Top Ten Buffy Episodes!

Right now, I’m introducing Tre to my favorite show of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Have you ever encountered something that changes the way you think about yourself? That’s what Buffy is for me. I wonder if I would still have the feminist view and self esteem that I have today if it wasn’t for Buffy.  Anyway, after watching the crap-fest that is season four and the Initiative , I thought it would be fun remember the good times of BTVS and tell you guys my top ten favorite episodes. I just couldn’t put them in order because it would be like picking one of your favorite children! My picks might  be considered out there. I looked at other people’s favorite episodes and I feel like my list is kind of different.  Maybe because I wasn’t even ten when the nineties ended!

Inca Mummy Girl

Have you ever felt like something on television was created especially for you? That’s how I feel about this episode from season one. Buffy gets a female foreign exchange student that ends up being a girl around the same time strange things are happening at the Sunnydale museum. It seems a mummy has gone missing and something or someone is mummifying people. Even weirder, Buffy’s  beautiful exchange student shows an interest in…..Xander?

This episode is special to me because I am obsessed with museums and anthropology. But what just KILLS me is that the people at the museum just left a natural mummy out in the air like that, and they just left an artifact out in the open!

I’d also like to point out that the tale of the Incan Princess and the Slayer are so heart breakingly similar. Neither of them got to choose their destiny. But the choices the Princess makes made her someone I could not feel bad for. I thought this was a nice way for Joss to get us ready for the train wreck that is Faith.Also this is the first appearance of my bb Jonathan AND we get introduced to Oz and his “Who is that girl?” line. I love Oz and Willow together, so this episode always makes me happy.

The Gift

 Take everything you love about the show, crank up the volume to about 2 zillion and you’ll have a vague idea about for freaking awesome this season finale was.  Actually, stop reading this and go watch the episode again. For me, this is the series finale, only because I’m a snob and don’t consider the UPN years canon. Any way, Glory was such a hilarious villain and it gives you an idea of what would of happened in Joss went ahead and made Cordelia evil in Angel.  I was sad to see Glory go, because she was great comic relief.

Obviously, what gets you is the end of the episode. Like I said, Tre and I have barely finished season four, so I don’t want to spoil it for him. Or anyone else that hasn’t gotten to this point in BTVS yet.

But the ending of this episode is one of the many perfect moments in the series for me. Death is indeed Buffy’s gift, but she doesn’t truly learn what that means until this episode. Christophe Beck’s score, is so awesome and brings tears to my eye.  The “But you’re just a girl” scene in the alley breaks my heart in a million pieces every time I watch it.

Another thing that breaks my heart is Xander and Anya. They’re my favorite couple and UPN just ruined it all!  That’s one of the many reasons why this is the series finale and not just a season finale.

 Superstar

Jonathan is hands down my favorite character in the Buffyverse, so of course I love this episode. I thought it was so so so so cool that a minor character had such a great story arc. I love Jonathan’s life story. On a personal note, sometimes my depression and bad feelings about myself can feel like a monster I cannot fight, so I thought that was a neat metaphor. And omg at the foreshadowing of turning your enemies inside out ;’(

Just for laughs, here a a few things that Jonathan did:

• Invented the Internet 
• In 1999, Starred in The Matrix 
• Crushed the bones of The Master 
• Received "Class Protector Award"
• Blew up Richard Wilkins after his Ascension
• Graduated Medical School
• Coached the U.S. national women's soccer team to a World Cup victory in 1999
• Released a swimsuit calendar
• Had a movie based on his life called "Being Jonathan Levinson"
• Fronted an ad campaign for a pair of sneakers using the slogan "Light As A Feather"
• Wrote an autobiography - "Oh Jonathan"
• Tactical consultant to The Initiative
• Very skilled at chess
• Skilled Marksman
• Ability to sing, and play the trumpet, he released at least one album and performed at The Bronze
• Lived in a large mansion in Sunnydale along with a pair of attractive Swedish twins
• Ran the website Jonathan.com
• Had his own cereal called Johnny O's

Graduation Day Part Two

I enjoy this episode for the “Well Gosh!” line. Greatest Major Wilkins moment, and there is a lot to choose from.  The great thing about this episode is the class of 1999 actually got to help out. It was so cool that Xander got to shine and lead the class with his “military training”, even if it was a bit cheesy. There’s pretty cool foreshadowing like Harmony getting bit by the vampire and the dream that Buffy and Faith had.

 The cheesiness of everyone coming together is why this is one of my favorite episodes.


Restless

Speaking of cheesiness, the Cheese Man is pretty great and I love how he was  not relevant, yet recurring.  This is the first time we see the first slayer and she is cray cray! This episode is fantastic because yet is finally gone! He was so boring! This is one of the episodes that usually gets picked as people’s favorites.  I can see why, but you really don’t appreciate it until you watch the whole series and see all the stuff that is foreshadowed. I love that Joss puts so much effort into the series and plots things years in advance.

Buffy vs. Dracula

Fun fact: Freddy Prinze Jr. was originally going to be Dracula. The guy that ended up playing Dracula was kind of a maroon, but I think FPJ would have just been over the top. This episode is pretty fluffy and once again Xander cracks me up. Oh and the first appearance of Dawn.

Becoming Part One

I cannot handle Bianca Lawson and that crazy accent. Every time I see her as Maya on Pretty Little Liars I’m just like “e um kendruh de vumyre slaya”. During my re-watch, Tre realized that it was Maya and he was cracking up too (;

I love all the flashbacks in this episode and it was nice to see Darla again, because I felt like she did not get a proper send off (the proper send off was not given until Angel the series.)

The Prom

 This episode is special because Buffy got her “perfect high school moment” she was longing for. She’s even given an award for being the class protector. I always assumed everyone had selective memory when it came to zombies, hyena people, and vampires. It was nice to know that Buffy is actually appreciated. I thought it was really neat to have Jonathan give Buffy the award because when she saved him, it was not due to supernatural forces. That highlighted that Buffy was a hero in every sense of the word.

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered

Mostly because Sarah Michelle Gellar looked SMOKIN HOT in this episode. There was some cute foreshadowing when Buffy got turned into a rat. Moving on, I love Xander centric episodes because he is so funny!

This episode always makes me laugh, I think there could have been a whole series on Xander related mishaps!

It just seems like poor Cordy can never win with her friends, her character development was great in this episode and I hope that some viewers learn that being happy is more important than being popular. 

Chosen

 Like I said before, I don’t really like any of the UPN episodes because it seemed like a whole different show. But this episode was beautiful. Anya. Poor Anya, she deserved a lot more than what she got. Remember in Graduation Day when she left town because of the apocalypse? This time she stays and fights! I thought it was beautiful that Anya had such awesome character development, because she has been through a lot.

Willow’s use of magic in this was, well, beautiful. The speech Buffy gives to the potentials is beautiful and Spike going out like a champion was definitely beautiful.

I know that I used beautiful a lot in this one, but I feel there is no other way to describe it.

Shout out to Principle Wood for not getting eaten by anything

“What do we do now?”

“Whatever we want”