Fan Forum - Buffy Season 3 Discussion #1: 'I'm all evil...and skanky...and I think I'm kinda gay..."

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This discussion is of Season Three:

Angel was returned to from the Hell Dimension where Buffy had sent him. Buffy kept it a secret from everyone for her own reasons. Was it a good idea? Yes and No. Yes, since she knew how everyone including Giles would react and No, because she placed them all on possible danger. In time, Angel was brought back into the Scoobies gang.

Xander & Cordelia and Oz & Willow break up over Xander and Willow kissing. Oz and Willow eventually make up but Xander and Cordelia don't. In her anger, Cordelia comes upon Anyaka (or Anya) the Vengeance Demon who grants her a wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale. (how Buffy has anything to do with Xander kissing Willow is not logical of course). Anyway, in the Wish, we see what Sunnydale would be like if Buffy had never arrived. The Bronze is a hangout for Vampires, Xander and Willow are vampires turned by the Master at the Harvest we can assume. Giles and Angel are there but not as they are supposed to be in our universe. It was an interesting look. Giles summons Anyaka, destroys her amulet and brings things back to normal.

Anya then goes to the head of the Vengeance Demons to get her powers back and he refuses so she tries to get Willow to help her do it and in the process, brings VampWillow into our universe. Dopplegangland has some funny scenes like Willow pretenting to be VampWillow pretenting to be Willow and VampWillow pretenting to be Willow. It was a nice episode and I think a couple of forshadowing regarding Willow's character.

We meet the First Evil in "Amends". The plot made little sense but that there would be this all powerful evil entity that has been around forever makes sense. Angel forgiving himself and Giles and Xander forgiving him in the end was nice.

We meet Faith, The Vampire Slayer who succeeded Kendra who was killed by Drusilla in Season Two. Buffy is at first put off by Faith's outgoing demenor and seems to be jealous of the attention that Faith is getting and is not very nice at first but later on gets used to another once again. Faith showed that she was certainly different from both Buffy and Kendra in her outlook on Slaying and most things. Faith for reasons that has never been explained referred to Buffy as "B". Not sure if its meant as a compliment or insult. Buffy is not a hard name to pronounce. No one ever called her that except for Willow once and when Buffy gave her a "Don't call me that" look, she never did it again.

Faith did not come to Sunnydale alone. Chasing her as this ancient vampire name Kakistos who has hooved feet and hands and who had killed Faith's Watcher before Faith hit him with an ax. Kakistos was not much of a Big Bad. Like the Master, was over 500 years old and he did give Buffy and Faith a good fight before Faith took him out but he should have been more of an opponent. In many Buffy novels, he is said to have been at one time like the Master having an empire in Florida where he ruled. Anyway, it was good that it was Faith that staked him.

The more we see of Faith, the more we see that she is disturbed and circumstances pushes her to the darkside. Being betrayed by Gwendolyn Post, who impersonates her Watcher and uses her in order to retrieve an ancient glove. We see the first of many times that Buffy and Faith will fight. Buffy not telling Faith about Angel also makes her feel alinated and when she kills the Deputy Mayor by accident, instead of admitting to it, she not only refuses to deal with it by tries to frame Buffy. Faith becomes more and more evil by each day. Faith clearly needs intense therapy or to be locked up. The one person who she does feel comfortable is the Mayor of Sunnydale and theirs is a relationship similar to Buffy/Giles except that they are evil. Xander loses his virginity to her and she treats him pretty badly and much later she tries to choke him after a second romp. After Faith poisons Angel with a poison that the antidote is the the blood of a Slayer which Buffy feels is just since Faith poisoned him in the first place. They fight, Buffy stabs Faith, and Faith falls and later in a coma. The shared dream that both Buffy and Faith have in the end of that was nice and I thought it was Faith's swan song and that we would never see her again. Since Faith cannot be used for her blood, Buffy subsitutes herself instead which places her in the hospital and hence her and Faith in the same dream.

We are introduced to the Watcher's Council which seems to be extremely organization (hence Giles not being informed about Kendra or Faith or that Gwendolyn Post was a fraud). The council, headed by Quentin Travers, is an organization that is so sure of its rules and regulations that it does not occur to them that those rules and regulations are either outdated or just plain dumb. Case in point was the Cruciamentum which is a test given to the Slayer on her 18th birthday. The test calls for her to be made weaken and having her fight a vampire who is strong and hungry. The Test is obsurd and proves nothing. Giles is fired because he showed concern for Buffy. Buffy will later on quit the council when they refuse to help Angel after he is poisoned.

Giles's replacement as Watcher is Wesley-Wyndam Pryce who proves himself to be as arrogant and incompetent as the rest of the council and manages to be of little help and only manages to alenate both Buffy & Faith. His intentions are good, but he obviously has never had field work and is not trained for dealing with not just one but two Slayers. We later see growth in Wesley on Angel: the Series.

The Big Bad of Season Three is Mayor Richard Wilkins, III who like the late Howard Hughes, hates germs. He wants to become a pure demon which he does right before being killed. The entire student body fights off the Mayor's henchvamps and Snyder is killed.