“Still I always feel the strange estrangement. Nothing here is real, nothing here is right. I’ve been making shows of trading blows just hoping no one knows…”
I have Buffy on the brain. It’s been close to seven years now that I’ve been a fan of the Buffyverse – or I guess I should say Jossverse. But it still makes me all happy to find new people who love these stories and characters as much as I’ve grown to.
I could do a hundred top ten lists with this world of Joss Whedon’s, from Spike related to the best lines. Tonight, I’ll start with the big picture. My top ten favorite Buffyverse (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) episodes, in order. I urge you to agree/disagree in the comments section.
10. “Intervention” Buffy Season 5 – Spike creates a robot Buffy – aka the Buffy Bot – and Giles has to shake his gourd in the desert. “Death is your gift”, “You’re recently gay”, and all of the overtly sexual scenes with Spike and the Buffy Bot make this a special episode.
9. “Band Candy” Buffy Season 3 – Giles lets loose with Joyce after Ethan helps to poison a bunch of candy bars. All the adults in Sunnydale start acting like teenagers. Officially starts my hope for a Giles/Joyce connection that abruptly ends with Season 5’s “The Body.”
8. “Spin the Bottle” Angel Season 4 – The fun before the bleakness that is Angel Season 4. To get Cordy’s memory back, the gang does some kind of spiritual ritual that transports them all back to their teenage selves. Wesley is especially hilarious as “head boy.”
7. “Shells” Angel Season 5 – More heartbreaking than “Hole in the World”, “Shells” is the one after Fred dies when Wesley is desperately trying to get her back. He stabs Gunn and kills Knox (evil, evil Knox). The song is what does it for me, Kim Richey’s “Home” playing over Fred leaving her house in Texas for a better life in L.A. I’m gonna cry just thinking of it.
6. “Helpless”  Buffy Season 3 – For her eighteenth birthday, Buffy is put through the Watchers Council’s test. She is weakened and has to face a big bad. Giles is the one who weakens her and she gets all betrayed-feeling about it. Oh my goodness, the relationship between the two is so precious in this one. Very father/daughter which I am a sucker for.
5. “Lies My Parents Told Me” Buffy Season 7 – How about a little Spike action? This is the episode in which we learn how Spike’s mother was killed and how Spike killed the NYC slayer to get his leather coat. The acting by James Marsters is superb, especially as vulnerable, sad William.
4. “Passion” Buffy Season 2 – Angel was never better on Buffy than when he was Angelus. In Season 2, he was truly sadistic and never more so than in “Passion.” Not only does he brutally murder Giles’ girlfriend Jenny Calendar but he plays Giles in the most cruel way as well. Very artsy, well crafted episode.
3. “Waiting in the Wings” Angel Season 3 – Another heartbreaking one for Wesley. The gang go to the ballet where Angel realizes he’s watching the exact same dancers as he did back in the 19th century. The one where Fred and Gunn make it official and the start to Wesley’s downfall. The DVD has a hilarious deleted scene of Fred and Wesley in costumes, dancing a ballet piece on stage. You have to see it if you haven’t already.
2. “Once More with Feeling” Buffy Season 6 – Oh I know, don’t yell at me. Yes, I am putting the Buffy musical at number 2. I love the Buffy musical and have it to thank for getting me hooked on the show. Freshman year in college, my roommate was obsessed with Buffy and one night she had it on and it was the first airing of the musical. Already being a musical fan, I paid attention and quickly fell in love with the show. I have Buffy to thank for a lot of things, including a bonding experience with now one of my closest friends (you know who you are! Remember when I screamed and ran out of the room during that clown episode?). Anyway, the musical speaks for itself. Easily the best of the Buffy eps.
But there is one episode that trumps all of these other ones. It might just be my favorite hour of television period.
1. “Smile Time” Angel Season 5. “Self-esteem is for everybody. Self-esteem is for everyone. You can dream it, be anybody but self-esteem is how you get it done.” As if a musical TV show isn’t good enough, a musical PUPPET show is even better! In this awesome episode, Angel is turned into a puppet and much hilarity ensues. We also get Fred and Wesley getting together at last – though they are cruelly split apart in the very next episode. “Smile Time” never fails to make me cheery. I love the silliness of it and the firm tongue in the cheek nature of it. Angel’s excitement as a puppet steals every scene and when he turns into the vampire puppet, ah…that is perfection. And Puppet Angel beating the crap out of Spike just brings it to that next level. Not even a contest, best episode ever.
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