The third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer introduced several new characters and put the old ones through some big changes. So far, the second season of this show is my favorite, but this season has plenty of great moments. It is set during the senior year of high school for all the characters, and the season takes place during the school year and ends on graduation day.

Season two ended on a cliffhanger with Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) leaving the town of Sunnydale and the future of vampire slaying was uncertain. The old crew are doing their best to keep up the tradition, but they just don’t have the same abilities as Buffy and they struggle to fend off various demons and vampires in the first episode. The town of Sunnydale sits on top of a ‘hellmouth’, which is sort of like a portal into hell and provides the town a constant supply of demons, monsters, and of course, vampires.

With this third season, the show was steadily gaining favor with fans and critics and its ratings were soaring. You can tell the quality difference between this and last season because they obviously had more money to spend per episode. As a result, the sets are bigger and more elaborate, the special effects are better, the overall look of the show has improved, and the body count per episode is higher.

This show was created by Joss Whedon and he wrote and directed several episodes for season three. Joss is a brilliant storyteller and one thing that made this show so great was the ongoing story lines. In many ways, this is like a horror soap opera set in a high school. Each episode stands on its own as a story, but also contains plenty of situations that further the ongoing plot for the season. Once you get hooked on this show, you must see every episode, otherwise you’ll miss something important in the development of the plot and characters.

This season adds on Oz (Seth Green) as a permanent cast member to play Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) boyfriend. Oz has some secrets of his own, but they aren’t show until midseason. He had previously appeared in the second season, but was popular enough to secure a recurring role. His part in the series is mostly to deliver clever one-liners and occasionally take action, but mostly Oz just sits in the background without much to do.

The two biggest additions to the cast are Faith (Eliza Dushku) and Wesley (Alexis Denisof). Faith is the new slayer in town, and she’s the opposite of Buffy in every way. She’s bloodthirsty, cold, and too independent, and her rogue nature quickly lands her in trouble as she turns into a bad influence for Buffy. Toward the end of the season, she becomes a major villain and rival to Buffy, but you could see that coming the moment Faith was introduced. Wesley is brought in as Faith’s own watcher at to replace Giles (Another Stewart Head) because The Council doesn’t approve of Giles’ father-like way of treating Buffy. Naturally, Buffy and Faith don’t have much respect for Wesley and still answer to Giles. To further complicate the mix, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) has a crush on Wesley and the feeling is mutual.

I thought Xander (Nicholas Brendon) wasn’t treated too well for most of this season. There was even an episode where he got tired of being the guy who no real skills and ended up mixed in with a bad crowd. He does play some bigger parts toward the end of the season, but it seemed like he was forced into the background like Oz.

The biggest development in this season of Buffy, besides them all graduating high school, is that the doomed romance between Buffy and Angel (David Boreanaz) must be dealt with. Angel is a vampire, although a good one, and Buffy is the vampire slayer, so they aren’t exactly a match made in heaven. After this season, Boreanaz went off to headline his own Angel show, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see him in future Buffy episodes.

This 6-disc DVD box set only has about 30-40 minutes of extra features, unless you count the handful of commentaries. There are a few little 3-minute interviews with Whedon and the writers where they talk about developing the show, and the last disc has several featurettes on the monsters, weapons, costumes, and special effects from this season.

Here’s an episode guide for this season:

Anne - The last season ended with Buffy leaving town, so in this episode it shows her working as a waitress and living in some shoddy apartment, obviously miserable with her life. When she tries to help someone who knew her from high school, Buffy uncovers a madman’s sinister plan to kill the homeless around town. I didn’t like this episode very much.

Dead Man’s Party - When Buffy comes back to Sunnydale, the crew aren’t exactly happy to see her. When a strange mask brings forth an army of zombies, the regulars must put their differences aside long enough to solve the problem.

Faith, Hope & Trick - The Faith character is introduced in this episode, plus Angel returns. A new vampire nemesis named Mr. Trick is also introduced.

Beauty and the Beasts - In this episode, the group realizes that Angel is back. The core plot involves Oz and a potential werewolf problem.

Homecoming - Buffy and Cordie compete for class homecoming queen, with hilarious and action-packed results. A house gets blown up in this episode.

Band Candy - This is one of the best episodes of the season where cursed band candy is sold to the parents and it makes them act like teenagers. Wait until you see Giles and Buffy’s mom get together.

Revelations - Some major seasonal developments take place here when the group finds out that Angel has returned and Buffy had tried to keep it a secret.

Lover’s Walk - Spike, the blonde vampire from last season, makes a great return for this episode where he bonds with Buffy’s mom over his break-up with Drusilla.

The Wish - This is an alternate reality episode where a demon makes it as if Buffy had never come to Sunnydale and the place was overrun with vampires. Willow’s vampire alter-ego was so good that they used her again in a later episode.

Amends - This is the Christmas episode where the groups must come to terms with Angel being back in the picture. Be sure to watch the credits after this episode for a variation on the Mutant Enemy logo.

Gingerbread - This episode has a twist on the Hansel and Gretel story where Buffy’s mom leads the town on a witch hunt that snares Willow and some others. This one is a little scary.

Helpless - Events in this episode are what lead to Buffy eventually breaking away from The Council and doing her own thing. The Council tries to force her into a type of initiation process, but things don’t go as planned.

The Zeppo - Xander finally gets tired of his sidekick role and decides to be a little rebellious and join in some fun with some of the bad kids. When it turns out he bad kids are actually undead, things go from bad to worse.

Bad Girls - Faith commits a murder and blows it off like nothing happened. After that, she begins her dark downward spiral that will continue until the end of the season.

Consequences - This episode carries over the story from Bad Girls where Faith refuses to show any remorse for the killing of a human. This leads her further more to the dark side when she teams up with the corrupt town mayor, who happens to be a demon with big plans for graduation day.

Dopplegangland - Willow’s evil alter-ego from The Wish comes back in this episode after a spell goes wrong. It also brings back the Anya character, who will appear in several more episodes.

Enemies - The mayor continues with his plans for what is called the ascension, where he will take on a new form. Faith tries to bait Angel and Buffy into her plans. This has a great “Hell yeah!” moment where somebody gets played.

Earshot - When some demon blood splashes on Buffy, it grants her the power to hear other people’s thoughts. At first it is all comical, but then Buffy hears of a plan to kill people at the school and it becomes a race against time to discover the would-be killer.

The Prom - This episode spends a lot of time on Buffy and Angel and what must become of them. It also involves a murderous plot to shut down the prom.

Graduation Day, Part 1 - As the mayor prepares for his ascension, tensions are high with the group because they aren’t sure if they’ll survive graduation day. Some big things happen between Buffy, Angel, and Faith in this episode.

Graduation Day, Part 2 - This season finale is explosive, to say the least. The mayor is dealt with and the future seems a little brighter for most of the players. However, Faith is still in a coma after her fight with Buffy and Angel must make a tough decision.

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My other Buffy the Vampire Slayer reviews:
Season One - http://www.epinions.com/content_161131957892
Season Two - http://www.epinions.com/content_180122586756


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV