Ooo, I get to play catch-up...

It's tricky because I was spoiled quite a lot. I think that the nihlistic sex in "Reprise" needs a mention for good HSQ. Partly because it features the only time I found Boreanaz kinda hot. But locking up the lawyers made me applaud, so that has to be my favorite.

Lindsey's return in S5 should have an honorable mention though, just because when I read the spoilers about it I was giggling for days, and I didn't even miss Lindsey particularly.

With Buffy, sending Angel to hell has to win just because I knew about the Angel spin-off at that point, and so I knew that he'd be resouled and everything would end happily. Sometimes being casually spoiled makes things more surprising.

Bad HSQ... With Buffy, maybe the "Ooo, maybe we just killed Giles. Off-screen. We might have! Er, are you buying this at all? Hello?" in whatever episode that was. And with Angel, Spike's return in S5. Both of those made crickets chirp in my head.

Also, A Damned Hole in the Fucking World.

Oh, oh, but back to the good -- the face-off in "Origin" was awesome in every way. That had a high HSQ on so many levels; what was happening, and why, and what was about to happen, and what it meant, and what had happened before. It was a very pretty thing.

I've done HSQ and favorite hate moments before, and I couldn't think of anything original to say. What about your favorite small moments? Sometimes no bigger than a pause for breath between larger scenes, character-revealing, relationship-defining, and/or perspective changing moments?

What about your favorite small moments? Sometimes no bigger than a pause for breath between larger scenes, character-revealing, relationship-defining, and/or perspective changing moments?

For me, it will always, always, ALWAYS be the scene in "Forever," after Joyce's funeral, of Giles in his apartment, drinking scotch and listening to "Tales of Brave Ulysses."

It's maybe 10 seconds, and all on its own it's poignant, but as a callback to "Band Candy," it's really powerful.

One of my favorite overlooked lines is in "Dopplegangland", I think. Willow and Percy have been called to Snyder's office, and Snyder is explaining to them why they are there. He says (paraphrasing) "With your big brains, and Percy's athletic prowess, well, I think you can guess what I'm getting at," and Willow says in a small, confused voice, "You want us to breed?" It's a total throwaway line, but it cracks me up every time. Because of course that's where Willow's mind goes first!

I love Xander's declaration of love for Anya at the end of that bloody Riley-leaves ep. I... don't know why, really, it just makes me smile.

Sort of similarly, the look on Cordelia's face after catching Xander and Willow making out - the one second when I actually realize that Cordelia really, really liked this boy. I never quite believed it until then, which made the realization in the face of relationship destruction all the more gasp-making. Her falling through the floor or whatever was over the top, I thought, but for a moment, I was totally there.

I've always been fond of, "We few, we happy few..." "...we band of buggered."

Oh, I think "Out. for. a. walk....bitch," is my all time favorite. That pause where he realizes it's only 4 words and just can't quite come up with a good 5th and has to resort to 5th grade name calling. He looks so proud of himself.

Ooh, and because despite myself I am still Spike's bitch, the look on his face in the S6 premiere when he realizes that's really Buffy coming down the stairs.

Giles' and Buffy's shared glance during What Can't We Do is probably my all-time favorite.

For me, the best moment was in "Dead Man's Party" when Giles goes into the kitchen to make tea. That one look so distilled his feelings for Buffy.