Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best
5. Season One
The season where it all began. The film is forgotten and the show that starts it all gives audiences a fresh and much more confident look at Buffy Summers and her world.
Buffy, Xander, Willow, Cordelia and Giles are all well written and often brilliantly acted, and each of them manage to be likeable despite some of their more annoying habits. I.e, Cordelia being a mean girl and Xander being the show's most brash personality from the get-go.
Sure, "I, Robot...You, Jane" isn't the show's best effort, and parts of the season haven't aged very well, but The Master is a perfect debut Big Bad encapsulating the evil and mythology of Buffy's secret life. Also, Buffy's willingness to sacrifice her life for her duties (and not for the last time) instantly makes her a hell of a protagonist to watch.
And "Nightmares", as a side note, is a true series high-point well worth re-visiting.