Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Ranking Every Season From Worst To Best
3. Season 5
Why It Was Great
Getting into the really exceptional seasons now, and Season 5, which was, at one point, expected to be the final season. While I'm nonetheless glad we got more Buffy, even if it wasn't quite of the same standard, there's also no denying that had this been the last, it would've been a fitting high to go out on.
The season has a brilliant overarching story, with Glory as an incredibly powerful Big Bad, but also a super fun one. It paid off on a lot of foreshadowing too, from the arrival of Dawn to Buffy's sacrifice. The serialised story featured some of Buffy's best writing, introducing new depths to key characters - in particular Buffy and Spike - and building to the glorious, heartbreaking end with The Gift. As if that weren't enough, it also gave us The Body, one of the most poignant and powerful episodes of television ever written.
Why It Wasn't
The serialised structure meant that the standalone episodes felt even more like filler, and could often be a bit of a letdown. Riley thankfully disappears, but not after a weird subplot that sees him letting vamps drink his blood.
And then, of course, there's the little sister elephant in the room. Dawn. She may have been the key, but her presence here is rightly derided amongst fans; her initial appearance is confusing, but beyond that she's mostly just really irritating.
Best Episode: The Body (S5 E16)