There are few shows in the world quite like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
It’s breathtakingly ambitious in its scope — a supernatural serial that encompasses both campy, kitschy, spooky thrills — and also sometimes quite scary horror. An action show, that leans into choreographed fight scenes and big sci-fi fun. A teen drama with some of TV’s most talked-about romances, most iconic friendships, and a simple message: that growing up can feel like hell (and is literally hell for them they live on a Hellmouth). It’s also a comedy, with some of the funniest and most catchy dialogue on TV.
It can also be horrifically sad.
It was a show that broke barriers in terms of feminism and queer representation. In its time it was as equally loved and hated by critics, bemoaned for its realistic depictions of teens, as much as it was beloved by the youth themselves. Christian parents hated it.
It’s a show that reinvented itself over seven seasons — or more accurately, a show that grew up along with its protagonist, Buffy Summers. But the heart of the show is always still there, beating strongly, visible for everyone to see (which is beautiful, unless taken literally, then it’s incredibly gross).
It’s also a show that is extremely beloved on an episodic basis — while the overarching seasons tied them all together (some seasons better than others), Buffy still paid homage to its ‘monster of the week’ inspirations, meaning ranking the best episodes is no easy task.
So, with that in mind, the Junkee team has put together a list of the 20 best ever episodes of Buffy, using a system that ranks each episode based off a bunch of different criteria.
It’s a controversial list. There’s a lot of ties. We’ve done our best: so let’s do it.
The 20 Best Ever Episodes Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Ranked
#20. ‘I Robot, You Jane’: Season 1, Episode 8
Is there a more ’late ‘90s’ TV plot than the time Buffy and co. had to battle a demon that was accidentally uploaded onto the (dial-up) internet?
Buffy’s first season is filled with throw-away episodes — who could forget the teens who became possessed by an ancient hyena-pack, or a teen Clea Duvall turning invisible because nobody noticed her — but it’s the e-demon episode that sums up the kitschy appeal of the show’s early days.
Sure, I can’t quote a single line and it’s far from an important moment (besides introducing Giles’ love interest, computer teacher and Burning Man enthusiast Jenny), but I will always love this dumb-as-hell, incredibly dated episode.
You had me at ‘demon catfishing’, but I fell in love at ‘Buffy fights a demon robot’.
- Cultural relevance: 7/10 (we’re giving this a high relevance for all of s1 frankly)
- Quotability: 4/10
- Action Scenes: 5/10
- Iconic moments: 5/10
- Emotional resonance: 3/10
- Laughs: 8/10
Total score: 32/60
Words by: Jared Richards
#19. ‘The Body’: Season 5, Episode 16
This episode is the stand out episode of the entire show in my opinion.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer captured so many people’s hearts in so many different ways — it was relatable, heart-warming, heartbreaking and supernatural all at the same time.
‘The Body’ for me falls within both the heartbreaking and heart-warming elements. I watched some Buffy episodes as a teen, however I watched the entire series for the first time in 2017, which was also the first time I saw this episode. To put everything into context (and to explain why this episode means so much to me), my mother was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in 2016, and she began radiation therapy in 2017.
Watching this episode in 2017, while my mother was undergoing treatment was both heartbreaking and relatable. Brain tumours are rare, but for those who have had direct experience, they can consume your thoughts. While my mother and I have a strained relationship, I did worry for her very much. Furthermore, in 2017, my de-facto grandfather passed away suddenly.
While the two situations are unrelated, this episode of Buffy helped me to come to terms with both. That’s what I believe this episode does so well. It not only provides an accurate portrayal of the unpredictable experience of someone with a brain tumour, it also accurately details the different ways people experience grief. It was comforting for me to watch when I was struggling with these emotions.
For those who have lost a love one suddenly and for those who’ve seen someone they know undergo a brain tumour, this episode was heart wrenching, relatable and comforting. I’ve never watched something since that has invoked the same response in me.
- Cultural relevance: 9/10
- Quotability: 2/10
- Action Scenes: 4/10
- Iconic moments: 10/10 (the entire episode is iconic)
- Emotional resonance: 10/10
- Laughs: 1/10
Total score: 36/60
Words by: Hayden Moon
#18. ‘The Prom’: Season 3, Episode 20
An absolute gut-punch on an episode, and this is coming from a Spike stan. I never liked Angel, but I do respect him for selflessly breaking up with Buffy in ‘The Prom’, so that she could have some semblance of a normal dating life and you know, actually fuck her boyfriend without him turning into a murderous psychopath (well, fingers crossed).
Buffy takes the breakup about as well as any teen girl, but unlike any teen girl she processes her heartbreak by defeating a small army of hell hounds racing to her school prom.
Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom.
The devastation felt from the breakup is balanced by Buffy being awarded the prom’s inaugural ‘Class Protector’ title by her fellow students. As an outcast throughout most of her years at Sunnydale High School, it was refreshing to see that Buffy’s efforts were appreciated all this time.
“I had no idea that children, en masse, could be gracious,” Giles tells Buffy afterwards, in a heartfelt moment. I AM CRYING.
Then there’s the final scene where Angel arrives to the prom just in time to slow-dance to ‘Wild Horses’, as tears streak down Buffy’s cheek. AGAIN, I AM CRYING. The episode (obviously) isn’t huge on laughs, but the scene where Giles mistakes Willow describing a prom dress (“Not too short. Medium. And it had this weird sort of fringey stuff on its arms”) as a new demon tickles me and is emblematic of the series’ ongoing conflict of Buffy straddling life as a Slayer and a growing teen.
- Cultural relevance: 6/10
- Quotability: 4/10
- Action Scenes: 7/10
- Iconic moments: 8/10
- Emotional resonance: 9/10
- Laughs: 3/10
Total score: 37/60
Words by: Tara Watson
#17. ‘Halloween’: Season 2, Episode 6
‘Halloween’ is one of the first very good episodes of Buffy.
The concept is pretty basic, at least in Buffy terms: a warlock masquerading as the owner of a costume shop casts a spell using a statue of a Roman god that forces all the kids in town to assume the characters they’re dressed as.
It’s good, clean Halloween fun and for an American TV show about high school, that feels pretty much obligatory. But, in the way that Buffy was always good, ‘Halloween’ nods at the cliches and uses them to its advantage.
The Scooby gang turn into characters that give each of them a neat little arc: Buffy turns into the powerless 18th Century lady she hoped Angel would be into, Xander becomes the hyper-masc soldier he wishes he could be in high school, and Willow morphs into a sexy ghost (cut to Oz saying “Who is that girl?” again).
Between fighting off the many children who have turned into nasty little demons and Spike’s old-school monster gang, ‘Halloween’ is classic Buffy entertainment.
It’s not emotionally traumatising or even particularly dark (this is Season 2, after all and the show hadn’t quite hit its intense streak yet) but it is an important episode that establishes some character timelines that carry through later seasons.
It’s the first time we see Giles beat the ever-loving shit out of somebody (specifically Ethan Rayne), hinting at his past as “Ripper” for the first time and Xander is imbued with his soldier brain that comes in super handy in later episodes.
Also, this episode contains a lot of Angel, which I like, because he makes me wet like the Amazon.
- Cultural relevance: 8/10
- Quotability: 4/10
- Action scenes: 7/10
- Iconic moments: 7/10
- Emotional resonance: 5/10
- Laughs: 7/10
Total score: 38/60
Words by: Elfy Scott
#16. ‘Superstar’: Season 4; Episode 17
Amid a year of transition, loss and character growth, Superstar stands out for its sheer ridiculousness. From the start of the episode, no explanation is given as the Scooby Gang grapple with their usual demonic escapades — all within a universe where nerdy Jonathan is powerful, popular, and omnipresent.
He is a leader, a celebrity, an advisor, a sex symbol. We discover just how he’s done this at the same time as Buffy, making this ep captivating and fun.
The visual gags are a highlight, as most of the show’s humour relies on Whedon-heavy dialogue and memorable quotes, but ‘Superstar’ gifts us with a backdrop poster of an NBA-playing Jonathan followed by a scene of him suddenly performing jazz.
In 2020 this character might be sending death threats to female politicians but the patheticness of Jonathan’s desperate need to be liked is somehow both hilarious and harmless.
“He starred in The Matrix but never left town,” Buffy ponders. Oh Jonathan, you simply flew too close to the sun, and insisted on playing the trumpet.
- Cultural Relevance: 6/10
- Quotability: 4/10
- Action Scenes: 7/10
- Iconic Moments: 8/10
- Emotional Resonance: 5/10
- Laughs: 9/10
Total score: 39/60
Words by: Deirdre Fidge
#15. ‘Earshot’: Season 3, Episode 18
Of all the demonic horrors explored in the Buffyverse, the idea of being forced to hear the thoughts of everyone around you is perhaps the most viscerally terrifying.
It also makes for one of the most incredibly fun and memorable episodes of Buffy. Would you believe that Xander is just powerfully horny? And so is Wesley for Cordelia, which looking back on it now… yikes.
Apparently you can’t read vampire minds, but Angel does tell Buffy she’s the only person he has loved in 243 years, which is a beautiful moment and also sounds fake but okay.
After hearing that someone is planning to kill all the students, the episode culminates in a particularly emotional scene where the gang find Jonathan in the clock tower assembling a rifle, but learn he was only planning to kill himself.
Buffy gives a poignant speech about the shared experiences of pain and adolescence and Jonathan, naturally, goes on to become a happy and helpful member of Sunnydale society. Anyways, turns out the culprit all along was a lunch lady putting rat poison in the food. And she would have got away with it if it weren’t for those damn meddling kids.
‘Earshot’ is topped off with Buffy telling Giles “Sure, we can work out after school. If you’re not too busy having sex with my mother.”Giles walks into a tree. Iconic.
- Cultural relevance: 5/10
- Quotability: 7/10
- Action Scenes: 5/10
- Iconic moments: 7/10
- Emotional resonance: 7/10
- Laughs: 8/10
Total score: 39/60
Words by: Lucy Valentine
#14. ‘Fool For Love’: Season 5, Episode 7
Joss Whedon never meant for Spike to be even a mildly likeable character, let alone a romantic interest — the vampires of the show were meant to be irredeemable, grotesque monsters behind human faces, and nothing more. He was absolutely pushing back against the romanticised version of the classic fiend.
But Spike… well, nevertheless, he persisted. And this might be Spike’s best episode.
The episode starts off with Buffy doing her tried and true routine of punning a whole bunch while beating up a vampire. We’ve seen it a thousand times, and the fight feels like that — standard, easy. And out of the blue, the vamp manages to stab her deeply with her own stake. It makes Buffy begin to fear death in a whole new way, and go down a rabbit-hole of trying to work out not just HOW but WHY the other slayers were killed. It’s amazing character development, and of course, very prophetic for later this season.
This leads her to Spike, who has personally killed two slayers himself — and in an evening of seething tension, Spike walks her through two flashbacks. It’s gorgeous storytelling, both in format and outcome, and showcases both what a perfect character Spike has become, and how brilliant James Marsters and Sarah Michelle Geller work in opposition to each other.
And some of the best fights in the show. The duel between Spike and the New York slayer in the sixties is actually iconic.
There’s not a lot of laughs — there’s some gorgeous comedy work that comes from the Scoobys accompanying Riley on a patrol, but it’s hardly a chucklefest.
And it ends on one of Buffy’s cruellest moments — when she echoes pathetic William the Bloody’s lost love, and tells Spike that he is “beneath her”.
A perfect moment, in a season that struggles to find itself as it transitions from awkward youth into adulthood.
- Cultural relevance: 6/10
- Quotability: 7/10
- Action Scenes: 10/10
- Iconic moments: 8/10
- Emotional resonance: 6/10
- Laughs: 3/10
Total score: 40/60
Words by: Patrick Lenton
#13. ‘Hush’: Season 4, Episode 10
Listen, there’s a reason this episode makes every Best of Buffy list. ‘Hush’ is not only one of the best episodes of Buffy but one of the best episodes of television period. It showcases the range of this incredibly talented cast. A show based around quippy dialogue has an episode that’s almost entirely without dialogue? A truly inspired concept!
The episode also gets bonus points for having The Gentlemen — the scariest Buffy monsters. The episode also gets even more bonus points for introducing us to our other favourite lesbian wicca — Tara Maclay.
From start to finish this episode has unforgettable moments back to back to freakin’ back. It also gives every character their own really stellar mini arc from Anya and Xander argument leading to makeup sex to Riley finding out his girlfriend is the Slayer.
‘Hush’ could almost stand on its own as a mini movie, yet it also advances the season long Initiative plot which…sure fine whatever. ‘Hush’ also gave us one of the best scenes of the entire series aka Giles giving the overhead projection presentation on The Gentlemen.
- Cultural relevance: 10/10
- Quotability: 2/10 (hey the opening has some dialogue)
- Action Scenes: 7/10
- Iconic moments: 10/10
- Emotional resonance:6/10
- Laughs: 9/10
Total score: 43/60
Words by: Ian Carlos Crawford
#12. ‘Graduation Day’ Parts 1 and 2: Season 3, Episode 21
Season 3 expanded the mythology of the show in many ways — and did so within a really great season of television.
But season 3 is also notable because for the first time the big bad wasn’t a vampire — it was the Sunnydale’s mayor, Richard Wilkins, along with rogue vampire slayer Faith. Faith and Buffy’s relationship was complicated at best. Faith was the dark to Buffy’s light and boy was it a compelling dynamic.
Part 1 gives us the Buffy vs Faith fight that nearly rivals the Buffy vs Angelus fight from the previous season’s finale. Part 2 gives us the entire class fighting the newly demonised Mayor and his army of vamps. Larry has a flame thrower! Oz has a crossbow! Cordelia stakes a vamp! Harmony gets bitten! It’s a really great send off to their high school years and one of the most enjoyable battle scenes the show ever produced.
It was the biggest and most satisfying season finale that didn’t end in tears.
- Cultural relevance: 7/10
- Quotability: 7/10
- Action Scenes: 10/10
- Iconic moments: 8/10
- Emotional resonance:6/10
- Laughs: 6/10
Total score: 44/60
Words by: Ian Carlos Crawford
#11. ‘Band Candy’: Season 3, Episode 6
One of the most iconic early season Buffy episodes, which takes the central premise of the show — that being young can be hell — and highlights it by creating one of the most unique juxtapositions in TV, when all the adults become horny teenagers from magic chocolate.
It’s an effective parody of teen culture — from a show that almost UNIQUELY for its time spends a lot of time venerating it, and also a great way to lampoon adults. Their dignity and their power — especially the power invested from institutions that teens fear, like parents and school teachers, is nullified for one glorious and terrifying night.
Sorcerer and chaos bitch, Ethan Rayne, is back in Sunnydale, and this time he’s making making chocolate to distract all the parents, so the Mayor can steal a bunch of babies and sacrifice them to a demon. So, classic.
The magic chocolate makes all the parents forget their responsibilities, because they are teens.
We get to see teenage Giles — or Ripper — as the ticking time bomb magic youth we’d had foreshadowed from previous episodes, and his pretentious bad-boy is one of the greatest performances in history. Paired with Joyce Summers (Buffy’s mum) who gets to really let loose from the mum role she’d been placed in (both in the text and in real life), it’s both funny and sexy and enthralling.
It also foreshadows a lot of the more weighted conversations the show has around adulthood and responsibility — Buffy isn’t broken by hers yet, but she’s feeling it, placed as literally the only adult in a town full of children, when all she wants to do is be a normal teenage girl.
The episode is hugely fun and madcap and clever, and is one of the prime reasons that season 3 is probably overall the strongest of all of them.
- Cultural relevance: 6/10
- Quotability: 8/10
- Action Scenes: 6/10
- Iconic moments: 8/10
- Emotional resonance: 7/10
- Laughs: 9/10
Total score: 44/60
Words by: Patrick Lenton
#10. ‘Fear Itself’: Season 4, Episode 4
Amongst an overwhelmingly good season and an exemplary catalogue of Halloween episodes, ‘Fear Itself’ is a real delight because it feels like a throwback to the silliness and campy fun of the show’s first season.
It also spawned the world’s cheapest Halloween costume in Oz’s Hello My Name is GOD sticker. And of course Xander has shown up on Halloween as James Bond before finding himself, under the influence of fear demon Gachnar, invisible to the gang. Fear Itself is a real illustration of the show’s strength in exploring psychological themes surrounding fear and insecurity in upbeat and incredibly fun ways.
The episode offers a wonderful exploration of the characters and their individual insecurities, from Oz’s fears about his werewolf self to Willow’s inability to control a spell. We also get a joyous little Giles and Anya side adventure as they come to save the day.
When the terrifying dark lord of nightmares Gachnar manifests, he turns out to be a few inches tall and is promptly stomped on by Buffy. Giles later discovers the footnote ‘Fir Meit’ below the illustration of Gachnar translates as ‘actual size’ — the perfect end to one of the show’s most absurdly fun episodes.
- Cultural relevance: 6/10
- Quotability: 7/10
- Action Scenes: 9/10
- Iconic moments: 7/10
- Emotional resonance: 7/10
- Laughs: 9/10
Total score: 45/60
Words by: Lucy Valentine
#9. ‘The Gift’: Season 5, Episode 22
This episode contains a quote that has saved me, and countless others, many times. “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave, live.”
This sentence held me together when I was really struggling. I still have it written on a piece of paper that is blu-tacked to my bedroom wall. This episode is the ultimate story of sacrificing your life for the ones you love and the meaning hits in so many ways.
For me, as someone who is transgender, in a society that doesn’t accept me — previously I have often thought that I didn’t belong and, sadly, that I didn’t deserve to live. That final quote from Buffy and her sacrifice for Dawn helped me to remember that living as a minority is a brave thing to do, that fighting for those like me is my purpose.
I know many others who have also benefitted from this quote, who have used it to support themselves and to keep themselves going.
‘The Gift’ is powerful, heartbreaking and inspiring. In a way it reminded me of all those who’ve lost their lives and who have fought before me and it reminds me to continue that fight in their honour. The strength of both Buffy and Dawn in this episode has inspired many over the years.
- Cultural relevance: 8/10
- Quotability: 8/10
- Action Scenes: 8/10
- Iconic moments: 10/10
- Emotional resonance: 8/10
- Laughs: 3/10
Total score: 45/60
Words by: Hayden Moon
#8. ‘Chosen’: Season 7, Episode 22
“And when everyone’s Super… no one will be.” Or so claims Syndrome in The Incredibles during a scene — which it’s important to note — is between two men.
It’s rather fitting that the end for Buffy, then, a show that redefined and reshaped female characters in popular culture should conclude on a rather feminist note. Despite how patchy season six and seven were overall (come on, we can be honest about this now) Chosen is a damn near perfect bow that beautifully wraps together not only the season arc but the arc of the entire series.
After all, one of the biggest strengths of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is its world building. And as is examined more closely in the back half of the series, the entire construct of the Chosen One is, well, pretty damn patriarchal.
“In every generation, one Slayer is born, because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule,” says Buffy in the ep. That’s not to mention the men who sit back and critique that world saving (the Watcher’s Council can fuck right off imho).
The final season, and this final episode in particular, is about reclaiming your legacy.
It’s about reshaping it into something you can live with, the very idea of living something that’s kind of paradoxical to a Slayer. So Buffy and the Scooby Gang come up with a way to share the power she and Faith have been cursed with, not just with the current gaggle of Potential Slayers but with every woman in the world.
To quote Miss Summers: “Every girl who could have the power, will have the power.” It’s a nifty concept after seven seasons of One Girlery and, frankly, one that should have probably been left unexamined in the following seasons of the comic. Yet in the context of Chosen, it’s a rather beautiful pivot.
When Willow asks “what are we gonna do now Buffy?” and the closing shot moves closer to her battle torn face, it’s important we never hear her answer as she smiles wistfully. Because it’s not just about Buffy anymore and the potential she has. It’s about every woman and the power they now have at their fingertips, much in the same way one woman breaking through the glass ceiling doesn’t matter much if you can’t bring others with you.
- Cultural relevance: 7/10
- Quotability: 7/10
- Action Scenes: 7/10
- Iconic moments: 10/10
- Emotional resonance: 9/10
- Laughs: 6/10
Total score: 46/60
Words by: Maria Lewis
#7. ‘Becoming’ Parts 1 And 2: Season 2, Episode 21 & 22
Folks love to throw around the term “cultural reset” but this… this was a cultural reset.
Both these episodes have incredibly epic endings that aren’t as burdened by mythology as most other Buffy finales are. It’s just Buffy, the Scoobies, and Kendra racing to stop Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla’s plan to destroy the world. We get Joyce finding out her daughter is the slayer, Whistler’s emotional voice over, Drusilla killing her first slayer, Buffy killing her true love, and Buffy wearing an incredibly iconic, flowy teal coat.
Angelus had spent the last half of season 2 stalking Buffy, killing her techno-pagan Computer Science teacher, and torturing her beloved watcher. Their showdown at the end of the season is completely earned and so emotional. In fact, the amount of emotional beats in this two-parter are nearly unparalleled.
There can be an argument made for bigger season finales throughout the show but this was the most emotional battle Buffy had fought in those first 2 seasons. Sarah Michelle Gellar delivers award winning performance after award winning performance in both episodes.
And, in the end, our hero saves the day but at the cost of her beloved Angel. Season 2 changed the stakes for the rest of the series and delivers some top tier storytelling.
- Cultural relevance: 9/10
- Quotability: 7/10
- Action Scenes: 8/10
- Iconic moments: 10/10
- Emotional resonance: 9/10
- Laughs: 4/10
Total score: 47/60
Words by: Ian Carlos Crawford
#6. ‘Surprise’/’Innocence’: Season 2, Episodes 13 –14
Yeah yeah, like, technically this isn’t a titled two parter a la ‘Graduation Day’ or ‘Becoming’ or ‘Bargaining’ or even ‘What’s My Line’ — but it’s difficult to discuss either ‘Surprise’ or ‘Innocence’ without the other so … here they are. Together, just for a moment, much like Buffy and Angel were after two seasons of tension leads to the horizontal tango.
WAP has very much dominated the pop cultural conversation this year, but if we’re talking all-time, powerful WAPs, Buffy Summers has to be in the Hall Of Fame due to the unrivalled ability to give Angel one moment of pure happiness and break the curse that unleashes Angelus on the world. The subtext rapidly becomes text as the obvious reading is ‘men become monsters once you let them punch your V plates’. Eh, it’s a boring discourse at this point, especially because of the ‘sacred female virginity’ trope it leans hard into.
What is interesting, however, is the course it puts Buffy on for the rest of the series as she comes to terms first with her heartbreak, then with the realisation that she will eventually have to kill the man she loves. When Buffy’s heart breaks, ours breaks with her.
‘Innocence’, in particular, manages to juggle more moving parts than almost any other episode of the show. Buffy and Angel dramz is front and centre, but the B and C plots give everyone their moment: Spike and Dru get their undead BFF back, Cordelia and Xander’s horniness evolves, Giles and Jenny’s relationship unravels while Willow and Oz’s begins in earnest with that van scene (“freeze frame: Willow kissage”).
To quote Dave Chappelle quoting Charlie Murphy quoting Prince, it’s one of the great “assemble your crew” moments as every Scooby plays a vital role in what leads to one of the show’s best action set pieces. It’s not a season finale, or even a mid-season finale for that matter, yet the fact they bust out Buffy with a bazooka (!!!) is the ultimate flex.
- Cultural relevance: 9/10
- Quotability: 7/10
- Action Scenes: 10/10
- Iconic moments: 8/10
- Emotional resonance: 9/10
- Laughs: 5/10
Total score: 48/60
Words by: Maria Lewis
#5. ‘Restless’: Season 4, Episode 22
A low-key final episode that acts as more of an epilogue to season 4’s emotional rollercoaster, ‘Restless’ is widely considered the show’s best finale, and for good reason.
‘Restless’ is really such a beautiful and tonally unique piece of the show, and one that exemplifies the way that Buffy the Vampire Slayer transformed television and why it deserves all of its cultural accolades. ‘Restless’ explores our perception of self, the way we all view ourselves as the protagonists of our lives and how much that can be at odds with the way we are viewed by others.
Throughout its surreal exploration of the First Slayer, the dreamlike Lynchian imagery and gorgeous visuals, ‘Restless’ sort of acts as a buffer between the first four seasons’ character development and adolescent fun to the second half of the show’s darker tone and more complex character dynamics.
It beautifully weaves together a seamless retrospective on everything each character has been through and foreshadows where they heading. As Tara tells Buffy in her dream, “You think you know what’s to come, what you are. You haven’t even begun.”
- Cultural relevance: 10/10
- Quotability: 6/10
- Action Scenes: 10/10
- Iconic moments: 9/10
- Emotional resonance:10/10
- Laughs: 4/10
Total score: 49/60
Words by: Lucy Valentine
#4. ‘The Wish’: Season 3, Episode 9
As far as bottle episodes go, the “what if X” formula is pretty tried and true, yet Buffy consistently had some of the best.
What if it’s a silent episode? What if it’s a musical episode? What if Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale? Cue our dystopian episode, which could have been as much wacky fun as the Buffering The Vampire Slayer song dedicated to it (*hums* “just a vampire slay-er in Cleve-land”).
Instead what we get is one of the darkest episodes of the series and one of the most memorable. Although the events get a hard reset by the time the final ‘grrr, argh’ plays over the credits, there are elements introduced in ‘The Wish’ that go on to shape Buffy forever.
Firstly, Vamp Willow gives us her iconic “bored now” catchphrase. Yet more importantly, it foreshadows Non-Vamp Willow’s sexuality (which would break ground in later seasons). It’s the debut of Anya, merely a vengeance demon here but someone who would become a central part of the Scooby Gang up until the final episode, Chosen (#rip). It bookmarks the coming rift between slayers, with alt-universe Buffy closer to main universe Faith and all of the internal damage that entails.
Almost every major cast member dies brutally — and in Buffy’s case, in slow motion — yet the biggest takeaway from ‘The Wish’ is hope, of all things.
You know, that unwavering belief in something better just on the other side if only we can keep striving.
“We fight, we die, wishing doesn’t change that,” Buffy of the heavy eyeliner, terrible wig and scarred upper lip tells Giles. “I have to believe in a better world,” he replies, before she hits back. “Go ahead. I have to live in this one.”
How it manages to be one of the bleakest episodes and simultaneously one of the most hopeful is down to that special Buffy alchemy.
- Cultural relevance: 7/10
- Quotability: 8/10
- Action Scenes: 10/10
- Iconic moments: 10/10
- Emotional resonance: 10/10
- Laughs: 5/10
Total score: 50/60
Words by: Maria Lewis
#3. ‘Tabula Rasa’ Season 6, Episode 8
Welcome to the nancy tribe!
This is the most fun I’ve ever had watching Buffy. I watch this episode annually and I often unconsciously find myself saying lines from it in my everyday life. If I make a mistake at work? “Look what you’ve done, you lunatic woman!” I’m getting over-stimulated after too many morning coffees? “Take it easy, Joan!”
‘Tabula Rasa’ is not only one of the series’ funniest but it’s an important turning point for the ‘Dark Willow’ story arc that would culminate in Willow becoming the season’s Big Bad — rather than the incel-like trio of geeks.
The episode sees all the characters memories erased after Willow attempts to do a spell on Tara and Buffy, in order to make them forget their recent trauma (Tara and Willow fighting about magic/the Scooby gang finding out they resurrected Buffy from heaven.)
With virtually no memories, the characters build new identities, which leads to so many hilarious moments, like Buffy not knowing she’s the Slayer and renaming herself Joan. My personal favourite mix-up is Spike thinking he’s Giles’ son Randy (a name acquired from the inside of his coat’s collar) and Anya his stepmum-to-be.
Like many of Buffy’s weirder episodes, the villain is especially cooked, with a demon named Teeth, with the head of a shark, who is after Spike because he owes him, umm…kittens. While this episode is one of the silliest across the entire seven seasons, it also serves up one of the most devastating musical moments in its final minutes.
I will forever associate Michelle Branch’s ‘Goodbye to You’ with Tara breaking up with Willow, while a depressed Buffy drowns her sorrows at the Bronze after Giles returns to the UK. Season six keeps getting even more grim from here, but ‘Tabula Rasa’ is a bright spot in an extremely dark season.
- Cultural relevance: 8/10
- Quotability: 10/10
- Action Scenes: 7/10
- Iconic moments: 8/10
- Emotional resonance: 8/10
- Laughs: 10/10
Total score: 51/60
Words by: Tara Watson
#2. ‘Something Blue’: Season 4, Episode 9
Season Four was a year of transition for the gang: new hairstyles, moving to college, farewelling Oz (sad), meeting Riley (ACAB). ‘Something Blue’ stands out for multiple reasons: it’s when a heartbroken Willow begins discovering her true witchy power (and sexual fluidity!) as through her many accidental spells, Buffy and Spike end up engaged in a wacky Odd Couple scenario.
And who doesn’t love wacky?!
Giles’ increasing horror of losing his vision while attempting to understand this romance is a standout, although Anthony Stewart Head could read a dictionary and I’d be enthralled. ‘Something Blue’ is a perfect example of when the writers nailed comedy-drama. We cry when Willow sobs at the realisation that her tiny werewolf is gone for good, we cheer at Riley’s dejected bafflement when Buffy announces her upcoming nuptials. This has it all.
And I’ll defend to the death the choice of ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ as a wedding song.
- Cultural relevance: 7/10
- Quotability: 9/10
- Action Scenes: 9/10
- Iconic Moments: 9/10
- Emotional Resonance: 9/10
- Laughs: 9/10
Total score: 52/60
Words by: Deirdre Fidge
#1. ‘Once More With Feeling’: Season 6, Episode 7
Ah, the Buffy musical. What could have been an awkward symptom of a show jumping the shark is instead a masterful example of a show riding the shark into legend.
Unlike most shows that decide to have musicals, there’s a reason everyone is singing and dancing — a dancing demon has been summoned, and it feeds off everyone’s heightened emotions that get expressed through song and dance, and delights in the mayhem and chaos, and also people set on fire and die.
It’s a whole thing. It’s fine and plausible. We could have had a perfectly enjoyable throwaway musical episode and everyone would have been fine with it. It’s not even the weirdest thing to happen to Sunnydale by a mile.
But the brilliance of this episode, the audacity of this show, is that this episode is narratively CRUCIAL. It is one of the most important episodes of the entire season, and deftly uses the conceit of song to continue a complicated storyline.
Basically — season 6 is dark, and dire, and every single character is sitting on a whole bunch of secrets and repressed feelings. Buffy has just been pulled out of heaven by her friends, and isn’t telling anybody that’s why she’s basically suffering from trauma. Spike loves Buffy. Giles wants to yeet off. Xander and Anya are scared of marriage. Willow is MANIPULATING TARA’S MIND. Dawn is a shoplifter. Hmm. WILLOW IS MANIPULATING TARA’S MIND WITH SPELLS.
These have all simmered below the surface of a very sad season, and because they can’t stop themselves from expressing their carefully bottled emotions through song, it all bursts out musically: joyfully, loudly, and with various levels of aptitude.
It all comes out. And it is actually devastating.
But, let’s talk about the songs. Ah the songs, Jimmy, they’ll melt your face off. They are genuinely good musical numbers — from the opening ‘Going Through The Motions’ number “she’s not even half the girl she, owwww”, to Spike’s vampire-rock ballad ‘Let Me Rest In Peace’ to the devastating emotional (and beautifully performed) ‘Wish I Could Stay’, it’s hit after hit (except for Anya and Xander’s, which is more of a retro-pastiche).
It’s so impressive how even the sweetest and most saccharine of the songs — like ‘Under Your Spell’, which features TV’s first depiction of levitating lesbian cunnilingus, manages to hint at the poisonous and dark secrets underneath it all, waiting to erupt (she is literally under Willow’s spell).
What an episode. It’s funny, it’s touching, it’s important, it’s quintessentially Buffy.
- Cultural relevance: 10/10
- Quotability: 10/10
- Action Scenes: 6/10
- Iconic moments: 9/10
- Emotional resonance: 8/10
- Laughs: 10/10
Total score: 53/60
Words by: Patrick Lenton
All seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are streaming on Stan.