The Buffy Wrap-Up

Rewatching all 7 Seasons of Buffy reminded me why it's my favorite show. Even at its worst, it's still witty and entertaining. At it's best, it mixes humor and drama as well as any show I've ever seen, and creates a real investment in its characters. Something that stands out on a rewatch, especially compared to many other shows in this genre, is how excellently plotted Buffy is. Few other shows in the fantasy/sci-fi genre show the structure and restraint that Buffy does. There are no lingering plotlines, no needlessly drawn out mysteries, just well built season-long arcs. It's a great show, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it again with a more critical eye.

So, with that said, I want to give a quick overall synopsis of the show. I'll list the seasons in order of my preference, my 3 favorite episodes in each season, and my favorite 10 episodes overall.

Seasons
1) 2
2) 5

This is the top tier. These seasons are marked by both their consistency and their high points. Both are filled with lots of great episodes and few duds, and both have tremendous high points. All 4 of my top episodes come from these seasons. It's the consistency which separates them from Season 6, and the high points which separate them from Season 3.

3) 3
4) 6

I think these fall just short of Buffy's best. They aren't quite as perfect as the ones above. To me, though, they're still clearly better than the other 3. I would call these 4 the "great" Buffy seasons. While the others have their moments, these top 4 clearly stand out as the show's best work.

5) 4
6) 7

Both have more forgettable moments than great ones to me. They aren't bad, they just aren't the same level as the others. I rank 4 above 7 because a) 4 has Hush, and b) I hate Kennedy more than Riley.

7) 1

Only one Joss Whedon show has ever had a genuinely good first season (Firefly), so this is no surprise. It's only half a season, so it isn't even really fair to rate it on the same scale as the others.

Episodes

Season 1
1) Prophecy Girl
2) Angel
3) The Pack

Pretty simple. Season 1 has two really good episodes, and "The Pack" wins 3rd place by virtue of being ballsy enough to have students eat their principal.

Season 2
1) Passion
2) Becoming
3) Surprise/Innocence

It's hard to leave "I Only Have Eyes For You" out of this, but these 3 are so clearly the best 3. Buffy reached an emotional high point in Season 2, and all these episodes hit like a truck.

Season 3
1) Lover's Walk
2) The Prom
3) Helpless

Season 3 is the toughest because there are so many really good episodes, but not a lot as many really great episodes. These 3 barely beat out "The Zeppo", "Graduation Day", "Dopplegangland" and "Earshot"

Season 4
1) Hush
2) This Year's Girl/Who Are You
3) Pangs

Hush is perfection. The Faith two-parter is excellent. Pangs narrowly beats out the rest because it's so freaking funny.

Season 5
1) The Body
2) The Gift
3) Fool For Love

The first 2 are my all-time favorite episodes of Buffy. The last spot could've been filled by any number of episodes, but I narrowly gave it to Fool For Love (honorable mention: "Intervention", "Triangle", "Checkpoint", "Crush", "Family"...man, this season is good).

Season 6
1) After Life
2) Once More With Feeling
3) Tabula Rasa

As I discussed at length in my season synopsis "After Life" is tremendously underrated. The OMWF/Tabula Rasa back-to-back is the perfect example of how well this show mixes comedy and tragedy.

Season 7
1) Conversations With Dead People
2) Storyteller
3) Him

I would never have expected "Him" to end up in my top 3 before this rewatch, but it's just so, so funny that I have to put it here above the rest of Season 7.

Overall
1) The Body
2) The Gift
3) Passion
4) Becoming
5) Hush
6) After Life
7) Once More With Feeling
8) Lover's Walk
9) Surprise/Innocence
10) The Prom

There you go. That's it, I'm done with writing about Buffy. To the two of you who have been reading this, I hope you enjoyed it. I've enjoyed writing it.