YMMV / Buffyverse

• Audience-Alienating Era: 2003 saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer's very divisive final season and the much-reviled fourth season of Angel. During this period, Joss Whedon was overseeing both shows, plus Firefly (all three aired on different networks), so they didn't quite have his full attention. Also, many of the complaints about Angel Season 4 have to do with the handling of Cordelia's storyline, which was alleged to have been punitively altered by Whedon because Charisma Carpenter got pregnant and failed to inform the producers, requiring frantic rewrites (part of a pattern of supposed abusive behavior on his part that came more fully to light around 2020). Whedon denied all such claims however, stating he had to be strict otherwise the young cast would turn the set into a "cocktail party", David Fury criticising Carpenter for "unprofessional" behaviour.
• Complete Monster: See here
• Harsher in Hindsight: Some stories, aesops, and character interactions, and even entire plot arcs, range from a little worse to a lot worse thanks to the allegations that Whedon had a fairly active temper, loved to bully subordinates (usually women) to tears, had multiple illicit relationships with subordinates, and there was, for some reason, the rule "Joss isn't allowed to be alone with Michelle" (who was on the show from ages 16-18). For some the show shifts somewhat along the spectrum from "serious attempt at feminist comic horror" toward "creepy manipulation to use and abuse women". His "apology" to his wife after she revealed his multiple affairs, which was nothing but excuses on his part, doesn't help. Other members of the cast and crew defended Joss however, splitting fandom down the middle.
• Magnificent Bastard: See here
• Only the Creator Does It Right: The works produced outside of Joss Whedon's direct involvement (Expanded Universe) are usually considered part of an Alternate Universe or didn't happen. These usually include the novels, the video games, and most of the comics besides the Buffy / Angel & Faith Seasons 8-12 comics, Fray, the two Tales series and Angel: After the Fall (though some prefer not to accept any non-TV medium as canon despite official statements by Joss and the other creators that Seasons 8-12 are canonical and the fact they were directly involved in them).invoked
• Romantic Plot Tumor: The Buffy/Angel elements in "End Of Days"/"Chosen" and the entire episode "The Girl in Question" are argued as Romantic Plot Tumors for their respective series, whose leads had both changed and developed drastically different lives from the one they had together. Making it worse was their proximity to the end of each series, which used precious screentime that could have been dedicated to setting up the storyline of the finale.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Buffy's sister Dawn and Angel's son Connor never met (not even in the canonical comics continuations), despite seeming perfectly set up to be the junior version of the Buffy/Angel ship. Especially considering that they have the 'fake backstories' thing in common after Angel's Season 4 finale.

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