Jeremy Urquhart is a writer at Collider who focuses on the Godzilla series, the films of Martin Scorsese, and anything in the action genre.
Thanks to it being called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer can be a bit of a tough sell. It sounds cheesy, and it does indeed look a bit cheesy, too, especially if you try and get someone into it by showing them an episode from the particularly low-budget first season .
And, like various iconic TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer took a little while to find its voice, too. But what a voice it was, once found. This is a show about surviving high school, young adulthood, and various supernatural foes, but it’s also so much more than that. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is tonally adventurous, and encompasses various genres, ensuring it’s sometimes funny, sometimes profound, and sometimes tragic. A good way to highlight how well it was written is by going over a bunch of very memorable quotes from the show, with all the ones below being spoken by its titular character . 10 "Thanks for the Dadaist pep talk. I feel much more abstract now." "The Freshman" - Season 4, Episode 1 Season 4 marked a change of pace for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, since a couple of core cast members left to go and star in the spin-off series Angel instead, and those left behind moved on from high school. Sunnydale High had been the primary setting for the show in Seasons 1 to 3, with Season 4 basing much of its action around UC Sunnydale . Xander does not join Buffy and Willow at college, but still wants to be part of their lives. He tries to give Buffy advice at one point in the Season 4 opener, stumbling upon Star Wars and Scarface quotes in the process, with Buffy sarcastically dismissing it as a “Dadaist pep talk.” Her referencing feeling abstract oddly foreshadows the final episode of Season 4, “Restless,” which is indeed Buffy the Vampire Slayer at its most philosophical, unsettling, and abstract. 9 "You think he's too old 'cause he's a senior? Please. My boyfriend had a bicentennial." "Surprise" - Season 2, Episode 13 In its pursuit of being every genre all at once, Buffy the Vampire Slayer spent quite a bit of time on romance, with Buffy herself having three main love interests throughout the show. Two of them were vampires, too, because that’s good for both drama and occasional comedy, and Angel was famously her main love interest for the first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “Surprise” ended up being very important for the show’s second season, having a narrative turn at the end that ultimately proved devastating, but before then, it wasn't too heavy an episode. It even finds room for Buffy to engage in some self-deprecating humor about how old Angel is, being a vampire and all, during a scene when she talks to Willow about her concerns that Oz is too old for her because he’s a senior. 8 "And the only person that I can even stand to be around is a... neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker." "Life Serial" - Season 6, Episode 5 Without a doubt, Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was its most controversial. It picked up after Season 5, felt as though it offered a rather satisfying finale to the entire show, and things were intentionally different once it came back. Buffy – both the show and the character – were resurrected, but there were major consequences, especially for Buffy herself. “Life Serial” takes place early in the season, and before some of the really out-there episodes from Season 6, though it still explores Buffy’s alienation and despair about being resurrected quite well. She drops one hell of a line that would make for an amazing non-sequitur, without context, referring to Spike as “a neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker,” and no lies were detected. 7 "It doesn't matter where you came from, or how you got here, you are my sister. There's no way you could annoy me so much if you weren't." "Blood Ties" - Season 5, Episode 13 Moving back from Season 6 a little, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s fifth season mostly moved away from the college setting, and had the introduction of Dawn , who was Buffy’s suddenly introduced sister… kind of. Dawn was also wrapped up with the Big Bad of Season 5, and another potential apocalypse to avert, and learning the truth about her origin was understandably traumatic. But Buffy, ever the hero, still protected and cared for Dawn no matter what, treating her like the sister she genuinely felt like. And Dawn could be frustrating, from a viewer’s perspective, but she was also naïve and heavily impacted by the strangeness of her existence. So, in “Blood Ties,” when Buffy affirms to Dawn that they truly are sisters, it’s truly heartwarming, plus a little funny, given Buffy’s claim that Dawn couldn’t annoy her so much if they weren’t related. 6 "If the apocalypse comes, beep me." "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" - Season 1, Episode 5 Even before it became a great TV drama , Buffy the Vampire Slayer had high stakes. Early on, it was the idea of “the apocalypse,” as shown in this particular quote from “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date,” but after a few seasons, it was more about preventing “a” or “another” apocalypse, one of which even happens in the background of a Season 3 episode, “The Zeppo,” basically as a joke. But to return to “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date,” the line here is iconic and successful in driving home how young and casual Buffy is at this stage in the series, though nowadays, it also drives home just how long ago 1997 was. Buffy has a pager, which, if you're under the age of about 30 and not working in a hospital, may as well be another weapon from ancient times for her to wield in the fight against similarly ancient supernatural creatures. 5 "From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers. Every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?" "Chosen" - Season 7, Episode 22 Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not the only TV show to have a slightly divisive final season. While Season 7 didn’t cause as much despair as the risk-taking sixth season, there was a sense of going through the motions for a good chunk of the season. There was one final apocalypse to prevent, and both the characters and various cast members felt tired. There’s simultaneously a restlessness and a lack of energy at points, intentional or otherwise. But at least the very last episode of the season/series, “Chosen,” capped things off on a high. Buffy and Willow concoct a plan to make the numerous potential slayers actual slayers, giving the forces of good a fighting chance in the final fight. And, of course, that all means Buffy gets to drop one final pre-battle epic speech, and though it’s not quite Braveheart or The Return of the King level, it’s still pretty great. 4 "Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't want to die." "Prophecy Girl" - Season 1, Episode 12 Just seven episodes on from “If the apocalypse comes, beep me,” Buffy is suddenly much more fearful about her role as the slayer in the Season 1 finale, “Prophecy Girl.” At this point in the series, she and her friends had certainly been in danger, but death took until this point to become a reality for her, since the prophecy mentioned in the title states she is to die. And so “Prophecy Girl” has Buffy facing her mortality in a surprisingly moving way, with the excellent drama and solemn moments here being a key indicator that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had what it took to be more than a fun/campy supernatural show going forward. The entire episode is great, too, but it’s this particular line – and the way Sarah Michelle Gellar delivers it – that really stands out. 3 Angelus: "That's everything. No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away, and what's left?" Buffy: "Me." "Becoming " - Season 2, Episode 22 And for as important as “Prophecy Girl” was in establishing Buffy the Vampire Slayer as one of the greatest shows of the past few decades, the two-part Season 2 finale, “Becoming,” was even more monumental. As alluded to before, “Surprise” did indeed include a surprise, since Angel became Angelus at the very end of that episode, and then the back half of Season 2 had him as the central antagonist. That’s just great drama, making the love interest into the villain and having it work as well as it did in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And, honestly, the character became more interesting once his villainous side was revealed, and David Boreanaz impressed more when he was able to go there. And sure, technically this one quote from the Season 2 finale is, on Buffy’s side, just one word – “Me” – but it’s such a powerful moment, and any more words on her part would dilute it. 2 "Dawn's in trouble, must be Tuesday." "Once More, with Feeling" - Season 6, Episode 7 Lots of the best moments in “Once More, with Feeling” are sung, since this is famously Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s musical episode, and it’s a good deal funnier than most sitcom episodes as a result. But it also finds room to have genuinely good musical numbers alongside the comedy, and it’s not all a laugh-riot either, since it continues – as a Season 6 episode – to explore Buffy’s trauma and jarring resurrection. Even though this one has singing and dancing, it still puts Dawn in danger, as she so often was. And Buffy comments on that by saying, “It must be Tuesday,” which would’ve been even funnier back when Buffy the Vampire Slayer was on TV, since it aired on a Tuesday night… at least after the previously mentioned “Surprise,” which was the final episode of the show to air on a Monday night. Still, that means all the post-Dawn episodes aired on Tuesday, so it works in that regard. 1 "Dawn, the hardest thing in this world... is to live in it... Be brave. Live. For me." "The Gift" - Season 5, Episode 22 For as great as Season 5’s finale, “The Gift," can be, it’s still a pretty challenging and emotionally brutal episode, albeit not to the same extent as “The Body,” which also aired in Season 5. Both deal with mortality, though, and they're two of the show’s most devastating episodes… though where “The Body” is all about grief and sitting with an awful feeling, “The Gift” does offer some catharsis. It was Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s 100th episode, too, and could well have functioned as a finale for the whole series. It’s at its most effective when it rounds out the ongoing season-long arc of Buffy doing everything she can to save Dawn, including sacrificing herself by the episode’s end… but not before imparting wisdom on her younger sister, about how “the hardest thing in this world is to live in it.” It’s not merely Buffy’s single best line, but it’s probably the greatest line spoken by any character in the show’s entire run. Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Rate Now 0/10 Your comment has not been saved Like Follow Followed Buffy The Vampire Slayer Action Comedy Drama Horror Supernatural 20 9.2/10 Release Date 1997 - 2003 Network The WB Cast See All Showrunner Joss Whedon Powered by Expand Collapse NEXT: The Best 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Quotes, Ranked
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