Buffy the Vampire Slayer S03 Wrap Up

Lorraine: Dearest Traumateers, by now you all know how much we LOVE finishing things around here. Please accept this post as our chance to generally celebrate the end of season 3 and also take a little breath before we dive into Buffy season 4.

Much of what I wanted to say about season three I’ve already peppered in throughout these posts. The Mayor/Faith combination was the true highlight of the season. The end of Buffy/Angel was a low point, but only because of certain choices they made. Mostly, prolonging it and bringing Angel back too soon. I loved that things became complicated in this season. The lines of good and evil were blurred, even for our girl who on multiple occasions explored a “darker” side to herself. I really enjoyed myself this season, though all said and done, I’m having a hard time deciding whether I liked this better than season 2. I’m leaning towards “no,” though I may just need digestion time.

Anyhow, rankings:

Dopplegangland – Funny, campy and able to explore some of Willow’s insecurities. Great acting. Every supporting character had worthwhile additions. It was just fun to watch. Spoiler: the bottom of my list is an episode that wishes it was this.
Lover’s Walk – Spike was fantastic, Angel was useful and the episode that brought an end to the Willow/Xander infidelity subplot. A+
Graduation Day Part 2 – The graduating class army was one of my favorite moments of the entire season.
The Prom – Nobody say “class protector” or I will cry.
Helpless – There were so many strong emotions and I eat that up like chocolate. Emotions and chocolate are basically my diet.
Band Candy – Ripper sells it.
Graduation Day Part 1 – BAMF Buffy and Giles, and Willow and Oz adorableness. My favorites.
Anne – Any episode that features BAMF Buffy gets extra points. “I’m Buffy. The Vampire Slayer.” was a great moment.
Faith, Hope and Trick – We’d just met Faith and everything was shiny and new. Plus, Angel butt, giggle.
The Wish – Our introduction to vamp!Willow was fantastic and gave my Buffy-supporter heart so much soapbox to stand on.
Earshot – A brilliant payoff to Jonathan being everywhere.
Revelations – Leave it to the episode that inspired “the table of UGH” to land in the middle of the pack.
Enemies – Another good episode buried a little under the great episodes. The episode got me, though with the big reveal.
Choices – A solid episode that lands in the middle of the pack just because it is solid. TACKLE HUG though.
Bad Girls – I like how this episode continued what was established in The Wish, with the possibility of Buffy’s “bad” side.
Consequences – A useful episode as far as arc development went but otherwise I can’t remember much about it.
Beauty and the Beasts – I just like the whole demon of the week as a metaphor thing.
Gingerbread – A fun filler as far as fillers go.
Amends – Brilliant Oz and Willow moments and one nice moment of SMG acting aren’t enough to cancel out the sun not shining.
Homecoming – Nobody won in this episode.
Dead Man’s Party – The Scoobies all sucked hardcore and a few nice lines weren’t enough to make this more than “meh.”
The Zeppo – This episode was a joke and I missed the punchline.

Sweeney
In spite of the fact that I have major issues with the way the Buffy/Angel story was handled, this is my favorite season and I’m sad to be done with it. I’ve said this a million times, but one of the things I love most about this show is the use of demonic things as either a metaphor for real life things, or a prop for talking about those things. Hellmouth + high school was just such a brilliant concept. The characters and premise are interesting enough to survive beyond that, but it’s still my favorite.

Dopplegangland – One of my favorite episodes of the entire series. It does the camp-with-a-dose-of-real-shit perfectly, and I just. love. this. episode.
Graduation Day Part 2 – High School army FTW. Possibly the best of the seven finales. (Or maybe tied.)
The Prom – Team Feels makes no apologies. And is too busy stifling sobs to add comments. Also: Anya.
Lover’s Walk – Things this series does not have enough of: Buffy/Angel/Spike-as-a-team scenes.
Band Candy – I just love all the things that happen here.
Anne – This was an awesome way to start the season and deal with Buffy’s feels. I think they went on to make some less great choices with the arc, but this was excellent. I also love that we see not only how strong Buffy is, but see a bit of how she empowers those around her.
Helpless – Endless feels for Buffy. It also demonstrates her BAMFness in a beautiful way.
Bad Girls – The bit in The Bronze is one of my favorite Buffy/Angel scenes.
Faith, Hope & Trick – Faith! When she was shiny and new and not a murderer!
Revelations – This one got me with its feels and has some great Faith/Buffy moments. You know, before all of that was ruined.
The Wish – ANYA! I liked Anya the first time around, but I love her infinitely more this time.
Enemies – Clever, clever. I like this episode because of reasons.
Earshot – Good use of the demon things/real things mix, and I still can’t get over how much I love the build to Jonathan’s story.
Choices – Buffy/Willow are the highlight of this episode. Also, I think I’m just a big fan of all the big high school moments with the Hellmouth as a backdrop.
Amends – As the one who makes the most comments on SMG’s acting, I feel like I have to give her points here.
Graduation Day, part 1 – This is low on the list because something has to be placed down here, and I’m still not on board with the justification for Buffy going after Faith for the kill.
Beauty and the Beasts – I support the metaphorical thing this episode was going for. I actually like this episode and I’m not really sure why it’s down here, except that I can’t figure out what to demote and also laziness is a thing that I have.
Consequences – Faith/Xander sex. Ew.
Gingerbread – The introduction of rat!Amy. LOL. Mostly, I do not like this episode and am unlikely to ever rewatch it outside of a full series/season rewatch.
Homecoming – Meh. See above, but slightly downgraded from “do not like” to “slightly dislike.”
Dead Man’s Party – The Scoobies made me rage the fuck out in this episode. There is very little to enjoy here.
The Zeppo – Lor put it best. I was not amused, Whedon.

Kirsti

I love season 3, you guys. The Mayor is pretty much the bestest BtVS villain ever. We add Faith, Wesley, and Anya to the cast of awesomeness. Willow and Oz are adorable. Doppelgangland wins my heart forever. And TEENAGE GILES. That said, Team Heartless Cow also had to suffer through a LOT of Bangel angst this season. And Xander and Willow made out a bunch of times. So…UGH. That sucked.

But I digress. ON WITH THE RANKINGS!

Doppelgangland – This is – along with season 6’s Tabula Rasa – tops my list of all time favourite Buffy episodes. BECAUSE OF ALL THE REASONS. It’s genius and I love it forever.
Band Candy – I love this episode for so many reasons. Ripper tops the list, closely followed by Teen Snyder.
Graduation Day, Part 2 – This episode is just flat out made of win. From ~~finally getting rid of~~ saying goodbye to Angel to the Buffy and Faith dream sequence foreshadowing to Oz’s comment about attacking the Mayor with hummus to the student army of awesome.
Lover’s Walk – SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!!!!!! What more do you need? Oh yeah, the end of the stupid Xander/Willow trainwreck.
The Wish – BAMF Buffy and the introduction of Anya. WIN. Plus, Cordy realising (albeit for a short time) that maybe Buffy Summers isn’t the worst thing ever.
Graduation Day, Part 1 – As much as I love the culmination of the “Faith is evil” storyline, I’m not a huge fan of Buffy’s decision making processes in this episode. It’s pretty much only this high up the list because of Oz and Willow and all the associated squeeing.
Helpless – It’s kind of awesome to see Buffy have to deal with the same problems as the rest of us for a change – namely being weak feeble little girly-girls. Not so much the having to fight an insane vampire on your 18th birthday part. I sure as hell didn’t have to do that…
Faith, Hope & Trick – Okay, so Kakistos is kind of lame. But Faith is awesome, and Mr. Trick is pretty great in a 90s techno-geek vampire kind of a way.
Bad Girls – The villain may be the uber-suck, but Snarky Giles and the Buffy/Angel crimefighting duo make this a pretty great episode for me. Right up until the murdering at least.
Earshot – Okay, the telepathy part was kind of a drag, but it’s totally worth it for Buffy finding out that Joyce and Giles boffed on the bonnet of a police car.
Anne – Definitely not a favourite for me, but Badass Buffy in a Hell Dimension wins all the prizes.
Homecoming – It’s pretty terrible, but I do like it when Cordy gets a chance to stand up for herself rather than just standing there and screaming.
Enemies – It doesn’t completely suck, but fake!Angelus making out with Faith = Buffy feels, which equals Team Heartless Cow tuning out.
Choices – A decided dose of MEH. It’s a nice episode for Buffy and Willow’s friendship (TACKLE HUG!!), but besides that it’s kinda filler-y.
The Prom – I know I’m definitely in the minority here, but I dislike pretty much everything about this episode. Except for the return of Anya.
Revelations – Giles gets concussion AGAIN, Kristin Scott Thomas’ sister is an uber-bitch, Xander/Willow nonsense, and Xander being a douchebag. On the upside, Angel gets hit in the head with a shovel.
Beauty and the Beasts – Nope. Nope nope nope. Jekyll and Hyde should not include domestic violence against teenagers. Although they do get a few bonus points for that Oz transformation close up.
Consequences – Feels and cries and denial and UGH GET ON WITH IT ALREADY.
Gingerbread – Creepy small children and the worst acronym ever. Plus, burning books. PASS.
Dead Man’s Party – With the exception of “Look at my mask. Isn’t it pretty? It raises the dead!” snarkiness from Giles, this episode pretty much makes me hate every single character. Including Oz.
Amends – Between Buffy’s bad fringe, the return of Angel’s horrific Irish accent, and the worst moustache of all time, this was bound to be near the bottom of my list. Add in the Team Feels ending, and you’ve got me yelling “BORED NOW.”
The Zeppo – NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.

Marines