Graduation Day Part 2 (or School's Out Forever)
Here, finally, is the last season 3 post in our rewatch. Sorry about the long delay. After this post there will be a hiatus (a planned one this time), while your friendly neighbourhood mods try to work out a posting schedule for season 4.
So, anyway, part 2 begins where part 1 ended.
Buffy tried to kill Faith in order to save Angel's life, but failed.
Just as well really. One Slayer whose a murderer is quite enough, thank you very much.
Meanwhile, Faith's enabler, the Mayor, is quite distraught at her disappearance. Aww, I knew he really cared.
Also meanwhile, back at the school library, everyone is researching the Ascension,
even Cordy, who had only gone there to have another go at everyone for being mean to Wesley.
Meanwhile, meanwhile, meanwhile, unbenownst to her friends and Giles (and they would not like it if it were known) Buffy has found another solution to the whole 'Angel needs to drain a Slayer to survive' problem.
"Drink me."
"Are you nuts? Or possibly stuck in an Alice in Wonderland AU?"
'Course Angel doesn't actually say that, but he doesn't think it's a good idea either.
"Help, help! Buffy's gone crazy! Lemme out of here."
In the end, though, sheer persistence (and the smell of Slayer blood) bring him around.
And once he's started drinking,
he can't stop.
Buffy ends up in hospital, courtesy of a very guilty Angel.
Faith is in a coma in the very next room to Buffy,
which is convenient for the Mayor when he tries to suffocate Buffy.
Angel stops him, but the Mayor is quick to throw Angel's Slayer-draining exploits in his face,
and Buffy's friends and Giles do the same when they arrive. You can't really blame them. Then again, it's not all Angel's fault.
Then again again, it probably feels to Angel that it is.
Meanwhile, in one of the best scenes of the episode, Buffy has a shared Slayer dream with Faith,
in which Faith talks in apparent riddles, that actually foretell the coming of Dawn in season 5, and hints to Buffy about how to beat the Mayor.
Seems despite Faith's fall, Slayers are still sisters somewhere deep under the skin.
Buffy wakes up knowing how to beat the Mayor.
She says goodbye to Faith and goes to tell her friends.
So, what else happens, apart from Buffy, her friends and classmates (and Wesley) facing off against a giant snake that used to be the Mayor on Graduation Day?
Well, Willow and Oz continue to be utterly cute.
Cordy and Wesley discover they are not meant to be.
Various Sunnydale students step up to the plate and get killed for their pains:
including Larry,
and Harmony.
Others survive:
Percy,
and Jonathan. Cordy stakes a vampire, but sadly there's no screencap of that moment.
Principal Snyder gets eaten,
the peculiar fate of Sunnydale High School principals. He just couldn't escape it in the end.
Also, Buffy and Giles blow up the school, with the Giant Snake-Mayor inside it.
School could really not be more out, could it?
RIP Mayor Richard Wilkins III. You were a great Big Bad.
In the aftermath of the fight, Buffy has her final (for now) glimpse of Angel.
Going,
going,
Gone.
Buffy looks sad, but she'll deal. She did all her crying in The Prom.
It's the end of an era. And not just because Angel is gone.
No more high school library for Giles to work in. No more high school.
These five friends (or sort of) will never be all together again.
Oh well, life (and the show) must go on.
Best lines:
Xander: "Here is your cup of coffee. Brewed from the finest Colombian lighter fluid."
Giles: "Thank you." Takes a sip. "Horrible." Takes another sip.
Xander: "Aren't you supposed to be drinking tea anyway?"
Giles: "Tea is soothing. I wish to be tense."
So, that's the end of season 3. What did you think? Are you a 'the show was never any good after season 3' type of fan, or a 'it's great the way Joss let everyone grow up and move on' type of fan? I know which side I come down on, but given how many polls of (non-rabid) fans elect season 3 as best season of the show, both views are equally valid, I guess.
So, anyway, part 2 begins where part 1 ended.
Buffy tried to kill Faith in order to save Angel's life, but failed.
Just as well really. One Slayer whose a murderer is quite enough, thank you very much.
Meanwhile, Faith's enabler, the Mayor, is quite distraught at her disappearance. Aww, I knew he really cared.
Also meanwhile, back at the school library, everyone is researching the Ascension,
even Cordy, who had only gone there to have another go at everyone for being mean to Wesley.
Meanwhile, meanwhile, meanwhile, unbenownst to her friends and Giles (and they would not like it if it were known) Buffy has found another solution to the whole 'Angel needs to drain a Slayer to survive' problem.
"Drink me."
"Are you nuts? Or possibly stuck in an Alice in Wonderland AU?"
'Course Angel doesn't actually say that, but he doesn't think it's a good idea either.
"Help, help! Buffy's gone crazy! Lemme out of here."
In the end, though, sheer persistence (and the smell of Slayer blood) bring him around.
And once he's started drinking,
he can't stop.
Buffy ends up in hospital, courtesy of a very guilty Angel.
Faith is in a coma in the very next room to Buffy,
which is convenient for the Mayor when he tries to suffocate Buffy.
Angel stops him, but the Mayor is quick to throw Angel's Slayer-draining exploits in his face,
and Buffy's friends and Giles do the same when they arrive. You can't really blame them. Then again, it's not all Angel's fault.
Then again again, it probably feels to Angel that it is.
Meanwhile, in one of the best scenes of the episode, Buffy has a shared Slayer dream with Faith,
in which Faith talks in apparent riddles, that actually foretell the coming of Dawn in season 5, and hints to Buffy about how to beat the Mayor.
Seems despite Faith's fall, Slayers are still sisters somewhere deep under the skin.
Buffy wakes up knowing how to beat the Mayor.
She says goodbye to Faith and goes to tell her friends.
So, what else happens, apart from Buffy, her friends and classmates (and Wesley) facing off against a giant snake that used to be the Mayor on Graduation Day?
Well, Willow and Oz continue to be utterly cute.
Cordy and Wesley discover they are not meant to be.
Various Sunnydale students step up to the plate and get killed for their pains:
including Larry,
and Harmony.
Others survive:
Percy,
and Jonathan. Cordy stakes a vampire, but sadly there's no screencap of that moment.
Principal Snyder gets eaten,
the peculiar fate of Sunnydale High School principals. He just couldn't escape it in the end.
Also, Buffy and Giles blow up the school, with the Giant Snake-Mayor inside it.
School could really not be more out, could it?
RIP Mayor Richard Wilkins III. You were a great Big Bad.
In the aftermath of the fight, Buffy has her final (for now) glimpse of Angel.
Going,
going,
Gone.
Buffy looks sad, but she'll deal. She did all her crying in The Prom.
It's the end of an era. And not just because Angel is gone.
No more high school library for Giles to work in. No more high school.
These five friends (or sort of) will never be all together again.
Oh well, life (and the show) must go on.
Best lines:
Xander: "Here is your cup of coffee. Brewed from the finest Colombian lighter fluid."
Giles: "Thank you." Takes a sip. "Horrible." Takes another sip.
Xander: "Aren't you supposed to be drinking tea anyway?"
Giles: "Tea is soothing. I wish to be tense."
So, that's the end of season 3. What did you think? Are you a 'the show was never any good after season 3' type of fan, or a 'it's great the way Joss let everyone grow up and move on' type of fan? I know which side I come down on, but given how many polls of (non-rabid) fans elect season 3 as best season of the show, both views are equally valid, I guess.