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155 of 166 found the following review helpful:
 One of Buffy's best seasons is finally available on DVDOct 27, 2002
By Joseph Rodriguez
While many people claim that Season Two is the best season ever of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I favor Season Three instead. It features the introduction of fan favorites Eliza Dushku (as Faith, a renegade Slayer) and Emma Caulfield (as Anya, former "patron saint" of scorned women) as well as a keeps-you-guessing storyline. Season Three is also the most consistent season - there are no "stinker" episodes like Season Two's "Bad Eggs" or Season Four's "Beer Bad."This set contains all 22 episodes of the first season. They are: "Anne" - After sending Angel to hell at the end of the previous Season, Buffy has run to L.A. and changed her name, abandoning her Slayer responsibilities. But when someone she's previously helped recognizes her and asks for her aid again, can she refuse? "Dead Man's Party" - Buffy's back, but not all is right. She's still expelled from school, and her friends have some serious repressed anger that's just waiting to burst out. And then there's the zombies that crash her "welcome home" party... "Faith, Hope and Trick" - Eliza Dushku (Bring It On) appears as sexy new Slayer Faith, whose camaraderie with Buffy's friends makes her a bit jealous. It also features the introduction of Mr. Trick, one of the funnier (and one of the few black) characters to appear on Buffy. "Beauty and the Beasts" - Angel's back from Hell slightly feral and werewolf Oz may have been getting out of his cage during the full moon. When there's a series of brutal murders, Buffy and Willow have to consider the possibility that one of their boyfriends is the culprit. "Homecoming" - One of the funniest episodes of Buffy ever, along with "Doppelgangland" (see below). Buffy and Cordelia are in a no-holds-barred race to become Homecoming Queen. But they're soon in big trouble when Homecoming coincides with Mr. Trick's new big game event, Slayerfest '98. "Band Candy" - Another hysterically funny episode, in which a batch of magically enhanced candy makes all the adults in Sunnydale act like irresponsible teenagers - including Giles and Buffy's mother Joyce. "Revelations" - The Scooby Gang has found out about Angel's return, and are not happy with Buffy for keeping it a secret. And Faith's new Watcher, Gwendolyn Post, arrives in Sunnydale. "Lover's Walk" - James Marsters returns as a lovelorn Spike, who's lost Drusilla to a Chaos Demon. When he kidnaps Willow and Xander, and forces Buffy and Angel to work together with him, you know badness is going to ensue...and it does in a heartbreaking conclusion. "The Wish" - Enraged by Xander's betrayal and her social ostracism, Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Little does she know that vengeance demon Anya (Emma Caulfield) is there to make it come true. Suddenly she finds herself in a world where Willow and Xander are vampires and the Master rules Sunnydale after dark. "Amends" - When the ghosts of Angel's past victims appear to torment him, Buffy must find out what is doing this. Also, Willow and Oz reconcile. "Gingerbread" - When Joyce finds two children's bodies, apparently killed by witches, the town gears up for a massive witch hunt. Buffy and Willow find themselves caught in the middle of it. "Helpless" - On her eighteenth birthday, Buffy finds herself losing her Slayer powers. When her mother is kidnapped by a psychotic vampire unleashed by the Watcher's Council, Buffy must save her armed with only her wits. "The Zeppo" - While Buffy and co. stave off yet another apocalypse, Xander finds himself hanging out with a bunch of zombies, saving the school from being blown up, and...losing his virginity!? "Bad Girls" - New Watcher Wesley Wyndham-Pryce makes his appearance, and Faith shows Buffy a walk on the wild side that ends in tragedy. "Consequences" - After the deputy mayor's death, Buffy and Faith find themselves feeling trapped and scared. Faith takes a decided turn for the worse, and joins forces with the cheerfully evil Mayor of Sunnydale. "Doppelgangland" - A spell performed by Willow and Anya brings Vampire Willow from the world of "The Wish" (see above) to normal Sunnydale. Hysterically funny; the highlight has to be when Willow masquerades as Vampire Willow. "Enemies" - Faith shows her true colors when she and the Mayor ask a demon to remove Angel's soul, returning him to the soulless vampire Angelus. "Earshot" - Buffy gains telepathy after killing a demon, and hears a death threat aimed at the school's students. Unfortunately, the ability to hear others' minds is slowly driving her insane. "Choices" - The Box of Gavrok, an item essential to the Mayor's Ascension, arrives in Sunnydale. The Scoobies manage to capture it, but in the process Willow is kidnapped. Stop the Ascension, or save Willow? "The Prom" - It's prom time again in Sunnydale. But when hellhounds trained to attack people in formal wear are unleashed, Buffy must put her plans on hold to stop them. Also, Angel decides to break up with Buffy. "Graduation Day, Parts One and Two" - The climactic two-part season finale. When Faith poisons Angel, the only cure is the blood of a Slayer. Buffy goes after Faith, but only succeeds in putting her in a coma. Angel must drink from Buffy to survive. And, of course, the Mayor Ascends into a gigantic snake.
30 of 30 found the following review helpful:
Why Season Three of "BtVS" remains the series' best seasonJan 01, 2003
By Lawrance M. Bernabo
Joss Whedon solved a major problem in Season Two of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in terms of how he resolved the tortured love of Buffy and Angel. Many a good television series went down the tubes because one the sexual tension between the two lovers was consummated, there was nowhere to go but down (classic case in point: Dave and Maddie on "Moonlight"). However, Whedon's masterstroke was that after Angel gave Buffy her birthday present, their relationship went down like no other relationship we had ever seen (not even Sid and Nancy) as Angel turned into Angelus. The season finale, "Becoming: Part II," is still one of the 10 best television episodes I have ever seen. The new problem facing Joss Whedon was: How do you top this in Season Three? In one sense he does not. "Becoming" remains the Mt. Everest of the series, a height that can never be scaled again, no matter how many times Buffy's gift of "death" plays to her advantage. However, what makes Season Three better than Season Two is not that the top is higher, but rather than this is also true of the bottom. Pick the worst episode from Season Three (my choice is the obvious pick, "Beauty and the Beasts") and it is still better than the worst of the first two seasons (e.g., "Teacher's Pet," "Go Fish"). Look at all 22 episodes and you should end up being convinced that this was clearly the show's best season. By now there is clearly an extremely effective pattern to a season of "BtVS" as crafted by Whedon. The first episode, "Anne," reminds Buffy of why she is the slayer (i.e., function as a way of getting late comers to the party up to speed on the Slayer). Again the season is divided into two halves, the first focusing on Faith ("Faith, Hope & Trick") and the second on the Mayor's Ascension ("Graduation Day"). Like the previous season, the part of the first half (Spike & Dru) joins the party of the second half (Angelus), just like Faith joins forces with the Mayor. Consequently, a season of "BtVS" has a sense of overall narrative structure more developed than most television dramas. What also matters is that Whedon finds the actors to play the parts. Eliza Dushku makes Faith a ticking time bomb who represents the Dark Side of being a Slayer (not to mention being as far removed from Kendra as possible), while Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins III takes the traditional politeness of a villain to a new level of giddy charm. The final element, which best defines the uniqueness of Season Three, is that arguably the very best episodes were actually those that did NOT have to do with the major plot threads. There are two fun return visits as Sunnydale is afflicted by another visit from Ethan Raine in "Band Candy" and comes back to kidnap Willow for some witchy help in winning back Dru's love. Fortunately we did not have to wait for Season Four for a visit to "Doppelgangland" after our first taste of the alternative Buffyverse in "The Wish." I was always surprised Whedon did not release those two on a videotape as an addendum to the Season Three Videotape set (double ditto for "Once More, With Feeling"). However, after the Senior gift given to Buffy at "The Prom," the no holds barred fight between Buffy and Faith in "Graduation Day, Part I" and Buffy letting Angel feed on her in "Graduation Day, Part II," the Mayor's actual Ascension seems rather anti-climatic. Buffy supporting cast fares very well in Season Three. "Amends," the episode submitted for Emmy consideration, gives Buffy and Angel some of their best final scenes together as star crossed lovers while Xander finally has a moment of glory in "The Zeppo" (I find the background apocalypse scenes hysterical and love the fact the Zeppo reference is never explained in the episode at all). Cordy makes her own case for being a Slayer in "Homecoming," Giles touches on new meanings of his role as Buffy's father-figure in "Band Candy" and "Helpless," and the only thing more fun than watching Alyson Hannigan play Vamp Willow in "The Wish" was watching her play Willow playing Vamp Willow in "Dopplegangland." "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" received a lot of unwanted publicity during the spring of 1999 when two episodes--"Earshot" and "Graduation Day, Part Two"--were pulled from being aired because of the shootings at Columbine High School. Ultimately, these proved to be overreactions, but certainly Whedon and the show were fortunate that Columbine happened the week before "Earshot" and not the week afterwards, because I really do not know if "BtVS" would have been able to survive that realignment of events. On balance and from the perspective of the middle of Season Seven, I think Season Three will ultimately be considered the best season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
31 of 33 found the following review helpful:
The Buffy goodness keeps trickling inSep 30, 2002
By Joseph Rodriguez
The third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is finally coming out on DVD. In case you've been living under a rock for the past six years, Buffy is a TV show about a young blonde Southern California girl named Buffy - who happens to be the Chosen One, destined to fight the powers of darkness. Along with her friends Willow and Xander and her Watcher, school librarian Giles, she faces vampires, demons and worst of all - the SATs. Season Three covers Buffy's senior year of high school at Sunnydale High. At the end of Season Two, Buffy sent her true love Angel to hell in order to save the world from destruction. Devastated, she ran away to start a new life in L.A. The episodes are as follows: "Anne" - Buffy is working in L.A. as a waitress under her middle name, Anne. But when street kids start disappearing and an old friend (sort of) asks for her help, Buffy must become the Slayer once again. "Dead Man's Party" - Buffy's home, but things aren't hunky-dory yet. And when it seems things couldn't get any worse, a pack of zombies rise from their graves and come after Buffy's family and friends! "Faith, Hope and Trick" - Faith, a sassy new Slayer, comes to town. Everyone seems to love her, but Buffy's not quite as impressed. Then she finds out that Faith didn't come to Sunnydale alone... "Beauty and the Beasts" - A series of brutal mauling deaths casts suspicion on Willow's boyfriend Oz (who happens to be a werewolf). Meanwhile, Buffy must deal with Angel, who has somehow returned from hell. "Homecoming" - Buffy and Cordelia clash over who will become Homecoming Queen. But when Mr. Trick organizes Slayerfest '98 on the same night as the Homecoming dance, Buffy and Cordy find themselves in a race just to survive! "Band Candy" - The Scoobies are less than thrilled that they have to sell candy to support the band. But when Joyce and Giles - and every other adult in Sunnydale - start acting like irresponsible teenagers, they find they have a lot more to worry about. Like Joyce and Giles kissing and more... "Revelations" - Faith's new Watcher, Gwendolyn Post, arrives in town. But when Xander catches Buffy and Angel smooching, and Giles learns of a powerful magic glove hidden in Sunnydale, things really heat up. "Lover's Walk" - Spike returns to town, heartbroken that his lover Drusilla has left him. When he captures Willow and Xander, Buffy and Angel must cooperate with him to save them. "The Wish" - Cordelia, betrayed by Xander and Willow, wishes for a world where Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Little does she know that vengeance demon Anyanka is there to grant her wish. Suddenly Cordy finds herself in a world where Willow and Xander are vampires, Giles is leading a plucky band of evil fighters, and the Slayer is in...Cleveland?! "Amends" - It's Christmastime, and things should be cheery. But Willow and Xander are trying to make amends to their significant others, and Angel starts having terrible dreams of his evil days that are driving him mad. "Gingerbread" - Sunnydale goes Salem when two children are apparently killed by witches. Who makes a better target than teen witch Willow...or Slayer Buffy? "Helpless" - Buffy turns eighteen, and must undergo a trial by the Watcher's Council. But when things go awry and Buffy's mother is kidnapped, Buffy has to save her...without her Slayer strength! "The Zeppo" - Xander takes the forefront in this humorous episode. While Buffy and the Scoobies are busy saving the world, Xander finds his inner tough guy and loses his virginity...to Faith!? "Bad Girls" - When Buffy starts hanging out more with Faith, friction builds between the Scoobies. The arrival of a priggish new Watcher, Wesley, doesn't help. But when things go drastically wrong on a late-night mission and an innocent man is killed, the two Slayers find themselves in deep trouble. "Consequences" - Faith's refusal to accept responsibility for the assistant mayor's death makes her very dangerous, as Xander finds out firsthand. But not as dangerous as when she makes a secret alliance with the genteelly evil Mayor of Sunnydale. "Doppelgangland" - Anyanka's back, and wants her powers back! She enlists Willow to help her, but instead summons Vampire Willow from the world of "The Wish". As you can imagine, this creates quite an interesting situation! "Enemies" - Faith's alliance with the Mayor finally comes to light when she tries to remove Angel's soul. "Earshot" - Buffy gains telepathic powers after a fight with a demon. After hearing a threat to kill all the Sunnydale High students, she must try to find the would-be killer...even though hearing everyone's thoughts is slowly driving her insane. "Choices" - When Willow is captured in a raid on the Mayor's headquarters, the Scoobies are faced with a choice: save Willow, or stop the Mayor? "The Prom" - Buffy and Angel break up just before the senior prom. But it's just as well, given that Buffy will be busy trying to stop a disgruntled students from releasing Hellhounds to attack the students. "Graduation Day" - In the two-part season finale, just before the Mayor's Ascension Faith shoots Angel with a poisoned arrow; the only cure is the blood of a Slayer. Buffy has never wanted to kill - can she kill a former friend to save her lover? A quick word on the extras: there's just episode commentaries by several of the writers and some featurettes on various aspects of the show. (But that's not bad for a TV series on DVD.) All in all, this is a really good set, and comes highly recommended.
31 of 34 found the following review helpful:
Buffy's best season to dateDec 17, 2002
By C. W. Lester
"RavenB"
Season Three of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (BtVS), for me and many other fans, was the high point of the series to date (though the current-and-final seventh season may yet manage to outdo it). There are several reasons for this: 1.) It featured BtVS's most memorable villains, the rogue Slayer Faith and the enigmatic Mayor Wilkins, and wove them into an ongoing story arc that remains the most compelling in the history of the series. 2.) It featured some of the best character development in a series that has distinguished itself by strong character development. Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, Xander, Oz, Faith, and even Cordelia are explored in captivating detail. This is one season when everybody got their chance to shine. 3.) The intensity of emotion that runs through this season is remarkable and often gut-wrenching. Part of the reason everyone gets a chance to shine is that everyone is put through the wringer. Episodes like "Dead Man's Party", "Beauty and the Beasts", "Lover's Walk", "Amends", and "Enemies" grab hold of your heart and twist it mercilessly, as the characters live out their all-too-believable suffering on screen. Few shows have so many actors who are so good at conveying emotion as the BtVS cast, and their performances in this season were phenomenal. 4.) Oz rocks! The guitarist who won Willow's heart in Season 2 really comes into his own as one of the Scoobies in Season 3. Which is a good thing, because about half a dozen episodes into Season 4 he's gone for good. :( Enjoy the unique, delightful humor of the Scooby Gang's resident werewolf while he lasts. 5.) Faith rocks, too, but she's been reviewed in detail elsewhere, so I won't waste space here. 6.) The Big Finish. The two-part "Graduation" is one of the best, most satisfying season finales in Buffy history; only the season 6 finale "Two to Go"/"Grave" has come close to matching it. Watching the way our heroes deal with their private fears and personal issues while preparing for Armageddon is just flat-out great television, and the climactic battle is unmatched by any other fight in the history of the Buffy-verse. Consistently strong from beginning to end, Season 3 currently stands at the pinnacle of achievement in the annals of Joss Whedon's cult-hit creation. A must-have for every Buffy fan!
40 of 46 found the following review helpful:
 Faith, hope and trick - My favorite season of Buffy...Dec 09, 2002
By vio
Many people will site season 2 of Buffy as the finest season the show has ever produced and believe me, I'm nearly inclined to agree. With absolutely brilliant episodes like "Becoming"(a two part episode that epitomizes the finest television can produce), it's hard to deny so. However, I still have to give this season the nudge. This is for one reason and that reason goes by the name of Faith, played oh so brilliantly by the one and only Eliza Dushku. Ignoring the undeniable fact that Eliza Dushku is one of the hottest chicks on the face of the earth, her portrayal of evil vampire slayer Faith brings so much to this season that it can barely be put into words. She's evil, psychotic, totally out of control and unpredictable, yet somehow you can't help but have a fondness for her. You can't help but cheer for her when she smacks Buffy around. This is a testament to Eliza's astounding charm and acting ability. Watching her and Buffy team up and go fists to fists through out the season is great fun that never gets tired or boring. And believe me, they do quite a bit of both. It is true that there isn't any particular episode this season that can live up the greatness of season 2 episodes such as "Becoming" or "Passion" or even "Prophecy Girl" from season 1. However this season may be the only one without a single genuine dud in it. Every episode is consistently well written and entertaining with never a dull moment. One of my favorites is "The Zeppo." It's an incredibly fun episode where the always underachieving Xander finally gets to be the hero of the day. I love it and I know you will too. The Mayor is a great villian(or "BIG BAD" in the buffy 'verse) and his antics are only enhanced later on with the addition of a second partner in crime(avoiding spoilers here). There's a great story arc involving Xander/Cordelia and Oz/Willow and some messing around with other partners behind peoples backs. Let's just say this season came the closest to ever providing a genuine relationship between two of those people(not gonna use specific names because of spoilers). This is a relationship that's still desired by fans even today. The only reason I gave this DVD set 4 stars instead of 5 is because like the other Buffy box sets, the bonus materials aren't what they could be, but they're still sufficient enough to warrant a purchase. Where else are you going to get commentary by
Joss Whedon? And you can't beat the convenience of being able to watch any episode(COMMERCIAL FREE!) you like at any time you like with the pristine digital picture and sound that only DVD can provide. Plus you'll have the luxary of knowing if 20 or 30 years from now Buffy is no longer running re-runs on tv, you'll still be able to whip out this set and it will still look and sound as good as the day you bought it. So order this set right now. And if you haven't bought the season 1 and 2 sets yet, go pick them up as well. It's well worth the money. Buffy is truly one of the greatest tv shows ever and deserves no less than a neat little DVD collection like this to be viewed with.
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