what are the best episodes to introduce someone to "Buffy-The Vampire Slayer?"

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I own seasons 1-4 on DVD (also season one of Angel.) "Hush" is a no brainer, of course, and I guess the first two episodes of season one to introduce the whole shebang? Share thine wisdom, ILX.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 28 August 2003 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Will the first few episodes really teach them much that they won't have gleaned from being alive for the last seven years?

Hush is good. Don't waste The Body on them, as they won't really "get it" without a fair amount of history.

Oz is also U+K.

The thing is probably to show them enough that they're sure they don't hate it, then give them Season Three.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 28 August 2003 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

"much that they won't have gleaned from being alive for the last seven years"

haha the thing my friend ken loves abt angel — so he told me last night — is that no one in LA bats an eyelid at the total ubiquity in citylife of demons etc, is this what farrell means?

THEY LIVE AND WALK AMONG US!!

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 28 August 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

All of the episodes in Season 2 where Angel goes bad. Lovers Walk, Passion, Becoming.

― Catty (Catty), Thursday, 28 August 2003 12:40 (twenty-two years ago)

the prom episode, whatever that was called.

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 28 August 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I Robot...You Jane, definitely.

[gratuitous side note: anyone wanna take my VHS Season One box set off me? It's numbered and everything..!]

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 28 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

the dream ep, with the guy and his processed cheese slices

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 28 August 2003 13:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I know it's supposed to be great. A lot of my friends like it. Should I just start at the beginning?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 28 August 2003 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes.

I'd also recommend the one where Buffy loses her virginity to Angel.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

that sounds good.
recently i was staying in vancouver with some friends and they turned me onto buffy. beasically what first caught my attention was the lesbian witch makeout scenes.

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

now that's religion we can all enjoy

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Willow was the saving grace of seasons 4&5 (and not for being hot and lesbian).

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

oh. i got hooked on buffy from seeing the final episode of season 5, so i was gonna suggest that, oh well.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Thursday, 28 August 2003 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

"doppelganger" from season 3 would be good because it's not vital to the season arc. it's the anya one, where cordelia wishes buffy never came to sunnydale, and willow and xander are vampires in the alternate reality that is created. and willow as a vampire is "kinda gay". wait i think that comes later. but it's still an amazing episode. and oz and giles and the football player form a vampire-fighting team and they dash out of their unmarked van with crucifixes and holy water. oh it's great.

― allyson (schmanktenputchka), Thursday, 28 August 2003 19:32 (twenty-two years ago)

nono wait... i looked in my dvd set. doppelganger is when they bring vampire willow back. have your friend see THE WISH.

― allyson (schmanktenputchka), Thursday, 28 August 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I think that's "The Wish," and "the Doppelganger" is where "kinda gay" Willow gets transported to normal reality.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 28 August 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, my mistake. the wish is a fantastic episode.

― allyson (schmanktenputchka), Thursday, 28 August 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

i still think the Mayor was the best character on the show.

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 28 August 2003 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

The Mayor and Faith (especially at the end of S7, she still had the snappy dialogue and characterization that made Buffy fun/great to start with)

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 28 August 2003 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't dance around my apartment listening to show tunes or anything, but i thought the musical was hilarious.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Thursday, 28 August 2003 20:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I keep coming to this thread for the anti-Buffy contigent to show up. Yo, where yall at?

― Leee (Leee), Thursday, 28 August 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Amy the witch was hott!

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 28 August 2003 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

i love Anya.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Thursday, 28 August 2003 21:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Carey showed them to me in order, and I was hooked fast. Personally I'd just start with the first. It works best as a serial anyhow, so for me this is like "which chapter of a book would you recommend first?"

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 28 August 2003 23:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Duh, the last chapter of a book. It's like where all the action happens.
(Still reading Hardy Boys mind).

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 29 August 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Definitely the episode where Buffy could hear other school students' thoughts - a brill episode that (unlike most of the really brill episodes) can easily be watched out of context.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 30 August 2003 07:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I have all the seasons available on DVD (my flatmate) and have only really watched Once More With Feeling. I'm going to watch them all now. This will take me a while?

― Cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 30 August 2003 08:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Watching two episodes a day, in order, on WB in the afternoon, I saw most everything in a month. I say jump right in. Like anything, your appreciation deepens the more you know about it.

And yes, the guy with the cheese is brilliant.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 30 August 2003 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

I think I am addicted.

― David. (Cozen), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 10:38 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

Finally got my gf addicted to this show, just started on the first episode of the first season.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 12 October 2008 00:15 (seventeen years ago)

That's about how long it takes. I was about halfway through the series on dvd before I made a break for some reason and now I'm having trouble deciding if I should pick up where I left or just watch the damn thing from the top again

― sonderangerbot, Sunday, 12 October 2008 00:21 (seventeen years ago)

for at least three seasons Buffy was the most serious, grown-up show on the broadcast tube

― my sweet coconut (rogermexico.), Sunday, 12 October 2008 00:40 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah I think S3, 4 & 5 in particular are some of the best TV ever.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 12 October 2008 00:41 (seventeen years ago)

^^ them would be the ones - it really went next-level in the season 2 finale

― my sweet coconut (rogermexico.), Sunday, 12 October 2008 00:43 (seventeen years ago)

Maybe I should try watching those seasons.
I tried to get into this show on the television, after hearing such praise for it, but couldn't really get the vibe. Tried on DVD starting with the first season and didn't get much further than the second or third disc.

― ian, Sunday, 12 October 2008 02:28 (seventeen years ago)

First season is finding its legs and voice + sub-dr who production values/praying mantis roffles.

Hang in thru season two and things will whooosh take off.

― my sweet coconut (rogermexico.), Sunday, 12 October 2008 02:37 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah I considered starting the GF on S2 as it gets off to a rocky start (and everything in S1 is recapped in the "Last Season, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer" bit anyway). You might try starting with 2 which btw is available on Hulu!

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 12 October 2008 02:44 (seventeen years ago)

S6 > S3 > S5 > S4 > S2 > S1 > S7

S8 (comic book format, not tv) is wandering all over the place, but has had a couple of interesting bits.

― I'm the wire monkey, not the soft monkey (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 12 October 2008 02:56 (seventeen years ago)

S8 (comic book format, not tv) is wandering all over the place

srsly. feels like they're stretching it out more than a little now.

― my sweet coconut (rogermexico.), Sunday, 12 October 2008 03:05 (seventeen years ago)

yeah i've read a couple of them and i can hear joss whedon going "ok so we can do anything in this format, right?.......let's do EVERYTHING!"

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 12 October 2008 03:07 (seventeen years ago)

the neophyte should start with 3

― i, grey, Sunday, 12 October 2008 03:51 (seventeen years ago)

xpost b/c FRAY was so good the first time amirite?

it's been downhill since Faith's special op, but I'm hanging in...

― my sweet coconut (rogermexico.), Sunday, 12 October 2008 04:25 (seventeen years ago)

i don't want to me a twenty-three year old dude getting into buffy the vampire slayer.
feels wrong.

― ian, Sunday, 12 October 2008 04:38 (seventeen years ago)

3 is good, except the first couple episodes are kind of weird and depressing and only make sense if you've seen the S2 finale. Also no way is 6 the best, it had some good ideas and some terrible ones, but the execution is usually so lifeless that the only episodes that interest me are the weird little stand-alone ones (the insane asylum and the Exterminating Angel episodes, in particular).

― clotpoll, Sunday, 12 October 2008 07:08 (seventeen years ago)

i stopped reading whedon's x-men after the first year and a half. booooooring.

― ian, Sunday, 12 October 2008 21:19 (seventeen years ago)

ian, you should reconsider! about buffy that is, not x-men

Season 6 clearly has moments of the beginning of the decline that is season 7, and can therefore not be the best obviously, but I think it's still overall up there with the others

― sonderangerbot, Sunday, 12 October 2008 22:02 (seventeen years ago)

four months pass...

just started watching this show but accidentally got netflix to send us s1 disc 3 instead of disc 2. am i going to miss any big reveals with season-long implications if i watch disc 3 now and then watch disc 2? it seems pretty episodic at this point but i know there are more season-long plots eventually and i don't want to mess things up

― congratulations (n/a), Sunday, 22 February 2009 00:36 (seventeen years ago)

nah u good boss

― its gotta be HOOSy para steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Sunday, 22 February 2009 01:11 (seventeen years ago)

sometimes it seems like everyone on ilx is perpetually at home resting after having their appendix taken out

― harry s tfuman (and what), Sunday, 22 February 2009 01:16 (seventeen years ago)

five years pass...

I've been watching this on Amazon Prime and all I have to say is

TARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa

sob sob sob

― carl agatha, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 22:31 (eleven years ago)

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