Favourite 'Character- centric' Episode?

[thetopher]

So, what's you're favourite 'Character-centric' of Buffy and of Angel.

Btw- Character-centric refers to an episode based 'around a character' and says something new about them.
Examples are 'Doppelgangerland' 'The Zeppo', 'Wild At Heart' 'A New Man'. 'Guise Will Be Guise', 'Fool For Love', 'Fredless', 'Selfless', 'Storyteller'.

They seem to be very high in quality, on both shows, I found it pretty hard to choose.

In the end in went with 'This Year's Girl/'Who Are You', which is Faith-centic. 🙂
They're both well written character pieces, funny, well acted, take my mind of the limp 'Intitiative' plot, and have so many good lines.

Unashamed, predictable but unashamed. 😉

Other contenders for me are 'Doppelgangerland', 'Amends' and 'Fool For Love' (Spike's high point imo)

Least Favourite? Probably 'Birthday' and I say that as quite a big Cordelia fan. 🙁

 

[Kean]

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been, Angel S2.

 

[Blaze]

Family for BtVS, Hero for AtS. These two episodes have been my favorites for years now. Second would be the abundance of Faith centric episodes, all of them are great.

 

[Silverspike]

'Are You Now or Have You Ever Been' for Angel AtS and 'Fool for love' for Spike in BTVS.

Both superb stories in their own right.

 

[ladydorotea]

Going from the lighter side of things and concentrating on the secondary characters - because my favorites steal every other episode and it becomes character-centric for me. 🙂

Zeppo in BtVS, and Guise Will Be Guise in Angel.

 

[thetopher]

Thinking about it, I quite like 'Lineage' which is a 'Wesley-centric' episode, we meet his Dad, and we see a half-bumbling, half-badass Wesley which is really interesting to watch. 🙂

Also there are a couple of main characters who never got an episode (Riley? Did he ever have one, Oz only got the 'I'm a werewolf' ones, which isn't exactly a character trait.) and some minor characters who did (Superstar is...not exactly character-centric, it's kind of a gimmick, but still. Andrew got 'Storyteller', Darla got one, 'Blind Date is a Lindsey-centric episode which is okay.) Weird.

And having said that all character-centric episodes are strong, I totally forgot about Dawn ('All The Way', 'Older And Far Away', 'Potential') and Gunn ('That Old Gang Of Mine' and 'Double or Nothing') these two characters really get some crappy ones between them. 🙁

 

[nightshade]

I do enjoy the character centric episodes, and think they are better in Angel than in Buffy.

The Faith episodes in both series are great.

I love Billy as well, seeing the dark creepy side of Wes, and how guilty he feels about what happened.

Fredless is another favourite.

Orpheus is my current favourite though, love the flashbacks and the way Angelus is throughout the ep.

 

[AnthonyCordova]

Orpheus is amazing (but does it qualify as a character-centric episode? I'm not sure, it doesn't seem "centric" on one particular person). I liked The Zeppo a heck of a lot, it is one of my favorite Buffy episodes ever. I also liked Blood Ties an awful lot too (I think it qualifies) as a Dawn-centered episode.

These would be my two favorite character-centered episodes from Buffy at least. I'd have to think a little more about Angel.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

Btvs I would say either Dopplegangland or This Years Girl. Ats probably Sanctuary. But I'm still rewatching Angel.

 

[chasesummers]

''You're Welcome - Cordelia Centric''
-Even though they took away Cordy, I couldn't be any happier seeing her back as herself. Her presence was already enough, hard episode to watch though too 😛

''Homecoming - Cordelia & Buffy Centric''
-Love seeing them together, it was funny and different.

''Bargaining'' - Buffy Centric''
-A personal favorite, theres a lot of mystery in Buffy here. Not my favorite season though.

 

[SiegePerilous02]

Are You Now, Or Have You Ever Been? would probably be my favorite. It's just so well done from start to finish, great atmosphere, dialogue and themes. Easily as good, if not better, than some of BtVS's best episodes. I hate that it doesn't get as much mainstream attention as OMWF or Hush.

Darla is a also amazing. The lady herself is my (very close) second favorite of the Fanged Four, and this episode is one of the main reasons why. It's so awesome that they were able to turn such a one-note baddie from BtVS S1 into such a layered and captivating character. Plus, Julie Benz is hot as hell, it needs to be said.

Oddly enough, despite my deep Spike hate, Fool for Love is fantastic. It certainly helps that it was the first episode I ever saw, watching FX one day with nothing else to do. William the Bloody peaked with this one, and it was all downhill from here (IMO of course😛), but this episode is still a joy to watch.

 

[RoxySilver]

"Fool for Love" - favourite Spike episode, and one of my favourites episode in the entire series.
"Selfless" - I jut love Anya, and I think the way we went through her life here is really interesting.

I'm still rewatching Angel.
Generally speaking, I really like the characters centric episodes. They usually influence me a lot. They often change my ways of seeing a character and the universe.