Five by Five

I realize that I am one of the few people left on the planet (maybe) to hop on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Angel train and I am alright with that. I am just happy that I decided to hop on at all. I started watching Buffy in October, 2009. No reason really, other than I was bored and a lot of my friends loved it (and I had a deep adoration for David Boreanaz from watching Bones). Luckily at that time, Hulu still had the first 3 seasons (of Buffy) in their entirety on the site, that you could watch (they started removing them soon after I watched season 2). The first season, I mostly listened to while I worked and that was okay because come on now, the first season is pretty silly. I fell in love with it the second season and it grew from there. I pretty much became obsessed and decided to watch Angel in unison, so I could follow the show chronologically as it aired when it was actually on. THAT was a chore and made it take twice as long to get through, but I'm happy I watched it that way. I even had an episode guide that instructed me when to watch each episode. I crossed off the episodes on the list after I would watch one (ask Jeff. He would laugh at me every time I pulled out my little list/pencil to mark where I was in my journey). I have such huge respect for Joss Whedon & company for creating these amazing characters and stories. While cheesey at times and infuriating at others, these shows kept me intrigued and wanting more. Now that I am finally finished with them, I feel kind of lost. Nothing to do? I can always watch Buffy and Angel! Now I don't have that and it feels weird. Big thanks to Nichole for letting me borrow all of her Buffy DVD's and big thanks to Carrie for buying me the Angel box set (it was a goldbox deal of the day on Amazon!) for my 29th Birthday and an even bigger thanks to all the people who listened to me go on and on about these shows long after they had been finished. It was fun and I loved it.

For those of you who are left out there and have yet to experience these two awesome shows, I urge you to stop reading now. I'm going to list my top 5 favorite episodes (as well as some honorable mentions) from each series and there will be spoilers galore. Starting with Buffy (in no particular order)...

S P O I L E R   A L E R T !

1. Once More, With Feeling (Season 6)- This was the musical episode. Really, that's all you need to know. It was amazing. AMAZING. It was so well done and fun and revealed so much about every character and relationship. I could watch it over and over again. Such a great, great episode.

2. Passion (Season 2)- Jenny Calendar tries to do a spell that will restore Angelus's soul but in the end, he ends up stopping her. For good, so to speak. The scene where he kills her is so dramatic and eerie. It really drives the point home that Angel is no longer there and also, that Joss Whedon ain't playing around anymore. I love Angelus almost as much as I love Angel. He's fun and crazy and witty and it was so much fun to see that other side.

3. Enemies (Season 3)- Faith (blech) and The Mayor construct a plan to turn Angel evil again that involves her trying to seduce him. I was so nerved up throughout this episode. It was one of the only times I ALMOST spoiled myself on purpose, so I could know the outcome. I didn't though. I watched without knowing what was going to happen and loved the twist and turn the episode takes. I love the look on Faith's face when she realizes they tricked her. Who's "five by five" now, eh!?!? Ha.

4. Hush (Season 4)- Everyone in Sunnydale loses the ability to speak, thanks to demons known as "The Gentlemen". Aside from the score, the entire episode is silent. So fantastically well acted and incredibly well done. No one else would ever be able to pull something like this off and do it so wonderfully. I watched this episode late at night and had to get up early for work the next day. I was so incredibly creeped out by it, that I forced myself to stay up and watch another episode to make the heebie jeebies go away.

5. Storytellyer (Season 7)- Andrew films the gang and the "potentials" for a documentary about Buffy. This is how you know that Joss Whedon and his merry band of writers are so talented at what they do. They took a whiny, seemingly annoying character such as Andrew and turned him into one of my FAVORITES.  All in the course of a season. I love this episode because Andrew narrates it and he's funny and entertaining and heartbreaking all at once. I. Love. Him.

Honorable Mentions: The Prom (Season 3) Oh, how I love the end. The Body (Season 5) It was sad and heartbreaking and had zero music in the background. It was a very raw episode.

Least Liked Episodes: The Puppet Show ( Season 1) Remember my fear of dolls, stuffed animals, toys etc. coming alive at night!?!?!? Beer Bad (Season 4) Dumb.

Angel:

1. I Will Remember You (Season 1)- Buffy comes to L.A. to yell at Angel for being in Sunnydale the night before and not telling her he was in town. They argue while fighting a demon. After slaying the demon, Angel ends up getting it's blood mixed with his, which in turn, makes him human again. Angel and Buffy spend the "perfect" day together, totally content and happy until he realizes that he can do a lot more good as a vampire than as a human. So, in order to save the world, he has his humanity revoked and Buffy ends up forgetting everything about their "perfect" day. It was a bittersweet episode. Sigh.

2. When Good Vampires Go Bad (Season 2)- Angel is tormented by "visions" of Darla which causes him to remember the first time he met Drusilla, back in 1860 London. I love any of the episodes having to do with his flashbacks. When they include both Darla and Dru ( AND Spike!), I am a happy girl.

3. There Is No Place Like Plrtz Glrb (Season 2)- Stuck in Pylea (Lorne's hometown!), Cordelia is believed to be a Princess, Wesley and Gunn are fighting rebels, Lorne has his head chopped off and Angel works to save Fred from the hell dimension. With all the broodiness and grumpiness of the season, the finale was sort of lighthearted. And it introduced Fred, whom I heart, so yay.

4. You're Welcome! (Season 5)- I didn't realize this when I was watching it, but this was the 100th episode. I loved it. Cordelia mysteriously awakens from her "mystical coma", to set Angel back on his heroic path and to help him fight Lindsey. I love Lindsey! The whole episode had me smiling... until the very end, of course.

5. Smile Time (Season 5)- Who picks a goofy throwaway episode to be put in their top 5 list of best episodes? This girl does. A popular children's show is stealing the life force of kids. When Angel goes to investigate the studio, he ends up being turned into a puppet. Not a creepy puppet but like, a muppet. It's FANTASTIC. I loved this episode so much, I almost immediately re-watched it. Almost, but didn't. I'll re-watch it with the commentary soon. I want an Angel puppet. They are (at best) $150. Someone buy it for me, okay? Thanks.


Honorable mentions: Reunion (Season 2) After spending the episode looking for Dru and Darla, Angel locks them in a wine cellar with a ton of people from Wolfram & Hart and just walks away, knowing they will kill everyone in the room. A Hole In The World (Season 5) Just thinking about this episode makes me want to cry. Fred is infected with a mysterious, parasitic demon and they are unable to save her. I was in denial the entire time I was watching it. It ended and I was furious. THAT is why it's not in the top 5. I'm still too heartbroken over it. Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof were amazing. So so amazing. In the long run, it may end up being my favorite episode. Who knows?

Least Liked Episodes: Uhm, ALL of season 4. All of it. Why We Fight (Season 5) you follow up the episode where Cordelia dies with this nonsense crap about a submarine Captain? No.

I could go on and on about these shows. I could tell you my least favorite characters: Faith, Dawn, Connor (ugh, F'ing Connor), Eve. Or, how I have a weird crush on Giles and that I overreacted several times when I thought he was going to die, but I will stop now.

Next up: Jeff and I are going to start Firefly this week.