10 Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episodes That Are Almost Perfect
9. The Prom (Season 3, Episode 20)
‘The Prom’ is a classic Buffy episode with many iconic scenes. The senior students come together to celebrate the end of their high-school years, and they even find time to honour Buffy with the Class Protector Award. But despite the terrific final act, this episode is hindered by the Hellhounds.
Before Buffy gets to the Prom, she has to take out these frightening beasts, while the others enjoy the festivities without her. But really, the story would have been much better if the supernatural element had been removed. All of the best moments in this episode are focused on the characters – whenever the Hellhounds show up, it just feels like an unnecessary deviation.
It's almost as if the writers were afraid to deviate from the monster-of-the-week formula. But if they had, this terrific episode would have been even better. Situated directly before the two-part finale, it was the perfect opportunity to slow down the pace and give us an all-out, character-focused episode.