Ken knows I will back him with the huge S4 love. Best season ever.

Again I would rank them 4,2,7,6,5,3,1.

See, I love season 4, but it is behind season 3 in my estimation. Which is why your order does not compute for me. Mine is 3,4,2,7,6,1,5. With 7, 6, and 1 being a tough call, and 4 and 2 being a similar tough call. Why is season 3 so far down (or 1 for that matter)?

Or did this come up before? I suspect it did, but it's late. And actually, away to bed I am, so adieu!

I cannot rank. Well, I can, but not well. I love Season Three the best, and all the others are a big mishmash of slightly less love.

Hum. Ranking them is difficult for me-- partly because I only got into the show when we'd already reached season 6.

Generally, then I think I go: 6, 2, 4, 1, 5-7-3. The last three are hard to choose between.

3-2-4-6-5-7-1 or sometimes

3-2-6-4-5-7-1

Actually - 4, 5, and 6 are sort of interchangeable. It depends on my mood, I think. I do like Forever. I like the homage to The Monkey Paw. I also find it generally cathartic. The Body hurts you and then Forever lets you mourn. YYouMV.

I watched The Yoko Factor last night. In a very odd way, I think Angel and Buffy's scene in her dorm hallway might be my favorite Angel/Buffy scene. Now I never got annoyed by B/A, because I didn't find the show until after season 3 was underway. I didn't find them tedious. I worried that when DB left, I'd lose interest in the show, and not because of the random hottie factor, just because I liked the conflict inherent in their relationship.

edited to add...

I also watched New Moon Rising. I'd forgotten what a good episode it was. There was so much controversey at the Bronze at the time, that it because an important! episode! in the fandom. I forgot how much sweet pain was in it. Really lovely.

I don't know why I rank 3 so low. I just don't. I mean it had Faith and the Mayor but still not high for me. 1 is last because I wasn't a huge fan of the standalones, but then again S2 had many as well, but the whole Angelus thing bumps it up really quick. S1 was just too short for me and I wish we could have had more of the first year of Buffy and co.

S1 was just too short for me and I wish we could have had more of the first year of Buffy and co.

See, I think this spared us some of the problems that resulted from say, Glory or Adam or the FE hanging around too long doing nothing. The Master was around just about as long as necessary. Not a lot of waste on that arc. I do agree that the stand-aloneness is why I downgrade the season (this is why I rate 4 over 2- better stand alones and mini-arcs). Teacher's Pet & The computer demon ep really feel filler-ish. The Sid episode, not so much because it introduced Snyder. Even some of the eps with a fairly lame explanation for the evil (Nightmares and the Pack come to mind) had really good stuff in them that superseded that actual story.

In fact, I think the biggest problems seasons 5-7 were letting the arc take over. Joss in the interview about season 7 even talks about having too much stuff to set up to let some of the other things they wanted to do happen. That's letting the arc take over, IMO. I liked 6 and 7, and a lot of 5, but they are different from what preceded. I like 4 so much because, despite having this arc set up, they just let the characters run roughshod over it when they needed to. They did the arc, but didn't let it get in the way as much, I think.

Howeve, one or two eps aside, season 3 is perfection to me.

The ranking thing is hard because I liked different things about different seasons. For example, I think that from a critical standpoint Season 6 as a whole was better done and more daring than seasons 4 and 5, but much of it was so joyless that I feel no urge to rewatch (front 3, back 3, and OMWF being exceptions). Meanwhile, episodes from 4 and 5 that I find technically inferior still have enough fun packed into each hour to make me watch again and again.

In general, I think of seasons 1-3 as a whole different animal: snappy dialogue and characterizations, embarrassment of riches in terms of cast, "high school is hell" metaphor working well to provide cohesive tapestry of main arc and subplots. Plus, it's all still shiny and new and there aren't any other projects dividing the team's creativity.

1 is last because I wasn't a huge fan of the standalones, but then again S2 had many as well, but the whole Angelus thing bumps it up really quick. S1 was just too short for me and I wish we could have had more of the first year of Buffy and co.

For me, 1 is last mostly because of the acting. Now, although I haven't watched everything or even most non-ME things the original cast has done, in theory, I would give any of their work a shot. But I just don't think most of them had a great grasp on their characters - particularly SMG and DB. After season 1, in the BtVS series at least, SMG and DB just "are" Buffy and Angel, respectively, and I can think of no higher compliment. In the case of ASH's Giles, my interpretation is that the retooled him, so that he wouldn't be quite such a ponce, although you can, in theory, leave the meta out of it, and just decide that as Giles became more comfortable around these children, he dropped the ponce act.

In general, although I love to watch season 1, all of it, I am conscious - in rewatch - that I probably wouldn't have stuck with the show had I started watching then. I am also conscious of this feeling that the writers, directors, and actors were constantly adjusting (as in fine tuning) pretty much everything. Now, that always happens when a series is new. There are very forgivable changes, like The Three being able to stick their fingers inside Buffy's door before she slams it shut in the episode, Angel, or the idea that Giles would order the Time/Life Demon Book Series, or not know about magic. But still, they're there.

Ironically, although they're at the top of my list, I also think seasons 3 and 2 had some REAL stinkbombs, but Matt's final paragraph above (if you ignore season 1) sums up most of why they'll still always be my favorites.

"high school is hell" metaphor working well to provide cohesive tapestry of main arc and subplots.

I know it's *the* cliche, but in rewatching the eps in order it has struck me just how much this is true. The villian was usually B plot-- sort of a driving force to create the conflicts of high school, but not the singular conflict of an episode. E.g., parent-teacher night horror is heightened by Spike; career day, the same.

Yeah, the cheerleader ep was on yesterday, and when Giles said, "It was my first casting," I yelled, "Liar!" I fanwank it it into him having told himself that he'd never mess with magic again after Ethan and the rest.