Best of the Buffy "trilogy"

[Ethros]

First off I'm not saying these three episodes are my three favourites.
But usually when you read an article about the show or Joss Whedon etc, these three episodes tend to crop up as the standouts of Buffy The Vampire Slayer-

Hush
The Body
Once More, With Feeling

All have a definable "gimmick" if you will- Hush the silent ep, The Body where Buffy's mom dies, and OMWF the musical ep. Yet all IMO show above and beyond what the show was capable of from what cynics may cast off as a dumb show about a teenager fighting vampires


So of the three episodes which do you think is best and why?


For me I would have to say The Body, I think my favourite episode behind only Becoming and Graduation Day.
The whole first act is simply outstanding television, with SMG giving an amazing performance. I always seem to watch it in a trance like state, unable to look away; the zero-music cues playing a big part. That bit where she just stares at the phone in her hand for about 10 seconds is mesmerising, and as Joss says on the commentary is the moment she realises her mother is dead.
Anyway, I could blab on for ages...

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

All three are fantastic and represent some of the best the series has to offer, but I have to go with Once More With Feeling. It's easily the episode I've watched the most in the whole show, and I can just keep on coming back to it over and over.

 

[DS9Continuing]

It's really difficult to say, becasue they all have a definable something which makes them brilliant - Hush is the most genuinely creepy, The Body is the most emotionally devastating, and Once More With Feeling the most across-the-board creative.

But in the end I'm going with The Body. That ep is just a sledgehammer to the gut.

I would say however that The Body's "gimmick" is not simply the fact that Buffy's mum died. Rather, it's the "real time" nature of the ep - each act is one scene, following one set of characters exclusively, dealing with the topic. There's no cutting between parallel storylines - we stay with one story until we can barely stand the intensity anymore. And of course there's the complete lack of incidental music.

Also, I would say that Conversations With Dead People, while not on the level of these three, is the equivalent from the 7th season. It is like a stage play in its construction - I can very much see this being performed live.

 

[Magisterfrodo]

I'd say "The Body" is the best. It's not the most enjoyable, so I'd watch the other two more. But qualityw-ise, it's certainly the best of the three. Hard to believe a show like that could handle that subject so well.

 

[Technobuilder]

Going with The Body as the "Best" of the 3 choices.

I've seen Once More, With Feeling around 60 or 70 times (more if you include just listening to the soundtrack) and I think it's great, but it requires a lot of previous plot and character knowledge to really understand why everything matters to the characters during the episode. Watching it by itself, it's very confusing to the Non-Intitiated.

Hush & The Body on the other hand, are more Stand Alone and work outside and regardless of ones' knowledge of the series proper.

Hush itself could of been an episode of The Outer Limits and I'd say epitomizes all of the facets of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer to the nth degree. Creepy, Dramatic, Funny, Horrific, etc.

The Body however, while stand-alone, departs from the standard formula and takes a show where people die all the time and makes it real.

Whether it's for the Buffy alone, her friends, or the Audience itself, everyone is on the same emotional roller coaster from Denial, to Anger, to Bargaining, then Depression, and finally Acceptance. It's a high impact emotional trauma, that tends to resonate with people more because it's something many viewers have gone through themselves, either as the loved one or family member left behind, or as the best friend of someone going through it. Even Anya, who is a part of the group, but not especially close to Buffy, is affected by what happens and her scenes are powerful in that she's the person who doesn't know how to cope with the interpersonal nature of the situation or react with the proper social nuances. (I identify here as it's how I've felt in similar situations, not knowing what to do, what to say, or even more what not to say.)

Again, not the episode I'd rewatch more than any other, but most definitely the best of the 3 shows that were mentioned overall.

 

[Seven of Five]

Cannot vote. Really cannot.

They're all excellent episodes and I've seen all three more times than I can remember. They're all good for so many different reasons. 'Hush' is like people have said, perhaps the more typical Buffy episode. It has humour, tension, and creepy villains. Possibly *the* creepiest. 'The Body' leaves me an emotional wreck because of the way it hits home. And 'One More With Feeling' is just really, really good. Funny, creepy, with sing-a-long-able songs to boot.

They all win!

 

[The Evil Dead]

I'm a Hush guy.

 

[amdmiami]

I think "best wise", they're all at a three way tie. But my favorite out of the three is OMWF.

 

[Brent]

They are all great, but Once More, With Feeling I can watch over, and over and over and over and over again very easily and still be highly entertained. The repeat value is very good with it.

 

[Rii]

I have to say, I don't get the love for "Hush". It's an interesting, entertaining episode, but it wouldn't make my Top #3 for S4 alone, let alone the entire series as it seems to do for many.

My vote goes to OMWF.

 

[Mr Light]

Of those choices, the musical. But my favorite "gimmick" episode and my favorite overall is "Restless". That was amazing. So crammed full of cool things.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Of those choices, the musical. But my favorite "gimmick" episode and my favorite overall is "Restless". That was amazing. So crammed full of cool things.

I agree that restless is great. One of the things I like most about it is that the dreams are almost completely incoherent. I'm always annoyed by dreams on others show that are easy to follow, since nobody's dreams are that linear and coherent. Buffy did them right.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Definitely "The Body." It's a freakin work of art. I strongly believe that, had Joss done this episode on a different TV show, it would have earned him an Emmy or two.

I'm usually not the biggest fan of overtly "stylish" directing, but in this case everything he did was so tantamount to the story that it just worked. The visuals and framing of everything was just perfect. You can watch it with the sound off and still get the full emotional impact.

 

[doubleohfive]

What? No love for "Restless" ?

That was as much a "gimmick" episode as any of the other three.

 

[Phillip Culley]

Hush, with The Body literally teetering below it.

Once More With Feeling, however, is way way down and pitiful compared to the other two...

 

[ancientone51]

I also love all three of them, for many of the reasons stated above.

I'd have to go with "Hush" can't really explain why, it's sort of the one my fingers typed before I could think.

So hard to make a choice from the three.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

All excellent.

My ranking is Once More With Feeling, then Hush, then The Body.

Body brings the most emotion, but the tone of it is more 'conventional', it's the sort of thing I could see on Gray's Anatomy or something.

 

[IndyJones]

I've seen Once More, With Feeling around 60 or 70 times (more if you include just listening to the soundtrack) and I think it's great, but it requires a lot of previous plot and character knowledge to really understand why everything matters to the characters during the episode. Watching it by itself, it's very confusing to the Non-Intitiated..

I don't really agree with this. I've been watching Angel on TNT lately, and decided to watch Buffy. OMWF is the first episode I've watched (a friend did show me an episode with Andrew and Johnathan riding around in a Death Star van years ago) and it convinced me to start from the begining.

Sure there are things that'll resonate more seeing it in order (just as I enjoy Angel more having seen Buffy), but it certainly made enough sense to be interesting.

 

[Stevil2001]

"Hush" is fine, but I never saw anything special in it. Oooh, they're silent. I never did see "Once More with Feeling".

"The Body", however, is absolutely fantastic, though I think I might prefer "Restless".

 

[DanTheGrey]

I voted for "the Body".

As much as I like OMwF, and possibly have it above Hush, out of those three "The Body" wins hands down.