Episode 1: Selfless
(Buffy, Willow, Xander,  Anya, Dawn, D'Hoffryn, Halfrek)

Last season ended on a downer, huh? One of the Scoobies turned out to be The Big Bad. But that threat is totally over now, and things can get back to normal. Wait, is the new Big Bad another Scooby? Damn it.


Episode 2: Soulless
(Angelus, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Connor, The Beast)

Well, if the Big Bad is going to be from the main cast of good guys over on Buffy, let's wander back to LA and check in with...seriously? Angelus?  I mean, they're just using Angelus to get at the real Big Bad, The Beast. So I guess it's fine that the main character of the show is evil now. Fine. Everything's Fine.


Episode 3: Cavalry
(Angelus, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Connor, Lilah, Wo-Pang, The Beast)

Woah. The Beast took out Wolfram & Heart? Is The Beast maybe not The Big Bad that we thought? Or is The Beast such a Big Bad that it's powerful enough to take down all the previous Big Bads? Does this mean the surviving lawyers will be joining Angel's Investigations?


Episode 4: Salvage
(Angelus, Cordelia, Faith, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Connor, Lilah, The Beast)

Ooooh, a slayer is in town! A Big Bad is unbiggenated. Someone dies, and someone else is bound to be born. This kind of stuff is usually saved for a season finale, I wonder where this weird story will go next.


Episode 5: Conversations With Dead People
(Buffy, Willow, Xander,  Joyce, Spike, Anya, Dawn, Jonathan, Andrew, Warren, The First)

In possibly the darkest episode since The Body, each member of The Scooby Gang has an interaction with a different dead person, as the real Big Bad for the Buffy portion of this season reveals itself. 

Episode 6: Release/Orpheus
(Willow, Angelus, Cordelia, Faith, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Connor)

Back to LA, precisely where we left it. But Angelus is talking to himself. Oh, man. Is The First here, too? Do we finally have a non-vampire Big Bad crossing over to both shows? This calls for a witchy guest appearance!


Episode 7: Storyteller
(Buffy, Willow, Xander,  Spike, Anya, Dawn, Jonathan, Warren, Andrew, Principal Wood, Kennedy)

I'm skipping over the entire middle of the final season of Buffy. It's not bad, but if you're going to invest all the time with the minutae of the final season, you should just watch every Buffy episode out there. This episode gives you all the info you need on the entire season, as a familiar face sort of joins the Scooby Gang, and updates everyone on exactly what's been going on as the apocalypse approaches.


Episode 8: Dirty Girls
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander,  Spike, Faith, Dawn, Andrew, Principal Wood, Kennedy, Caleb)

Willow didn't come back from LA alone, Faith is with her, making Buffy's house more full of slayers than any other house in history. Also The First recruits a mini-Big Bad who totally changes the game for the final two episodes of the season.


Episode 9: Touched/End Of Days
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander,  Angel, Spike, Faith, Dawn, Andrew, Kennedy, Principal Wood, Caleb, The First)

The penultimate Buffy storyline. You know shit is real when both the two major slayers, and the two major good guy vampires are all in the same episode. 


Episode 10: Chosen
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander,  Angel, Spike, Faith, Dawn, Andrew, Kennedy, Principal Wood, Caleb, The First)

It's the end of the Sunnydale portion of the Buffy/Angelverse. Villains will be redeemed, love will conquer, people will die (it is a Joss Whedon show, after all), and there will be a game changing event that, should the forthcoming Buffy series end up being less of a reboot, and more of a different story told within the same continuity, makes the world significantly more interesting. And don't be too sad about this being the last Sunnydale season, there's still an entire season left over in LA.

Episode 1: Bargaining
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Dawn, Tara, Spike)

How can you have a show called Buffy The Vampire Slayer is Buffy is dead? Do you get Sandy Duncan to join the cast and call it The Hogan Family? Add James Garner & David Spade until the show suffocates under its own mediocrity? Nah, it's a sci-fi show, BRING HER BACK FROM THE DEAD!!! Everything will now be fluffy unicorns and sparkly vampires. Yay!

 
Episode 2: Deep Down
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Conor, Lilah, Gavin))

Everything's fine over here in LA. Angel is keeping up with his swimming lessons, his somehow nearly adult son is hanging out with his vampire fighting friends, and Wesley is practicing his throat singing. This season is just so bright and shiny!


Episode 3: Once More With Feeling
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Dawn, Tara, Spike)

In fact, everything this season is Just So Wonderful, that it's time for a musical episode!  Sing about how happy you are! Keep singing until the world is happy forever!


Episode 4: Spin The Bottle
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Conor, The Beast)

Love is in the air! Let's get all middle school slumber party and play a game of spin the bottle. Oh, you know what, forget it. Just forget everything. It will all work out in the end. This is the happy season!


Episode 5: Apocalypse Nowish
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Conor, Lilah, Gavin, The Beast)

Love is in the chair! That's why we keep tying people to it and demanding information! Love is in the chair! But who is The Beast? And why is making people's dreams all boo-hoo-hoo when he could be making them a reality like in those late night infomercials?


Episode 6: Tabula Rasa
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Dawn, Tara, Spike)

It's Spin The Bottle again! But this time in Sunnydale! It's so easy to be so happy when you don't know who you so are! But once you remember, oh, it's time for the ones you love to leave you.


Episode 7: Normal Again
(Buffy, Willow, Xander, Joyce, Dawn, Tara, Spike, Jonathan, Warren, Andrew)

What if Buffy never died? What if Buffy never moved to Sunnydale? What if Buffy wasn't The Slayer at all? Would that have made everyone happy? Is this what happiness looks like?


Episode 8: Awakening
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Conor, The Beast)

How  can everything be sunshine and lollipops if someone has blocked out the sun? LA is So Dark under the rule of The Beast. Well, at least if nothing's happy here then Angel can't be turned into Angelus. Nobody wants to see that guy again.


Episode 9: Seeing Red/Villains
(Buffy, Willow, Xander,  Dawn, Tara, Spike, Jonathan, Warren, Andrew)

See, everything is all happy again! Tara and Willow have reconciled, Buffy is a completely sane slayer, the season's villains are just three dudes the Scoobies went to high school with. Nobody could possibly be in danger from these three idiots. So everything will be fine.

​
Episode 10: Two To Go/Grave
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander,  Dawn, Tara, Spike, Jonathan, Andrew)

Last episode revealed a new Big Bad for this season. So much more dangerous than three high school idiots. So much more heartbreaking than an angry god or an old vampire. So say goodbye to this happy, joyful season.

Episode 1: Checkpoint
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Joyce, Tara, Dawn, Ben, Quentin, Glory)

While the Scoobies are trying to figure out how to handle Glory, The Watchers' Council shows up in Sunnydale to evaluate Buffy's job as The Slayer.


Episode 2: Crush
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Joyce, Tara, Dawn, Ben, Spike, Drusilla, Harmony)

We're back to the whole Fangtastic gang from last season, as we see how awful love is for pretty much everyone in the show.


Episode 3: The Body
(Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Joyce, Tara, Dawn)

In a show dedicated to the dead and undead, we finally reach an episode dealing with grief. Don't watch before a big date or...leaving the house even.


Episode 4: Through The Looking Glass
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Groosallug)

Things are too sad in Sunnydale. Even LA isn't far enough away, so let's go to Lorne's home dimension and meet the newest member of Angel Investigations.


Episode 5: Lullaby
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Darla, Gavin, Lilah, Sahjhan, Holtz)

At the end of last season I said something happened between Angel and Darla that was going to change the game. Well, this is the episode where the fallout hits. 


Episode 6: Intervention
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Dawn, Ben, Spike, Glory)

Buffy is lost, Spike is creepy, Glory is a god, and somehow it seems like things just might work out.


Episode 7: Sleep Tight/Forgiving
(Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Lilah, Sahjhan, Holtz)

This season is going to close with a bunch of misunderstandings about prophecies. Over in LA, Wesley learns of a prophecy that suggests that Angel is unlikely to win Father Of The Year, so he decides to do something about it.


Episode 8: A New World
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Connor, Groosalugg, Lilah, Holtz)

Oh, cool. The prophecy was wrong, Angel's son is totally fine, he's just uhhh...well, he's a teenager who grew up in a Hell dimension. I'm sure that's fine. Everybody can go back to being friends and stuff now, right, guys? Right...guys?


Episode 9: Tomorrow
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Connor, Groosalugg, Lilah)

Yea. Totally fine. Father and son fight demons together, Wesley gets a new job. Everything is sunshine and rainbows in LA. Even Cordelia is, ummmm, moving on. What a great way to leave the gang until next season.


Episode 10: The Gift
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Dawn, Ben, Glory)

Meanwhile, everything in Sunnydale is just going to go great, too. Sure, there's a prophecy about how one of the Summers family must die in order to vanquish Glory, but we've already lost one this season, so obviously the gang will figure out a way to beat a god without a single one of them dying. Obviously.

Episode 1: Darla
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Spike, Drusilla, Darla, The Master, Lindsey, Holland)

There is a lot of backstory in this episode as Darla was captured by Wolfram & Hart between seasons, and it's up to Angel to save his fellow vampire with a soul.


Episode 2: The Trial
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Drusilla, Darla, Lindsey, Holland, The Valet)

Darla is dying fom syphilis, so, natch, Angel has to keep her alive. But Wolfram & Hart has other plans.


Episode 3: Reunion
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Kate, Drusilla, Darla, Lindsey, Holland, Lilah)

Whelp, Darla and Drusilla are back to being a pair of superbad vampires with the power to wreck lives. Is Team Angel powerful enough to survive them?


Episode 4: Real Me
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Joyce, Anya, Tara, Riley, Dawn, Spike, Harmony)

While Darla & Drusilla reign chaos in LA, Sunnydale has grown calm, so calm that their biggest threat appears to be...Harmony? Things have gotten so chill, they're even letting Buffy's sister Dawn join in on the fun...wait...Buffy has a sister?


Episode 5: No Place Like Home
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Joyce, Anya, Tara, Riley, Dawn, Ben, Spike, Glory)

It's the newest biggest bad so far in Buffy history, as Glory shows up. Also, Buffy learns an important secret about her sister, who most Buffyfans Hate.


Episode 6: Family
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Riley, Dawn, Ben, Spike, Glory, Harmony)

For the first time, we get an episode mostly centered on Tara, whose family tends to go all demony when they reach the age of...ohh...you know...the age Tara is now. Can the Scooby gand prevent the transformation while still fending off Glory?


Episode 7: Fool For Love
(Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Joyce, Tara, Riley, Dawn, Ben, Spike, Drusilla, Darla, Harmony)

More backstory and more Darla and Drusilla badassery as Buffy asks Spike to explain how he has previously killed slayers so that she can prevent her own death at the hands of vampires.


Episode 8: Redefinition 
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Drusilla, Darla, Lindsey, Lilah)

Angel fired everyone at the end of the last episode, so the gang must try and figure out their place in the LA demon scene without him. Meanwhile, Angel is still trying to stop Wolfram & Hart's dynamic duo of Darla and Drusilla.


Episode 9: Reprise
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Kate, Darla, Lindsey, Holland, Lilah)

Are they called the Scoobies on Angel? Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn try and run a successful demon hunting business despite a skeptical human populace as Angel goes house on Wolfram & Hart who appear to have been abandonned by Darla & Drusilla.


Episode 10: Epiphany
(Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, Kate, Darla, Lindsey)

Team Angel Investigations must work together again as Angel and Darla have done something that is going to seriously destroy the status quo of the Buffyverse.

I'm the midst of coming up with a Stargate In Significantly Fewer Seasons. But, much like when I did Star Trek In Significantly Fewer Seasons, my unfamiliarity with the series makes creating anedited season challenging, as I have to watch every episode before I can figure out a good bar for quality. I wished there was a series that I was more of an expert in, whose entire run I had seen at least two or three times alr...Buffy!

There are 254 episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. I have whittled it down to the 80 best. Buffy and Angel seasons each tended to be defined by a Big Bad, where each season had one main enemy. I've ditched that, and tried to end each season on the series' biggest emotional beats.

In the first two seasons, we witnessed every major character be both hero and villain. We saw a slayer and a vampire fall in love, we saw a couple of slayers die, we saw some fan favorite vampires staked, we saw one come back to life and move to LA! What else is there to be done? It's time to get Tropey and Weird.

Episode 1:  The Initiative
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Riley, Forrest, Walsh, Miller, Harmony, Spike)

There's a new demon fighting crew in town. A professor at Buffy's college is running a morally questionable paramilitary outfit, and they've captured Spike! Are they allies or  the new Big Bad?
(Tropes: rival characters could be friend or foe, mentor with ulterior motives)


Episode 2: Pangs
(Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Riley, Forrest, Miller, Harmony, Spike)

It's Thanksgiving and the gang battles...Native...Americ---that can't be right, can it? Have the Scooby Gang become the bad guys? Also, why is Angel back in Sunnydale?
(Tropes: White guy writes Native American mythology where Native Americans talk like mid-century Western stereotype, Native Americans are magical)


Episode 3: Something Blue
(Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Riley, Spike)

Drunk Willow casts a truth spell that fucks evvvvvvvvvvvvvrything up for everyone.
(Tropes: Wish fulfillment goes awry, heartbroken woman causes chaos)


Episode 4: Hush
(Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Riley, Forrest, Walsh, Spike)

Shhhh...it's the quietest episode ever. The Gentlemen pay a polite visit to The Hellmouth.
(Tropes: Mostly silent episode)


Episode 5: I Will Remember You
(Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, Doyle, The Oracles)

Concerned about his previous visit to Sunnydale, Buffy goes to LA and discovers that Angel is now human.
(Tropes: Ex lovers are totally not over each other but wish to convince each othey they are)


Episode 6: Hero
(Angel, Cordelia, Doyle)

Angel is a vampire again. Doyle leads him and Cordelia in a battle against a group of demons called The Scourge.
(Tropes: Sacrifice/martyrdom)


Episode 7: Parting Gifts
(Angel, Cordelia, Doyle, Wesley, The Oracles)

Sunnydale's lamest watcher joins the crew, after Cordelia is granted visions from The Powers That Be.
(Tropes: Formerly normal character gets powers they don't want, nerdy outsider redeems himself)


Episode 8: This  Year's Girl/Who Are You
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Riley, Joyce, Forrest, Miller, Spike, Faith, The Mayor, Adam)

Faith is out of her coma and out for revenge against The Scoobies. Or is Buffy out of her coma and out for revenge? It's slayer vs slayer vs everyone. Also, the lamest season-long villain makes an appearance: Adam. Despite his awesome name, his arc is unfulfilling, so this will be the only time you see him.
(Tropes: Body swap!, identity confusion)


Episode 9: New Moon Rising
(Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Oz, Anya, Tara, Riley, Forrest, Miller, Spike, Adam)

Ok, Adam's sort of in this episode, too. But the real story is....Oz is back! And he's totally got the whole werewolf thing figured out. Too bad for him that Willow has got the whole lesbian thing figured out.
(Tropes: werewolves, ex returns precisely when one starts a new relationship)


Episode 10: Five By Five/Sanctuary
(Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, Wesley, Faith, Darla, Lindsey, Lilah)

After her disastrous time in Sunnydale, Faith gets hired by Wolfram & Hart to kill Angel. After a few dangerous interactions, Buffy shows up to try and help solve the problem.
(Tropes: Redemption!, wuv twianlge that isn't weally weal)