I love extras on DVDs. One of the extras on the season 7 DVDs of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an interview with Joss Whedon where he gives his top 10 list of favorite episodes. I'm sure it's hard for the creator of a great series like Buffy to narrow it down to 10, but it's fun to hear which episodes are on his list.
10. Prophecy Girl (season 1, episode 12)
This is the last episode of season 1, and again, it's up to Buffy save the world. This is the first time Buffy seriously questions if she wants to be the slayer. She just wants to be a normal teenager and go to Spring Fling. She doesn't want to be the only hope of defeating the Master and possibly die. It's interesting to see how she reacts to this, her first "apocolypse," compared to the subsequent threats to the earth's existence.
Buffy grows so much as the slayer through the series. Joss said that he wanted to write about a female hero who didn't need the man to come rescue her. Buffy defeats the Master on her own, but she did need a little help from Xander before she could do it.
My biggest problem with this episode is that there was such a build up for The Anointed One, and what does he do? Nothing really.
Funniest and saddest scene: Xander lying on his bed listening to "I Fall to Pieces" by Patsy Cline.
9. Conversations with Dead People (season 7, episode 7)
The best part of this episode for me was watching Buffy have a therapy session in the cemetery with a vampire she went to high school with. The therapy comes in between moments of Buffy trying to kill the vamp and him trying to kill her. His assessment of Buffy is that she has an "inferiority complex about her superiority complex." This is "Buffyness" humor at its best. Other characters talk to friends or family who have died, and the significance of these conversations comes later in the season.
I really love this episode. The only thing I really don't like about it was giving a plot line to Andrew, Jonathan and Warren. I wanted to see Xander or Anya. All of the plot lines with Andrew, Jonathan and Warren annoyed me.
8. Restless (season 4, episode 22)
Joss deviated from having a huge season finale in season 4. The big battle happens in the penultimate episode of the season instead of the last episode. Joss calls the last episode, Restless, a "grace note." The episode is four character studies of what the main characters are about, what they fear and who they are. Joss wanted the dreams of the characters to be very dream-like, how they transition from one place to another with no structure, how things are not what they seem, and who everything is surreal. He called it a 40 minute tone poem. Great episode.
7. Becoming Part II (season 2, episode 22)
This is one of the saddest episodes. I was shocked at the end when I saw it. This episode shows how Buffy has to make hard choices and great sacrifices to save the world. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a metaphor for growing up, for life. There are so many demons in our lives that we have to battle, and we have to make hard choices and sacrifices to become the person we can be.
6. The Wish (season 3, episode 9)
I love "what if" episodes. This one explores what Sunnydale would be like if Buffy never moved there. If Buffy hadn't come to Sunnydale, the town would be overrun with vampires, the Master would be alive and leading them, Xander and Willow would be vampires, Angel would be in chains, Cordelia would be dead, and Buffy would be like Faith. This is the episode where we first meet Anya, and I love Anya (Emma Caulfield is so good!). And, it's great to see Xander and Willow as vampires. They are bad!
This episode can make you glad that all wishes do not come true.
5. Doppelgangland (season 3, episode 16)
A spell gone wrong brings vampire Willow from the alternate universe face to face with good Willow. It's great fun to watch good Willow pretending to be Vamp Willow to stop the vampires from killing a bunch of students at the Bronze.
4. The Body (season 5, episode 16)
This was a very difficult episode for me to watch. Losing a loved one is not easy, and it hurts, even years later. The episode was so well written and so well acted. This episode showed me that Buffy could be a very dramatic show, not just in a "fighting demons" way, but in a very real way. This episode is about a pain most of us have faced one way or the other. We have either been the one who lost someone, or the one trying to comfort the one who has suffered the loss and not knowing exactly what to do or say.
My only complaint with this episode was that the scene in Willow' dorm room where she is trying to decide what to wear to the hospital went on too long. Small complaint for an excellent episode.
3. Hush (season 4, episode 10)
I think this is one of the scariest episodes, and it has the scariest demons of any on the shows. If you scare easily, watch this in the light of day. And maybe watch a comedy after that. I love this episode. It is so well written, and the dialogue is stellar. *wink*
About this episode, Joss said, "Let's just scare people, let's really scare them." He did.
2. Once More with Feeling (season 6, episode 7)
Joss was scared about failing in this episode. He asked, "Can we do this?" But he succeeded so well.
This episode is on most people's list of favorite Buffy episodes. (Just FYI: It is #15 on TV Guide's top 100 episodes of all time.) And who can blame them? It's a musical. Joss wrote the music and lyrics for the episode, and the songs are really good. The plot was so clever, and many of the actors can actually sing, which is good.
1. Innocence (season 2, episode 14)
My reaction to this episode was "No!!!" I'm sure that was many viewers reaction when they saw this episode for the first time.
Losing your innocence can have dire consequences, especially when the person you love is a vampire. This episode turns the season on its head and takes one character in a totally different direction. It's heartbreaking to see Buffy's response to the appearance of Angelus. Sarah Michelle Gellar is an amazing actress. This is really a great episode.
Regarding the entire series, Joss said, "They left us to our own devices, and we really told the stories we wanted to tell." He says his only regret was that he didn't have the energy for more.
Having just finished watching the last season on DVD, I regret he didn't have the energy too.
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