Click the quick-edit formatting link above the posting box Jen. It's a treasure of formatting knowledge. And I say that as someone who coudn't even post in italics for a good two months or so.

JenP use [br] for line breaks, except use the angled brackets of HTMLdom.

Thank you, David and Tina! You know -- I was at the point where, I didn't even care so much about posting the ranking as figuring out the line break thing!! Which, for some reason, I read right past twice in the helper boxes above. Frustration=careless reading, I guess. Anyway ...

Seasons:

2,3,4,6,5,1,7

Finales:

Becoming
Graduation Day
The Gift
Prophecy Girl
Restless
Chosen
Grave

Openers:

WTTH
When She Was Bad
Lessons
Bargaining
Buffy v. Dracula
Anne
The Freshman

Becoming is probably the only ep ranking that is set forever for me. Best finale of anything I've ever seen, Becoming II was. And I didn't start watching until mid-way through Season 5, so it was a retro thing for me. Now, having watched the whole season in order, I agree even more with myself.

The other rankings I could see shifting as I get to watch seasons in order on DVD. I got obsessed very quickly and have seen all the eps, most multiple times (except, I don't think I've ever seen Out of Mind, Out of Sight or Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, so my Season 1 view is skewed), but watching in order did help me get a better feel for Season 2.

The only thing that keeps Becoming from ranking higher for me is that they cheated and brought Angel back. Dead ought to count for something narratively. I thought Farscape really cheapened that in their stories. I don't mind it so much with the villains - love Holland and Lilah returning. But having a loved character come back is having and eating the cake.

Dead ought to count for something narratively.

But she didn't kill him, so dead doesn't matter.

But having a loved character come back is having and eating the cake.

Mmmmm, yeah -- good point. I hadn't thought of it quite that way. But to her, at the time, dead was dead and she killed him, (er, well, not including undead. whatever.), so I think that's why it works for me. Plus, so much other great stuff in that ep.

But your saying that makes me think Buffy has warped my perception of character death -- I was just reading something recently where a character died, and, although it had an impact, my immediate thought was, "I wonder if [character] is really dead?" (it was a science fictiony kind of thing, so it's not totally outside the realm of reason). Which, I'm not sure would've been my first thought three or so years ago ...

[And I still wonder if the character is really dead!]

Edited to clarify to what I was responding. And to add ....

[Also? I like cake!!!]

He wasn't dead. I think it worked because the trauma was in the act, and the act was never nullified. He was consigned to a long time in hell, compared to which killing might be kind.

He wasn't dead.

Also true. For me, it works because she thought that's what she'd done until she discovered otherwise (having said that, if she'd known she had sent him to hell for 100 years -- also bad, also would've worked if known at the time. But I think her thinking she had killed him worked better for me in terms of the finale's impact. On me). It continues to work for me after they discover he's alive because of ...

the trauma was in the act, and the act was never nullified. He was consigned to a long time in hell

Edited because some of that made no sense to me on re-read.

My conversion story:

I watched bits of some Season 2 eps as I had heard the show was great but I did not see it then. I watched a few minutes and was like, "Lame teen show." (One of the eps I saw a bit of was Halloween, FWIW.) Then I heard about Willow/Tara and decided I needed to tune in (it's not every day that you get girl-on-girl action on TV). I also knew Dawn was coming and it sounded interesting, so I started watching regularly in Season 5, beginning with the 1st ep of the season. Loved Season 5 - having seen everything now, 5 is still my favorite. My ranking (yet again) is 5, 3, 4, 2, 6, 7, 1.

Oh! Lots of catching up!

Earlier someone asked about what happened so that the Pylea arc had to be written. My understanding is that someone (Fox?) told ME to cut costs - so no more Darla.

My conversion story - no conversion. I started with the first episode because I like SMG from AMC. I never taped a show to keep before Buffy, and for some reason I taped the very first ep, taped the rest, and never looked back. I knew it was something special during The Pack when they ate the principal! and I became addicted after Prophecy Girl.

Favorite seasons 3, 2, 5, 4, 1, 6, 7 (and 7 is by far the last!)

Finales:

Restless
Becoming
Graduation Day
The Gift
Prophecy Girl
Chosen
Grave

Openers:

When She Was Bad
Anne
Buffy v. Dracula
WTTH
The Freshman
Bargaining
Lessons