So, why?

For me, Series 3 was still fresh, the consistancy felt a lot better and the scoobies just seemed to gel better, oh yes, MmmmmmmmFaith

Season 3.
Mmmmm Faith

Although Season 5 was high on my list. I never get tired of seeing Buffy die!

Season 2 for me, the whole Buffy Angel/Angelus deal really got me hooked on it

Season 2

3 was good, but it never quite lived up to the whole Spike/Dru/Angelus trinity.

Yes, some of the stand alone episodes may not have been brilliant but that has been true in every series, and the dialogue was consistently sharp and funny.

Ultimately, it comes down to Buffy and Angel... the strongest most bitter sweet and archetypal adolescent relationship the series ever managed to craft and the best series finale imaginable with Buffy showing her true heroism by destroying that which she loves most to save the world.

It was all downhill from here.

Series 2 for me with 3 a close 2nd...The Buffy/Angel relationship was just so well done and Angelus was a revelation...he just seemed to enjoy the evil he commited so much, a great character.

In all I'd say it goes... 2,3,7,1,6,5,4

I preferred Season 2 because Angel went bad and I thought that was great acting from David Boreanaz and I thought Buffy got a bit whiny in Season 3 after she had sent him to hell. I just thought Season 2 expanded the characters really well and allowed the whole of the cast at that time to show a great acting range. Plus Season 2 was when Spike first appeared and he was one of the best characters in the show (but that's just my opinion before you all rush to disagree)

It was very close between Season 2 and 3 but S2 wins because of Angelus and 'Passion'.

I voted for seasonm three, cosa I LOVED Graduation Day and it was good to have Faith in the mix...although I really liked Angelus in season 2 so it was hard to choose!

For me it's series 2. But very closely followed by series' 3 and 7. And then very closely followed by, well, all the others!

Season 3.

But its such a close run thing between this and S2.
I liked the Angel/Angelus arc, and Halloween was good and the last ep was one of the best eps ever.
But as a whole season the Giles/Buffy relationship, Faith's appearance, Anne (which I still think is an excellent ep), Oz, and the last 2 eps, and the wit and smart repartee just mean season 3 shades it!

Season 2 every time! The episode 'Passion' is still my favourite, and Becoming Parts 1 and 2 blew my mind.

minty x

Can never decide between seasons two and three, but in this case I went for three.

Season 3, Buffy and Angel rocked, the scoobs getting on or not getting on, Faith and The Prom and Graduation Day rocked

For me it's Season 3, that's when the show ends, it had some great standalone episodes like "the Zeppo" and also the good/evil slayer thing with Faith turning to the Dark Side, not to mention the always fantastic Mayor, "Gosh I'm feeling chipper!!! Who's for a rootbeer?"

Season 2 for me neverquite did whatit was supposed to do and I thought the finale promised so much but delivered so little with the pantomime swordfight that represented the climax of the struggle between Buffy and Angelus, and the whole catchy-sword thing and the whole "oh I have time for a snog, but not to actually save the guy" thing

Still you can't fault much of the rest of S2 can you? But S3 just has that tiny little edge for me.

Anything after that was just biding time until S7 came around really.

Season 3.

Packed with best ever episodes, e.g. Band Candy, The Zeppo, The Wish + Dopplegangland...

The whole Faith arc, from good to hooking up with the big bad.

Perfect use of Spike. One episode. Lover's Walk. Bursts in, ruins everything, turns everyones life upside down, and leaves. My personal favourite ever Buffy episode. Nuff said.

Season 2. No point in denying it, around half the episodes varies from average to downright awful, but the other half were gold dust. The arc is beautifully crafted but doesn't stop many excellent stand-alone episodes from being produced ("Lie To Me", "Hallowe'en", "School Hard", "I Only Have Eyes For You" ), while the arc-plot from "Surprise" right up until the climatic moment of "Becoming" doesn't put a single foot wrong, and produces one of the finest finales ever seen on television. (And one that the series would never manage to top.) Spike and Dru are perfectly concieved, the Sid and Nancy of the netherworld, before Spike was pulled through the creative wringer to justify his continued precence. Angelus is the best villian the series ever had bar none, and gives as good a spin as any on the tried and trusted "fighting that we love" theme.

The dialogue is great even in the suckfests, the vampires feral and loving it, and the gangs' characterisation is at its best.

Season 3 continues the great characterisation, stand alone episodes and dialogue, but its arc plot never becomes as affecting and ingenious as the previous season's.

I enjoyed many episodes from subsequent seasons, but their is definitely an argument for leaving Buffy at the end of its "Graduation Day", and allowing the series to be forever remembered as the short, sharp and timeless beast it was in its first three years.

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by MonSTeR
Season 2 for me neverquite did whatit was supposed to do and I thought the finale promised so much but delivered so little with the pantomime swordfight that represented the climax of the struggle between Buffy and Angelus ?

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Personally, I think that's one of the finest choreographed sword-fights I've ever seen, and this is coming from someone who's both a big fan of Akira Kurosawa and all things sword-related. The pacing is just right, the fight is unremittingly brutal, the thrust and parrying looks genuinely lethal and the stunt work is both inventive and spectacular; it's a genuinely balletic piece. The only screen-fight with that style of weapon I've enjoyed more was the climatic duel in Rob Roy.

Ah well, just goes to show, different strokes for different folks.

(I unreservedly apologise for that. )

2,3,1,5,7,6,4 i think.