Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Conclusion

Some Opening Thoughts:

I found myself tearing up as I watched some YouTube videos of the more emotionally powerful scenes of the series while searching for quotes to adorn the tops of these articles. Why did I, a person who doesn't cry at movies and never had at a TV show ever, tear up at all of these videos and struggle to keep myself from bawling at others? Finally, I arrived at the answer: the main characters. You begin to identify with them so much, and I don't mean them as high school students (I'm in college), as public school students (I have been privately educated my entire life), as young adults with divorced or constantly quarreling parents or parents too caught up in their own lives to care much about them (my parents love each other and me more than anything else in the world), and especially not as young adults fighting to save humanity from demons. Instead, you identify with them as fellow human beings dealing with the same complex emotions . The emotions they feel and the inner struggles they deal with aren't unique to them. They abound on our imperfect world peopled with us, supremely imperfect beings. When you watch an episode, almost any episode, there's a good chance that something will touch you emotionally, and you might not always like it. Watching Buffy is as much about learning about the characters and watching them struggle with their own issues as it is about exploring yourself and being changed in the process.

I figured I should write up some stuff about some rankings of the seasons and episodes and such.

Best Episode to Watch to Get Hooked on the Series: Hush (4.10)

My preferential order of the seasons is, at the moment:

1. 2
2. 5
3. 3
4. 6
5. 4
6. 7
7. 1

The 8 best episodes by season are:

Season 1: Welcome to the Hellmouth; The Harvest; Witch; Never Kill a Boy on the First Date; Angel; Nightmares; Out of Mind, Out of Sight; Prophecy Girl

Season 2: When She Was Bad; School Hard; Halloween; Surprise; Innocence; Passion; Becoming, Part 1; Becoming, Part 2

Season 3: The Wish; Amends; Helpless; Consequences; Doppelgangland; Earshot; Graduation Day, Part 1; Graduation Day, Part 2

Season 4: Fear, Itself; The Initiative; Hush; This Year’s Girl; Who Are You; The Yoko Factor; Primeval; Restless

Season 5: No Place Like Home; Fool for Love; Into the Woods; Crush; The Body; Forever; The Weight of the World; The Gift

Season 6: Bargaining, Part 1; After Life; Once More, with Feeling; Dead Things; Normal Again; Villains; Two to Go; Grave

Season 7: Lessons; Same Time, Same Place; Help; Selfless; Conversations with Dead People; Lies My Parents Told Me; Touched; Chosen

Overall, my top 10 favorite episodes are:

1. The Body (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

2. Passion (written by Ty King and directed by Michael Gershman)

3. Hush (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

4. Once More, with Feeling (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

5. Conversations with Dead People (writing officially credited to Jane Espenson and DrewGoddard, but with uncredited work by Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon, and directed by Nick Marck)

6. Innocence (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

7. Restless (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

8. Chosen (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

9. Doppelgangland (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

10. The Gift (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

My ranking of the Big Bads:

1. Spike and Drusilla (Season 2) (James Marsters and Juliet Landau)

2. The Mayor (Season 3) (Harry Groener)

3. Angelus (Season 2) (David Boreanaz)

4. Glory (Season 5) (Clare Kramer)

5. Caleb (Season 7) (Nathan Fillion)

6. Dark Willow (Season 6) (Alyson Hannigan)

7. The First Evil (Season 7) (portrayed in various forms by

8. Warren Mears (Season 6) (Adam Busch)

9. Adam (Season 4) (George Hertzberg)

10. The Master (Season 1) (Mark Metcalf)
11. The Trio of Warren Mears, Jonathan Levinson, and Andrew Wells (Season 6) (Adam Busch, Danny Strong, and Tom Lenk)

Best performance in a single episode by each main actor in the series (I couldn’t decide/would have to rewatch some of them so I’ve included a few):

-Sarah Michelle Gellar—The Body (5.16)

-Nicholas Brendon—either The Zeppo (3.13) or Restless (4.22)

 -Alyson Hannigan—either Doppelgangland (3.16) or Grave (6.22)

-Anthony Stewart Head—either Passion (2.17) or Helpless (3.12)

-Charisma Carpenter—either Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (2.16) or The Prom 3.20)
-David Boreanaz—either Passion (2.17) or Amends (3.10), though almost definitely Passion

-James Marsters—it depends on what I want, the best Spike-y performance was either The Yoko Factor (4.20) or Fool for Love (5.7), but his best performance probably overall was either Same Time, Same Place (7.3) or Lessons (7.1), though probably Same Time
-Seth Green—either Wild at Heart (4.6) or New Moon Rising (4.19)
-Eliza Dushku—Consequences (3.15)
-Marc Blucas—Into the Woods (5.10)
-Emma Caulfield—Hell’s Bells (6.16), though her speech in The Body (5.16) is heartbreaking and almost makes me want to call that her best
-Michelle Trachtenberg—either The Body (5.16) or Conversations with Dead People (7.7), though probably Convos

-Amber Benson—Once More, with Feeling (6.7)

-Juliet Landau—either Surprise (2.13) or Innocence (2.14) 

-Harry Groener—almost definitely Graduation Day, Part 2 (3.22)

Worst Episodes of the Series:

1. Beer Bad (4.5)
2. Where the Wild Things Are (4.18)
3. Teacher's Pet (1.4)
4. I, Robot... You, Jane (1.8)
5. Bad Eggs (2.12)
6. Some Assembly Required (2.2)
7. Dead Man's Party (3.2)
8. The Pack (1.6)
9. The Puppet Show (1.9)
10. Witch (1.3)

Best Guest Stars (these include neither Big Bads nor future main cast members and are in no particular order):

-Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers (59 episodes)-I know she's essentially a series regular until her death, but she's still a guest star who isn't a Big Bad. As Buffy's mom, she's a loving and caring mother. 

-Robia LaMorte as Jenny Calendar (13 episodes)-Very much of a main character for the second season, her death is a huge development as it shows that absolutely no one is safe. Her relationship with Giles is so well done. It's touching and funny and I loved it. Her presence always makes me smile. Also, any character that causes the appearance of Vincent Schiavelli is a winner in my book.
-Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall (15 episodes)-Okay, so she definitely isn't the most complex character of all time, but she is immensely entertaining and her relationship with Spike is hysterical.
-Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder (20 episodes)-Talk about a character you love to hate, Principal Snyder is one of them. The thing is, though, he often is also really entertaining. The second and third seasons wouldn't be the same without him.
-Elizabeth Anne Allen as Amy Madison (8 episodes)-While she doesn't have too many appearances, she always manages to make an impact in most of them. Her three 6th season appearances are infuriating, but very important, and Allen is quite good in them.
-Robin Sachs as Ethan Rayne (4 episodes)-Ethan Rayne is such an interesting and entertaining character. I love how he brings this darkness into Giles' past, but he is, at the same time, so minimally evil. I mean, he does terrible things, but then, whenever Buffy and the gang confront him and threaten him with violence or punishment of any kind, he immediately caves in and tells them everything they want to know. He's strangely funny and I really like him.
-Vincent Schiavelli as Uncle Enios (2 episodes)-Come on, it's Vincent Schiavelli. He does a fantastic job with his accent and also makes you understand where his people are coming from ideologically, a task that, quite frankly, is not all that easy.

-Eliza Dushku as Faith Lehane (20 episodes)-What an amazing character! Her troubled background is such a clichéd reason for being like she is, but the way that idea is developed, and the way that Dushku acts those developments, are amazing. Her personal transition is incredibly powerful. Perhaps most importantly where Buffy is concerned, her personality contrasts beautifully with Buffy.
-Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (9 episodes)-Okay, so this one has a bit to do with how much he changes on Angel, but I think anybody who's seen his appearances here on Buffy would agree with me that he's a great character, even is he is possibly the most annoying ever to grace the screen. Denisof's decision to make Wesley a caricatured version of Giles is brilliant and it works perfectly. His comedic chemistry with Anthony Stewart Head is fabulous.
-Harris Yulin as Quentin Travers (3 episodes)-You really end up not liking him one ioda, but I still liked his character and what Yulin did with him. You understand where he's coming from, even if you don't agree with it at all.
-Bailey Chase as Graham Miller (13 episodes)-Out of the three Initiative people, Forrest (who I don't really like at all), Graham, and Maggie, I liked Graham the most. He's the most understanding of what Riley is feeling and he's also the most level-headed. He always makes well-thought-through decisions and is often compassionate, a trait that is, quite frankly, missing from the Initiative. But he's also driven and very military in mindset. His three appearances after the fall of the Initiative are really great and cement him in my mind as by far the most likable of the non-Riley Initiative trio.
-Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh (9 episodes)-Her personality is the prototypical favorite professor personality, so that could have easily become clichéd. Fortunately, Buffy's personality and Maggie's position as Initiative project runner do wonders to solve this potential pitfall. I liked her character and was unhappy when she died.
-Charlie Weber as Ben (14 episodes)-His struggles against himself pretty much are interesting when compared and contrasted with Willow's downfall in season 6 and a lot of the themes addressed in Angel. As a character, though, Ben is a really interesting and admirable one. He's Glory's human form, but just because his alter ego is a god doesn't mean that he has to like it and give into it. His last few performances in which he is trying to stop Glory from getting her way are great and really bring you onto the character's side.
-Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells (26 episodes)-When the Trio first enters into picture, Andrew is the only group member we haven't met before, and even by the end of season 6, you don't really care about him all that much. Somehow, though, the writers and Tom Lenk make you care about the character a lot during the 7th season. Storyteller is one of the great surprises of the 7th season, and Andrew's central role in the episode shows just how good of a character he is.
-James C. Leary as Clem (8 episodes)-Talk about an entertaining character, Clem is in the series specifically for comedic effect, and he delivers. He's really a pointless character, but he's enjoyable. The contradictions of his diet (kittens) and his position of violence (pacifism) is hysterical.
-Kali Rocha as Halfrek/Cecily Addams (7 episodes)-After her initial, completely unimportant appearance as the future William the Bloody's crush, Cecily Addams, Kali Rocha only appears as vengeance demon friend of Anya, Halfrek. The dichotomy of her personality as Halfrek is tremendously entertaining. At one moment, she can be merciless and infuriating (i.e. Older and Far Away) and then she can be so likable and fun the next.

-D.B. Woodside as Robin Wood (14 episodes)-The only truly decent principal of Sunnydale High has to make it on here. Woodside does a really good job with the character before his devastating past is revealed, and does and even better job after that. His performance in Lies My Parents Told Me is excellent and really completes this complex, troubled, revenge-driven character.
-Iyari Limon as Kennedy (13 episodes)-The most promising of all of the potential Slayers, her forceful nature is an interesting dynamic in the picture. On top of that, her relationship with Willow is immensely interesting when contrasted with Willow's relationship with Tara. She's a spoiled brat, even admitting that fact, but she helps Willow overcome the loss of Tara.
-Nathan Fillion as Caleb (5 episodes)-He is a single-minded villain, and that makes him get sort of old by his last one or two appearances, but I love Nathan Fillion, so Caleb is here. He is the epitome of a great Whedon villain: menacing and unlikable, but sometimes also really entertaining for the viewer. He sort of reminds me of a far angrier and far more outright violent version of the Mayor. The ability of the writers and Fillion to make him even somewhat likable for the viewer despite his misogynistic and violent tendencies is amazing.
-Azura Skye as Cassie Newton (2 episodes)-Her guest appearance in Help is still probably my favorite guest appearance in the entire series. Cassie's terrible situation and Skye's depiction of this girl who has come to terms with her issue after a terrible struggle are so heartwrenching. Help isn't really all that important of an episode. In fact, it doesn't move forward the 7th season's plot at all, but Skye's performance is why it always sticks in my head as an excellent episode.
-Jonathan Woodward as Holden Webster (1 episode)-He's only in Conversations with Dead People, but I absolutely loved that episode, and his segment with Buffy was far and away the best part.

Some Final Thoughts:
In case you couldn't tell, I loved pretty much every second of this series. It's not always easy or even enjoyable to watch, in fact it's often hard and emotionally jarring and painful, but it's beyond rewarding. If you can get through the first season while reasonably enjoying Welcome to the Hellmouth, The Harvest, and Prophecy Girl, and can get to the beginning of School Hard still willing to watch a few more episodes of the series, I can pretty much guarantee you will end up completing the series at some point.
I think this may sum up what makes Buffy such an great series, what makes it cult series, and why everybody who watches it loves it and swears by it. On Buffy forums everywhere, there's almost definitely going to be a thread about how the series' name does so little to actually describe what this series is about. Yes, Buffy is the Slayer, but the series isn't necessarily about that. It's about examining what makes high school and college so difficult but highly formative as well as what makes adolescence so important in a person's life. It's about looking at personal demons and personal triumphs and showing how friendship, above all else, is what brings you through even the most negative of situations.
I finished Angel two days ago, and while I was and still eventually am going to finish the final two seasons of The West Wing as my next series, I want more than anything to watch a handful of Buffy's best episodes. So I will, and I encourage you to fall in love with this incredible series too.

Buffy: We saved the world.

Willow: We changed the world.

-exchange in Chosen