While Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s reboot has brought the show back into the cultural spotlight, but it is fair to say that the series has never truly left it since the show ended in 2003. For all of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s faults, the show was a huge influence on later TV shows, books, and movies, both in the fantasy genre and outside of it.

Part of what made the original series so successful was its cast, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s remake needs the original Scooby Gang to succeed as a revival. However, while disgraced series creator Joss Whedon has since been met with many allegations of creating a toxic workplace environment, the show’s writing was also a major factor in its success. In particular, risky choices like season 6, episode 7, “Once More, with Feeling,” prove Buffy The Vampire Slayer earned its place in TV history by breaking rules that even its imitators were afraid to upend.

“Once More, With Feeling” Shouldn’t Have Worked – Why It’s Considered Buffy’s Best Episode

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Committed Wholeheartedly To Its Musical Episode

While “Once More, with Feeling” is Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s highest-rated episode on IMDb, that doesn’t mean the musical outing was always guaranteed to succeed. The episode’s premise sees a demon compel the main characters to break into spontaneous song and dance to reveal their innermost truths at unexpected moments. This ingenious conceit effectively turned Buffy The Vampire Slayer into a full-blown musical for one week only, complete with elaborate song and dance routines and a substantial amount of singing from the cast.

Months of vocal training and dance rehearsals went into ensuring that “Once More, with Feeling” functioned as a musical as well as an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and the cast committed to the premise wholeheartedly. Although a plethora of shows have copied the idea in the decades since its release, this commitment stands out as the thing that makes “Once More With Feeling” notable even years later. The episode takes its musical elements seriously and the cast plays along, treating the songs as earnestly as their battle with Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s season 5 villain.

What Made Buffy’s Musical Episode So Good Compared To Other Shows That Did It

Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Musical Episode Had A Clever Plot and Killer Songs

In the years since “Once More, with Feeling” was released, everything from Grey’s Anatomy to Riverdale to Scrubs to Community to Fringe to The Simpsons has attempted a musical episode of their own. Some are surprisingly solid while others didn’t do the hard work of integrating their songs into their plot. However, none could match the outsized success of “Once More, with Feeling.”

Although it is tempting to credit the clever songwriting in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode with this success, choreographer Adam Shankman also deserves some kudos. “Once More, with Feeling” looks and feels like a genuine musical, and having the director of Rock of Ages choreographing the action can’t hurt in this regard. Ultimately, what makes “Once More, with Feeling” such a success is the fact that it is a genuine musical first and an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer second.

Source: IMDb