Most critics like this series a good deal, and the ones writing years after its 1997 premiere like it more than the ones who saw the pilot go out. The praise clusters on the writing: dialogue that is quick and funny, plots that run long and pay off, and the habit of using monsters to stand in for grief, bullying, addiction and the ordinary misery of being sixteen. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s performance is singled out more than once, and several critics credit the show with rethinking who a television hero could be.
The reservations come almost entirely from 1997. Variety finds the pilot sagging in its second half and pitched at younger teenagers; The Hollywood Reporter is warmer but treats it as Clueless with fangs. The AV Club, revisiting the first three episodes, notes clichéd action and uneven early dialogue while praising the mother-daughter scenes. Otherwise the spread is narrow, and no one is negative.