This is Spike's first episode ever on the show. Of course it's going to make the list. He was originally supposed to be a short-lived character, one of those vamps who shows up once or twice and then gets dusted fairly quickly. But Spike is nothing if not difficult to get rid of, and he charmed audiences so much that they sort of had to keep him around. School Hard is a fairly simple story about Buffy trying to balance her high school life and her slaying when a bunch of vampires crash her parent-teacher night. It's elevated by two main aspects of the story: everything that Spike does because he's awesome, and Joyce's greatest moment of the entire show when she confronts him in the hallway to protect her daughter. Molly Weasley, take note. Joyce did it first, and Joyce did it with an axe.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
