BAF Views

Another method to rank Buffy

2005-04-13T19:01:00.000+08:00

I just found out this interesting method to rank the seasons. Basically, what you do is put episodes in each season based on the number and choose the best episode for the week. Sounds interesting, right? So here goes.

Before that, I predict that the results of this probably wont match my previous ranking. This one only takes into consideration great eps, while mine takes several factors. Eh, it's fun and it passes the time. :)

Week 1
Welcome to the Hellmouth; When She Was Bad; Anne; Lessons; Buffy vs. Dracula; Bargaining(1); Lessons
Buffy has never been known for its great season openers, but Anne wins out for me. In this take of the theme of power and responsibility, Buffy has decided to abandon her duty, but finds that she is who she is, and it takes more than changing her name to change that. In a self-affirming line, she says, "I'm Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer. And you are?". (3)

Week 2
The Harvest; Some Assembly Required; Dead Man's Party; Living Conditions; Real Me; Bargaining(2); Beneath You
This one's pretty easy to choose, Beneath You blows the rest of the competition away. Beneath You starts off innocently enough, as a Monster-of-the-Week feature, but the last five minutes of the show comes out of nowhere and leaves you emotionally drained.(7)

Week 3
The Witch; School Hard;Faith, Hope & Trick; Harsh Light of Day; The Replacement; Afterlife; Same Time, Same Place
This one is slightly harder to choose, but in the end Same Time, Same Place wins out over the rest because this episode makes me realize how much I missed Willow in the first 2 episode in S7 (7)

Week 4
Teacher's Pet; Inca Mummy Girl; Beauty and the Beast; Fear, Itself; Out of Mind; Flooded; Help
Again, no real competition, Help wins this through the sheer talented performance of Azura Skye (7)

Week 5
Never Kill a Boy on the First Date; Reptile Boy; Homecoming; Beer Bad; No Place Like Home; Life Serial; Selfless
Although Life Serial has a special place in my Heart, Selfless takes the prize. This is the long awaited Fool For Love for Anya, and everything works. Funny, Harrowing, enlightening, many faces from the past, and the lost musical. What more can you ask for? (7)

Week 6
The Pack; Halloween; Band Candy; Wild At Heart; Family; All The Way; Him
This one's a tough choice, Halloween is one of the best episodes in S2, but Wild At Heart makes my allergies act up like no other. Great performance by both Aly and Seth. (4)

Week 7
Angel; Lie To Me; Revelations; The Initiative; Fool For Love; Once More, With Feeling; Conversations with Dead People
Once More, With Feeling edges out over FFL and CWDP just for the fact that I'm listening to soundtrack when I'm typing this (6).

Week 8
I Robot, You Jane; The Dark Age; Lover's Walk; Pangs; Shadow; Tabula Rasa; Sleeper
Hard to choose between Lover's Walk and Tabula Rasa, but Michelle Branch cliches it. TR wins. (6)

Week 9
The Puppet Show; What's My Line(1); The Wish; Something Blue; Listening to Fear; Smashed; Never Leave Me
The Wish takes a tired cliche and does it right, making it an instant classic. Plus, Vamp Willow. (3)

Week 10
Nightmares; What's My Line(2); Amends; Hush; Into the Woods; Wrecked; Bring on the Night
Hush so outclasses the other episodes in this week that it's not even funny. (4)

Week 11
Out of Mind, Out of Sight; Ted; Gingerbread; Doomed; Triangle; Gone; Showtime
Rather slim picking this week. Gone gets the win because I was laughing all the way through the episode. (6)

Week 12
Prophecy Girl; Bad Eggs; Helpless; A New Man; Checkpoint; Doublemeat Palace; Potential
How does one choose between the "I don't wanna die" speech and the "Who are you" speech. Both SMG and ASH gave their best performances in those scenes, and made us believe. I'm going for Prophecy Girl so that S1 gets at least one win. (1)

Week 13
Surprise; The Zeppo; The I in Team; Blood Ties; Dead Things; The Killer in Me
No choice. The Zeppo is the best Xander episode, ever. Not only that, but the way it constantly pokes fun at the series sometimes over-dramatic scenes, and then just undercuts it, it's just laugh out loud funny. (3)

Week 14
Innocence; Bad Girls; Goodbye Iowa; Crush; Older and Far Away; First Date
Innocence. Is anyone even remotely surprised? (2)

Week 15
Phases; Consequences; This Year's Girl; I Was Made to Love You; As You Were; Get It Done
Another slim pickings. I'd give this to Consequence, for the way it showed how much the gang trusted Buffy. (3)

Week 16
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered; Doppelgangland; Who Are You?; The Body; Hell's Bells; Storyteller
This is the hardest choice of the list; Doppelgangland and The Body are tied as my most favourite episode on Buffy, ever. Uhhh.... The Body. (5)

Week 17
Passion; Enemies; Superstar; Forever; Normal Again; Lies My Parents Told Me
Passion. Not so much for Jenny's death (though she will be missed) but for the way it was all done. The irrelevant way Angelus killed her. The way he set it up so that Giles finds her. Giles breaking down. (2)

Week 18
Killed By Death; Earshot; Where the Wild Things Are; Intervention; Entropy; Dirty Girls
Earshot. Most shows would just focus on the cool part of being able to read minds, never the darker side. And this is where Buffy excels. And the last scene in the clock tower hits me on so many levels that's it's frightening. (3)

Week 19
I Only Have Eyes For You; Choices; New Moon Rising; Tough Love; Seeing Red; Empty Places
Seeing Red. The only episode harder to watch than this would be The Body. (6)

Week 20
Go Fish; The Prom; The Yoko Factor; Spiral; Villains; Touched
Villains, just because of the 180 degrees change to Willow. Everything that's been bubbling just beneath the surface bursts open with bloody consequences. Most chilling line: "Bored Now" (6)

Week 21
Becoming(1); Graduation Day(1); Primeval; The Weight of the World; Two To Go; End of Days
This is another hard choice, but not for the reason you think. Part one of most Buffy two-parters are always weaker than the second half, and most of the week 21 episodes are first-parters. I'm just gonna give this to Grad Day(1) for the uber-cool Buffy/Faith fight (3)

Week 22
Becoming(2); Graduation Day(2); Restless; The Gift; Grave; Chosen
Chosen, an incredibly satisfying conclusion to the series. (7)

So, totaling up everything:

Season 1 : 1
Season 2 : 2
Season 3 : 6
Season 4 : 2
Season 5 : 1
Season 6 : 5
Season 7 : 5

So, there you go. Doesn't really differ from my previous ranking, which kinda surprises me, though S5 really dropped in this rating, and S4 did way better.

Buffy and Seasonal Rankings

2005-04-11T18:43:00.000+08:00

I've never been able to choose a favorite season of Buffy, each one is great in it's own way. Whenever I'm asked, I usually go with the last ones I watched(with a few exceptions). But the question remains, which season is my favorite. And since we're on the topic, what makes a season great? Great Episodes? Least number of clunkers? Or maybe great character arcs? Could it be the central story arc? Villains?

Anyway, this is my attempt to quantify the Seasons to rank them. I'll rate each season in terms of Great Episodes, Clunkers, Character Arcs, Villains, and Overall Arcs.

Season 1:
Great Eps
There were several episodes that I consider good, but not great. So it stands that the only episode of this debut season I consider great is Prophecy Girl.
Rating: 2

Clunkers
Unfortunately, there were a lot more clunkers in this season and great eps. Episodes like The Witch, Teacher's Pet and I Robot, You Jane were shining examples of what's wrong with this season. Too much camp and cheese. And while the number of clunkers in this season isn't that much more than the other seasons, but in a season of 12 episodes, it's enough to tarnish the season.
Rating: 3

Character Arcs
What character arcs? The only characters that really grew and progressed were Buffy, and to a lesser extent, Angel. While the others get an occasional episode or two, there really hasn't been much progression for the others
Rating: 3

Villains
The master was a delight to watch and his appearances made the episode eminently more watchable. On the other hand, the anointed one, is pointless. Too bad he wasn't killed of by the end of the season.
Rating: 5

Overall Arc
Not to repeat myself, but what arc? There was never much progression on the Master besides a couple of episodes, and the format was mostly stand-alone.
Rating: 3

Overall: 16/50

Season 2
Great Eps
You can hardly mention this season without mentioning these two eps,Innocence and Becoming(2), and deservedly so. These two are arguably the episodes that changed the perception of the series in general, and showed us how much can be done with the series. And I have to mention Halloween, a personal favorite of mine.
Rating: 7

Clunkers
On the other hand, Season 2 also boasts the most clunkers of any other season. When She Was Bad, Some Assembly Requires, Inca Mummy Girl, Reptile Boy, Bad Eggs, Go Fish, etc. If not for the other ratings for this season, this would have qualified it for the worst season ever.
Rating: 1

Character Arc
We have this great Buffy/Angel/Angelus arc, and the Xander/Cordy/Willow arc, and Willow/Xander/Oz arc, and of course, who could forget Ripper. Buffy lost a lover, Angel lost and gained his soul, Willow lost and gained a love, Xander and Cordy were great together, Giles showed us not to mess with Librarians, and Oz was the epitome of cool
Rating: 9

Villains
For little bads, Spike and Dru, our charismatic vampire couple drew our attention like no vampire ever did, and presented us with our very first paradox. Angelus, was just evil, and knows how to push all of Buffy's (and our) buttons.
Ratings: 8

Overall Arc
The arc never really started till somewhere mid-season despite Spike and Dru appearing as early as the third episode. It's not until Angel lost his soul that the story started moving, and even then, it sputtered around the third quarter before moving to the finale
Rating: 7

Overall: 32/50

Season 3
Great Eps
Season 3 has quite a number of great eps: The Wish showed us a different reality without Buffy; The Zeppo showed us that the show can and does laugh at itself, and often with hilarious results; Earshot proves that there are some shows still brave enough to tackle real issues; Grad Day(2) and my personal favorite of the season: Doppelgangland. After all, what's better than one Willow. Two Willow!
Rating: 9

Clunkers
There are only 3 episodes that can be considered clunkers this season. Dead Man's Party felt off...seriously off. And the cheesy zombies don't help. Beauty and the Beast was the opposite of subtle, and the dialogue felt stilted. Homecoming was just pointless. Fun, but pointless.
Rating: 5

Character Arc
'Tis the season for self-discovery, as evident by the episodes devoted to each character finding and defining themselves. Buffy learned the responsibility inherent with great powers, Xander becomes at peace with his place in the group, and finds his inner cool, and Willow learns that one can overdose on virtue. Even bit characters like Spike(then) were explored, and new characters like Wes we're brought in. And of course, who could forget Faith, the cautionary tale of slayers-gone-wrong.
Rating: 10

Villains
Faith eventually emerged as the little bad to the Mayor as the series progressed. As a little bad, Faith added nuance to the slayer lore, and how easy it is to fall of the wrong side of the track. She was the classic good seduced by the dark side villain. The Mayor, on the other hand, was a different kind of villain, one that's delightfully wholesome, if you discount the occasional ritual sacrifice and all. The best scenes were those of him and Faith interacting, and it showed a different side to his evilness.
Rating: 9

Overall Arc
This season stood up really well in terms of the story arc. In a huge sense of continuity, the Mayor who has been hinted at during the second season was fully realized here. The parallel between Buffy/Giles and Faith/Mayor was well done,and nothing felt really forced (except some scenes with Angel).
Rating: 8

Overall: 41/50

Season 4
Great Eps
Willow in Wild at Heart just breaks your heart into tiny little pieces. Hush is a brilliant exploration into the verbal non-verbal, often with scary and funny results. Who Are You is a great examination of how perception affects behavior, with SMG and Eliza Dushku really stretching their acting talents. And Restless is a dream-analyst's wet dream.
Rating: 8

Clunkers
Living Conditions was just painful to watch, even without Cher blaring out in the scenes; Beer Bad is just too preachy; Goodbye Iowa is ... ugh.
Rating:5

Character Arcs
Buffy begins her LWA (Life without Angel) arc, got manipulated by Parker, devolved, then, worst of all, got involved with Riley. And speaking of Riley, I intensely disliked his character. Willow went through some major changes, and Xander experiences life away from school. The gang becomes fragmented and breaks apart, but come together just in time to defeat the big bad
Rating: 6

Villains
The initiative and Adam. Let's just leave it that they annoy the heck out of me.
Rating: 1

Overall Arcs
I really hated the Initiative arc. Too much science and technology doesn't mix well with Buffy
Rating: 1

Overall: 21/50

Season 5
Great Eps
Fool for Love was a revelation of Spike's character and the beginning of his redemption. The Body was a study of unrealism in realism, and incredibly hard to watch. The Gift was incredibly poignant summary on the fates of the slayers.
Rating: 8

Clunkers
While there were a couple of below average episodes, only two stand out of my mind as clunkers. Shadows and Listening to Fear, while does advance the arc somewhat, just felt unneeded.
Rating: 7

Character Arcs
After 5 year, Buffy finally tries to learn what it means to be a slayer, and learns how to be a mother figure to her mother-less sister in the face of a great loss. Willow became even more powerful and steps dangerously close to the dark side. Xander quits being people's butt-monkey, and becomes successful. Giles gives his best performance in his last year as a cast member, and Spike's redemptive story touched our hearts. Anya and Tara were fleshed out and Dawn had an impressive first year.
Rating: 10

Villains
Glory. Annoying. Ineffective. Bitchy. Synonyms
Rating: 2

Overall Arc
This season revolved around Dawn, the Key magically transformed into the sister Buffy never had. Sounds like jumping the shark, but it works for the most parts. Too bad that Glory never really conveyed the feeling threat that a Goddess should.
Rating: 6

Overall: 33

Season 6
Great Eps
There's nothing I can say about Once More With Feeling then hasn't already been said, but it's every bit as good as said. Seeing Red is relentingly brutal, with a shocking end; and Two To Go/Grave is just a great culmination to a dark season.
Rating: 8

Clunkers
There were only 2 real clunkers in this season, All The Way, and Wrecked. The former suffered from too much Dawn in her whiniest best and forgettable villains; and the latter doesn't even bother to hide it's obvious message.
Rating: 7

Character Arcs
This season shows characterization at it's best. Forced to live after being in Heaven, Buffy goes through the entire season searching for her reason to live. Willow's addiction to power clouds her judgment, Xander's self-doubt leads to disastrous result, Dawn resorts to petty larceny to gain attention, Spike struggles to find the man within the monster, Tara grows as the voice of reason, and Anya's sudden reversion to demonhood almost threatens to overwhelm us. This season, everyone's a mess, and sometimes, it's almost too depressing to watch. It's honest, it's unafraid, it dares you to feel for the characters.
Rating: 10

Villains
In keeping with the theme of the season, the little bads of this season were The Trio, three decidedly human and bored geeks out to become Buffy's arch-nemesi. In a season of doom and gloom, the Trio were a light in the darkness. Consistently funny and hilariously inept, until they took a darker turn later in the series.
And then of course, there was Dark Willow, the coolest big bad of series ever.
Rating: 10

Overall Arc
This season, Life is the big bad. There were no big culminating storyline revolving around a big bad like the previous seasons, nor were the humor as prevalent as before. This, unlike any of the other seasons, focused more on the difficult and dark part of life. Alcoholism, depression, addiction, rape, etc. All of the bad little things we read in the paper are here. It made for an uncomfortable and despairing watch, but it was oh so interesting for that.
Rating: 8

Overall: 43

Season 7
Great Eps
This final season of Buffy is choke full of great episodes; from Willow's reintegration into the gang in Same Time, Same Place; to the exploration of fighting on in the face of futility in Help; to Anya's journey of redemption in Selfless; to Conversations with Dead People, a combination of the analytical, horror, comedy and suspense; to Storyteller, a cautionary tale of over-fictionalizing; to parent/child relationship parallel between 3 characters in Lies My Parents Told Me, to Chosen who took everything we knew to a satisfying conclusion and at the same time, upturned the lore as we knew it.
Rating: 10

Clunkers
In a taut arc this season was going for, Him, although large with the funny, felt really out of place, as was The Killer in Me
Rating: 7

Character Arc
The most interesting thing about the characters these season was they are no longer the loose group of misfits fighting evil that they used to be. Everyone in the Scooby gang has experience, and it was extremely gratifying to see them in charge, and be people the Potentials can look up to for help. Aside from that, most of the characters culminate their arcs in this season; Buffy learns to share her power, and her pain. Willow has found a balance with her magic.Faith continues her journey of redemption that began over at Angel while Spike and Anya ended theirs with self-sacrifice, and Andrew begins his. Perhaps the least developed character this season were Giles and Xander, but one can argue that they've already completed their arc before the beginning of the season.
Rating: 8

Villains
The Turok-han started out with incredible menace, only to end up as throwaway villains by the end. Caleb, on the other hand, was anything but. He represented the anti-thesis of the show's core principle, and it was fun to see Buffy finally defeating him. The First was a interesting villain, one that could not be destroyed and knew everything that happened. Too bad he never actually met his potential.
Rating: 7

Overall Arc
This season was about coming full circle, and it did, tying up loose ends and culminating many of the arcs started so many aeons ago. The flow of the main arc was taut for the two quarters, but tapered off in the third. Fortunately, it picked up steam in the last quarter for a satisfying finish
Rating: 9

Overall: 41

Hence, the overall Ranking
1. Season 6 (43)
2. Season 7 and 3 (41)
4. Season 5 (33)
5. Season 2 (32)
6. Season 4 (21)
7. Season 1 (16)