don't think she's ever officially been "dead", has she?

If Lilah counts, so do Holland Manners and ... that recurring but forgettable male lawyer from late S1/early S2 of Angel (did Darla kill him? I forget).

Larry seems to have gotten killed at Graduation, though he was a pretty minor recurring character. [Harmony also got killed there, but that didn't keep her gone, so I'm not sure if it should count.]

Buffy season 7 had at least two named Slayerettes die, possibly more.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Or, as my sweetie pointed out, "enough with the evil pseudo-pregnancies, already!"

Personally, after a half season of nicely self-contained episodes, I find myself unprepared to cope with the Huge Cliffhanger. Plus, even with what is ostensibly a horror show, could you let a couple have more than half an episode of happiness? Whenever a couple is cute at the beginning of the episode, they are automatically *doomed* by the end of it. Such predictability is *not* good storytelling.

I've heard it posited that both Buffy and Angel started going downhill when the gender-balance got out of control. The Buffy-verse started out being about female empowerment, but the sole remaining show now has *no* strong women on it.