So I realized my list will seem very Season 7-heavy at the moment, but do not be fooled! These are actually the last ones on here from that season, save for one. As I've mentioned before, aside from S1, the weaker Buffy seasons tended to have some of the stronger individual episodes, imo. Whereas two of the seasons that I consider two of the best will seem a bit underrepresented (but not absent!) on this list, largely because the overall arcs of those seasons were what made them so strong to me, and they just had straight runs of really strong episodes throughout.
13.) "Chosen" (Season 7, Episode 22)
In my mind, there are generally two types of series finales - there's the type that goes for pure viewer satisfaction, giving the viewers everything they wanted (or in many cases, the things they didn't even know they wanted) and ties everything up in a nice, lovely bow, and then there's the type that goes for a bit more ambiguity and aims to challenge the viewers and/or leave them thinking long and hard (either in frustration or intrigue) about what it all means long after the credits roll. I enjoy both types, and thankfully, the Buffyverse was kind enough to give us one of each.
Angel went the second route, doing the whole "cutting to black in the middle of a scene and making people mad" thing well before
The Sopranos did. And to be honest, I prefer
Angel's finale overall to this one, but I'll go into more detail into why I love that finale so much when I get to my
Angel list. But of the two, this is the one written/directed by Joss Whedon himself, and it's largely the reason I knew
The Avengers were in good hands when he was hired for that gig in 2010. Because Buffy's finale goes out with as much of a full-on Traditional Hollywood Blockbuster Bang as any show on the WB in 2003 could've possibly ever hoped to do. All the characters get their nice touching goodbye scenes and glory moments and we get our big climactic spectacle that's far more epic than anything the show had produced previously. Of course, there are a couple of moments that don't sit well with me (one major death in particular feels like The Obligatory Whedon Death that's only there because he felt was expected of him), but in the grand scheme, I found this finale immensely satisfying. Not only do the most of the characters get great, poignant conclusions to their arcs, and not only are there multiple rousing, fist-pumping moments, but
Buffy has always been about the metaphor, and I can't think of a more fitting thematic metaphor to cap off this show than Buffy & Co. empowering a whole new generation of Slayers around the world. This was always a coming of age saga first and foremost, and we got to see Buffy go through the heartbreak of first love, graduating and surviving high school, discovering the isolation that comes with the freedom of college, losing her parent and being forced to become an independent adult, declaring her own agency free of the patriarchy she'd been subjected to, becoming responsible for the care well-being of another person, battling depression, and finally, becoming a leader and inspiring the next generation of heroes. The closing line of "What do we do now?" and the smile that crosses Buffy's face when she hears it is a moment I think a lot of us can relate to when we reach that certain moment in our lives when we realize, despite whatever hell we've been through, that we've still got the world ahead of us, and we're just getting started. Also, shout out to Robert Duncan, the composer on this episode. Previous series composer Christophe Beck (best known now for his work on Ant-Man and Frozen), did some fine scores on the show, but Duncan's work on this episode was so rousing and epic I still often hear his music from the final battle in promos for other things, which is rare for TV scores. Buffy the Vampire Slyer had its ups & downs, including in this final season, but it was a hell of an epic journey, and this finale somehow managed to live up to it.
12.) "Selfless" (Season 7, Episode 5)
I said I loved the flashback episodes, and that includes not just vampire flashbacks, but demon flashbacks as well! Anya was always my favorite side character on
Buffy, so her FINALLY getting her own spotlight episode after 4 seasons on the show kinda made me predisposed to love this. But the fact that it was so well-written and executed (the 2nd Drew Goddard-scripted episode on the list) made it an instant fave. This season, after having her heartbroken by Xander in S6, Anya has become a vengeance demon again. At the start of the episode, we see she's been responsible for a grisly massacre, and despite being hailed by her demon friends, is feeling remorse for her actions for seemingly the first time. Buffy & Co. learn what she's done, and despite Xander's protests, Buffy decides she has no choice to but to kill Anya. All throughout the show, Anya's status as a former vengeance demon has always been treated as a gag. And to be fair, it's been a funny one. But this is the first episode to really take into account what that really meant for her and treats her decision to go back to it with the seriousness it deserves. This is the first time they really explored the nature and consequences of that vengeance and the personal cost it takes on the person doling it out. By going back to the origins of how she got into vengeance, we get to the root what makes Anya tick. And tragically, that means realizing that for centuries, she has defined herself through other people (primarily men) and has never known a proper sense of self, hence the title of the episode. The title of the episode takes on multiple meanings, as Spike is dealing with similar existential issues, as a lost soul going mad at the bottom of a basement, losing his own sense of self as he grapples with his newly-acquired soul. The other added meaning of the title here is that in order to undo the horrible damage she has done, Anya is finally prepared to make the selfless move - to sacrifice her own life and bring back those innocents she killed, but her demon boss D'Hoffryn thinks that to be too easy, and takes the life of her demon BFF as payment instead, so that Anya must live with the consequences. Consequences are a big theme here, as Xander feels personally responsible for what Anya has become, and of course, the whole reason Spike's soul madness is that he's facing the consequences of his previous demon life as well. What I love about this episode beyond the powerful themes is the character interactions. There's a lot of what I feel is meta-commentary on the handling of previous storylines, with characters calling out other characters on things that, frankly, were a long time coming and may have been poorly handled previously by the writers - Anya calling out the fact that the Scoobies, her literal ONLY friends on Earth, had barely taken notice of her 'til she murdered a bunch of people, or Buffy calling out Xander for his big lie all the way back at the end of S2 where he did not pass along Willows message about restoring Angel's soul, and instead told Buffy that Willow said "kick his ass" (THANK YOU, DREW GODDARD! That had bugged me for seasons!!!!), and Buffy laying out the difference for Xander between people like Spike and Angel who were murderers because they lost their souls when demons took over their body, and someone who CHOSE to become a murderous demon again, knowing full well what it entailed, now needing to face the consequences of their choices. The debates the characters were having over this situation felt real and long overdue. The other unique thing I adore about this episode was the style in which the flashbacks were told. These were not your straightforward flashbacks like we get in the vamp-focused episodes. While they contain a lot of pathos and darkness, they are still told in an offbeat, quirky, cartoonish way that was just so very
Anya. And Anya is joy. Even when she's miserable, or potentially evil.
The Faith dreams definitely contained a lot of foreshadowing, mainly for S5. 
