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

4. Graduation Day Part One (Season 3, Episode 21)

Buffy The Gift Sacrifice
WB

Buffy's third season is objectively its finest, and it should come as no surprise that either of its final episodes are ranked so high.

As The Scooby Gang begins to formulate a plan to stop Mayor Wilkins' ascension on graduation day, Faith quickly swoops in and poisons Angel, taking away one of their strongest allies. It's soon discovered that the only cure for said poison is the blood of a Slayer, and Buffy is quick to clarify that it's Faith's blood that will be used to cure Angel.

The subsequent battle between Buffy and Faith is truly breathtaking and serves as a real testament to the show's excellent fight choreography, showing the real capabilities of both Slayers as they viciously fight to the death. For a rivalry that built-up over the course of the entire season, this showdown didn't disappoint in the slightest, and sowed the seeds for the subsequent Faith two-parter that is the real crowning jewel of the fourth season.

Meanwhile, the mounting pressure on the rest of the gang becomes very palpable and the cliff-hanger ending is one of the best that the show ever produced.

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Contributor

UK based screenwriter, actor and one-half of the always-irreverent Kino Inferno podcast. Purveyor of cult cinema, survival horror games and low-rent slasher films.