30 Days of Buffy Challenge, Day 10: Favourite Season 3 Episode
Further proof that I like episodes that pull out all the stops to throw in something completely wild; my favourite Season 3 episode is Episode 3x09: The Wish.
This is the episode that introduces Emma Caulfield as Anya/Anyanka, who has joined Cordelia's group of mean girls.
Recent events in the series have turned Cordelia into the butt of her group's jokes, but when Anya says she's just pretending to like Harmony et al, and suggests making a wish to make herself feel better...
Cordelia decides that Buffy is the cause of all her problems, and wishes that the show's title character had never come to Sunnydale...
At which point, Anya/Aynka reveals her true nature, granting the wish, and suddenly things aren't the same.
The episode likes to switch points of view a lot, so at this point it switches entirely to Cordelia's for the entire second act, with Buffy off screen for about half of the episode (the changed point of views continue effectively with each act).
So, Cordelia finds herself in an alternate reality; the Master is back, and is in control of Sunnydale; her car is gone, and she is out after curfew. After Sarah Michelle Gellar put on the vamp makeup in Season 1, now it's the turn of two more actors, as Xander and Willow are revealed to now be creatures of the night.
I love this episode, just in that it creates a dystopic version of Sunnydale waiting for Buffy to arrive and put things right (or at least try to), and it's an episode not afraid to do things that most shows would see as unthinkable, with its whole alternate reality trope.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Although these are not permanent because of Anyanka's spell finally being broken, five main characters die in this episode: Cordelia, Angel, Xander, Willow and Buffy (for those geeky enough to care, it's the second of three times that David Boreanaz gets dusted on screen in Buffy and Angel).
I really like what they did with Anya after this episode, and how she turned into one of my favourite characters.
This is the episode that introduces Emma Caulfield as Anya/Anyanka, who has joined Cordelia's group of mean girls.
Recent events in the series have turned Cordelia into the butt of her group's jokes, but when Anya says she's just pretending to like Harmony et al, and suggests making a wish to make herself feel better...
Cordelia decides that Buffy is the cause of all her problems, and wishes that the show's title character had never come to Sunnydale...
At which point, Anya/Aynka reveals her true nature, granting the wish, and suddenly things aren't the same.
The episode likes to switch points of view a lot, so at this point it switches entirely to Cordelia's for the entire second act, with Buffy off screen for about half of the episode (the changed point of views continue effectively with each act).
So, Cordelia finds herself in an alternate reality; the Master is back, and is in control of Sunnydale; her car is gone, and she is out after curfew. After Sarah Michelle Gellar put on the vamp makeup in Season 1, now it's the turn of two more actors, as Xander and Willow are revealed to now be creatures of the night.
I love this episode, just in that it creates a dystopic version of Sunnydale waiting for Buffy to arrive and put things right (or at least try to), and it's an episode not afraid to do things that most shows would see as unthinkable, with its whole alternate reality trope.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Although these are not permanent because of Anyanka's spell finally being broken, five main characters die in this episode: Cordelia, Angel, Xander, Willow and Buffy (for those geeky enough to care, it's the second of three times that David Boreanaz gets dusted on screen in Buffy and Angel).
I really like what they did with Anya after this episode, and how she turned into one of my favourite characters.