The emotional stakes are raised in season two. Vampires Spike (James Marsters) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau) (weakened from a mob in Prague, which, it is implied, caused her debilitating injury), come to town along with a new slayer, Kendra Young, who was activated as a result of Buffy’s brief death in the season one finale. Xander becomes involved with Cordelia, while Willow becomes involved with witchcraft and Daniel “Oz” Osbourne (Seth Green), who is a werewolf. The romantic relationship between Buffy and Angel develops over the course of the season, but after they sleep together, Angel’s soul, given to him by a Gypsy curse in the past, is lost, and he once more becomes Angelus, a sadistic killer. Kendra is killed by a restored Drusilla. Angelus torments Buffy and her friends throughout the rest of the season and murders multiple innocents and Giles’s new girlfriend Jenny Calendar, a gypsy who was sent to maintain Angel’s curse. To avert an apocalypse, Buffy is forced to banish Angelus to a demon dimension just moments after Willow has restored his soul. The ordeal leaves Buffy emotionally shattered, and she leaves Sunnydale.

With a full 22 episode order, Season 2 is when the show hits its stride. Depending on what fan you ask, they’ll tell you either season 2 or 3 is the finest hour of the show (my answer changes constantly) and that’s because it becomes a pitch perfect blend of horror, comedy and drama. The latter aspect becomes surprisingly strong with several of the episodes providing an emotional punch in the gut that lingers long after the episodes are over. “Innocence”, “Passion” & “Becoming: Part 2” are prime examples of this show being at its emotional best. The storylines seemed to strike a nerve with viewers because viewership increased over season one and the show became a part of the pop culture conversation in the media. It became the TV show you SHOULD be watching.

After attempting to start a new life in Los Angeles, Buffy returns to town in season three. Angel has mysteriously been released from the demon dimension, but is close to insanity due to the torment he suffered there, and is nearly driven to suicide by the First Evil, who will became even more important as the show reaches its end in season 7. He and Buffy realize that a relationship between them can never happen; he eventually leaves Sunnydale at the end of the season (he would go on to his own five season run on the spinoff, Angel, along with Charisma Carpenter). A new watcher named Wesley is put in Giles’s place when Giles is fired from the Watcher’s Council because he has developed a “father’s love” for Buffy; and  (Alexis Denisof) towards the end of the season, Buffy announces that she will no longer be working for the Council. Early in the season, she meets Faith (Eliza Dushku), the Slayer activated after Kendra’s death. She also encounters the affable Mayor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener), who secretly has plans to “ascend” (become a “pure” demon) on Sunnydale High’s Graduation Day. Although Faith initially works well with Buffy, she becomes increasingly unstable after accidentally killing a human and forms a relationship with the paternal yet manipulative Mayor, eventually landing in a coma after a fight with Buffy. At the end of the season, after the Mayor becomes a huge snake-like demon, Buffy and the entire graduating class destroy him by blowing up Sunnydale High.

Season 3 is on par with Season 2 and probably the most cohesive of all the seasons. As much as I love season 2, it still carried over some of the monster of the week elements from season one before the Angelus story arc kicks in. Season 3 has its serialized footing in place from the start and the idea of transitioning and growing up becomes evident as the characters prepare to graduate from high school.

There is also an interesting dichotomy between Buffy and Faith. Buffy has been trained and guided during her time as a slayer and has friends to back her up but Faith is her opposite. Faith has been on her own and has a more wild and uninhibited approach to how she leads her life. Several episodes dive into Buffy riding that line between being a good girl and a bit more free but it ultimately is discovered that her humanity sets her apart from Faith. The turning part for Faith comes when she takes a human life in the episode “Bad Girls” and doesn’t deal with it on a human level. She decides to give off an ire that she doesn’t care and this is what sets her apart from Buffy and makes their big fight in “Graduation Day: Part 1” all the more climatic.

The two part season finale, “Graduation Day Part 1 & 2”, is a fitting conclusion to a great season and literally ends with a bang which seems like the perfect way to conclude the high school years and prepare us for what Buffy would encounter in college.

Season four sees Buffy and Willow enroll at UC Sunnydale, while Xander joins the workforce and begins dating Anya, a former vengeance demon who was introduced in one episode of season three. Spike returns as a series regular and is abducted by The Initiative, a top-secret military installation based beneath the UC Sunnydale campus. They implant a microchip in his head that punishes him whenever he tries to harm a human. He makes a truce with the Scooby Gang (as they are called on the show) and begins to fight on their side, for the joy of fighting, upon learning that he can still harm other demons. Oz leaves town after realizing that he is too dangerous as a werewolf, and Willow falls in love with Tara Maclay (Amber Benson), another witch. Buffy begins dating Riley Finn (Marc Blucas), a graduate student and member of The Initiative. Although appearing to be a well-meaning anti-demon operation, The Initiative’s sinister plans are revealed when Adam (George Hertzberg), a monster secretly built from parts of humans, demons and machinery, escapes and begins to wreak havoc on the town. Adam is destroyed by a magical composite of Buffy and her three friends, and The Initiative is shut down.

I can be honest about my favorite show and I have to say is Season Four is the first time the show hits a rough patch. It takes awhile to find its footing and once it does, the arc isn’t as strong as the previous two seasons. Most of the problem is an issue that plagues most high school shows. The transition from the high school setting to the college years tends to be rough on youth skewing shows and Buffy was no exception. There are fans that think the awkwardness of that season is fitting because, much like the characters, the show was trying to find itself in a  new environment and I suppose I can get behind that but the previous two seasons are so strong that the weaknesses of season four are more obvious.

That’s not to say there aren’t any strengths because there are plenty. Season four brought on James Marsters as a series regular in the role of Spike and he’s a breath of fresh air. He goes from straight up villain to unlikely hero of sorts and it becomes quite the transformation to watch. He’s no angel in season four but it’s the start of where he would be headed the next few seasons and hints of his dysfunctional relationship with Buffy also becomes evident. Oz’s departure was a bit of a blow but Willow explores a relationship with Tara that doesn’t feel at all forced and hits its own emotional heights starting this season. With Cordelia making moves over to Angel, Anya is brought in to provide much needed levity and its a task that actress Emma Caulfield was more than up for. Her growing relationship with Xander becomes a highlight of the season as well. Also, even though I’m not huge on the Riley and Buffy relationship, I did like them exploring her being in a fairly normal one. Other than The Initiative reveal, Riley is as steady as they come and considering what she had with Angel, it was intriguing to watch her navigate something a bit more traditional. It should be noted that even though the season has issues, it features some very strong episodes as well. “Hush” is one of the best hours of network TV ever made and resulted in its first and only Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. The season ender, “Restless,” is also strong and it’s mostly because it doesn’t play like a typical finale. There is no grand epic battle (that happened in the episode before it) and it is mostly a surreal trip into the character’s psyche as it hints at what’s to come in season five.