Favorite Non-Special Episode?

[Just Willow]

so, a lot of my favorite episodes are the specials ones like Restless, OMWF, CWDP, Hush, Storyteller and a bunch of others, but what about regular episodes?

So what are your guys' favorite episodes that aren't special ones or season finales?

Mine right now would have to be Entropy. There are some great Willow/Tara moments, but i love Anya in it. She's hilarious the whole time she's going around trying to find someone to curse Xander for her. Examples:

"God, what kind of lesbians are you? If you love men so much, GO LOVE MEN!"

Dawn: "I never use that word anymore."
Anya: "Coagulate?"

Xander: "How are you?"
Anya: "Ducky, you?"

It's just funny, up till the end when she and Spike get it on.

And there are some good Trio moments, when Warren is talking to Andrew about how long until they ditch Jonathon.

So how about yours?

[Spiked]

I was gonna say The Gift, but then I saw that season finales count as special episodes.

I want to say Fool for Love but if it's too special to qualify, I'll go with Selfless. Wait, that might be too special, too. Gahh, I'll go with Intervention. It's semi-obscure, but it's one of my favorites and it's absolutely hilarious. Some other really great ones are The Prom, Dead Things, Doppelgangland, The Wish, and No Place Like Home (an amazing episode that's NEVER mentioned on "favorite episodes" lists and just gets better every time you watch it).

[Wyndam]

Pangs, easily.

Funniest episode in the series and usually one of the episodes I will watch if I am interested in some random Buffyverse, and not an entire series re-watch.

[Just Willow]

i love Pangs.

"A bear! you made a bear! undo it! undo it!"

No Place Like Home....i remember that one. Dawn is unbelievably creepy in it...

[Iceeh★]

Family, Entropy, and Him! <3 Oh, and Selfless, if that counts as non-special.

[Skytteflickan88]

Crush and Passions. Can't decide which I like more.

It's pretty hard to think of non-special eps of Buffy, because so many of them are special in a way, because they're all good/heartbreaking/funny/monsterfilled etcetc. You know.

[stakey]

A lot of my favourite 'non special' monster of the week episodes are in season 3 and the first half of season 7.

I love Gingerbread and Help. Oh and Same Time, Same Place is tremendous!

And a few from season 2 like 'Bad Eggs' and 'Reptile Boy'.

Just the episodes where something is different to usual and the special effect are pushed just that little bit further like the giant snake dude in reptile boy who was awesome back then when it first aired after we suffered from the rubbish effects like the hellmouth demons in prophecy girl.etc.

And the big mamma bezor was fun and the whole evil mums and buffy/willow/amy tied to stakes and lit on fire was an awesome set piece. Also Help is just heart breaking and beautifully written.

I could write a huge list but then itd just turn into an episode guide minus the finales so Ill refrain from writing more.lol.

[Paul]

"Doppelgangland" and "Sefless" are ordinary episodes that I'd include in my top 10 list.

Other personal favourites include...

"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
"Homecoming"
"Gingerbread"
"Living Conditions"
"No Place Like Home"
"Intervention"
"Doublemeat Palace"
"Entropy"
"Him"
"Potential"
"Touched"

There's loads more that I'm forgetting... there's something to love in every episode.

[snizapman6294]

could someone elaborate on what a "non special-episode" is? cuz a lot of buffy and angel episodes, debatably, are special... color me confused!

[stakey]

In my eyes a 'non special' episode would be a normal monster of the week episode.

non season openers or finales And none of the ones that did something different such as hushs lack of dialogue/ the Bodys lack of music/ OMWF etc.

And I guess it the two parters clarify as special...for example whats my line/ surprise & innocence.

[snizapman6294]

in my mind: these are special episodes:

Buffy Season 1: Welcome to the Hellmouth, The Harvest, Angel, Prophecy Girl

Buffy Season 2: When She was Bad, School Hard, What's My Line? Parts 1 & 2, Surprise, Innocence, Phases, Passion, Becoming Parts 1 & 2

Buffy Season 3: Anne, Faith, Hope, & Trick, Homecoming, Lovers Walk, The Wish, Amends, Helpless, Bad Girls, Consequences, The Prom, Graduation Day Parts 1 & 2

Buffy Season 4: The Freshman, Wild at Heart, The Initiative, Something Blue, Hush, The I in Team, Goodbye Iowa, This Year's Girl, Where Are You?, Superstar, New Moon Rising, Primeval, Restless

Buffy Season 5: Buffy vs. Dracula, Real me, No Place Like Home, Family, Shadow, Into the Woods, Checkpoint, The Body, Forever, The Weight of the World, The Gift

Buffy Season 6: Bargaining Parts 1 & 2, After Life, Flooded, Once More with Feeling, Tablua Rasa, Smashed, As You Were, Hell's Bells, Normal Again, Entropy, Seeing Red, Villains, Two to Go, Grave

Buffy Season 7: Lessons, Beneath You, Selfless, Conversations with Dead People, Sleeper, Never Leave Me, Bring on the Night, Showtime, Get it Done, Lies My Parents Told Me, Dirty Girls, Empty Places, End of Days, Chosen

I've thought about it and these seem to be the episodes that are either most crucial to the arc occuring at that time, or are just milestones for the Scoobies. If I have forgotten anything or you disagree, let me know.

to answer the question: Storyteller

[Greer]

Wow, there's a lot of Season 7 in there. I don't know how I feel about Beneath You, but I don't know if I'm just counting how many important things happen per episode, or just the episode in general. For example, I love the Spuffy part at the end of the episode, but the whole worm underground thing was really lame.

I really think that Fool for Love is a special episode. It gives all the background of Spike, plus it starts Buffy's interest in the Slayer deaths and is some definite foreshadowing to the finale. It's superb.

Let's see.. In S3, I always think of Enemies as a special episode. Angel becomes Angelus(although it's kinda lame, he doesn't have the same effect, perhaps bc of the faux Angelus-ness of it), they confirm that Faith has gone over to the dark side, Buffy/Angel start to implode, Xander gets punched(, and I just really liked it. The first time I saw it, I really did think that Angel had reverted to his former self.

S2- I definitely think that Halloween is a special episode. First appearance of Ethan Rayne, everyone getting changed into their costumes, Xander getting his awesome military powers, & the first musings of Willow/Oz.

But onto my favorite non-special episodes:

-I only have eyes for you-I like the possession, The different ways that the Scoobies try to exorcise the ghost, how heartbroken Giles is over Jenny, and especially the Buffy/Angelus possession. It's wonderful to watch.
-Bandy Candy-everyone reverts and it's fun to watch. Esp Snyder
-Earshot- Even though it was controversial at it's supposed air date & had to be moved to July, I really enjoyed it. My favorite scene is at the end when Buffy tells Jonathon that everyone is ignoring him because they are too busy dealing with their own pain.
-Pangs. 2 reasons=Bicycle cavalry and "You made a bear! Undo it, Undo it!"
-The Yoko Factor-I'm not a big Bangel fan but it's so gratifying when Angel beats the crap out of Captain Cardboard.
-Gone is a really funny episode, esp when Buffy is messing with the social worker. It's nice that she gets scared when she thinks she could die, so she's starting to get the feeling back.
-Help is a good one. Cassie tells Spike that Buffy will tell her that she loves him, plus Buffy is kicking the kid from Home Improvement's butt in the library. It's a nice episode before SunnyD gets invaded by the Potentials.
-The Killer in Me. Even though it's rather Kennedy-centric, it's an enjoyable episode for me. I like the premise, especially the hidden guilt that Willow was feeling for both Tara and Warren.

[snizapman6294]

Greer i only added Beneath you is because Buffy finally knows about spike's soul.

[Greer]

Gotcha gotcha. I agree!