****NOMINEE #1****
''You're a Bloody Puppet!''
(Angel S5 Ep14 ~ Smile Time)
~~~~
Angel: What are you people looking at? Well?
Spike: They're looking at the wee, little puppet man.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Smile Time is one of my favorite episodes of TV, ever. There are many scenes from it that I thought would deserve a spot on this list, but alas, I had to cut most of them! Anyway, this one is the best. Spike's face when he sees Angel sitting at his desk... PURE HILARITY! Hahahaha! Then puppet Angel wrestles with his long-time rival, drawing attention from every employee at Wolfram & Hart. It's incredible how they've managed to make Angel look so positively real. 😱 His walking back towards his room while everybody else just watched him... DAMN!
****NOMINEE #2****
''My Respect''
(Buffy S2 Ep14 ~ Innocence)
~~~~
Buffy: You must be so disappointed in me.
(...)
Giles: If it's guilt you're looking for, Buffy, I'm, I'm not your man. All you will get
from me is, is my support. And my respect.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: This was another very short scene. But then again, it's not the duration of the scene that matters, it's how powerful an impression it leaves on the viewers. And here, we got powerful stuff! Giles clearly demonstrates his love and respect for Buffy, pointing out that he's not the man who will blame her, but the one who will support her. I think that's something Buffy desperately needed, what with her having a terrible biological dad... Speaking of which, who doesn't have one on BtVS anyway? Crazy! But yes, he's much more than just a father figure for her: he's the dad she'd choose.
****NOMINEE #3****
''Screening At The Auditorium''
(Buffy S4 Ep10 ~ Hush)
~~~~
[BLANK]
~~~~
Tome's commentary: No quotes are required to demonstrate how downright funny that scene was. Part of one of the most acclaimed episodes of BtVS; the ''auditorium'' scene was without a doubt the most amusing moment in "˜Hush'! The scene had all kind of funnies, ranging from our first contact with Giles' bloody, over the top drawings to Buffy's terribly misinterpreted gestures. 😉
****NOMINEE #4****
''She Saved The World A Lot''
(Buffy S5 Ep22 ~ The Gift)
~~~~
Buffy: Dawn, the hardest thing in this world... is to live in it.
Buffy: Be brave. Live.
Buffy: For me.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Without a doubt, 'The Gift' could have been the last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You can easily argue that this ending is better than the one in 'Chosen'. After all, Buffy sacrifices herself for her sister and, just as Giles and Buffy herself had mentioned in the past, she dies young, just like every slayer before her. I'll concede that it's more depressing than the ending in 'Chosen', but on the other hand I think it's more fitting to the storyline than the ''let's give a bunch of girls slayer powers and see what happens'' story. Anyway, the one thing that hit me most in this scene is how crushed Spike looked. Not only was he in physical pain, but his heart was ripped apart! He might as well have been dusted. 😛 There's also Buffy's speech to Dawn: perfect, yet ironic because she's telling Dawn to be strong and live, but Buffy herself welcomed death by that point. 😉 Oh, and the music! The track was awesome. It fit the ending so well, and then the final shot of the tombstone... Aww, Buffy!
All in all, this was one of the most memorable scenes.
****NOMINEE #5****
''I Quit''
(Buffy S1 Ep12 ~ Prophecy Girl)
~~~~
Giles: Buffy, if the Master rises...
Buffy: I don't care! I don't care. Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't wanna die.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Buffy. 🙁 She looks so vulnerable in this scene. This is the first time she's confronted with her own - very real - mortality. It's also from that point on that she'll realize prophecies aren't very reliable. 😉 I love SMG and Anthony Head's acting here, but David Boreanaz' felt kind of flat. Even when he claims that it's killing him, I had trouble believing it. Come on, man! Your lover is completely crushed, and you don't even show a hint of emotion? Lame.
Anyhow, this scene will always feel special for me because it's when I first sympathized with Buffy.
****NOMINEE #6****
''No Begging''
(Buffy S5 Ep12 ~ Checkpoint)
~~~~
Buffy: Now. You all may be very good at your jobs. The only way we're gonna find out is if you work with me. You can all take your time thinking about that. But I want an answer right now from Quentin, 'cause I think he's understanding me.
Quentin: Uh, your terms are acceptable.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Buffy has some very inspiring speeches in her show, but this one, for me at least, takes the cake! Not only is it inspiring, but it's wonderful to see someone put Quentin in his place. The look on Giles' face, at the end of Buffy's speech, exuded proudness for his Slayer (see daughter 😉 ). And wasn't Nigel's expression priceless when Buffy threw the sword right under his nose after he tried to interrupt her? Hahaha! Go, Buffy!
Adding to the speech's awesome-ality, is the revelation that Glory is a goddess. Now, I wasn't expecting that! It suddenly made much more sense that Buffy kept getting her arse kicked. It seemed like the Gang was going to be in dire trouble.
****NOMINEE #7****
''Surprise, Bitca!''
(Angel S4 Ep12 ~ Calvary)
~~~~
Lilah: He's gonna kill us.
Cordelia: I know. Why do you think I let him out, you stupid bitch?
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Another shocker! I am without a doubt one of the few who just downright loves the fourth season of AtS. With its non-stop action and twists and turns every other episode, I just could never get enough. This scene, which finally revealed the identity of The Beast's Master, was the icing on the cake! My lovely Cordy who had acted so strangely all season long turned out to be the Big Bad. 😱 This had me entirely puzzled. I started questioning everything that had happened since the end of season three. Was it really Cordelia? Why had she done all those things? At the same time, I was surprisingly sad to see Lilah die. She had become quite interesting in the past two seasons and I loved the relationship she had with the new, grittier Wesley.
In conclusion, the scene was definitely unexpected. After being chased around by Angelus, you didn't expect Lilah to meet her end in the hands of Cordelia, possessed or not.
****NOMINEE #8****
''First Soldier Down''
(Angel S5 Ep12 ~ You're Welcome)
~~~~
Cordelia: Sorry. I was snooping. I found this.
Angel: No, it's"”it's ok. I just... You couldn't sleep?
Cordelia: Oh. No sleep for me. I slept enough for one lifetime.
Angel: Been a long while since I've seen that.
Cordelia: The first soldier down.
Angel: Yeah.
Cordelia: Doyle pissed me off so righteously going out like that, but he knew. He knew what he had to do. Didn't compromise. Used his last breath to make sure you'd keep fighting. I get that now.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: This was a perfect throwback scene to the old Angel/Cordy/Doyle setup from S1. In this amazing (yes!) scene, Cordy makes sure to remind Angel where it all began. She makes sure to remind him that some people have died for him to live and fight on. Angel, admittedly, has lost his conviction for fighting in the first part of S5, and Cordy is the perfect person to lead him back on the right path.
One thing this scene made me realize, though, is that Angel had held on to that tape for years! That's not something I would have expected from him. Doyle's death had definitely touched him.
****NOMINEE #9****
''Ready, Set, Launch!''
(Buffy S2 Ep14 ~ Innocence)
~~~~
The Judge: You're a fool. No weapon forged can stop me.
Buffy: That was then.
Buffy: This is now.
The Judge: What's that do?
(...)
The Judge: 🙁
~~~~
Tome's commentary: This. Was. The. Coolest. Sequence. Ever. 🙂 At the time, at least. When you think about it, the way they made up The Judge to be this big, indestructible antagonist fell kind of flat in the end; however, setting that aside, I still loved seeing Angelus shocked and Drusilla terrified as Buffy was getting ready to blow them all up! You know, Buffy, I think that rocket launcher could have been useful a few more times after that. 😉 WHY DIDN'T SHE KEEP IT?!
Edit: Or did she? Someone pointed out to me that it might have been the same rocket launcher that she used in "˜Him' to try and kill Principal Wood.
****NOMINEE #10****
''Kill Me''
(Angel S1 Ep18 ~ Five by Five)
~~~~
Angel: I'm not gonna make it easy for you.
Faith: I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad! I'm ba-ad. Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Angel, please, just do it.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Aww, Faith! Even today, this is still easily one of my favorite scenes. It's packed full of emotion, the rain just adding to the atmosphere. But before I go on in more detail about the scene, let me talk about Faith Lehane and my feelings for her.
Like some others, I had never been big on her in S3 of BtVS. It was kind of surprising for me because I usually like bad girls in fiction. The thing with her, though, was that she only DISPLAYED an image of confidence; she was actually quite unsure of herself and she honestly got on my nerves whenever she talked tough to Buffy. Buffy may have been less *fun* than her, but that wasn't without reason: she had gone through a lot of hardships and she had matured as a result. Imo, if there was one person who could have talked down to the other in that relationship, it was Buffy. Faith had yet to bear the heavy cross of Slayership. 😉 Anyhow, then Faith got lured toward the dark side and you all know the rest.
It's only when Faith moved to Angel that I actually started getting interested in her. What can I say? I love evil characters who try to redeem themselves and become do-gooders. 😉 Hahaha!
Anyway, back to the scene at hand. Faith, who's quite unstable at this point, just finished torturing Wesley and is now fighting Angel. You realize that she didn't even plan to kill him (not that she can think clearly enough to even have a plan), she just knew that HE could take her down. Eliza Dushku is amazing here and she succeeds in making us feel Faith's tremendous pain. As if the scene didn't have enough emotion, Wesley shows up with a knife ready to consume his vengeance on the creature responsible for HIS pain. However, so utterly shocked is he by Faith's breakdown, he changes his mind and drops the knife on the ground while the rain keeps on pouring. Beautiful. It made me speechless.
****EXTRA NOMINEE (Wildcard #2)****
''Love Is Forever''
(Buffy S2 Ep19 ~ I Only Have Eyes For You)
~~~~
Angelus: I don't. Now let me go.
Buffy: No. A person doesn't just wake up and stop loving somebody!
Buffy: Love is forever. I'm not afraid to use it, I swear! If I can't be with you...
Angelus: Oh, my God!
James: DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME...
Buffy: ...BITCH!
~~~~
Tome's commentary: In my opinion, ''I Only Have Eyes For You'' is one of those rare episodes that works as both a standalone episode and an episode that holds significance for the season arc. If season two was a play, ''Surprise''/''Innocence'' would be Act I, ''Passion'' would be Act II, and ''I Only Have Eyes For You'' would be Act III. Buffy's journey in this episode is what finally prepares her for facing Angelus in the final Act, ''Becoming''.
Throughout the episode, Buffy doesn't feel like James deserves to be forgiven for what he has done. She doesn't think James deserves it, much like she doesn't think she deserves to be forgiven for sleeping with Angel. It's easy to see that Buffy identify herself with James, even though she castigates him again and again. It's no surprise then that Buffy finds herself speaking James' words in this moving scene, whereas Angel takes up the role of the teacher.
As a side note, it was refreshing to see that the scene was completely devoid of the campy humor a lesser show might have gone for when it had its male lead possessed by a female spirit. 😉 But yes, in many ways, this is a fantasy scene for Buffy"“her chance to criticize Angel for dumping her, for not loving her anymore. Ironically, during this ghost metaphor scene, the vampire metaphor is stripped away for a moment. Forget the gypsy curse. Buffy speaks to the Angel she knew, not Angelus.
One last thing I'd like to add is that it was also after shooting this scene that Joss realized David was good enough to carry a show on his shoulder. So, for that simple fact, I think that everyone has to be a little thankful for this episode to even exist! 😀
''You're a Bloody Puppet!''
(Angel S5 Ep14 ~ Smile Time)
~~~~
Angel: What are you people looking at? Well?
Spike: They're looking at the wee, little puppet man.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Smile Time is one of my favorite episodes of TV, ever. There are many scenes from it that I thought would deserve a spot on this list, but alas, I had to cut most of them! Anyway, this one is the best. Spike's face when he sees Angel sitting at his desk... PURE HILARITY! Hahahaha! Then puppet Angel wrestles with his long-time rival, drawing attention from every employee at Wolfram & Hart. It's incredible how they've managed to make Angel look so positively real. 😱 His walking back towards his room while everybody else just watched him... DAMN!
****NOMINEE #2****
''My Respect''
(Buffy S2 Ep14 ~ Innocence)
~~~~
Buffy: You must be so disappointed in me.
(...)
Giles: If it's guilt you're looking for, Buffy, I'm, I'm not your man. All you will get
from me is, is my support. And my respect.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: This was another very short scene. But then again, it's not the duration of the scene that matters, it's how powerful an impression it leaves on the viewers. And here, we got powerful stuff! Giles clearly demonstrates his love and respect for Buffy, pointing out that he's not the man who will blame her, but the one who will support her. I think that's something Buffy desperately needed, what with her having a terrible biological dad... Speaking of which, who doesn't have one on BtVS anyway? Crazy! But yes, he's much more than just a father figure for her: he's the dad she'd choose.
****NOMINEE #3****
''Screening At The Auditorium''
(Buffy S4 Ep10 ~ Hush)
~~~~
[BLANK]
~~~~
Tome's commentary: No quotes are required to demonstrate how downright funny that scene was. Part of one of the most acclaimed episodes of BtVS; the ''auditorium'' scene was without a doubt the most amusing moment in "˜Hush'! The scene had all kind of funnies, ranging from our first contact with Giles' bloody, over the top drawings to Buffy's terribly misinterpreted gestures. 😉
****NOMINEE #4****
''She Saved The World A Lot''
(Buffy S5 Ep22 ~ The Gift)
~~~~
Buffy: Dawn, the hardest thing in this world... is to live in it.
Buffy: Be brave. Live.
Buffy: For me.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Without a doubt, 'The Gift' could have been the last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You can easily argue that this ending is better than the one in 'Chosen'. After all, Buffy sacrifices herself for her sister and, just as Giles and Buffy herself had mentioned in the past, she dies young, just like every slayer before her. I'll concede that it's more depressing than the ending in 'Chosen', but on the other hand I think it's more fitting to the storyline than the ''let's give a bunch of girls slayer powers and see what happens'' story. Anyway, the one thing that hit me most in this scene is how crushed Spike looked. Not only was he in physical pain, but his heart was ripped apart! He might as well have been dusted. 😛 There's also Buffy's speech to Dawn: perfect, yet ironic because she's telling Dawn to be strong and live, but Buffy herself welcomed death by that point. 😉 Oh, and the music! The track was awesome. It fit the ending so well, and then the final shot of the tombstone... Aww, Buffy!
All in all, this was one of the most memorable scenes.
****NOMINEE #5****
''I Quit''
(Buffy S1 Ep12 ~ Prophecy Girl)
~~~~
Giles: Buffy, if the Master rises...
Buffy: I don't care! I don't care. Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't wanna die.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Buffy. 🙁 She looks so vulnerable in this scene. This is the first time she's confronted with her own - very real - mortality. It's also from that point on that she'll realize prophecies aren't very reliable. 😉 I love SMG and Anthony Head's acting here, but David Boreanaz' felt kind of flat. Even when he claims that it's killing him, I had trouble believing it. Come on, man! Your lover is completely crushed, and you don't even show a hint of emotion? Lame.
Anyhow, this scene will always feel special for me because it's when I first sympathized with Buffy.
****NOMINEE #6****
''No Begging''
(Buffy S5 Ep12 ~ Checkpoint)
~~~~
Buffy: Now. You all may be very good at your jobs. The only way we're gonna find out is if you work with me. You can all take your time thinking about that. But I want an answer right now from Quentin, 'cause I think he's understanding me.
Quentin: Uh, your terms are acceptable.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Buffy has some very inspiring speeches in her show, but this one, for me at least, takes the cake! Not only is it inspiring, but it's wonderful to see someone put Quentin in his place. The look on Giles' face, at the end of Buffy's speech, exuded proudness for his Slayer (see daughter 😉 ). And wasn't Nigel's expression priceless when Buffy threw the sword right under his nose after he tried to interrupt her? Hahaha! Go, Buffy!
Adding to the speech's awesome-ality, is the revelation that Glory is a goddess. Now, I wasn't expecting that! It suddenly made much more sense that Buffy kept getting her arse kicked. It seemed like the Gang was going to be in dire trouble.
****NOMINEE #7****
''Surprise, Bitca!''
(Angel S4 Ep12 ~ Calvary)
~~~~
Lilah: He's gonna kill us.
Cordelia: I know. Why do you think I let him out, you stupid bitch?
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Another shocker! I am without a doubt one of the few who just downright loves the fourth season of AtS. With its non-stop action and twists and turns every other episode, I just could never get enough. This scene, which finally revealed the identity of The Beast's Master, was the icing on the cake! My lovely Cordy who had acted so strangely all season long turned out to be the Big Bad. 😱 This had me entirely puzzled. I started questioning everything that had happened since the end of season three. Was it really Cordelia? Why had she done all those things? At the same time, I was surprisingly sad to see Lilah die. She had become quite interesting in the past two seasons and I loved the relationship she had with the new, grittier Wesley.
In conclusion, the scene was definitely unexpected. After being chased around by Angelus, you didn't expect Lilah to meet her end in the hands of Cordelia, possessed or not.
****NOMINEE #8****
''First Soldier Down''
(Angel S5 Ep12 ~ You're Welcome)
~~~~
Cordelia: Sorry. I was snooping. I found this.
Angel: No, it's"”it's ok. I just... You couldn't sleep?
Cordelia: Oh. No sleep for me. I slept enough for one lifetime.
Angel: Been a long while since I've seen that.
Cordelia: The first soldier down.
Angel: Yeah.
Cordelia: Doyle pissed me off so righteously going out like that, but he knew. He knew what he had to do. Didn't compromise. Used his last breath to make sure you'd keep fighting. I get that now.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: This was a perfect throwback scene to the old Angel/Cordy/Doyle setup from S1. In this amazing (yes!) scene, Cordy makes sure to remind Angel where it all began. She makes sure to remind him that some people have died for him to live and fight on. Angel, admittedly, has lost his conviction for fighting in the first part of S5, and Cordy is the perfect person to lead him back on the right path.
One thing this scene made me realize, though, is that Angel had held on to that tape for years! That's not something I would have expected from him. Doyle's death had definitely touched him.
****NOMINEE #9****
''Ready, Set, Launch!''
(Buffy S2 Ep14 ~ Innocence)
~~~~
The Judge: You're a fool. No weapon forged can stop me.
Buffy: That was then.
Buffy: This is now.
The Judge: What's that do?
(...)
The Judge: 🙁
~~~~
Tome's commentary: This. Was. The. Coolest. Sequence. Ever. 🙂 At the time, at least. When you think about it, the way they made up The Judge to be this big, indestructible antagonist fell kind of flat in the end; however, setting that aside, I still loved seeing Angelus shocked and Drusilla terrified as Buffy was getting ready to blow them all up! You know, Buffy, I think that rocket launcher could have been useful a few more times after that. 😉 WHY DIDN'T SHE KEEP IT?!
Edit: Or did she? Someone pointed out to me that it might have been the same rocket launcher that she used in "˜Him' to try and kill Principal Wood.
****NOMINEE #10****
''Kill Me''
(Angel S1 Ep18 ~ Five by Five)
~~~~
Angel: I'm not gonna make it easy for you.
Faith: I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad! I'm ba-ad. Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Angel, please, just do it.
~~~~
Tome's commentary: Aww, Faith! Even today, this is still easily one of my favorite scenes. It's packed full of emotion, the rain just adding to the atmosphere. But before I go on in more detail about the scene, let me talk about Faith Lehane and my feelings for her.
Like some others, I had never been big on her in S3 of BtVS. It was kind of surprising for me because I usually like bad girls in fiction. The thing with her, though, was that she only DISPLAYED an image of confidence; she was actually quite unsure of herself and she honestly got on my nerves whenever she talked tough to Buffy. Buffy may have been less *fun* than her, but that wasn't without reason: she had gone through a lot of hardships and she had matured as a result. Imo, if there was one person who could have talked down to the other in that relationship, it was Buffy. Faith had yet to bear the heavy cross of Slayership. 😉 Anyhow, then Faith got lured toward the dark side and you all know the rest.
It's only when Faith moved to Angel that I actually started getting interested in her. What can I say? I love evil characters who try to redeem themselves and become do-gooders. 😉 Hahaha!
Anyway, back to the scene at hand. Faith, who's quite unstable at this point, just finished torturing Wesley and is now fighting Angel. You realize that she didn't even plan to kill him (not that she can think clearly enough to even have a plan), she just knew that HE could take her down. Eliza Dushku is amazing here and she succeeds in making us feel Faith's tremendous pain. As if the scene didn't have enough emotion, Wesley shows up with a knife ready to consume his vengeance on the creature responsible for HIS pain. However, so utterly shocked is he by Faith's breakdown, he changes his mind and drops the knife on the ground while the rain keeps on pouring. Beautiful. It made me speechless.
****EXTRA NOMINEE (Wildcard #2)****
''Love Is Forever''
(Buffy S2 Ep19 ~ I Only Have Eyes For You)
~~~~
Angelus: I don't. Now let me go.
Buffy: No. A person doesn't just wake up and stop loving somebody!
Buffy: Love is forever. I'm not afraid to use it, I swear! If I can't be with you...
Angelus: Oh, my God!
James: DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME...
Buffy: ...BITCH!
~~~~
Tome's commentary: In my opinion, ''I Only Have Eyes For You'' is one of those rare episodes that works as both a standalone episode and an episode that holds significance for the season arc. If season two was a play, ''Surprise''/''Innocence'' would be Act I, ''Passion'' would be Act II, and ''I Only Have Eyes For You'' would be Act III. Buffy's journey in this episode is what finally prepares her for facing Angelus in the final Act, ''Becoming''.
Throughout the episode, Buffy doesn't feel like James deserves to be forgiven for what he has done. She doesn't think James deserves it, much like she doesn't think she deserves to be forgiven for sleeping with Angel. It's easy to see that Buffy identify herself with James, even though she castigates him again and again. It's no surprise then that Buffy finds herself speaking James' words in this moving scene, whereas Angel takes up the role of the teacher.
As a side note, it was refreshing to see that the scene was completely devoid of the campy humor a lesser show might have gone for when it had its male lead possessed by a female spirit. 😉 But yes, in many ways, this is a fantasy scene for Buffy"“her chance to criticize Angel for dumping her, for not loving her anymore. Ironically, during this ghost metaphor scene, the vampire metaphor is stripped away for a moment. Forget the gypsy curse. Buffy speaks to the Angel she knew, not Angelus.
One last thing I'd like to add is that it was also after shooting this scene that Joss realized David was good enough to carry a show on his shoulder. So, for that simple fact, I think that everyone has to be a little thankful for this episode to even exist! 😀
