Anyone like the self-contained episodes better?

  • Thread starter Thread starter drusillaforever
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drusillaforever

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I find myself going back to the episodes which had little or nothing to do with the season arc storyline. For example in season 2 when Xander has the potion which makes all women go crazy for him. Or in season 3 the episode where vampire Willow from Anya's alternative reality crosses over.... those are 2 of my all-time favorites. I still like the ones that deal a lot with the plot, of course, but the self-contained ones I think give me a certain type of nostalgia. Maybe because it has more interaction and usually has the scooby gang involved heavily.

I think that's one of the great things about the show, it isn't too arc heavy. I mean, if it were like Law and Order where every episode is unrelated to previous ones I wouldn't like it. But also if it always dealt with one storyline at all times I probably wouldn't like that either.
 
I actually sort of did - in BtvS. When you're going through an arc-heavy season they can be nice. Although in BtVS s1, I liked the ones dealing with the master.

However, in Angel, my favorite season is season four, which is nothing BUT arc.
 
There are definitely some of those episodes I really like, for example The Wish, Doppelgangland.. But I remember back when I watched the series for the first time they always annoyed me because I wanted to know the rest of the arc instead of watching something that didn't have anything to do with it.
 
Well, I sort of do that.. Like Joamna with The Wish and Doppelgangland. But I think I'm more a fan of those episodes that might seem to not have that much to do with the rest of the season, because they're so different, but in the end they do change the storyline of the season... Like Hush, OMWF, Normal Again, Tabula Rasa, This Year's Girl and Who Are You.. They're all the kind of episodes you could just watch whenever, I when I saw them the first time I hadn't seen the rest of the seasons, and it still made a lot of sense to me.. But when you do watch them in the right order with all the other episodes, they obviously have a lot to do with the storyline..
 
J
Joamna
Those are really some of the best episodes
Definitely like those episodes. There were so many, especially some tha were considered terriffic, such as Hush and Once More With Feeling.

I think that my favorite has to be Band Candy. That one cracks me up!
 
I find myself liking those episodes better in the early seasons. But in S6 and S7 (haven't seen S7 as much but it was almost all arc) I prefer the story arc episodes because it was just a brilliant arc. S6 probably because it was an arc about tons of different things rather than just an enemy.
 
I like almost all the episodes of Buffy and Angel but the ones that I tend to watch more on my DVD player are the ones that aren't too arc heavy. But I also watch season 4 A LOT and like Prydain said, that is nothing but arc. So you could say that I like both kinds of eps equally.
 
I can't say that I like arc vs. self-contained episodes or vice versa, but I definitly enjoyed the self contained ones. They were always a nice light-hearted break from the plot, and maybe because of that I tend to remember them a lot.... It's like you can remember the major plotlines, and then because they don't fit in you remember those in paticular (and which is one of the reasons I love watching them so much). Kind of like the red smarties that you always pick out from the rest. OMWF, Hush, The Wish, The Zeppo, definitly some of my favourite titles
 
The self contanined episodes were really good when the season arc episodes were getting too hard to deal with... some of them were really stupid which is why they are pure hillarious and some of them just made you think of Buffy as a television show where you got the cast and the crew and real people that work on it... the season arc episodes well and truly drag you into the storyline... the self contained ones? just highly amusing light hearted fun... life cant always be so serious can it?
 
I love SC eps just because When I am re-watching the series on DVD If I watch an ep that is part of the Arc I have to watch the rest(That does not stop me though 😉) I actually did that lat night I sat down and watched season 3's Bad Girls, then I had to watch Consequences then the rest of the season, lol.
 
Whilst i really enjoy the self contained episodes i have to admit i'm more of an arc fan. All my favourite series (Buffy, Angel, Farscape, 24, Lost, etc) have extremely involved and complex continuity and that is what i look for in a show, especially one that i'm going to watch again and again.

I like shows that do tend to stick to a more self contained story format too (Highlander, Stargate, Atlantis and others are all firm faves of mine) but i prefer a show with strong ongoing plotlines.
 
Arcs all the way for me.

Up until Angel season 4 I would have been happy for all future Buffyverse to be arc-only. But that season made me realize that Buffy/Angel needs a balance of both for a season to work well. One main arc, about 8 mini-arcs and the rest standalones, that sounds like an ideal season to me.
 
It depends on the season arc storyline - I quite liked Glory so I didn't want those self-contained episodes in season five, however I welcomed them in season four lol.
 
well i think season 3 of buffy is one of the weaker seasons just because the self-contained are either weak or overly dramatic, like the one about when johnny was going to commit suicide. I like the self-contained episodes (like in season 2 when all women were in love with Xander) because they are so light-hearted and well written. i like the arc too, but sometimes it can be kind of weak when you really think about it. the self contained episodes have better repeat-value in my opinion.
 
drusillaforever said:
well i think season 3 of buffy is one of the weaker seasons just because the self-contained are either weak or overly dramatic, like the one about when johnny was going to commit suicide. I like the self-contained episodes (like in season 2 when all women were in love with Xander) because they are so light-hearted and well written. i like the arc too, but sometimes it can be kind of weak when you really think about it. the self contained episodes have better repeat-value in my opinion.
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I have to disagree with you on season 3, I thought it had some great standalones. I thought Earshot with Johny was an excellent episode, very true to real life, certainly not over dramatic! I also loved the Spike episode and Homecoming was pretty enjoyable.

I think the worst standalones were in seasons 6 & 7. There were a few good ones, OMWF obviously, Lies my Parents told and a few others. But they must have been running short of ideas with the likes of Life Serial, Gone, Doublemeat Palace and Him. But after 100 episodes I guess it gets a bit hard thinking up good original plots.
 
In general, the stand-alone episodes are much better.
The only problem is if you miss one, you miss it and there's no catching on during later shows (like the story arcs).

As I mentioned on another thread, once you start dealing with storylines, it gets really weak and tends to get a bit tedious after a while.
Those stand-alone eppys are fun and never get boring to watch.
 
Generally, it wasn't often that the standalones were totally separated from the ongoing season story arc(s). But you could watch them and grasp the story without putting them into the context of the running stories. S2's "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" is largely outside of the main story, but it does feature appearances by Spike, Angel(us) and Drusilla. I think Angel(us) has some of his funniest moments in those scenes outside of Buffy's house.

While on the subject of S2 standalones, I must put in a word for "I Only Have Eyes for You". That one also touched on the main story arc, with Buffy and Angel, but it was a self-contained episode, and an awfully good one at that.
 
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