What is this?
This is a series of essays exploring every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the greatest horror-comedy-teen drama-absurdist treatise of the late 1990s. It is not intended as episode reviews exactly, but a look at the themes, ideas, qualities and flaws of the show as they develop through each installment.
(Expect spoilers for both Buffy and Angel throughout)
Season One
- I’m Not Done Baking (Welcome to the Hellmouth)
- Listen To Me, You Are Not Looking At Your Friend (The Harvest)
- It Could Be Witches, Some Evil Witches (Witch)
- That Guy Just Bugs Me (Teacher’s Pet)
- Dates Are Things Normal Girls Have (Never Kill A Boy On The First Date)
- All Men Are Beasts (The Pack)
- Am I A Thing Worth Saving? (Angel)
- Have You Googled Her Yet? (I Robot You Jane)
- You Never Got A Single Date In High School Did You? (The Puppet Show)
- We’re All Trapped Inside His Wacky Broadway Nightmare (Nightmares)
- I Don’t Think About You Much At All (Out of Mind, Out of Sight)
- I’m Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, And You Are? (Prophecy Girl)
Season Two
- You Walked Down The Steps, And I Loved You (When She Was Bad)
- Did You Think She Would Look Upon Your True Face and Give You A Kiss? (Some Assembly Required)
- I’ve Always Been Bad (School Hard)
- I’ve Dropped Anvils (Inca Mummy Girl)
- Is This A Penis Metaphor? (Reptile Boy)
- This Is Just My Outfit (Halloween)
- Do You Trust Me? (Lie To Me)
- Instead You Go All Dumbledore On Me (The Dark Age)
- The Chosen Two (What’s My Line?)
- You Don’t Get It – You Killed A Man (Ted)
- You Seem A Bit Young To Have A Grown-Up Daughter (Bad Eggs)
- The Bestest Buffy Birthday Bash In A Long While (Surprise)
- A Person Doesn’t Just Wake Up And Stop Loving Someone (Innocence)
- The Wolf is Inside Me All the Time (Phases)
- Whatever You Think You’re Feeling, It’s Not Love (Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered)
- No-One Ever Dies and Everybody Lives Happily Ever After (Passion)
- Girls Are Going To Die (Killed By Death)
- When I Look Into The Future, All I See Is You (I Only Have Eyes For You)
- I Hate It When They Drown Me (Go Fish)
- The Magicks I Used Are Very Powerful (Becoming: Part One)
- You Made Me The Man I Am Today (Becoming: Part Two)
- He’s A Vampire – He Should Die (Becoming: Part Three)
- You Don’t Have A Good Choice (Becoming: Part Four)
Season Three
- Who Are You? (Anne)
- Some Friends You Are (Dead Man’s Party)
- Her Name Alone Invokes Awe (Faith, Hope, And Trick)
- I May Be Love’s Bitch (Beauty and the Beasts)
- We’re Like Sisters, With Really Different Hair (Homecoming)
- I’m A Teen, I’ve Yet To Mature (Band Candy)
- Defensiveness and Weird Mixed Signals (Revelations)
- The Big Bad Is Back (Lover’s Walk)
- It Wasn’t Our World Anymore (The Wish)
- A New Kind of Bad, Just In Time For Christmas (Amends)
- I Guess Her Generation Isn’t Cool With Witchcraft (Gingerbread)
- But You’re Just a Girl (Helpless)
- To Live So Close To The Spotlight (The Zeppo)
- I’m Evil, And Skanky, And I Think I’m Kinda Gay (Bad Girls)
- Being The Slayer Doesn’t Give Me License To Kill (Consequences)
- This Is Still Willow We’re Dealing With, Right? (Doppelgangland)
- Dream On, Schoolgirl, Your Boyfriend Is Dead (Enemies)
- You Never Really Know What’s Going On Inside Somebody (Earshot)
- It’s What You Do Afterwards That Counts (Choices)
- I Don’t Give A Damn About A Normal Life (The Prom)
- To Kill This Girl, You Have To Love Her (Graduation Day: Part One)
- I Believe The Children Are Our Future (Graduation Day: Part Two)
Credits
Thank you to KissThemGoodbye.com and SoSugary.com, where most screencaps in the articles are taken from.
Thank you to anyone involved in collecting and creating the transcripts at ForeverDreaming.com and BuffyWorld.com.
Thank you to juanabaloo on tumblr, who proof-reads these essays and provides invaluable feedback.
Thank you to all the insanely talented meta writers and video essayists that inspired me to start writing.
Thank you to everybody involved in creating this show, for better or for worse.
Insect Reflection 