Episodes Ranked by Taste

The table below presents what would be a typical ranking of all 144 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as compiled by a hypothetical strong Loyalist and by a hypothetical strong Jumper.

In general, Loyalists like episodes from all seasons (except maybe the first season). Loyalists' top-20 episodes include four episodes each from the second season and the third season, one episode from the first season, two episodes from the sixth season, and three episodes from each of the other seasons. Jumpers prefer the second and third seasons. Their top-20 include six episodes each from those two seasons, three episodes each from the fourth and fifth seasons, one episode each from the first and sixth seasons, and none from the seventh season.

Loyalists' least favorite episodes tend to be episodes from the second and fourth seasons. Their bottom-20 episodes include six episodes from the second season, four episodes from the fourth season, three episodes each from the first, third, and sixth seasons, and one from the fifth season (which barely made the bottom 20). The least favorite seventh season episode is the 30^th least favorite overall. Jumpers' least favorite episodes, on the other hand, tend to come from second season, the seventh season, and, especiall, the sixth season. Eight episodes are from the sixth season, four episodes are from the seventh season, three episodes are from the second season, two episodes each are from the first and fourth seasons, and the final episode is from the fifth season.

When looking at all episodes, the data above show that, from "Welcome to the Hellmouth" through "Superstar," Jumpers rank 72 of the 73 episodes as high or higher than Loyalists do. Of the 16 episodes from "Where the Wild Things Are" through "Triangle," Loyalists rank eight higher than Jumpers do, and Jumpers rank seven higher than Loyalists do (with one tie). Loyalists rank 54 of 55 episodes from "Checkpoint" through "Chosen" as high or higher than Jumpers do.

The figure below graphically shows how Loyalists, Jumpers, and fans in general view the general trend of episode quality from episode 1 ("Welcome to the Hellmouth") to episode 144 ("Chosen").

There are two caveats with the above chart. First, it shows only general trends; it is a very inaccurate guide to how much people with a given taste like a particular episode. Second, it is especially inaccurate at each end (that is, for the first few episodes and for the last few episodes).

The most commonly cited reasons for why Jumpers perceive a decline in the quality of Buffy episodes are graduation from high school, the Initiative arc, the introduction of Riley and his relationship with Buffy, and the introduction of Tara and her relationship with Willow. The data above largely discount graduation as an explanation. Jumpers rate the episodes in the first half of the fourth season as being better than the episodes in the first half of the first two seasons. The transition from the episodes that Jumpers prefer to the episodes that Loyalists prefer does not start until "Where the Wild Things Are," the 18^th episode of the season.

The data also discount the Initiative arc as an explaintion. Jumpers like arc-heavy episodes like "The Initiative," "The I in Team," and "Goodbye Iowa" much more than Loyalists do. Jumpers also give more points, if not a higher rank, to "Primeval."

The data also discount the introduction of Riley and his relationship with Buffy as an explanation. Of the 15 episodes in which Riley has more than 40 lines, Jumpers give more points than Loyalists do in twelve of them. Jumpers also like key Buffy/Riley episodes like "The Initiative" and "Where the Wild Things Are" more than Loyalists do

This leaves the introduction of Tara and her relationship with Willow as the most plausible explanation. Of the 14 episodes in which Tara has more than 25 lines, Loyalists give more points to 13 of them than Jumpers do. Loyalists rate key Willow/Tara episodes like "Family," "Tough Love," "Tabula Rasa," "Entropy," and "Seeing Red" higher than Jumpers do, although Jumpers like "New Moon Rising" better than Loyalists do. Of course, this is not definitive. There could exist theories not mentioned that explain the data even better. Saying that the data fit a theory is a long way from saying that the theory is proved. This is simply the best of the four theories in explaning the data.

This page was last modified on January 23, 2013