15 Best Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episodes
5. Passion (Season 2, Episode 17)
"Without passion, we'd be truly dead."
Passion is the episode that still shocks to this day. Before this, Angel's sudden evil streak was merely there - he was evil, Buffy would save him somehow, everything would be cool. But with Passion, he was no longer just an inconvenient villain, but a full-blown force of nature representing just how hideous and cruel Buffy's world can be.
As Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte) attempts to find a way to get Angel's soul back, he bursts into her classroom, destroys her work (mostly), and chases her through the school in a scene that makes even hardcore Buffy fans hold their breath. Just as it looks like she's got away, Angelus appears and snaps her neck, then takes her to Giles' house for the librarian to find.
It's a cruel, nasty moment, in which Angelus proves just how dangerous he is and why he was once so feared. Watching Giles go after him in a rage is nothing short of heartbreaking, and listening to the evil vampire narrate with his take on passion is truly bloodcurdling.
In Buffy, death is scary and no one is safe, and Passion makes that clear without fault.