How would you rank the BTVS season midpoint episodes?

[School Hard]

As a departure from the usual “premiere/finale ranking” question, I was curious as to how people would rank the episodes that aired directly in the middle of each season. If you need a reminder, they are;

1.6 - “The Pack”
2.11 - “Ted”
3.11 - “Gingerbread”
4.11 - “Doomed”
5.11 - “Triangle”
6.11 - “Gone”
7.11 - “Showtime”

 

[Miss Muffet]

2.11 - “Ted”

It's weird to remember Ted is the S2 mid-point when story-line wise it comes at Suprise/Innocence

 

[Btvs fan]

As a departure from the usual “premiere/finale ranking” question, I was curious as to how people would rank the episodes that aired directly in the middle of each season. If you need a reminder, they are;

1.6 - “The Pack”
2.11 - “Ted”
3.11 - “Gingerbread”
4.11 - “Doomed”
5.11 - “Triangle”
6.11 - “Gone”
7.11 - “Showtime”

For Angel it's
1.11 Sonambulist
2.11 Redefinition
3.11 Birthday
4.11 Soulless
5.11 Damage

 

[thrasherpix]

“The Pack”
“Gingerbread”
“Gone”
“Ted”
“Triangle”
“Doomed”
“Showtime”

(Last 2 are neck to neck, hard to choose without seeing them again.)

 

[nightshade]

Comparing the two lists, I think Angel's midpoint episodes are better.

 

[Btvs fan]

Comparing the two lists, I think Angel's midpoint episodes are better.

For me Damage is one of the best episodes of either show imo

 

[thetopher]

5.11: Triangle: A fairly light, fun (and actually funny) episode to contrast with the grim that came before. I love Olaf! And the Anya/Willow feud comes to a head. Lots of good characterization and dialogue from all throughout. I don't even mind comedic cry!Buffy that much, better than misery!Buffy at any rate.
1.6: The Pack: A strong, effective first season outing that's often underrated. 'They ate Principal Flutie?' Nobody saw that coming in the 1st season of a teen 90's show!
3.11: Gingerbread: Middling episode with a memorable twist. Though I do think the 'fairy tales are real' angle could've been done a tad more frequently. There's still plenty to enjoy here even though this is (possibly) the weakest Season 3 has to offer.
2.11: Ted: I like the themes and the performances but not really the silly robot reveal. The least supernatural episode in the first 5 seasons and its a jarring, mostly inconsequential episode. Also there are several times, say, in the very next season, that these events could've been handily referenced given what went on to occur.
4.11: Doomed: A flabby, messy episode with a few good thematic elements. Buffy and co. go back to highschool and commando!Riley is finally revealed in all his glory. Probably the weakest 'apocalypse episode' of either show by a fair margin, only saved by Spike sported a Hawaiian shirt/shorts combo (and that end speech).
7.11: Showtime: To say that this is the only key episode in the list they it probably should be a lot higher, but I've always found Buffy's climactic fight with the Turkey-Khan completely underwhelming, plus the ramping up of Spuffy begins...
6.11: Gone: A comedy episode with no actual comedy. Such a painfully dull watch, with a mean-spirited invisible!Buffy doing dickish things until she realizes that she might not want to die. The Trio are cemented as clownish and intellectually non-threatening...
At least I like the fact the show remembers that Willow can be smart and useful without magic for once. Alas no other character has anything to do. But its still a sucky episode surrounded by suck.

 

[RachM]

BtVS

1. The Pack
2. Gingerbread
3. Ted
4. Showtime
5. Triangle
6. Doomed
7. Gone

AtS

1. Damage
2. Birthday
3. Redefinition
4. Somnambulist
5. Soulless

 

[School Hard]

It's weird to remember Ted is the S2 mid-point when story-line wise it comes at Suprise/Innocence

Yeah, I think a lot of people remember Surprise as the season midpoint, and understandably so. Narratively, it is the season midpoint.

 

[Miss Muffet]

1. Gingerbread
2. Triangle
3. The Pack
4. Ted
5. Doomed
6. Gone

I don't remember anything about Showtime other than her fighting the Turk'han to be honest, so it wouldn’t be fair to list it

 

[spikenbuffy]

1. 1x06 - The Pack 😍
2. 2x11 - Ted
3. 3x11 - Gingerbread
4. 7x11 - Showtime
5. 6x11 - Gone
6. 4x11 - Doomed
7. 5x11 - Triangle

ATS :
1. 4x11 - Soulless
2. 2x11 - Redefinition
3. 3x11 - Birthday
4. 1x11 - Somnambulist
5. 5x11 - Damage

 

[Cohen]

In a 22 episode season, the midpoint is either 11 or 12. I would argue that narratively, it’s usually episode 12 that seems more like the midpoint.

Going by this rule, you would have the following episodes:
“Angel”
“Bad Eggs”
“Helpless”
“A New Man”
“Checkpoint”
“Doublemeat Palace”
“Potential”

The only episode that really feels off from the narrative midpoint in this new list is “Bad Eggs,” which just feels like filler and has no repercussions on the season as a whole. I agree with most people on here that narratively “Surprise” is the true midpoint of the season, as it kicks off the “Angel is evil” arc of the second half of the season.

The others feel like a final arc kickoff to each season.

“Angel” reveals the vampiric nature of Buffy’s crush, and establishes the danger of Buffy’s circle in the fight against evil, as this is the first time someone is nearly killed due to Buffy’s slayer life. My favorite line is Joyce saying “They think I fell and landed on a bbq fork. We don’t have a bbq fork.”

“Helpless” sets up the rest of the season when Giles gets sacked, but it also shows Buffy’s ability to avert crises even without her slayer strength. She begins to realize she doesn’t need the Council.

“A New Man” showcases the cracks that are beginning to form between the Core Four as Giles sense of inadequacy comes out as he is turned into a demon. It also shows more of the twisted nature of the initiative and Walsh’s distrust of Buffy as the slayer and we get our first glimpse of project 314, which threads through the whole rest of the season.

“Checkpoint” is arguably the best midpoint episode on the list. The Watcher’s Council tries to re-instill a sense of inadequacy in Buffy and she has some inner turmoil to work through, but ultimately she realizes what she knew all along: she doesn’t need the Council, but they need her. This is also the “Glory is a God” reveal, which changes the way the scoobies handle glory for the rest of the season.

“Doublemeat Palace” sets up the Buffy as a working girl trope that lingers through the rest of the season. It suffers from the lack of direction and narrative arc from the season. We also get more of the Willow is a genius without magic stuff, so that’s cool. But as with most of season 6, the episode lacks any substance. In a season of filler episodes, this does not really veer off course from filler.

“Potential” is arguably one of the best season 7 episodes; in my opinion. We see Buffy begin to train the potential slayers. Dawn gets her very own focus and it worked really well. Having her grapple with the possible reality that she could be the next slayer, and then immediately turning that around when she realizes Amanda was the actual potential, was a great way to show the maturity that Dawn has developed this season.

 

[BibliophileAnn]

The Pack 1.4
Ted 6.4
Gingerbread 5.4
Doomed 3. 5
Triangle 3.5
Gone 1.4
Showtime 8.4

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Yes, I was just about to remark about that. The most logical place for a season midpoint is the end of Fall Sweeps, and the beginning of the Spring storyline is the first week of February. It's not perfect. But the 11th episode seems almost always seems to be a stand alone episode to be aired in December or January. There's no pattern.

 

[katmobile]

As a departure from the usual “premiere/finale ranking” question, I was curious as to how people would rank the episodes that aired directly in the middle of each season. If you need a reminder, they are;

1.6 - “The Pack”
2.11 - “Ted”
3.11 - “Gingerbread”
4.11 - “Doomed”
5.11 - “Triangle”
6.11 - “Gone”
7.11 - “Showtime”

A lot of these are mid tier episodes with good ideas but not top notch execution for me -

The Pack - evil 'Xander' is a fun idea to explore and it's nice and crunchy in context.

Showtime - it's not perfect or really that good but I like this a lot because it plays on all the things I love Buffy being a bad ass in fighting the Ubervamp, Scoobies goodness in them devising that scene together, Andrew has some funny moments, I even like Kennedy here a bit facing off against 'Eve'. Mileage is going to vary as to how much of a Spuffy you are but I am so that final scene alone gives me all the feels - others might not be the same and how I feel about that varies on the attitude behind it - I'll say no more as I'll get in trouble but I can't change that so I won't let it bother me.

Triangle - this is a fun episode and it's has some nice background about Anya and some character development for Xander and some comedy for Buffy and it does have relevancy going for forward. I like this.

Gone - I know and accept the problems with this but for me it's a bit of fun in the darkness of season six so I like it more than I should.

Gingerbread - it's not a great episode (and it's especially noticeable in being surrounded by greatness) but it makes some good points, has a nice scene between Buffy and Angel and it's interesting to meet Willow's mum. There's some funny lines from Willow too.

Ted - this has some points but it just quite land for me maybe because I was mildly bullied I find gaslighty abuse narratives a bit triggering. This is no fault of John Ritter who is great here.

Doomed - written by three or four different writers over a weekend and boy does it show. This is where the cracks in season four begin - there's some fun stuff with Spike but apart from that it's garbage.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

1.6 - “The Pack”
2.11 - “Ted”
3.11 - “Gingerbread”
4.11 - “Doomed”
5.11 - “Triangle”
6.11 - “Gone”
7.11 - “Showtime”

That's a rough list of Buffy episodes. I'll just say, I'm not a big fan of Triangle.
1. Gingerbread
2. Ted
3. The Pack
4. Gone
5. Triangle
6. Showtime
7. Doomed

For Angel it's
1.11 Sonambulist
2.11 Redefinition
3.11 Birthday
4.11 Soulless
5.11 Damage

1. Redefinition
2. Damage
3. Birthday
4. Soulless
5. Somnambulist

 

[School Hard]

That's a rough list of Buffy episodes. I'll just say, I'm not a big fan of Triangle.
1. Gingerbread
2. Ted
3. The Pack
4. Gone
5. Triangle
6. Showtime
7. Doomed


1. Redefinition
2. Damage
3. Birthday
4. Soulless
5. Somnambulist

Yeah, as I was typing out that list I realized that a lot of them are weaker episodes, although I enjoy all of them apart from Doomed, which I consider to be one of the show’s weakest episodes overall.

Also, am I the only fan of Showtime?

 

[ILLYRIAN]

As far as I'm concerned I liked the show Buffy The Vampire Slayer, sure, I thought there was problems but as a whole I liked every episode the show.

 

[katmobile]

For Angel it's
1.11 Sonambulist
2.11 Redefinition
3.11 Birthday
4.11 Soulless
5.11 Damage

Ok - as requested (by some - thank you) here's the Angel list.

Damage - I do not get how anyone could dislike it (any who do it let me know why - about from how it plays into the neurally damaged are evil horrible trope) - it's a great essay in how abuse creates abusers and it's a reminder to Spike about how actions have consequences (people have criticised him for not fully feeling with weight of what he did before but this shows he is willing to accept them). The speech between him and Angel at the end would have redeamed a much worse episode on its own and shows their differing mindsets both evil and redeamed. It's interesting to see the flip side of Buffy and Willow's plan too that not everyone is able to be strong, that some are just too damaged. It also shows the consequences of Angel's executive decision too and whilst Andrew is mainly there to add comedy (successfully mostly although the gay panic side is a bit tired and naff) his there a x no.of slayers behind me and not one of them has dated you is a great line, Andrew has grown up.

Birthday - I think this a very underated episode which like Damage I was blown away by at the time. It's been tainted by the Jasmine arc or rather the choice it leads to has but seeing an alternative world where Angel is mentally broken and Wesley is physically maimed is still very powerful. It was a lovely bit of character development for Cordy - just such a shame it was wrecked that was the worst thing Joss was responsible for on screen and one of the worst off too.

Sonambalist - this was the second episode of Angel I saw and I actually think it's pretty good. There's some good backstory about Angel/Angelus, some great character moments for Cordy and Wes - helping him become established, even Kate has some good moments. There are some flaws - the killer profile is too blatantly one of ME's most annoying tropes - the red herring which they think is oh so clever and it's mostly annoying and smug at best and downright frustrating to have to clarify to people years afterwards at worst. However I like this one.

Souless - this is more mixed, I don't hate it as much as some - but although it does do some character development and finally splits apart the love triangle, it's a bit of a wade as an episode and nothing much happens.

Redefinition - like Souless this comes after a great episode but is pretty tedious on its own. It's part of a series of episodes which tread water between Reunion and Reprise and it's one that is nominally related to the arc plot but like Souless doesn't really do much to push it forward - at least the other three episodes are trying to explore some themes although how well they manage it is up for debate.

 

[Btvs fan]

Ok - as requested (by some - thank you) here's the Angel list.

Damage - I do not get how anyone could dislike it (any who do it let me know why - about from how it plays into the neurally damaged are evil horrible trope) - it's a great essay in how abuse creates abusers and it's a reminder to Spike about how actions have consequences (people have criticised him for not fully feeling with weight of what he did before but this shows he is willing to accept them). The speech between him and Angel at the end would have redeamed a much worse episode on its own and shows their differing mindsets both evil and redeamed. It's interesting to see the flip side of Buffy and Willow's plan too that not everyone is able to be strong, that some are just too damaged. It also shows the consequences of Angel's executive decision too and whilst Andrew is mainly there to add comedy (successfully mostly although the gay panic side is a bit tired and naff) his there a x no.of slayers behind me and not one of them has dated you is a great line, Andrew has grown up.

Birthday - I think this a very underated episode which like Damage I was blown away by at the time. It's been tainted by the Jasmine arc or rather the choice it leads to has but seeing an alternative world where Angel is mentally broken and Wesley is physically maimed is still very powerful. It was a lovely bit of character development for Cordy - just such a shame it was wrecked that was the worst thing Joss was responsible for on screen and one of the worst off too.

Sonambalist - this was the second episode of Angel I saw and I actually think it's pretty good. There's some good backstory about Angel/Angelus, some great character moments for Cordy and Wes - helping him become established, even Kate has some good moments. There are some flaws - the killer profile is too blatantly one of ME's most annoying tropes - the red herring which they think is oh so clever and it's mostly annoying and smug at best and downright frustrating to have to clarify to people years afterwards at worst. However I like this one.

Souless - this is more mixed, I don't hate it as much as some - but although it does do some character development and finally splits apart the love triangle, it's a bit of a wade as an episode and nothing much happens.

Redefinition - like Souless this comes after a great episode but is pretty tedious on its own. It's part of a series of episodes which tread water between Reunion and Reprise and it's one that is nominally related to the arc plot but like Souless doesn't really do much to push it forward - at least the other three episodes are trying to explore some themes although how well they manage it is up for debate.

Lol I didn't rank mine so in respect to you and @School Hard this is my list .
Now I'm not really a fan of any of the Buffy ones so it's a least worst list for me. Best to worst
Buffy :
Gingerbread - The best of a terrible bunch. It had the germs of a great idea with self reflection by Joyce asking if Buffy strategy is working overall but that got dropped but the idea potential is still there. Plus Cordy telling Giles that one day he will wake up in a coma always makes me 😂
Showtime - I don't like it but I don't hate it either. It's just there. The Uber Vamps really didn't work though
The Pack - For me this episode is overrated. It makes light of sexual assault and you can tell the writers never watched a Wildlife programme in there life. As they clearly know nothing about Hyenas. First off they are a Clan Structure not a Pack and 2nd they are Matriarchal with Females as the Leaders and bigger and stronger than Males.
Triangle - The show forgets Anya had a car and can drive to make a joke and makes light of her victims. She literally turned this guy into a Troll. Turn him back.
Doomed - Written over the weekend by different writers and it showed
Gone - The scene of Invisible Buffy fighting Invisible Trio and all the audience can see is a blank screen witn some crappy audio has to be some of the laziest crap Iv seen pulled by a show.
Ted - The show copped out of Buffy killing a human. This was the 1st but not the last time Joss would be a writing coward.