When we left Miss Buffy Summers, she had just killed her vampire boyfriend Angel in order to save the world from the forces of hell. Really. Bad way to end a relationship, great way to end a season of asskicking episodes. The second season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” brought changes to her allies. Her best friend Willow started experimenting with spells and witchcraft, Willow’s proto-boyfriend Oz discovers some new powers of his own, and the entire gang learned to work together as a team.

The third season brings more growth, powers, and mythology to the existing characters, while taking Buffy’s “Scooby Gang” and introducing new conflicts and new allies. So far, it seems each season has a new “uebervillain” who influences the arc of the season, and who is hopefully defeated by the end of the season. For this season, instead of a traditional vampire like the first two seasons have been, it’s a far more insidious villain—a mealymouthed bureaucratic monster who happens to be mayor of Sunnydale. His goals are uncertain until late in the season, but his influence is unmistakable.

The relationships and group dynamic changes over the course of the season. The pairs who started out as couples, including Angel/Buffy, Xander/Cordelia, and Oz/Willow, are all torn apart. Some of those relationships heal over time, but others are irreparable. As the season opens, the entire group of heroes is struggling to deal with several losses—besides Angel’s death, they recently lost Jenny Calendar, a teacher and wiccan who was dating Giles. A second Slayer, Kendra, was killed in the final episodes of Season Two, and the effect of all of these losses pushes Buffy out of Sunnydale. Several months time passes between Seasons Two and Three; Buffy has run away to Los Angeles and assumed the name “Anne.” Anne works as a waitress in a nasty diner, doing everything she can to avoid being found by her friends or taking on vampires. We know it’s not going to last, but it’s an interesting, different way to start the season. The survivors of her gang are trying to fight the vampires on their own—but Willow, Oz, Cordelia and Xander just aren’t the same as heroes as they are as sidekicks—not even with Giles as their leader.

After Buffy’s return to Sunnydale, there’s a lot of healing that has to happen. The betrayals of the previous year were many, and Buffy’s retreat to Los Angeles has left her friends and family hurting. This makes for a dark, sometimes uncomfortable beginning to the season, which is brightened later on by some new faces.

Among the new faces is Faith, a Slayer “activated” when Kendra died. She’s a brutal fighter, and has a different perspective on killing vampires and demons than Buffy does. She admits that she loves the kill, and loves using men as much as she loves staking vamps. Buffy and Faith forge an uneasy friendship, one that becomes more complicated as the season goes on.

Seeing different Slayers at work opens up the Buffyverse a bit; so does seeing other Watchers. Up until now we’ve just seen Rupert Giles, the tweedy librarian who’s easily flustered, but is ultimately a compassionate, wise leader and even a father figure for Buffy. We meet three other Watchers during this season, and learn more about the “Council of Watchers” in Britain, who oversees Slayers and their duties. One of these Watchers becomes a regular cast member, and he’s an interesting contrast with Giles.

Another new character, who becomes a semi-regular, is Anya. Anya’s more than a thousand years old, and has taken on a mission in life—to punish men who have been wronged by women. Needless to say, it’s a full-time job. Anya ends up at Sunnydale High, and the episode that introduces her is one of my favorites. One of the great things about this series so far is that they’ve fleshed out minor characters and background characters. On Star Trek (in comparison) a person might be on the Bridge in the background for years and years and you’d never know their name. On Buffy, a lot of those characters get their own arcs and scenes, and even episodes. Anya becomes one of those, and joins characters like Amy (the Witch) as characters who show up now and then to sometimes aid, sometimes antagonize, our heroes.

There are a few episodes that take us to alternate realities—and like the Star Trek “Mirror” universe, these are some fun episodes. Characters live, die, and take on entirely different personalities, but at the end of the day, we’re able to return safely to Sunnydale knowing it was all in another universe. Well, as “safely” as we can ever return to Sunnydale. One of the best (the same episode that introduced Anya) shows us a darker version of Willow—one that makes us reconsider the Willow we know, wondering if she has that evil within her as well.

The story arcs are wonderful, the stand-alone episodes are wonderful. The effects have gotten better (a gripe I had with the first season) the stunts and fights are bigger and badder. The entire season ends Buffy’s senior year at Sunnydale High with a bang—one that’s a satisfying conclusion to the season of shows, but also a great conclusion to these students’ high school years. They firmly close the door and move on—but to what?

Some of the more intriguing non-supernatural conversations Buffy and her friends have are about their future. The test scores they got, the colleges they can or can’t go to…and the sacrifices Buffy has to make because her future (or lack thereof) has already been planned. Some of her friends make sacrifices too, to continue to help her fight the Forces of Evil…others make a choice to leave Sunnydale for good.

This was a very satisfying season of television shows. I watched it in about a month’s time, and it hangs together well as a program. It has its soapy moments, but the adventure, the friendship, and the heroism of the main characters make it a series worth watching, worth remembering.

Will I continue my journey with Buffy? Will I be picking up Season Four as soon as humanly possible? What do you think?


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD