Review: Buffy Season Three

Season Two ended with Buffy sending Angel to hell and her subsequent running away. Season Three begins by bringing Buffy back to Sunnydale where she had to earn her place back into the group. She spends the first part of the season trying to get over Angel only to have him come back from hell. The waxing and waning of their relationship forms the core of the narrative in Season Three.

But Season Three doesn't revolve completely around Buffy. The surrounding cast is each given their own chance to shine. Willow, Xander and Giles each has an episode where they take a more crucial part of the story. Even Cordelia is given a chance to show some depth (well, for Cordelia, anyway).

Season Three introduces Faith (Eliza Dushku), the anti-Buffy. Faith is a Boston-bred slayer from Southie. She's everything that Buffy isn't - crude, aggressive, promiscuous. She's less into the Spiderman view of her destiny ("With great power comes great responsibility."). She's more like "Power! Cool!" The pairing of these two slayers provides the second main thread of the narrative.

The central villain for Season Three is the Mayor. The Mayor had been referenced since Snyder arrived at Sunnydale High as a bad guy. The characterization that Joss Whedon came up with was both memorable and a let down. I could totally picture this man as the mayor of Sunnydale, but I had a hard time picturing him as a threat even at his most threatening. He also wasn't given a lot of motivation for being a bad guy. I never got a feel as to why he wanted to do the things he'd done. His missing motivation made it hard for me to think of him as anything other than Opie gone evil.