From the SF Chronicle:

...."Buffy" could be simultaneously funny, scary, touching, sad and sexy in a single episode. Whedon started out coyly writing about teenage isolation or alienation, but he quickly expanded to embrace issues of death, spirituality, corporate greed, naked ambition, unchecked ego, sexual orientation, fear of the larger world and, in a strand that ran through seven seasons, the beautiful, ever-changing bonds of friendship....

Beyond that, there's this: If you never watched "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, " then you missed out. Honestly. It was not only a pop cultural phenomenon, but it was also that elusive, fervently sought-after creation -- a brilliant television show.

From the Newsday:

If I had to pick the perfect moment of the show's seven-season run, I just might have to nominate a sequence from "Inca Mummy Girl," a so-so episode from the second season. It speaks to the overall strength of the series that Buffy herself is not even part of it.

Buffy's dainty, socially inept, computer-geek friend Willow (Alyson Hannigan) has shown up for a costume party at the Bronze, Sunnydale's teen nightspot, dressed as an Eskimo, complete with harpoon. She watches while the boyfriend she secretly adores, Xander (Nicholas Brendon), slow-dances with Impata, a beautiful South American exchange student who is, in fact, a revivified Inca mummy whose kiss, we viewers know, will suck the life right out of a man and turn him into a husk. Edge-of-your-seat anxiety is compounded by the sexiness of the dance, Willow's heartbreak by the absurdity of her costume. The throat constricts, the mouth edges into a grin, the arm hair rises, the fingers clinch. It's difficult to recall another series triggering so many emotions at once.

From Slayage.com:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Buffy The Vampire Slayer is the best television show ever created. But it transcends television. It's too important. Buffy The Vampire Slayer is the one thing, the one constant that has affected my life more than anything else. Buffy is life. And life is about to end.

And finally, in case people still don't get it my favorite bit of dialogue, courtesy of Spike:
Truth is, I like this world. You got dog racing, Manchester United, "Love Boat," and you got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye Piccadilly, farewell Leicester bloody Square, you see what I'm saying?

See what I mean? Bloody fucking brilliant.

Good bye, Buffy.