Buffy the Vampire Slayer has several incredible episodes that are perfect stand-alone stories that have little to do with the overall Hellmouth mythos at the backbone of the urban fantasy television series. When looking at the best fantasy and sci-fi shows, they often have an overarching storyline that flows through the series. In The X-Files, it is the idea that the aliens have already been to Earth, and the government is covering it up. In Supernatural, it is a battle between Heaven and Hell with the Earth on the line. With Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it is Buffy Summers trying ot keep the Hellmouth under Sunnydale from opening and unleashing evil on the world.
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However, all those shows also have one thing in common. They have fantastic Monster of the Week episodes that have little to do with the mythos, but remain some of the most entertaining episodes in the show’s runs. Here are the 10 best Buffy the Vampire Slayer non-mythos episodes.
10) Go Fish
“Go Fish” is an episode from the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This episode sees Xander join the Sunnydale High School’s Razorbacks swim team to help Buffy investigate what is killing the best team members. As the title might suggest, it is, in fact, a Gill-Man-style monster. There are a lot of fans who dislike this episode for various reasons, but this remains one of the scariest episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it leans hard into horror over fantasy. The gore effects are some of the best body horror in Buffy history. The final moments, where these teens, whose only sin was being on the swim team, end up cursed forever, are terrifying.
9) Ted
In what might be the most surprising casting moment on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon cast the beloved John Ritter to play Ted, a new guy that Buffy’s mom Joyce is dating. While Angel convinces Buffy to give Ted a chance, the man starts to show an aggressive nature toward Buffy, but no one else sees it. Of course, thisd is a Monster of the Week episode, so Ted isn’t what he seems. Instead of being a monster, though, Ted is shockingly an android. This was almost a throwaway episode when it aired, but seeing Ritter playing against type made this an early underappreciated gem.
8) Normal Again
“Normal Again” was an episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6 that had one of the most shockingly disturbing moments of any episode in the series. This is the season that the Trio is trying to destroy Buffy nd her friends, and they summon a demon that uses hallucinogenic venom, which gets Buffy with. What happens next is disturbing, as Buffy is in a mental hospital, her parents are both alive, and the doctors tell her she has been hallucinating her entire life as a slayer. The episode even ends with Buffy back in the hospital, and it leaves the door open that nothing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer really happened. This is the most meta the show ever was, and it was a brilliant storyline.
7) I Only Have Eyes for You
“I Only Have Eyes for You” was an episode from the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it is a ghost story. The episode sees Sunnydale High School haunted by the ghosts of a teacher and a student who fell in love with each other years earlier. The two ghosts begin to possess the bodies of students and staff members, planning to recreate their tragic demise. When the ghosts possess Buffy and Angel, it results in one of the best acting performances from Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boroneaz in the show’s history.
6) Killed by Death
“Killed by Death” is a terrifying episode because it involves a demon who kills children who are already sick and in the hospital. In this episode, Buffy gets the flu so bad that she ends up hospitalized. While there, she can’t get out of bed, but she sees a demonic creature wandering the halls, with a hat and terrifying teeth. The twist is that she has seen this demon before, and it had killed Buffy’s cousin, Celia. This Buffy the Vampire Slayer demon feeds off children, and it stayed alive this long by stealing the life force from severely ill children, so no one knows any better. It is terrifying; the death of Celia is especially disturbing, and this hits on several levels for a standalone filler episode.
5) Fear, Itself
“Fear, Itself” is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Halloween episode. This isn’t the best Halloween episode (that would be “Halloween”), but it is the scariest. In this episode, the gang heads to a party at a frat house, only to learn that someone opened a summoning portal and there is a demon there, exposing everyone’s fears in a way to destroy them all. With the haunted house aspect and the terrifying demon, this was a stand-alone episode that delivered on every level. However, there are two things that stand out in this episode. This was the first time Anya revealed her irrational fear of bunnies, and the twist at the end with the demon is the best punchline in Buffy the Vampire Slayer history.
4) Gingerbread
“Gingerbread” is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode that brings the monsters straight out of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale story. The monsters here are two evil children named Hans and Greta Strauss, who are, in fact, based on Hansel and Gretel. However, these are demons who slowly possess the townspeople and turn them into characters straight out of the Salem Witch Trials. In fact, Joyce leads the way as the new leader of a group called MOO (Mothers Opposed to the Occult), and she even ties up Buffy to a stake to burn her as a witch before the demonic kids are finally beaten. This is a scary episode that shows the lengths even sane people will go to when they fall for lies.
3) Inca Mummy Girl
“Inca Mummy Girl” was a Season 2 episode that saw the arrival of an ancient mummy named Ampata, a being who has to kill others to stay alive. This was an interesting episode with Ampata as an international exchange student who arrived in Sunnydale and soon began dating Xander. The problem is that this mummy has to kill people to survive, which puts Xander in grave danger. While the movie wasn’t rated highly by critics, it was one of the better scary horror stories on Buffy, and Ampata was a sympathetic monster since she only killed to live, and felt regret at the fallout from her simple survival. It is better than people give it credit for, and the episode gets some bonus points for introducing Oz to the cast.
2) Once More with Feeling
The two best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have nothing to do with the Hellmouth mythos, and both are gimmick episodes. However, they are brilliant and deserve all the praise they have received over the years. The first of these is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, “Once More, With Feeling.” The monster was Sweet, a demon who forces everyone to break into song and dance with a number that reveals their innermost thoughts and feelings. This was one of the most brilliantly plotted episodes in the show’s history, and the great musical numbers just add to its brilliance.
1) Hush
The best episode in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s history was another gimmick episode. Instead of breaking into song and dance numbers, like in “One More Time, With Feeling,” the episode “Hush” takes away everyone’s voices, and the story is told with almost no dialogue at all. The Gentlemen are demons whose only weakness is sound, so they take away everyone’s voices so they can achieve their nefarious goals. Seeing the cast in action, without saying a single word, offers one of the most creatively shot episodes in television history, and the best Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode that doesn’t rely on the Hellmouth mythos.
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