While it has been over for a long time now, there is no dip in the pull and popularity of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The show, its spin-off, and the many different alternate media series that have spawned from them make for an impressive universe filled with vampire and demon-slaying content. But it all began with the series, created by Joss Whedon, which introduced Buffy Summers as a danger to all creatures of the night.
Buffy was on at the time of larger television seasons, featuring a lot more episodes than viewers have come to expect today. This means there are nearly 150 episodes in total. It can be hard to stand out from the crowd in that many episodes, but the very best ones always manage to shine through.
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10 Doppelgangland
IMDb Score: 9.2
- Season 3, Episode 16
The third season of Buffy was when things began to change somewhat for the show. A darker tone, which would become much more apparent in later seasons, started to shine through in certain episodes throughout the third season. This included Doppelgangland, an episode that featured a popular alternate-reality version of Willow, who was a vampire, attacking Sunnydale.
This episode also featured Buffy training, which always made for an intriguing episode, as her skills are highlighted so often that it was a fascinating and new situation she found herself in, challenged by the Watcher’s Council to prove that she was better than Faith. This episode managed to tell a fascinating one-off story while furthering Willow’s character development towards becoming a magic user and continuing the main adventure Buffy was going through.
9 Innocence
IMDb Score: 9.2
- Season 2, Episode 14
The Angelus arc during the second season of Buffy made for several of the highest-rated episodes that the show ever had. Angel turning evil after having sex with Buffy, which was also a pivotal moment in Buffy’s young adulthood as she lost her virginity to Angel, made for a fascinating storyline.
In the same episode, a vastly dangerous demon called the Judge appears in Sunnydale and Buffy’s friends have to break into an army compound to steal a rocket with which to kill him. The comedy of this one-off villain, combined with the torturous pain of Angelus beginning to go after Buffy and her friends made for one of the more unique episodes the show ever saw.
8 Graduation Day Part 2
IMDb Score: 9.2
- Season 3, Episode 22
The finale of the third season of Buffy was a real turning point for the show. Up until then, the main setting for most of the episodes was Sunnydale High School, and this completely changed forever after the events of the Graduation double-episode. This saw the culmination of Buffy’s battle against the Mayor.
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After transitioning into his new demonic form, the Mayor starts to tear apart the high school, attempting to devour all the graduating children. Fortunately, Buffy and her friends were prepared and fought against the Mayor and all of his army, ending with Buffy blowing up the school to finish the Mayor off before he could truly ascend.
7 Passion
IMDb Score: 9.3
- Season 2, Episode 17
Another episode from the beloved Angelus arc, Passion, featured more of the evil version of Angel tormenting Buffy and her friends alongside the other members of The Whirlwind. The episode begins with Buffy awakening to a drawing of herself, left by her bedside by Angel, to let her know that he could still make it inside her house at will.
As the episode continued, Angel broke into Willow’s house as well and then went after Jenny, one of the new characters who had been seeing Giles. This episode was a breaking point, when many characters, particularly Giles, gave up entirely on the idea of saving or redeeming Angel and started to focus more on ending him at any cost. Passion was a brutal episode that departed from much of the lighthearted style of the series to that point.
6 Chosen
IMDb Score: 9.3
- Season 7, Episode 22
The final episode of Buffy was a massive one. The final fight against the First Evil was a long time coming, and some fans of the show felt that the entire season was too focused on reaching that point. Nevertheless, it lived up to expectations, providing a true ending for the series and delivering some shocking deaths in addition to a grand victory.
Buffy and her friends lost the likes of Anya and Spike, as they initially thought, as well as some of the potential slayers turned full slayers. The many themes of Buffy being exhausted by her destiny to be the only slayer forever came to fruition with the addition of many other slayers all around the world. This gave Buffy a peaceful sort of ending, which was both unexpected and very welcome.
5 Becoming Part 2
IMDb Score: 9.5
- Season 2, Episode 22
A much more tormenting moment for Buffy was the end of the Angelus arc. After the evil form of Angel opened a portal that threatened to destroy the world, the only solution was to finally kill Angel in order to save the world. However, in a heartbreaking turn of events, Buffy’s friends bring back Angel’s soul right before she kills him. This meant she was forced into a heart-breaking moment, killing the man she loved to defeat one of the most powerful villains she ever faced.
Though Angel would manage to return from the hellish dimension he was sent to in the next season, this moment was one of growth for Buffy, and the first of the truly brutal emotional changes she went through in becoming a much more cynical and tired slayer.
4 The Gift
IMDb Score: 9.5
- Season 5, Episode 22
Another season finale, The Gift, was designed, as was the entire fifth season of Buffy, as a possible last season. The Gift could well have been the last episode that the show ever had, as Glory attempted to use Dawn to unleash hell on Earth.
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Buffy and her friends had already stopped so many apocalyptic events that the assumption of many was she would manage it again without anybody dying. But, to save Dawn, Buffy had no option but to sacrifice herself, after defeating Glory at last in combat. Proving herself a true hero in every sense of the word, this was exactly the right sort of ending for Buffy, producing one of the best finales of any show, despite the fact that the show would continue for another two seasons following that.
3 Hush
IMDb Score: 9.7
- Season 4, Episode 10
The fourth season of Buffy is one of the least loved among fans. After leaving high school, Buffy, as a character and as a show, struggled to find her feet in college. Fortunately, despite the arc of the season being a little off at times, there were great episodes individually, and none more so than Hush.
The tenth episode of the season has one of the greatest one-off villains that Buffy ever saw in The Gentlemen. This group of demons stole the voices of everyone in Sunnydale so that nobody could scream as the Gentlemen cut their hearts out. These villains were absolutely terrifying, the lack of dialogue was a fascinating challenge that was handled beautifully, and the individuality of this episode was phenomenal, even as it kept major stories moving in the background. For instance, this episode also introduced Tara and Willow, two of Buffy’s best friends.
2 The Body
IMDb Score: 9.7
- Season 5, Episode 16
One of the most surprising and horrifying episodes of Buffy came in one of her darkest moments. Buffy returns home to find her mother lying on the sofa, dead. Featuring nothing supernatural, this episode was all about loss, and the ways that people deal with it immediately, and it featured some of the best acting seen from Sarah Michelle Gellar throughout the series.
The very real feeling of The Body, in comparison with the slick style that the series normally used, made for a brutally emotional episode. Affecting and considered one of the best television episodes ever seen, The Body featured very little action, focusing on the character work as each of the main cast reacted in their own way to this sudden death.
1 Once More With Feeling
IMDb Score: 9.7
- Season 6, Episode 7
Perhaps one of the boldest moves a television show has ever taken, series creator Joss Whedon decided to attempt a musical episode of Buffy in the sixth season. Like Hush, this was a random one-off episode that Whedon constructed so that it could move the more major plot points of the series along significantly while enacting a unique premise.
The episode featured a demon that brought music and dance to Sunnydale, forcing the Scooby Gang to sing songs about what they were feeling. This resulted in many major revelations, including Buffy telling her friends that they dragged her out of heaven when they resurrected her at the beginning of the season. A beautifully made episode, both significant and singular, Once More With Feeling is as good as the series ever got.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
- Release Date
- March 10, 1997
- Cast
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter, Seth Green, David Boreanaz, James Marsters, Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Stewart Head
- Number of Episodes
- 144
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