Bad Eggs, Assembly Required or Killed By Death, which one would you keep and ditch ?

[Mr Trick]

Over time Killed by Death has grown on me. Think its a really solid episode overall. I would keep that one out of the three. Bad Eggs is solid too, but less interesting to me. Think Killed by Death does more with the characters.

 

[esmerome]

I would want to keep all of them, for different reasons.
-Some Assembly Required really sticks out in my memory for how entitled these boys felt to multiple girl's bodies for their Frankenstein friend. I haven't seen that episode in nearly a decade and that still made a strong impression on me.
-Bad Eggs is creepy, even if it's a little on-the-nose with its motherhood/pregnancy metaphor. Reminds me a bit of The Thing.
-Killed by Death is probably the scariest episode of the series, the most like an old-school horror movie, with the possible exception of "Helpless."

If I had to choose one to get rid of, I guess I'd choose Bad Eggs. But I like them all for different reasons.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Re: Season 2: That's one the reasons I hate "Bad Eggs." I watched Season 2 on the first FX Rerun, so "Bad Eggs" usually meant "Surprise/Innocence" (among the finest episodes of the season) would be delayed. Although, Cowboy Vampires were pretty fun. Or at least better than eurotrash in need of speech therapy.

 

[vznspike]

Out with Assembly Required and keep Killed By Death,

 

[Mr Trick]

More and more Killed by Death is a sleeper episode of the show. I guess it seems bland because of how many great episodes S2 has, but the more I see it the more I think its really solid.

 

[Glory Worshippe]

Killed by Death is one of the most genuinely scary episodes of Buffy so definitely keeping that.

I'd get rid of Bad Eggs because it was just gross

 

[whatdBuffyDo]

I liked Killed by Death on my first watch (I've only seen it once anyway,) and I don't understand why it gets so much hate. I like the Nightmare on Elm Street reference, Buffy and Xander's bond, "Buffy's white knight," Cordelia telling Buffy that she created a monster so she can fight it since she can't fight illnesses, kid's drawings...
I don't care for Some Assembly Required. I dislike Bad Eggs, it wasn't fun to watch at all...

I would keep Killed by Death and ditch Bad Eggs.

 

[thetopher]

Killed By Death is top Season 2; atmospheric and creepy, with a great MotW and some great character moments for Buffy, Willow and Xander. I have no idea why anybody would get rid of it.

Bad Eggs has a terrible plot but some nice character stuff that is connected to the plot and overall themes of the season.

Some Assembly Required is overall bad cheesy; the good stuff here (and there is some) has nothing to do with the 'evil nerds & Frankenstein-footballer' plot. Ditch it.

 

[Kill Him A Lot]

Some Assembly Required is gleefully macabre, which I always like. I have to admit, I do in fact feel sympathetic to the dead football player. The moment where he's hiding under the bleachers watching his old team play, without him, knowing he can never have that life back...it's cheesy, sure, but it gets to me. And I like the dank warehouse hideout at the end.

Killed By Death is a really good episode. I don't like that it creates a character who is REALLY IMPORTANT in Buffy's back story, yet never referenced outside the episode--that's contrived--but taken on its own merits her cousin's death is pretty scary. And I love Xander being such a dedicated friend to Buffy and making it clear to Cordelia that he just wants to help her, not bang her. In my person head canon Xander is over his romantic feelings for Buffy by the time season 2 starts, though I know the show waffles back and forth on that point.

Bad Eggs can go. It's not a bad episode, but it doesn't stand out at all, either.

 

[Mr Trick]

Some Assembly Required is gleefully macabre, which I always like. I have to admit, I do in fact feel sympathetic to the dead football player. The moment where he's hiding under the bleachers watching his old team play, without him, knowing he can never have that life back...it's cheesy, sure, but it gets to me. And I like the dank warehouse hideout at the end.

Killed By Death is a really good episode. I don't like that it creates a character who is REALLY IMPORTANT in Buffy's back story, yet never referenced outside the episode--that's contrived--but taken on its own merits her cousin's death is pretty scary. And I love Xander being such a dedicated friend to Buffy and making it clear to Cordelia that he just wants to help her, not bang her. In my person head canon Xander is over his romantic feelings for Buffy by the time season 2 starts, though I know the show waffles back and forth on that point.

Bad Eggs can go. It's not a bad episode, but it doesn't stand out at all, either.

Good point. I guess I was impressed that a Monster of the Week style episode did something like that, so I was impressed and it really added to the drama. I don't mind too that they didn't mention it again. It was important in this episode and added something to Buffy and the plot. Besides that I wouldn't see much point in them referencing it outside of the episode.

 

[Kill Him A Lot]

It was important in this episode and added something to Buffy and the plot. Besides that I wouldn't see much point in them referencing it outside of the episode.

Maybe my frustration is more about the larger TV trope of suddenly introducing a plot point that ought to be a pretty big deal, using it as convenient for plot purposes, and then immediately discarding it. I think it's kind of lazy, in a way that BtVS doesn't tend to be. If I'd seen my cousin die screaming in front of me when I was just a kid, I'd probably be haunted by it for the rest of my life. But I guess I'm not a slayer either. In the grand scheme of things, it's a minor complaint, not important enough to really affect my enjoyment of the episode.

It would have been a cool Easter egg (or...Bag Egg?) to have it referenced somewhere else. Maybe when Willow is combing through Buffy's psyche in The Weight of the World, or as a guise for The First in season seven. I realize, of course, that this would be complicated by the actress having grown in the intervening years.... Oh, or maybe an adult Celia could have visited psych ward Buffy in Normal Again.

 

[thetopher]

I would take any of these three over 'Go Fish'. Go Fish can get in a bin, then the bin can be thrown into a ditch and then concreted over.

 

[Mr Trick]

Yeah I think Go Fish might be the worse episode of the whole show.

 

[VisionGuy]

I love all three. Even though the monsters of the week are not that interesting, we still get some good character stuff and jokes in each of the episodes. Now if I have to get rid of one, I would have to say Killed By Death. It bothers me how the Buffy cousin storyline came from nowhere and was never mentioned again.