The Body, Once More With Feeling, and Hush are usually ranked at the top, and for good reason, but I am thrilled that Becoming takes the cake. Glad that Surprise/Innocence and Fool For Love were ranked up there as well.

WhatsAStevedore | November 14, 07:59 CET

Beer Bad the worst episode?? I love that one :P

Krusher | November 14, 08:04 CET

I love "Flooded" and "Life Serial." You are wrong about those, list. The rest is pretty ok though.

Sunfire | November 14, 08:07 CET

I'm pretty much on board with the list of best episodes here, although I'd probably rank them differently. But I'm never sure what to do with lists like this. Can the writer really tell me what made the 113th best episode better than the 114th?

I'm in the happy position of never having totally hated any episode of Buffy... or, really, any episode of any Whedon show. I even thought "Beer Bad" worked OK as a fluffy comedy episode.

AndrewCrossett | November 14, 08:13 CET

Is it me or are there 9 episodes missing?

Krusher | November 14, 08:15 CET

How can any episode with the line, "Nothing says thank you like dollars in the waistband." be the worst?

Jjsquid | November 14, 08:20 CET

First, they are totally wrong about "The Pack". One of my favorite episodes, especially of Season 1.

@Krusher-They combined some episodes like "Yoko Factor/Primeval", "Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest". Plus 2 parters like "What's My Line" are combined into one entry.

Jelly | November 14, 08:25 CET

@Jelly, thanks, I was going nuts, checking if it was my browser :F

Krusher | November 14, 08:27 CET

"Dead Man's Party" should be way lower (among other things). I practically nod off whenever I rewatch that episode.

Enisy | November 14, 08:44 CET

Beer Bad is soooo bad... lol

napoleon27 | November 14, 08:48 CET

I pretty much agree with the worst ones, but not so much with the list of best. I would've put Amends highers. but perhaps I'm being sentimental because it is the first one I saw.
and buffy does have some truly amazing eps so it is hard to choose the best of the best.

I have to say, I don't much see the point of these lists other than to make fans argue. I would've,I don't know,maybe classified them? like myth arc and motwk eps, or holiday eps or world-ending eps or by trope or by mood or something.

okelay | November 14, 09:02 CET

I love Beer Bad, but partially because it is so bad xD

But I would have ranked "Killed by Death" higher and "Normal Again" still freaks me out. And I hate "Empty Places".

Amerdale | November 14, 09:11 CET

There are some in the middle that I would've put higher, but I tend to agree with the general trends here.

And it makes me so happy that Becoming is #1, because it's so mission statement-y. I would put Becoming & Surprise/Innocence at the top every time.

Kiba | November 14, 09:17 CET

LOL---I had a laugh at the "worst" episode. A few days ago I was itching for a Buffy viewing session. I haven't seen an episode in at least 6 months, so I pulled out the box set and started debating which episode to watch....I ended up with Beer Bad. It had it's eye rolling moments but overall, it was just plain fun.

alexreager | November 14, 09:19 CET

I never understood the Beer Bad hate. I really like that one, it's a lot of fun.

While there might be a couple of not-great ones, IMO there's only one terrible Buffy episode, which is Normal Again. I feel insulted watching it. I loathe the mere suggestion of 'So, you've just watched 117 episodes, here's where we tell you that it's all in an insane girl's head'. The 'alternate reality' presented there envisions the opposite of the what, and the WHY, I´m watching the series. And the dialogue makes it even worse, when Buffy summarizes the idea behind the show and calls it ridiculous.
The only redeemable aspect of the episode is SMG's amazing acting in it.

Valentijn | November 14, 09:23 CET

I do believe that ranking Buffy is hard task. Some consider bad episodes good and good episodes. I loved beer bad and hated superstar. I truly believe the worst episodes are where the brother is using body parts to raise the dead and also the episode where Willow dates a computer demon.
Still in that time... Some people considered them awesome

Ghost999 | November 14, 09:54 CET

This is just not my list.

A lot of my favorite episodes are placed far too low for my taste (Killed by Death and The Pack especially, but also many others that are somewhat further from the bottom of this list, like Life Serial and Lies My Parents Told Me). Conversely I would never rate The Wish or The Gift higher than episodes like Hush, Selfless or Earshot.

Still it's fun to be reminded of all Buffy's episodes once in a while, makes me feel like revisiting the show once again.

the Groosalugg | November 14, 09:57 CET

Aw, I actually love "Beer Bad," too. Even if only for the exchange between Xander and Willow regarding his fake ID. :)

swanjun | November 14, 10:01 CET

I can't put "Beer Bad" above the bottom 15 or so but Willow's punking of Parker in it elevates it above several others IM(NS)HO.

Personally, I'd rank "Bad Eggs" as worst.

Vague That Up | November 14, 10:08 CET

"I Robot, You Jane" will always be my least-favorite episode. Blech.

Ronald_SF | November 14, 10:10 CET

I agree with much on this list, but I'd put "Beer Bad" above several of those Season 7 episodes, and definitely above "Where the Wild Things Are" (except for Giles singing). I think I'd put "Empty Places" at the bottom. It's hard for me to re-watch that one.

And I LOVE "Life Serial." And I might put "Storyteller" higher. Just thinking about it makes me laugh.

And I'd give the top slot to OMWF.

But every episode has things that I like in it. That magic combination of beloved characters + clever dialog always comes through, even when the plot leaves something to be desired.

Now I feel like getting back to that rewatch...

jcs | November 14, 10:14 CET

Around half way through i was wondering if the writer of the article actually liked the show

As usual i disagree for the most part but that's the nature of a list like this.

Mcb | November 14, 10:33 CET

Before the list got lower than 100 I was disagreeing with the low rankings of so many great episodes, until I realised that was because I think Buffy has more than 100 great episodes.

Still, my big 'how can those be ranked so low?' are Flooded and The Weight of the World. I absolutely love The Weight of the World as the prequel to The Gift. It's perfect.
Flooded was the third episode of the show I watched and I loved the loan scene this article complains about. After Flooded, I was already quoting the characters and I knew Buffy was my favourite show.

Bluelark | November 14, 11:39 CET

"Him" and "Doublemeat Palace" are some of my least favorite eps., but they managed to snag passable places on this list. Not sure how.

libradude | November 14, 11:40 CET

I think the only extremely major changes I would make involve putting "Him" further back, and switching "Beer Bad" with "Where the Wild Things Are." It's not that I hated watching a full episode of Buffy and Riley going at it, but.. Oh, no, I did hate it. Not even Giles singing could fix that.

MelloMania | November 14, 11:49 CET

''Him'' is probably my least favorite episode of Buffy. I definitely like it less than ''I Robot, You Jane'', ''Where the Wild Things Are'' or ''Inca Mummy Girl''. And I can't believe how low ''Never Kill a Boy on the First Date'' is - I'm not saying it should be near the top, but I find it one of the better Season 1 episodes.

This seems like a reasonably uncontroversial list though - obviously we're all going to disagree here and there, but most of the agreed classics seem to be near the top and most of the least popular episodes are near the bottom.

allthingsaverage | November 14, 12:27 CET

I don't have too many problems with the top of this list, but I do think Beer Bad and Bad Eggs are both good episodes that I would rank in the top half of the series.

In Beer Bad, Buffy's descent into a cavewoman makes for some great physical humor (the swivel chair scene, the lipstick paint scene, the clubbing Parker over the head scene, etc., etc.), and Willow's shutdown of Parker is just fun to watch. It also has some nice foreshadowing to Giles's season arc of inadequacy with him being completely useless in the search for Buffy toward the end of the episode.

Bad Eggs is one of a handful of humorous Marti Noxon episodes that are generally underrated, IMO, by the BtVS community at large (Living Conditions, Buffy vs. Dracula, Surprise, the Buffybot scenes in Bargaining, Part 1). While I find much of the episode funny, it also has some of the creepiest villains of the first 3 seasons: spider monsters that hatch from eggs, cover you with tentacles while you sleep, control your mind, and answer to a giant all-consuming blob that lives under the school; that's entering into some serious nightmare territory. The episode also is one of the first to show some friction between Buffy and Joyce resulting from her slayer duties, setting up the arc that culminates in Becoming.

I also take issue with how low The Initiative is ranked; it's probably my favorite comedy of the series, and definitely in my top 10 episodes. There are just so many funny moments in the episode; the one everyone remembers is the Spike/Willow impotence scene, but the entire episode is comedic gold: there's the Xander/Harmony slo-mo slap fight, the cold open where Buffy breaks the soft serve machine, the park bench scene where neither Buffy nor Riley can convince the other one to leave, the several hilarious Willow/Riley conversations about how to woo Buffy... I'd go on, but it would just become a scene-by-scene description of the episode.

It is nice to see Witch ranked so highly for a change; it's incredibly well-put-together (great humor, nice twist at the end) for how early in the series it aired, and it set the stage really well for the Monster-of-the-Week one-off episodes that were such an important counterpoint to the season-arc episodes in the series' structure.

HerbSaunders | November 14, 12:30 CET

The episode that is (in my opinion) placed the farthest away from where it belongs is most likely "Passion". For me, it is a top 5 episode.

roadi | November 14, 13:20 CET

The Killer in Me has no business being in the 80's. So much worse than episodes they put lower. The Giles sub-plot... my god. All the Way should be much lower as well. The Pack, Flooded, and Never Kill a Boy on the First Date are all great. Especially NKABOTFD. That's an amazing episode! How dare they!

narky | November 14, 14:05 CET

Same Time, Same Place at 97? No. Needs to be about fifty places higher, at minimum.

Helpless and Family both made the top fifty, though, which makes me happy since they're both relatively underrated, right? They're both top ten episodes for me.

manbearpig | November 14, 14:14 CET

@narky The Giles plot was the part of The Killer in Me I liked best (although I also really liked the return to the Initiative). I saw it as a fine example of the silly and absurdist touches that are a large part of the reason why I love Buffy and Angel so much. (Not a fan of the Warren transformation at all though, so I agree the episode deserves a lower place on the list.)

the Groosalugg | November 14, 14:39 CET

Sofar, not a boring thread. :P

I love the Beer Bad episode, because not only it shows a strong Buffy and a strong female lead despite (or because of it) her neanderthal outwards, she still remains the strong one. With funny! It connects with the first one.

Krusher | November 14, 15:07 CET

Beer Bad was hardly the worst episode. How can what is effectively a biographical depiction of my college career be rated so low?

Mitrokhin | November 14, 16:02 CET

So much wrong with this list. But everyone has their own opinion and that's OK (I know my opinion is the right one, but never mind).

I won't mention Good episodes placed as bad ones. Truth is I love so many Buffy episodes I would have to put good ones almost all the way up to the end of the list.

But come on? "All the Way" is just a bad episode, What's it doing in number 80?
Anne is a great episode.
“Where the Wild Things Are” has great Spike/Anya scenes that make it great.
“Buffy vs. Dracula” should be lower on the list.
“I, Robot… You, Jane” should also be lower. I know it's already placed as third worst, but it really deserves first place. When people I know watch the show for the first time I beg them to skip it.
Beer Bad and Bad eggs are actually not all bad (despite the bad in their name)

urkonn | November 14, 16:54 CET

I'm also happy that "Witch" got rated higher, and I agree that it's very underrated. It was THE episode that won me over: the humor, the awesome plot twist, and the "gotcha!" moment I had at the end that it was a metaphor for a growing-up life lesson -- the whole conceit of "High School Is Hell" began with this episode -- totally made me love the show.

[ edited by Ronald_SF on 2013-11-15 03:20 ]

Ronald_SF | November 14, 17:20 CET

As I said when first told of this, "Can't be done. Too many good ones. But I'm always a fan of a doomed but worthy effort."

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | November 14, 19:45 CET

"I, Robot... You, Jane" and "Killed by Death" would be my picks for the two worst episodes. "I, Robot..." was bad at the time and has just gotten hilariously worse as it's aged. It's truly cringe-worthy. "Killed by Death" is just humorless and dull. There are one or two good lines from Cordelia, but that's it. They both made Buzzfeed's bottom six, so I can't quibble too much.

I disagree more with their picks for the best episodes. I'm a big Anya fan, so I've always loved "Selfless" (they've ranked it at 24) and would've put it much higher. I'm a fan of "The Wish" but it's too high at 4. Also, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", another one of my all-time favorites is way down at 61. I feel they under-ranked the more comedic episodes. Band Candy is too low at 26. Also, my favorite season premiere "When She Was Bad" is WAY DOWN at 109.

WindTheFrog | November 14, 21:55 CET

For me the most underrated episode on this list is "Normal Again," which I much preferred to "The Wish," and in my opinion belongs in the top ten.

I agree that "Beer Bad" is a terrific episode and belongs near the middle rather than the bottom of the list. (Though I agree Bad Eggs should be at the bottom.)

I very much disagree that the season 7 series finale should be near the top. I would place it near the bottom, along with almost all other season 7 episodes.

For me, the number one slot should be shared by Hush and The Body. I might also accept a 3-way tie that includes OMWF, since that was maybe the most ambitious episode.

Squishy | November 15, 12:59 CET

Happy to see Becoming at #1. It usually doesn't get enough attention on these list for an episode that essentially represents and conveys the core message of the entire show ("...Take all that way, and what's left?" "Me.").

AMCsoldier | November 15, 13:20 CET