Johnny Ringo said:

Now in the middle of Buffy season 2. Even though there are great episodes later that exceed it

Surely you jest?

Well, the season 4 finale 'Restless' comes to mind, and 'Once More With Feeling' from season 6, but generally the best of later years tend to be individual episodes, while season 2 was the most consistently well written and watchable as a whole.

@ Gaffer Tape: Hey, I know what you mean about DS9. Not only is the story itself bittersweet, it's very upsetting to come to the end of such a great show and not have any more to look forward to. I had the same reaction when it was originally on and again when I watched the later seasons a few years ago. Sometime I want to start from the beginning and see every single one, as you did.

I read some of the followup books, but with half the characters gone it's just not the same.