Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The 6 Best And 6 Worst Episodes

Even in the wake of all the revelations about Joss Whedon's abusive behavior on multiple sets, including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," this franchise's legacy stands strong. Five years after Whedon's first attempt at telling his Slayer-centric story via the 1992 movie starring Kirsty Swanson, Donald Sutherland, and Luke Perry, he prefaced the golden age of television with this Emmy-nominated show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. It easily overshadows its feature-length counterpart. And when a late '90s coming-of-age science-fiction/horror/drama about a petite, preppy blonde kicking some major vampire butt with her friends and mentor spawns expansive academic studies, you know you have something revolutionary. But even the most enduring shows have some real flops. We consulted an array of sources to present you with this list of the six best and six worst episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." In the process we learned, not surprisingly, that the worst episodes of "Buffy" fall flat because they lack the depth and character development that make the best episodes so remarkable.

In "I, Robot ... You, Jane," our lovable, nerdy bookworm Willow (Alyson Hannigan) falls prey to a dangerous online pen pal after she digitally scans some books for Giles (Anthony Head). In the Buffyverse, rather than some creep trying to lure her somewhere, Willow's behind-the-screen "pal" turns out to be an ancient, murderous demon that she accidentally frees into the ether of the Internet via the spell she scanned. We should all know by now not to read the Necronomicon out loud. We should probably also know not to scan ancient spells from old library books into computer systems. But it's the late '90s when this story takes place, and the Internet is only just starting to boom, so maybe we should give them a small pass on that. The A.V. Club's Noel Murray rates this one a paltry D+, concluding that it's a "misfire: corny, tonally off and lacking even the illusion of depth." This "Buffy" episode earns a solid place as one of the show's worst.

For Season 2, a sophomore outing that largely explores sexual awakening and the consequences that come with it, "Bad Eggs" is at least thematically on point with its "health teacher puts his students into pairs and assigns them an egg to take care of" premise. "Buffy" hadn't fully realized its strengths yet, and it really shows here. Rather than a character-focused coming-of-age episode, which the premise might suggest, we instead get a shallow "monster of the week" affair. Turns out the eggs that our Sunnydale students are tasked with caring for are the offspring of a giant parasite that dwells in the high school basement (the building is right on top of the Hellmouth, after all). Once the eggs hatch, the little monsters inside latch onto their caretakers and seize control of mind and body, turning the students into the hostess of an ancient parasite's offspring. Vox stashes this one in its "overly literal and unhelpful metaphors" list of "Buffy episodes, Screen Rant's Katherine Webb lists it as one of the show's worst, and it sits at a dismal 6.5 on IMDb.

A significant chunk of "Where the Wild Things Are" features Buffy and her college boyfriend and vampire- and demon-slaying partner, Riley (Marc Blucas), having obsessive, all-consuming sex. During a frat party, the pair's near-constant lovemaking awakens poltergeists that cause a disturbing amount of chaos, and the rest of the Scoobies must discover the source of the madness before our ravishing couple dies in the throes of exhausting passion. With minimal research, it's unveiled that the frat house used to be an orphanage. It doesn't take the Scooby Gang long to track down the woman who ran things when the Lowell building was the Lowell Home for Children. When they do, they learn that she did terrible things to the children when they were "dirty." This easily solved mystery is the most compelling part of the story, but it's overshadowed by Buffy and Riley's bedroom adventures. With Vox considering this rock bottom "Buffy," and with its 6.6 rating on IMDb, this is one of the show's weakest installments. It probably doesn't help that "Where the Wild Things Are" spares little time for any larger plot developments with the Initiative or Adam, even as the season nears its end.

"Go Fish" carries a clear anti-steroid theme that, like all the worst "Buffy" episodes, lacks any real substance (a frustrating issue for a feminist show that, when at its absolute best, often deals with heavy topics like death, grief, and mental health with sensitivity and depth). The Scooby Gang believes that members of Sunnydale High's swim team, the Razorbacks, are the victims of grotesque, gilled, humanoid sea-monsters. Not a huge loss considering one of those teammates tries to assault Buffy in the car at the very beginning of the episode. Still, something weird and terrifying is going on, and they believe that those gilled creatures are killing students, so the Scooby Gang has to investigate. All is not as it initially seems. After Buffy sees soulless vampire Angelus spitting out the blood of one of the Razorbacks, repelled by the taste, Xander joins the swim team in an effort to find out more. Another one rated at a 6.6 on IMDb, "Go Fish" features Xander in a Speedo and an evil swim coach who should have never been allowed on school grounds. But that's Sunnydale. Here, the message eventually just boils down to "don't take steroids."

We don't know many people who'd declare the seventh season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" their favorite. Just glance at the Buffy Boards or read Reddit posts by users like u/jdpm1991. In this bland season filled with bland potential slayers prepping for the biggest apocalypse yet, a coup brews. The potentials, along with the Scoobies, are getting frustrated with Buffy's militaristic approach to their training. And while Buffy's determined to get them all into shape to face the First Evil and a terrifying army of Ubervamps, the others are ticked off that she's acting less like a friend (or a sister), and that she doesn't ever seem to give them a moment to unwind. Cue a Faith-led outing to the Bronze that results in our OG Slayer splitting ways with all the potentials — and the Scoobies. While it enjoys a favorable 7.6 IMDb rating, Vox rates it incredibly low on their own list. Screen Rant and Redditors like u/there_all_is_aching, seem to agree with Vox on this one. As we see it, the core problem in "Empty Places," the one that puts it squarely on other people's lists as one of the worst episodes, is that it's unbelievably hard to accept that — even in the Buffyverse — the Vampire Slayer who died not once, but twice, for her friends and for the rest of the world would really be thrown out of her own home just because the others don't trust her to lead anymore.

"Beer Bad" follows Buffy after her first traumatizing experience with a college creep. Parker (Adam Kaufman), the man she thought she'd really bonded with, ditches her for other prospects as soon as they have sex. Devastated to learn that she fell for a "love 'em and leave 'em" type of guy, Buffy wallows, and eventually turns to booze to drown her sorrows. Meanwhile, Xander tries his hand at bartending. He's told to serve the underage college students who come in, and he soon learns that the beer he's giving those students is turning them into cavemen. Buffy, despite her Slayer status, is not immune. Like other networks in the late '90s, the WB had a Congress-influenced relationship with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), which basically means they received financial incentives for airing content with anti-drug themes. The WB submitted the script of this infamous "Buffy" episode to the ONDCP for consideration, but the folks there found the story ludicrous and nonsensical. As a result, "Beer Bad," rated dead last on IMDb, at a measly 5.9, got none of that anti-drug money and — with few exceptions — no love from fans.