Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every episode ranked! (Part 3/5)By Matthew Martin| March 9, 2022 TV Blogs Previous Page #60 – Lie to Me – season 2, episode 7 “Lie to Me” earns its title at the end of the episode. After having to stake a friend who turned into a vampire (willingly, as an escape from terminal cancer), she turns to Giles looking for comfort. Knowing this world is evil and there is little comfort to share, she offers an alternative: “Lie to me.” At which point he tells her the good guys are always loyal, the bad guys are always obvious, good always wins, no one ever has to die, and everyone lives happily ever after. It’s quite a lie, especially in this show which seemed to revel in undermining those comforting ideas. #59 – Buffy vs Dracula – season 5, episode 1 A showdown between our Vampire Slayer and the most famous vampire in history was either always going to happen or it was never going to happen. I can’t decide if it was inevitable or if—had we never got this episode—it would have felt like a missed opportunity. I think I’m in the former camp. I don’t think Buffy needed a run-in with Dracula. In fact, before the episode aired, I had already decided that Dracula was long since dead, having been staked by Van Helsing or someone else ages ago. Instead, in this universe, Drac is unstakable and living off the fame of his name. I rate the episode as highly as I do because of what it is. If I looked at it for what it wasn’t, I probably would knock it down a few notches: This is the greatest vamp ever vs our hero, the Slayer. I expected more than a one-off episode that offers no real resolution. Dracula could have been a season-long big bad. Instead, he dips in and out in the season five premiere and is never heard from again. What we got is fun, though, I can’t deny, especially Xander being under his spell. #58 – The Weight of the World – season 5, episode 21 This is one of those episodes that would never have been made had the show been produced in the era of 8-13 episode streaming shows. A twenty-two-episode season means you need “filler,” but on Buffy, filler meant digging into the psyche of the character. In this case, that’s all we do, as Willow goes inside Buffy’s catatonic mind to help her come out of her funk and save the day. It’s a thought-provoking, moving, and fascinating little episode and I’m glad we have it. #57 – Beneath You – season 7, episode 2 Most of the plot is about a silly monster. The real treat here is the finale, which sees Spike finally confess to Buffy (in his own way) that he went searching for a soul so he might not ever again be the kind of person who would do what he tried to do in season 6’s “Seeing Red.” The things he says sound like bizarre ramblings but when you read the text you start to see the thought process… Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content It’s honestly one of the most beautiful scenes of the whole series. #56 – Family – season 5, episode 6 What does it say that “Family” is the most run-of-the-mill, mundane, ho-hum episode Joss Whedon contributed to the show. It wasn’t a big season opener or closer. It wasn’t a hugely important, mid-season tone-shifter. It wasn’t a special event that showed off the director’s flair. It was just a really well-made episode, focusing on Tara and her psychologically abusive father. Had anyone else’s name appeared in the credits as director, the episode would probably be right where it is in the rankings. Lots of other people could have made this episode. You can’t say that about “Hush” or “The Body.” Forget all of that and just focus on the episode and it’s really really good. That makes it low on the rankings for a Whedon episode, but halfway up the rankings overall. #55 – Him – season 7, episode 6 The first third of season seven is a delightful return to the classic era of Buffy episodes, with hijinks, comedy, goofy sci-fi/horror mash-ups, and more quips than you can keep up with. After the angst-heavy sixth season, the first seven or so episodes were a welcome breath of fresh air. Things get dark very soon after that, but the episode “Him” is the highlight of how fun the show could still be. The plot is almost season one levels of campy: a magic letterman jacket makes the girls go crazy. How the premise is applied is where the magic happens… Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content #54 – The Harsh Light of Day – season 4, episode 3 This is basically the last time we see classic old villain Spike and he goes out with quite the performance, finding a ring that essentially makes a vampire immune to all the things that could kill them (sunlight, stakes, etc). He’s foiled, of course, because Spike’s greatest character trait is being the most confident loser ever. The payoff is Oz gets to make a trip to Angel’s bumpy first season and give that show a spark. It works too. #53 – End of Days – season 7, episode 21 The penultimate episode of the series is light on plot and heavy on set-up, but while that’s usually a detriment, in this case, it works because the episode ends up being a series of “moments” that put all the pieces where they need to be for the finale. My favorite of these moments features Xander and Dawn in two scenes. In the first, he chloroforms her to drive her away from the dangerous battle to come. In the second, she puts a stun gun to his neck and drives back to the dangerous battle to come. Dawn’s come a long way.
