Every Buffy The Vampire Slayer Holiday Episode Ranked From Worst To Best
Pangs, Amends and a hell of a lot of Halloween; it's a very Buffy holiday for all.
There are not many places Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn't go over the course of its seven season run (though, thankfully, not space), putting a spin on every kind of fable in every setting imaginable -- from the monstrous fast food secrets of capitalist corporations to reimagining Hansel & Gretel.
Thus, it should come as no surprise to casual viewers that the series participated in a number of the Western world's favourite holidays, in its own weird way. Sarah Michelle Gellar's titular slayer saw her fair share of Christmas, Valentine's Day and more Halloween than you can shake a pointy stick at. Though vampire Santa still holds pride of place on our wish lists.
But not all episodes are created equal. Some of the finest entries in the show's run were its holiday themed episodes, but so were one or two of its non-starters.
With that in mind, it's time to sing our dreidel songs, carve our scary faces, crack open the nog and count down from best to worst in a bid to find the best Buffy holiday episode of them all.
6. 'All The Way' (Season 6, Episode 6)
Halloween is said to be a time when ghosts and ghouls take a holiday in the Buffyverse, finding it all a bit gauche and OTT. Nonetheless, there still often seems to be something afoot when the 31st of October rolls around in Sunnydale.
Buffy's sixth season brought a significant change of tone to the show, following the titular slayer's death at the conclusion of season five. It eschewed some of the magic and monsters in favour of dark, human-driven drama, and All The Way -- this season's Halloween episode -- is no different.
Rather than the wacky hijinks that seasons gone by have played host to, we are treated to the murder of a kindly old man and Dawn's (Michelle Trachtenberg) first, full-flavour make-out sesh with Justin, one of the town's most handsome jocks. Oh, and by the way, he's a vampire.
The episode finds its fun in Anya (Emma Caulfield) and the Magic Box, with money, frivolity and costumes that include a foreshadowing eye patch for Xander (Nicholas Brendon). But none of this can save All The Way from ending up at the bottom of the holiday pile.