Important episodes of Buffy:

[Chasing Cordy]

I was wondering if people could list their ideas for most important episodes of the Buffy series.
I'm looking for shows that are important and not just popular for some reason...

 

[nerd4hire]

That's a really good question CC. When I get done here I'm going to give you Karma.

Hmmm let's think. The two that immediately jump into my brain are Checkpoint, and Get It Done.

Checkpoint because along with Helpless I think Buffy makes a giant leap there in personal growth.

Get It Done because it might be the most important single episode in the series as far as explaining key points of Buffyverse mythology.

I don't know. I have to think more about this.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

erm.....All of them😉

 

[Chasing Cordy]

erm.....All of them😉

I knew somebody would say that.
I figured "doublemeat palace" would not be up on the classic TV list...

 

[nerd4hire]

Buffy is to a large part all about the characters, and there are defining moment episodes for the characters. The Zeppo for Xander. Anne would be another one for Buffy. Grave for Willow. The Yoko Factor for the group dynamic.

I'm trying to think of episodes people always find themselves quoting when they're discussing issues. For some reason I come up with Tabula Rasa. Don't know why.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Ok so I'm a little bored, and I presume you mean the bare minimum episodes you could watch and still understand almost everything about the mythology of Buffy, So here's my list and why I think there important 🙂

And When I say "Character of..." I mean we get to learn things about that character

Welcome to the Hell mouth/The Harvest - The Start
Angel - Reveal about Angel
Prophecy Girl - Death of Buffy
School Hard - Character of Spike and Dru introduced
The Dark Age - Character of Giles
What's My Line? (pt 1 and 2) - Another Slayer
Surprise - Angel/Angelus turn over
Innocence - Angel/Angelus turn over
Passion - Death of Jenny
Becoming (pt 1 and 2) - Death of Angel
Anne - Character of Buffy, can't escape who she is.
Faith, Hope and Trick - Introduction of Faith
Beauty and the Beasts - Angel's back
Revelations - Start of Split of Faith from the group
Lovers Walk - Buffy/Angel love arc
Amends - Character of Angel/ and The introduction of The First
Helpless - More on Mythology of Slayer, and Character of Giles
The Zeppo - Character of Xander
Bad Girls - Start of Evil Faith Arc
Consequences - Start of Evil Faith Arc
Enemies - Run up to graduation
Choices - Run up to graduation / and Character of Willow
Graduation Day (pt 1 and 2) - Finish of High School
The Freshman - Moving on to collage
Wild at Heart - Breakdown of Willow/Oz relationship
The Initiative - Reveal of major information about the Initiative
Hush - Characters can't communicate, And start of Willow/Tara ship
A New Man - Character of Giles and his connection to Buffy
The I In Team - Reveal of Adam
Goodbye Iowa - Decent of Riley
This Year's Girl - Character of Faith
Who Are You?" - Character of Faith
The Yoko Factor - Breakdown of group / Run up to season finale
Primeval - destruction of Initiative
Real Me - Real intro to Dawn
Out of My Mind - Start of Joyce's sickness / Character of Riley
No Place Like Home - Truth about Dawn
Family - Tara becomes one of the group
Fool For Love - Vampire history
Into The Woods - End of Buffy/Riley ship
Checkpoint - Reveal about Glory
Blood Ties - Truth about Dawn
Crush - Spike willing to kill Dru for Buffy
The Body - Death of Joyce
Forever - Funeral of Joyce
Tough Love - Brain suck of Tara / First glimpse of Dark Willow
Spiral - Lead up to season finale / Further evidence of super Willow
The Weight of the World - Look inside the Slayer head
The Gift - Death of Buffy
Bargaining (Pt 1 and 2) - Resurrection of Buffy / start of Willow decent
Afterlife - Consequences of Resurrection
Flooded - Set up for Money problems for the season / Trio set up
Once More With Feeling - Secrets revealed
Smashed - Start of Buffy/Spike sex-a-thon / Willows further decent into magick
Wrecked - Consequences of Willow's magick
Hell's Bells - Xander leaves Anya / Anya made a demon again
Entropy - Sexy secrets discovered / End of Trio's "Rain of terror"
Seeing Red - Death of Tara / Start of Dar Willow Arc
Villains - Evil Willow
Two To Go - Evil Willow kills Warren
Grave - Willow tries to destroy the world
Lessons - School reopening
Beneath You - Spikes crazy return with a soul revealed
Same Time , Same Place - Willows acceptance back into the group
Selfless - History of Anya / Anya made human
Conversations With Dead People - First starts the game
Sleeper - Spike back to his old tricks
Bring On The Night - Potential Slayers coming to Sunnydale
Show Time - Buffy defeats Uber Vamp
Potential - Character of Dawn / Xander
The Killer In Me - Willow moving on from Tara
First Date - revealed Slayer got knocked up, had a kid
Get It Done - Origin of the slayer
Lies My Parents Told Me - Character of Spike
Dirty Girls - Redeemed Faith Returns / Caleb come to town
Empty Places - Bye bye buffy
Touched - Faith lead them wrong
End Of Days - Buffy can win with the scythe
Chosen - Buffys triumphs over evil / Sunnydale destroyed / Anya and Spike die for greater good

Actually I think DDLM is right, They are all important, It's really hard to narrow it down, like thats as narrow as I'd make it, and I would still have problems with that list.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

I knew somebody would say that.
I figured "doublemeat palace" would not be up on the classic TV list...

Some shows can be viewed occasionally, some you need to see them all to be able to understand it all.

Lets take 'Doublemeat Palace' as an example.
Not one of the best episodes, BUT is still important in the scheme of things.
This is a continuation of Life Serial, its showing the side of Buffy that needs to exist in the real world, the working side that, the money earner.
This also has the knock on effect of changing Dawn, who comes to the realisation that Buffy will probably always be in the low paid demeaning jobs, but its pointed out to her that her other Job is far more important.
This is also one of the many things that plays on Buffy, still reeling from being back on Earth, she has to do these things to survive, she hates parts of her life, and this is definitely one of them.

 

[Chasing Cordy]

Ok so I'm a little bored, and I presume you mean the bare minimum episodes you could watch and still understand almost everything about the mythology of Buffy, So here's my list and why I think there important 🙂

And When I say "Character of..." I mean we get to learn things about that character

Welcome to the Hell mouth/The Harvest - The Start
Angel - Reveal about Angel
Prophecy Girl - Death of Buffy
School Hard - Character of Spike and Dru introduced
The Dark Age - Character of Giles
What's My Line? (pt 1 and 2) - Another Slayer
Surprise - Angel/Angelus turn over
Innocence - Angel/Angelus turn over
Passion - Death of Jenny
Becoming (pt 1 and 2) - Death of Angel
Anne - Character of Buffy, can't escape who she is.
Faith, Hope and Trick - Introduction of Faith
Beauty and the Beasts - Angel's back
Revelations - Start of Split of Faith from the group
Lovers Walk - Buffy/Angel love arc
Amends - Character of Angel/ and The introduction of The First
Helpless - More on Mythology of Slayer, and Character of Giles
The Zeppo - Character of Xander
Bad Girls - Start of Evil Faith Arc
Consequences - Start of Evil Faith Arc
Enemies - Run up to graduation
Choices - Run up to graduation / and Character of Willow
Graduation Day (pt 1 and 2) - Finish of High School
The Freshman - Moving on to collage
Wild at Heart - Breakdown of Willow/Oz relationship
The Initiative - Reveal of major information about the Initiative
Hush - Characters can't communicate, And start of Willow/Tara ship
A New Man - Character of Giles and his connection to Buffy
The I In Team - Reveal of Adam
Goodbye Iowa - Decent of Riley
This Year's Girl - Character of Faith
Who Are You?" - Character of Faith
The Yoko Factor - Breakdown of group / Run up to season finale
Primeval - destruction of Initiative
Real Me - Real intro to Dawn
Out of My Mind - Start of Joyce's sickness / Character of Riley
No Place Like Home - Truth about Dawn
Family - Tara becomes one of the group
Fool For Love - Vampire history
Into The Woods - End of Buffy/Riley ship
Checkpoint - Reveal about Glory
Blood Ties - Truth about Dawn
Crush - Spike willing to kill Dru for Buffy
The Body - Death of Joyce
Forever - Funeral of Joyce
Tough Love - Brain suck of Tara / First glimpse of Dark Willow
Spiral - Lead up to season finale / Further evidence of super Willow
The Weight of the World - Look inside the Slayer head
The Gift - Death of Buffy
Bargaining (Pt 1 and 2) - Resurrection of Buffy / start of Willow decent
Afterlife - Consequences of Resurrection
Flooded - Set up for Money problems for the season / Trio set up
Once More With Feeling - Secrets revealed
Smashed - Start of Buffy/Spike sex-a-thon / Willows further decent into magick
Wrecked - Consequences of Willow's magick
Hell's Bells - Xander leaves Anya / Anya made a demon again
Entropy - Sexy secrets discovered / End of Trio's "Rain of terror"
Seeing Red - Death of Tara / Start of Dar Willow Arc
Villains - Evil Willow
Two To Go - Evil Willow kills Warren
Grave - Willow tries to destroy the world
Lessons - School reopening
Beneath You - Spikes crazy return with a soul revealed
Same Time , Same Place - Willows acceptance back into the group
Selfless - History of Anya / Anya made human
Conversations With Dead People - First starts the game
Sleeper - Spike back to his old tricks
Bring On The Night - Potential Slayers coming to Sunnydale
Show Time - Buffy defeats Uber Vamp
Potential - Character of Dawn / Xander
The Killer In Me - Willow moving on from Tara
First Date - revealed Slayer got knocked up, had a kid
Get It Done - Origin of the slayer
Lies My Parents Told Me - Character of Spike
Dirty Girls - Redeemed Faith Returns / Caleb come to town
Empty Places - Bye bye buffy
Touched - Faith lead them wrong
End Of Days - Buffy can win with the scythe
Chosen - Buffys triumphs over evil / Sunnydale destroyed / Anya and Spike die for greater good

Actually I think DDLM is right, They are all important, It's really hard to narrow it down, like thats as narrow as I'd make it, and I would still have problems with that list.

You could have saved yourself some time just by writing "any episode where Willow breathes is important" :biggrin:

 

[Black Eye Guy]

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 showing how important Buffy is to Sunnydale

Oh yeah, I was just thinking of that as a very standalone episode, but yeah you are right it does show the importance of Buffy on Sunnydale and Visa Versa!

You could have saved yourself some time just by writing "any episode where Willow breathes is important

Well shes not mentioned up untill a season 3 episode (choices) But she is kinda vital in 6 and 7.
Also in the episodes where she breaths, her bosoms would go up and down slightly, so excellent point those episodes are important 😉

 

[Wicked]

Some shows can be viewed occasionally, some you need to see them all to be able to understand it all.

Lets take 'Doublemeat Palace' as an example.
Not one of the best episodes, BUT is still important in the scheme of things.
This is a continuation of Life Serial, its showing the side of Buffy that needs to exist in the real world, the working side that, the money earner.
This also has the knock on effect of changing Dawn, who comes to the realisation that Buffy will probably always be in the low paid demeaning jobs, but its pointed out to her that her other Job is far more important.
This is also one of the many things that plays on Buffy, still reeling from being back on Earth, she has to do these things to survive, she hates parts of her life, and this is definitely one of them.

It also shows that she cant even have a normal job in a fast food restaraunt without still being the slayer first and foremost. The slayer gig follows her everywhere.

 

[Lyri]

i just watched Revelations last night and i have to admit that i didn't realize how important this episode is to the character of Faith. She can't understand why Buffy chooses to fight her to save Angel, and this makes her question a lot of what she believes...i really agree with BEG when he says this this is an important episode in the verse, at least for Faith. one of the biggest moments in this ep, for me, at least, is when Buffy and Faith are fighting and Xander tries to intervene, to try to get them to stop fighting. Faith grabs him and tosses him over her shoulder, hurting him in the process. it shows, at that moment, that Faith doesn't really value Xander. Buffy, on the other hand, would never have donw this, and would have made sure he was out of harms way. by doing this, Faith showed how callous and cold she was capable of becoming. i can't believe i never noticed this before.

i know it's a popular episode, but i really do think that OMWF is a very important episode to the show. it revealved that Buffy was in heaven, and not in hell as everyone had assumed. it showed that Dawn's stealing was becoming more of a problem thean first thought. XAnder and Anya revealed that maybe they weren't entirely ready for marriage, and should have called off the wedding here, and not gone ahead with it. Willow's over-use of magick was shown, bu Tara finding the flower and learning from Dawn that she and Willow had had a fight which she doesn't remember. Learning of Willow's use of magick to mend their relationship forces Tara to think about their relationship as a whole, and if she wants to be with someone who would use magick to mend their problems.
and, also, it was the start of the Spuffy relationship. my fave part! 😀

i'll probably come up with a few more reasons later.

 

[Wicked]

Dia DeLa Muerte agrees: Yeah, i forgot that....point i'm making is, even in the episodes people dismiss there is reason and purpose, so my initial comment of 'Them All' is valid

I agree. Just making another point about how even the episodes like that are more important than you think. So yeah, I agree. Them all 😀

 

[nerd4hire]

One that's similar to what Lyri says about Revelations in that it might not appear on anyone's top ten list, but it's important to the series in the way it helps you to understand a character would be the Giles-centric The Dark Age (also on BEG's list of course).

 

[Chasing Cordy]

Here's my picks for most important...and why!

The first two of the first season (a way to get to introduced to the characters)

Faith, hope, and trick (To bring Faith's character into the mix)

Bad girls and consequences (Seeing how Faith begins to decline)

Buffy vs. Dracula (Drac gives her an insight to her slayer status and that is what makes her see the orignial slayer tell her about the gift)

THE END

Much less than the prior list and much more to the point.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Yes but oh so very wrong, I mean Buffys death? Tara's death? Willow becoming the bad guy? The Mythology of the slayer? (You need season 7 for that) Then the characters which are vitally important to the show? How can you think there not important?

 

[Chasing Cordy]

Yes but oh so very wrong, I mean Buffys death? Tara's death? Willow becoming the bad guy? The Mythology of the slayer? (You need season 7 for that) Then the characters which are vitally important to the show? How can you think there not important?

I'll add on a bit to my picks...

I would say Kendra's death is more important since it brings in Faith. Buffy's original first season death would be crucial if kendra played a bigger part--she didn't.

As for Tara's death. If she was in a relationship with Buffy, then it would be vital to the series--but she wasn't and therefore it isn't.
Besides, this is BUFFY'S series and not Willow's. Add to that the fact that it wasn't even Buffy that saves Willow at season's end...

I would have included the more of the Faith arc (when she teams with the mayor), but that seemed a bit dragged out too long. Yeah, I get that she's the black sheep of the slayer line and she turned against Buffy. You don't have to tell me every week!

Besides, if folks go by that logic, then "Halloween" would be important. It gives Xander the military background he needs to do his thing with the mayor and I think the judge (blue guy killed by rocket launcher)

Most of the 79 episodes listed have bare minimum importance if any to the flow of the show as it worked out at the end.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

It seriously is like trying to teach a retard how to open the door!!!

No matter how many times you show them the twist, they still end up just pulling at it, looking like they're humping the key-hole!

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I'll add on a bit to my picks...

I would say Kendra's death is more important since it brings in Faith. Buffy's original first season death would be crucial if kendra played a bigger part--she didn't.

I'd Agree with Kendra's death, But Buffy's first death set ups everything for the next few years, like the split in the slayer line.

As for Tara's death. If she was in a relationship with Buffy, then it would be vital to the series--but she wasn't and therefore it isn't.
Besides, this is BUFFY'S series and not Willow's. Add to that the fact that it wasn't even Buffy that saves Willow at season's end...

Ok while Buffy is the name of the show the show, Xander and Willow are just as important!! Willow was in the same amount of episodes as Buffy, The show is not about Buffy alone, thats actually one of the themes of the show, if she had been alone she would have died.

I would have included the more of the Faith arc (when she teams with the mayor), but that seemed a bit dragged out too long. Yeah, I get that she's the black sheep of the slayer line and she turned against Buffy. You don't have to tell me every week!

Besides, if folks go by that logic, then "Halloween" would be important. It gives Xander the military background he needs to do his thing with the mayor and I think the judge (blue guy killed by rocket launcher)

You've just described the difference between Buffy and saw Charmed, You need to watch all the episodes of Buffy because little things will get used again, whereas in Charmed you can miss an episode and not notice.

 

[buffetofsporks]

I'm not going to put in my input because most of the sane people already have. I just want to pose a question.

@Chasing Cordy: Are you for real with these posts of yours or are you just trying to make yourself seem like an idiot to get a rise out of the normal people?

I'm thoroughly confused.

 

[nerd4hire]

I still think the question is a good one. When the thread poster's opinion presented itself ...well...it uh...needed work, but the idea certain episodes have particular significance, I think that's valid.

It's a difficult issue to address though, because Buffy is so much more than a simple story about a girl who slays vampires. You can look at it from so many perspectives - mythology, character, story, layers of meaning.

Nevertheless when you're into it, there are eps you find yourself required to re-view, and view again in order to satisfy yourself you get it.