What episode to show a non-fan?

[Cangel]

Okay, I finally talked my brother into watching an episode of Buffy with me (in other words: I got him so annoyed he'd agree to anything, lol)
As I have only one shot to get him interested in the series, I was wondering what episode to show him?
I thought about 'The Body', but he said he wanted something funny.
So to get him hooked I figure the best would be an episode that's funny and for that you don't really have to know any Buffy knowledge, about what happened previously etc.
Anyone an idea?

[Bangelxx]

Once More with feeling!!LOL hmmmmm depends what your brother is into i guess!:p

[GATEGOD]

Selfless he will love Anya!! or Fear itself!! ^_^

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

I think Fear, Itself. its REALLY funny, it really shows off the great writing, its a good standalone so there won't be too much to explain. its way too charming of a episode for people to not like.

[Old Master 3.0]

"Fear Itself" is a keeper indeed.

"Band Candy" isn't the epitome of hilarity, but it does have some funny bits. A quality episode. :: tu ::

Then I think you should show him "Hush" right after that. That award-winning episode is the one that finally hooked me into watching the series all those years ago.

[Rebecca]

'Him' is a good comic episode, or as LMLTF said 'Fear Itself' it's a little bit of the horror side of Buffy and a little bit of the comic side!

[Harm's Way]

according to some sites I have looked at
people have gotten hooked on the show
by these episodes:

-school hard
-him
-gingerbread
-teacher's pet
-hush
-the wish
-fear, itself
-the harvest
-angel
-intervention
-beneath you
-selfless
-bad girls
-welcome to hellmouth
-once more with feeling

[Faith]

OMWF is funny but one the best eps to show to non fans are The Becoming Part I and II as they are quite moving and even Whister's speech moves those who laugh at the show purely based on its title.

Why not try Smile Time of Angel, most people tend to agree that children's tv is evil!

[Keanoite]

I OMWF would be the best. Alot of of the shows humour is sorta inside jokes that only fans would get. I mean A LOT of Band Candy, Dopplegangland and Tabula Rasa which us Buffyites would find hilarious would mean nothing to a 'non-believer' so to speak

[Faith]

I guess it all depends on your sense of humor. For me S2 was the best, it showed great depth and Spike was amusing and Xander is like a young Chandler.

Once most people get past the title and see the show has substance they are ready to give it a chance.

[JCC]

Fear, Itself.

"I am the dark lord of nightmares! FEAR ME!!!"

[Keanoite]

I guess it all depends on your sense of humor. For me S2 was the best, it showed great depth and Spike was amusing and Xander is like a young Chandler.

Once most people get past the title and see the show has substance they are ready to give it a chance.

Stop posting my thoughts lady!

Season 2 is my fav too and it was Becoming Part II that got me hooked but if he is looking for humour I duno would he find it there...maybe Halloween but it's not a stand out funny ep.

Although I think Passion would be a great ep to introduce someone to the show with. It's stand aloney while being completely tied into the arch that you HAVE to watch the rest of the season to see what happens.


P.S. Could Xander BE more like chandler?

[Cangel]

Okay, I showed him 'Him'. And he thought it was okay and is now closer to understanding why I'm so obsessed about it. That's a start. Before he really really really hated that show. Maybe he'll agree to watch another episode soon.
Oh, and something really weird. We talked about Charmed, how I used to watch it and he sometimes watched with me and thought it was cool. Now I figured out why. Apparently he thinks both Rose McGowan and Alyssa Milano are really hot. But (and I really can't understand this), that's something negative about Buffy in his opinion, he doesn't like all the girls on Buffy. especially Buffy herself, he thinks she's ugly. I don't really get my brother.

[Faith]

Stop posting my thoughts lady!

Season 2 is my fav too and it was Becoming Part II that got me hooked but if he is looking for humour I duno would he find it there...maybe Halloween but it's not a stand out funny ep.

Although I think Passion would be a great ep to introduce someone to the show with. It's stand aloney while being completely tied into the arch that you HAVE to watch the rest of the season to see what happens.


P.S. Could Xander BE more like chandler?

lol sorry so can't help it but I think its a sign of great minds!

How could someone not understand the fact that she gave up someone she loved for the greater good.

I was concentrating on comedy so forgot about Passion but I completely agree (big surprise) that Passion is a fantastic ep to show a nubian. The voice overs, the instrumentals, the raw emotion.

I was hooked from the start (always loved vampire lore and thought Buffy rocked and Angel was hot and mysterious - it was the first show I got my folks to tape when I had to work late). But I remember watching Sky when they showed the Becoming I & II back to back. Even now after all the tv shows i've seen it is still one of my faves. That and The Body.

As much as The Body cuts me up inside it shows how the show can relate to real life, the fact there was no music, her mother died of natural causes and she could do nothing to save her, its something we all have either gone through or will go through.


And no Xander cannot be more like Chandler!

Its the snarky one liners methinks.

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

Social Suicide, my boyfriend can't STAND SMG which is why he won't watch an episode (or Seth Green). he thinks she's weird looking too, says she had a weird nose... i dont get it but ok. He saw a picture of Charisma though and thought she was really hot. So i understand your plight, guys are dumb that way.

[VisionGuy]

How about Doppelganger, Earshot, Tabula Rasa, Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered, Something Blue, Living Conditions, Him, or Band Candy. Those are some funny episodes.

[Buff Buff]

If he's looking for a funny episode, I'd definitely go with Doppelgangland...of course, you'd have to explain The Wish to him first. If he's looking for an episode that's just good, I'd say Hush, just because OMWF and Restless (two more of my favorites) wouldn't seem that great if he didn't have a good understanding of the characters.

[GFunk]

I guess it all depends on your sense of humor. For me S2 was the best, it showed great depth and Spike was amusing and Xander is like a young Chandler.

Once most people get past the title and see the show has substance they are ready to give it a chance.

It was season 2 that got me into Buffy .. and mainly due to the brilliant script especially Xander's one-liners, which could be suggested as Chandler-esque.

[Aussie]

I agree that season 2 is a good place to start. Not too much that you have to explain really that people didnt already know - Buffy = slayer, Angel= good vampire Bangel = love ... thats all that matters :)


I got my mum in to it when we watched 'Triangle' season 5. I chose that as Anya reminds me of my sisters and I thought mum would think the same. I caught my stepmum watching 'Lessons', I think she liked the begginning of the ep so it got her in.

Try your brother on 'Bad Girls' - you would have to be blind not to find Buffy and Faith hot in that!!! Either that or he is gay and doesnt know it yet LOL :p

[eponinethen]

I tend to always show Faith, Hope and Trick to someone I want to turn into a BtVS fan. Not 'cause it's necessarily a favourite episode of mine, but because that's where the show really starts imo. Or, the real beginning. Or, something like that.

(Then again, I tend to show people OMWF as well, just 'cause I love it so much and kinda want to see it a lot. God, I just realized me and Joamna haven't seen OMWF (read sang/danced to) in ages! Probably not since April and our last sister day?? No that can't be.. we saw it when Maryam was here I think..)

[disco biscuit]

I think you should show them an earlier episode, like Season 1 or Season 2, where all they have to know is that Buffy is the Slayer to understand it. If you watched the Evil Willow episodes or something and you hadn't seen the whole season, you'd be TOTALLY lost, and even if you were watching something like Life Serial you'd be confused. I think The Puppet Show is a good start! (:

And for guys, just make them watch an epi with a lot of Faith in it and they'll be hooked. xP

[Crazy Flakes]

I've heard a lot of people say that Hush got them hooked, so yeah, I'd probably go with that...especially if you want to scare the crap out of him ::evil::

[Hello Cutie]

Hmm a funny episode???

Normally I'd have suggested Hush... I wanted to show my boyfriend that one, but he likes funny too, so I've had to think long and hard about this and I have a few ideas... obviously it depends on people's sense of humour and stuff though...

Pangs- Cuz i think the whole thanksgiving question and Spike's dialogue is genius.
Halloween- Cuz lol, Xander as an army guy! And Larry the Pirate always makes me giggle!
School Hard- Its always a good one, and Spike is kinda camp in places which is funny "they make me feel all manly"
Triangle- The Willow-Anya dialogue here is so good... infact i find Anya's dialogue in most places really amusing

The one I'm going for (after mentioning it, to test the water) is Tabula Rasa, because, minus the end bit where Tara leaves, the majority of the episode is hilarious.. definitely one of my favourites... I love Randy Giles!

[Clem Rocks]

The one where Buffy knocks a book down on Riley's head. That's the first episode i properly saw, and look at me now :D

[~angelic slayer~]

Well I finally got my girlfriend to watch two buffy episodes with me, and especially if you have them on DVD (no commercials) this is my official reccomended plan of attack :)

(1) A light-hearted episode, season 3 is good (maybe Doppelganger, always a safe choice). Shows the humour of the show and the writing, especially.
(2) Another show from that season, I chose Earshot because it was close to the end but not quite there
(3) An episode that may touch their heart (so either a traditionally sad one or one that you think they could relate to, personally)
(4) Either OMWF or Hush, one of the two ;)
(5) "The Gift" or "Bargaining, P1"-- leave them hanging!! ;)

By now they should be pretty hooked :D. But if you only have one episode to do it, I'd choose either a relatable one or a cliffhanger. Both should drive them nicely up the wall until they see the next one in line!

[eunsoma]

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered lol which guy doesnt love that??

[Buffy obsessed fan]

The episode that got me hooked was 'The Puppet Show'

I tried getting my Mum into (Didn't work though, 'cause she doesn't like that kinda thing) But she watched Lessons, Help, Selfless and The Body.

[TheHeartist]

Why in the hell would your first thought be The Body? I'd go with uh, Welcome To The Hellmouth? Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to see how it all started if I were new to the series.

[Crazy Flakes]

Why in the hell would your first thought be The Body? I'd go with uh, Welcome To The Hellmouth? Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to see how it all started if I were new to the series.

To be honest, I thought Welcome to the Hellmouth was a very weak episode. It only gave a very vague glimpse of what the series was about. It was totally different from all of the episodes after season 1...there's tons of valley girl lingo, the acting isn't all that great (the actors didn't really "get" their characters yet), and nothing interesting really happens until around 3/4 of the way through. I mean, it was the first episode I watched, but the beginning of it was so cheesy I wanted to just shut it off (but luckily, I made it to the end, loved season 1, and, by the middle of season 2, it was my favorite show.)

[TheHeartist]

To be honest, I thought Welcome to the Hellmouth was a very weak episode. It only gave a very vague glimpse of what the series was about. It was totally different from all of the episodes after season 1...there's tons of valley girl lingo, the acting isn't all that great (the actors didn't really "get" their characters yet), and nothing interesting really happens until around 3/4 of the way through. I mean, it was the first episode I watched, but the beginning of it was so cheesy I wanted to just shut it off (but luckily, I made it to the end, loved season 1, and, by the middle of season 2, it was my favorite show.)

All valid points, but like I said, if it were me, I'd wanna see it properly from the beginning. I'm the sort of person who gives a new T.V. show a chance (i.e. a handful of episodes) before I decide whether I'm gonna watch it or not. Think of those of us (including myself in this statement) that watched Buffy from the beginning, we didn't HAVE other episodes to start from, they didn't exist yet. There's a reason Buffy has the fan base it has now, and it begins with Season One. And Season One begins with Welcome To The Hellmouth.

Of course, if the person you're trying to get into the show isn't like that, then it doesn't matter :D

[Crazy Flakes]

I'm happy to say that I recently convinced one of my best friends to watch Buffy. I lent him my season 2 DVDs (they were difficult to give away, I admit...) and had him start with School Hard. After about a week and a half, he's almost done with the season and can't get enough. I'm lending him my season 3 DVDs tomorrow (they'll be even harder to give away, 'cause I LOVE season 3 and don't have it on my iPod ><). Since he's going away the whole summer, I might have to have a Buffy viewing party before he leaves.

[littlewilly]

School hard was defenitly a good choice for a first episode.
it was Innocence and Harsh light of day that got me hooked.

other good ones i think would be... Faith, hope &trick, the wish or maybe this years girl/who are you?
Its got to grab the imagination right away.