The ULTIMATE BUFFY Episode Countdown: 048
Well, here we are. The final 10. The Top 10 episodes of the greatest show ever to grace our TV screens. But before we get to the countdown finale, let’s see how we got here….
- Some Assembly Required
- I Robot, You Jane
- Doublemeat Palace
- Reptile Boy
- Listening To Fear
- Bad Eggs
- Wrecked
- Never Kill A Boy On The First Date
- Him
- Where The Wild Things Are
- Ted
- Shadow
- Smashed
- Living Conditions
- Go Fish
- Inca Mummy Girl
- Gingerbread
- Beer Bad
- The Killer In Me
- Out of Mind, Out of Sight
- Help
- Teacher’s Pet
- I Was Made To Love You
- The Puppet Show
- Killed By Death
- All The Way
- Beauty and The Beasts
- Touched
- Older and Far Away
- Anne
- Real Me
- The Witch
- As You Were
- The Initiative
- Lessons
- The I in Team
- I Only Have Eyes For You
- Empty Places
- Goodbye Iowa
- Amends
- Nightmares
- Wild At Heart
- Gone
- Lies My Parents Told Me
- Doomed
- Blood Ties
- Dead Man’s Party
- Same Time, Same Place
- Showtime
- The Harsh Light of Day
- Enemies
- After Life
- Out Of My Mind
- Revelations
- Beneath You
- Sleeper
- Into The Woods
- Spiral
- Lie To Me
- Weight of The World
- Dead Things
- Pangs
- Superstar
- Welcome To The Hellmouth
- Normal Again
- Bargaining (1&2)
- Get It Done
- New Moon Rising
- Crush
- No Place Like Home
- The Harvest
- Family
- Helpless
- Flooded
- A New Man
- Choices
- Tough Love
- The Freshman
- Bring on the Night
- Life Serial
- Hell’s Bells
- Homecoming
- Angel
- Faith, Hope and Trick
- First Date
- Consequences
- Triangle
- Bad Girls
- The Yoko Factor
- The Dark Age
- When She Was Bad
- The Pack
- Potential
- Fear, Itself
- The Prom
- This Year’s Girl
- What’s My Line (1&2)
- The Replacement
- Storyteller
- Checkpoint
- The Zeppo
- Seeing Red
- Forever
- Never Leave Me
- Dirty Girls
- Buffy vs. Dracula
- Intervention
- Entropy
- School Hard
- Primevil
- Who Are You?
- Passion
- Villains
- Lover’s Walk
- Surprise
- Something Blue
- Earshot
- Halloween
- Tabula Rasa
- Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
- Prophecy Girl
- Fool For Love
- Band Candy
- Graduation Day (1&2)
- The Wish
- End of Days
- Two To Go/Grave
- Selfless
And now….the top 10. This was EXTREMELY hard.
#10 - Innocence
[episode 2.14]
This is primarily this high because of the impact it had on the future of the series. There’s a lot of loss. Angel loses his soul, and Buffy, in turn, loses Angel. Oh yeah, and her virginity. You also have to give it to David Boreanaz, because Angelus is so sly and so not over-the-top. He isn’t an arch-villain type, he’s evil in a slick way. It’s brilliantly played, which is something that can’t be said about him that often. Plus…hey….rocket launcher.
#9 - Chosen
[episode 7.22]
The series finale had some holes, I’ll grant you. But at the same time it was the SERIES FINALE. We received a hella cool fight scene. We also got some great moments between the scoobies. The two scenes that bring this episode into the top ten are the most obvious ones. The original scoobies in a circle together harkening (harkening, what the hell?) back to the very first episode. And the second one is Buffy’s smile in the very last scene. We had been waiting for her to feel happy finally, and we got that in the last frame.
#8 - Becoming (1&2)
[episode 2.22]
The finale of season 2 was the first time that the show felt cinematic in quality. It felt like it could actually be a movie. Drusilla has killed Kendra and taken Giles. Now it’s up to Willow to get Angel’s soul back. Meanwhile, Spike has joined forces with Buffy to stop Angel and Dru from ending the world. It’s so fantastically crafted. The ending leaves a bit of a question mark over your head, which is what it was intended to do, so I guess that worked. Of course, Buffy wearing overalls shows grief and despair….if you didn’t get that already from her running away.
#7 - Hush
[episode 4.10]
For over 30 minutes in a 44 minute episode there was no dialogue. In the year 2000 on TV, who can say that could be pulled off? We have crap reality TV shows and crap sitcoms, and people talking over each other on 24-hour cable news shows…..and in the midst of all this bullshit came HUSH. A breathtaking (pun intended) score, some creepy bad guys, and acting that should’ve been recognized and brandished with awards.
#6 - Dopplegangland
[episode 3.16]
Why is this so high? Because it’s the funniest episode ever. It’s over-the-top without being TOO over-the-top. After a spell goes wrong, the Willow for the alternate dimension - who happens to be a vampire - appears in Sunnydale. The gang, after seeing this vampire Willow, thinks it’s the real Willow….in other words, they think she’s dead. The scene in the library when Willow walks in - fluffy pink shirt and all - is the reason this is so high. “Say, you all didn’t happen to do a bunch of drugs, did ya?” - to Angel’s reaction when he runs in….it’s all hilarious. Plus…that Vampire Willow is kinda gay. What’s up with that?
#5 - Conversations with Dead People
[episode 7.7]
I love how this is constructed. The time is shown on the tv screen, with the date. The music that plays in the background. Buffy’s “Here we go.” There are certain scenes that are wasted, particularly between Willow and Cassie (which should’ve been Tara, but as we all know, they couldn’t get Amber). But that still doesn’t mean the rest wasn’t brilliant…because it was. Michelle T really shows her chops finally, and the stuff with Jonathan and Andrew is great. We get a lot of info about the season, but at the same time it’s muffled. I still think Webs could’ve been the next Dr. Phil, but that damned slayer pretty much ruined that.
#4 - The Gift
[episode 5.22]
The best season finale of Buffy. Mainly in part because Joss wasn’t sure if the show was coming back. So he tossed out the whole bag in this one. The first scene was the mission statement – the blonde girl kills evil things instead of the evil things killing her. The funny part is, she died at the end. Oh well….talk about irony. It’s a very dramatic end, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.
#3 - The Body
[episode 5.16]
Joss was really starting to feel it as a director by the time “The Body” came around. This is the episode where Joyce dies, but it’s not really ABOUT Joyce, it’s about death in general and those first few days after the death occurs. What do you do? How do you react? Do you even react? It’s so realistic, and so ON POINT that it’s scary. Everyone handles it differently. Willow cries and changes shirts, Xander gets mad and punches a wall, Tara holds it together because she’s been here before, Dawn wants to know if she’s really dead and won’t believe it until she sees the body….and Buffy is just cold and paralyzed. It’s so sad that it’s beautiful.
#2 - Once More, With Feeling
[episode 6.7]
It’s a musical….on TELEVISION? NO WAY! Who would have the balls to do that? Well…I guess we get the answer here. There is absolutely NOT one scene that is weak in OMWF. The music is spectacular. The way that every song fits the story should be applauded. Joss could’ve just left the story out and done some off-topic schtick, but he didn’t. Here he pieces every storyline together to fit the music, and not only that, but for the first time in the show’s history, they air it in widescreen. It’s crafted to perfection. How did he think this up? Bunnies. It must be bunnies. Or maybe midgets.
#1 - Restless
[episode 4.22]
Why is Restless #1? Because it’s the only episode to put together our main characters past, present and futures all in 44 minutes. Willow was a nerd, she’s become a powerful wiccan, and she will get more confidence as the years go on. Xander has been weak, and he’s stuck, but sooner or later he’ll move out of the basement and become his own man. Giles was the watcher, he’s trapped with no job and nothing to do, but he’ll be the great watcher again. Buffy is the slayer, but what is a slayer? Is it a killer? She’s also a protector, and soon she’ll have much more to protect. All of our characters’ lives will change, and in this episode it is brilliantly put together. The cinematography is so alive and vibrant that it, as Becoming before it and OMWF after it, could be a movie. You have to love the scenes. Willow in the play, Xander and Snyder doing “Apocalypse Now”. Buffy and the first Slayer in the desert. Giles taking Buffy to the fair. Xander, Buffy, Spike and Giles outside at the park. And don’t forget the cheese man. Who could? I loved, loved, loved everything about Restless. That’s why it’s #1.
In closing: You have a problem with this list? You try writing 138 blurbs and see how easy it is. I have to say that this was WAY harder than the Angel list – especially the top 20. So try to remember that as you beat me down. Oh yeah, and bite me. Hope you enjoyed it.
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beckymedunic: buffy willow gilrs
- becky
(10.08.2005, 18:30)
kenny emerson: i wish the still made buff the vampire slayer shows i love them.
(29.07.2005, 15:38)
Kristina: I pretty much agree except I think that Passion should of been within the top 20
(25.07.2005, 18:32)
Hannah: No matter what anyone says this is a great list! It must have taken forever! I agree with most of them and ur top 10 is pretty much spot on! Congrats!! =D
(25.07.2005, 04:34)
Nikole: I’d say your top 10 list is pretty damn good. Except I didn’t much like Doppelgangland but that’s okay.
(24.07.2005, 14:15)
knoxy: Restless downright deserves to be set in stone as the best of all time
(29.06.2005, 12:30)
Miz Thang: I think your list is fine as it is. Restless deserves to be number one, and I can’t find anything wrong with it. Like you said, if someone has a problem, make your own fucking list. :D
(24.05.2005, 15:07)
Atalanta: Yes, it is a reference to Dawn. There’s a number of references to Dawn’s arrival before season 5, starting with a cryptic one in in the season 3 finale.
(18.05.2005, 15:05)
Question!: Restless is pretty cool. Has anyone ever noticed that when Buffy goes to her room in her dream (college room) and Tara says “be back before dawn.” Is that like a clue or refference for those viewers that Dawn is coming in season five?
(17.05.2005, 12:23)
Spike_and_Angel: RESTLESS IS THE MOST EXCELLENT EPISODE EVER!!!!!!!!!
(08.05.2005, 12:36)