(If you haven’t watched, beware of spoilers ahead)

As of this writing, I am currently at season 2 episode 20, which means I just have 3 more episodes to go to finish season 2. Still trouncing Brian! (ETA: I am onto Season three now. Brian. It’s gonna be a blood bath.)

And I’m still not loving the show.

Well, more accurately, I am still not loving Buffy and Angel. I go back and forth on who I dislike the most. Sometimes I think it’s just the acting. I watched the episode “I Only Have Eyes For You” where two ghosts are haunting the school, possessing people to force them to reenact their deaths over and over again until the end of the episode where the ghosts latch on to Buffy and Angel. I have to say, that was the best few minutes of acting either of them accomplished thus far. It looked real. It sounded real. It worked. I dunno why, because they’re crying and hollering, which they do a lot of and I hate, but in that scene it was much better.

I find I am still watching the show for the other characters. When Oz and Willow finally got together, I cheered. When Cordelia realized admitting to liking Xander was worth the scorn of her loser cronies, I was happy. When Angel cornered Ms. Calendar and ended her storyline, I actually gasped out loud (though part of that gasp was due to me being surprised they actually killed her). When Giles gets all British awkward, I laugh.

But when Buffy mopes around, acts petulant, has a major mood swing, is bitchy, is whiny, WHATEVER, my eyes drift to my book, or twitter, or something.

You know, when Willow finally catches Xander and Cordelia making out and you hear her heart break, she runs off to have her embarrassing cry, but then, when she faces Xander, you realize why she’s so awesome. They’re dealing with some life threatening thing and Willow says it’s more important that her heartbreak, there are bigger things going on and she has to deal. I love that.

When Buffy gets her heart broken she takes every chance to remind people how crappy her love life is. She holds grudges. She mopes. Just. Gah. Okay? Geeze!

That’s my main problem with the show, the MCs. I’m just glad there’s a good supporting cast around her.

I wanted to talk about how angry the episode of “NED” made me, but I went off on a little tangent there. So, suffice it to say, I did not like what they did with Buffy’s mom in that episode. I’m not talking about while she’s drugged on the food, I’m talking hours later when the creep isn’t around. If your kid tells you a guy threatened to hit them, you freak the fuck out at the guy, not your kid. That episode alone, as cheesy as it was to find out he’s a robot from the 50’s, almost made me refuse to keep watching. It’s bad enough her mom lets the new principle talk to her the way he does, but the guy you’re dating? No. Not believable, not with the kind of mom she’s supposed to be.

(ETA: Thoughts after finishing season 2 and starting season 3 – a goddamn miracle is going to have to happen for me to even like her mom at this point. I don’t empathize with Buffy, but when it comes to her mom, I want to punch my screen. The writers went too far with her, IMHO.)

Anyway. I’m sticking with it. Even my mom promises me it gets better. At least Buffy doesn’t make creepy sex noises when fighting anymore, now she sounds like she’s actually fighting. But you if you made a drinking game of how often that four note piano music comes on to show us Buffy moping around and feeling all angsty for herself, you’d pass the eff out.

I know I’m leaving out a lot, but it’s still early in the show.

(DISCLAIMER: And let me be clear: I do not HATE the show. To be honest, I thought I would. I really expected that I would end up hate watching it just to win the bet. I do not hate it. I’m just not a fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar, so that’s working against it, and I’m not a fan of her Buffy. The sugary-cute pouts, the big eyes when she’s sad, the dramatics. That’s what I dislike. Also. I’ve never found David Boreanaz attractive so he doesn’t work for me as the main hotness lead.)