I would recommend watching the first episode, “Angel”, and the last episode of season one - like Silenus suggested. I wouldn’t skip episodes from season two since they’re all very watchable.
Plus “Angel” from season one becomes a very important episode in the Angel series.
If this is true, does that mean Angelus also experienced a moment of perfect happiness when Angel slept with Buffy?
I don’t think that’s so farfetched. Angelus was obviously deeply affected by Angel’s relationship with her. One he was back in control, he seemed to feel violated, in a way. Makes ya wonder.
Meant to add – I’m almost halfway done with Season 3 now. I am really disappointed in a lot of decisions made by characters so far. I have spent most of this Season wanting to bitchslap Buffy, Xander and Willow.
Yeah, one of my favorite things about Buffy is now matter how silly or outlandish the surface gets, the humanity of the characters is always the driving force. Yes, they make bad decisions, but they are usually part of the character’s learning process–rather than a simple plot hole, like they are in most other shows and movies. BVTS pays attention to what’s important, and the rest it just has fun with. (Although for what it’s worth, I thought the writing in Revelations was below par; lots of little “because the writer said so” actions that weren’t convincingly character-motivated. Who is Douglas Petrie and why wasn’t he fired after writing this episode? Ah, IIMDB supplies some background: his previous writing credits included Rugrats, Clarissa Explains, and Harriet the Spy. He was used to writing for children, not grownups. I don’t remember any of the other 16 episodes he went on to write as being memorably bad, but I’ll be keeping any eye on him this time through.)
How far are you? I’m kind of watching along; haven’t gone through the whole season again for a few years. I’m at Bad Girls. Which bad decisions are you talking about specifically?
Doug Petrie also wrote the episode “Fool For Love,” which buys him a lot of slack.
Yeah, but he basically only wrote the parts with Riley. Whedon’s fingerprints are all over the flashbacks.
Yeah, I’m guessing he got better.
Just watched Doppelgangland. Now I’m even more pissed that they ended the series when SMG left. DoppelWillow has more charisma in her pointy little finger than Buffy ever had. She could’ve easily carried the show another few seasons.
That’s not really fair. Joss’s fingerprints were all over everything (except the parts that Marti Noxon fucked up after she went psychotic and shit).
Yet another vote for the stride being hit in Season 3. And it is great through four and five. Six has moments to die for, but some obvious problems, and I think we should just not talk about 7 at all…
And I have to confess that
Spuffy ruled my universe. I don’t think she deserves him, but if she makes him happy… and he’s SO freakin’ hot I can’t stand it. When it finally happens??? Pant pant pant.
Okay, I’m going back to using Spoiler tags since I see some people have joined the conversation who haven’t watched the series yet.
I just finished ‘‘Helpless’’ Season 3 Episode 12, so right behind ya!
[SPOILER]a well-done episode where Buffy loses her powers as a rite of passage for her 18th birthday.
The specific actions I’m referring to are Buffy failing to let everyone know Angel had returned, AND Buffy simultaneously giving Angel the shaft by dating some other guy. It was like a multiple-betrayal situation on her part, IMO. It’s not like she hasn’t had horrible repercussions from keeping secrets in the past; she should totally have known better.
As far as Angel forgiveness… Yeah, I know, he’s dangerous and harboring a demon within, blah blah blah. AFAIC Angel has been nothing but loyal to Buffy and her friends since day one.* It’s total bullshit to hold Angel responsible for the actions of Angelus. I feel like the whole thing could have been dealt with much more skillfully if she’d just been up-front with her friends in the first place. If they can figure out a way to work around Oz being a werewolf, goddammit they can find a way to deal with Angel.
I’m not saying I don’t ‘‘get’’ their grudge against him, or that I’d feel any different. I just think Angel is the most sympathetic character of the lot of them and I’m tired of him getting the shit end of the stick all the time.
And then obviously Willow and Xander screwing around on Oz and Cordelia. That was shitty, and weird, because Willow loved Xander for so long, and then when he fell for her it seems the rational response would be to call things off with Oz and Cordi and instead they just turned it into some cheap stupid thing. Really disappointing. But I’ll chalk it up to immaturity and begrudgingly admit they learned a good lesson. [/SPOILER]
Major Battlestar Galactica spoiler:
*The way they treat Angel totally reminds me of how the crew of Battlestar treat Sharon Valerii. Yes, technically because she’s a Cylon she represents a possible serious threat, but it’s not like it’s her fault she’s a Cylon, and she made a conscious choice to join the BSG crew. She bleeds blood sweat and tears to protect the people she loves and only gets more alienation, suspicion and mistrust in return. BULLSHIT!
olives-safe spoiler, in response to the above: [spoiler]I totally buy all those decisions as realistic human failings. Buffy has always had a hard time sharing, opening; she errs on the side of keeping things to herself. This has been another step on that learning curve, which you’ll see is not over yet. And you’ll see where things go with with Willow and Xander. Her reluctance to make that permanent, and his inability to, are themes that we will revisit. Again, I can’t think of another series–with the possible exception of NYPD Blue–where the characters are so distinct, so real, and undergo such huge and human changes. Which is why I simply couldn’t respond to whoever it was who said upthread they didn’t like BTVS because none of the characters change. As subjective as this kind of thing is, that is simply, objectively, wrong, and there’s no use at all having a discussion with someone who starts from that mind-bogglingly blind a premise.
Anyway.
And yes, you know why Battlestar Gallactica was so good? Because the writer who made BSG what it was learned her chops on BTVS. Let’s all raise a glass to Jane Espenson, whose tenure on Buffy roughly coincides with its maturing from a highschool comedy to a real human drama, and whose work on BSG was nearly as good. Not that Joss wasn’t the main creative force behind Buffy, but I think Jane’s work complemented his perfectly and made the show what it eventually became.[/spoiler]Also, you know what’s fun about going through the series again systematically instead of haphazardly? I have so far come across 4–count em, 4!–episodes I had somehow missed. Woohoo! 4 new buffisodes for me!
I totally buy all those decisions as realistic human failings. Buffy has always had a hard time sharing, opening; she errs on the side of keeping things to herself. This has been another step on that learning curve, which you’ll see is not over yet. And you’ll see where things go with with Willow and Xander. Her reluctance to make that permanent, and his inability to, are themes that we will revisit. Again, I can’t think of another series–with the possible exception of NYPD Blue–where the characters are so distinct, so real, and undergo such huge and human changes. Which is why I simply couldn’t respond to whoever it was who said upthread they didn’t like BTVS because none of the characters change. As subjective as this kind of thing is, that is simply, objectively, wrong, and there’s no use at all having a discussion with someone who starts from that mind-bogglingly blind a premise.
Oh, yeah, I didn’t mean to give the impression I thought that the decisions seemed out of character. Just that they are frustrating. I mean, Sunnydale’s got enough problems without its frustratingly human characters making things worse.
Oh, wow, I didn’t know the shows shared a writer. Battlestar is probably one of my favorite shows of all-time, and that’s because, like Buffy, it allowed its characters to be flawed. And, like Buffy, it didn’t patronize women by making them superhuman supersexy visions of perfection. It let them be every bit as delusional and irrational and occasionally nasty as any human being can be while still fostering sympathy and loyalty from the audience. When you want to scream epithets at the characters on screen but you still want them to win, that’s good writing. And I love that about both shows. There is something so liberating about television that reflects the way good people can do shitty things and still be… you know, good.
Despoiling this one line, cuz it’s not really a spoiler in isolation…
Oh… you’re just going to love Angel: the series. Where both ends of every stick are the shit end. And Angel juggles sticks.
Seeing as Angelus remembers everything Angel does, I wouldn’t see why not. The difference is that Angelus’s goals are different. He honestly doesn’t want to feel human. To him, human happiness, not brought on by destruction and mayhem, is sickening. The same emotion that made Angel feel better makes Angelus feel worse.
Have you ever done something you consider to be wrong, and yet felt happy about it during that time? That’s how I think Angelus felt. For one thing, remember that Buffy, as a slayer, would be his mortal enemy.
Also, I don’t know if you are this far in the mythos, and so I’ll spoiler the final bit, and ask people to vet it. Like I said, I’ve only watched Angel, but I don’t think any of this is really a plot point in any episodes, at least, not in the sense that you’d feel spoiled.
[spoiler]Vampires in the Buffyverse aren’t just walking dead people. They are a type of demon. You can think of them as human bodies that have been killed, thus having their soul removed, with that soul replaced by the corresponding part of a demon. All the curse did was give him back his original soul–it did not take away the demon one.
Now, the demon “soul” has no will of its own, but feeds off the dark desires that are in its human host. So even when the corpse gets its old soul back, it still has to contend with the fact that it was his/her desires that caused him to be that way. Angelus is just Angel’s evil desires on overdrive sans conscience. Except that the demon “soul” won’t let him feel good without doing evil, thus twisting his ideas of love and happiness.[/spoiler]
Second best. I liked 5 better. 
But 3 is a very, VERY close runner-up. 
Nah. The correct ranking is 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 1, 7.
“The Straight Dope - Arguing over 10 year old TV shows for over 10 years!”
Nope. The show started iffy, and consistently better, til by the end it truly great. Persinally I like 6 the best, but that’s only because 7 included the show’s demise.
Note to olives, this is a hugely minority view among Buffy fandom.
Any right-thinking person will tell you it goes 3, 2, 5, 4, 1, 7… 6
See?
The only thing worse than the arguments over which season was best was the internecine warfare among 'shippers.
Spuffy! Bangel! Spuffy! Bangel! Bah. At least everybody agreed that Kennedy needed to get eaten by a Skench demon.