Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 7 - The Ultimate Evil

So the end has come. In its seventh and final season, Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn't at its strongest, but it still had a great story to tell, and with the knowledge that they were writing the end, the writers were able to successfully take the story full circle. In this respect, Buffy was extremely lucky; it is rare for shows to start the final season with the knowledge that it will be the last. Many times, the writers don't know until about halfway through the season. Episodic shows aren't hurt by this since they can still write a good finale, but serialzed shows like Buffy and Angel (which the writers did not know the fifth season would be the last) would prefer knowing from the beginning of the year to avoid having to wrap things up in an accelerated manner. From the season premiere, there were hints that the writers were gearing up for the end; we watched Dawn getting ready for her first day at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High (the pilot saw Buffy's first day there), and there were hints that there was something sinister going on at the school, bringing the show back to the idea of high school as hell. But if viewers didn't pick on these subtle hints, there was a bombshell at the end. In one of the series' most memorable sequences, a slightly-insane Spike is tormented by an entity that takes the shapes of the previous Big Bads, starting with Warren and working back to the Master, and ending with Buffy...

But let's begin at the beginning. Buffy is training Dawn to be able to fight for herself, since Buffy won't always be around to protect her. Xander is the foreman of the construction crew rebuilding the school, and has finally become a success at something in his life. Anya is still a vengeance demon, but it's clear that her heart is not in it. Willow is receiving rehabilitation from Giles in England after she almost destroyed the world. And Spike is hiding out in the school's basement. Getting his soul back has had a powerful effect on him; like Angel, he is having a hard time adjusting to having a conscience and knowing about all the evil things he did. But what's worse, the aforementioned entity is not making things any better for him. It torments him, and drops hints that Spike is just a pawn in a big plan.

There are also a few strange things happening that don't seem to make any sense. The cryptic phrase, "From beneath you, it devours" (or "It eats you, starting with your bottom", depending on the translation) is heard a few times, and seemingly random scenes from across the world show people in robes systematically killing defenseless young girls. After Willow leaves Giles' care, we sporadically see scenes of him in England uncovering pieces of the conspiracy, which include the Watchers Council building being blown up, and an episode ending with one of the robed figures swinging an ax at Giles' head.

The entity behind these attacks and the torment of Spike is The First Evil, which first appeared in Season 3, when it tormented Angel. We actually learn a little bit about it this time around; usually referred to as the First, it is a manifestation of all the world's evil. It is not corporeal, and cannot physically hurt anyone on its own, but it can cause harm by channeling itself through physical beings. But it is also a master of deception, persuasion, and manipulation, since it can assume the form of any being that has died. This means any dead human, any resurrected human, and any undead creature, such as vampires. It takes advantage of Andrew by appearing to him as Warren, and later as Jonathan, and Dawn is traumatized when it appears to her as her mother (sadly, Whedon planned to have it appear to Willow as Tara, but due to certain circumstances, that didn't happen). But it hurts Spike the most by appearing to him as Buffy (remember, she has died twice).

As for the girls and the robed figures, the girls are potential slayers, girls who can be called when Faith is killed (Buffy has already led to a Slayer being called), and the robed people are called Bringers, who are servants of the First. The one consequence of bringing Buffy back from the dead that no one saw coming was that it tipped the balance of good and evil in favor of good, and this allowed the First Evil to begin amassing an army to end the Slayer line once and for all (though they never explain why this didn't happen the time Xander revived Buffy with CPR, I believe that since she was brought back through natural means the first time, it didn't upset the balance). Without the Watchers Council to protect the girls anymore, Giles begins to round up the girls that he can find and bring them to the Summers house in order to be trained for the inevitable fight against the First.

The potentials were one of the aspects of the season that some people had a problem with; it was a good idea, but the execution was a bit off. I didn't dislike them the way that some people did, but I can understand that some fans thought that they could be whiny or annoying or whatever. However, there was one potential that everyone agreed on hating: Kennedy. Now, I think that Kennedy's character was doomed to be hated from the start since she was Willow's first new girlfriend since Tara. I didn't watch the episodes while they were airing, so it is not like I could have followed the relationship week to week and discussed it with other fans. I think that a fair number of people were upset that Willow was in a relationship so quickly after losing the love of her life, and I'm also certain that there were some people who would have been willing to see Tara resurrected just so that she and Willow could be together again. Personally, I didn't mind that Willow had a new girlfriend, but I absolutely hated Kennedy. Kennedy was a self-described bitch, a spoiled rich girl who would have tormented Willow in high school. She never missed an opportunity to deride Buffy (Willow's best friend) and had zero likable qualities. I was never able to understand what Willow saw in her. Wow, I am getting way too involved with this, it's a TV show!

But as Buffy's army grows, they also learn that the threat is increasing as well. The First has unleashed a group of ancient vampires unto the world; they cannot blend in with humans, which takes stealth out of the equation. But they are also stronger and tougher than normal vampires, and they do not require an invitation to enter a dwelling. And then there's Caleb. Played by Nathan Fillion (Captain Reynolds on Firefly), he is a misogynistic ex-priest who was thrown out of the church for the way he treated girls. When the First found him, they struck up a partnership; he becomes its physical entity in the world and lends him some power, giving him strength far beyond that of a normal man. Though I had seen one or two of the episodes with Caleb before I saw Firefly, I hadn't seen the full extent of his character's power or nastiness. It was a bit of a shock seeing the man I came to know as Mal Reynolds (one of my favorite fictional characters) acting as one of the creepiest villains on the show.

This year, the character of Andrew began a path to redemption that was amusing to watch. After he was captured by Buffy and her friends, he went from prisoner to the guy-who-always-hangs-around-even-if-you-wished-he'd-leave to actual comrade in arms by the season's end. In fact, the Andrew-centric (and very funny) episode "Storyteller" is rumored to have been a test to see if a spin-off could have centered around him. Faith also returned to Sunnydale this year after a brief (but exciting) arc on Angel, and there were lots of talk of her getting her own series as well. Her story in Sunnydale finally allowed her to face the demons of her past, both with Buffy and (sort of) the Mayor. She had to find a way to work with the girl she hurt so badly as well as confront the First in the form of Mayor Wilkins, which was not easy.

Spike also had to confront his past. The First was using his guilt and his memory of his mother (twisted relationship if there ever was one) to make him kill for it, but he also must face his past with Robin Wood, the new principal of Sunnydale High. The Slayer Spike killed in 1977 New York, the one from whom he stole his trademark duster, was Wood's mother. The season followed his journey from tortured to champion, in a similar fashion to Angel. By the end, even though Buffy does not love Spike, she has come to respect him, and see that anyone can change.

Though Season 7 is not my favorite, I still believe that it is how Buffy should have ended. It is still wonderful television, and shows that, even though things may not always work out the way you wish they would, there will always be hope...

Up next: Sunny Los Angeles faces perpetual darkness...

Angel: Season 3 - Son of Angel

Yeah, so that title for the post. Yeah. If Angel is a vampire, he is sterile. So did he have a son back in the 1700s that is somehow alive today (another vampire perhaps)? The flashbacks we've seen would all point to a negative answer there. All shall be explained...

After spending a few months away from Los Angeles to deal with the death of Buffy, Angel returns to find the group trying to reassimilate Fred into human society. Five years in a reality where being human means that you are lower than rats didn't do wonders for her psyche, and she is having some trouble readjusting. However, Angel's appearance seems to help, since he was the first person in five years to treat her like a person. Over the course of the first few episodes, Fred slowly regains her sanity. Overall, this is a good thing, since the crazy Fred would quickly lose a purpose on the show and the sane Fred allows for better story-telling. However, the lines said by crazy Fred are some of the most humorous of the entire show.

As usual, Wolfram and Hart were still attempting to turn Angel into Angelus, and this year, they started coming after him through Cordelia. Exploiting the fact that her visions were never meant for a human to carry, they found a way to amplify the negative effects they have on her. This was a pivotal season for Cordelia; this is the year when she truly starts to become a force for good. She receives combat training from Angel, which causes the two of them to start to fall in love. However, she also elects to become part demon in order to survive her visions. Both of these developments will have extreme consequences in the future.

However, just as Angel and Cordy begin to realize that they have feelings for each other, a major bombshell is dropped on the Angel Investigations team: Darla is back. And she's pregnant. What?! Somehow, when Angel had sex with her the previous year to vent his frustration, some sort of miracle (or anti-miracle) happened, allowing two dead things to conceive. And not only to conceive, but to create life; the baby is human, and it has a soul. And this revelation couldn't have come at a worse time, since a new (read: old) enemy returns to hunt down Angel and Darla. A 17th century vampire hunter named Daniel Holtz, who was alluded to in Season 2, has been brought to the 21st century by a time traveling demon named Sajahn, and Holtz intends to get revenge for the wrongs the vampires did to him.

Wesley also has a pivotal season, as he slowly becomes more and more detached from the group at Angel Investigations. It starts with him trying to translate and piece together a group of prophecies that deal with both the arrival of Holtz and the revelation that two vampires will conceive a child. This work keeps him awake many a long night, and he is reluctant to report on his findings once they begin to suggest that Angel is going to do something terrible. He also begins secretly meeting with Holtz and his growing group of 21st century vampire hunters, in an effort to get them to back off, since Angel and Angelus are two different people (at least in the mind of Wes and Angel). Wes also tries to avoid seeing Gunn and Fred when they become a couple, since Wesley himself pined for Fred and was unable to make a move before Gunn, despite ample opportunity (it also didn't help that he tried to kill her while under demonic influence).

Eventually, when the baby is born, Darla is forced to sacrifice herself since she would be unable to birth the baby naturally. The soul of the baby is powerful enough to affect Darla, and she once again begins to act like a human. She knows that once the baby is out, she will revert back to one of history's most dangerous vampires, and stakes herself to save the baby. Naming the baby Connor, Angel is forced to stay alert at all times to keep him safe from Holtz and Wolfram and Hart, both of whom want the baby for very different reasons.

And then it happened. This season has one of the most emotionally intense series of events involving both Wesley and Angel. It starts with Wes deciphering the prophecies to read that, "The father will kill the son", and when Angel begins to display behavior that suggests the fulfillment of the prophecy is imminent, Wesley does what he feels he must to save both Angel and Connor: he kidnaps the baby. But when he is confronted by Holtz's gang, Holtz's number two (and possible girlfriend0 Justine cuts his throat, takes Connor, and leaves Wes for dead in a park. Holtz wants Connor in order to make Angel suffer. Wolfram and Hart wants Connor to experiment on and possibly bring about Angelus. And Angel just wants his son back. These three groups meet up and a stalemate occurs; Holtz has the baby, but W&H have an army. Angel decides that he will allow Holtz to escape, since Holtz plans on keeping his son alive. But Sajahn appears and reveals that the prophecy was a lie; he altered it from the original, which said that the child of two vampires would kill Sajahn. Sajahn, who is incorporeal and unable to kill Connor himself, makes one final effort to ensure the baby's death by opening a portal to a particularly brutal hell dimension and getting Holtz to run in with Connor. Upset, Angel goes to the hospital to visit a barely-living Wesley. After putting his friend at ease, Angel then attempts to kill Wes.

Craziness. Wes' role in the rest of the season is that of a broken man who has lost everything. His friends have turned their backs on him, and he barely has a reason for living. But the darkness of his life leads to a relationship with W&H attorney Lilah Morgan, which is one of the show's most disturbing and powerful relationships; they may be enemies, and they may hate each other, but it shows how much each of them are hurting.

Meanwhile, the romance between Angel and Cordelia was put on hold when an old flame of Cordelia's returned. But even after he left, the loss of Connor has not put Angel in the mood for love. But then, miraculously, Connor returned... as a teenager. Since it has been established that time moves faster in hell dimensions, it comes as no surprise that he would be this age, but the fact that he returned is the surprising part. But he does, and he's pissed. After being raised by Holtz, he has been led to believe that Angel is the worst being on the planet (this isn't that off if applied to Angelus), and is out to kill him. However, like Fred at the beginning of the year, he is completely bewildered by human society, and begins to accept help from Angel to adjust. Sadly, a happy family is not to be, when he executes a plan to get rid of Angel forever. He and Justine seal him in a box and drop him to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, where he will live forever, but in a perpetual state of starved madness. This occurred when Angel was on his way to meet Cordelia, so that they could confess their feelings for each other. Cordelia is confronted by an agent of the Powers That Be and is offered a spot in their heavenly realm to become one of the Powers. In the final scene of the season, Cordelia ascends toward a greater purpose while Angel descends into a hell on Earth.

Season 3 ends with a lot of tragedy; Angel and Cordelia are both out of commission, Wes is an outcast from the group, Lorne has left the city, and Gunn and Fred have no idea where their friends are. This sets up the darkest season of the show, which rivals Season 6 of Buffy in bleakness (let's just say that the first Angel episode I ever saw was one of the darkest episodes of Joss Whedon's canon).

Up next: The end of Sunnydale...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 6 - Life Sucks

Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a season of firsts. It was the first season on UPN, the first season that did not have Giles as a regular character, the first season to not feature Angel (since Angel was on a rival network, crossovers weren't allowed this year; fortunately, this was changed for the final season), and the first season to not have a traditional Big Bad. Many people believed that it was the Evil Trio, while others claimed that it was Dark Willow. The person who got me into the show stated that Buffy's friends were the Big Bad. These are all valid ideas, but Joss Whedon has said that this year, the Big Bad was life itself.

Sounds a little depressing, right? This is generally considered the darkest season of the show, utilizing the darkest metaphors and plot points (there is one scene in this season that one friend of mine can't even watch). It's not hard to think that the season that begins with Buffy being dead would be a bit more heavy than what has come before; one of the show's most important messages is that all actions have consequences proportional to the action, so imagine what could result from the act of resurrection (in fact, the true ramifications won't even be explored until Season 7, but there is a doozy of one this year).

The year began by showing us what the group has been doing since Buffy's passing. Knowing that Sunnydale would become overrun with demons upon hearing the news that the Slayer was dead, they've reprogrammed the Buffybot to slay vampires and keep up the image that Buffy is alive. Giles is planning on returning to England because he feels that, since his Slayer is dead, he is no longer needed there. Unbeknownst to him, Willow and the rest of the Scooby gang are planning a spell that will bring Buffy back to life. They are afraid that, due to the nature of her death, she is suffering in a hell dimension, and they believe that they will be doing her a favor. The only person who doesn't know about this (besides Giles) is Spike, who has been fighting beside Willow, Xander, Dawn, etc. in a way to honor Buffy. When Buffy is brought back, she awakens in her coffin six feet under the ground and is forced to dig her way out. Her first few days of life seem surreal to her, and once she regains her composure, she reveals that she was in fact in heaven (or a heavenly dimension), and being back is like being in hell. The twist: she only tells this to Spike. She thanks her friends for "saving" her, knowing that the truth would only make her friends hate themselves.

So why is life the Big Bad? In addition to life feeling like hell, without Buffy's mother around, Buffy is forced to become the breadwinner to support Dawn and herself (and possibly Willow and Tara, who are living in Buffy's mom's room). A few of the early episodes show her trying to get a loan (only to have to fight a demon in the bank) and her attempt at finding a job. Eventually, she gets one at a fast food joint (interestingly enough, I first saw that episode, "Doublemeat Palace", the same day I saw the movie Supersize Me; after that, I pretty much swore off fast food). Funny trivia: the only episode that advertisers threatened to pull funding from was the one where Buffy started her job there, believing that the show was trying to send an anti-fast food message. After this, her job there was barely referenced. Buffy also began a physical relationship with Spike this year. However, unlike with Angel or Riley, she was with Spike to feel something and escape the numbness that became her life.

But Buffy wasn't the only one dealing with life getting hard. Willow's journey this season was almost as painful as Buffy's. Willow's skills as a witch continued to grow this year, and she began to abuse her abilities, using more and more for trivial things. When Tara confronts her about this abuse, Willow casts a spell on her to make her forget... twice. This causes them to break up, leading Willow spiral downwards in a drug-use metaphor. In the series' trippiest episode, Willow became so high that she almost got herself and Dawn killed, leading to Buffy and Xander losing their trust in her. Xander and Anya also experience problems when, on their wedding day, Xander gets cold feet and leaves Anya at the altar. This results in Anya becoming a vengeance demon again and creating a rift between her and the rest of the Scoobies.

If these internal problems weren't enough, the first candidates of corporeal Big Bads were a constant thorn in the side of Buffy and her friends. Jonathan Levinson, Warren Mears, and Andrew Wells, three nerdy guys (two of whom have been recurring characters in the past; originally, Tucker Wells, the boy who summoned the hellhounds on Prom Night, was going to be the leader, but when the actor who played him was unavailable, his little brother Andrew was created, and Warren became the leader, which explains why he became much more sinister than he was in Season 5) formed the Evil Trio in an attempt to take over Sunnydale. Each one has their own area of expertise; Warren is an engineer, Jonathan is an amateur sorcerer, and Andrew, like his brother, is a demon summoner. In early episodes, they come off as wannabe villains; in a flashback to their first meeting, they came together almost as a way to pass the time. However, as the season progresses, they become more and more competent. It also becomes clear that Jonathan is beginning to have doubts about how evil the trio should be, while Warren slowly becomes more and more psychotic. Andrew is sort of caught in the middle; he is not a bad person, but he is a weak person, somewhat comparable to Wormtail in the Harry Potter series. He attaches himself to people stronger and smarter than himself for protection (though one would think that he would go over to Buffy, who is much stronger than Warren). He develops an attachment to Warren (though it is never explicitly stated, there are strong indications that he is gay and attracted to Warren). Eventually, there are signs that Warren is planning something big, but when Buffy foils the plan, he escapes, leaving Jonathan and Andrew to take the punishment from the cops.

And it is Warren who brings about the other corporeal entity that could have served as Big Bad. Towards the end of the season, Willow and Tara get back together. In the episode "Seeing Red", possibly the darkest episode of the series, Tara finally achieves regular status by appearing in the opening credits. However, the episode ends with Warren showing up at the Summers home to get revenge on Buffy. He fires a gun at the Slayer and wounds her. But an errant bullet kills Tara, and causes Willow to go absolutely apeshit and go on a revenge spree (the episode is also notable for having the aforementioned scene that my friend can barely watch). The final few episodes deal with Buffy, Xander, Anya, and Giles trying to stop the deranged witch from destroying the world when one of her attempts to draw power connects her emotionally to everyone on Earth, causing her to feel the pain of the world. In one of the show's most beautiful scenes, an unlikely hero succeeds in stopping her...

In a side story in these last few episodes, Spike travels to Africa to confront a demon. You see, in this scene that I keep referring to, he attempted to rape Buffy after she refused to be physical with him any more. Obviously, this is completely shatters that fragile relationship they shared, and she tells him she never wants to see him again. In Africa, Spike performs a series of brutal trials for reasons that are never stated but alluded to be the removal of his chip. However, the last scene of the season shows the demon granting Spike his soul back. I have had debates with one of my friends over whether this was Spike's intention or not. I think that it was since he never actually said that he was trying to get his chip removed. Although many viewers would be lead to believe that his remarks about going to be able to give "the Slayer what she deserves" have to do with hurting her, they also make sense in the context of getting his soul back. However, my friend believes that no vampire would ever try to willingly get his soul back, and the demon gave him something that would allow Buffy to get what she deserved, even if it wasn't what Spike asked for (a kind of "Monkey's Paw" resolution).

Of course, I can't talk about Season 6 without talking about the phenomenal musical episode, "Once More With Feeling". In a season dominated by darkness, this episode brought some much-needed humor. The episode still had some dark elements and perfectly fit into the storyline, but it was executed so perfectly that it stands as one of the best and most beloved episode of Buffy. The entire cast did their own singing (which is why Willow has so few singing lines), and for the most part, everyone did great for being people who are not professional singers. The songs successfully moved the story forward and reflected the inner natures of the characters singing them. But most importantly, there was a good reason for why it was happening; the demon Sweet was summoned through a pendant and his presence forces the entire town to sing their inner-most feelings. This leads to comedy ("I'll Never Tell) as well as tragedy (the reprise to "Under Your Spell/Standing").

Though this season is often criticized for its darkness, I believe that it was necessary, because it showed that life can (and will) get pretty bad sometimes, but it is possible to overcome it.

Up next: Surprises, betrayals, and a powerful contrast in Los Angeles...

Angel: Season 2 - Fallen Angel

This year, Angel really took off; like Season 1, the first few episodes were still episodic (I need a different word, because the phrase "episodic episode" sounds really stupid to me), but as the season goes on, the first real story arcs develop, one of which is one of the most incredible of the series. The season premiere "Judgment" takes place a few months after Angel, Wes, and Cordelia learned of the Shanshu Prophecy. The final two twists of Season 1 gave hope to Angel and surprise to the viewers. The Shanshu Prophecy was a scroll taken from the vaults of Wolfram and Hart which foretell that a vampire with a soul will become human again after it has redeemed itself. For the past few months, the Angel Investigations team has been keeping tabs of the good they do in order to see how much closer Angel is to regaining his humanity. The other twist saw the results of Wolfram and Hart's bizarre ritual: Darla, Angel's sire, has been brought back.

The last time we saw Darla in the present day, she was in Sunnydale working with the Master. When Darla tried to kill Buffy, Angel staked her. We never really saw much of her again on Buffy, except for a brief scene showing her bite Angel. Last year on Angel, we saw some more flashbacks showing Darla and Angelus' time in Europe, and these scenes showed us that Darla was much more deadly and cunning than her scenes in Sunnydale let on.

However, the spell W&H used brought her back as a human. The scenes at Wolfram and Hart during the previous season, that didn't involve our heroes showed us that Angel, or more specifically, Angelus, plays a significant role in the Senior Partners' apocalyptic plans. Since the last time Angel lost his soul involved him having sex, who better than the woman he spent half of his long life with to get him back into bed?

As Darla regains strength, Angel, Wes, Cordelia, and Gunn, a homeless vampire hunter introduced at the end of Season 1, continue helping the helpless through their detective agency. There are a few episodes at the beginning of the season that aren't quite as good as what will come, but there are a few stand-out stand-alones, most notably "Guise Will Be Guise", which follows Wesley impersonating Angel while he serves as a bodyguard to young woman (and also served as evidence that Wes may be shaping up to be more than just a geek). We are also are introduced to a demon known only as The Host for most of the season. His name is eventually revealed to be Lorne (short for Krevlornswath of the Dethwok Clan), and although he is a demon, he is one of the first in the Buffyverse to be completely benevolent. There were hints of good demons during Season 1 of Angel, but Lorne is the first completely non-violent demon. One of the central themes of Angel is the lack of black and white morality, and the importance of finding the shades of gray in life. That includes demons; while many of them are in fact evil and murderous, there are some that are no more evil than the average human.

Lorne owns a karaoke club that caters to both humans and demons, which is a safe haven due to a spell that prevents violence from occurring in the club. One of Lorne's abilities is that he can see a person's destiny when they sing, since a person bares their soul when they sing (a similar idea is used in the incredible Buffy musical).

Once the Angel Investigations team becomes aware of Darla's resurrection, Angel makes it his mission to save Darla, believing that by forgiving the person that made him a demon will earn him big points with the Powers That Be, and will help him earn the Shanshu faster. Unfortunately, the lawyers at Wolfram and Hart were banking on him wanting to save her. The twist is that, the first time Darla was human, she was dying of syphilis. Now that she is human again, the disease is back, and is so far advanced (there was no penicillin in the 17th century) that her death is imminent. Lindsay McDonald and the other lawyers believe that Angel will try to "save" Darla by turning her back into a vampire, which would unleash one of the deadliest vampires in history back in to modern day Los Angeles. Of course, Angel does not take this path, since it would only preserve her body, but doom her soul.

Of course, W&H planned for this contingency, and the ending of the episode, "The Trial", kicks off one of the greatest story arcs of the series. Known as the "Beige Angel" arc (personally, I'm not the biggest fan of that name, but it is what the creators use), which really delves into the whole "shades of gray" aspect. As I said in my previous post, Drusilla's role here in Los Angeles is much more exciting that her one-episode tale in Sunnydale. When Angel refuses to turn Darla, W&H send Dru in to do the job. This causes Angel to snap, and after he locks a room full of lawyers in a cellar with Dru and the newly revamped (bad pun) Darla, he proceeds to fire Wes, Cordelia, and Gunn, and begins taking a more aggressive approach to fighting in the name of good. Believing that since the bad guys don't play the rules, he begins to question why he should.

Sadly, the "Beige Angel" storyline only lasts a few episodes, and it is certainly at its best in the episodes that highlight his new methods. There are a few episodes that could have occurred anywhere else in the season, but their placement her did reflect Angel's new perspective. One episode, "The Thin Dead Line" carried a very interesting moral, or lack thereof, though. The story featured zombified police officers, who were all killed in the line of duty. Raised by their captain, they are turning their beats into crime-free zones at the expense of personal freedoms and rights. Throughout the episode, we sympathize with the people who are being terrorized by the undead cops, even though a few of them make it clear that they would be out terrorizing the populace if they didn't have to worry about being killed by the aggressive cops. However, when Angel puts a brutal stop to the zombies, Det. Lockley, his police contact, reports that the precincts the zombies operated went from having some of the highest crime rates in LA to having the lowest. The point is that each side has an argument. It was wrong (and hypcritical) of the police captain to put people's lives in danger in the name of public safety. But there were people on the streets who may have needed the to be scared off the streets. However, in this case, the zombies were too drastic a measure, and the bad they did definitely outdid the good.

The Beige Angel story ended with Angel becoming so fed up with his inability to make a permanent change for good, that in his despair, he sleeps with Darla. In a scene very reminiscent of when he lost his soul after having sex with Buffy, Angel ran outside screaming into a rainstorm. However, since he had sex in a moment of despair, his soul remained in tact, and it led to an epiphany, and one of the greatest lines on the show. Realizing that if nothing matters in the grand scheme of things, if there is no bigger picture, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.

Another big development this year was the move to the Hyperion Hotel. The old headquarters was destroyed at the end of the previous season, and they were obviously forced to relocate. Angel takes them to an abandoned hotel where he stayed during the days of McCarthyism. The hotel will serve as Angel HQ for the next three years, and in that time, will be the setting for some insane events.

The end of the season dealt with the backstory of Lorne. Many people found this storyline to be sort of lame; personally, I didn't mind the Pylea arc, but I would definitely have loved to see what was being planned. A few sources claim that the original ending involved more fallout with Darla, and possibly even Spike, but due to the unavailability of the actors, the Pylean story was created. Most likely, if Darla had shown up again, it would have been an earlier reveal of the twist ending of the Season 3 premiere, which would have served as a tantalizing way to keep viewers waiting for the upcoming year. But with Pylea, I think every fan can agree that if nothing else, the introduction of Fred in this storyline was worth it.

Up next: Evil nerds, drug parallels, and life sucks in Sunnydale...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 5 - Extravagance And Siblings

And so we come to Buffy's final season on The WB network. To some fans of the show, this was the last season worth watching. Personally, while I thought that this season was definitely one of the best (3, 5, and 2 are so hard to rank), the final two seasons are great as well. This year featured the most powerful Big Bad to date, a Goddess from a Hell Dimension, as well as the introduction of someone that threw the fan community for a loop: Dawn Summers, Buffy's sister.

Unfortunately, since I didn't start watching the show until after the final episode aired, I had been told the story behind Dawn in advance (the person responsible for getting me into Buffy gave away nearly every major plot twist in the show). The season premiere did not have Michelle Trachtenberg in the opening credits, and her very first appearance at the end of the episode threw viewers for a loop. Whedon intended for the audience to be confused by her appearance; throughout the episode (not to mention the series), Buffy has always been an only child. So who is this girl that everyone refers to as if she'd been around since the pilot episode?

Well, like the guy who got me to like Buffy, I'm going to delve into Dawn's origins. However, you have a choice to read this; if you have not yet seen the show, I don't know what you're waiting for. Go and see it, and then catch up with these posts, since the Whedon series is meant as a kind of fond reminiscence.

Anyway, Dawn and Glory, this season's Big Bad, are tied together. Glory (short for Glorificus) is a banished Hell Goddess; after she started becoming more powerful than her fellow ruling deities, they banished her to our realm, due to fears of a takeover. They forced her into the body of a newborn child, believing that her essence would be suppressed by their magic. However, as the years went by, Glory continued to gain strength, and was able exert her true form, which allowed her to have all of her godly powers (including invulnerability and strength beyond even that of Adam). However, our reality has a detrimental effect on her; she cannot maintain her sanity, and must "suck" the sanity out of innocent people to withhold her own. Her mission is to make it home, but she needs a "key" to open the portal back to her own dimension.

Glory also represents an extravagant lifestyle. She lives in a beautiful penthouse, and to the unknowing observer, comes off as a spoiled princess. She sends her minions out to buy/steal her dresses, shoes, and people to harvest sanity from. Whatever Glory wants, Glory gets. The idea behind this is that she is a goddess with worshippers; they do what she tells them because they see her as divinity. I think that many of the spoiled people that are currently the subject of our tabloid news get what they want because the people giving it to them elevate them above normal people due to their wealth and looks (though the person that most likely comes to mind when we talk about this is kind of strange-looking in my opinion).

So what does Dawn have to do with this? As it turns out, Dawn is the key that Glory needs to go home. Before Dawn was a corporeal girl, she was a well of energy that could tear down the gateways between dimensions. The Key was the charge of a group of monks who transformed her into Dawn and put her under the protection of the Slayer when Glory got too close to finding their order. The monks created memories not only for Dawn, but also created an alternate timeline in the minds of Buffy and everyone she knew that incorporated Dawn into their lives. Whedon gave Buffy a sister this year so that she could have a relationship with someone who wasn't a boyfriend. With Dawn, Buffy had her share of arguments and fights, but at the same time, they loved each other the way sisters do, which allowed Dawn a safe haven, since Buffy would do everything she could to protect her.

Speaking of boyfriends, things continue to go downhill with Buffy on that front. Her relationship with Riley is quickly degenerating, and she actually needs Xander to point it out (I will come back to Xander later; his life begins to change dramatically this year). Since Riley is no longer with the Initiative, he is now a normal human. Without the drugs that made him a superstrong demon hunter, Buffy begins to subconsciously view him as boring and someone she needs to protect. Before he leaves about halfway through the season, he began going to see vampires and allowed himself to get bitten in order to feel something. In other words, Riley went emo. Spike, meanwhile, moves into a new character territory, when a sex dream about Buffy makes him realize that he is beginning to fall in love with her. Spike has always been a bit off as a vampire; he is one of the few vampires we've seen to feel genuine affection (Angelus never truly loved Darla, nor did she love him, and as Angel, he did love, but he had a soul). The presence of the behavior chip in his brain has forced him to fight alongside his former nemesis throughout Seasons 4 and 5, and he likely gained a certain respect for the Slayer. Eventually, in his own twisted way, he came to love her. This development obviously freaks out Buffy and her friends, but every now and then, they do tend to ask him along on fights.

Spike begins to become as important a character as Angel this year, which is evident through the use of flashbacks detailing his past. Suddenly, the name "William the Bloody" takes on a new meaning, and we learn the origin of his leather duster. Drusilla also makes her first appearance on Buffy since Season 2, and while Drusilla is always a treat to watch, especially with Spike, her parallel storyline on Angel was much more incredible. However, in Sunnydale, we see how committed Spike is to his love for Buffy when is willing to kill Dru to prove his love.

Xander, meanwhile, begins to turn his life around this season. After finally holding down a steady job in construction, Xander learned a lesson this year about confidence. When a demon's spell misfired and hit Xander instead of Buffy, two sides of his personality were manifested into two bodies. One was cool and confident, a side rarely seen but always appreciated, while the other was the goofy but self-deprecating Xander that can sometimes be an annoyance to his friends. The success of the confident Xander showed him that he needs to stop looking down on himself and trusting his abilities. By the end of the season, he has moved into his own (really nice) apartment, is moving up in the construction world, and even proposes to Anya.

As I alluded to earlier, Xander was the only person besides Riley who saw the implosion of the relationship coming, and this is evidence of his own "superpower". By this point in the series, nearly every major character has or has used some kind of special ability. Buffy is the Slayer, Willow and Tara are extremely powerful witches, Angel and Spike are vampires, Riley had drug-induced strength, and Anya was a demon at one point. But Xander is, and always will be, "only human". And this is exactly what makes him special. The spotlight is never on him, so he can stand back and observe what is going on with his friends. Though he may not figure it out for another season or two, his observations will be able to help his friends through tough times, and at one point, will even save the world from destruction...

One complaint sometimes made about the fourth season is that there was no "central location" for the action to occur. Giles' house served as the de facto meeting place, but for some reason, people never really accepted it as such. This year, Giles and Anya go into business together when they buy The Magic Box, a local magic shop that has gone through numerous owners over the course of the show's run (not because business is bad, but because there is a high mortality rate). Like the library in the first three seasons, the Magic Box serves as Slayer Headquarters for the next two years.

A brief note: in addition to Dawn, a character named Warren is introduced this year. He appeared in two episodes, and was shown to be a mechanical genius. However, he lacked common decency. Although he didn't really seem evil or important, all that will change next year...

The season ends with the 100th episode, and is one of the most loved episode of the show. Titled "The Gift", which is a reference to a cryptic line from an earlier episode (which introduced the hilarious Buffybot), it deals with how deep Buffy's love can be, and how far she will go to protect her loved ones and the world. It ends in a way that would most likely make for a series finale. This would be the last episode to air on The WB, and I'm fairly certain that the show's fate was up in the air. If this had been the end, "The Gift" would have made a satisfying ending. But Joss Whedon had at least two more grand stories to tell, and lobbied to get the show picked up on another network. Fortunately, UPN took the show for the upcoming season. Now, viewers had to spend a few months wondering, how would Buffy come back if Buffy was dead?!

Up next: The nature of good in Los Angeles...

LOST: The Good Guys?

No more LOST until late April?! Well, at least we went out getting a lot of new info that gives us answers about where Michael has been, as well as a new insight into Ben's strategy. This post probably won't be too long, because there weren't a lot of huge revelations in this episode, but it did provide some good straightforward storytelling.

When Sayid and Desmond finally get a moment alone with Michael, who is using the name Kevin Johnson aboard the ship, they get him to confess how he came to be Ben's man on the boat. Basically, the guilt of killing Ana Lucia and Libby had driven him to suicide. He told Walt what he did, which didn't exactly do wonders for their relationship, and Michael finally decided to end it all. But before he could, he was contacted by Tom, the man who took Walt away from him at the end of Season 1, and was "persuaded" to become a suicide bomber aboard Charles Widmore's boat.

The best moment of the episode came when we saw a call between Ben and Michael. When Michael tried to detonate the "bomb" he was given by the others, it turned out to be a fake. Ben explained to him that there are some people on the boat who are "innocents", not aware of the dark nature of Charles Widmore. Ben states that while Widmore is willing to kill innocent people on the island to get what he wants, Ben will not kill innocents on the other side. This all gets tied back to his final comment in Season 2 about how the Others are "the good guys".

In the present, Sayid turned Michael in to the possibly deranged captain. Last week's teaser told us that someone was going to die (I'm tired of them ruining the goddamn surprise!), and for a second, I thought it was going to be Sayid. I thought that the captain was going to shoot him, since we were all expecting him to do something to Michael. My brother quickly reminded me that Sayid is one of the Oceanic 6, and cannot die in the present (interestingly enough, one of my friends had the exact same idea, though he took it further, by reasoning that the emotional impact would be huge if both Desmond and Sayid were shot, seeing as how the last time two people were killed simultaneously, it tore Michael apart).

As for who did die, well, it turned out that two people died (or at least one did, while the other was fatally wounded, and may or may not die). The one who is definitely dead came as no surprise; the minute they started talking in their final scene, I knew they were a goner. The person who might still be alive, however, surprised me, because the producers have hinted at the idea that they will one day get a flashback episode (thus, I've given away that they are a guest star). However, the producers have dropped red herrings before...

Up next: Little sister comes to Sunnydale...

Angel: Season 1 - Angel of Mercy

Throughout Season 3 of Buffy, Buffy and Angel tried to find a way to be together without risking Angel to lose his soul again. They had to put up with anger from Buffy's friends, temptation from Faith, and the pain that comes from two people in love who cannot be together. Ultimately, Angel made the decision that it would be better for both of them if he left Sunnydale and did not serve as a distraction and/or danger. Also, in Season 2, David Boreanaz proved that he could carry his own show when his depiction of Angelus wowed Joss Whedon (in the words of one of my friends, Whedon's reaction must have gone something like, "Holy shit, he can ACT!"). So now we have Angel, a show about dealing with adult life, redemption, and brooding. Whereas Buffy used monsters and demons to point out that school is hell, Angel shows us how adult life can be scary and unexpected. Buffy was a more classic hero, a soldier for good who goes out to defend humanity, Angel is about atoning for past sins.

Like the first season of Buffy, Angel's first season is its worst, with a much more episodic format. Whedon even said that his original plan for the show was that of anthology, with Angel as a supernatural detective. Like I said with Buffy, no season of Angel is bad, but the rest of the series is so much better. There are some great episodes this year, such as "I Will Remember You", "I've Got You Under My Skin", and "To Shanshu In LA", but we also get the two worst episodes of the series ("I Fall To Pieces" and "She"). And when compared to some of the phenomenal story arcs that show up in later years, episodic story-telling falls short.

That's not to say that the seeds of bigger stories aren't planted this year. Wolfram and Hart, a seemingly twisted law firm that is so much more, is slowly built up as the Big Bad for the entire series (unlike its parent show, not every season of Angel ends with a huge climactic fight against a villain that has been plotting something since the beginning of the year). Character arcs are begun, and in the case of Doyle, completed, and the final twist of the season starts a series of events that drive the plot all the way through Season 4.

So who besides Angel are the big hitters on this show? Cordelia Chase is the other major Buffy character to start out as a regular; after her father's tax fraud was discovered in Season 3 of Buffy, Cordy's family lost all their money, and she could no longer go to college, so she decided to come to Los Angeles to make it as an actress. Of course, like most people who share that dream without ever having done anything before Hollywood to try and achieve it, her efforts are in vain. A chance encounter at a party brings her and Angel back together for a time, but she joins up with him permanently when he saves her from a vampire in the pilot. For the first few episodes, she is, for the most part, the same shallow Cordelia that we came to know for the past three years, albeit with a slightly broken spirit. However, her path on this show is much different, and she is set upon it by the third regular, Allen Francis Doyle.

Doyle, who was modeled after Whistler, a character seen in Buffy's "Becoming, Parts 1 and 2", is a half-demon who has been gifted and cursed with visions from the Powers That Be (a group of omniscient, and most likely omnipotent, beings who watch over the world). These visions show him people who are or will shortly be in trouble and are in need of assistance. Claiming that his latest vision sent him to Angel, Doyle volunteers to help the vampire with a soul in his strange mission to help victims of demon activity in LA. Sadly, Doyle didn't last too long on the show (Whedon and co. don't talk about him too much, but I'm pretty sure that there were some remarks about drug use, and actor Glenn Quinn died of an overdose around the beginning of the fourth season). Midway through the season, he passed his visions on to Cordelia, setting her on a path to become a moral and courageous fighter.

Doyle is replaced by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who tried to reinvent himself as a rogue demon hunter (what's a rogue demon?) after being fired by the Watchers' Council due to his poor handling of Faith. Like Cordelia, he starts off like he was on Buffy, but as the season and show go on, he experiences one of the most dramatic character arcs I've ever seen. By the end of the year, he has gone from bumbling goof to a somewhat competent fighter. His knowledge of demonology comes in handy for his work at Angel Investigations (the group needs to make money somehow), and he can hold his own against vampires as well.

Since arriving in LA, Angel has been living in an underground apartment, going out every night, and dispatching vampires and demons when he can find them. Without a big villain to fight against, he is out to redeem the crimes he committed as Angelus, one person at a time. But when he encounters Wolfram and Hart, he finds his nemesis.

Wolfram and Hart passes itself off as a law firm. However, if one were to look into its client base, you would find that they tend to represent demons, vampires, and other less-than-upright citizens. Representing the evil corporation archetype, the firm is an agent of a group known as the Senior Partners, the evil version of the Powers That Be. This year, we meet a few of the lawyers, including Lindsay McDonald, who becomes a rival to Angel, Lilah Morgan, and their boss, Holland Manners. The first few appearances of the firm shows them as nothing more than a well-funded place of evil, but by the end of the season, we learn that they have many plans that involve Angel and the end of the world.

When our heroes aren't taking on the soulless corporation, they are dealing with other issues that adults deal with when they venture out into the real world, like trying to find a good apartment ("Rm w/ a Vu"), dealing with one night stands ("Expecting"), and trying to earn a living.

Season 1 of Angel has a few less-than-stellar episodes, but it serves as an excellent set-up to a great series. Some of the show's staples, such as flashbacks to Angel's time as Angelus, when he and Darla terrorized Europe, are began, and we see the origins of characters who are almost unrecognizable by the end of the series (assuming they make it that far; sadly, Kate Lockley, a detective who serves as a contact for Angel, doesn't stick around for too long).

Up next: Extravagance and family in Sunnydale...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4 - Shadowy Government Agencies and Science Gone Awry

The fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the subject of some debate amongst fans. Some people believe that it ranks as one of the best seasons of the show, while others claim that it is the worst. I know people who make both claims, but personally, I see it more in the middle. The people who love it point to knock-out episodes like "Hush" (one of my all-time favorites), "Primeval", and "Restless". The detractors say that the season-long arc took too long to get going and claim Big Bad Adam is an uninteresting villain. And both sides hate Riley.

I'll get in to all of these issues throughout the post, but let's begin at the beginning. Buffy, Willow, and Oz are now students at the University of California at Sunnydale, while Xander chose to go directly into the job market (a running joke throughout the season shows Xander in a new crappy job almost weekly). Right away, we see that things at college are going to be similar to high school; grumpy professors, annoying students, and vampires and demons a-plenty. However, by the end of the season premiere (which ranks as one of the worst premieres, along with "When She Was Bad" from Season 2), we see that there is a big difference: someone else is hunting vampires on campus.

Early on in the season, Oz departs the show and is replaced by Spike. In the episode "Wild At Heart", Oz (who I believe that I forgot to mention is a werewolf) encounters a female werewolf who tries to seduce him away from Willow. Oz leaves not because she succeeds, but because he is afraid that he'll hurt Willow if he stays. Meanwhile, Spike returns to Sunnydale to get back at Buffy for making his life hell, but as he is delivering a soliloquy from a rooftop, he is apprehended by the other faction hunting demons.

This group is called The Initiative (short for The Demon Research Initiative, but that name isn't revealed until one of the final episodes of Angel), and they are a part of the United States government. The Sunnydale unit is headed by Maggie Walsh, who has the day job of psychology professor (Buffy and Willow are her students). Riley Finn, a TA for Walsh by day, is one of the top members of the Initiative. His strength and speed have been enhanced (without his knowledge) through drugs given to him by the Initiative scientists. The stated goal is to make the world safer for humans by eradicating dangerous demons. Although they have a much more sinister secret agenda.

The scientists run experiments on the demons they catch for two purposes: one is to test their limits and threat level, and the other is to harvest their parts to use for super-soldiers. Their prototype is named Adam. Adam is a Frankenstein's monster-esque being, part man, part machine, and part demon. He was created to be the ultimate fighting machine for the United States military. Unfortunately, he killed his creator (sorry, Maggie) and went into business for himself. SHOCKER! Although instead of going on a killing spree and/or speaking in incoherent grunts, Adam is simultaneously one of the most childlike and most sophisticated character on the show. He tries to find his raison d'etre, and believes that since he was built to kill, there must be a reason for doing so. Eventually, he takes up the work of his creators, building an army of super-soldiers like himself to repopulate the planet. He has a child-like innocence that allows him to kill in the name of research (how many children haven't killed insects just to see it happen, only to eat them to experiment with taste?), but he is also incredibly smart. Since he is part machine, he can upload data files into himself and learn about anything he wants.

Personally, I liked Adam as a villain, but I felt he was severely underused. He wasn't even introduced until after the halfway point of the season, and even then, he was given probably the least screen-time of any Big Bad (except for Season 6, but that's a more convoluted situation). However, there are tons of people who thought that Adam was one of the worst villains. Complaints against him include the belief that he had no personality and had no motivation since he could not function outside the parameters set by his programming (so then how did he betray his creators?).

Speaking of character development, there were a few huge changes this year with Spike and Willow. The last vampire in the regular cast, Angel, had a soul (for the most part). If Spike was to be a regular and not get old as a villain (think Sark from Alias; he was a cool character, but if I had to watch him inexplicably escape one more time, I was going to smack J.J. Abrams), what do you do? The Initiative provided the answer. When they captured him, they implanted him with a special behavior modification microchip that prevented him from harming any living creature. The reveal was hilariously depicted in a manner recalling sexual impotency. Granted, Whedon and co. still weren't quite sure what to do with Spike this year, making him a sort of "wacky neighbor" character for the middle part of the season, but let's just say that big things are in store for him next year.

Willow, on the other hand, made a sexual discovery about herself. She is gay. After Oz left her, she was in a rut for a few episodes, which is understandable, since the man she loved and lost her virginity to up and left in order to find himself, but when Tara came into her life, things picked up. The two met in a Wicca group made up of girls who were basically posers. I will get into the details in a few minutes, since it has to do with "Hush".

In addition to Tara, the other major character introduced this year is Riley. He is Buffy's first long-term boyfriend since Angel, and of the three main love interests she has throughout the show, he is the only human (and the only non-vampire). It is arguable that he was also the best match for Buffy, since he could have given her a normal life, but this is why many fans disliked him. Since he was reliable and not a bad boy, he was seen as boring. These factor into his departure, but that is a discussion for next season.

While she wasn't introduced this year, Anya becomes a major character this year. She left Sunnydale avoid the destruction that would come with the Mayor's ascension, but has returned to start a relationship with Xander. Once again, he is apprehensive at first, but eventually, the two begin a relationship that may be the longest one ever on the show.

As for Giles, since he no longer has any job (he was fired as a Watcher, and he is no longer the school librarian, since there is no more school), so he is a bit lost this year, which helps factor into the "Yoko Ono" situation at the end of the season, but fortunately, he has a purpose again in Season 5.

And so, "Hush". This was the first (of a small number) of episodes to earn an Emmy nomination in a major category, in this case writing. The twist: there is very little spoken dialogue in the episode. The plot features a group of creatures called The Gentlemen, who come to towns to steal hearts. Their only weakness is the human voice, so they magically steal the voices of everyone in the town. Over two thirds of the episode is done without speaking, and the actors had to rely on facial expressions and gestures to communicate. The musical score also was a very important aspect of expression in the episode. The episode features some extremely hilarious jokes, but is also deemed one of the scariest (I know more than one person who says that the Gentlemen freak them out). The episode is also important because it introduces Tara. One of the first things that happens with her is that when she speaks up, another member of the Wicca group told her to quiet down (heh), and she was portrayed as mousy and quiet. But she when she lost her power of speech, she took the initiative to find Willow and try and find a way to stop the Gents. As the season progresses, Willow and Tara begin falling in love, using magic as a metaphor for sex. I have to admit that I absolutely HATED Tara this year, due to her mousy nature, but by Season 5, I'd fallen in love with her myself.

Season 4 was neither the best nor the worst season of the show. There were plenty of things that could have been done better (let's not go into "Beer Bad"), but there were some incredible moments as well. However, it is a very important season, because it sort of sets the tone for the rest of the series. Only one more major character will be introduced, so the characters seen here are, for the most part, the ones who will go all the way to the end, and most of the relationships here will last until the end as well.

Up next: Heading to the City of Angels to help the helpless...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3 - The Corrupt Politician

And so we get to Buffy Summers' senior year at Sunnydale High School. Personally, this was my favorite season. We meet Faith, Wesley, and Anya this year, Mayor Wilkins is the big bad, Jonathan Levinson gets his first big role, episodes like "Band Candy", "The Wish", and "Doppelgangland" are present, and even the First Evil rears its ugly head for the first time. After one of the shows greatest season finales in Season 2 ("Becoming, Parts 1 and 2" are two of my favorite episodes of the series), everything is in shambles. Buffy left Sunnydale after many important things happened, but here is a short list: her mom found out about her being the Slayer, Giles was nearly tortured to death, the world nearly ended, and she was forced to send ANGEL (not Angelus) to a hell dimension to save it. At the end of her rope, Buffy hopped the first bus to Los Angeles without telling anyone where she was going, and never looked back.

Season 3 begins a few months later. Willow, Xander, and Oz have been patrolling for vampires at night with mixed results; about half of their prey gets away, but they do their best to keep people safe. Giles and Buffy's mom are each separately trying to locate Buffy, who is doing her best to stay hidden in LA. Going by Anne, her middle name, she has been earning her living as a waitress in a seedy diner. She ignores her destiny and lives in a tiny apartment. But when a teenage girl comes to her for help, she is pulled back into her life of fighting the forces of evil.

This year, the Big Bad is the mayor of Sunnydale, Richard Wilkins. He embodies both an untrustworthy authority figure (two new watchers would also embody this idea this season, and one of them is NOT evil) as well as a twisted father figure. Despite his appearance of a hometown guy with an "aw-shucks" demeanor who has the city's best interest at heart, he is in fact a man with a plan to become a pure demon. He is the man responsible for founding Sunnydale. He made a pact with the demons he met near the Hellmouth; in exchange for building a human town on a Hellmouth (thus supplying countless demons with easy prey), he would be granted eternal youth and the ability to transcend humanity and become a demon. Throughout the season, he has various underlings, but none of them are more important than Faith.

Back in Season 1, when Buffy was killed, Xander promptly resuscitated her. However, she was biologically dead for less than a minute, and this led to a woman named Kendra to be called as the next slayer. For the first time ever, there were two slayers, but Kendra's inflexible nature (she could not stray from a "by-the-book" style of slaying) led to her downfall when she was put into a trance by Drusilla and then killed. With her death, Faith was called, and Faith's attitude is the complete opposite of Kendra's. She is the antithesis of "by-the-book"; she is rash, she often gets in fights for pleasure, and completely bucks authority. Buffy shares aspects of both Kendra and Faith. She can be insubordinate at times and doesn't always do things the way Giles would like, but she recognizes that he does know what he's talking about and he often will have good plans.

Season 3 tests how far a lot of the characters will go in the struggle between what is right and what they are told. Giles is fired from the Watchers' Council when he (eventually) defies orders regarding a test that is to be carried out on a slayer's 18th birthday. Buffy constantly has to try to find a balance between defending Angel (who her friends are all weary of, since they experienced him at his worst last year); she knows that Angel is good again, and he is a powerful ally, but her friends never stop telling her about his dangers (and in this case, who is right?). Faith serves as example of someone who lets these choices destroy her; her methods may be rash, but she is ultimately out for good. But when Wesley Wyndam-Pryce shows up to be her new Watcher, everything goes to hell. Wesley is 10 times the uptight prick that Giles was (Wesley's arrival marks the beginning of Giles' transformation to cool older guy). With Wes, rules are rules, and theoretical learnings work exactly the same in the field (he claims to be adept at vampire hunting due to his extensive training... which was done under controlled circumstances). When this man tries to control Faith's erratic behavior, she loses it, and becomes so obsessed with killing the undead that she begins staking everything in sight. This ends with her accidentally killing a human. When Wes calls the Council and arranges to have this rogue slayer sent to England for punishment, she is driven right into the arms of the Mayor, who takes her on as his new assistant. She ironically trades one Watcher for another, but her new one encourages her destructive nature. She is still told what to do, but she is allowed to do it her way.

Season 3 saw the introduction of Anya, a woman introduced as a vengeance demon. She grants wishes to women who have been wronged by men, and when Xander and Willow give in to their urges and betray their respective romantic partners by making out (in their defense, they were being held captive by Spike, and thought that their lives were almost at an end), a hurt Cordelia accidentally invokes her powers and creates a Sunnydale in which Buffy Summers never arrived. After reversing the wish and destroying Anya's power base, the demon becomes human, and develops a crush on Xander. Although at first Xander wants nothing to do with her (she used to be a demon after all), he eventually starts to see that he kind of likes her back.

Another major character introduction involves a character who has been around since the second season. Jonathan Levinson was introduced the previous year as a tertiary character; he never had more than two or three lines and wasn't even named until his third or fourth appearance. This year, he is given a prominent role in an episode that was unfortunately delayed, along with the second part of the two-part finale. Tragically, the Columbine shootings occurred around the end of the season, and Jonathan's episode involved the idea of a school shooting. Fortunately, the episodes eventually aired, and the audience finally saw Jonathan in the forefront. He would go on to have another big episode in Season 4, and became a very important character in the final two seasons.

As I said, Season 3 is probably my favorite season of the show. Strangely, none of my absolute favorite episodes (I'd say there are about 4, but two of them comprise a two-parter), but the overall story is fantastic. The Mayor is one of the best Big Bads because of the way his jovial nature is juxtaposed with his sinister plans, and Faith's fall from grace is such a beautiful tragedy to watch. Sadly, this was the last season in which Angel would be a regular, but he went on to have his own great show as well.

Up next: the shadowy government agency and the folly of playing God with science...