My Top 50 Buffy Episodes Part 5

Halfway point now.

26: Dirty Girls (Season 7, Episode 18)

After three years, it was the episode that would reintroduce Faith into Sunnydale and for the most part, Buffy managed to keep her resentment to a minimum. It's also the episode that debuted Nathan Fillion as the disturbingly misogynist preacher Caleb, the most effective acolyte of the First. And then there's what happened to poor Xander.

27: The Harvest (Season 1, Episode 2)

The show opened on a two-parter and while the opening segment is a little higher on this list, this is still a cracking continuation as the Scooby gang are basically formed in this one. Too bad that Luke and Jesse didn't last a little longer as characters though.

28: Into The Woods (Season 5, Episode 10)

Riley's never been one of my favourite characters and while him and Buffy were never going to last, a part of me did feel bad for him as well. He did love her and she didn't feel the same way. Xander's pep talks in these episodes had more substance than Spike's usual nuggets and the last few minutes are brilliant.

29: What's My Line Part 2 (Season 2, Episode 9)

I love this two parter a lot. It's a pretty underrated story but it did debut Marti Noxon as a writer (she co-wrote the first part with Howard Gordon) and it also debuted Kendra, which meant from now on that Buffy wasn't the only slayer in existence, despite the fact that she'd conveniently ignore that fact a good chunk of the time.

30: Bargaining Part 2 (Season 6, Episode 2)

Marginally better than the first part, Buffy's resurrections episodes were always going to be interesting. Like who would bury a 20 year old woman in a black dress as garish as the one Buffy was forced to wear. On a serious note, the tower scene between Buffy and Dawn is one of the best scenes from the season.