Every Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Finale Ranked From Worst To Best

Over the last decade, we've seen television catch up to the standards of Hollywood, offering viewers high-octane action and grandiose spectacle, all from within the comfort of their own homes.

And whilst shows like Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, and Westworld can boast of their movie-rivaling, high-budget set-pieces, one show that they all owe more than a pound of flesh to in this regard is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Not only did the show set the bar for what could be accomplished on the small screen with its brilliantly choreographed fight scenes and practical special effects, it consistently upped the ante each season and its legendary season finales set the standard for years to come. More often than not, fan's jaws were collectively left on the floor, and we're here today to rank all of the Slayer's biggest battles from worst to best.

For this list, we're separating two-parters down the middle. So even though they may be two parts of the same story, to our minds they're different episodes and therefore they will be judged accordingly.

Prepare for explosions, heartbreaks, and plenty of tears - let's rank 'em.

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Kicking things off, we have the very first season finale which saw Buffy finally come face-to-face with The Master in what should have been an epic showdown, but ultimately was a more restrained and ever-so-slightly disappointing affair that didn't quite live up to the hype that had been built up over the previous eleven episodes.

Although that's not to say that 'Prophecy Girl' is a bad episode, quite the opposite actually, but compared to everything else that's to come, it's very much the show in its infancy and it's likely that the budget didn't allow for much in terms of scale. This episode's real power also lies in its first viewing, where we're not entirely sure whether the prophecy will come to pass, or if The Master will indeed be freed from his prison.

It certainly does lose a little of its appeal on rewatches, but this episode was a fantastic indicator of what was to come. Much of the previous episodes' campy nature was pushed aside in favour of a more focused and serious approach to the story, and Buffy's descent into the bowels of The Master's lair remains one of the show's most suspenseful and downright eerie sequences.