Synopsis: The Complete Third Season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer 6 Disc Set. 

Now for the Zone's Eye View:

By Scott Maravilla

After three years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer just kept on going strong. While not as good as season two, the third season managed to deepen the mythology with the addition of the homicidal psychopathic Slayer Faith who was called to replace Kendra after her death at the hands of Drusilla (Juliet Landau) in Becoming Part One. Angel (David Boreanaz) returns from 100 years of torture from the demon dimension Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) condemned him to in Becoming Part Two. As we learn in the season opener Anne, time passes far quicker in a demon dimension than in our own. Thus, Angel's mere months away in our time lasted hundreds of years. Buffy and Angel continue to have feeling for each other, but there romance is destined to never be because otherwise he loses his soul, although, Angelus does make an appearance of sorts toward the end of the season.

The Big Bad this time around is Mayor Wilkins. It seems fitting that the mayor of a hellmouth be in league with demons and vampires. What is really pathetic about Mayor Wilkins, though, is that he has sold his soul to become mayor of a small California community. Think big guy! Tom Skeritt's evil Illinois State Senator in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode The Devil's Platform at least wanted to be president. The Mayor's real intensions are to become a demon himself. Referred to as The Ascension, the Mayor plans to give the commencement speech at Sunnydale High's graduation so that he can eat the students. He needs to feed a great deal soon afterward in order for it to take. That is unless Buffy and the Scoobies can stop him.

The real crux of Buffy's dilemma is fellow Slayer Faith. Arriving in Sunnydale Watcherless, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) takes her in as his own, and she and Buffy team up on patrols. As bad girl companions they wreak havoc on Sunnydale's vampire community until Faith goes bad. The rogue Slayer becomes a huge problem for Buffy and the Watchers Council. Buffy also receives a new Watcher in the form of uptight Brit Wesley Wyndam-Pryce who later appears in Angel. Giles is fired by the Watchers Council for becoming too emotionally attached to Buffy. He continues to be a father figure to the girl, and a de facto Watcher as Buffy and the Scoobies turn to him more than Wesley. 

Season three contains one of the absolute best episodes of the series, The Wish. After breaking up with Xander, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) tells her new friend Anya (Emma Caulfield now appearing in the film Darkness Falls) that she wishes Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. As it turns out, Anya is really the veangence demon Anyanka who is able to grant the wishes of scorned women. The result is an alternative reality where Sunnydale is overrun with vampires, and the Master has risen to walk the Earth again. Guess who is greatest vampire disciples are? A cool leather jacket wearing Xander (Nicholas Brendan) and Willow (Alysson Hannigan) as a sexy sadistic dominatrix vampire. Buffy herself is an unrefined Slayer working out of Cleveland. It is up to Giles to decipher what has happened and solve the riddle of Anyanka.

Season three does have one weakness working against it which manifests itself at the end. Whereas in seasons one and two, the students of Sunnydale High were unaware of the bizarre manifestations in their town and Buffy's identity, they are not so much in three. Buffy is awarded Class Protector at the Prom. Moreover, the graduating class is turned into an army to fight the Mayor and his vampire cohorts at the end. Battling teenagers is a bit much for the season finale. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Third Season contains all 22 episodes in a six disc box set loaded with features. The presentation is superb and the extras are gravy for such a fine box set. They include a season three overview, commentary on select episodes, five featurettes (!), interviews with Joss Whedon, scripts for select episodes and a still gallery. Not to mention the high quality presentation and dolby digital sound. Based on presentation and content, Buffy season three earns a well deserved 9.

The Third Season Episodes Are:

1. Anne
2. Dead Man's Party
3. Faith, Hope and Trick
4. Beauty and the Beasts
5. Homecoming
6. Band Candy
7. Revelations
8. Lovers Walk
9. The Wish
10. Amends
11. Gingerbread
12. Helpless
13. The Zeppo
14. Bad Girls
15. Consequences
16. Doppelgangland
17. Enemies
18. Earshot
19. Choices
20. The Prom
21. Graduation Day Part One
22. Graduation Day Part Two