Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s best scenes

IT’S been 20 years since Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered. To celebrate here are the series’ best moments.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s whole gang.

YES, it really has been 20 years since Buffy the Vampire Slayer burst onto our TV screens in 1997.

If you remember this moment, you are now officially old. Deal with it.

In the two decades since the quippy hero captured our hearts, Buffy has become one of the most defining pop cultural icons of our generation.

Smart and brave but flawed, she faced challenges that ranged from the daily drudgery of exams to apocalypses. Her romantic entanglements had a bit more life-or-deathiness than ours but the core of the emotions were always true and relatable.

The series’ legacy is clear from the kind of “strong female characters” you see on TV and in film today. And the idea that someone like Buffy, she of the funny name, is just as worthy of being idolised as someone John Wayne or Clint Eastwood once played.

Buffy demanded complexity from its writers and from its fans.

So on this 20th anniversary of the moment Joss Whedon got a second chance at giving the world this complicated girl, we celebrate the show’s most memorable moments.

DEFEATING THE MASTER

‘Prophecy Girl’

The Master was the first larger-than-life “Big Bads” we would come to love/hate on Buffy. He loomed over the whole first season with his old-school brand of evil. To see Buffy roundly kick his arse (and in such a spiffy dress by 90s standards) was a leap-up-and-cheer victory that confirmed our hero’s status as boss. And to do it with such wit — “I may be dead, but I’m still pretty, which is more than I can say for you” — well, if only we all had Joss Whedon writing everything we said.

BUFFY STABS ANGEL

‘Becoming Part 2’

When Angel morphed into Angelus after a night of virginity-losing sensuality, the Buffy version of ultimate teen boy douchebaggery once he “scores”, we spent the better part of nine episodes trying to hate him. We couldn’t and neither could Buffy. So when she had to put a sword through a newly re-ensouled Angel, sending him to hell, it was all kinds of ugly crying. All capped off with Christophe Beck’s score to really hammer home the hurt.

Buffy and Angel 4 EVA.

‘I’M BORED. CAN I GO NOW?’

‘Earshot’

Almost any scene in “Earshot” could qualify on a memorable moments list. The episode was a perfect example of how the series blended humour with heart. Buffy gains telepathic abilities from a demon and is able to hear the thoughts of everyone around her. The funniest are Cordelia’s who, as we’ve always suspected, blurts out whatever is on her mind.

THE PROM SPEECH

‘The Prom’

You might think it’s the Buffy/Angel sewer break-up that resonated the most in “The Prom” but it was actually Jonathan’s speech on behalf of the whole class that was the most touching. After three years of being mocked as an outsider, the acknowledgment from her peers that she actually saved a lot of their lives was cathartic and overdue. Plus, she got such a great “toy surprise”.

BUFFY AND FAITH FACE OFF

‘Graduation Day Part 1’

It was the epic fight that the writers spent almost all of season three setting up, a showdown between Buffy and Faith. The two slayers were different sides of the same coin, gifted with the same abilities but only Buffy had the loving environment of friends and family.

THE GENTLEMEN COME TO TOWN

‘Hush’

Buffy crossed many genres including creature feature and “Hush” was the show’s best monster of the week episode. The Gentlemen were eerie fairytale monsters that cut the beating heart out of your chest while being totally polite and smiley was the series’ most scarily memorable.

The Gentlemen terrified us.

BUFFY FINDS HER MUM’S BODY

‘The Body’

“Mummy?” All it took was one word and all of our hearts broke. Buffy finding her mother’s dead body sprawled on the couch, struck down by an all-too-human disease and not anything supernatural was one of the most wrenching Buffy moments. The sequence that followed of her wandering through the house in a daze, with no score and an almost saturated aesthetic brought home the completely uncomfortable truth of human death.

BUFFY DIES, AGAIN

‘The Gift’

After five years of watching Buffy defeat demons, monsters and a god, we were all shattered when she dived into that swirly energy gateway, sacrificing herself to save the world for the umpteenth time. But not before she turned to Dawn to say goodbye, telling her “the hardest thing in this world is to live in it”.

James Marsters and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

SPIKE ALMOST RAPES BUFFY

‘Seeing Red’

Spike had been working towards redemption of sorts for years when his obsession with Buffy took its most dangerous turn (yes, much more dangerous than commissioning the BuffyBot). In a desperate attempt to make Buffy confess her love for him, he forces himself on Buffy on the bathroom floor. Her vulnerability in that moment, despite her preternatural strength, is one of the few times she becomes a victim.

Of course, this is in no way an exhaustive list. In 144 episodes, there were so many incredible moments. Share your favourite Buffy moments in the comments or on Twitter with @wenleima.