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| Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 3 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Chock-full of exceptional episodes, this third season started out with a bang (the superb season opener "Anne," in which a runaway Buffy finally returns to her Slayer calling) and never let up. Among other highlights, the season introduced former vengeance demon and soon-to-be regular Anya (Emma Caulfield), fleshed out Angel's tortured character (and readied him for his own series), and featured a hilarious doppelganger Willow (Alyson Hannigan), a vampire from a parallel universe, who in Willow's own words was "evil and... skanky... and kinda gay!" (Total foreshadowing there, folks.) The season's pièce de résistance, though, was the two-parter "Graduation Day," wherein Faith tries to kill Angel, and the students of Sunnydale High prepare to do battle with a mutated mayor and his army of demons. Aside from the series' exceptional writing and acting, this compelling year of Buffy was anchored by the consistently excellent Gellar, as well as Dushku's complicated Faith, a girl you truly love to hate. By the time you finish these episodes, Faith will have cast a spell on you that you'll find very hard to shake. --Mark Englehart
Product Description
Customer Reviews
This set contains all 22 episodes of the first season. They are:
"Anne" - After sending Angel to hell at the end of the previous Season, Buffy has run to L.A. and changed her name, abandoning her Slayer responsibilities. But when someone she's previously helped recognizes her and asks for her aid again, can she refuse?
"Dead Man's Party" - Buffy's back, but not all is right. She's still expelled from school, and her friends have some serious repressed anger that's just waiting to burst out. And then there's the zombies that crash her "welcome home" party...
"Faith, Hope and Trick" - Eliza Dushku (Bring It On) appears as sexy new Slayer Faith, whose camaraderie with Buffy's friends makes her a bit jealous. It also features the introduction of Mr. Trick, one of the funnier (and one of the few black) characters to appear on Buffy.
"Beauty and the Beasts" - Angel's back from Hell slightly feral and werewolf Oz may have been getting out of his cage during the full moon. When there's a series of brutal murders, Buffy and Willow have to consider the possibility that one of their boyfriends is the culprit.
"Homecoming" - One of the funniest episodes of Buffy ever, along with "Doppelgangland" (see below). Buffy and Cordelia are in a no-holds-barred race to become Homecoming Queen. But they're soon in big trouble when Homecoming coincides with Mr. Trick's new big game event, Slayerfest '98.
"Band Candy" - Another hysterically funny episode, in which a batch of magically enhanced candy makes all the adults in Sunnydale act like irresponsible teenagers - including Giles and Buffy's mother Joyce.
"Revelations" - The Scooby Gang has found out about Angel's return, and are not happy with Buffy for keeping it a secret. And Faith's new Watcher, Gwendolyn Post, arrives in Sunnydale.
"Lover's Walk" - James Marsters returns as a lovelorn Spike, who's lost Drusilla to a Chaos Demon. When he kidnaps Willow and Xander, and forces Buffy and Angel to work together with him, you know badness is going to ensue...and it does in a heartbreaking conclusion.
"The Wish" - Enraged by Xander's betrayal and her social ostracism, Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Little does she know that vengeance demon Anya (Emma Caulfield) is there to make it come true. Suddenly she finds herself in a world where Willow and Xander are vampires and the Master rules Sunnydale after dark.
"Amends" - When the ghosts of Angel's past victims appear to torment him, Buffy must find out what is doing this. Also, Willow and Oz reconcile.
"Gingerbread" - When Joyce finds two children's bodies, apparently killed by witches, the town gears up for a massive witch hunt. Buffy and Willow find themselves caught in the middle of it.
"Helpless" - On her eighteenth birthday, Buffy finds herself losing her Slayer powers. When her mother is kidnapped by a psychotic vampire unleashed by the Watcher's Council, Buffy must save her armed with only her wits.
"The Zeppo" - While Buffy and co. stave off yet another apocalypse, Xander finds himself hanging out with a bunch of zombies, saving the school from being blown up, and...losing his virginity!?
"Bad Girls" - New Watcher Wesley Wyndham-Pryce makes his appearance, and Faith shows Buffy a walk on the wild side that ends in tragedy.
"Consequences" - After the deputy mayor's death, Buffy and Faith find themselves feeling trapped and scared. Faith takes a decided turn for the worse, and joins forces with the cheerfully evil Mayor of Sunnydale.
"Doppelgangland" - A spell performed by Willow and Anya brings Vampire Willow from the world of "The Wish" (see above) to normal Sunnydale. Hysterically funny; the highlight has to be when Willow masquerades as Vampire Willow.
"Enemies" - Faith shows her true colors when she and the Mayor ask a demon to remove Angel's soul, returning him to the soulless vampire Angelus.
"Earshot" - Buffy gains telepathy after killing a demon, and hears a death threat aimed at the school's students. Unfortunately, the ability to hear others' minds is slowly driving her insane.
"Choices" - The Box of Gavrok, an item essential to the Mayor's Ascension, arrives in Sunnydale. The Scoobies manage to capture it, but in the process Willow is kidnapped. Stop the Ascension, or save Willow?
"The Prom" - It's prom time again in Sunnydale. But when hellhounds trained to attack people in formal wear are unleashed, Buffy must put her plans on hold to stop them. Also, Angel decides to break up with Buffy.
"Graduation Day, Parts One and Two" - The climactic two-part season finale. When Faith poisons Angel, the only cure is the blood of a Slayer. Buffy goes after Faith, but only succeeds in putting her in a coma. Angel must drink from Buffy to survive. And, of course, the Mayor Ascends into a gigantic snake.
In one sense he does not. "Becoming" remains the Mt. Everest of the series, a height that can never be scaled again, no matter how many times Buffy's gift of "death" plays to her advantage. However, what makes Season Three better than Season Two is not that the top is higher, but rather than this is also true of the bottom. Pick the worst episode from Season Three (my choice is the obvious pick, "Beauty and the Beasts") and it is still better than the worst of the first two seasons (e.g., "Teacher's Pet," "Go Fish"). Look at all 22 episodes and you should end up being convinced that this was clearly the show's best season.
By now there is clearly an extremely effective pattern to a season of "BtVS" as crafted by Whedon. The first episode, "Anne," reminds Buffy of why she is the slayer (i.e., function as a way of getting late comers to the party up to speed on the Slayer). Again the season is divided into two halves, the first focusing on Faith ("Faith, Hope & Trick") and the second on the Mayor's Ascension ("Graduation Day"). Like the previous season, the part of the first half (Spike & Dru) joins the party of the second half (Angelus), just like Faith joins forces with the Mayor. Consequently, a season of "BtVS" has a sense of overall narrative structure more developed than most television dramas. What also matters is that Whedon finds the actors to play the parts. Eliza Dushku makes Faith a ticking time bomb who represents the Dark Side of being a Slayer (not to mention being as far removed from Kendra as possible), while Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins III takes the traditional politeness of a villain to a new level of giddy charm.
The final element, which best defines the uniqueness of Season Three, is that arguably the very best episodes were actually those that did NOT have to do with the major plot threads. There are two fun return visits as Sunnydale is afflicted by another visit from Ethan Raine in "Band Candy" and comes back to kidnap Willow for some witchy help in winning back Dru's love. Fortunately we did not have to wait for Season Four for a visit to "Doppelgangland" after our first taste of the alternative Buffyverse in "The Wish." I was always surprised Whedon did not release those two on a videotape as an addendum to the Season Three Videotape set (double ditto for "Once More, With Feeling"). However, after the Senior gift given to Buffy at "The Prom," the no holds barred fight between Buffy and Faith in "Graduation Day, Part I" and Buffy letting Angel feed on her in "Graduation Day, Part II," the Mayor's actual Ascension seems rather anti-climatic.
Buffy supporting cast fares very well in Season Three. "Amends," the episode submitted for Emmy consideration, gives Buffy and Angel some of their best final scenes together as star crossed lovers while Xander finally has a moment of glory in "The Zeppo" (I find the background apocalypse scenes hysterical and love the fact the Zeppo reference is never explained in the episode at all). Cordy makes her own case for being a Slayer in "Homecoming," Giles touches on new meanings of his role as Buffy's father-figure in "Band Candy" and "Helpless," and the only thing more fun than watching Alyson Hannigan play Vamp Willow in "The Wish" was watching her play Willow playing Vamp Willow in "Dopplegangland."
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" received a lot of unwanted publicity during the spring of 1999 when two episodes--"Earshot" and "Graduation Day, Part Two"--were pulled from being aired because of the shootings at Columbine High School. Ultimately, these proved to be overreactions, but certainly Whedon and the show were fortunate that Columbine happened the week before "Earshot" and not the week afterwards, because I really do not know if "BtVS" would have been able to survive that realignment of events. On balance and from the perspective of the middle of Season Seven, I think Season Three will ultimately be considered the best season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Season Three covers Buffy's senior year of high school at Sunnydale High. At the end of Season Two, Buffy sent her true love Angel to hell in order to save the world from destruction. Devastated, she ran away to start a new life in L.A. The episodes are as follows:
"Anne" - Buffy is working in L.A. as a waitress under her middle name, Anne. But when street kids start disappearing and an old friend (sort of) asks for her help, Buffy must become the Slayer once again.
"Dead Man's Party" - Buffy's home, but things aren't hunky-dory yet. And when it seems things couldn't get any worse, a pack of zombies rise from their graves and come after Buffy's family and friends!
"Faith, Hope and Trick" - Faith, a sassy new Slayer, comes to town. Everyone seems to love her, but Buffy's not quite as impressed. Then she finds out that Faith didn't come to Sunnydale alone...
"Beauty and the Beasts" - A series of brutal mauling deaths casts suspicion on Willow's boyfriend Oz (who happens to be a werewolf). Meanwhile, Buffy must deal with Angel, who has somehow returned from hell.
"Homecoming" - Buffy and Cordelia clash over who will become Homecoming Queen. But when Mr. Trick organizes Slayerfest '98 on the same night as the Homecoming dance, Buffy and Cordy find themselves in a race just to survive!
"Band Candy" - The Scoobies are less than thrilled that they have to sell candy to support the band. But when Joyce and Giles - and every other adult in Sunnydale - start acting like irresponsible teenagers, they find they have a lot more to worry about. Like Joyce and Giles kissing and more...
"Revelations" - Faith's new Watcher, Gwendolyn Post, arrives in town. But when Xander catches Buffy and Angel smooching, and Giles learns of a powerful magic glove hidden in Sunnydale, things really heat up.
"Lover's Walk" - Spike returns to town, heartbroken that his lover Drusilla has left him. When he captures Willow and Xander, Buffy and Angel must cooperate with him to save them.
"The Wish" - Cordelia, betrayed by Xander and Willow, wishes for a world where Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Little does she know that vengeance demon Anyanka is there to grant her wish. Suddenly Cordy finds herself in a world where Willow and Xander are vampires, Giles is leading a plucky band of evil fighters, and the Slayer is in...Cleveland?!
"Amends" - It's Christmastime, and things should be cheery. But Willow and Xander are trying to make amends to their significant others, and Angel starts having terrible dreams of his evil days that are driving him mad.
"Gingerbread" - Sunnydale goes Salem when two children are apparently killed by witches. Who makes a better target than teen witch Willow...or Slayer Buffy?
"Helpless" - Buffy turns eighteen, and must undergo a trial by the Watcher's Council. But when things go awry and Buffy's mother is kidnapped, Buffy has to save her...without her Slayer strength!
"The Zeppo" - Xander takes the forefront in this humorous episode. While Buffy and the Scoobies are busy saving the world, Xander finds his inner tough guy and loses his virginity...to Faith!?
"Bad Girls" - When Buffy starts hanging out more with Faith, friction builds between the Scoobies. The arrival of a priggish new Watcher, Wesley, doesn't help. But when things go drastically wrong on a late-night mission and an innocent man is killed, the two Slayers find themselves in deep trouble.
"Consequences" - Faith's refusal to accept responsibility for the assistant mayor's death makes her very dangerous, as Xander finds out firsthand. But not as dangerous as when she makes a secret alliance with the genteelly evil Mayor of Sunnydale.
"Doppelgangland" - Anyanka's back, and wants her powers back! She enlists Willow to help her, but instead summons Vampire Willow from the world of "The Wish". As you can imagine, this creates quite an interesting situation!
"Enemies" - Faith's alliance with the Mayor finally comes to light when she tries to remove Angel's soul.
"Earshot" - Buffy gains telepathic powers after a fight with a demon. After hearing a threat to kill all the Sunnydale High students, she must try to find the would-be killer...even though hearing everyone's thoughts is slowly driving her insane.
"Choices" - When Willow is captured in a raid on the Mayor's headquarters, the Scoobies are faced with a choice: save Willow, or stop the Mayor?
"The Prom" - Buffy and Angel break up just before the senior prom. But it's just as well, given that Buffy will be busy trying to stop a disgruntled students from releasing Hellhounds to attack the students.
"Graduation Day" - In the two-part season finale, just before the Mayor's Ascension Faith shoots Angel with a poisoned arrow; the only cure is the blood of a Slayer. Buffy has never wanted to kill - can she kill a former friend to save her lover?
A quick word on the extras: there's just episode commentaries by several of the writers and some featurettes on various aspects of the show. (But that's not bad for a TV series on DVD.) All in all, this is a really good set, and comes highly recommended.
