Important episodes of Buffy:

i totally agree with what N4H said. veiwing eps of Buffy again and again lets us learn things about said ep that we never noticed before...like, as i said about, what happened with me when i wathced Revelations for about...oh, the fourth time. even now, i keep seeing things in earlier episodes that i missed the first or second time around. with Charmed to can't really do that, what you see is pretty much what you get.

i can't understnad, Chasing Cordy, why you wouldn't think that Tara's death is important to the show. it triggers Willow's decline into evil, setting her up to be the big bad of the that season. it's been discussed a lot on these boards what would have happened if Tara hadn't been killed, or if Willow wasn't with Tara, if it was Oz who had been shot and killed. truth is, it needed to be Tara. losing someone like Xander or Dawn, or even Oz, would have made Willow incredibly sad, but it would never have resulted in her turning to the darkness the way she did. Tara's death is extremely important.

Willow and Xander are just as much part of the show as Buffy is. without them, Buffy would have lost the fight many times...afterall, it was Xander who brought her back from the dead in S1. just because the show isn't called 'Buffy, Xander and Willow' doesn't mean they don't have as big a part as the Slayer does.
 
Dia DeLa Muerte agrees: One Glaring Ommission(and i'd wager more cause i havent read it fully) The Wish....one of the most important epsiodes
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"The Wish" does show how important Buffy is to Sunnydale-town and world are lost without Buffy. But it ALSO shows how important Buffy's circle of friends and supportive adults are to her in accomplishing her mission. In that alternate reality Buffy comes into Sunnydale a lone fighter - spurns the help of Giles and doesn't look for help from Angel in the battle. Her closest friends in the "normal" reality, Xander and Willow, are her mortal enemies. And in the end Buffy doesn't survive her trip to Sunnydale, falling to the Master. It's a perfect illustration of the fusing of two apparently (but not actually) contradictory themes in the show, Buffy being the sole chosen one at the same time she needs her supporting network.

And the shadow of Faith lies over the episode, the slayer who actually does work in isolation in the "normal" reality. The point is made at the very beginning during the picnic Buffy, Xander, and Willow have where they talk about Faith and how she doesn't "socialize", whereas Buffy, can tell her friends "I have you guys". It's remarkable that the "Faith concept" overshadows this episode without Faith actually appearing.

I think "The Wish" certainly qualifies as an important episode and is one of my favourites.
 
I agree on The Wish also. I think if I was going to attempt a serious answer to the question of this thread I would split the series up into categories. Stuff like...

Mythology
Character Evolution
Story Continuity
Arc highlights
Themes

I would then add highlight episodes to the category they fit. The Wish would fit in several Categories. I think episodes which did that would be your most important all round episodes.
 
Lots to choose from, but here are my picks:
Chosen (EPIC)
The Gift (Buffy's unltimate sacrifice)
Once More with Feeling ('cause it's fun and informative)
The Body (Perfect from beginning to end)
Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest (only 'cause it's the pilot)
Angel (important info. about the tall, dark, and brooding one revealed)
Surprise/Innocence (HUGE turing point in the series)
The Prom (Heartbreaking and powerful)
Hush (Most creepy episode of Buffy)
Restless (To grasp the genius that is Joss Whedon)
Bad Girls and Consequences (Turning point for Faith/ Buffy's adventure toward the darker side of her nature)
If I had to pick the most important Buffy episode ever, it would be:
Innocence
In my opinion, the only word for this episode is PERFECT. The acting, the writing, the direction, the story: all add up to the BEST episode of Buffy ever made.
 
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