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My 55th least favorite Buffy episode of all time:

Season 4, episode 17 .

Written by Jane Espenson.

Jonathan, the slayer of vamps, demons and everything nasty, gets betrayed by the inferior Buffy and her group of pals when they dare to question his unquestionable awesomeness.

On paper, this should have been one of those mind-blowing "concept" episodes. Not unlike "Hush", "OMWF" and "The Wish", something changes in the Whedonverse that causes all the characters to act in a drastically different way - and that strongly affects the atmosphere and feel of the episode. All this applies to "Superstar", no doubt, but instead of it ending up spectacular like the other examples I've mentioned, it ended up being just ok.

On my first watching, it got me excited that they would have the balls to do something like that, something so wacky and OTT, as Edgic would call it. They got it just right - the absurdity of the situation contrasted with the casualty in which it is handled. This is exactly what's so great about this show - it not committing to any specific tone or genre, which enables it to do just about anything with the excuse of a spell or a potion.

But this episode forgets the second thing that's great about this show - that even though you could do just about anything, it always needs to be handled with the same care and sensitivity. The problem with 'Superstar' is that they came up with this great original 'what', and couldn't figure out how to handle the 'how' to create something with actual weight, so they went on with it anyway and wrapped it up with a glued-over "things take time and can't be solved with one quick gesture" conclusion. They used the spell - i.e. the excuse - as a gimmick instead of as an opportunity to say something original in a unique way.

Maybe the problem was the way the episode was constructed - it was obviously going to end with the spell being broken, solving the entire thing, so why go through all this trouble? In the end, what appeared to be a fresh story turned out to be a formulaic story hiding inside a fresh-looking package.

Also, the humor didn't always work - it was too aggressive and cartoony at times. A more subtle approach would have improved the episode a lot.

High point: the opening credits. Nothing wrong about that.

Low point: the whole Buffy\Riley relationship trouble. The audience needs to actually like the two of them together in order to worry when they hit a road bump

Quality Quote:

WILLOW: The [spells] work but they take concentration. Being attuned with the forces of the universe.
XANDER: Right. you can't just go 'librum incendere' and expect...
(The page of Xander's book bursts into flame. He slams the book closed, extinguishing the fire.)
GILES: Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books.

And:

XANDER: So we're saying he did a spell just to make us think he was cool?
GILES: Yes.
XANDER: That is so cool!

Riddle: When did Jonathan first appear in the series? And when was his last appearance?

Dr Will Hatch two point oh wrote:

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Oaf wrote:

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myopics, you called, so I came back. :)
Fashionably late, of course.

I let go of this for a while because-
1) My DVD player passed away, and-
2) I'm a spineless wimp who never finishes what he starts.*

* But! I do wanna finish this shitfest, partly because I want to organize my thoughts on the series, but mostly because I think I'm ready to become a spineless wimp who almost never finishes what he starts.

So the next entry will be up in a couple of hours. And then I'll try to update the list daily, although remember I've said the exact same thing when I started this. So there's no telling what will happen, but that adds to the thrill of it all if you ask me.

Meanwhile, a clue to the next ranking:
Someone from 'The Prom' makes a guest appearance, but you don't actually get to see him.

This sounds a lot like me when I start ambitious writing or ranking projects.

My 55th favorite Buffy episode of all time:

Season 6, episode 20.

Written by Marti Noxon.

After losing Tara, Willowdecides to die her hair black and wear black contact lens. Meanwhile, Spike goes to the vet to get his annual vaccine.

'Buffy' the show has gone through some changes over the years. So much that if you weren't familiar with the series and watched a segment from, let's say, "Innocence", and then watched a segment from "Villains", you'd probably think that those are two separate shows - with the same concept and some of the same actors, sure, but other than that, two completely different TV experiences.

I chose "Innocence" to compare this episode to, simply because we lose a character to the dark side there as well. But back then, it was much more of a simple complication, if you can put those two words together in a sentence. Angel turned evil because of a curse, so it's not really him, and it can be solved easily (by driving a sword through his heart and sending him to hell). So woe and misery is definitely there, but it's manageable and fixable.

Meanwhile in 'Villains', the show, as well as Willow, crosses a line that is irreversible. Willow didn't turn veiny because of some gipsy curse - it was all her doing. It wasn't Willowus who ripped the skin off of Warren's body - it was Willow. That means that when this is all over, Willow won't be able to walk into the magic shop and go "Hey guys! Gee, that dark period of mine sure caused a lot of trouble! So glad that's over with! Where do you think we should eat lunch?"

In that respect, this episode is more "dirty" and disturbing and uncomfortable, which of course is intentional and is indicative of the journey the entire series has gone through from the jolly good days of season 2. Don't get me wrong, from the beginning 'Buffy' wasn't afraid to deal with unsettling issues, but not to the same extent that season 6 does it.

'Villains' is something you don't see on TV every day. Usually when a show goes through a dark period, it stops right before it reaches 'Villains' levels, thus avoiding the hard questions and the point of seemingly-no-return. But 'Villains' took a step further. Willow, arguably the most innocent of the bunch initially, kills a person, no matter how douchey that person was. And in this act, 'Buffy' completes its transition from a show that usually dances around issues with sophisticated metaphors, to a show that walks right into the darkest issues, stripped of every metaphor, and never looks back.

Well, that's not exactly true. Some Backtracking took place during season 7. Willow's redemption wasn't really earned and wasn't quite as hard to achieve as was needed for us to truly accept her as white-haired Willow. But season 7 is a whole other story. This is episode 20 of season 6 we're talking about, and being that, it was one of the bravest they have ever done.

One last thing - some people say that the whole Veiny Willow storyline came out of nowhere to end the directionless season somehow. I don't agree with those people, whoever they are. Willow eventually going bad had the biggest build-up, arguably starting in the season 2 finale. The show always treated Willow's growing power as something that could become dangerous and uncontrollable. Plus, it wasn't random that Willow took over as the Big Bad in the last few episodes. Warren, Andrew and Johnathan were never the big bads. Buffy, Xander, Willow and Dawn were always the real big bads of season 6, self-destructing over the course of the season. It's only fitting that in the end, one of them would get bored and try to bring forth the end of the world.

High point: Warren's skin being striped from his body was one of the strongest moments in the show's history. And Willow sucking all the dark goods out of the black art books in the magic shop got a "she's not fooling around, she really means business" reaction from me.

Low point: The conversation in the Summers living room between Buffy, Xander and Dawn was tiresome, lacked subtlety and ruined the momentum of the episode, at least for a while. It broke the rule the episode insisted of following up until that point, of the characters acting instead of talking about their actions, a rule that was the key to the episode's strong impact.

On a completely different subject, Anya revealing her demon ways to Xander was completely anticlimactic.

Quality Quote: "Bored Now".

Besides this, the episode was pretty much quote-free.

Riddle: was Dawn babysitting Tara's body the longest someone ever managed to stay with Dawn in the same room?

Real Riddle: When else in the series did the death of an important character gave her lover the urge to kill the murderer?

My 54th favorite Buffy episode of all time:

Season 5, episode 3.

Written by Jane Espenson.

Xander finds out there's an evil Xander out there who takes over any part of Xander's life that's good. Meanwhile, Riley starts to understand how meaningless he is in Buffy's mind.

Ah, the infamous evil twin plot. Every fantasy show on planet Earth went through that phase. Even BtVS did it once with Willow. What good would ever come out of bringing out this old shtick again?

A whole lot of good, is the answer.

Why does it get the reprieve despite featuring an overused gimmick? Firstly because I can do whatever I want (or at least arrange these episodes however I want, same thing), and secondly because this is not another formulaic evil twin episode. This episode mocks the absurdity and lameness of evil twin episodes everywhere and shows them how it should be done.

Xander was never one to be put on a pedestal. On the contrary, people around him always took him as kind of a joke. A funny joke, a joke with a heart of gold, a joke you could depend on, but still, a joke. The gang scoffed when Xander thought he could help Faith-gone-bad in 'Consequences'; undercover-Angel just punched him when he walked by him in 'Enemies'; and nobody got too worked up when he became invisible to them in 'Fear, itself' or when he became Dracula's sidekick in 'Buffy vs. Dracula'. People around him always took him as kind of a joke, but the person who took Xander as a joke the most is Xander himself.

The truth is, the main reason Xander was always a little bit pathetic is that he always saw himself that way. And thus, his thinking it made it so. Only a person who thinks very little of himself can look at all the things "evil" Xander does (like getting a promotion and the apartment) and come to the conclusion he's dealing with some kind of supersmart mastermind Xander.

And the craziest thing is, we as viewers think the same thing. "Wow", we ponder, "although this evil twin of Xander's is undoubtedly evil, he's more capable and talented than Xander will ever be. Also, regular Xander seems awfully clumsy and sloppy today, but that's just Xander for ya." And just when we come to this conclusion, and the writers got us right where they wanted us, they expose our, and Xander's, fundamental misunderstanding.

Xander is capable of all those things we deemed him incapable of. It's just that the less impressive half of Xander always got in the way. It was easy for Xander to look at his "bad" half and think that this is all he's got, since his humility and self-depreciating ways make it the natural thing for him to do. It's always easier to believe the worst things about yourself than to believe the best.

But here was an objective proof for Xander that the good overweighs the bad, or at least equals up to it. It's what gave Xander the ability to finally take himself seriously, which led to a long-lasting relationship with Anya and a successful career in construction. From now on, he's no longer the butt-monkey.

But the best part of the episode was, it didn't feel at all like a moral lesson. It was always focused on being funny and surprising and fast-paced and original, never stopping to lecture you about what you just saw. Jane Espenson showed her skill here in all its glory - by writing a one-hour supernatural comedy that you walk away from feeling like it had done more than just make you laugh.

'The Replacement' is a prime example of when a concept and the execution blend together in triumph. Take that, 'Superstar'.

High point: Like I said, just the twist on that old concept I thought was brilliant. And the scene in which Xander tries to prove to Willow that he's the real Xander was nice.

Low point: the showdown at the end between Buffy and Toth was pretty pointless and lame, ending with Buffy just kinda stabbing Toth to death.

Quality Quote:
GILES: (looking up from the book) Toth.
RILEY: What?
BUFFY: He called you a Toth. It's a British expression. It means, like, moron.

Riddle: name three other instances when two duplicates of the same character were right next to each other - one instance from season 3, one from season 5 and one from season 7.

Room for Debate: How much of Riley's concerns about Buffy not loving him back is true, and how much of it is in his head?