Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every episode ranked! (Part 3/5)By Matthew Martin| March 9, 2022 TV Blogs Previous Page #42 – After Life – season 6, episode 3 At this point, we don’t yet know the big secret about where Buffy has been between seasons 5 and 6. All we know is she came back rattled and unsure of everything. The show cleverly kept her away from the rest of the gang throughout the first episode, so all that payoff is unleashed on us here. Watching the Scoobies’ euphoria contrasted by Buffy’s obvious pain is hard to watch the first time; seeing it after learning the truth makes it even more tragic. By the end of the episode, she confesses to Spike that she was ripped away from Heaven, setting the stage for season six to be Buffy’s most emotionally-pained year ever. #41 – Intervention – season 5, episode 18 This is the Vision Quest episode, in which Buffy meets the first slayer, who tells her that Buffy’s gift is death. She takes that to mean killing. By the end of the season, she’ll have reinterpreted the first slayer’s words into something much more beautiful, and heartbreaking. Oh, and Buffy kisses Spike for the first time here. #40 – Same Time Same Place – season 7, episode 3 This episode features the last best use of a “creepy monster of the week” and boy is it a doozy. This thing eats you alive. That’s it. That’s its thing. But watching it peel away a piece of Willow’s belly and munch on it like a piece of soft bacon gives me chills every time. The show’s come a long way from the hilariously cheesy praying mantis costume in season one. The episode’s highlight is the way it plays the same scene twice-over, once with Willow (who is otherwise invisible) and then again with the Scoobies (who can’t see her). It’s an effective bit of editing and makes for a very fun watch. #39 – Life Serial – season 6, episode 5 Is this episode’s high placement a controversial choice? I don’t think so. While the trio hardly makes for the best season-long foil, they’re not really supposed to be. They’re red herrings. The real foils of season six are the Scoobies themselves, and their own worst impulses. Watching Buffy go through a Groundhog Day-like time loop is hardly the most original idea in sci-fi/fantasy storytelling, but the humor derived from it is what carries the day. #38 – Superstar – season 4, episode 17 Jonathan is maybe my favorite C-tier character who later upgraded to the B-tier. He’s a lovable loser, the kind of kid everyone knew in High School; that guy who no one actually hated, but no one was actually friends with either. He just sort of…existed. Superstar takes that guy and makes him the star of the show, literally; even the opening credits are all Jonathan all the time. As expected, someone who has never known popularity doesn’t know how much is too much, so the world he creates is hilariously over the top. I could quibble with the larger implications and potential consequences of such a spell but who cares. It’s a comedy episode, and one of the best in the show’s library. #37 – Earshot – season 3, episode 18 Buffy gains the ability to hear everyone’s thoughts, including the fact that her mom had sex with Giles. On the hood of a police car. Twice. As with many other comedy-heavy episodes, like “Storyteller” and “I Was Made to Love You,” this one ends with Buffy overhearing someone seemingly planning a school shooting. She intercepts…Jonathan, but he’s not about to kill anyone else, only himself. The episode was delayed until a few weeks before the start of season four due to the timing of it: The infamous Columbine School Shooting happened right as the episode aired. As for Buffy overhearing someone plotting to kill students, that was Lunch Lady Dorris (or whatever her name is) with a hilariously cartoonish box of rat poison… So yeah, considering the real-life circumstances, I can see them not wanting to air something with such a light-hearted punchline. #36 – I Only Have Eyes for You – season 2, episode 19 Your opinion of this episode will largely depend on if you appreciate subtext and allegory in your storytelling. If you prefer things to be laid out straight and plain, then this will probably seem like a goofy, high school drama-looking one-off without much purpose. Under the surface, however, is a beautiful allegory of the doomed romance between Buffy and Angel (currently Angelus). That it uses ghosts and body possession to tell that allegory is just a product of the genre. I was fine with it, especially since I happen to love the climactic (purposefully overly dramatized) scene between Buffy and Angelus. #35 – Amends – season 3, episode 10 Angelus is arguably the best Big Bad Buffy ever tangled with. He was nasty, cruel, remorseless, and capable of shocking acts of violence and evil, all with a cackle and a smile. The fact that he was also Buffy’s lover, given over to the dark side as it were, only added to the drama. Season two ended with the sublime “Becoming 1-2,” at the end of which, Buffy ran her ex-lover through the heart with a sword. This show just loves its visual metaphors. Angel was too good a character to keep away, however, so it was hardly a shock when he returned in season three. How to re-integrate him back into the fold was something the season spent half a year dealing with. The climax of that is this episode, one which—as the title implies—offers Angel the chance to make amends for the wrongs he did. We get our first “look” at the final Big Bad in the series, the infamous “First Evil” but it’s Angel’s own inner turmoil that’s the real villain of the episode. He’s prepared to let the sun rise on him and kill him, despite Buffy saying he can make amends and do right again. Fate agreed with her, it seems, as southern California had a sudden and near-miraculous White Christmas; snow fell on Sunnydale, blocking the sun and keeping Angel alive, to rededicate himself to “the fight.” It’s a beautiful episode, directed by Joss Whedon, and while it might not be as impactful as many of his other episodes, it’s too beautiful to place any lower. #34 – Living Conditions – season 4, episode 2 I’m allowed one episode that is way too high on the list but which I cannot put any lower simply because of how much I love it. I refuse to believe “Living Conditions” is so bad it has to be called a “guilty pleasure.” Nonsense; this is arguably my favorite comedic episode of the series. Buffy’s new college roommate is a Cher-loving, sweater stealing, milk-labeling roommate from hell. So of course she’s an actual demon. The best parts of the episode feature Buffy trying desperately to convince the Scoobies to help her kill this seemingly normal woman just because Buffy is convinced she’s a hellspawn… It doesn’t really matter how the story resolves itself. I don’t care. It’s fine but it’s hardly what matters here. What matters is how much fun I have watching it every time I rewatch the series. I get giddy with anticipation as I start season 4, knowing that my low-key favorite “unimportant” episode is coming up. * * * * * There it is, the third chunk of episodes ranked and reviewed. We’ll be back next month to examine and rank the very best episodes of Buffy.
