Excuse me while I stand on this soapbox for a few minutes.....‏

Ok, so I don't think that I have been as disappointed as you with this season. I still don't know where it's all going and it's easier to look back at it as a success/failure afterwards, but as of now, the only single episode that I really have problems with is "Wrecked." I didn't particularly like DMP, but it didn't end with Will shaking on a bed. I have problems with this season, but as of now, I'm not quite sure what they are. I could say that it's that they're all not the "group" or whatever, but that's kinda what I expected this season. I think what my main problem is that, save for the musical, this season has just lived up to my expectations, not surpassed them in some way, as every other season has. With season 1, it was that I actually liked a show named Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In S2, it was the absolute and completely unexpected genius of Angelus--the greatest big bad ever. Oh, and Becoming Part 2 also; just when you think Buffy's gone through it all.....In S3, it was the interesting parallel between Buffy and Faith and how it changed the way that I look at Buffy. I mean, that comparison still continues this season and I'm sure will last the whole series, at least in my mind. In S4, it was "Hush" and "Restless," the latter of which I'm sure will never be fully deconstructed and will continue to "predict" stuff in future eps. In S5, oddly enough, it was the introduction, explanation and use of Dawn and the loss of Joyce, and Buffy embracing and actually becoming the slayer. But as of yet, there's been nothing that makes me say, *this* is what makes season 6 great. Hopefully, it will come. And it's not just those few things. Each season, I can pick a handful of things that makes me want to watch even the worst episodes (Killed by Death, Beauty and the Beasts, Beer Bad.....well, maybe not Killed by Death). I can watch the musical over and over again, but that's not going to make me want to sit through "Wrecked" or "Doublemeat Palace." Maybe it's Joss' absence, but I don't hate Marti Noxon. I think she has a really good grasp of the characters, but her problem (in single episodes) often is bad metaphors or stupid plots (or both). Like "Wrecked"--too much magic is like drugs, that means it's bad--and like "Beauty and the Beasts"--some man in my past has scorned me, therefore all men are evil, even the good ones, like Oz. What I think it is is that this season is like "Restless"--it's not supposed to be what it says it is--or something like that. I think S6 and 7, when all is said and done, are going to be like one big season, one big ending to the trials and tribulations of Buffy and the Scoobs. In other seasons, it's all the little adventures that lead to the big one. Maybe (hopefully) this is the little season that leads to the big finale. Because there is no clearly defined "big bad," and the actual "big bad" seems to be the characters themselves (as in, their own faults are leading to their ultimate downfall), this season may just be a bridge to the next, much like "Restless" was more of a bridge from the past to the future of Buffy rather than a season finale. Before this season began, I expected to dislike a lot of what would happen this year. I expected relationship problems, singular exploration of characters and less of the cohesive group of the first three (almost four) seasons. Because that's where the series was (is?) going. S4 ended with the four all together after they joined forces to stop Adam, seemingly saying the Slayer is lost without her friends, but then S5 comes along and ends with the message that the Slayer can only save the world alone, with no one else. I mean, how selfish was it of Buffy to sacrifice herself for her sister who's not really her sister anyway? But the slayer can only save the world if she protects those around her with no regard for herself or her friends. So as much as I enjoyed parts of S5 and agreed with the way they ended it, what did that mean for the show this season? I don't really know where it's all gonna go. I don't know what will happen in the last 7 eps this year into next (last?) season. But I still can't bring myself to say that I am disappointed with this season as a whole, because I guess I don't really know yet. I don't really like the way they went about the magick/drug/alcohol thing. But I also didn't like the introduction of Dawn at first. Looking back, where is this show without Dawn (at least last year)? So perhaps the resolution of this storyline will be essential to the Buffyverse, maybe it won't. Maybe it will be the smartest thing they have ever done on Buffy, maybe they'll take the easy way out or it will be forced. We just don't know yet, so I can't really pass judgment on the open-ended storylines so far. I liked S2, but I didn't love it until Buffy was sitting on that bus on her way out of Sunnydale. As far as character development goes, I think that, as of now, there hasn't been anything to make them change. There hasn't been anything to make them face what their lives have become. Not yet. You said the only one that has gone through significant change was Tara. Well, she kinda had to. No one else has been given that event to make them rethink who they are. I imagine the wedding day will do much for Anya and the Xandman. And I'm sure the death will do something to everyone too. So, about that death. My thoughts are that it's either Tara or Will. All the signs point to Tara, introduced in S4, 4 letters in Tara, she's a witch, no contract for next season, whatever else there is. So as much as I think it's her, Wanda never quite comes out with a yes and when ever anyone asks her, she seems to point in another direction. What that means to me is that it's Will. And who's death would shake the Scoobs more now than Will. After the wedding, I imagine Xander will go back to being buddy-ish with Willow. (Who will Anya go to? Halfrek?) Tara will be getting closer to her, only to have her pulled away. Buffy obviously allies her indulgence in Spike with Will's in magick, which would lead, I'm sure to guilt and lots 'o pain. ANd it would leave Buffy and Xander as the only two originals. And last season, much was made of Joss' comments that he'd *never* kill Willow. How Will fits into "fourth one's a charm," I do not know. Spike fits into "fourth one's..." pretty well with him being the fourth guy Buffy's gone horizontal with, full-time cast member in S4, a few other things I've come up with, but I don't think his death would rock the show enough. Yeah, fans like him, but no one on the show does. It could be Anya: broken heart, magical, four letters, but I dunno. I could be Xander, so the writers don't have to find something else for him to do, but where does that leave Anya? I wish it was Dawn, who's death I'm sure would shake everybody up, but I think her demise would be too pleasant for the fans. And it's not Buffy. I dunno. I have more to say, but I have to leave work in like 5 minutes, so I should finish up.