10 Episodes of Buffy and Angel to Sate Your Dollhouse Cravings

Ever forget to use the bathroom because you're too damn busy thinking about how wtfawesome Dollhouse is going to be? Well then, Captain Messy Pants, this list is for you. Avoiding the typical "top 10" Buffyverse episodes, I've included a mix of episodes that showcase Eliza Dushku's range, a couple episodes written by Joss, a few episodes written by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (the only staff writers announced so far), and one co-written by Tim Minear (who is attached to Dollhouse but it's unknown exactly how much involvement he'll have with the show as he's developing his own project, Miracle Man).

This list is arranged in chronological order because 2-7 are best viewed that way, but watch them in whatever order you want, you rebel, you.

Bad Girls (Buffy season 3), written by Douglas Petrie. "Hey, slaying's what we were built for. If you're not enjoying it, you're doing something wrong"—Faith. Faith's influence rubs off on Buffy as they get arrested for breaking into a weapon shop, we meet Faith's new Watcher (Wesley!), Buffy electrocutes the hilariously obese Balthazar who is constantly basted in water by vampires, and Faith does the big bad by (accidentally) killing a human, which is ultimately responsible for her character's transformation.

This Year's Girl (Buffy season 4), written by Douglas Petrie. "Best thing about a coma, you wake up all rested and rejuvinated and ready for payback"—Faith. After months in a Buffy-induced coma that was filled with dreams of Buffy stabbing her (and one about cigars in a tunnel), Faith wakes up to find the Mayor dead and Sunnydale High all blown-up.

Who Are You? (Buffy season 4), written and directed by Joss Whedon. "You have a girlfriend named Olivia, and you haven't had a job since we blew up the school, which is valid lifestyle wise—I mean it's not like you're a slacker type, but, oh, oh! When I had psychic power I heard my mom think that you were like a stevedore during sex ... what's a stevedore?"—Buffy (played by Eliza Dushku). The quintessential episode on this list, Buffy and Faith do the old body-switcheroo. Smartly written and brilliantly acted, if you watch just one of these episodes it should be this.

Five By Five (Angel season 1), written by Jim Kouf. "Face it Wesley, you really were a jerk. Always walking around like you had some great big stake rammed up your English Channel"—Faith. Picking up where we left off from This Year's Girl and Who Are You?, Faith hops a bus to Los Angeles. Hired by Wolfram & Hart to kill Angel, Faith goes (more) nutso and tortures Wesley nearly to death in an effort to get Angel in the game.

Sanctuary (Angel season 1), written by Tim Minear and Joss Whedon. "All my life there was only one person who tried to be my friend, who went out of their way when I had no right or reason to expect her to and I screwed her, not to mention her boyfriend, only him, literally"—Faith. Angel takes Faith under his protection after her breakdown in the alley, and Buffy and the Wetworks Watchers have come to LA in persuit of the rogue Slayer. Lots of action and drama, this is a great Faith character development episode.

Release (Angel season 4), written by Steven S. DeKnight, Liz Craft, and Sarah Fain. "Hey, man, you're preaching to the guy who ate the choir"—Angelus. Faith and Wesley search LA for Angelus, who had his soul removed in an attempt to learn more about the Beast Master (evil Cordy). Ends in a pretty awesome fight between Faith and Angelus.

Orpheus (Angel season 4), written by Mere Smith. "How are you feeling?"—Angel, "Like I did mushrooms and got eaten by a bear"—Faith. After Angelus drinks from a drugged-up Faith, the two do the mystical-mind-walk thing and relive Angel's good deeds together in their heads as they both lay incapacitated. Eliza's brother, Nate Dushku, makes an appearance as the guy who shoots the doughnut shop cashier. (Along with Joss' hat-trick actors I predict we'll be seeing Nate in Dollhouse—he also had small parts in Eliza's Tru Calling and The Alphabet Killer).

Dirty Girls (Buffy, season 7), written by Drew Goddard. "No more Starbucks for the wannabees, man. They've been spazzing for, like, hours"—Faith. Returning to Sunnydale with Willow from LA, Faith joins up with Buffy and the Potentials to fight the First. A great episode overall, and we meet one of the coolest bad guys ever, Caleb (Nathan Filion).

Harm's Way (Angel season 5), written by Liz Craft and Sarah Fain. "What? I don't get a good-bye just because I went crazy and tried to rip your throat out while we were having sex?"—Harmony. Spike's "ex-tumble, the littlest vampire" gets set-up by a Wolfram & Hart employee who thinks Harmony doesn't deserve her job. A hilarious episode, Craft and Fain's writing really shines here.

Underneath (Angel season 5), written by Liz Craft and Sarah Fain. "No one can fake it through the Pina Colada song. Not once the chorus kicks in"—Lorne. Angel, Spike, and Gunn rescue Lindsey from an uber-creepy W&H suburban holding dimesnion in hopes that he has information about the Senior Partners. Plus, Adam Baldwin as Hamilton!

Comments

[Ian Blessing]

Hi all, thanks for checking out my little blog (and thanks Simon for posting this on Whedonesque). I don't have a Whedonesque login but I wanted to clarify the point that CaptainB made over there. I'm not calling Eliza's brother one of the 5 "hat-trick" actors, I'm just suggesting that in addition to those guys I think Nate will show up at some point in Dollhouse because he often shows up in Eliza's projects. And thanks menomegirl for the spelling correction. Oops!

I'll be updating this site with original content often, so check back. Buying a proper URL soon, too.

[Donnie]

Interesting list, though I would add 5x15 A Hole In The World and 5x16 Shells from the ANGEL series to the list. Since the dolls get their memories wiped out, Eliza and her fellow actors get to play lots of different characters and the way Joss handled Amy Acker's Fred & Illyria is a little bit of foreshadowing to what is possible with the concept if the right actors show up for these parts.