Buffy’s back! And I could so easily have missed it… just sauntering through the lounge room when last seasons’s flashback played out before me. I quickly assumed the position on the beanbag and banished the bemused housemates (Rich: “Just when I think I’ve got her figured out, I’m back to square one. Who is this girl I share a house with?”). Yes, the buffy obsession slowly dissipated after the last season and I had almost forgotten myself, the Buffy effect. So first episode of the new season! I have missed any accidental Buffy spoilers on the ’net so this is fresh and untainted by popular opinion, but sadly I was relatively unmoved by this episode, it just .. didn’t hit the spot. It had a slightly tired feeling.

Xander appears to no longer have any mileage left him, he’s just a rather dull, beefy, good-hearted builder bloke, Buffy is perky and as badly dressed as ever, Willow is still dealing with her powers and bemoaning her earlier fall into darkness, Giles, first seen riding a horse across an “English countryside” (I ask you!) didn’t even get any good lines. The predictable move to set Dawn up as the new girly hero was as painful as I’d imagine. Throwing her together with some teen misfits was a less less than creative move. Am I going to have to like the gonzo boy and the slightly gothic, sulky girl? Does *anyone* actually like Dawn on *any* level?! Spike reduced to a gibbering, soul-harbouring mess? Oh Spike, please come back to us, I couldn’t tolerate another pained ex-vampire doing the Angel self-pity routine.

The final scene involving the big bad which took forms of all the previous big bads seemed to be a poor last ditch attempt that shouted “this show has peaked!”.. Come on, I don’t need to be convinced that this time it’s *really* serious! We all kept watching through Buffy’s various deaths so it’s not as if we need to be given something bigger and better to win our attention.

Well, it’s not an easy job, and I realise this. Most of the themes with the characters have been explored, and they certainly can’t grow up again, but I’ll be buggered if I stay around to watch Dawn develop! I have no interest in her, and her iron-pressed floppy hair. What will happen to my beloved show? Will it get witty again? Will they resurrect Principle Skinner? Will it win me back? I really hope so. I am staying tuned, the first episode is rarely a blinder, and Joss and co may still have some good stuff up their sleeves for the rest of the season.