Well the Xander situation was complicated. Not only were they about to get married at a very young age, had to worry about constantly fighting evil, had to worry about work, but they also had very different families, which just made things even more complicated. But Xander definitely took the wrong route there. He could have went about things differently and it would have been a much better choice than what he did, but it was a mistake that he made and just another piece that makes the show and the characters so real.

Willow, yes, when she becomes a "magic junkie" , while interesting and Amy was effectively brought back and assumes a prominent role effectively, this was one of the very few things I disliked about the series.

I don't remember what happens in season 7 fwiw, I can't remember how it ends ... well I think I can ... iirc it left me wanting more, it wasn't a fulfilling ending .. but I don't remember Willow kicking Buffy out of her own house. I haven't gotten to it yet I don't think.

AND THEN HE LEFT HER AT THE ALTER. Like, that's not even something that is ever even remotely okay. I'd be fine if they broke up, if they didn't get married... But leaving her in her wedding dress to worry and then realize what he'd done, that's just not okay.
There's also his penchant for yelling at buffy about doing exactly the same things he did- dating dangerous people who have a murky (at best) past. He was hypocritical, patriarchal, and just generally ****ty.
Like when Buffy comes back in the second episode of season 3 and there's that party for her (or whatever) and Xander basically tries to humiliate her as much as possible with absolutely no regard to what she may have gone through. He just sucks, and there is very little, if anything redeeming about his character. He should have died instead of Anya.. oh and there's another thing. Anya dies and he's all, "Daw, I'm a little sad at least she was brave!"

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One of the best shows oat. It's one of the only shows that I know of that attempts a coming of age theme from a girl's point of view, and at its heart, did it well. I started watching this, but left the country at season 5. When I came back I bought the DVD set and watched it with a friend who liked it so much she invited her friends until we had watching parties.

I loved the whole feel of the show. The mix of drama, comedy, horror and thriller usually within the same episode.

Favorite characters : Anya, Buffy, Spike, Giles, the Mayor, Johnathan, OZ.

Worst characters : Warren, the guy just felt like scum. The freaky guy who stabbed Dawn. Dawn. Xander, he started off ok but he just kept losing empathy for me and leaving Anya at the altar was nut low.

Best episodes : I liked a lot of episodes already mentioned. I liked 'Helpless' when the Council did the test on Buffy with the pyscho vampire. A good point on trust and betrayal of father figures. 'Lie to Me' when Buffy's friend offered up people to vampires so he could be one because he had cancer. ' I Only Have Eyes For You'. 'The Gift', 'Passion' was another hard episode.

There are a lot of call backs, little self aware jibes and word play in a lot of episodes that make them enjoyable

****ing yesssss, so happy when I saw this thread was new and not some weird bump from 5 years ago.

My all time favourite show AINEC, spending my teenage years watching it was probably a huge factor in making me a creative, sensitive person, and Joss Whedon is without doubt my biggest inspiration as a writer myself.

I could talk about this show for weeks on end. Favourite characters are probably Giles, Xander and Faith, and Angel is obviously fantastic but only really came into his own once he got his own show. Season 5 of Angel is one of the best seasons of anything.

Favourite season is probably season three, I feel like the whole 'end of high school' thing really gave us the best of almost every character, but I also loved the sheer chaos and depravity of season six.

Favourite episodes: The Body, Becoming Part 1, The Zeppo, Lie To Me, Passion, Fool For Love, Lies My Parents Told Me, Chosen, Grave, Smashed, The Prom, Buffy vs Dracula, Beer Bad

Buffy vs Dracula was completely terrible. The show almost jumped the shark with that one.

He WAS scum. Pure ****ing filth. I both cheered and cried so ****ing hard when Willow killed him.

My favorite episodes include:
The Body (obv)
Passion (Jenny ),
Becoming parts I & II (Buffy stabs Angel),
Anne (Buffy in Hell)
Band Candy (Giles and Joyce have sex!!)
Innocence (Buffy boinks angel)
Lovers Walk (You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both], and the Cordy death fakeout)
The Wish (Anya!),
Amends (First introduction to the First),
The Prom
I also like the Graduation Episodes
Something Blue (Willow spells go awry),
Hush
Fear, Itself (Haunted House and Anya hates bunnies)
This Year's Girl (and the second part) - Buffy and Faith switch bodies
Restless (Best finale of the series, imo)
Pangs (Buffy does thanksgiving and makes a bear)
The Gift (Buffy dies),
Once More, With Feeling,
Tabula Rasa (everyone forgets everything!),
After Life (where Buffy reveals to Spike she was in heaven),
Entropy (sex slaves and weird time disturbances!),
Normal Again,
Selfless (Anya v. Buffy),
Conversations with Dead People,
Lies my Parents Told Me,
That's a lot of episodes. Season three, I think, is the best though.

That's just the passion in the guy. It's what makes him a good character and a good person and friend. He never was afraid to let his guard down and tell his friends what they meant to him. He never was afraid to stand up in defense of his friends when he felt they were in danger, like how he was constantly towards Spike in regards to Buffy. He never was afraid to stand up when he felt someone was out of line, like the example you just mentioned when Buffy comes back from LA. He wore his heart on his sleeve and I respect him for that.

A BEAR! YOU MADE A BEAR!

I liked it because they approached it with a sense of fun, and they had the balls to actually try to work Dracula into their mythology. It's nowhere near the quality of many other episodes, but in terms of the episodes I most enjoy watching, it's up there.

I can't with this. This is ridiculous. Xander was awful, always will be awful, and I'm glad he lost an eye.

What are your favorite themes or metaphors of the show? What parts of the show did you connect with the most?


I personally connected the most both with Oz in Wild at heart from season 4 and other episodes around that time where Oz, though he is normal most of the time, inside of him lies a monster, and he has to lock himself in a cage to keep from hurting other people. This is revisited with Spike in season 7 where the first is triggering him and he starts killing and feeding on humans again, and Buffy has to tie him to a chair and Spike says to make the knots tighter because he doesn't want to get out and hurt people. During this time he also asks Buffy to kill him. He'd rather be dead than risk hurting people.

I connected very deeply with this upon my recent rewatching of the series, but not back when they first aired, because I was too young and lacked self awareness.

Buffy vs Dracula was ok. I really liked Xander in it.

Missed this post!


The Gnarl was a VERY good villain. Soooo ****ing creepy.


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I liked how they worked Dawn into the show. I thought it was well done, and seasons 5 and 6 are so amazing.

Some of my favorite episodes, in no particular order


'Wild at heart' from season 4. It's the nights of the fullmoon and Oz breaks out of his cage and meets another werewolf who turns out to be a female musician that he had met before and seen on campus. The next evening Oz calls Veruca, the musician/werewolf to his cage and locks her in there with him and they have werewolf sex. The next morning Willow walks in and sees her boyfriend, Oz, laying naked with Veruca. At the end of the episode, Oz leaves and Willow is devistated.






This was easily the second best episode of season 4, behind only the aforementioned 'hush', which is possibly the best episode of the whole series. 'Wild at heart' is probably one of the top five episodes of the series imo.

I really like the season 2 episode 'bad eggs' as a great example of sort of the "monster of the week" type approach, as opposed to being heavily focused on a single villain, like with Glory. .

The scoobies are given eggs to take care of at school and let's just say they were not normal eggs ...

I really enjoyed the Halloween episode 'fear itself' from season 4. Though I do have a qualm with Willow not having any sort of Wiccan thing planned, since she had been studying Wicca ... but at least she did use magic in the house so .... I guess it's ok. It's represented at least I suppose.

This episode, Anya's very strange phobia of rabbits, along with the ending, was another great example of the show's humor.

Another one of my favorites is 'gingerbread' from season 3, for two reasons.

First, it was the first episode of Buffy the vampire slayer I ever recorded, and after I recorded that episode, just on a whim one night, I started watching and recording all the episodes I could. Secondly, it deals with a historical issue (witch hunts) and does it in a frightening and effective way, and I really like what happens with Amy's character throughout the series because of this episode.

Not on board the 'Xander sucks' train at all. He's a fantastically layered character and I always saw his willingness to yell at people when warranted as one of his strongest traits. As the only one of the group with no special abilities the writers do an amazing job of turning his insecurities, desires and relationships into something that really binds the group together.

His complete devotion to his friends is obvious (telling Buffy she's 'his hero' in early season four, risking his life to tell Scary, Veiny Willow that he loves her, consistently supporting and empowering Dawn throughout the later series despite everyone else getting super frustrated with her, trying to save Buffy and Riley's relationship), and his leaving Anya at the altar was heartbreaking and unforgivable, but it was an amazing piece of storytelling that ultimately demonstrated his unconquerable fear of his own future.

In a show that's really owned by its female characters, it's easy to overlook the strength of all the male characters. The father, the lover, the friend, the soldier, the hero, the villain, the teacher - any and all of these descriptions can be applied to Xander or any other male character at one point or another. I think it's really unfair to judge a character's strengths or weaknesses without viewing them holistically. There's a bunch of stuff you could say about Willow, Giles or any of the other seemingly great characters if you come at it from only one side.

It's definitely hard to top season 3. The best villian from the entire series imo and such a dramatic and interesting dynamic throughout the season with Buffy and Faith. The Mayor and Faith are so good together it's incredible.

season six probably my favorite imo

Can't get behind the Xander hate at all.

Sure he was flawed. That's what made the show so great - all of the characters were heros, but they were also humans with flaws and at times they did something stupid or selfish or hurtful to their friends and family. Just like we all have.

He was an insecure, goofy guy who didn't have any special powers but still kept going out there and battling demons and trying to make his life work.

Yeah, leaving Anya at the alter was brutal but it was also pretty damn real, IMO. He handled it very badly. How many of us handled love and relationships badly at that age?

There weren't many characters I actively disliked, although I thought Cordelia was annoying as **** (which was the point, I guess) and Amy and the whole magic addiction arc was badly done.