Connor Macgregor Reviews...Buffy The Vampire Slayer & Angel

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3x15 - Consequences

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
Buffy has a nightmare in which she tries to escape the murky water while the murdered Finch pulls her down by the ankle. Finally reaching the surface, Buffy sees Faith, who immediately pushes her fellow Slayer back underwater. After waking up, Buffy wanders down to the family room, where her mother is watching a news report about the discovery of Finch's body.

At the library, Wesley orders Buffy and Faith to investigate Finch's murder. During their discussion, Cordelia enters the library to check out some books for an assignment. She takes an immediate interest in Wesley, who doesn't realize how old she really is until Giles and the others fill him in. After heading out, Buffy tries to convince Faith into coming clean and confessing their crime. Faith reminds Buffy that they were both involved, so if she goes down, she's taking Buffy with her. Buffy then spots Willow and tries to talk to her. However, Willow is still stung by Buffy's recent behavior. Meanwhile, Mayor Wilkins shreds all of Finch's files that contain anything related to their dirty work. Mr. Trick listens as Mayor Wilkins wonders if Allan Finch was conspiring against him somehow.
Consequences Later that night, Buffy and Faith sneak into Finch's office at City Hall to see if they can find any info that might explain why he was in the alley that night. They notice that almost all of his files are gone, which leads Buffy to believe that a cover-up may be in the works. Just as they're heading out, Mayor Wilkins and Mr. Trick enter the building on the opposite end of the hallway. Seeing them together, Buffy and Faith duck back into Finch's office, waiting for the Mayor and Mr. Trick to pass by before running for the exit. Outside, Buffy expresses her concern over Faith's apparently guilt-free conscience. She doesn't believe that Faith is perfectly okay with murdering a man, but Faith says otherwise. Faith believes that their nightly deeds as Slayers should put them above the law. When Buffy returns home, she is greeted by her mother and Detective Stein, who has come to ask her a few questions about the night of the murder. Buffy lies and pleads ignorance to everything related to the murder. Detective Stein leaves and visits Faith at her motel room, where he gets a similar story. Meanwhile, Buffy tells Willow the truth about everything that happened. Willow advises Buffy to go to Giles. When Buffy arrives at the library, she finds out that Faith has gotten there first and pinned the murder on Buffy. Buffy tries to convince Giles otherwise, but he sends her to his office to deal with her later. After Faith goes home, Giles assures Buffy that he's aware of Faith's lies. While Giles tells Buffy that he has no intentions of involving the Watcher's Council in this matter, Wesley overhears the whole conversation from outside the office. Soon afterwards, he calls the Council in Britain to alert them of the crime.

The next morning, Buffy talks with Xander, Willow, and Giles about what they should do with Faith. Feeling he has a special connection with Faith ever since the night they slept together, Xander volunteers to talk to her. In no time, Buffy, Willow, and Giles figure out what happened between the two of them. While Xander heads towards Faith's motel room, Willow cries over the revelation that her first love has had sex with another girl. At the motel room, Xander tries to help Faith see that what she did was wrong. With no intentions of hearing any more of this, Faith shoves Xander onto the bed and jumps on top of him. Unlike last time, however, Faith's desires are much deadlier. She wraps her hands around Xander's neck and tries to squeeze the life out of him. Before she can kill him, Faith is distracted by a sound at her doorway. She turns her head just in time to see Angel swing a bat right into her face. Later, Faith regains consciousness in the mansion. Noticing that she's all chained up, Faith tries to come on to Angel. He leaves her there alone momentarily while he goes to talk with Buffy in another room. Angel believes that Faith is more dangerous than ever, now that she's experienced murder by her own hands. After Buffy leaves to patrol, Angel returns to the main chamber to talk to Faith. He tells her how he can relate to her sinful desires. Unfortunately, Faith has no interest in his attempts to help her. Suddenly, Wesley and several other men crash into the mansion. The men subdue Angel while Wesley unlocks Faith's chains. Immediately after unlocking the last chain, Wesley restrains Faith with his own cuffs, informing the Slayer that she will be brought to Britain to face the Council. In the truck, Faith tricks one of the men into getting closer. She then beats him to the ground and threatens to snap his neck unless Wesley frees her from the restraints. Wesley follows her orders. As soon as she's freed, Faith knocks Wesley to the floor and jumps out the back of the truck.

Buffy returns to the mansion to find Faith gone and Angel immobilized on the floor. Shortly, Giles, Xander, and Willow arrive at the mansion. When they try to formulate a plan to save Faith, Willow interrupts with her own objection to the idea of saving a guilty murderer who has just tried to kill Xander. At that moment, a bruised Wesley arrives at the mansion and tells them that Faith has escaped. Having an idea of where she might be, Buffy goes to the docks. Sure enough, Faith is on one of the boats, ready to flee the country. Buffy tries one last time to turn Faith around and get help. They argue again, but this debate is cut short by a surprise ambush. Mr. Trick and several of his vampire cohorts knock Buffy to the ground with a large crate. With Buffy down for the moment, Faith attempts to fight the vampires by herself. As Buffy recovers, Mr. Trick takes advantage of her weakened state to try and kill her once and for all. After dusting the last of the vampire henchmen, Faith sees Mr. Trick about to bite into Buffy's neck. Quickly, Faith rushes over and stakes Mr. Trick's heart from behind, bringing him to a dusty end.

At the library, Buffy talks to Giles about Faith's heroic act. They believe that there may still be hope for Faith. Little do they know that Faith plans on exploring her newly expanded horizons. Mayor Wilkins gets a visit from Faith at his office. With Mr. Trick out of the picture, Faith wants the available job. Intrigued, Mayor Wilkins lets her into the office, shutting the door behind her.


This episode is a great fallout from the last episode and pits Buffy & Faith in a very difficult situation. We look at Faith psychologically and what makes her tick as a character. Her loyalty is tested, mental state messy, and she can't trust anyone anymore following the events of the last few episodes. We also see the end of Mr Trick which was sad because he was always a good henchmen and probably one of my favourites in the series.

Rating - 81% - A-





3x16 - Doppelgangland

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
Fed up with life as a mortal, Anyanka begs a demon named D'Hoffryn to create a temporal fold that would allow her to retrieve her powercenter -- the necklace she wore around her neck -- before it was destroyed. D'Hoffryn has no interest in helping Anyanka and would rather see her live out the rest of her life as a mortal. Anyanka pledges to find someone who will help her.

Outside of Sunnydale High, Willow hones her pencil-floating skills while Buffy prepares for a traditional Slayer evaluation which Wesley is conducting. Later, Willow is called to Principal Snyder's office, where another student named Percy West is also waiting. Percy is one of the star members of Sunnydale High's basketball team who just so happens to be having trouble in history class. Principal Snyder orders Willow to tutor Percy. Afterwards, Willow and Buffy go to the library. While Willow heeds Giles' request to try to access the Mayor's computer files, Faith returns with Wesley from the physical portion of the tests. Faith takes note of Willow's computer search, and she later reports it to Mayor Wilkins himself during a tour of Faith's new apartment. Decked out with nearly everything she could ever want, the apartment leaves Faith absolutely giddy. Back at Sunnydale High, Willow learns that Oz and his band just returned from an out-of-town gig. Willow tells Oz that she may have wanted to go. Oz replies with the expectation that Willow wouldn't have wanted to miss a school day. Spotting Percy, Willow tries to arrange a meeting time for their tutor session. However, Percy has a different game plan which involves Willow doing all of the work for him. The last straw for Willow comes when Buffy comments on her reliability. Tired of being the goody-two-shoes of the group, Willow stalks off by herself. She runs into Anyanka, who introduces herself as Anya, a friend of Cordelia's. Willow's mood takes a turn for the lighter when Anya asks for her help in performing a spell to create a temporal fold. Anya explains that she wants to retrieve a lost necklace which was a family heirloom. When Willow and Anya perform the spell, Willow sees visions of the alternate universe that Cordelia visited when she told Anya that she wished Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Something goes wrong in the course of the spell. Instead of pulling the necklace out of the alternate universe, the vampire Willow is transported out just moments before Oz could dust her on the jagged wood. While Anya futilely searches for the necklace, Willow leaves her alone to try and figure out what she just saw.

Elsewhere, the Willow from the alternate reality awakens. After night falls, she ventures out onto the streets of Sunnydale. Quickly realizing the vast differences surrounding her, Alterna-Willow heads to the Bronze. There, she draws stares from everybody in attendance, including Percy West. Provoked by Percy's arrogance, Alterna-Willow shoves him over the pool table, then grabs him by the throat and tightens her grip. Xander pulls Percy away before noticing Willow's radical makeover. Thinking he's the Xander of her reality, Alterna-Willow pulls him into her arms, running her hands all over his body. It doesn't take long for her to realize that Xander is still a living, breathing human. Buffy arrives and can't believe her eyes when she sees Willow. When Alterna-Willow recognizes Buffy as the Slayer who staked her beloved Xander, she turns and heads for the Bronze's exit. Buffy tries to stop her, but Willow spins around with vamp face on. She then takes off, leaving Xander and Buffy horrified and speechless. Outside the Bronze, Alterna-Willow encounters two of Mayor Wilkins' vampire henchmen, one of whom is named Alfonse. With the help of a little sadistic brutality, Alterna-Willow convinces the vampires to work for her and restore chaos to Sunnydale.

Giles gets the word on Willow's untimely death from Buffy and Xander. During their lament over the loss of their friend, the Willow of their reality enters the library. Simultaneously confused and happy, Buffy, Xander, and Giles embrace Willow, who by this point is simply confused. While they tell Willow about her evil twin, Angel enters the Bronze in search of Buffy. As he talks to Oz, Alterna-Willow and her newly-hired cohorts invade the Bronze. After Angel leaves to get Buffy, Alterna-Willow kills and drinks from one of the customers. Oz tries to make sense of what's going on, but Alterna-Willow only remembers him as one of the human rebels from her reality. Anya clears up everything for the lost vampire, telling her that the Willow of this reality is the only one who can bring her back to where she belongs. Meanwhile, Angel reaches the library and walks right up to Buffy, Xander, and Giles. He doesn't notice Willow standing in the corner as he tells the gang that their friend is dead. Willow makes her presence known, sending Angel into the pits of confusion as well. Realizing they have to stop whatever's about to go down at the Bronze, the group leaves the library. Willow, however, is reluctant to kill her alter ago. Remembering the tranquilizer gun, Willow tells the others to go ahead while she heads back into the library. Before she can get the gun, Willow encounters her mirror image, who has sneaked into the library unnoticed. Intrigued by the idea of occupying a world with her double, Alterna-Willow gets uncomfortably cozy with Willow, who retaliates with a cross. Alterna-Willow knocks her over the counter. When the vampire circles around the counter, she is greeted by a tranquilizer dart right in the stomach. Buffy and the gang return and lock Alterna-Willow inside the bookcage. Buffy then comes up with a plan to take care of the vampires in the Bronze.

Disguised in the outfit of her other self, Willow prepares to infiltrate the Bronze and trick the vampires into walking outside, one by one, and getting staked by her friends waiting outside. As Willow enters the Bronze, Alterna-Willow wakes up in her prison. While she notices her own change of clothes, Cordelia enters the library. Alterna-Willow tries to talk her into opening the cage, but Cordy opts to use this opportunity to talk about the secret affair with Xander. After an eternity of rambling, Cordy finally opens the cage. Hungry for blood, Alterna-Willow chases Cordy through the halls before cornering her in a restroom. Before the vampire can close in for the kill, Wesley appears and fends her off with a cross and holy water. Thwarted, Alterna-Willow turns around and leaves. Meanwhile, Anya and Alfonse eventually see through Willow's charade. Willow screams, signaling the others to storm into the Bronze and battle the remaining vampires inside. During the fight, Alterna-Willow arrives and pins Willow on the stage. After dusting Alfonse, Buffy leaps onto the stage and drives a pool cue towards the vampire's heart. Willow screams for Buffy to stop, and the Slayer is able to halt her weapon's descent.

After all of the customers evacuate the Bronze, Alterna-Willow and Anya prepare for another temporal fold. Buffy does not agree with the idea of returning a demon to its own reality where it can kill again. Willow responds by saying that she simply can't kill her. Before Willow sits down to perform the ritual, she says her goodbyes to Alterna-Willow, who says hers in a much more touchy-feely way. Afterwards, Alterna-Willow is returned to the alternate reality... only to be grabbed by Oz and dusted on the jagged wood. The next day, Willow contemplates living up to her good girl reputation and never going out for fun again. When Percy appears with the history paper completely typed out, Willow decides otherwise.


We have the return of VampWillow for one night only, after her initial appearance in The Wish. I love her, and she foreshadows where Willow is heading in some form. The switch is very fun and I love the reactions from different characters throughout the story. We also get our first little hint at LGBT Willow which we'll look at further in Season 4.

There's also good comedy with Faith & The Mayor, as well as Cordelia & Willow. It's fun and a great episode by Joss Whedon and I rank it very highly among Buffy episodes.

Rating - 100% - A+





3x17 - Enemies

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
After a rather uncomfortable time at the movie theater, Angel and Buffy remind themselves that they can still love each other completely without going all the way. Their kiss is interrupted by the arrival of Faith, who has been cleared by the Council to resume her Slayer duties. Buffy leaves Angel to join Faith on a nightly patrol around town. In one of the cemeteries, they encounter a demon who offers to sell them the Books of Ascension for the price of $5,000. He mentions the Mayor's interest in the books, which motivates Buffy to stop Faith from killing the demon. Buffy wants to know more about these books and why the Mayor would want them. After Buffy heads home, Faith reports to the Mayor about the demon and his offer. Mayor Wilkins orders Faith to hunt down the demon, kill him, and retrieve the Books of Ascension.

In the library the next morning, Buffy tells Wesley and the others about the previous night's patrol. Following a tip from Willow, Giles locates a passage in one of his texts that refers to the Ascension. On the supposed day of a previous Ascension, an entire town was apparently wiped out. Cordelia enters the library and indirectly asks Wesley out for dinner later that week. Meanwhile, Faith tracks the demon all the way to the apartment where he's been staying. She attempts to kill the demon with one stab of her knife, but the demon doesn't give up so easily. After a rough struggle, the demon finally dies, leaving his blood on Faith's hands. Faith stares at her hands for a moment, visibly shaken. She then collects the books and leaves. Later that night, Faith visits Angel at the mansion. She shows him her hands which are still stained with the demon's blood. Angel listens as Faith expresses her dismay over possibly losing control. Angel embraces her for comfort, leading Faith to try to initiate a kiss. Angel backs off, reminding Faith that his heart belongs to Buffy. As Faith leaves, she gives Angel a small kiss on the cheek. This kiss is witnessed by Buffy, whose arrival at the mansion goes unnoticed. At City Hall, Faith tells Mayor Wilkins that she failed in her plan to give Angel the moment of true happiness required to lift his soul. The Mayor decides to take another course of action.

The next day, Wesley instructs Buffy to take Faith and find the demon. Xander arrives with the demon's address, which he obtained by bribing Willy the bartender. Buffy is reluctant to bring Faith along, who soon shows up and is filled in on their orders. Buffy and Faith enter the demon's apartment and find his dead body on the floor. During their assessment of the scene, Buffy senses something wrong about Faith's behavior. Meanwhile, Mayor Wilkins summons a shrouded man to his office for a special job, one that involves the removal of one's soul. Back at Sunnydale High, Buffy tells Willow what she saw at the mansion between Angel and Faith. Willow assures Buffy that she has nothing to worry about, for Angel would never fall for Faith's moves. Little do they know that Faith is at the mansion at this very moment, putting the moves on Angel once again. When he places his hands on Faith's shoulders to let her know that everything will be okay, she douses a dark liquid onto the center of Angel's chest. The shrouded man suddenly appears out of nowhere and casts a spell that surrounds Angel in a field of energy. Once Angel falls to the floor, the shrouded man disappears. When Angel gets back up, he's in full vamp-face, hungry for Faith's kiss. After they part lips, Angel knocks Faith to the floor. He thanks her for turning him back into the evil Angelus. Faith whips out her stake and forces Angel to listen to her. When he finally agrees, Faith leads him to the Mayor's office... but not until after they kiss again on the floor.

At the library, Willow notifies Wesley, Giles, and the others that her computer searches for the Mayor's files have turned up as dead ends. Oz suggests researching the Mayor at the Hall of Records. While Wesley, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia head to the Hall of Records, Xander decides to patrol the streets for any further information. Buffy, in the meantime, heads back home to prepare for an investigation of Mayor Wilkins' office. At the office, the Mayor has a hard time getting Angel's undivided attention. Angel tries to kill Mayor Wilkins with a letter opener. However, the Mayor reveals his invulnerability to the vampire. Mayor Wilkins then orders Angel and Faith to take care of the other Slayer in town. On their way to Buffy's house, Angel and Faith see Xander walking down the street towards them. Xander tries to find out where they've been, but the only response he gets is a right hook from Angel's fist. As Xander falls to the pavement, unconscious, Angel and Faith continue walking without missing a step. Joyce lets both of them into the house. Upstairs, Angel and Faith tell Buffy that they have the Books of Ascension at the mansion, and they want Buffy to be with them when they deliver the books to Giles.

At the Hall of Records, the gang locates an old photograph of Mayor Wilkins that was taken a century ago. As Wesley realizes that Mayor Wilkins must be over a hundred years old, Xander arrives to tell them about the return of Angel's bad self. Wesley suggests that they inform Giles, but Xander's news of Faith's involvement leads them to look for Buffy immediately. Buffy follows Angel and Faith to the mansion. Once there, Angel reveals his recent change in personality to Buffy. Attempting to escape, Buffy finds her exit blocked by Faith. Angel knocks Buffy out cold, then ties her up in chains. When Buffy comes to, Faith explains her reasons for taking the path she's taken. Faith couldn't tolerate being in Buffy's shadow ever since she arrived in Sunnydale. The popular belief that Buffy is superior to Faith has driven the new Slayer to where she is today. Buffy taunts Faith by claiming that she can stop the Mayor's Ascension. Faith laughs this off, telling them that the Ascension cannot be stopped and will take place, as planned, on Graduation Day. With this information out in the open, Angel drops the evil Angelus act, while Buffy drops the chains that were supposedly restraining her. When Faith realizes that it was all a set-up, she shoves Angel to the side and attacks Buffy. Wesley, Xander, and the rest of the gang arrive just in time to see Angel falling towards them. As Angel and Xander go down, Buffy and Faith battle to a stand-still, with a knife held up to each other's throat. Faith calls Buffy's bluff, then runs out of the mansion.

Mayor Wilkins comforts Faith at her new apartment by reminding her that once the Ascension takes place, her broken friendship with Buffy and the others will be irrelevant. At the library, Giles thanks the shrouded man for participating in the scheme to expose Faith and the Mayor's plans. The shrouded man announces that his debt to Giles has been paid. After the shrouded man disappears into thin air, Giles informs everyone that he introduced the shrouded man to his wife -- thus, the debt. While Wesley and the others discuss the newly-learned information concerning the Ascension and its date, Buffy reminds Xander that Angel was only acting when he punched him. However, Buffy doesn't seem so sure of her own words. Later, Buffy visits Angel at the mansion. He assures Buffy that he never meant to take the act so far as to hurt her. Disturbed by the harsh reminder of what Angel could become again, Buffy insists that they put their relationship on hold for a while.


So finally in this episode, Faith goes to the dark side and it's a brilliant execution. I love her and the Mayor's plan and the confrontation at the end of the episode. The fight is tense, the exchange of words brutal, and the twist also clever. The shot of Faith & Buffy with the knives is great, and one of the great shots of the series.

Angelus also makes a brief return - sort of. I had a mixed feeling and remained that way when the twist occured. It didn't work as well as it did in Season 2, and mainly its because of what we find out at the end of the episode. He wasn't as sinister, as evil, as dark as before.

I also loved the counter plan by Buffy and the gang. You don't find out about it until the end, but its still good and well planned.

Rating - 95% - A





3x18 - Earshot

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
On a routine night of patrolling, Buffy encounters a pair of mouthless demons. While she kills one of them on a table at the park, the other demon manages to flee the scene. As she leaves, Buffy fails to notice the dead demon's blood on her hand, which quickly absorbs into her skin.

The next morning, after learning from Willow that everybody will be attending the basketball game later that night, Buffy decides to check out the itch on her hand that's been bugging her all day. In the library, Giles finds an article on the demon that Buffy killed. In it, he learns that physical contact with the demons can cause an infection, in the form of an assimilation of one of the demon's traits. Later that night during the game, Buffy patrols the streets of Sunnydale by herself. She bumps into Angel, whom she has been distant from ever since the trick they played on Faith.

While talking to her friends the next day in the lounge, Buffy inadvertently hears Xander's own thoughts. On the way to the library, she realizes that she can hear what each student is thinking. At the library, Giles concludes that the demons must have communicated telepathically if they had no mouths. Buffy uses her newfound trait to impress her teacher in English class. During the class, Buffy hears some grim thoughts coming from Freddy Iverson, one of the writers for the school newspaper. After class, Buffy visits Angel at the mansion and tries to learn what's going on inside his head. However, Angel informs Buffy that her power can't work on a vampire's mind. He then tries to assure Buffy that he was never tempted by Faith during the entire ordeal that revealed her affiliation with the Mayor.

Buffy returns to the library, where her friends have just learned of the Slayer's new ability. Disturbed and intimidated by this sudden intrusion into their privacy, Xander, Willow, and the others find it tough to be around Buffy. In the hallways, Buffy starts to realize the true downside to her mind-reading ability, for the abundance of thoughts coming from all directions proves to be overwhelming. In the cafeteria, a mental declaration to murder all of the students the next day is heard by Buffy. She tries to identify the source of the thought, but the overflow of thoughts causes her to pass out.

Outside, Buffy regains consciousness and tells the others about the murder plan she discovered. While Buffy goes home to rest, the gang tries to locate the suspect. They try to interrogate all of the prime suspects, but Oz has trouble tracking down Freddy. Meanwhile, Giles and Wesley learn that Buffy needs to consume the heart of the second demon in order to be cured of her mind-reading power. With the Slayer out of action, Giles turns to Angel for help. After hunting down the demon over the course of the night, Angel finally succeeds in obtaining its heart. He brings it to the Summers' home and feeds it to Buffy. Eventually, Buffy wakes up and discovers that she can no longer read anybody's mind.

Back at the school, Xander, Willow, Cordelia, and Oz corner Freddy in the newspaper office. Upon learning that he has nothing to do with the murder plot, Cordelia finds an announcement on the desk from Jonathan that apparently admits to the planned killing. Buffy arrives at the newspaper office just in time to help the gang search for Jonathan. While Xander gets distracted by some tasty treats in the cafeteria, Buffy runs out into the courtyard, where she spots Jonathan assembling a rifle at the top of the clock tower. Running out of time, Buffy takes the shortest route possible to the roof. Just as Jonathan attaches the final piece, Buffy crashes into the room. Aiming at rifle at Buffy, Jonathan tries to prevent her from getting in the way of his plan. He tells her how fed up he is with how everybody treats and thinks of him. Buffy responds by telling Jonathan that everybody has their own pain, regardless of how good their lives may seem on the outside. When Jonathan finally hands over the rifle, he shocks Buffy by telling her that he intended to kill himself, not the other students.

Inside the cafeteria, Xander witnesses the lunch lady pouring rat poison into a large pot in the kitchen. He runs out and warns everybody about the lethal lunch special. Xander trips and falls to the floor, giving the lunch lady enough time to tower over him with a large butcher knife in her hand. Luckily, Buffy arrives on the scene and puts the lunch lady down for the count.

Willow learns from Buffy that things are going better with Angel, now that some uncertainties about his feelings for Buffy are no longer an issue. After meeting up with Giles, Buffy shocks him by revealing her awareness of his escapades with Joyce while under the influence of the mind-altering candy.


Earshot's central idea is fun: The power of reading minds. It's written in both a playful and emotional fashion. You get good jokes but a good point of view and realisation of high school life thrown in too. We also see Buffy once again at her most vulnerable as she comes to grips with the power of the mind reading.

However the hype of this episode is slightly overrated. I liked Earshot but I didn't love it. I think its a good idea, but I've seen stronger episodes in the past, and will very likely see stronger episodes in the future.

Rating - 89% - A-





3x19 - Choices

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
Mayor Wilkins needs a favor, and to get Faith to do it for him, he gives her a gift - a beautiful new dagger. He tells her that a package is arriving tomorrow night from South America that is crucial to his ascension, and he wants Faith to pick it up for him. Faith dutifully heads to the airport, where a propeller plane lands in the misty night. A courier steps forth, but before he can deliver the package, Faith shoots him through the back with an arrow. She then gets into a limousine with the vamp-lackey who brought her there and drives off.

Buffy and Angel, meanwhile, are busy slaying a couple of vampires. After they've finished them off, Buffy laments to Angel that she feels she's in a rut. She's beginning to realize that her future with Angel is going to have some limitations. Another limitation she's thinking about is her college choice. Though she's gotten into Northwestern, which makes her mother very excited, she knows she still has obligations in Sunnydale, and doesn't know if she'll be able to go away to college. Willow is also contemplating her college choices, as she has recently received acceptance letters from Oxford, Yale, MIT and Harvard, among others. Xander is thinking about hitting the road, a la Jack Kerouac. Cordelia, as usual, has some snide comments for them all.

Buffy finally decides she wants to leave Sunnydale, and goes to Wesley to tell him. Wesley tells her she can't leave Sunnydale, especially with Faith gone bad and the Mayor's ascension coming up. Buffy asks him if she could go if she can stop the ascension, which would mean Wesley and Giles would only have to take care of the run-of-the-mill stuff, and she could take care of the major stuff when she came home on breaks. Wesley and Giles consider the possibility, but tell Buffy that to consider it seriously, Buffy would have to stop the Mayor's ascension. She suggests taking the fight to them - taking the offensive rather than just waiting for it to happen to them. They all agree that it's a good idea, and Buffy heads off to find out what Faith and the Mayor are up to. She heads to City Hall, where she spies Faith bringing a big box inside.

The Mayor is quite excited to see the box. He has the box taken to a room upstairs and secured. Outside, Buffy stops the limo that has just dropped Faith off, smashes through the driver's-side window and yanks the driver through it. She asks him about the box.

When she returns to the Library, Buffy tells everyone that the box is the Box of Gavroc. It houses demonic energy, and the Mayor needs to devour its contents before Ascension Day. Xander, Willow, Buffy, Giles and Wesley devise a plan to get the box, and start to work.

To get to the box, they will need a potion to break the shield that protects it. Willow researches a formula, and Xander and Oz concoct the potion. With the potion in hand, Buffy, Willow and Angel climb to the top of City Hall, just above the room where the box lies. Opening the skylight, they peer down at the box below. Willow recites a spell, then sprinkles the potion down onto the box. The protective shield dissolves. Angel then straps Buffy in a harness and lowers her through the skylight and down to the box. When she grabs the box, an alarm goes off - and as Angel tries to pull Buffy back up, the harness gets stuck. Two of the Mayor's vamp-lackeys respond to the alarm and rush into the room. Since the harness is still stuck, Angel drops down into the room to join Buffy in fighting the two vamp-lackeys. After an extended fight, Angel and Buffy knock down the vamps and run out of the room. Racing out of City Hall, they jump behind a bush to hide. When a van pulls up in front of City Hall and then speeds away, the vamps chase after it, thinking Buffy and Angel are inside.

The vamps return to City Hall empty-handed, and Mayor Wilkins is not happy to find that the box is stolen. But while he's lost the box, he's gained something - Faith has captured Willow.

Back at the library, the gang tries to figure out what to do about the box - and Willow. Xander proposes an assault to get her back. Buffy suggests they can trade the box back to the Mayor in exchange for Willow. Wesley doesn't think that's a good idea; he argues that thousands of lives are at stake, and that Willow's one life is not worth more. He argues that they must destroy the box and stop the ascension, and find another way to get Willow back. Buffy, who is quite upset, says there is no other way. Oz helps make the group's decision when he slams a pot against the wall. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to. They will make the trade.

Back at City Hall, Willow is trapped, and looking for a way out. One of the Mayor's vamp-henchmen comes in, and menacingly readies to take a bite of her. Willow floats a pencil behind him, and before he can bite, she uses the pencil to slay the vampire. She then escapes from her shackles, and begins to roam City Hall. Wandering into the Mayor's office, she finds the Books of the Ascension in his closet and begins to read. She's so engrossed in the books she doesn't even notice Faith walking into the room. Faith is ready to kill her. Willow buys herself some time by talking to Faith about the choices she's made to give up being a slayer, and that those choices have left her alone, but she can still come back to their side if she wants. Mayor Wilkins then walks in the room, interrupting the conversation. He's received an interesting phone call . . .

A meeting has been arranged for the school cafeteria. The Mayor brings Willow, and Wesley, Giles, Angel, Oz, Xander and Buffy bring the box to make an exchange. Before the exchange is completed, Principal Snyder breaks in on the meeting, with two policemen in tow. One of the policemen, examining the box, opens it - and a giant spider jumps out and gnaws on his face. After snacking on the policeman, it scampers away - and lands on the Mayor's face. Faith wrestles it off him, and since he's impervious to harm, he quickly heals. Principal Snyder doesn't quite know what to make of all of it. Buffy runs over and shuts the box, but not before another of the spiders can escape. One of them lands on her back, and she falls backwards to crush it. Spying another one along the wall, Faith kills it with her dagger.

After the exchange, back at the library, Giles asks Willow what she can remember from the books. Willow says she can't remember much - it was a little wordy for her - then with a grin pulls out a few pages she managed to tear from the book. Though they now know more about the Ascension, the Mayor has the Box of Gavroc again, which means they are basically back where they started.

Buffy is still thinking about dealing with the Mayor, but her future is weighing heavy in her mind as well. She tells Willow that she feels she'll never get out of Sunnydale. Willow, though, says that might not be so bad - she's decided to stay at home and go to UC-Sunnydale, and so they'll be able to stay together as friends. Willow explains that she realized she wants to fight evil, and help people, and she feels she can do that best in Sunnydale, which is why she wants to stay. It's a good fight they're fighting, and she wants to keep fighting it.


Choices is a let down in the run. The story itself is just very empty and not much really happens that's refreshing. The plot is dry, the ending underwhelming, and contains one or two holes. Mainly with Willow, who could've easily ran from Faith & The Mayor's grasp when she has the chance. It's very forced and the writing not as impressive.

Rating - 71% - B+





3x20 - The Prom

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
Buffy wakes up to find herself beside Angel, on his bed in the mansion. Exhausted after a night of patrolling, she apparently crashed at Angel's instead of returning home. Before getting up, Buffy reminds Angel that the Senior Prom is quickly approaching. Back at Sunnydale High, Xander is approached by Anya, who has not yet regained her powers. Confused by the wealth of human emotions inside her, Anya asks Xander to be her date to the Prom. Aware of his situation and general lack of alternatives, Xander accepts.

While he tells the rest of the gang about this recent development, Joyce pays a visit to the mansion. Angel listens as Joyce tells him about the reality of his relationship with her daughter. Deep down, Angel knows that what Joyce wants is also what needs to be done. Back at the library, Giles futilely tries to keep everyone's mind focused on the Mayor's Ascension plans. However, all Buffy and her friends can think about right now is the upcoming Prom.

Elsewhere, a boy inserts a videotape into a VCR for the viewing pleasure of his "pet", a demon beast locked in a cage that goes berserk as the tape begins to play. Later that night, Angel has a nightmare that begins pleasantly with a wedding between himself and Buffy. After they are wed, they head down the aisle and step out into the sunlight. Angel then watches in horror as Buffy ignites into flames. He can do nothing as the fire consumes her completely. After Angel wakes up, he joins Buffy on a nightly patrol. While tracking down a vampire in the sewers, Angel admits to Buffy that he can't maintain their relationship, knowing what it will mean for her future. Buffy refuses to believe what he is saying, but Angel makes it clear that he doesn't want her to spend the rest of her life with him. As it slowly sinks in, Angel announces his decision to leave Sunnydale after the threat of the Mayor's Ascension has been eliminated. Later, Buffy tells Willow everything that happened. Although they both understand and agree with Angel's intentions, Buffy lets her tears flow instead of hiding her grief.

Noticing Cordelia checking out a dress once again in one of the shops, Xander enters the store and pries into the matter. He soon learns that Cordy works there. Cordy's family is now broke as a result of her father committing tax fraud for a number of years. Cordy's verbal outburst is interrupted by the sudden intrusion of the demon beast into the store. Xander tries to fight it, but the beast tosses Xander aside and mauls a well-dressed boy to death. As soon as its job is done, the beast looks at the remaining customers before quickly exiting the store. At the library, Xander and the others review the store's security video of the event. Cordy makes an observation that the demon beast was seemingly interested in the tuxedoed boy only. During the beast's exit, Oz spots a boy standing outside of the store with what looks like a remote control of some sort. Using the Sunnydale High yearbook, the gang identifies the boy as Tucker Wells. Upon figuring out that Tucker's plan is to set the demon beast -- which Wesley identifies as a hell hound -- loose on the students at the Senior Prom, Buffy vows to take care of this matter personally and ensure a safe and happy Prom for all.

While everyone splits up to investigate, Buffy goes to a butcher shop since the hell hound eats brains. She gets Tucker's address from one of the employees. Buffy then notices that Angel is also there, buying a supply of blood for himself. Angel tries to talk to her, but Buffy opts to focus her attention on Tucker and his hell hound. She returns to the library and tells the others that it's all in her hands now. After the gang leaves to get ready for the Prom, a concerned Giles wonders what's gotten into Buffy. She tells him about Angel's plans to leave her and Sunnydale.

As she clocks out for the night, Cordy finds out that Xander helped pay off the dress she was hoping to wear to the dance. At the Prom, Xander painfully listens to Anya's countless stories of male persecution, while Wesley assists Giles in his chaperone duties. Cordy enters in her dress, which draws Wesley to her in an instant. Arm in arm, they meet up with Xander and Anya. Cordy subtly thanks Xander for his generosity. Meanwhile, Buffy breaks into Tucker's house and encounters him in the basement. After subduing him, Buffy notices the stacks of teen flicks -- some horror, some not -- on top of a nearby VCR. Tucker then surprises Buffy by revealing three empty cages in an adjoining room. Buffy races back to the school to stop the three hell hounds from completing their mission. One by one, she kills them off, taking out the last one in front of a bewildered student.

With the hell hounds taken care of, Buffy finally arrives at the dance to join her friends. Later that evening, during the presentation of the class awards, Jonathan addresses Buffy in response to an overwhelming number of write-in votes for a new category. Buffy listens in pleasant surprise as Jonathan states the senior class' appreciation for her life-saving deeds over the course of the past three years. Named the Class Protector, Buffy steps up to the stage to receive her reward while the entire class applauds. After the awards ceremony, Angel arrives in a tux for one last dance with Buffy. In each other's arms, they enjoy what little time they have left before the Mayor's Ascension arrives at last.


The Prom is a good episode, a great calm-before-the-storm episode which in itself has become a little genre in television. I love the sacrifice Buffy gives to do her job, only to be given a touching reward at the end of the episode. It's lovely, and a really sweet moment that symbolises the end of the High School era of the show.

The only downside is the naff villain in the episode. It's a little dissapointing. It could've been a nice end of the Monster Of The Week stories that filled the first three seasons suitably.

Rating - 86% - A-





3x21 - Graduation Day: Part 1

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
Graduation Day has finally arrived, and everybody has a different perspective on it. Cordelia's concerned about the color of their graduation gowns, Buffy doesn't quite get the whole graduation deal, and Xander, who woke up with a bad feeling in his gut, fears he won't survive Graduation Day. He's found out that Mayor Wilkins will be their commencement speaker.

Faith isn't concerned about graduation, but she does have an interest in college. She pays a visit to Professor Worth, a professor at the college. The Mayor wants him dead, and Faith handles the job.

While enduring his final classes, Xander mentions the Ascension to classmate Anya, and her ears perk up. She knows about it, and Xander brings her to the library, where Buffy, Giles and Wesley are trying to figure out why the Mayor killed Professor Worth. Xander announces to them that Anya not only knows something about the Ascension she's the only living person who's been to one.

She tells them that about 800 years ago, in the Koskov Valleys above the Urals, there was a sorcerer there who achieved Ascension. He became the embodiment of the demon Lohesh, and she was there to witness it. Lohesh, a four-winged soul killer, decimated the village within hours only a small handful of people survived. Anya explains that an Ascension means that a human being becomes pure demon. She tells them that all the demons that walk the earth are tainted, or human hybrids like vampires, but that a pure demon is different. She doesn't think this sounds like Lohesh, though, because the rituals are all different. Just as she says this, the Mayor bursts into the library.

The Mayor begins to talk about how powerful he'll be once the Ascension happens. Buffy makes a remark, and the Mayor responds by saying when the Ascension comes, he'll eat her. Giles, incensed by this, stabs the Mayor with his fencing foil. Of course, this doesn't affect the Mayor, who merely pulls the blade from his chest and walks away, grinning about his commencement address.

With the graduation ceremonies fast approaching, everyone's getting nervous. Anya, who has seen what an Ascension is like, plans to skip town, though Xander tries to get her to stay and help. She proposes to him that he could leave with her, and tries to persuade him to come, but he's committed to staying to help his friends, and declines. Buffy is also anxious, and tries to convince her mom to leave town, saying she won't be able to concentrate on stopping the Mayor if she has to worry about her mom. She doesn't want to leave, but Buffy finally convinces her. Willow, who is researching in the hopes of finding a spell to stop the Ascension, is nervous, too. To help her relax some, Oz plants a passionate kiss on her. Soon they are making love. As they lie together afterwards, they both agree that everything feels different now.

At Professor Worth's apartment, Buffy is investigating, trying to find some information that may be helpful, and Angel comes to help her out. They gather a box of documents, and prepare to take it to Giles. Outside the professor's apartment, Buffy and Angel talk about their relationship, and Buffy expresses her frustration. Suddenly an arrow pierces Angel through the back. We see that Faith has shot the arrow. When Buffy tries to help Angel up, he collapses; he's sweating, burning up. The arrow is poisoned, he tells her. In a panic, Buffy rushes Angel back to the library.

At the library, Giles and Wesley are discussing why the professor's research was of interest to the Mayor. He was doing research in old lava beds near a dormant volcano, and he found a large carcass buried underneath by an eruption. In his paper, Professor Worth suggests that the carcass may be some heretofore-undiscovered dinosaur. Giles thinks that perhaps it could also be a demon, which would explain why the Mayor would want to keep this kind of information secret if the carcass was a demon, then it means that the demon can be killed, which would mean that the mayor is only impervious to harm until the Ascension. Once he's in demon form, he could be killed.

Buffy brings Angel back to the library for help tended. Willow is summoned to figure out what was on the arrow Faith shot Angel with. Wesley contacts the Council to see if they can help, but he returns to tell Buffy that they said they wouldn't help it's not Council policy to cure vampires. Buffy is defiant, but Wesley explains that they're talking about laws that are older than civilization. Buffy says she doesn't care how old the laws are she's talking about watching her lover die. The Council's orders, Wesley reminds her, are to concentrate on the Ascension. Buffy says she doesn't think she's going to be taking any more orders, from Wesley or the Council, and tells Wesley that she's not working for them anymore. Wesley pleads with her, arguing that Faith poisoned Angel to distract Buffy, and now the strategy is working. Buffy replies that she has a strategy of her own, and Wesley is not in it. This is mutiny, Wesley cries. Buffy says she likes to think of it as her graduation.

Willow, meanwhile, has figured out what the poison is its Latin name translates to "killer of the dead." Oz finds that the only cure for it is to drain the blood of a slayer. Buffy has an idea she'll get Faith's blood, and she'll kill her first if she has to. No more playing around, she says she's ready to take on Faith to the death. Opening the closet in the library, she removes a dagger the one the Mayor gave Faith, the one Faith used to kill one of the creatures from the Box of Gavroc in the cafeteria when the box was exchanged for Willow and takes it with her. Oz and Willow figure out where Faith's apartment is, and Buffy heads there for the confrontation.

The Mayor, meanwhile, is busy preparing for the Ascension by performing the Ritual of Gavroc. Sitting at his desk in his office, he gleefully devours the creatures from the Box of Gavroc, feeling stronger with each one he eats.

Buffy arrives at Faith's apartment, and the battle soon begins. The furious fight leads them crashing through the window of Faith's apartment and onto a lower roof below. When they land, Buffy slaps handcuffs onto Faith's wrist and the other cuff is already attached to her own wrist. The fight continues between the two handcuffed slayers until Faith breaks the cuffs apart. Buffy staggers back, and pulls out Faith's dagger. They tangle some more, and the fight moves toward the edge of the roof. As they peer over the ledge, Buffy stabs Faith. Faith, stumbling, steps on to the ledge, leans back and says goodbye, falling back into a passing truck. Buffy rushes to the ledge, but she's too late. The truck, with Faith, and her slayer's blood which Buffy needs to save Angel, is driving away.


With the countdown to Ascension, the finale of season 3 finally gets down to business. The scenes when Angel gets injured is quite harrowing and really preps Buffy emotionally when fighting Faith. The fight with Faith is great and really entertaining to watch. Especially when Faith falls off the ledge. It really leaves things in the air and great set up for Part 2.

Rating - 87% - A-





3x22 - Graduation Day: Part 2

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
After the climactic battle on the roof of Faith's apartment building, Buffy stands alone with the knife that may have killed Faith. As the reality of not being able to use Faith's blood as a cure for Angel sets in, Buffy has a moment of painfully quiet introspection, then leaves, having made her decision internally. Just as Buffy descends the escape ladder, the Mayor and one of his goons search the apartment looking for Faith. The apartment is in a shambles, and although the Mayor tries to convince himself that Faith will prevail in the fight, his fear is written all over his face.

Back at the library, Xander and Giles research how to defeat the Mayor in demon form when Cordelia barges in demanding an explanation of why Wesley has decided to leave the country. After Giles explains that Wesley is no longer Buffy's watcher, Xander manages to convince Cordy to join in the fight against the Mayor.

Meanwhile, Willow cares for Angel back at his hideout, but things don't look so good for Angel. When he wakes up from a troubled sleep, he mistakes Willow for Buffy. When the real Buffy shows up, she asks Willow and Oz to leave so that she can be alone with Angel. When they leave, she explains to Angel that the only way for him to survive is to drink her blood. Angel emphatically resists, but after Buffy physically induces his vampire side to come out, he sinks his fangs into her neck and drains her near to death. When Angel comes to and realizes what he has done, he rushes Buffy to the hospital and demands that the doctors treat her immediately.

In the next room, the Mayor grieves over Faith, who lies in a coma. When a doctor comes in announcing another girl with 'severe blood loss' in the other room, he puts two and two together. He walks very calmly over to Buffy and tries to suffocate her, but Angel comes to the rescue. The Mayor warns Angel that at Graduation he will do much worse to Buffy, then storms out. Just as the Mayor exits, Giles, Xander, Oz and Willow meet Angel in the hall. Seeing that Angel's health has been restored, they question Buffy's condition and Angel's sudden recovery, and soon learn that Buffy's blood was the cure for Angel's ailments. While both Giles and Xander both strongly disapprove of Angel's actions, they know they must focus on the Ascension.

In a strange and surreal dream, Faith is alive and well, and gives Buffy some valuable advice: 'human weakness' is the key to defeating the Mayor. Questioning whether Faith's mind or her own mind is creating this fantasy, she drifts out of her sleep and wakes up in the hospital. She wanders over to Faith's bed and gives her an apologetic kiss, then meets the gang in the waiting room. Startled to see her up so soon, they are even more startled when she says that she is 'ready for war.'

At the library, Buffy goes over her plan with Giles, Angel, Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia. Wesley unexpectedly walks in, and before Buffy and the gang can ostracize him, he explains that he has not come back representing the council; he is back to help. Meanwhile, the Mayor plans his assault with his vampire goons. The vamps are told to hold the people in the area so that the Mayor can feed on them once the ascension is complete.

Back at the school, the gang goes to work rounding up students to help with the battle. Willow grabs Percy and Xander rounds up Harmony while Wesley and Cordelia share a hilariously awkward romantic good-bye in the library. In another sort of good-bye, Angel tells Buffy that if they survive the Ascension, he will not say good-bye, he will simply leave.

The big day finally arrives, and the students file in wearing their crimson caps and gowns. Anxiety and fear paint the faces of Buffy and the gang while Principal Snyder gives his usual condescending banter, then introduces Mayor Wilkins as the honored guest speaker. The Mayor begins his speech about graduation, ascension and change, but before he can finish, the ascension begins.

The moon eclipses the sun, bringing darkness over the ceremony. And before a stunned crowd, the Mayor morphs into a giant, twenty-foot dinosaur with a vicious set of teeth and a ravenous appetite. But amid the ensuing chaos, the student body is ready. Led by Buffy and a courageous Xander, the students rip off their gowns to reveal an arsenal of weapons. They bombard the demon and his vampire minions with flame-throwers, rifles, arrows, spears and swoads. In the melee, the demon dips down and grabs Principal Snyder between his jaws, and devours him. Buffy sees her chance, and orders the class to retreat. Now one on one with the Mayor, she taunts him with the knife that pierced Faith, and leads him on a chase through the high school. The chase ends in the library, which is rigged with explosives. All the Mayor can say is "Oh, gosh!" as he and the halls of Sunnydale High are blown back into hell.

In the aftermath, Giles congratulates Buffy on the victory, and presents her diploma that he pulled from the wreckage. As Giles leaves to check on the injured Wesley, Buffy spots Angel standing at a distance. They exchange a long, painful look, but before Buffy can approach Angel to say good-bye, he walks away and disappears into the smoky haze. Later that night, Buffy, Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia take a moment to reflect on the fact that they have not only survived the battle, but they have survived high school.


This episode signals the end of the High School Era and it ends in pretty spectacular fashion. The final battle is entertaining and satisfying to watch, in a strange manner. Sunnydale High goes out with a bang, literally and the fight with The school & the vampires is weird but wonderful at the same time.

This is also the last regular appearances of Angel, Cordelia & Wesley who all go on to Angel, the spin off series which runs in parellel with Buffy from now on. Angel's departure is fitting and appropriate as the next stage of his life is set to begin, and boy will it be a ride.

Rating - 95% - A





Season 3 Retrospective

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Season 3 of Buffy was a strong continuation of the last season, taking the strong established cast and giving them new threats, new conflicts, and a moment of change in their lives some will be more prepared than others. There are great episodes in this season, as well as some fine performances throughout. It stands just as strong as Season 2.

BUFFY: Sarah Michelle Gellar gives some more fine performances this season as Buffy. The first episode sees the character at her absolute lowest with Anne. Lonely, distant, and depressed in Los Angeles, the episode sees her pull herself back to her feet and return to Sunnydale determined. From there, Buffy faces new challenges in the form of Faith, and her last year of high school. Gellar pulls it off again, and takes Buffy on that next difficult step towards adulthood.

OTHER MAIN CHARACTERS: The main cast is strong as always. Willow & Oz are a great couple, and their chemistry is convincing and fun to watch, despite the obstacle of Xander early on in the season. Xander has a good episode with The Zeppo and we see him as almost a less of a douche in this season (I say almost, he still has his moments). I was disappointed at how little Cordelia was used in this season. Very underused and very tossed aside which was a real shame considering how much of a fan I was of the character. Giles is also still good and still shaped as the father figure of the gang which is rather nice. Even after the episode Helpless, he's still loyal and faithful to Buffy and the gang.

ANGEL: Despite being killed at the end of the last season, Angel manages to return and reintegrate himself back into present day society. Him and Buffy are more fragile and awkward around each other, yet try to rebuild their relationship with little success. Their breakup is a hard scene for fans, but right. Angel has to move on. He's served his purpose and now must keep moving forward on his own. To a better and brighter future. Their parting scene in Graduation Day II is iconic and very poignant of the characters.

RECURRING CHARACTERS: Joyce becomes much more central to some of the Scooby activity after finding out in Season 2. She isn't as ditzy as before, and provides a more motherly figure to the rest of the gang. Her performance in Band Candy was very funny. Speaking of Band Candy, Snyder also had a good season, the highlight being in that episode also. His death in the finale was particularly memorable and very deserving. We also got the first appearances of both Wesley & Anya. Wesley was much more bumbling and goofy than his character will be later on, and Anya was more distant, cold and demonic due to her sudden regression of becoming human. Both did enough to be elevated to the main cast later on. Spike & Ethan Rayne both make one off appearances again this season, and they both do really well, setting them up for future roles ahead, especially Spike.

BIG BAD (THE MAYOR & FAITH): Whilst not as good as Angelus was, The Mayor was still a solid and unique villain for Buffy to face. He's manipulative, charming, and delicious with evil all in one. He is first assisted by Mr Trick, who I really enjoyed watching, and was saddened when he was killed off so quickly. But that in turn set up Faith, the rogue slayer who is everything Buffy isn't. I loved her arc in this season, as it contains full of sadness and conflict, and a lack of a family unit to guide her morally.

FAVOURITE/LEAST FAVOURITE EPISODES: Two episodes were still stand outs of the season: Dopplegangland and Revelations. They to me were the best written and directed episodes of the run. The finale also served as a real bookend to the High School Era, Anne was a great continuation from last season's finale, and I also really rated Helpless which was a brutal dagger to Buffy & Giles's relationship.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Season 3 was another good season in the Buffy run, though not as good as Season 2 in my eyes. I liked the big poignant feel of the finale episodes, as well as the excellent cast of characters, all strong and unique in their own special way. Now though, they split as one show now becomes two.

RATING: 86% - A-





4x01 - The Freshman

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below

With their first semester at the University of California - Sunnydale almost upon them, Buffy waits in the cemetery for a vampire to rise while Willow helps her register for classes. One class they're taking together is a psychology course taught by Professor Walsh, who has an impressive reputation. Distracted with course selection for a moment, Buffy fails to notice her intended target rising out of his grave. The vampire attempts to sneak up on Buffy and Willow from behind, but the sight of their arsenal of stakes, arrows, and crosses forces him to find a meal elsewhere.

On the morning of her first day of college, Buffy finds herself overwhelmed by the sheer size of UC-Sunnydale. While wandering around in a vain attempt to find a building, Buffy bumps into Willow, who is considerably more excited with the college experience. Soon after, they find Oz standing about. Having played on campus several times with his band, Oz has gotten fairly acquainted with the setting, enough to know more than a few faces walking around. Buffy and Willow check out the library, which is enormous in comparison to Sunnydale High's. On the way there, Willow updates Buffy on what Giles and Xander have been up to over the summer. While Xander set out on a mission to drive across America, Giles has been enjoying his unemployed status. After the library, Buffy and Willow head to the bookstore. There, they meet Riley, one of Prof. Walsh's T.A.'s for the psych class they're taking. Willow impresses Riley with her present knowledge of the subject. Riley leads her over to another section of the bookstore, leaving Buffy with nothing to do but tag along. Afterwards, Buffy returns to her dorm room and meets her roommate, Kathy, who has just moved in. Although a fairly nice person, Buffy finds her to be a little too enthusiastic. She also isn't too thrilled with the Celine Dion poster that Kathy puts up on the wall. That night, Buffy learns the hard way that Kathy is an obnoxiously loud sleeper.

The next day, Buffy attends a pop culture class that she hasn't registered for yet. While asking a nearby student if there are any openings left in the class, Buffy attracts the attention of Prof. Riegert, who makes it crystal clear that Buffy has no chance of getting into the class. He then orders her to leave the room immediately. On her way to psych class, Buffy runs into Riley just outside the classroom. Although he remembers Willow perfectly, Riley has trouble recalling meeting Buffy the previous day, let alone her name. Inside, Buffy takes a seat next to Willow and Oz. At the start of class, Prof. Walsh informs the students that her class is anything but a blow-off course. Later that night, Buffy meets another student by the name of Eddie. Besides taking Psych 105 together, what Buffy and Eddie also have in common is their general discomfort with college life so far. While they walk towards their respective dorm rooms, Buffy and Eddie discuss security blankets that get them through the daily grind. For Eddie, it's a copy of "Of Human Bondage" that he always keeps near his bed. After they part ways, Eddie has an unfortunate run-in with a gang of vampires, led by a blonde named Sunday. Shortly after, the vampires rob Eddie's room of all of his belongings. They leave a forged good-bye note on the bed before splitting.

At psych class the next day, Buffy tries to find Eddie in the class, but to no avail. She goes to Eddie's residence hall. Eddie's R.A. takes Buffy to the room and shows her the space that's completely empty, save for the note on the bed. Buffy reads the note while the R.A. tells her that it's fairly common for some freshman to take off this early. Before she leaves, Buffy finds Eddie's copy of "Of Human Bondage" in his nightstand. Meanwhile, Sunday and her vampire lackeys sift through Eddie's stuff. Disappointed with their findings, Sunday decides that she needs someone else to find a better victim, and the just-turned Eddie is her choice for the job. She heads to Giles' apartment for help, but soon learns that Giles is not alone in the apartment. Dressed only in one of Giles' dress shirts, an old friend named Olivia greets Buffy as she enters the apartment. When Giles steps out, Olivia leaves the two of them alone in the living room. Buffy tells Giles about the missing student. In response, Giles reminds her that without a Watcher officially assigned to her anymore, Buffy will have to take care of such matters by herself. Later that night, Buffy sees Eddie walking around the campus. When she catches up with him, Buffy realizes Eddie is no longer the human student she met the previous night. After a short fight, Buffy finishes Eddie with a stake to the heart. The Slayer soon realizes that she has an audience. Spinning around, Buffy meets Sunday. While the rest of the vampire gang surrounds Buffy, Sunday battles the Slayer one-on-one. In no time, Buffy realizes that this fight is much more difficult than she expected it to be. When Sunday gains the upper hand by snapping her opponent's left arm, Buffy decides to retreat. That night, the unbearable pain in her arm makes it impossible for Buffy to sleep.

The next morning, Buffy sees Willow and Oz having a pleasant conversation with another student. Instead of joining her friends, Buffy turns the other way and heads home. Joyce is surprised to see her daughter home this early in the semester. After Buffy learns that her room has been filled with her mother's crates from the gallery, the phone rings in the kitchen. Buffy answers the phone, but no voice comes from the other end of the line. Buffy hangs up and goes back to her dorm room, only to find that all of her stuff has been stolen. A goodbye note similar to Eddie's rests on her bed. Down in the dumps, Buffy heads to the Bronze. For a split second, Buffy thinks she sees Angel standing at the bar, but a second glance reveals it to be a complete stranger. Suddenly, Xander surprises Buffy with his unannounced presence. Xander tells Buffy the story of his summer vacation, which involved a road trip that pretty much never happened, his car dying in the middle of nowhere, and a job at a ladies' club that, for one evening, forced Xander to join the ranks of male strippers. Realizing that Buffy shouldn't even be in the Bronze, Xander gets her to confess her troubles at school. Knowing that her self-confidence is shot, Xander tells Buffy that she's been nothing but a magnificent inspiration and that he considers Buffy his hero. With her spirits lifted, Buffy uses Xander's assistance to track down Sunday to an abandoned fraternity house. They spy on the vampires through a skylight on the roof. Unable to see her weapons chest, Buffy sends Xander back to her dorm room to retrieve the necessary equipment. After Xander takes off, the skylight gives way under Buffy's weight, sending the Slayer down onto the hard floor below.

While Buffy tries to fight Sunday again, Willow and Oz read the note on Buffy's bed while Kathy wonders what's going on. Fearing that they somehow drove Buffy away, Willow drowns herself in guilt. Xander suddenly arrives and subtly hints to Willow and Oz that Buffy is in trouble. Unable to find the weapons chest in the room, they head for Willow's room to get supplies. Back at the frat house, Buffy spots her weapons chest in the corner of the room. Before she can reach it, Sunday steps in front of her and holds up the Class Protector award. When Sunday breaks it, Buffy goes into overdrive, using a flurry of kicks and one-armed attacks on the hapless vampire. The rest of the gang tries to make a run for it, but Xander, Willow, and Oz arrive just in time to reduce them to dust. After taking the fight out of Sunday, Buffy sends the vampire flying across the room with a punch from the same arm that Sunday thought was broken. Xander, Willow, and Oz watch as Buffy hurls a stake right through Sunday's heart. After gathering all of Buffy's stuff, the gang heads outside to see Giles running towards them, carrying several weapons in his arms. Giles apologizes to Buffy for trying to teach her a lesson in independence. He vows to help the Slayer out in any fight that comes her way. While the gang heads back to Buffy's dorm room, one of Sunday's vampire lackeys that managed to escape roams through the park.

Suddenly, he is hit by a couple of taser shots. The electric volts send him to the ground, immobilized. As the vampire watches, an anonymous team approaches him, dressed in black and carrying rifles.


This is a solid opener to the season. I don't think it's the best, but it certainly handles its themes and messages very well, as well as throwing Buffy into a new world that she's not really prepared for. Sarah is great here, as her new world affects her slaying, and puts her against a very dangerous villain.

The Villain of the week here is very good. Summer is fast, verbally nasty, and a real opposing threat to Buffy. It's really when Buffy shakes herself off that she proves to be a worthy match to her. I liked the actress here, and I think she did a really good job playing a very nasty bad girl. Very relatable also.

It's incredibly interesting seeing Buffy react to college life. She's nowhere near as prepared to that of high school. Completely sideswiped by the changes and new people with their own self-belief and built-in confidence that Buffy may not have. I love all the different egos and cliques that come up which is very relatable to college life.

Rating - 86% - A-





1x01 - City Of

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
Angel drunkenly slumps at the bar of a dive in downtown Los Angeles, growing maudlin about a lost love, when he notices three guys leave the bar with two women, Janice and Laura. His drunken facade fading, Angel unobtrusively follows them out. In the dark alley, Angel kills the three men, who are revealed to be vampires. One of the frightened girls, Janice, bleeding from a minor head wound, tries to thank him, but Angel, fixated on the blood, warns them harshly to get away from him, and strides down the dark alley.

Angel makes his way to his new home, a basement apartment beneath a ground floor office, where he finds Doyle waiting for him. Doyle introduces himself, explaining he's half human, half demon, then recaps the story of Angel's life, ending with his recent, painful breakup with the Slayer and his subsequent move to L.A.. Doyle explains that Angel's isolation, combined with the fact that he recently drank human blood, puts him at serious risk of relapse. Doyle gets visions from The Powers That Be (accompanied by debilitating headaches) regarding people whose lives Angel must touch; true redemption lies not just in saving lives, but in saving souls as well. Doyle concludes by handing over a scrap of paper on which he's jotted information about a young woman named Tina. When Angel asks why Tina needs him, Doyle replies that getting involved in her life enough to figure that out is Angel's first order of business.

Angel finds Tina during her shift and manages to persuade her to meet him after work. Waiting by his car, Angel is surprised to see her in elegant evening dress, and even more surprised when she pulls pepper spray from her purse. Tina accuses Angel of being employed by someone named Russell, but he slowly convinces her to accept his offer of a lift to the "fabulous Hollywood party" she plans to attend. When they arrive, Angel runs into Cordelia Chase, whom he last saw at her graduation ceremony at Sunnydale High some months earlier. After a short chat during which she brags about how successful she is, Cordelia leaves, saying that she needs to be talking to "people that are somebody". Angel, slightly offended, walks away saying that "It's nice to see that she's grown as a person." Angel sees a man harassing Tina and asks about him. She tells him that he's Stacy, a creep, and says that she would like to leave. On their way into the parking garage, Angel fights off Stacy and his goons.

Meanwhile, in her dingy apartment, Cordelia hangs up her one dress and nibbles snacks she stole from the party because she couldn't afford food, while listening to her talent agent's discouraging phone message. After Tina falls asleep, Angel spends the night on the public library's computers, searching for information about Tina's friend Denise, who disappeared after becoming involved with Russell. The next morning, Angel tells Tina he believes her friend Denise was murdered. As she listens, Tina suddenly spots Doyle's note listing her name and workplace, and, convinced afresh that Angel has been running some scam for Russell, panics and runs. Angel tries to grab her at the building's entrance, but sunlight burns his hand, causing him to turn vampirish reflexively. In stark terror, Tina flees.

Russell finds Tina when she returns to her apartment to pack. She allows herself to be drawn into his arms; however Russell is actually a vampire and bites her. Angel races to the rescue, only to find Tina dead, marks of vampire predation livid on her throat. Russell meets with a young lawyer from Wolfram & Hart to discuss his airtight (fictitious) alibi in the matter of Tina's unfortunate demise, and orders the lawyer to bring him Cordelia, whom he has selected as his next victim.

Angel tracks down Stacy and interrogates him until he reveals Winters' location, then persuades a reluctant Doyle to help him avenge Tina's death. Excited by her limo ride to meet the Russell Winters, Cordelia is impressed by his ornate mansion. After a servant ushers her into Russell's den, Cordelia promptly spills the story of her life to her seemingly sympathetic host - until she notices the unusually heavy drapes and lack of mirrors, and concludes aloud that Winters is a vampire. Winters vamps and reaches for Cordelia, who flees. Angel has arrived just in time, though, and rescues her.

The next day, Angel stalks into a top floor conference room at Russell Winters Enterprises, where Winters is conducting a meeting with his lawyers from Wolfram & Hart. Not impressed by Winters' claim that he can do whatever he wants in L.A., Angel asks the CEO if he can fly, then forcefully kicks his executive chair through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Exposed to direct sunlight, a screaming Winters bursts into flame and disintegrates to dust in mid-air. The chair, scorched and empty, smashes to the sidewalk below. As Angel calmly departs, the young Wolfram & Hart lawyer uses his cell phone to report that, although the Senior Partners needn't be disturbed just yet, there seems to be a "new player in town."

Back at home, Angel despondently calls Buffy, but when he hears her voice, hangs up without speaking. Later, Cordelia proposes that they put a sign out front and go into the business of saving souls as a team—at least until her "inevitable stardom" materializes. Doyle observes many people in L.A. need help and asks Angel if he's game. Angel stands alone atop a skyscraper, looking out over the bustling L.A. nightscape, and responds, "I'm game."


This is a brilliant wonderful pilot which sets out the mission statement so clearly and creatively. Whether you're coming from Buffy, or jumping into this first time, you understand the world, its rules, and the players very quickly. It's wonderful. Rich with tone and mood, painting L.A. like a tragic figure, wounding and in stress.

The story is well told too. Full of twists & turns at every stop. Characters are not certain, and Angel finds himself in an environment striped of all the safety wheels. L.A is not Sunnydale by any stretch of the imagination. It's a bleak story also. Not everyone makes it out alive. Not everyone gets a happy ending.

You have your villain of the week Russell who is pretty chilling and predatory. He's also tough enough to take on Angel and overpower him at points. We're also introduced to our long term villain Wolfham & Heart which is pure genius: An evil, supernatrual law firm representing all the evil of the known universe. Pretty clever idea.

Overall, a great pilot. Almost perfect even. Definitely a strong start to a brilliant spin off.

Rating - 96% - A





4x02 - Living Conditions

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
After hearing Cher's "Believe" for the umpteenth consecutive time, Buffy decides it's time for her nightly patrol. She tells Kathy that she's going out for a cup of coffee. Before Buffy can make it out of the room, Kathy mentions that some of the milk in their fridge is missing. Buffy confesses and takes off from Stevenson Hall. Outside, Buffy meets up with Willow, who listens to her friend talk about the trials of living with a new roommate. While Buffy and Willow part ways, a demon with orange wrinkled skin and glowing green eyes watches from behind the bushes. A sound nearby kicks Buffy into alert mode, but she soon realizes that it's only Kathy, who has decided to join Buffy for a drink. Suddenly, Buffy hears what is undoubtedly a growl. She pushes Kathy out of the way just as a demon attacks her. Buffy fights back, finally forcing the demon to retreat. As Buffy helps an unsuspecting Kathy out of the bushes, the demon rejoins his partner. They believe that they have finally found the one they've been after.

The next day, Buffy visits Giles at his apartment. After she describes the demon to Giles, he wonders why Buffy is there instead of at school. Buffy admits that she's staying out of the dorm until Kathy goes to class. Meanwhile, Kathy futilely attempts to remove the stains on her sweater from the previous night. Giving up, she decides to take a look through Buffy's closet. Kathy finds a sweater to her liking, then notices Buffy's weapons bag on the floor of the closet. Later, Buffy cuts into the cafeteria line in an attempt to avoid Kathy, who is standing further down the line. The student whom Buffy cut off, Parker, decides to introduce himself. He gives Buffy a lesson on how to effectively utilize their meal cards. At the end of the line, Parker heads towards his friend's table, while Buffy joins Willow, Oz, and Xander at the other end of the dining room. During their conversation, Kathy takes it upon herself to join the group at their table, uninvited. Buffy quickly recognizes what Kathy's wearing, who believes that it's only fair since Buffy caused the stains on her own sweater. As Kathy tells the others about herself, Buffy watches in horror as a glob of ketchup falls from Kathy's hamburger onto the sweater. That night, Willow tries to talk on the telephone while her roommate throws a party at the same time. On the other end of the line, Buffy throws out more complaints about her roommate. Hearing Kathy just outside the door, Buffy hangs up. While Kathy sits on the bed and flosses her teeth, Buffy tries to fit her apple into the stuffed fridge, in which every item is labeled with Kathy's name, including each individual egg. When Buffy turns around, she realizes that Kathy has closed her window. Buffy opens it back up and hits the sack. After falling asleep, Buffy has a dream about a demon placing a scorpion on her stomach, pouring blood down her throat, and sucking a mysterious light out of her mouth.

In the morning, Buffy tells Giles and the others about her dream. Kathy appears and tells them about a dream she had the previous night. While Giles and the gang are shocked to hear a description of the exact same dream, Buffy is more concerned with her growing irritation and hatred for Kathy. Later that night, the two green-eyed demons stand before a fire and begin to summon another named Tapparich. When Buffy returns to her dorm room, she finds Parker talking to Kathy inside. Apparently, they have been talking and getting to know each other for quite some time before Buffy walked in. After Parker leaves, Buffy and Kathy face off once again. This time, Buffy decides to help herself to as much of Kathy's carton of milk as she can handle. Elsewhere, Willow worries about Buffy steady change in personality. Oz tells her that he'll go find Buffy and see what's up. On his way to Buffy's patrol route, Oz passes by a group of students. One of them, a short girl, draws Oz's attention for a brief moment. As Oz looks back, the girl also does a double take with Oz, sensing something. Figuring it's nothing, Oz continues forward, failing to notice the army of rifle-carrying soldiers running towards the girl and her friends. During the patrol, Buffy tries to put her hatred for Kathy into words, but she only ends up destroying a park bench with a kick of pure hatred. Before going to bed, Buffy tries to get some reading homework done. However, Kathy's toenail clipping proves way more distracting than it should be. In retaliation, Buffy starts tapping her pencil. What follows is Cher's "Believe", Buffy's earmuffs, and the torturous crunching of Kathy's hard-boiled egg shell. Having had enough, Buffy goes to bed and has the same nightmare she had the previous night.

Buffy wakes up the next morning to see Kathy squirming in her bed, apparently having the same dream. Later, Willow talks to Kathy in the dorm hallway about Buffy. Seeing Buffy approaching, Kathy takes off. Willow then listens in fearful concern as Buffy declares that Kathy is evil and must be killed. Buffy tries to explain that she took a sample of Kathy's toenail clippings and realized that they continued to grow by themselves. However, Willow has already concluded that her friend has gone off the deep end. Willow tells her to talk to Giles, then calls him up to warn him of Buffy's arrival. Buffy enters Giles' apartment and is greeted by a falling net from above. Giles, Xander, and Oz rush out to restrain Buffy with ropes, fearing that her murder plan must be stopped at all costs. Buffy leads Giles to the toenail clippings in her bag and tries to convince them that she's right. However, Giles believes that Buffy has been possessed by the demon she fought in the woods. While Xander and Oz take positions as watch guards over the restrained Slayer, Willow tries to warn Kathy about Buffy's intentions. Kathy's response of Buffy's come-uppance only scares Willow more, and she leaves shortly after getting a call from Oz. Back at the apartment, Buffy frees herself from the ropes and tricks Xander and Oz into coming close enough for her to knock them out.

Buffy returns to the dorm room in hopes of finishing Kathy once and for all. When Kathy lands a hard backhand against her roommate's face, Buffy grabs her by the face and pulls with all her might. The human skin comes off, revealing the same kind of demon that Buffy encountered several nights ago. While they battle, Xander and Oz regain consciousness just as Willow arrives at the apartment. Back at the dorm, Kathy informs Buffy that she escaped from another dimension, and now her elders have followed her in hopes of bringing her back. The only way they can recognize one of their own is by sensing the absence of a soul, so Kathy has been sucking out Buffy's soul the past few nights. Giles learns of this Ritual of Mok'tagar through research and quickly checks the toenail clippings. Confirming their continuing growth, Giles goes out into the living room to tell Willow, Xander, and Oz what he has learned. Since Buffy has already escaped, Giles decides that he and Willow must perform a spell that will reverse the effects of the ritual. While Xander and Oz head towards the dorm, Buffy and Kathy tear up their room in the name of beating the crap out of each other. Just as Kathy attempts to finish her assimilation of Buffy's soul, Giles and Willow complete the spell. Buffy's soul leaves Kathy and returns to its original host. Suddenly, the demon Tapparich appears in their dorm room. Kathy tries to plead her case, but Tapparich has heard enough. He opens a portal that sucks Kathy and himself back into their own dimension.

Now that Kathy is officially no longer a student at UC-Sunnydale, Willow decides to leave her party-crazed roommate and move in with Buffy. Things are finally looking up, although a forbidden bite from Buffy's sandwich drives the Slayer to focus her evil eye on Willow.


This was a serious downgrade on an episode from the premiere. I found this to be way too comedic and dull at times. It's perfectly fine to do a hellish roommate episode, but with Buffy, I felt more fun and mystery could've been added to spice the episode up more.

There was also a lack of an intimidating villain, hoping more to play into the idea that Buffy is going mad, which they never resolved might I add. It's possible that Buffy might just be a little OCD perhaps, but nothing came out of it.

Rating - 68% - B





1x02 - Lonely Hearts

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
At the office, Angel sits in the dark, alone. He blinks when the lights come on and Doyle arrives, with a Friday-night plan for the three of them to go out together. He wants Angel to get out but also wants him to put in a good word for him with Cordelia without letting her know he's half-demon. Shortly after Cordelia arrives with a box of the calling cards she had printed up for Angel Investigations. Doyle is seized by a vision of a night club, and they all go to the club.

Meanwhile at D'Oblique, the club in Doyle's vision, the lonely and desperate Sharon and Kevin meet and leave the club together, just after the Angel Investigations team arrives. Cordelia immediately begins to pass around Angel's business cards until Doyle stops her, cautioning her to stay "under the radar". Angel makes no progress with people near the bar or the bartender until a woman named Kate asks if he's all right. They awkwardly strike up a conversation, and despite a slow start, Angel and Kate find they have some things in common. Across the room, a guy mockingly speculates that the AI calling cards give Cordelia's number for services of a more personal kind. Cordelia is indignant and Doyle tries to stand up for her, but the guy is backed up by his friend, so Doyle stops negotiating and wades in. Having just declined Kate's invitation to go someplace quieter (making Kate suddenly very frosty), Angel charges into the fight and thrashes both guys, before the bartender kicks the guys out.

The next morning after spending the night with Kevin, Sharon calmly gets dressed, unperturbed by the bloody sheets and Kevin's dead body on the bed. At the office, the team spends the day researching any past incidents connected to D'Oblique. Their search turns up a badly mutilated woman and an eviscerated man. While Doyle and Cordelia look for more links, Angel goes back to D'Oblique to see if he can spot the killer. On his way in, Angel bumps into Kate, who takes umbrage when he tries to warn her of a suspiciously non-specific danger. Inside, Angel finds out that Kevin disappeared after going home with Sharon. He finds her in the phone book and runs straight to her place to try to prevent the next murder. Angel arrives at the apartment just in time to see that Sharon is dead while Neil, the geeky guy she took home, is alive and hosting a parasitic demon. Angel and the demon fight, but it gets away just as Kate arrives and finds Angel at the crime scene. Pulling a gun on Angel, Kate reveals she's a detective with the LAPD, and tries to arrest him. Knowing Kate won't be convinced he's not the killer, Angel breaks away and dives out the third floor window. Meanwhile, the demon goes back to D'Oblique. As dawn approaches, Angel makes his way to Cordelia's dingy apartment, not knowing that Kate has gone to illegally search his own place. Waking Cordelia and Doyle, Angel asks them to research eviscerating burrowers—demons that move from body to body, endlessly seeking the perfect one to live in forever. They discover their burrower is vulnerable to fire. Seeking help to destroy the powerful demon, Angel calls Kate and requests a meeting to prove that he isn't the killer. That night at the club, Kate asks the bartender to notify her when Angel arrives. A few minutes later the bartender tells Kate he thinks Angel is out back but, when they get there, the bartender smashes a wine bottle into the back of Kate's head. Angel arrives just in time to keep the burrower demon from transferring to Kate's body, forcing it back inside the bartender. Though weakening, the bartender host is still strong enough to fight Angel until Kate recovers. Then, not wanting to deal with them both at once, the demon tosses Kate and Angel down into the basement and locks them in.

While the demon cruises for a fresh, undamaged body, Kate and Angel escape the basement and split up to search. Angel locates the bartender first and again battles the demon in its bartender host, which is still strong enough to injure Angel. Angel barely manages to throw the demon into a nearby burn barrel before collapsing to the pavement. Engulfed in flames and howling, the demon lurches purposefully toward Angel, who is on the ground and unable to move. Circling back, Kate arrives just in time to shoot the bartender, knocking him to the ground and halting the attack on Angel. After more police and emergency services arrive on scene, Kate gets a moment alone with Angel. She admits that she never would have guessed the bartender was the killer and thanks Angel for saving her life earlier. Agreeing that the bartender had ample opportunity, Angel makes no mention of a body-hopping, parasitic demon being the real killer. After Angel thanks Kate for saving his life as well, she apologizes for searching his apartment. She wants the two of them to start over from the beginning with no secrets between them; Angel pauses almost imperceptibly, then agrees. He offers her his new business card and invites her to call if she has future problems, then characteristically disappears when her back is turned.

At the office, Angel generously and very awkwardly suggests that the three of them go out together, but is deeply relieved and gratified when Cordelia and Doyle instead take pity on him and leave him to brood in the dark, alone.


I really enjoyed this episode immensely. For one, it's a brave and brilliant portrait on loneliness inside a major city like Los Angeles. As someone that can easily relate to this, I was really attached to this story link and found it sad at points, especially as I think many people can relate very easily.

With that, we get the introduction of Kate Lockley, a recurring character who will play a crucial role in Angel establishing himself in L.A. In this episode, she's uncertain, disguised, and leaves the audience guessing. But as you learn more about her, you're hopeful that she'll be moved over to Angel's side. Elisabeth Rohm's performance is spot on and serious, and definitely one of the joys of this first season.

There's also a terrific montage using the song Touched by VAST. It's small but really good at establishing time, tone, and the unpredictability of the villain in this particular episode. The villain here is good, and very hard to predict at several points in the story. And one that is a great metaphor to sex and connections.


Rating - 92% - A





4x03 - The Harsh Light Of Day

WARNING: "Spoilers" spoilers below
While Dingoes Ate My Baby performs onstage at the Bronze, Willow listens to Buffy discuss her relationship with Parker, who is playing a game of pool not too far away. On his way out, Parker offers to walk Buffy back to the dorm, and she readily accepts. Outside, while Devon and Oz load their equipment into the van, Willow encounters Harmony for the first time since graduation. Suddenly, a sharp pain strikes Willow's neck as she discovers that Harmony is now a vampire, feeding off of her former classmate. Before Harmony can take too much blood, Oz pulls her off of Willow, who immediately raises her cross. Harmony takes off, but not before warning Willow and Oz that her own boyfriend is going to be fairly upset. Meanwhile, Parker and Buffy discuss their pasts while walking to Stevenson Hall. When Parker notices the scar on her neck, Buffy tosses out a cover story about an angry puppy. Parker then tells Buffy that his father died a year ago. Stopping for a moment, Parker asks Buffy to join him at an upcoming party at one of the frat houses. Upon finally arriving at room 214 in Stevenson Hall, Parker and Buffy move in for a goodbye kiss. Their lips never touch, for Oz and Willow rush down the hallway to tell Buffy about Harmony. After Parker leaves, Willow describes the event while Oz cleans the wound and applies a band-aid. Little do they know that Harmony's boyfriend is none other than Spike.

The next morning, deep beneath the streets of Sunnydale, Spike goes over the city plans, planning his next course of tunneling. Frustrated and bored, Harmony persuades Spike to take her to a party for some fresh food. Later that night, while working a part-time job at Giles' apartment, Xander gets a surprise visit from Anya. Under the impression that they're a couple, Anya tells Xander about his constant presence in her dreams. Shocked and confused, Xander tries to convince Anya that they don't have a relationship. At the party, Parker and Buffy run into Spike and Harmony. After some brief introductions, Spike flees the scene. Buffy follows him outside and gets into a sparring-and-trash-talking session. Harmony arrives shortly, explaining that Drusilla left Spike once again. Before Spike can retreat, Harmony mentions the Gem of Amara. Furious, Spike grabs Harmony and leaves. Buffy heads to the nearest phone and calls Giles to tell him about Spike, Harmony, and the Gem of Amara. Giles describes the gem as "the vampire equivalent of the Holy Grail", but he also explains that it doesn't actually exist. While Buffy heads back inside to find Parker, Anya visits Xander once again, this time in the basement of his house. When Xander reaches into the fridge to offer her a drink, Anya drops her dress to the floor while his back is turned. Paralyzed by what he sees after turning back around, Xander can only listen as Anya describes her plan to get him out of her mind once and for all: to have sexual intercourse with him. Xander tries to resist, but he soon crumbles and gives in to Anya's demands. Back at the party, Parker talks to Buffy about his beliefs on fate. Going with her instincts, Buffy passionately kisses Parker, then follows him back to his room for the night.

Buffy wakes up the next morning to find that she's alone in Parker's bed. As she tries to gather all of her clothes, Parker walks in with a few cups of coffee. Before Buffy leaves, Parker promises to give her a call later in the day. Buffy returns to her room, only to find Giles at the computer with Willow. Giles brings Buffy up-to-speed on his research concerning the Gem of Amara. From what he's learned, the gem may not only be real, but it could also be located in Sunnydale. After Giles leaves, Willow demands details about Buffy's night with Parker. At the Harris residence, Anya tells Xander that she's finally over him. When Xander mutters a simple "okay", Anya gets upset and leaves. Meanwhile, Harmony wakes up Spike by writing a love note on his back. In the tunnel, Spike and his vampire cohorts realize that they're close to the crypt they're looking for. As hours, then days, go by, Buffy constantly checks her answering machine, never getting a single message from Parker, while Spike finally drills through the ground of the crypt.

Inside the crypt, Spike approaches a beautiful necklace with a shining emerald in the middle of the room. While he puts it on, Harmony tries on various rings and tiaras. Spike reaches for a nearby cross, believing that the Gem of Amara has rendered him invincible to all vampire weaknesses. However, a burning pain accompanies Spike's handling of the cross. Fed up with Harmony's constant rambling, Spike tries to dust her with a make-shift stake. However, the hole in her chest quickly reseals. Spike immediately identifies the Gem of Amara on the ring that Harmony put on. He takes it from her and heads up to the surface, where the sun is still shining. While walking around campus, Buffy finds Parker telling the story of his deceased father to another pretty girl. Pulling him aside, Buffy tries to find out what's been going on. Parker informs Buffy that she mistook a little fun for a serious commitment. Crushed and dejected, Buffy watches Parker as he walks off. A familiar voice gets Buffy's attention, and she turns just in time to see Spike's fist. While they fight, Giles and the others follow a lead from a news report to the tunnels beneath Sunnydale, while Xander goes to Stevenson Hall to find Buffy. There, he runs into Anya, who he quickly brushes off due to current circumstances regarding Buffy's whereabouts. Underground, Giles, Willow, and Oz question a distraught Harmony, but she flees before divulging Spike's location. Back above ground, Spike assaults Buffy both physically and verbally, ridiculing her failed relationship with Parker by likening it to the aftermath of her passionate night with Angel. Xander finds them and tries to help out, but Spike handles him effortlessly by throwing him into a nearby post. Buffy finally gains the upper hand and removes the Gem of Amara, causing Spike to suddenly retreat from the burning rays of sunlight.

Back at Giles' apartment, Buffy announces her decision to give the Gem of Amara to Angel. With a planned gig in Los Angeles, Oz agrees to take the ring with him. Later that night, Buffy tries to figure out with Willow what went wrong between Parker and herself. Deciding she needs some time alone, Buffy lets Willow go an ahead to the dorm room. Buffy silently walks down the sidewalks of UC-Sunnydale, confused and dejected. Unbeknownst to Buffy, Anya and Harmony are doing the exact same thing. As the moon illuminates the otherwise dark campus, the lonely trio continues along, their paths never crossing.


We had two returns in this episode: Spike & Anya. Spike obviously was the bad of this episode, and as always, James Masters absolutely rocks in this role. Harmony is his new girlfriend and they work really well off one another. Anya is also back in this episode, and is funny in her own unique way.

A brutal twist comes with the Parker story, and it's very effective. You see Parker for who he truly is, and it makes Buffy feel so small and so weak as a result. It gets into her head how stupid and manipulative he really was, and how screwed over Buffy feels. The fight sequence with Buffy & Spike is good, but not as exciting as I once remember. The whole episode as a whole isn't as good as I first recalled. But it never the less ties into the next Angel episode very well.

Rating - 85% - A-





1x03 - In The Dark

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
A young woman, Rachel, runs down a dark alley, looking frantically over her shoulder for signs of pursuit, but no one is there. Puzzled, she stops and hides, then stands, looking back the way she came. Suddenly, a man, Lenny, grabs her from behind, threatens her, and slaps her to the ground. Telling her he can't take it anymore, Rachel's strung-out boyfriend Lenny points a gun at her head and starts to pull the trigger. Appearing out of nowhere, Angel grabs Lenny's gun hand, knocking his arm up and sending the shot high. Angel effortlessly disarms Lenny, then knocks him unconscious with one brutal punch. Standing on the rooftop of a neighboring building, Spike watches Rachel thank Angel in the alley below and improvises a cheesy narration for their gestures.

Listening to an L.A. radio station, Oz parks his van in front of Angel's building. Inside, Cordelia gleefully prints up an invoice for Rachel, their first paying customer. When Oz opens the door and walks in, Cordelia is thrilled to see her old Sunnydale friend. After Angel and Oz's laconic greetings, Oz holds a ring out to Angel. He recognizes it as the Gem of Amara. Doyle explains that the ring is a priceless talisman which "renders the wearer one hundred percent unkillable, if he's a vampire" meaning Angel could, among other things, go out into daylight. Oz tells Angel that Buffy wanted him to have it. He also says that she's doing good, "just being Buffy." As the others leave to go to a pub, Angel stays behind to hide the ring under a loose brick in one of the sewer tunnels.

The next morning at the Angel Investigations offices, a tearful Rachel phones during Angel's tai chi practice to say that Lenny has been released on a technicality. Angel promises to be right over. Before he can get into his car, Spike springs an ambush in the parking garage and the two vampires exchange a flurry of words and blows. Angel defeats Spike before Cordelia and Doyle rush in to back their friend up. Spike recognizes and greets a flustered Cordelia, then threatens Angel one last time before taking off. Worried about his friends, Angel tells Cordelia she must stay with Doyle in case Spike decides to make her a target. Angel meets Rachel at her apartment, where he listens to her story, then encourages her to leave Lenny permanently.

On a tip from one of Doyle's unsavory contacts, Angel chases and corners Spike in a dead end blocked by a chain link fence. Hands locked behind his head, Spike turns and surrenders himself. Suddenly, a white-shirted figure whirling a long chain overhead appears from around the corner. Angel finds himself, abruptly, on his back on the ground, with the end of the heavy chain tightly wound around his neck, completely at the mercy of Spike's smiling henchman.

Cordelia and Doyle worry that Angel hasn't checked in. Meanwhile, he is suspended by long, manacled chains from the ceiling of a large warehouse. Spike introduces him to his captor, Marcus, a master torturer with a taste for children. With classical musical playing, the reserved vampire prepares his instruments while Spike recites highlights from Marcus' gruesome curriculum vitae. To begin, Marcus inspects Angel, inside and out, then asks what does he want. When Angel is defiant, Marcus steps over to the brazier and returns with a red-hot poker, which he abruptly rams through Angel's bared abdomen. Time passes as Marcus works into a rhythm of hurting Angel, then asking what he wants, then hurting him again.

Breaking off a stake, Spike threatens to dust Angel then and there if he doesn't talk, until Marcus points out that, knowing Spike won't kill him before learning the ring's location, Angel therefore also knows that Spike is bluffing. Spike tosses the stake to the floor. Angel takes advantage of the reprieve to tell Spike he's an idiot for believing that Marcus, a vampire, has no interest in obtaining the Gem of Amara for himself. Spike answers dismissing Marcus as a threat, deeming him too single-mindedly obsessed with the art of torture to care about anything else. In the sudden silence of the symphony coming to an end, Spike then taunts Angel about his own obsession with Buffy, recounting news of her recent rebound disaster, which causes Angel to look pained. Marcus begins the record again and Spike, rolling his eyes, leaves "to get some air." Marcus plunges another hot poker into his captive. Listening to Angel's strangled screams, Spike smiles and says, "Now that's music." Marcus shoots holes in the building's ceiling so that Angel, agonized by any movement, must stretch and hold himself at the limit of his chains to avoid the beams of sunlight.

Abandoning his fruitless search of Angel's apartment, Spike is confronted by Cordelia and Doyle, armed and waiting behind the door. Spike tells them that if they want Angel to live, they must find the ring and turn it over before sundown. Angel, meanwhile, endures the abrupt removal of two pokers and makes Marcus believe he's about to break. He lures his tormentor closer by whispering that what he most wants is forgiveness. Marcus draws near enough for Angel to make his move. Holding Spike's discarded stake between his booted feet, Angel brings his legs up high enough to plunge the jagged wooden point into Marcus' heart. Suddenly reappearing, Spike grabs Angel's feet and disarms him. Marcus punches Angel before Spike moves him out of Angel's reach. Selecting a pair of needle nose pliers, Spike chips in as Marcus resumes his interrupted torture session.

Having no more success than Spike had, Cordelia and Doyle conduct their own search for the Gem of Amara in Angel's apartment. When Cordelia complains to Doyle that her list of cliched hiding places has inexplicably failed to yield results, it finally occurs to them both to search the sewers. Cordelia is dismayed that the two seemingly have a long search ahead of them with little time. However, Doyle, letting Cordy turn into the next tunnel ahead of him, quickly and surreptitiously uses his demon senses and immediately locates the ring under the brick where Angel hid it, claiming it to be pure good luck. Now all they need is a plan.

Before sundown, they meet with Spike at the appointed spot and demand to see Angel before they reveal where they've stashed the ring. Spike reluctantly agrees and takes them to where he and Marcus are holding the now barely-conscious Angel. When Spike gloatingly admits he has no intention of going through with the trade, Doyle pulls the ring out of his pocket and throws it across the warehouse floor. Just as Spike reaches for it, he is forced to duck and roll when Oz smashes his van through the warehouse wall. From the driver's side window, Oz holds Spike and Marcus at bay with two crossbows until Cordy and Doyle can get Angel into the back of the van. Once they're safely inside, Oz floors it in reverse and the van peels away. Spike then looks for the ring only to find it has disappeared — and so has Marcus. Outside, Marcus walks out onto the street and into direct sunlight without injury. Spike angrily smashes apart Marcus's record player. He declares that, from now on, he's going to work alone, just as a small ray of sunlight sets his hair on fire. After putting the small blaze out, Spike only hopes that Angel and Marcus somehow manage to kill each other.

Doyle and Cordelia are trying to tend to Angel's injuries, however he just wants to track Marcus down and, knowing his predilection for children, believes the vampire won't have gone far. In fact, Marcus makes his way along the boardwalk until he spots a cub scout troop clustered around a vending cart. While Marcus focuses on the children, Oz drives straight down the middle of the boardwalk, using the van's speed and bulk to knock the invincible vampire flying. Cordelia shoots Marcus with a crossbow, however the ring protects him. Doyle then tries beating him back but is quickly swatted aside. Angel leaps out of the van, bursting into flame the moment sunlight touches him, and tackles Marcus off the pier, falling with him to the water below. In the shade under the boardwalk, the two vampires fight. Angel impales Marcus on a beam, but the Gem of Amara protects him — until Angel yanks the ring off his finger and Marcus crumbles to dust. Angel slides the ring onto his own hand, then steps out into the sunlight.

That evening, Angel watches the sun set. To Doyle's dismay, Angel has decided not to keep the ring. Angel tries to explain his feeling that the Gem of Amara only appears to be the redemption he seeks, and that keeping it would somehow make him forget about the many people forced to live in the darkness, needing a champion to defend them from what seeks to hurt them. Doyle is unconvinced, but sees that Angel is determined to do what he believes to be the right thing. When the last sliver of sun disappears, Angel removes the Gem of Amara and smashes it flat with a chunk of brick. Doyle then remembers that Rachel called to say "thanks, and that she found a little faith." Angel tells him he had "a pretty good day." He adds: "You know — except for the bulk of it, where I was nearly tortured to death." Together, they leave the rooftop and head down the stairs.


This is the first major crossover episode for Angel, having both Oz & Spike appear to continue the story from The Harsh Light Of Day. I found their appearance wonderful and a real early lift for the series that is allowed in order to give Angel some much-needed steam going forward. In terms of a one off villain, I thought Marcus was very good. Creepy and his intentions very sinister compared to other one offs. The final scene on the pier in particular is creepy. On the downside sadly, this episode is a tad downpar than what I remember when I was younger. Pacing doesn't quite flow and I felt that some parts of the story could have been better (More of Oz perhaps).

RATING - 87% - A-



For me, more Oz is never the answer. Honestly, I think I'm the only Buffy fan who didn't like that character.
__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.





4x04 - Fear Itself

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
While carving jack-o'-lanterns in Xander's basement, the gang discusses plans for Halloween; Buffy continues to mope over her situation with Parker. They decide to go to the Alpha-Delta house for a party. The next day at school, Buffy and Oz both express their concerns for Willow and her use of magic. Buffy spots Parker and immediately runs away. Willow follows her, explaining that she should get over it and have fun at the party that night, but Buffy thinks that Giles will want her to patrol. When Buffy goes to visit Giles, she's surprised to find him embracing the Halloween spirit. He discourages her from patrolling and encourages her to go party.

At the Alpha-Delta house, the members are getting ready for the party. One finds a symbol in an old book to paint on the floor. Anya goes to see Xander, wanting to know where their relationship is heading. He agrees that they're somewhat dating, inviting her to the party. Buffy, who skipped her psych class, visits the professor and asks for her assignment, but she receives a cold response. Riley, however, gives her the assignment, telling her to have fun on Halloween. Oz and Xander carry a sound system to the Alpha-Delta house, and Oz installs it while one guy paints the symbol from the book. Oz cuts his hand, spilling drops of his blood, which activates the ritual to summon Gachnar.

Joyce alters one of Buffy's old costumes, Little Red Riding Hood, and talks with her about how things used to be. Buffy waits outside the house for her friends, and Xander shows up dressed as James Bond. They run into Willow, dressed as Joan of Arc, and Oz, going as God. Everything at the party starts to go awry as fears begin to become real, and the fake scary objects like plastic spiders and skeletons, become alive. The gang enters the house, but they encounter several obstacles. Later, Anya arrives at the party, dressed as a bunny, but she is unable to get inside because the entrances to the house have become sealed up. She sees a girl screaming at a window, and the window then disappears from the house. Inside, Buffy tells the gang to find a way out and get help. A skeleton attacks her from behind, but after she attacks, it becomes fake again. Buffy and Willow fight over Buffy rejecting help from her friends and pushing them away, as well as Buffy and Oz arguing with Willow about her use of witchcraft. Willow insists she can safely do a guidance spell. Meanwhile, Anya goes to Giles for help.

Xander tries to talk to the gang but finds that he's become invisible to them. Willow and Oz find a staircase and head up. As they're walking, Oz begins to change into a werewolf and scratches Willow before running away from her. Xander approaches a mirror, and a head on the table behind him says that he can see him. Oz sits in a bathtub, chanting to himself that he isn't going to change. Willow conjures her spell. However, it quickly spins out of control, and she screams for help as it attacks her. Buffy, hearing Willow's cries, tries to get to her, but she falls into the basement where bodies come up from the ground and grab at her. Giles and Anya are unable to find a way inside, so Giles cuts a door using a chainsaw. While fleeing through the house, the gang ends up in the room where the mystical symbol is painted. Giles and Anya break into the room. They determine the sign on the floor to be the Mark of Gachnar, and Buffy and Giles express fear about how scary the demon looks in the illustration. Buffy destroys the symbol before Giles can tell her that destroying the symbol will bring Gachnar forth. But when the demon has manifested, it turns out to be merely a few inches in height. After a laugh at absurdity of giving in to one's fears, Buffy squashes Gachnar by stomping him with her foot. At Giles' place, the gang eats candy while Giles makes a discovery: the arcane footnote below the illustration of Gachnar in his book reads "Actual Size" .


There is some fun psychological aspects to this episode which makes it stand out to most other episodes in the season. I don't think it's as fun or entertaining as 'Halloween' back in Season 2. Neither is it paced as well, with it getting quite dull at points. That being said, it absolutely foreshadowed some upcoming stories that really shake up the season going forward.

Rating - 77% - B+





1x04 - I Fall To Pieces

WARNING: "Summary" spoilers below
As Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Angel (David Boreanaz) continue the debate of whether or not to charge for their services, Doyle (Glenn Quinn) receives a vision of yet another woman in distress. Angel pays a visit to her workplace and learns that the woman (guest star Tushka Bergen) is being terrorized by her neurosurgeon (guest star Andy Umberger) who is somehow mysteriously able to watch her every move. After some detective work, Angel and Cordelia discover that the doctor is able to disconnect appendages from his body and prey on his victims. But when the doctor pays a visit to Angel's apartment, Angel separates him - permanently. Grateful for the protection, the young woman pays the agency for its service, and a very joyous Cordy and Doyle go out to celebrate. Elisabeth Rohm guest stars.


This episode is another strong one in the early run of the season. Dealing with the theme of stalking in a very supernatural way. The villain is a real creepo, going to great lengths to harass Melissa, as well as take an issue like stalking and still make it quite terrifying for an audience to relate to. I also thought the guest character Melissa was really good, and someone much more interesting to watch, with the build up and backstory before she turns to Angel Investigations. Kate also has a good moment here, giving Angel some much needed advice on how to handle people like this neurosurgeon. But another strong edition to the show, and one that really keeps the momentum flowing.

RATING - 88% - A-





4x05 - Beer Bad

INTRO: I think we're about to reach a low point in Buffy...I mean...It's not a classic by any means.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
In the middle of her psych class, Buffy daydreams about an uncharacteristically apologetic Parker, who begs her forgiveness after a surprise vampire attack. Professor Walsh's lecture snaps Buffy back to reality, and she looks down a few rows to see Parker putting his trademark moves on yet another female victim. After class, Xander finds Buffy and Willow and tells them of his recent employment as bartender at the campus pub.

That night, Buffy stops by the pub and sees Parker entertaining a girl at one of the booths. She bumps into Riley, who gives her the lowdown on Parker's womanizing habits. Buffy pulls up a stool at the bar, where Xander is finding some difficulty getting into the groove of the job. Fed up, Buffy is getting ready to leave when she is stopped by several guys who demand her presence at their table. Seeing Parker leave the pub with his latest prize, Buffy decides to accept the guys' offer. In no time, she finds herself guzzling several glasses of beer with her newfound friends. Meanwhile, at the Bronze, Willow notices Oz's overwhelming interest in the on stage band, Shy. He is particularly drawn to the lead singer, Veruca, a familiar girl who seems to share a mutual interest in Oz. Elsewhere, a man prepares a mixture of several chemicals and stores it in a keg of Black Frost beer, the same brand that Buffy was drinking with the guys earlier.

The next morning, Willow returns to the dorm and finds Buffy deeply fascinated by their television set. On their way out to psych class, Willow has to remind her roommate to get dressed. At class, Buffy eyes a classmate eating a sandwich. Buffy snatches the sandwich and hungrily scarfs it down. Later, Oz stops by Stevenson Hall and tells Willow that he's been invited by Veruca and her band to watch their show that night. Willow opts to take a pass, leaving Oz to go alone. While Oz heads to the Bronze, Willow decides to drop by the Grotto, where she finds Parker sitting by himself. She approaches Parker and proceeds to berate him for causing Buffy so much distress. In his defense, Parker tries to explain his philosophy of short-term relationships.

As Willow settles into the conversation, Buffy throws back another round of beers with the guys at the pub. Concerned with their increasingly primal behavior, Xander forces a reluctant Buffy to call it a night and head back to the dorm. Deciding that the other guys have had enough as well, Xander asks them to pay the bill. While he collects the money, one of the guys heads to the bathroom. Moments later, he emerges as a hairy, caveman-like grunt. While he knocks Xander to the floor, the others undergo similar transformations. Xander scares them off with his lighter, then runs into the back room to warn his boss, Jack. However, Jack reveals to Xander that he made the special formula in order to get back at the pretentious students.

Back at the Grotto, Parker attempts to lure Willow into seeing things his way. On the contrary, Willow doesn't buy his act for a second. Just as she's about to leave, the caveman storm into the grotto, dragging a couple of helpless girls inside with them. Before they can escape, Willow and Parker are knocked unconscious by the rampaging savages. Meanwhile, Xander gets Giles and takes him to Buffy's dorm, hoping the beer hasn't transformed the Slayer yet. Upon entering the room, they find Buffy drawing figures on the wall and pounding her chest, although her physical features are still unchanged. Xander and Giles try to secure Buffy, but she flees from the room.

Xander tracks Buffy down outside, but their attention is soon drawn to a pillar of smoke rising from the Grotto. Buffy makes it there first, and she finds the place going down in flames. Recognizing Willow on the other side of the flames, Buffy leaps to her friend's side. Buffy then spots a window wide enough for them to escape through, so she leaps up to kick it open. The cavemen take the escape route, followed by the two girls left behind. Xander helps Willow out through the window as Buffy pushes from inside. Instead of exiting right away, Buffy picks up a large piece of wood and inspects it thoroughly. Nearby, Parker regains consciousness and begs Buffy for help. Buffy swings the wood onto Parkeršs head, knocking him back to submission. She then drags him outside.

Soon, ambulances and fire trucks arrive on the scene to save what's left of the Grotto. Xander locks the cavemen in a van, knowing that the effects of the beer will wear off in several days. In a strange reenactment of her daydream from the other day, Buffy listens to Parker asking her to forgive him. Still under the influence of Jack's formula, Buffy responds by clobbering Parker with the wood once again.


THOUGHTS: So while I really like the idea behind this episode, the execution is a bit of a flop. I don't really know why they went the direction they did at the writers table, but it wasn't a success. At least for me. Drunk Buffy was almost cringey to watch, little Giles within the episode was a let down in so many ways, and having the alegory of college students being cavemen, particulary men, can be seen as a little insulting. Plus I found the Parker story a little too obvious and perhaps anti-men?

RATING: 61% - B



I'm not a big fan of season 4 of Buffy, but it's a very mixed bag with some of the best and worst episodes. As usual, I differ from most fans as to what some of those are and I really like Beer Bad. It's just stoopid dumb fun. Not to be taken seriously (much like The Pack in season 1 which I also like) and Parker ruined every episode he was in. He was even more annoying than Riley.

I think it's been about 10 years since I last watched the series, so I might view it differently now, but that's how I remember it.

BTW, for those in the UK, E4 are going to start showing Buffy from season 1 on Monday and will be streaming all episodes from the same date.