Top 20 Joss Whedon TV Episodes

Hi. I’ve been really busy with school, socializing, running a 5K, new fall TV, and work, but things are humming along well.

I have seen a few sites feature lists of  the top episodes of Joss Whedon’s TV shows (EW and TWOP did this, anyway).  I am a big Joss Whedon fan, and was sort of eye-rolly about some of their choices, so I was compelled to compile a list of my own.  In fact, some of the other lists I saw online included my LEAST favorite episodes like “Our Mrs. Reynolds” (yes, Christina Hendricks is famous now but that doesn’t make this episde good), “The Body” (sorry, I know people love this one, but I thought it was overwrought), “A Hole in the World” (I mean … no.  “Not this girl.  Not this day.”  No.)

Some of these episodes are a little dodgy in my mind. The “Angel” episodes are fresher, actually, because I’ve been rewatching that series recently.  But I wanted to include all episodes that struck me as really memorable, even if I may be a little sketchy about the events therein or why I thought they were brilliant.

The Essential Buffy

-Innocence: Angel loses his soul.  For the first time.

-Passion: Angel kills Jenny Calendar. (Poor Giles.)  This episode is so great.

-Becoming I/II: Buffy stakes Angelus as he is re-souled.  Xander does something very ethically sketchy.

-Graduation Day I/II: I love the moment with the gang standing around the ruins of their destroyed high school.  This is my favorite “arc” episode of Buffy.

-Hush: Everyone loses the power speech and the episode plays out like a silent movie.  It’s amazingly constructed with truly scary villains.  It’s a complete delight.

-Fool for Love: Spike’s history of killing Slayers.  I remember this and “Darla” aired back-to-back and I was just blown away by the two hour experience.

-Once More with Feeling: The musical episode.  This could have been stupid, but is wonderful.

The Essential Angel

-To Shanshu in LA: This episode really cements our gang, Wolfram & Hart as a series Big Bad, and gives Angel something to work towards.

-Darla: “Fool for Love’s” companion piece.  All of the Darla/Angel/Drusilla/Spike flashbacks are just so epic.  I can even forgive David B’s Irish accent.

-Reunion:  Angel, at his most morally ambiguous, locks Dru and Darla in a wine cellar full of lawyers.  I remember at the time being sad, thinking we’d never see Lindsey and Lilah again. But I was thankfully wrong.

-Loyalty/Sleep Tight/Forgiving: Fantastic.  Holtz was one of my favorite villains. And Wesley makes a terrible decision, thinking he’s doing the right thing, cementing his descent into being more Angel-y than Angel. And the hamburger oracle! I probably think this is the high point of the entire series and none of the other lists I’ve read online ignored this arc.

-Deep Down: Probably includes more times I’ve shrieked in surprise watching TV than any other episode of anything ever.

Note: I had, like, maybe the biggest crush on Wesley as I’ve had on any TV character other than Fox Mulder.  I always had his picture as my computer’s desktop background in college because that’s how I roll. (It should be pointed out that this was a time before students brought their laptops to class, so my dorky lameness was kept hidden from society at large.)  I’d sit around like, “Why doesn’t anyone appreciate Wesley’s awesome DEMON LINGUISTICS SKILLS?  He is SO underappreciated.”  Anyhoo, so when Wesley went all dark and disturbed and started banging Lilah and keeping people in cages in his closet, I was SO EXCITED.  I sort of miss having that sort of joy over events occurring on a television show.

-Awakening: Angel experiences a totally constructed day of perfect happiness and loses his soul.  They totally faked me out the first time I watched this.

-You’re Welcome: A very well-done and bittersweet send-off for Cordelia.  I love this episode even more in retrospect.  It’s touching without being overwrought.

-Smile Time: “You’re a wee little puppet man!”

The Essential Firefly

-Jaynestown: Jayne is a folk hero.

-Out of Gas: This, I think, is my favorite episode of “Firefly.”  I just love the flashbacks of Mal’s first meeting with everyone.

-Ariel: The crew sneaks into an Alliance hospital so that Simon may do an exam on River.  This competes with “Out of Gas” for my favorite episode.  It is very suspenseful and well-done.

-War Stories: Great moments between Wash and Mal; it makes me sad that we didn’t spend more time with all of these characters.  There were so many interesting combinations and places to take them.

Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog:  Not TV, but I love it too much not to include it.

Ipurposely included no episodes of “Dollhouse,” because while I do enjoy it (and “Epitaph One” showed a lot of promise), it’s not really there yet.

First Days

I went to Orientation for my graduate program this weekend. It was both inspiring and sort of socially awkward, as these types of things are wont to be. (Sometimes, when making chit-chat with strangers, I go overboard and start launching into full-blown stand-up comedy routines, only made worse if I am getting a good response. If people are laughing at my jokes, it may actually make me funnier, but also less likely to shut up.)

Orientations and First Days are interesting; I am always hyper-aware of the fact that I will likely come to know most of the people I am meeting for the first time very well and am wondering in advance how my first impressions will hold up. I almost feel like I am living these First Days in a flashback from Future Caroline, anticipating how I will look back on the day in a year or two. Perhaps next August, I will be chatting with someone I met this weekend, saying, “Hey, remember when we met at Orientation? Wasn’t my hair like TOTALLY lopsided that day?” (It was. You should see my student ID.)

I can remember quite clearly my emotions and thoughts on other important First Days in my life – my first day at my undergraduate institution, my first day in Paris during my study abroad program, my first day at grad school in London, my first day at my job in Boston – as I experienced them at the time. (I don’t so much remember the first days of jobs I remember less fondly quite as clearly, which I suppose makes sense.) The emotions are similar for each First Day: the nervousness and curiosity about other people and wanting to make a good impression.

But right now, I am mostly filled with anticipation: Where will I be after I finish this program? What will I have learned? What people did I meet already that might potentially become important to me? I am excited to find out.