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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3 Episodes
Season 3 Episode Guide
22 Episodes 1998 - 1999
Episode 1
Anne
Tue, Sep 29, 199860 mins
While Cordelia flies off to Las Palmas for the summer, Xander, Willow and Oz learn to control the vampire population (to some degree of success) without the Slayer. Meanwhile, Giles follows false trails and searches for Buffy all over the United States, but as the new school year starts without the expelled Buffy, the Scooby Gang wonder where she is. Living under an assumed name, her middle name Anne, she becomes a waitress in big city, still dreaming of eternal love with Angel but tortured by the thoughts of what she had to do to him. She is soon recognized by another former Sunnydale resident, whose present alias is Lily, and Buffy/Anne helps Lily search for her sweetheart, Rickie, whose life-drained body Buffy find. Only later, after Lily goes with Ken, a man who seems to be some sort of pastor to the lost and homeless, do they realize that Ken is really the culprit in Rickie's death. When Ken pushes Lily and Buffy through a portal to a hell of hard labor they have to find out - can a Slayer handle the taskmaster demons? Will Buffy make it home to Sunnydale?
Episode 2
Dead Man's Party
Tue, Oct 6, 199844 mins
Buffy is back home, to her mother Joyce's great relief, which calls for a dinner invitation for the while gang. But the mood remains gloomy, despite her resuming the main slaying tasks, because other things can't just return to their former state. Partly because the obviously amused Principal Snyder pays no attention to pleas to take Buffy back (mother's threat to take the case to the mayor even has an inverse effect). Buffy still dreams of Angel. After a dead cat found in the Summers' bookcase reanimates, other stinking corpses come to life again, a phenomenon which might have something to do with a the mysterious Nigerian mask with lighting red eyes Joyce bought, fortunately no secret to Giles.
Episode 3
Faith, Hope & Trick
Tue, Oct 13, 199845 mins
The gang enjoys being Seniors now. The Summers girls gloat the school board overruled the principal's refusal to allow Buffy back after make-up tests, but guilty nightmares about having slain her beloved Angel still plague Buffy, who remains too gloomy to accept a charming dance invitation from cute student Scott Hope, but he sweetly persists his charm offensive. Following a suspected vampire, Buffy finds the presumed victim is the new second slayer, Faith, who considers Giles hunky for a watcher. A limousine arrives in Sunnydale with upper-class vampires: the gravely mutilated Kakistos and his lieutenant, Mr. Trick. When some underlings attack the slayers in Kakistos's name, Giles warns it's Greek for 'the worst'... Buffy admits Willow's spell had cured Angel just before she slew him; somehow he reemerges from the hell-dimension her slaying sent him to.
Episode 4
Beauty and the Beasts
Tue, Oct 20, 199860 mins
Xander minds Oz, caged in the library for his lunar werewolf nights, but dozes off; a boy is kill in the woods and the window is open, so Faith takes second watch. Buffy dates gentle Scott Hope and takes mandatory school counseling with Mr. Platt, who says she must conquer her 'demon', obsession with a lost love. Looking for the werewolf, Buffy bumps into Angel, now a half-naked beast, and locks him up cuffed to chains in the mausoleum but tells nobody, not even Giles who says even after centuries of torture in the hell-dimension he may still be a redeemable monster, then finds Platt, murdered during the day. Scotty's school friends Pete Clarner and Debbie Foley share a horrible secret. The gangs suspects them because of links to the victims, meanwhile Angel breaks his chain...
Episode 5
Homecoming
Tue, Nov 3, 199860 mins
The gang plans to attend the homecoming dance in a limo, where Cordelia expects to be crowned queen if she can beat Michelle Blake. Buffy decides to run after a row over Cordelia forgetting to tell her about the yearbook photo-shoot. Alas, for her, the gang is already enlisted for Cordy's campaign. Buffy finds Angel is already far gentler, back in clothes and self-control, but tells him she has another. Just then, sweet suitor Scott's patience with ever-distracted Buffy runs out: he dumps her. Deputy Mayor Allan Finch reports to the spooky Mayor Richard Wilkins the presence of the brothers Hans and Frederick Gruenstahler, wanted for murderous terrorists activities in their native Germany, who actually watch Buffy as part of Slayerfest 1998, Mr. Trick's competition, only the gang arranged for Buffy to be alone in the limo with Cordelia to make up, so they must face the hunters, not both slayers.
Episode 6
Band Candy
Tue, Nov 10, 199860 mins
The students must study for standardized (SAT) tests and sell candy for the school band's new uniforms, even gang members who aren't in the band, but it's concocted by Mayor Richard Wilkins' partner, Mr. Trick and his subcontractor Ethan Rayne's men. Buffy lies to everyone so she can visit Angel, who is nearly normal again, just weak. Giles and Joyce Summers find out they are abused as false alibis but just send Buffy to bed, then work out a coordinated schedule for her and become close. The spiked candy turns adults into uninhibited, irresponsible 'teenagers'. Realizing vampires should be swarming, Buffy knocks their demonic intention out of Ethan.
Episode 7
Revelations
Tue, Nov 17, 199845 mins
Gwendolyn Post, an uptight, by-the-book English Watcher, arrives in Sunnydale claiming that the Watchers Council sent her as Faith's new one, in addition to assessing the whole situation in Sunnydale, looking down upon understandably stressed Giles as on his library. She takes charge of their next common mission: stopping the demon Lagos from obtaining the Glove of Myhnegon, which is in the tomb of the von Hauptman family on Restfield Cemetery. Meanwhile, Angel, back to his tender self, gets it for Buffy, but is seen kissing her by Xander, who reports this to Giles, who is deeply hurt, especially with Mrs Post breathing down his neck, but doesn't tell her. With all of her friends angry and upset that Buffy didn't tell them that Angel had returned from Hell. Xander informs Faith about Angel's return and she plans to kill him before he may turn evil again. When Giles tells Gwendolyn about the Glove and the rite he found to destroy it, she knocks him unconscious. Her hidden agenda proves a huge problem for everyone. The gang only finds out when Faith is already on the wrong foot.
Episode 8
Lovers Walk
Tue, Nov 24, 199860 mins
The gang plans to celebrate their SAT scores bowling, Buffy's mother's insistence to go to a decent college is promoted by Giles and Angel. Willow has a worse regret then her relative failure, rekindling passion with Xander. Determined to save their relationships with Oz and Cordelia, she visits a magic shop for the necessary ingredients for a reverse love potion. Xander finds her and objects to another inexperienced witch messing with him. They are actually stopped and captured by Spike, who has returned, observed Angel, followed Willow and now forces her to make a love potion to return Drusilla to him. Before Buffy and Angel have got hold of Spike and made him tell they're in the abandoned factory, Willow and Xander are found kissing, fearing their last hours, by Oz and Cordelia, who then get hurt in more than one way.
Episode 9
The Wish
Tue, Dec 8, 199845 mins
Wanting to be rid of Xander for good, Cordelia comes to the conclusion that Buffy is the cause of all her problems and makes a wish to the new transfer student, Anya, that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Anya, being the evil and powerful vengeance demon Anyanka, grants that wish and in a heartbeat, the entire world changes and everything Cordelia knows is completely different. In this alternate reality of 'It's a Wonderful Life gone to Hell', the Master is alive and rules the town after dark from the Bronze, both Xander and Willow are vampires, and Giles, with a small group of brave students, called The White Hats, are fighting a losing war of attrition against the vampires on their own. Then, in a shocking turn, Cordelia gets killed by the vamps, leaving the alternate reality Giles to figure out on his own what has happened to this world they currently live in, leading to a meeting with the alternate reality Buffy.
Episode 10
Amends
Tue, Dec 15, 199860 mins
People in Sunnydale prepare for Christmas time, except Jewish Willow, who tells lover Oz she's ready for physical intimacy but he decides to wait. Now that his physical suffering is over, Angel is haunted by a nightmares and visions, always and everywhere, about Angelus' horrible past since the 19th century, with victims and other persona appearing and talking to him. Learning those visions even enter Buffy's dreams, focusing on sex with her to lose his soul and then killing her, Giles agrees to do research as Angel desperately begged him. He is helped by Buffy and Xander, for whom Christmas is a nightmare lacking any family celebration. They find that Angel is tormented by the Bringers or Harbingers, the high-priests of the First Evil, older then demons and incorporeal, and Buffy finds the mark of its residence. Angel can't stand the fear of giving in to temptation at the price of her life and resolves to commit suicide by sunrise. Buffy pleading to make him resist seems to fail and only a Christmas miracle can save the seasonal day.
Episode 11
Gingerbread
Tue, Jan 12, 199960 mins
The discovery in Sunnydale park of a boy and girl, aged 7-8, apparently murdered ritually as indicated by markings, soon tracked to witchcraft as used by sorcery apprentice Willow, has an unusual emotional effect. Buffy's mother, who was there in an attempt to bond with Buffy, founds the soon influential Mothers Opposing the Occult, MOO, which targets anything remotely occult related, actually urged by the two killed kids to 'hurt the bad girls'. Eagerly helped by Principal Snyder, Mayor Wilkins and the police, MOO manages to have the school lockers searched, Giles' books confiscated. This escalates to burning any suspected practitioner at the stake, even if this extreme 'punishment' concerns their own daughters. When the gang realize nobody ever identified the kids, they find there's more to Hans and Greta Strauss, in their dark past.
Episode 12
Helpless
Tue, Jan 19, 199960 mins
For her upcoming 18th birthday, Buffy declines the Scooby gang's offer of a big party, hoping to celebrate with a traditional trip to the ice show with her father. But Buffy doesn't know that preparations are being made for a life-threatening rite of passage that drains the Slayer of her powers and then entraps her with a powerful and psychotic vampire foe.
Episode 13
The Zeppo
Tue, Jan 26, 199960 mins
When Xander realizes that he isn't needed as much as he'd like to believe, his quest to prove he's cool leads him to an unforgettable night that finds him consorting with fast women, raising the dead and rolling with a dangerous crowd that could put Sunnydale in a world of hurt. Meanwhile, Buffy, Giles and the rest of the crew engage in a furious battle with the Sisterhood of Jhe, an all-female demon apocalypse cult that intends to reopen the Hellmouth and bring about the end of the world.
Episode 14
Bad Girls
Tue, Feb 9, 199960 mins
The gifted students enjoy early college admissions, while Xander and Buffy rather worry about present high-school exams. The mayor and his cronies look forward to his demonic ascension, after 100 days of invulnerability. Buffy's council-appointed new, young Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, is received coldly, forbids Giles even to be kept informed but proves his research-excellence by identifying instantly swords as belonging to the 15th century duelist vampires sect El Eliminati, the survivors of which still look for demon Balthazar's buried amulet. Buffy and Faith successfully search for it at the cemetery and clean out a vampire layer. Angel takes the amulet: it's not safe enough with greenhorn Wesley. The order reports to Balthazar about his amulet. Impetuous Faith drags Buffy along, they get arrested and Faith kills Deputy Mayor Allan Finch, accidentally. Both Watchers get captured by the sect, Angel brings the slayers.
Episode 15
Consequences
Tue, Feb 16, 199960 mins
Buffy tries to convince Faith to face up to the consequences of her actions, but Faith thinks that being a Slayer puts her above the law. Buffy confides in Giles about the accidental murder and he decides not to involve the new Watcher, Wesley, knowing that Faith is extremely unstable. Angel tries to get through to Faith, but when Wesley discovers the truth and comes after her, Faith's trust in Buffy and the gang is destroyed.
Episode 16
Doppelgangland
Tue, Feb 23, 199960 mins
Anyanka, the demon who used her power to grant wishes to let Cordelia unwillingly create a world without Buffy as Sunnydale slayer, failed since then to get top-rank demon D'Hoffryn to rehabilitate her, but finally gets a chance to succeed in her menial incarnation as Sunnydale High pupil Anya: Willow, who is frustrated as a girl and individual, always taken for granted, in Buffy's shadow and just got railroaded by principal Snyder to 'tutor', or in fact slavishly do the paper writing on her own, for a spoiled jock brat, hunky Percy West, who even explicitly barks at her as his menial flunky, naively accepts to help 'Anya' with a black magic spell. Willow realizes only too late she's really working for the wrong side, stops before Anyanka's power-amulet is revalidated, but still summons a parallel Willow from a black dimension where she's a master vampire, who now makes her grand entry in Drusilla-style at the Bronze, co-existing with gentle Willow. The gang has no time to mourn 'the best of us', who urgently must join in again with Angel, while the new official Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce from England, proves of little use, to survive and get rid of the dark 'alien' version, while both go undercover as the other...
Episode 17
Enemies
Tue, Mar 16, 199960 mins
Horned Demon Skyler offers to sell them the Books of Ascension to the Slayers for $5,000, so he can flee from the Hellmouth by plane. Faith informs the Mayor, who makes her steal them and kill Skyler, then turn to Angel to seduce him and turn him back to Angelus, but fails. Buffy consults the gang plus Wesley, they find a reference to a 1723 precedent when a whole English village disappeared. The mayor enlists the Shrouded Man who manages to turn Angel back into Angelus by stealing his soul, with Faith's help. The mayor demonstrates his invulnerability and approves Angelus' plan to capture and torture Buffy, just not kill her soon to avoid a replacement. Again Faith helps, but actually, Faith turns out to be the second best actor.
Episode 18
Earshot
Tue, Sep 28, 199960 mins
After an encounter with a mouth-less demon, Buffy is infected with the demon's blood and she gains the ability to hear people's thoughts. At first her newfound ability is useful for cheating on schoolwork and eavesdropping on the thoughts of those around her, but when the voices continue to flood her mind, she realizes that she cannot control the power. Amid the chaos, Buffy hears a killer planning a mass murder at the school. Now she must keep herself from going mad long enough to prevent a catastrophe.
Episode 19
Choices
Tue, May 4, 199943 mins
Nearly all the gang is admitted to colleges, Willow even Oxford; only Xander plans to tour instead. The mayor gives Faith a precious weapon as reward, and the mission to intercept at the airport the box of Gavrok, a container of mystical energy he needs for his demonic ascension. Mother Joyce hopes Buffy goes to Northwestern University, near an aunt in Illinois, but the watchers doubt if her slayer-duties allow any long absence from the Hellmouth; maybe if she first prevents the ascension, therefore Giles agrees to seize the initiative once they know more, quickly done ignoring Wesley's caution by the Council's book. Angel helps Buffy steal the box from the town hall, but Faith takes Willow hostage, only Wes would refuse to exchange her. First Willow kills a vampire guard and consults the Books of Ascension; at the meeting of both sides, the box is dropped, spilling some of its spider-scary content...
Episode 20
The Prom
Tue, May 11, 199960 mins
The gang insists the Watchers should at least allow them a glorious prom night before fighting the mayor's ascension. Mother Joyce Summer's speech that it's up to mature lover Angel to make hard choices her teenage daughter is incapable of, gives Angel nightmares about a wedding in an empty church after which Buffy burns in sunlight. So he decides to give her a normal love-life by breaking up. He'll leave Sunnydal after the ascension. Xander finds out spoiled Cordelia has to work in a fashion shop now the IRS has taken her dad's last dime. They are attacked by a hellhound which seems trained to target formal dressers and is electronically brainwashed chemistry student Tucker Wells. Buffy decides to slay-defend the prom for the others and hunts the hellhounds alone. She completes her task and even has time to attend the prom and get some surprises.
Episode 21
Graduation Day: Part 1
Tue, May 18, 199960 mins
The mayor praises Faith as a great evil after killing geology professor Lester Worth as part of preparation for his ascension. Amidst the preparations for graduation, with a speech from the mayor, who wants to eat children once he's a demon, in a melancholic mood only Buffy misses, Anya, the former demon Anyanka, tells Xander and then the gang what the previous demonic ascension was like, Lohesh's 800 years ago in an Ural village, and how much worse the pure demon it produces is then 'eartly bastard-human' demons, but the mayor's preparations are very different, including eating spiders from the box. Anya invites Xander to join her running, in vain. While ingrate Buffy has a go at Xander who escorts her at Giles' request to retrieve the professor's notes, about a Hawaian vulcanologic expedition which found an 'unknown dinosaur' -probably actually an ascended demon's corps, so the mayor probably also becomes vulnerable again after his ascension- Faith shoots Angel with a poisonous crossbow dart. The only cure is hard to get, even for Buffy: the blood of a slayer; she duels Faith to the death, but the mortally wounded slayer has a last surprise...
Episode 22
Graduation Day: Part 2
Tue, Jul 13, 199960 mins
Now that mortally wounded Faith has thrown herself on a truck so Buffy can't bring her blood to Angel, Buffy proves her love for him by insisting he drinks his medicine, Slayer blood, from her neck, even if she has to beat him till his vampire instinct takes over. He does pull away before she's drained and carries her, unconscious, to hospital for a human blood transfusion. The mayor brought Faith in at the same ward. Already healed Angel stops his attempt to smother Buffy, who soon feels 'ready for war' herself. Both camps make attack plans. Wesley has returned to help fight the ascension against the Council's will. He asks Cordelia to follow him to England in case they prevail, sealed with kissing, but the chemistry doesn't kick in. Willow and Seth are accomplished, matched kissers. Angel confirms his intention to leave after the battle, if they win. The next morning is the graduation ceremony, with the mayor's guest speech about graduating as ascension, till a solar eclipse starts his transformation into a dragon-size demon in basilisk-shape. His vampire goons attack, faced by Angel, Wesley and other men for the possibly final fight. The gang made sure their whole graduating class came with weapons hidden under their gowns, under 'military veteran' Xander's field command, with Giles manning the secret weapon.
