The rumours are true. I have become dangerously addicted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I’ve watched bits and pieces of the show at varying times in my life, often in large chunks, but last week, I sat down and started watching the show from the beginning, and now I can’t stop myself. Seeing it in order…it’s showing me what a freakin’ excellent show it is, how complex, how the characters grow and evolve, along with the show itself, and basically I must bow down before the god that is Joss Whedon.

I feel like Buffy has pretty much attained cult status at this point, which means that either people get it and starting talking excitedly when the show is mentioned, or they shake their heads dismissively at all of us sheep who mindlessly watch it. But I beg to differ. My savoring of the greatness that is Buffy is far from mindless, because if people are able to put prejudices aside, it’s a pretty complicated and involved show with a lot of stuff going on.

Yes, there are lots of scenes with hot girls kicking butt, which you could dismiss as pandering to the patriarchy, but it’s also pretty empowering to watch a girl be a badass, because I watch and think “hey, I could do that.” And there are a lot of, er, nonconventional relationships in the show which are treated with tolerance and respect, and there’s a lot about friendship and family values, and that’s more than you can say for a lot of the crap on television these days.

Sure, some seasons are better than others, and some episodes are, uh, not as awesome at others, but I mean come on. The show aired for seven years, people, you can’t expect every single episode to be stellar. And some episodes are pretty amazing, when you think about the fact that they aired on network television.

Take the fugue dream state in “Restless,” or the brilliantly staged and composed “The Body.” Brilliance from the mind of a master, I tell you. You really get the sense that the whole crew is insanely talented and immensely coordinated, synchronized with each other, from the way they work with each other and with the material they are given.

I guess what I’m saying is, if you haven’t started watching Buffy yet, do it. And if you are already one of the cult, then, uh, carry on.

I’m, er, going to go back to watching Buffy now.