MovieChat Forums > Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) Discussion > Episodes that can be skipped

Episodes that can be skipped

posted 8 years ago by WillToWatch
29 replies | jump to latest

I've been trying to get my best friend into Buffy for years... like a decade now... but she just can't get through some of those early episodes even though I continuously promise her how good it's going to get. So I'm weeding out some of the episodes from the first few seasons that she can skip. My criteria were 1) it doesn't significantly progress the plot, 2) it doesn't provide particularly significant character development, and 3) it's not an episode referenced too much throughout the series. Here's what I decided to leave out:

Teacher's Pet
The Pack
I Robot... You Jane
The Puppet Show
Nightmares
Some Assembly Required
Inca Mummy Girl
Reptile Boy
Bad Eggs
Killed by Death
Go Fish
Beer Bad
Where the Wild Things Are

Don't get me wrong, I think she should watch every single episode but I want to see if I can finally get her to stick with it.

What do you think? Are there any episodes you think could be added to this list? Or did I put some episodes on the list that really shouldn't be left out?

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] flyerzzrul 8 years ago

I actually like Some Assembly Required, mostly because of Cordy/Angel scenes

[–] Samson_Lee 8 years ago

Beer Bad
Where the Wild Things Are

the only two truly add nothing to the series - nothing in it is missed. The others have story elements and things that add to the characters and story moving forward.

[–] domester82 8 years ago

I Robot, You Jane does have the first appearance of Jenny Calendar, who will be a significant part of the story arc.

Some Assembly Required does have a bit of Angel/Cordy character development, which will further be explored on his own series later on

[–] faulknerster 8 years ago

I don't see any problem with trying to get a resistant friend into the show. And many 'Buffy' fans had difficulty with the early episodes. You do need to give up eventually.

From season 1 just show your friend the pilot, "Angel" and the finale. That's all you need from that season. From season 2 I'd skip "Inca Mummy Girl" and "Reptile Boy" alone, maybe "Some Assembly Required" if you really wanna get to the good stuff, but I think that episode has a lot of cute moments. I happen to think "Bad Eggs" is one of the most wonderfully odd and campy episodes of the show. It's also an important episode for Buffy and Angel's relationship. Nothing should be skipped beyond those episodes, not if you wanna take in the full show, good and bad. Besides, if they're not into the show by mid season 2 they'll probably never get into it.

So, to break it down:
Only watch the pilot (both parts), "Angel" and "Prophecy Girl" from season one (I like "Nightmares", but it's not essential or an all time great episode). And skip "Some Assembly Required", "Inca Mummy Girl" and "Reptile Boy" in season 2. Watch everything beyond that.

On another note, the hate some have for "Superstar" is absurd. It's one of the only highlights in season 4's second half.

[–] question7 8 years ago

Teacher's Pet
The Pack
I Robot... You Jane
The Puppet Show
Some Assembly Required
Inca Mummy Girl
Reptile Boy
Bad Eggs
Killed by Death
Go Fish
Beer Bad
Where the Wild Things Are
Him

[–] domester82 8 years ago

Inca Mummy Girl does have the first appearance of Oz, and the first time he sees Willow.

Even the most seemingly insignificant episode has an important little character beat, in it

[–] faulknerster 8 years ago

I don't think one little moment or slight introduction means it can't be skipped.

[–] domester82 8 years ago

Inca Mummy Girl does have the first appearance of Oz, and the first time he sees Willow.

Even the most seemingly insignificant episode has an important little character beat, in it

[–] QueenJackieB 8 years ago

I agree with all of these aside from Killed by Death mostly because it was a pretty cool episode with Buffy backstory. Same for Nightmares when Buffy becomes a vamp.

[–] lnoland-1 8 years ago

I sort of took the opposite tack -- I got several friends interested in the show by showing them a few handpicked episodes that I thought they would enjoy. My criteria for choosing were:
1. episode can be appreciated without full knowledge of the series' history or current story arc.
2. episode effectively conveys some of the best qualities of the show, e.g., writing, humor, poignancy, acting, etc.

I chose three episodes, all from seasons 3 and 4. Season 5 was being broadcast at the time so later episodes were not easy to include. In general, my feeling (and I know many don't agree with this) is that seasons 1 and 2 were the most uneven of the series and though season 2 had many very good episodes, the best episodes were ones which were heavily entrenched in the season's story arc. So, I generally told my friends to watch the three episodes I had picked for them and if they liked them to go back and watch the series from the beginning but to keep in mind that, in my opinion, the show really only came into its own starting with season 3 so some of the early episodes were not going to be up to the same quality as the later episodes.

The three episodes I chose were: "Earshot"; "The Initiative"; and, I can't quite remember the 3rd but I think it was either "Hush", "Pangs" or "Something Blue". I would give them a short intro to the characters and put the episodes into some perspective by filling in missing info and then have them watch the episodes. Everyone I tried this with eventually became a fan.

One of them, a friend from work, became such a fan that he started watching season 5 from the middle while simultaneously watching reruns of season 1 and season 3 as they were being shown in syndication on two different stations. We had a lot of interesting conversations as he would get very confused from the scrambled timeline and come to me with questions like, "So, Willow likes girls now? What happened to Oz?"; "Where's Angel?"; "Why are there two slayers now?"; etc.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] faulknerster 8 years ago

I probably wouldn't go for episodes as deep into the series as late season 3 and season 4. "Prophecy Girl", "When She Was Bad", "School Hard" and "Halloween" are all at least decent episodes that hold up on their own but compliment each other and doesn't give too much of the later story away.

[–] lnoland-1 8 years ago

probably wouldn't go for episodes as deep into the series as late season 3 and season 4. "Prophecy Girl", "When She Was Bad", "School Hard" and "Halloween" are all at least decent episodes that hold up on their own but compliment each other and doesn't give too much of the later story away.

I would agree with you on those episodes but I knew that all of the friends I was planning to introduce the series to would react positively to Joss's humor and I found those later episodes (except, perhaps, "Hush" which has plenty of other things to recommend it) included plenty of that humor while meeting my other criteria.

It's my favorite series ever -- even some of the worst episodes have redeeming qualities -- so I felt I had plenty to choose from. I was just trying to make a persuasive case for people whose tastes I understood fairly well and my choices seemed to work. For others, I might have made other choices but I think the only real downside of using later episodes is the possibilty of spoilers.

I'm not as spoiler-averse as many -- for instance, including "The Initiative" might seem a problem for some because it introduces the Initiative directly, but frankly, I would imagine that if one saw that episode then went back to the beginning, by the time they worked their way back to Season 4, they wouldn't likely remember enough about the episode for it to truly act as a spoiler and it's not such a surprising plot-point anyway that its "secret" needs to be guarded, IMHO. On the other hand, personally, I would have been livid if someone had spoiled the introduction of Dawn for me. So, obviously, this approach needs to be taken with some care.

[–] HippieDrillSealOfApproval 8 years ago

i've been trying to get a friend of mine to watch it too. I think i'm going to try to get her started on Angel instead though because Angel season 1 is a lot stronger than Buffy season 1. But the problem with watching Angel first is that you're going to miss a ton of backstory and in-jokes if you don't see Buffy first.

What are words for when no one listens anymore