Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Graduation Day Parts 1 & 2"

As graduation episodes go, none of them left their shows more damaged (both physically and emotionally) than Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it never really played the subtlety game. Yes, the demons Buffy faced over the years were thinly veiled symbols for the perils of high school, but a "school is hell" metaphor is tough to hide when the whole town of Sunnydale rested atop a Hellmouth. When the smoke cleared, Angel was off to L.A., Faith was in a coma, and Sunnydale High was burned to the ground (satisfying more than a few high school fantasies in the process).

The two-part season three finale marked a definite end to BTVS as we knew it. BTVS didn’t share a lot of themes or plotlines found in other graduation episodes (no "Xander Harris Graduates!" protests), except for the "unknown future" theme common to many of these shows. The future was promising, yet scary for Buffy after she broke away from the Watcher’s Council (another "graduation" if you will), and she and Willow would start at UC Sunnydale the next season. But the Scoobies didn’t have to worry about mixed-up valedictorian speeches or last minute final exams on their big day because they were too busy preventing the demon Mayor from destroying the world. And perhaps the biggest sign that things would be different from then on was the fact that Buffy finally got some recognition from her fellow classmates who appreciated her heroism and took up the good fight alongside her.

And then she screwed up all that goodwill by dating Riley the second she got to college.

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