10 Best ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Episodes, Ranked

First issues first: Buffy the Vampire Slayer was not an ideal present, a lot in the identical manner that principally each long-running present that tended to have 20+ episodes per season was imperfect. There’s a excessive degree of high quality right here, typically talking, however amount was additionally a necessity for these behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it did end in a couple of hours of tv that have been less-than-amazing.

However… these episodes have been uncommon. Most of what this coming-of-age/supernatural horror/motion/romance/fantasy/comedy/drama present needed to supply was excellent, after which typically, what it needed to supply was actually nice. When Buffy the Vampire Slayer was at its greatest, few tv exhibits may come near feeling as satisfying or emotionally resonant. And, of its actually nice episodes, the next simply so occurred to be the very biggest.

10

“The Want”

Season 3, Episode 9 (1998)

So, with a rating like this, a very good many episodes are going to be those who ahead the story not directly, or in any other case show notably dramatic. However there are additionally some extra “one-off” type of episodes which can be worthy of being counted among the many better of one of the best that Buffy the Vampire Slayer ever aired, together with Season 3’s “The Want,” which is a spotlight of what may effectively be the present’s most constant season.

In “The Want,” issues get a bit It’s a Great Life, with Cordelia wishing to see a world the place Buffy had by no means come to Sunnydale, which is granted by Anya in her first look (and effectively earlier than she grew to become a primary character). Most of it takes place in an additional nightmarish alternate universe, and although issues do in the end return to regular, seeing horrible issues occur to so many primary characters, even when not everlasting, continues to be distressing. That being mentioned, a lot of the episode can be very humorous. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is simply that type of present.

9

“Chosen”

Season 7, Episode 22 (2003)

After which on the opposite finish of one thing like “The Want” is “Chosen,” which is, as Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s finale, naturally probably the most dramatic episodes of the whole present. Buffy hadn’t been too shy about killing off characters earlier than, however all bets are off in the course of the ultimate battle depicted on this episode, with the aforementioned Anya dying all of a sudden and tragically, and Spike sacrifices himself, too.

Although, with Spike, he did get higher, and ended up stealing many scenes when he made the bounce to Angel, turning into a primary character on that present for its ultimate season. However, um, again to “Chosen”… yeah, it’s nice. It performs issues secure (outdoors all of the dying) and satisfies within the methods you’d anticipate a collection finale to. It goes huge, has coronary heart, brings some previous characters again, and feels fittingly climactic, all issues thought-about.

8

“Tabula Rasa”

Season 6, Episode 8 (2001)

The sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is controversial for some comprehensible causes, certain, however it’s additionally largely overhated and, in another methods, greater than slightly misunderstood. It goes darkish and feels miserable, certain, however there have been so many devastating issues that occurred in Season 5 that it was solely becoming {that a} sure diploma of distress lingered. Being a younger grownup and having no route in life sucks, and this season of the present captures that feeling nearly too successfully.

It isn’t devoid of enjoyable, although, as a result of Season 6 does even have episodes like “Tabula Rasa,” which is interesting as a self-contained bottle episode (with tons of reminiscence loss inflicting comedic chaos) of kinds, although it nonetheless furthers the story of the season fairly drastically and itself proves to be an efficient aftermath to the musical episode of Season 6. As for that musical episode… effectively, its time will come, inside this rating. Relaxation assured.

7

“Commencement Day: Half 2”

Season 3, Episode 22 (1999)

There are 4 season finales featured on this rating, and truthfully, those that aren’t right here (for season 1, season 4, and season 6) are all so good that they are nonetheless worthy of honorable mentions. Nonetheless, these ones aren’t fairly as wonderful as “Commencement Day: Half 2,” which is the episode that in the end wraps up the entire “Buffy and her pals at highschool” a part of the general collection.

After this, issues transfer to varsity for a bit, after which break free from there and focus extra on the distress of being a younger grownup set adrift on the earth. Nevertheless it’s “Commencement Day: Half 2” that serves as a fantastic final hurrah for the principle setting of the primary three seasons, feeling like a powerful climax, providing motion spectacle, and being an total persistently thrilling episode. Additionally, as a farewell to Cordelia and Angel (the latter at the very least as a primary character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), it’s very efficient.

6

“Innocence”

Season 2, Episode 14 (1998)

The first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer actually confirmed hints of greatness, however aside from the Season 1 finale, issues didn’t get actually wonderful till Season 2. The second season of the present was extra mature and bold, and “Innocence” is a good indication of that, given this episode units in movement the occasions that come to outline a lot of an already nice season’s immense again half.

In episode 13, Angel is modified into Angelus as a result of he skilled a second of happiness, and so in “Innocence,” he emerges as the final word huge unhealthy of the season. He rejoins some very previous pals, Spike and Drusilla, all of the whereas treating Buffy like absolute dust, despite the fact that they have been beforehand deeply in love (earlier than he was Angelus). Anyway, Buffy goes via emotional hell, however then by episode’s finish, she’s wielding a rocket launcher and being much more badass than ever earlier than. It’s equal elements iconic and great.

5

“Hush”

Season 4, Episode 10 (1999)

Although there’s a great deal of supernatural stuff in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it wasn’t all the time very scary… with some exceptions. One thing like “Hush,” plus a handful of different episodes, have been horrifying sufficient to make Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the very least partially deserving of being known as a horror present, with the villains on this specific episode being demons who trigger everybody in Sunnydale to lose their voices, then go round harvesting hearts.

It has the sensation of a nightmare all through, and is notable for taking part in out nearly solely with out dialogue (you get slightly on the episode’s begin and finish). But in addition, “Hush” manages to seek out a great deal of comedy with such an outlandish premise, and it’s a testomony to how nice the episode is that it’s one of many present’s scariest and funniest episodes, concurrently. Additionally, even when the villains are monsters of the week, “Hush” nonetheless builds the narrative for the season as an entire, notably because it pertains to Buffy and her moderately boring post-Angel boyfriend, Riley.

4

“The Reward”

Season 5, Episode 22 (2001)

“The Reward” is a exceptional episode for causes which can be very apparent to anybody who’s watched it. The episode was the a centesimal within the present’s run, and was made in a manner that would’ve had it function a really bittersweet finale for the present as an entire, given it in the end has Buffy sacrificing herself to avoid wasting the world, however not coming again to life after a couple of minutes the way in which she did in Season 1’s “Prophecy Woman.”

It took a couple of months for her to return again, seeing as Season 6 did finally come to fruition, however that doesn’t dilute the facility of her sacrifice right here. It’s additionally an episode that comprises what’s arguably essentially the most highly effective Buffy the Vampire Slayer quote, when Buffy tells her sister, Daybreak, that: “the toughest factor on this world… is to reside in it… Be courageous. Dwell. For me.” Simply excellent, actually.

3

“The Physique”

Season 5, Episode 16 (2001)

If anybody seems to be at you humorous whenever you say that Buffy the Vampire Slayer would possibly effectively be one in all the best dramas in TV historical past, simply present them “The Physique,” they usually’ll in all probability come round. Admittedly, it really works greatest in the event you perceive simply how devastating and surprising the dying right here is for the characters of the present, however even with out context, it’s nonetheless a robust exploration of the way it feels to obtain devastating information, within the second.

As a take a look at grief, few works of fiction are as brutal and genuine as “The Physique.” It really works much more as a dramatic episode as a result of the dying right here is so abnormal, and since earlier than this, most individuals on the present who died perished due to one thing supernatural. That is an episode that claims, “No, dying could be mundane and one thing that occurs out of nowhere, and that is the way it feels.” It’s not a enjoyable or notably rewatchable episode, certain, however it’s nonetheless an unbelievable one.

2

“As soon as Extra, with Feeling”

Season 6, Episode 7 (2001)

In comparison with “The Physique,” “As soon as Extra, with Feeling” is an efficient deal extra enjoyable… for essentially the most half. It’s the long-lasting musical episode of the present, however even with a crazy premise that sees all of Sunnydale breaking into music at random, it nonetheless furthers the general drama of the season, and in addition has a revelation concerning Buffy’s resurrection that’s truthfully fairly upsetting.

It may be in comparison with “Hush” due to the high-concept nature of the premise, however it completely nails what would possibly’ve failed in lesser arms, and emerges as an plain spotlight of the whole present within the course of. Even in the event you dislike most film musicals, you will in all probability discover “As soon as Extra, with Feeling” onerous to withstand in the event you’re a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer total, because it’s such a novel option to proceed constructing on what the (once more, divisive) sixth season was already doing.

1

“Changing into (Half 2)”

Season 2, Episode 22 (1998)

So far as exhibits that started within the Nineteen Nineties and completed within the 2000s go, each Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Sopranos would possibly effectively be the perfect. And, simply because the latter present had one in all its best episodes be the finale for Season 2 (“Funhouse”), so does Buffy the Vampire Slayer have an distinctive episode that concluded its second season: “Changing into (Half 2).”

This is among the most vital hours for the whole present, bringing a few heartbreaking conclusion to the wonderful overarching storyline of the season, all of the whereas creating this sense of “nothing being the identical” going ahead. It is not as soul-crushing as “The Physique,” however it’s a special sort of emotion being gone for right here; extra of a tearjerker than one thing prone to trigger despair. However the heightened melodrama of all of it matches the highschool setting and the relative youth of the (non-vampire) characters. Ultimately, it’s an episode that absolutely established Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an all-time nice present, solely laying to relaxation any fears that nice episodes previous to this had by some means been flukes or anomalies. It’s a textbook instance of how one can stick the touchdown for an entire rattling season of tv.

NEXT: The Most Necessary Episodes of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’