Ranking Buffy Episodes and the Relevance of Reviews and well ranking Buffy episodes...

[shadowkat]

So someone attempted to rank the Buffy episodes, all 144 of them. Go read and disagree at will, I certainly did, although I admittedly didn't post any comments - just did it in my head or here on my own lj : http://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/ranking-every-episode-of-buffy-the-vampire-slayer?bftw

The link basically proves something I've long suspected - these types of games tell people more about the people playing the game than about the show. Actually reviews in general tend to. For example? If a music reviewer scoffs or derides music that is not "classical" or "opera", you begin to think the person is a bit snooty and needs to lighten up and get out more. While a reviewer who only likes Katy Perry songs...comes across as...you fill in the blank. In short, we don't learn anything about the music - and just react to the reviewer's tastes.

Also, if the reviewer/ranker isn't careful they can turn you (the reader of the review) against a piece of music, a book, a movie or a tv series they adore - making you, the reader, despise it - having never ever seen it. (This sort of happened briefly for me in regards to Breaking Bad. People, in particular television critics, were so "obnoxious" in their adoration of it - stating it was BETTER than everything else, it was hard to like it. BB tended to bring out the asshole in their viewers/fans. Not sure why. 50 Shades of Grey had a similar effect, as did Twilight. Hype is not always a good thing.) It's weird when it happens. The opposite can happen as well - a reviewer will deride or rip apart a book or tv series - and in the process turn you on to it or make you so curious about it - you have to see it or read it. (See 50 Shades of Grey. It actually falls into both categories!) In short, reviewing is an odd occupation. Why we pay people to do it, I've no clue. Before the internet, it sort of made sense - because not everyone could post their opinion. You had to get a paper or magazine to employ you to post one. Now, however, why bother paying them? Do people like Robert Bianco, Alan Sepinwall, Owen Glieberman, Ken Tucker, etc...really need to be paid for just writing their opinions? Are their opinions any more relevant or interesting than those who aren't being paid?

Eh, I don't know. Sorry for the tangent. Distracting self from work-related stress.

Anywho..admittedly it's been a while since I've watched Buffy (last time was in 2009), and my tastes may have changed, since my obsession has definitely disappeared. That said, there are some headscratching moments on this person's list.

First off - I may be in the minority here? But I thought Beer Bad was a whole lot funnier than Gone, which felt sort of silly in places. And I'd certainly rank Smashed higher than Older and Far Away, Gone, and Doublemeat Palace. The ranker clearly despised Riley, yet for some reason did not rank As You Were third from last. Also they have an odd fondness for the First Evil and Amends.

Also...Chosen. Did Chosen make you cry? I didn't cry. My mother didn't cry. The guy I watched it with didn't cry. And we've been known to cry at Hallmark commercials...and Grey's Anatomy episodes. Yet, this ranker - saw it as a top episode and adored it, and it made them cry.

Clearly the ranker is a Faith, Spike and to a degree Angel fan. Also a Giles fan. Not so much a Xander or for that matter Riley fan (although to be fair neither got great episodes).

They did not like S4, S7, and S6. But adored S1 - Nightmares, Out of Sight Out of Mind, Witch are all ranked highly (yes, go figure) as is Doomed (which blew my mind). Although kudos that they admitted the rocket launcher tackle in HIM is comedy gold (it is). But seriously All the Way ranked higher than Never Leave Me, Beneath Me, and Smashed???

And dear lord, Family...? They stated that this was a good examination of how badly men treat women???? Oh dear. (Family is one big huge cliche after another, and preachy as all get out.) And they hated the Pack???

So, yes, some headscratching moments.

I'll do an abbreviated listing off the top of my head, because seriously 144 episodes takes way too much time. Also upon reading the below - keep in mind everything I said in the above half of the post...

Bottom ten:

Family (yes, the stereotypical redneck white trash family who is into the bible - Whedon your upper class prejudices are showing), Amends (it's magic Christmas snow...and sigh, the First EVIL! When this show was cheesy, it was REALLY cheesy), As You Were (here it's GI Joe and GI Jane but with less personality, return to save the day and teach everyone morality lessons), Teacher's Pet, I Robot You Jane, Go Fish, Wrecked (magic as crack - complete with crack den leader with a yen for molesting young women), Older and Far Away (pacing issues), Where the Wild Things Are (has similar issues to Family - apparently stereotypical bible thumping backwards fundamentalists are a recurring villain trope for Whedon series - found them in Firefly as well. Annoying. Not even the great Giles/Spike/Anya/Xander scenes could save it.), Some Assembly Required (too cheesy for words and Frankenstein for some reason is harder to pull off than it looks).

[Doomed is saved by the scenes with Spike, Willow and Xander - you just have to ignore the plot and Buffy/Riley. Beer Bad is saved by SMG's ability for comic timing and Xander/Giles who were hilarious in the episode.]

Top ten:

1)Once More with Feeling, 2) the Body, 3)Hush, 4)Becoming, 5)Restless, 6) Fool for Love, 7)Lies My Parents Told Me (although I agree with the ranker that Robin Wood's character didn't work - his vendetta seemed a bit long in the tooth and too late.), 8) Conversations with Dead People, 9)Beneath Me (and yes I liked the whole episode so sue me - the ranked hated the first part with the Sluggoth demon - and yet they thought Family was innovative?)/ Selfless (tied), 10) Dopplegangland

Comments

[sophist.livejournal.com]

I saw those ratings too. Pretty odd taste, if you ask me. Several of the top ratings were justifiable, but there were some very weird ones up there as well. The bottom ones included some very good, even great, episodes.

Your bottom 10 left out some candidates: Reptile Boy, Living Conditions, Gone, Doublemeat Palace, Two to Go.

I'm not a big fan of Family or Amends, but I wouldn't put them that low.

I love Chosen, but I didn't cry.

De gustibus, etc.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

I think my fav funny ep was Band Candy - followed by Fool for Love.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Very difficult to rank them all in any order. Grouping them in terms of good, bad, indifferent is easier, not that people will even agree on those. Everybody's list is going to be different. I didn't hate As You Were as much as some people, although the Sam character was indeed written badly. Amends was indifferent in my book. Wouldn't disagree with most of the rest of your list of stinkers. I'd insert Bad Eggs (for extreme low-brow humor and general low quality) and I Was Made to Love You (for taking a very reasonable feminist theme and bashing it over the audience's head over and over again).

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

SMG tweeted that The Prom should have been rated much higher!

[vamp-mogs.livejournal.com]

I really dislike Gone. You know it's bad when you're actually embarrassed to watch it in a room full of non-BtVS fans. All the voice over work is really bad and amateurish, the dialogue is incredibly cheesy, and who the hell wants to watch an invisible fight? *eyeroll* It's probably my least favourite episode of the show.

I seem to be in the minority as I've never got the hate for Bad Eggs, Some Assembly Required or Reptile Boy. The stories are pretty lame but they have some really entertaining scenes in them and some great interactions between the characters. For example, I just LOVE Buffy and Xander poking fun at Giles when they catch him practicing on a chair to ask out Jenny (“How do you feel about Mexcian?” “Mexicans?”)

I've always thought When She Was Bad was a really underrated episode. The scene in the Bronze when Buffy dances with Xander is one of my favourites. Not only do I find it sexy but it’s just brutal to watch Buffy calculatedly hurt every single one of her friends.

Can't pick a fave ep. My mind changes all the time. But I just can't bring myself to every say The Body, Hush or OMWF. They're all fantastic but they don't feel like a typical episode of the series for me as they're such a departure from what the show usually is on a week-to-week basis. It just feels like a betrayal somehow to pick one of them as the best. I dunno.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

In short, reviewing is an odd occupation. Why we pay people to do it, I've no clue. Before the internet, it sort of made sense - because not everyone could post their opinion. You had to get a paper or magazine to employ you to post one. Now, however, why bother paying them? Do people like Robert Bianco, Alan Sepinwall, Owen Glieberman, Ken Tucker, etc...really need to be paid for just writing their opinions? Are their opinions any more relevant or interesting than those who aren't being paid?

Today? Well having reviews for the NY Times might still make sense I suppose when there are so many forms of art and media concentrated in one city (museums, opera, etc etc). But otherwise, really not. Besides internet, access to media is another part of that - I can now watch a restored version of Metropolis on Netflix for instance, or watch new indie films from around the world. When I was in college 20 years ago that was unthinkable.

First off - I may be in the minority here? But I thought Beer Bad was a whole lot funnier than Gone

Then that makes two of us, although I doubt it's such a minority, at least here on LJ.

Although kudos that they admitted the rocket launcher tackle in HIM is comedy gold (it is).

Him is actually my (guilty pleasure) go to ep for laughs. I've seen the something happening outside someone's window and they don't notice routine done hundreds of times in movies and tv shows. This was the first time it ever actually made me laugh.

But seriously All the Way ranked higher than Never Leave Me, Beneath Me, and Smashed

I have no words for this.

And I can't disagree with most of your bottom picks, although I love Tara's awesomeness in OAFA - it definitely has pacing issues as you say. Family bothers me for the very reasons you say, especially given it was written by Joss. Up until that point "written by Joss Whedon" usually meant I could expect something extraordinary (Hush, Restless); the one time he bothers to turn the spotlight on Tara, he let me down big time with his horrid stereotypes. (Even with Amy Adams.) Another lost opportunity, because the theme of chosen families and the fact that the ep begins with Buffy committing to protect Dawn, and ending with Buffy and Dawn protecting Tara, it could have been something special. (His stereotyping of southerners comes across loud and clear in Showtime, when the only Potential who becomes the First is Eve.)

Inca Mummy girl lands near the bottom of my list. That horrible "incan" accent, ugh, and a gorgeous woman thinking Xander is the most wonderful thing ever is clearly Joss acting out his fantasies.

Beneath Me (and yes I liked the whole episode so sue me

I think the entire episode is terrific; all the focus (in the Spuffy part of fandom) of course is on the last scene, but the scene in the Bronze is razor-sharp and crackles with tension until Spike & Anya blow the lid wide open.

[kikimay]

But I thought Beer Bad was a whole lot funnier than Gone,

AMEN! I'm part of the minority if I say that I really like Beer Bad? I mean, it's silly, but it's so fun and the bit with Giles describing Buffy to a random student makes me giggle all the time. Beer Bad is FUUUUUN.

And I'd certainly rank Smashed higher than Older and Far Away, Gone, and Doublemeat Palace

I also agree on that.

Also...Chosen. Did Chosen make you cry?

Not at all. And it's strange, maybe, because Spike is my favourite character and he dies in that ... but I didn't cry. I love the episode for different reasons and one of them is Buffy's smile at the end and that doesn't make me cry. It makes me feel stronger.

I don't give much important to these kind of lists. De gustibus non disputandum est etc. etc.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

My problems with "Beer Bad" are first that it has such an overstated American attitude to alcohol (found more generally in that run of episodes as Willow getting drunk a couple of times in the immediate aftermath of Oz leaving is treated as if she's on the edge of lifelong alcoholism), and second that the ending with Buffy beating Parker unconscious is the one point that the show falls into the unpleasantly shallow pop-feminist double standard of "it is unforgivable for a man ever to strike a women no matter what the circumstances, but life-threatening violence by women against men for disproportionate provocation is hilarious".