Comments on: Joss Whedon’s 16 Most Painful Character Deaths

By: k. barrett

k. barrett — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:31:54 +0000

darla’s death had that much impact? hmmm. i suppose i can see that. i thought ‘the body’ when joyce died was especially riveting, not b/c of joyce at all, b/c
i didn’t care for her as a mother character(not really supporting buffy as as a slayer, listening to robot ted before her daughter, etc.), but how the ensemble performed and responded to death altogether. the way the theme of death was handled was extraordinary. losing tara was painful and harmful. her character was already hindered by heterosexism and limited portrayals of she and willow’s relationship. i thought amber benson did a fine job with the role and writing she was given. i didn’t appreciate the loss of her character and the descend in ratings as season 6/7 continued on ward to the dark side made me miss old buffy.

“…veteran Buffy writer Jane Espenson said during her interview with the Succubus Club on May 22, 2002. “I am very sorry about Tara, really. We really felt bad. It is very possible that we did a bad thing. And I don’t want to completely exonerate us. It is possible.””

By: Awash in storymind

Awash in storymind — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:34:36 +0000

[...] she who is the most beloved of Esti Gusev, another central character. Wow. Am I actually gonna pull a Joss Whedon & kill off such an important character? Not an easy thing for a softie like me to do, [...]

By: Chance and happenstance « The Frothy Tome

Chance and happenstance « The Frothy Tome — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:05:28 +0000

[...] plot contrivances toppled my suspension of disbelief in the end, and the core tragedy was almost Whedonesque in its ‘necessity’ — but [...]

By: Fabi

Fabi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:44:19 +0000

Just been watching my Buffy boxset and wow, the pain I actually felt watching those people die all came back - Jenny, Tara, Joyce, Anya - I cried for all of them but the most painful was Tara. I’d met Amber Benson and was really really fond of her character in Buffy. I remember feeling so angry towards Joss Whedon when he killed her off. Bringing in Kennedy didnt make up for it, sorry. So tired of never seeing a female gay couple not getting a happy ending, Tara’s death irked me. Kudos to Amber for refusing to return in Conversations With Dead People as a Tara apparition to Willow by the First Evil (so ‘Cassie’ appeared instead).
The death of Joyce Summers - yes excellently done but again so so painful.
Could never get the lack of sadness by Xander on learning of Anya’s death at the end of the last episode of season 7.

By: BIP

BIP — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:32:58 +0000

This is exactly what terrifies me about Joss directing an episode of Glee. The music will be fantastic, but SOMEONE will be dead before the hour is over.

By: TERRIBLEMINDS: Chuck Wendig, Freelance Penmonkey » Blog Archive » Please To Meet Death, The Thief Of Conflict

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:06:09 +0000

[...] He likes to kill off characters. Don’t believe me? Clicky-clicky, web nerds. [...]

By: libco

libco — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:12:43 +0000

What about Jonathan? That broke my heart.

By: badblokebob

badblokebob — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:52:30 +0000

“None of his shows are serious enough to warrant that depth of emotion.”

Surely it’s that depth of emotion that *makes* the show serious? Seriousness has nothing to do with the subject matter, it’s all in how you treat it — a story about a teenager shooting another teenager can be silly or serious, realistic or camp, or any number of other things, depending on how you play it and/or how you *want* to play it. The exact same principle applies to everything, whatever genre it might be in — or appear to be in.

By: KanedaX

KanedaX — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:26:32 +0000

The crazy thing about this list is that there were so many other painful deaths that he put into his shows and comics that DIDN’T make the list. Johnathan, Amanda, Wing, Tracey… Dollhouse will only raise that body count.

By: chizzle

chizzle — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:30:31 +0000

Joss has had such an incredible career. Fran Kranz (from The Dollhouse) has a character on this new website, Showbizzle.com. I’ve been following it along with watching him Fox. He’s very good on there too. I’m kinda hooked - I even joined the contest, lol. Maybe they’ll fly me out to LA.