IT’S A MYSTERY: Was the spell Willow used to restore Angel’s soul the exact same one the Gypsies first used, which came with the caveat that Angel would lose his soul if he experienced “one moment of true happiness,” or did it restore his soul with no strings attached?
Also, does Kendra’s death mean that another Slayer will be called?
How does Buffy know it was Drusilla who killed Kendra?
BLOOPERS: During the final fight scene with Angel, Buffy’s hair goes back and forth, from loose to pulled back, from shot to shot.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: The week this episode aired, the WB announced that they were spinning off a series to star David Boreanaz as Angel for the 1999–2000 season.
SEASON THREE
Third-year overview: Now a senior in high school, Buffy will spend the next year better embracing her destiny as the Slayer. Along the way she is surprised by a second chance, threatened by an unexpected enemy, and forced to rely on the help of others to stop her most powerful opponent yet.
SEASON THREE REGULAR CAST
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers)
Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris)
Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg)
Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase)
David Boreanaz (Angel)
Seth Green (Oz)
Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles)
35. “Anne”
(SEPTEMBER 29, 1998)
Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Recurring cast: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)
Guest cast: Julia Lee (Lily); Carlos Jacott (Ken); Mary-Pat Green (blood-bank nurse); Chad Todhunter (Rickie)
Music: “Back to Freedom” (during Xander, Willow, and Oz’s conversation about Slaying), by Bellylove
Plot: After having spent the summer hiding out in Los Angeles, still reeling from having “killed” Angel, Buffy is forced to confront who she really is when local street kids start dying mysteriously.
THIS WEEK’S DEMON IN DISGUISE: Ken, a seemingly kind social worker who is really a demon that kidnaps runaways and literally works them to death in a Hell dimension.
INTRODUCING: A new opening-credits montage, Seth Green as a cast regular, and a new shoulder-length hairdo for Willow.
REINTRODUCING: Chantarelle, from “Lie to Me,” who has now renamed herself Lily.
ANALYSIS: While time may be the great healer, three months after having left Sunnydale, Buffy is still clearly numbed by the trauma of having banished Angel to an eternity in Hell. Her efforts to kill the pain by erasing her previous identity—adopting the name Anne and taking a mundane job as a waitress—haven’t done much to improve Buffy’s overall outlook on life. Morose and solitary, Buffy is empty because in a fit of understandable but unwise self-pity, she left behind the very people who could have helped her through her grief. As the weeks and months pass, it becomes ever harder to reach out because she herself has created a distance that is as much emotional as it is geographical.
So when Buffy happens to run into an acquaintance from Sunnydale who seeks her help, Buffy’s reaction is to push the girl away. Not only does she not want to be reminded of the legacy that comes with a frequently deadly cost, but it is also a painful reminder that she no longer has her support group to lean on. She tells Lily she doesn’t want to get involved because getting involved means caring, and caring only leads to pain and loss.
But being the Slayer isn’t just what Buffy does, it’s who she is. So when she discovers Lily’s boyfriend Rickie in a lifeless heap looking like a very old man, Buffy’s innate compassion and hibernating sense of duty emerge, albeit against her will. Buffy’s will to live and survival instincts kick into high gear when she is dragged into a Hell dimension, where street kids are being worked to death in a demonic factory. Rather than let herself and the others perish, Buffy releases the Slayer within and in so doing, not only defeats the demons, but comes to the realization that she can’t run from herself any longer.
THE REAL HORROR: Coping with loss. The pain of losing Angel was so intense, topped by the perceived loss of her mother’s love, Buffy chose to leave Sunnydale. But in trying to reinvent herself, Buffy came to see that while you might be able to run, you really can’t hide from who you are.
There comes a time for everyone when the realization sinks in that, for better or worse, we are who we are. In Buffy’s case, being the Chosen One means a significant part of her life in inherently out of her control. But what she can control is how she responds to what fate hands her. Returning to Sunnydale to face her pain head-on is the first step in what will prove to be a long healing process.
BLOOPERS: While in the Hell dimension, Buffy’s shoes change noticeably from when she is climbing the rope to when she opens the portal so the others can escape.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: Anne is Buffy’s middle name.
Gone is Anthony Stewart Head’s voice-over narration from the opening credits.
The sickle-like weapon that Buffy uses is an African throwing ax called a “nunga-munga.”
The location for the Hell dimension was the old Los Angeles Herald Tribune newspaper building. The crew was warned that if they spilled any water on the floor, which was still covered with seeped-in ink, the water and chemicals in the ink would combine to create toxic fumes. Joss Whedon says they had about 60,000 gallons of water in the barrels for the shoot, but managed to film the episode without poisoning anyone.
MUSICAL NOTE: Nerf Herder’s opening title theme for Buffy has been rerecorded.
36. “Dead Man’s Party”
(OCTOBER 6, 1998)
Director: James Whitmore Jr.
Teleplay: Mari Noxon
Recurring cast: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)
Guest cast: Nancy Lenehan (Pat); Danny Strong (Jonathan); Jason Hall (Devon); Paul Morgan Stetler (young doctor); Chris Garnant (stoner #1)
Music: “Never Mind” (Oz’s band plays the song at the party), by Four Star Mary, from Thrown to the Wolves
Plot: While Buffy deals with the adjustment of being back in Sunnydale and the consequences of her actions, a mysterious force raises the local dead.
THIS WEEK’S EVIL ACCESSORY: A Nigerian tribal mask will turn any zombie who wears it into a powerful demon, Ovu Mobani (which is the Nigerian phrase for “evil eye”).
INTRODUCING: Willow’s open pursuit of learning witchcraft. A new Sunnydale hot spot—a corner plaza with an espresso bar called the Espresso Pump.
ANALYSIS: Being back in Sunnydale isn’t the happy reunion Buffy had anticipated. After expressing their initial relief and happiness at having her back, her mother and friends also have justified feelings of anger over Buffy’s summer disappearing act. Buffy realizes it’s going to take awhile before she completely regains her mother’s trust but she is taken aback by the undercurrent of resentment coming from Giles, Willow, and Xander. On the one hand, Buffy is still wallowing in self-pity. She feels unfairly punished by Snyder—who refuses to reverse her expulsion—and that she’s not getting the sympathy she deserves considering what she went through. What doesn’t seem to sink in is that Buffy put her mother and friends through a similar torment when she left.
Although Buffy’s life came to a kind of emotional halt during her absence, those left behind struggled to move on. At every turn, Buffy feels alienated, even in her own house. Her mom’s new friend Pat seems more at home there than Buffy does. Her friends seem to be avoiding her, and the general unspoken undercurrent is giving her an itch to bolt again. It’s almost a welcome distraction when a dead cat mysteriously comes back to life.
During a planned “Welcome Home” dinner that morphs into an impromptu party, Buffy is stung to hear her mother talking about how hard it is, adjusting to Buffy being back home. The hurt and humiliation is too much and Buffy prepares to take off again, which leads to a confrontation between her and Willow, during which all their unexpressed feelings are voiced and Buffy finally begi
ns to accept the enormity of her actions.
THE REAL HORROR: Facing consequences. When Buffy boarded the bus out of town, she never considered what the consequences of her actions would or could be, down the road.
CIVILIAN FATALITY: Joyce’s friend Pat, who turns into a zombie demon. Her power is short-lived, as Buffy drives a shovel into her head.
LITERARY REFERENCE: During Buffy’s absence, Joyce read The Deep End of the Ocean, a 1996 novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard about a family whose youngest son is kidnapped.
MUSICAL NOTE: The title of this episode, “Dead Man’s Party,” is also the name of a 1985 Oingo Boingo song.
37. “Faith, Hope, and Trick”
(OCTOBER 13, 1998)
Director: James A. Contner
Teleplay: David Greenwalt
Recurring cast: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Fab Filippo (Scott Hope); K. Todd Freeman (Mr. Trick); Eliza Dushku (Faith); Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)
Guest cast: Jeremy Roberts (Kakistos); John Ennis (manager)
Music: “Going to Hell” (while Willow and Oz are outside the high school), by the Brian Jonestown Massacre, from Strung Out in Heaven; “The Background” (during Buffy’s dream), by Third Eye Blind from Third Eye Blind; “Cure” (at the Bronze), by Darling Violetta, from the Kill You EP; “Blue Sun” (at the Bronze), by Darling Violetta, from Bath Water Flowers
Plot: There’s a new Slayer in town who arrives with secrets, issues, and an agenda to make Sunnydale “her” town.
THIS WEEK’S ANCIENT VAMPIRE MENACE: Kakistos, a vampire so old his hands and feet are cloven, who is on a mission to kill the new Slayer. According to Whedon, “The idea is that the older vampires get, the more animalistic they get. They devolve. That’s my theory.”
INTRODUCING: Faith, a street-tough Slayer with an attitude—and a dangerous edge; Mr. Trick, a dapper African-American vampire; the Watchers’ Council, a Britain-based authoritarian organization that oversees Slayer activities; Scott Hope, a potential love interest for Buffy.
ANALYSIS: Buffy is slowly picking up the pieces of her life, despite being haunted by dreams of Angel. After the school board forces Snyder to readmit her, Buffy is finally starting to feel more surefooted so the last thing she really needed was to have a new Slayer breeze into town. Called as Kendra’s replacement, Faith is nothing like Kendra. Where Kendra was dedicated and saw her duty as Slayer in almost reverential terms, for Faith it’s all about power and kicking ass.
Her lighthearted take on slaying charms the gang and Buffy finds herself feeling like a stick-in-the-mud by comparison. Buffy is a bit chagrined that Faith seems to have no issues or personal torments and finds herself feeling thismuch threatened at how her friends are welcoming Faith with open arms. Despite whatever conflicts she has about being the Slayer, she’s not too keen on someone coming in and trying to step right into her life.
But Faith isn’t all she seems; beneath her “life as Slayer is a daily party” demeanor, Buffy senses a darkness that she can’t quite interpret, but she goes with the flow and tries to welcome Faith by inviting her to dinner. Later, on patrol, Buffy’s instincts prove right when it becomes clear Faith isn’t just into killing vamps, but is into causing them pain.
After Giles learns Faith’s Watcher isn’t at a retreat but has been killed by Kakistos, who now is after Faith, Buffy confronts Faith and tries to tell her nothing is solved by running, a lesson Buffy herself has recently learned the hard way. It becomes a moot point when Kakistos shows up and Faith dusts him with a makeshift stake the size of a small pole.
Although Buffy can’t help but feel compassion for Faith—who was ordered to stay in Sunnydale by the Watchers’ Council pending further orders—it’s clear she still senses that Faith is seriously troubled—and potential trouble.
THE REAL HORROR: Being compared to others. Beset with angst from having killed Angel and enduring her friends’ anger over leaving town, Buffy knows she hasn’t been a bundle of laughs lately. So when Faith shows up, telling funny Slayer stories and seemingly without a care in the world, Buffy really feels like a walking black cloud.
For a moment, Buffy tries to be more Faithlike by telling her own Slayer war stories, but it simply isn’t who Buffy is. In the end, she learns that it’s much better to just be yourself because others aren’t always whom they may seem to be.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: Joss Whedon gives some Watcher background: “There are Watchers all over the world because although there are potential Slayers all over the world, it is never known until the last one dies which one will be called. Sometimes a Watcher can find a potential and train her, sometimes they cannot interfere in her life, and sometimes they don’t find them, until after the other has died”—which was the case with Buffy.
Kakistos is Greek for “the worst of the worst.”
MUSICAL NOTE: Darling Violetta performs the song onstage at the Bronze.
38. “All Men Are Beasts”
(OCTOBER 20, 1998)
Director: James Whitmore Jr.
Teleplay: Marti Noxon
Recurring cast: Eliza Dushku (Faith); Fab Filippo (Scott Hope)
Guest cast: John Patrick White (Pete); Danielle Weeks (Debbie); Phill Lewis (Mr. Platt)
Music: “Teenage Hate Machine” (playing on Faith’s Walkman), by Marc Ferrari, from Grunge/Punk (MSVOL23)
Plot: Oz is suspected of committing a brutal murder while transformed, but Buffy fears the real killer may be Angel, who has returned from Hell more animal than human.
THIS WEEK’S HORROR: Pete, who alternates between loving boyfriend and abusive monster.
REINTRODUCING: A tormented Angel.
ANALYSIS: The question of how well we really know even those closest to us is a recurring theme in this episode. Although Oz the person would never harm anyone, Oz the werewolf isn’t in control of what he does and, in fact, doesn’t even remember his transformed state. Could he really be responsible for the gruesome killing?
Or is it possible that Angel, having suffered the agonies of Hell for hundreds of years—because time in Hell dimensions slows down so that one day on earth is equal to a year in Hell—has gone mad and lost all traces of humanity, his reinstated soul notwithstanding? Buffy wishes her life could be as uncomplicated as Pete and Debbie’s. To all outward appearances they are ideal sweethearts.
But beneath the surface, rage roils inside Pete. At first his fury, and the strength and power that goes with it, was chemically induced through a liquid concoction. But soon he is able to turn into a monster at will—and at the slightest provocation. He hides this side of himself from everyone, except Debbie, who despite being hit is all too willing to believe the good side will win out.
Afraid of what Angel has possibly become, and afraid to tell the others he’s alive because of the pain he caused those around her after losing his soul, Buffy is also having to put on a false face. Like Debbie, she has a secret she can’t share, and feels helpless. Although Buffy is relieved when she realizes that Pete, and not Angel, is responsible for the killings, she is horrified that Debbie would allow herself to be abused.
As Pete increasingly gives in to the power of rage, Angel fights back to regain his humanity, as it were, and their final confrontation is symbolic of the struggle between the beast and angel within all of us.
THE REAL HORROR: Abuse. The terror Debbie feels at seeing the boy she loves turn into an abusive monster is unfortunately too common an occurrence in our society. The episode clearly pinpoints the root of abuse, jealousy, and insecurity, and vividly shows the emotional and physical damage created when rage is allowed to take control.
LITERARY REFERENCE: The voice-over that Sarah Michelle Gellar does at the beginning and end of this episode is from the book Call of the Wild, by Jack London, which Willow mentions reading to the werewolf/Oz, to calm him.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: John Patrick White, who plays Peter, co-starred with Seth Green in the 1998 movie Can’t Hardly Wait.
39. “Homecoming”
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sp; (NOVEMBER 3, 1998)
Director: David Greenwalt
Teleplay: David Greenwalt
Recurring cast: K. Todd Freeman (Mr. Trick); Fab Filippo (Scott Hope); Harry Groener (Mayor Richard Wilkins III); Eliza Dushku (Faith)
Guest cast: Jeremy Ratchford (Lyle Gorch); Ian Abercrombie (Germans’ boss); Danny Strong (Jonathan); Jason Hall (Devon); Jack Plotnick (deputy mayor); Billy Maddox (Frawley); Joseph Daube (Hans); Jermyn Daube (Frederick); Lee Everett (Candy Gorch); Tori McPetrie (Michelle); Chad Stahelski (Kulak)
Music: “Fell Into the Loneliness” (at the Bronze), by Lori Carson, from Where It Goes; “Jodi Foster,” (during yearbook picture–taking), by the Pinehurst Kids, from Minnesota; “How” (while Xander and Willow get ready for the dance), by Lisa Loeb, from Firecracker, “Fire Escape” (during Homecoming Queen campaigning), by Fastbal, from All the Pain Money Can Buy; “She Knows” (played by Oz’s band during dance), by Four Star Mary from Thrown to the Wolves
Plot: Buffy competes with Cordelia for Homecoming Queen, while Willow and Xander’s relationship takes an unexpected turn.
THIS WEEK’S NEFARIOUS PLOT: Slayerfest ’98. Mr. Trick invites a motley crew of would-be assassins—two Germans, vampires Lyle and Candy Gorch, and the demon Kulak—to hunt down both Slayers.
INTRODUCING: Xander and Willow’s budding sexual attraction to each other; deputy mayor Allan Finch.
THE BIG BAD: Mayor Richard Wilkins III. For the rest of the season, Mayor Wilkins’s evil designs on Sunnydale will become the overriding story arc.
ANALYSIS: After facing apocalypse, being killed by the Master, and sending her lover to Hell, you’d think Buffy would have some serious life perspective. However, the teenage girl within rears her wanna-be tiaraed head, and even though it shouldn’t be, being Homecoming Queen suddenly is the most important thing to Buffy. Had Buffy never been called as the Slayer, and had she been able to finish high school in Los Angeles, she probably would have been Homecoming Queen. So, taking home the crown would make up in a big way for all she’s sacrificed over the past few years. To have a glimpse, however fleeting and fanciful, of what her life might have been like had not duty called, is a fantasy Buffy wants—and she wants it bad.
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