Diary of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Virgin – Cordy makes a wish and saves the day

by Jason Hughes

(Season 3, Episodes 9-11)

Still chugging along; if only more shows were as consistently inventive and entertaining as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. FOX recently said they intend to let creator Joss Whedon just be Joss in the new season of Dollhouse, rather than interfere like they did with Firefly.

Maybe they went back and watched Buffy and Angel, and realized what magic he could create when you just leave him alone. Whedon succeeds because he creates TV programs that are uniquely special, unlike anything else on the screens. Network executives coming in and mucking up the works only make that harder. Leave him alone and maybe by Season 3, Dollhouse will be at least half as good as this.

3.9 – “The Wish”
(Original Air Date: December 8, 1998) Who knew It’s a Wonderful Life could be so awful. It was especially shocking to me that Cordelia, who brought this new and horrific reality into being with her wish, was in turn killed and incinerated. It’s a damned good thing she got through to Giles in time, or that would be it.

It was cool seeing that The Master would have indeed risen and taken over Sunnydale without Buffy around to have stopped him. It was even more wild to see Willow and Xander as his most ruthless vampire minions. Willow, in particular, reminded me a lot of Drusilla’s more sane personality traits.

The ending was particularly powerful in that everyone died. More specifically, the Buffy who got shut out when she developed as the Slayer outside of Sunnydale. Clearly her connections with her friends and her “real” life are what keeps her focused and strong. It’s a nice message.

As for Anya, I can’t help but wonder if we’ll see her again. She was some horrible looking demon thing when she granted Cordelia’s wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale, but after Giles destroyed her amulet and erased that alternate reality, she’d lost that ability. Is she still a student at Sunnydale High? Was she ever? Was she human?

3.10 – “Amends”
(Original Air Date: December 15, 1998) This one was a little more odd. When it ended, I was expecting the “To be continued….” tag to appear. It certainly felt like an unfinished episode.

The flashbacks to Angel’s past are always interesting. After seeing what he did to Giles in regards to Ms. Calendar, we know how sadistic a bastard-demon Angel can be. Speaking of which, Giles’ encounter with him was perfect in that regard. Cold and completely uncaring.

Not everyone can be as forgiving as Buffy, nor fully realize that en-souled Angel is not the same as demon vampire Angel. That said, by the end of this episode, it was becoming more and more clear that he really needed to leave Sunnydale and get the hell away from Buffy. That flesh is too tempting.

I’m glad to see Oz and Willow back together. It almost seems like they’re going to start using Oz a bit more as well; he was significant in the last episode as well. He’s a good character — it’s a shame to waste him. Hell, he’s even too decent a guy to bed Willow for the wrong reasons.

It was the dispatch of the “bad guy” in this episode that bothered me. Buffy punches around some dudes with no eyes, and empties their table of witchery stuff and she wins? Sure, “The First Evil” shows her a scary face before leaving, but it really gave up that quick?

Or was it just cocky because Angel was going to kill himself anyway at that moment? I wouldn’t think so, because it wanted Angel alive so it could turn him evil again … a-ha! The First Evil wanted Buffy to save Angel so it could try again to turn him. Yeah, that’s how I’ll make it more palatable.

3.11 – “Gingerbread”
(Original Air Date: January 12, 1999) Wow, was this a freaky installment. The children/demon concept was certainly novel. But more harrowing was Buffy’s mother and the rest of the town turning all witch-burning crazy. Are they going to remember that Amy cast a spell in front of them? The denial, or “selective memory” — as Willow calls it — factor in Sunnydale is tremendous.

Speaking of Amy, wasn’t it convenient of them to write her back into the story just so they could write her back out. At least she’s apparently going to be hanging around as a rat for a while; maybe they could get her mother’s trophy and put it in her cage to keep her company. You’d think she’d have come up with an exit strategy for her transformation, rather than hope Willow can figure it out.

So Hansel and Gretel are a demon? Loved how Buffy dispatched of this one. In fact, the whole climactic ending with Buffy impaling the demon accidentally, mere moments before Xander and Oz show up to “rescue them,” was comic brilliance.

Even more brilliant was Cordelia being the one who swooped in to save the day. What an enigma she’s turned out to be as the series has progressed. While staying true to her original personality, she’s grown into something every bit as complex and intriguing as the core Scoobies. I think I’ll miss her on Buffy when she leaves for LA with Angel next year (see, I know some stuff).