(Please note: the following blog was originally posted on my old blog
Why Yes I Am Quite Random, Why Do You Ask?, a blog I can no longer
access for some unknown reason. This is being put at the start of
each blog I'm uploading, in case anyone comes across the blog and
accuses me of plagiarism. This is explained further in my
introduction blog.
The following was originally posted on Friday, November 18th, 2011 at 7:07 pm)
You ever watch something on TV that you
have on DVD and have seen several times before but you end up
watching the rest of the episode/movie anyway and you feel the urge
to watch the entire thing again? I had that recently. I was sitting
down to dinner before going to work and while channel surfing, I saw
an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and since there wasn't
anything else particularly engaging on any other channel, I kept
watching to determine what episode it was. It ended up being I Was
Made For Loving You, a season 5 episode involving a robot (not the
first robot to appear on the show either) and a rather enjoyable one
at that.
For those not in the know, here's the
skinny: Buffy is a young woman who is destined to fight off the
vampires, the demons, the monsters, the things that go bump in the
night. She is the latest (at first) in a long line of vampire
slayers. With her friends, she is not alone as she tackles high
school (initially) and the forces of darkness. The show ran for seven
seasons, from 1997-2003 and is still fondly remembered today. The
legacy even lives on in comic book form, with season eight having
finished and now season nine is currently being written. And of
course, the show had a spin-off with Angel (which I will discuss
another time)
I could go on about the show but,
partly inspired by re-watching that episode and my best friend's own
blog post about Buffy
(http://daveherndon.blogspot.com/2011/10/buffy-vampire-slayer-discussed.html#comment-form),
I have decided to do my own top ten list of favourite episodes, over two blogs.
Before we get into that, of the TV
series itself, here is how I rank the seasons, from best to worst:
6, 3, 5, 2, 1, 7, 4
Oh and I should point out there may be
spoilers so if you have not yet watched the show or are still on the
early seasons, you have been warned.
Now, for the episode list itself, we'll
do in reverse:
- Graduation Day Part 2 (Season 3, Episode 22)
Season finales are of course a big deal
for any show though only two have made my list. The key theme is
ascension. Not just for the season's villain (literal in his case as
he transforms from man to demon), but for Buffy and her friends too
as they graduate high school (as the title states) and thus, they
ascend into adulthood of sorts.
I think my favourite aspect has to be
the fact that throughout the seasons, Buffy and her friends have been
unable to stop the ascension or the villain's plans and are up
against a wall in trying to vanquish him. However, by the episode's
end, she not only has a plan, but she got the whole student body in
on it, even though she's never really fit in. A nice pre-cursor to
her leadership role in season 7.
The action is top-notch and it has one
of my absolute favourite lines of the show: “Fire bad, tree pretty”
- Storyteller (Season 7, Episode 16)
Despite how serious the show is and how
it handles mature and complex issues, Buffy still has razor sharp wit
and in some cases, creates whole episodes of hilarity. Like this
episode.
Newly reformed Andrew (one of my
favourite characters of the franchise, hands down) takes up the bulk
of this episode, with video camera at the ready to film Buffy and her
potential slayers as they train for an upcoming war.
Like some of the best episodes, it is
capable of putting you into hysterics one minute and then make you
sad in the next. Andrew stops denying the truth about what happened
to his former friend (a friend he killed and refused to take the
blame for) and thus, he grows a little. Character development is a
huge part of why this show is so damn good.
- Crush (Season 5, Episode 14)
In which ensemble dark horse Spike
confesses his love for Buffy, who just reacts with outright disgust.
A funny episode, though it's dark. Also notable for being the last
non-flashback appearance of Spike's former lover and sire, Drusilla.
- Forever (Season 5, Episode 17)
The episode right after the very
infamous shock of The Body. While many fans will state this as a
favourite (indeed, The Body is an extremely fine piece of work and
were this a top twenty, it would have been here no doubt), the
aftermath deals more directly with Dawn and Spike's perspectives,
with excellent dialogue between Buffy and Dawn and both Sarah
Michelle Gellar and Michelle Trachtenberg act the Hell out of their
scenes.
- Once More With Feeling (Season 6, Episode 7)
If you're not a hardcore fan, you
probably still know the name Once More With Feeling. But if you're
not in the know, it's the musical episode. A fantastic musical, too.
And it actually goes to great lengths to explain WHY everyone's
bursting into spontaneous song and dance routines, with lampshade
hanging on the types of songs found in musicals and the measures of
success (basically, Anya asking different questions like if a certain
character's song could be considered a breakaway pop hit).
Throw in a smooth, sophisticated demon
as the “villain” (I'd be hard pressed to call him that, he
doesn't seem entirely evil) and you have a highlight for the series.
Incidentally, my favourite songs are Under Your Spell, Rest In Peace
and Walk Through The Fire. And yes, I know the words to each of those
off by heart...
Next time, the top five. Will yours be there?
