The ABCs of Sunnydale

buffy in front of the gate Buffy Summers:

SEASON 3 APPEARANCES

Anne; Dead Man's Party; Faith, Hope, and Trick; Beauty and the Beasts (aka All Men Are Beasts); Homecoming; Band Candy; Revelations; Lovers Walk; The Wish; Amends; Gingerbread; Helpless; The Zeppo; Bad Girls; Consequences; Doppelgangland; Enemies; Earshot; Choices; The Prom; Graduation part I; Graduation part II

Anne finds Buffy living in another city, in an apartment in a section of town that's not the greatest. She's still haunted by what happened with Angel in Becoming part II, and she's pretty much lost her identity as the Slayer.

Now a waitress going by her middle name of Anne, Buffy's trying to reinvent herself. But when trouble finds her, she's able to reclaim her identity as the Slayer and decides she should go back home to Sunnydale. Major character development and a reacceptance of who she is in this episode. Plus, Buffy's reunited with her mom at the end of this episode.

DMP is a big Buffy episode...in it, Buffy's just returned to Sunnydale and is trying to put her life back together. It's pretty awkward...she tries to explain that she had to leave, no one knew what happened, yada yada. I guess maybe I can see where she's coming from, and where the gang's coming from too...Anyhoo, she can't deal with the fact that it seems no one wants her around, so she starts packing her bags again. The big trauma is when she and her mom and everyone "deal with their issues" at Buffy's party...maybe it's a good thing she was still kicked out of school when that happened...anyway, Buffy gets reinstated in school, she and Willow start to patch things up and bond, and Buffy's able to start settling back into her old routine. And this time, Mom knows.

In FHT, Buffy gets reinstated at Sunnydale High, and she's looking forward to having her life back. Willow keeps pushing her to give this guy Scott Hope a chance, and then lo and behold, a new slayer, Faith, shows up. Buffy's a bit miffed by the appearance of this chick..everyone fawns over her, she gives Buffy some lip, but as luck, or the writers, would have it, Buffy accepts Faith's being there. Most important, though, is that Buffy tells Giles and Willow what really happened during her face-off with Angel and Acathla. Buffy accepts a date with Scott and makes peace with herself by dropping off the claddagh ring at the scene of the vortex...something tells me this is just the beginning...

In AMAB, Buffy's got a lot going on. She's been told to see the school counselor, Mr. Platt, and she's still having her new relationship thingy with Scott, and she's still patrolling. The biggest thing in her world probably is finding out that Angel is still alive, and back from hell. She has to deal with the wordless used-to-be-my-beau vampguy. Worse, she's ready to open up to Platt about some of these things when she finds him dead. At the end of this 'sode, Buffy learns that Angel knows who she is...yikes. This opens up can o' worms no. 429385. Jeepers.

Remember the Buffy/Cordy rivalry of Season 1? In Homecoming, it's back...! Basically, Buffy's attempt at trying to fit into school and having a normal life is thwarted once again. This time out, Scott Hope breaks up with her, her favorite teacher, Ms. Moran has no clue who she is, and to top it all off, she's missed out on getting her yearbook picture taken. What's a gal to do? Upset that Cordy forgot to tell her about the photo op, Buffy decides to run for Homecoming queen. Which would be great, but unfortunately the whole SlayerFest thing is kicked off and sort of disrupts her plans.

This episode does a lot in the way of Buffy/Cordy bonding, steps up Buffy's bonding with Faith, and reveals that though Buffy still loves Angel, she's not going to throw herself back into "relationship" mode with him. This episode also reveals that Buffy's going to continue to hide Angel's existence from the gang...well, you know what they say..it's all going to come out in the wash. (Unless, of course, the wash happens to be mine..in which case it won't come out on a timely basis. Heh.)

BC puts Buffy in an interesting role. Here she has to sort of tame Sunnydale's youth (or at least, her mom, Snyder, and Giles). It's not unlike when she was in charge back in The Dark Age, when Giles was kinda incapacitated. Also, Buffy fibs to Angel to let him think she still has a boyfriend, and is upset when Angel agrees that he won't need her when he's back to his full vamp health. Lastly, Buffy might need another ticket to therapyland after seeing her mom with Giles...

In Revelations, Buffy's now doing the T'ai Chi thing with Angel. In close quarters...which of course gives way to the underlying hormonal/passion thing...which basically means she and Angel smooch in this ep. Anyhoo, Buffy's secret about how she's harboring (no, since he's not living at her place, so..her helping out) Angel comes to light, and the gang kind of freaks. She has to deal with an "intervention" type thing, which brings out the worst in a few people. Plus, Giles is visibly smarting from this. He tells Buffy that she has no respect for him or his position. The gang accuses her of being too hormonally driven when it comes to Angel. Anyhoo, she later has to fight with Faith in order to save Angel's life, and then she also gets to take care of the Watcher-gone-bad Gwendolyn Post. Buffy admits that she feels better about not having to keep Angel's existence a secret anymore, and she tries to patch things up with Faith, who's in kind of an emotional funk. You have to wonder, what's next for Buffy to deal with...

Question answered. In Lovers Walk, Buffy's reunited with her old nemesis Spike, only this time they're not doing any duets. Anyhoo, in this ep., Buffy finds out that she kicked ass on her SATs and needs to start considering her future, most likely away from Sunnydale. She kinda doesn't want to leave, given the whole Angel thing, but...as Spike clues her in, she and Angel ain't what they used to be -- now, if only he'd sung that..The Old Gray Mare... in his drunken stupor -- and they'll never be friends. Anyhoo, significant is the fact that Buffy reinvites Angel into her home, and she and the boys do some slayage. Also, Buffy learns of the Willow/Xander liaison. Yow.

In The Wish, Buffy's gal-pal to Willow and Xander..she also tries to reach out to Cordy outside the Bronze, which is kinda fairly reminiscent of how Cordy did that to Buffy in When She Was Bad. Buffy tells Cordy to talk to her friends about how she's reeling big-time from the Xander thing. I kind of think that Buffy meant Cordy could've talked to her. I mean, maybe. Those two do bond at strange moments, so why not over this? Anyway, later we see Buffy thrust into the "what if Buffy had never come to Sunnydale" world. There, she's a self-reliant, shoe-spitter, take-no-prisoners kind of chick. She still meets up with Angel and she still gets killed by The Master though. It's interesting. And freaky. No big developments here otherwise..and she's back in the real Sunnydale, where she belongs. Aw.

Amends has some big turmoil-type character things going on for Buffy. Not only does she have to invite Faith over for Xmas eve (heh), but she runs into Angel and sees that he's freaked out. Then she keeps having wacked-out dreams..actually she's appearing in Angel's dreams. She witnesses one of his kills back in the day -- Margaret -- and then she's embroiled in a love-fest with him. Yow. She's like, writhing in the library..which I mean, I can relate to. After all, my family is kinda into libraries. Never mind.

Anyway, so Buffy asks Giles to help her figure out what's up, and it turns out that Angel's being courted by the oldest evil ever, The First. Basically Buffy has to go save Angel from offing himself. Big angsty scene on a hill overlooking the 'dale. She hits him, he hits her. She declares the love thing, calls him weak, yada yada yada.

Who knows what woulda happened...but a big snow keeps the sun from rising, and Buffy and Angel make their way through Sunnydale, holding hands, etc. It's a wonderful life. (Pardon my bad pun. I had to.)

Gingerbread is the first time Buffy's been tied to something since she was chained to the wall in Reptile Boy. (Unless I am mistaken. It happens.) Anyhoo, in this episode, Buffy has to deal with her Mom a lot..this is actually the first episode where Buffy has to slay a vampire in front of Joyce..that is to say, the first time where Joyce knows what's what and is actively seeking out this mother/Slayer bonding "at the office." Buffy's upset in this ep. also because she wants to shield her mom from the evils in Sunnydale. That whole scene in the park where Buffy comforts her mom was eerie..like that role-reversal thing, y'know?

Anyhoo, Buffy has reason for a minute to suspect Willow of bringing about the harm to the two dead kids 'cause of the witchcraft dabbling. Also noteworthy here is the fact that Buffy's basically told by her mom that what she does -- her slaying -- doesn't make much of a difference, etc. Dang. Way to be hurt by the parental unit. Egads. Did I just really say "parental unit?" Egads..I did it again! Plus her mom knocks her out to burn her at the stake. Other than that, not too much else. And fortunately, it was the dead kids' influence, and not really Joyce...whew.

Helpless is the first time Buffy's been powerless since Halloween. Only this time, it's due in part to Giles and some creaky old tradition that places a Slayer in jeopardy around her 18th birthday. Here, Buffy's got to learn self-reliance (um..okay?) and demonstrate her ability to think on her feet and all that. Which she does. In this episode, she misses out on seeing her dad and learns that although Giles doesn't seem to care about her in a familial sense, he actually does. So much so that it cost him his life's work as a Watcher. Yow. Buffy also learns about Angel's "watching" her in LA.

The Zeppo isn't a Buffy episode per se, but it does manage to highlight what we see in basically all episodes where her character is concerned. In this episode Buffy does what she does all the time...fights demons, has the heart-to-heart with Angel for a second, and that's about it. Funniest is when she spies Xander's wheels and wonders if his acquiring it has something to do with a penis. Heh. She also wants Xander to back off from fighting because she doesn't think it's safe..that's part of the catalyst for the whole Xander thing in this episode.

Bad Girls reveals Buffy in ...well, a different light. She's finally met her new Watcher, Wesley, and as expected, she doesn't take kindly to him. She's got her allegiance thing with Giles, after all, you know. Speaking of which, someone suggested I do a relationship page for Giles & Buffy, which is something I've thought about for a while but..well, haven't done yet. Who knows. It could happen.

Anyway, Buffy does her sarcasm thing to Wesley, but eventually follows through on his request, no, order, to stake out the crypt that holds an amulet these vamps are looking for. Meanwhile, she sees Faith's reaction to the new Watcher, basically a blatant disregard for the guy, and wonders why she herself didn't follow Faith's lead.

Basically, Faith keeps working Buffy until Buffy admits that she likes a good vamp kill. So Buffy starts cutting class, and doing things the Faith way. Which is basically not the smartest way to go, but what do I know, I'm not even a Slayerette. Buffy's acting out here is different than it was in When She Was Bad, I think. There, she was just kind of reacting to the whole facing The Master and dying thing, and here, maybe she's a little stymied by the Watcher thing and/or tired of being "the good Slayer." Here it's like she's running with the fast crowd..fast to kill vamps, fast to dance all grind-like, etc. It's in this episode that Buffy is almost drowned again.

Probably most important is the fact that she's involved in the death of an innocent (or semi-innocent?) guy, Allan. Plus the guilt thing over the car accident with the cops didn't help any. She had the guilt going overtime on that one, because she and Faith fled the scene, even though she didn't want to. It reminded me of how she felt when she thought she'd killed Ted in Ted. Oh yeah, when she was stealing weapons from that store, it reminded me of when she said, "You're not from Bullock's, are you, 'cause I meant to pay for that lipstick," to her First Watcher. So maybe she really isn't a stranger to stealing, eh?

Also noteworthy is Buffy's noticing Xander's eyetwitch when Faith's name is mentioned; and Buffy's bagging out on Willow.

So basically a lot of stuff is set up...who knows what'll happen for or to Buffy. For more Buffy stuff regarding this episode, check out the 611 and the Episode Page; didn't want to do total reiteration here tonight.

Consequences shows Buffy doing the guilt-freaking-out thing. She's also questioned by Detective Stein again. Basically she tries to convince Faith that they need to speak out about Allan's death, but to no avail.

She finally comes clean with Willow who beseeches her to tell Giles. Throughout this episode, Buffy still has..um, faith..in Faith. (Y'know, that's a sentence I never really wanted to write.) It's in this episode that Buffy's almost killed by Mr. Trick; ironically, it's Faith who saves her. Yes, I said, ironic. Considering all the junk Faith spouted and the fighting they get into and blah blah biddy blah, I think it is ironic. Buffy also learns in this episode that Xander slept with Faith.

Doppelgangland has Buffy taking some tests as ordered by the Watchers Council. She admits to Willow that she wants to beat Faith, who's also taking the tests.

Later Buffy offends an already sulking Willow by calling her "Old Reliable." When Buffy sees vampWillow at the Bronze, decked out in leather extreme, she's freaked. She thinks Willow's dead and that, as usual, it's her fault.

After it's clear Willow's not dead, Buffy's the one who comes up with the "let's dress Willow up in vampWillow's clothing and send her inside the Bronze to quell the vamp sitch" idea; she's also the one who's about to stake vampWillow as vampWillow strangles Willow. That's pretty much it for Buffy this time out. Yeeks. Seeing your best friend as a vamp? Maybe it's time to move off of the Hellmouth...

Okay, here's another reason to move off of the Hellmouth...you find out your co-Slayer is a wacked-out evil chick.

In Enemies, Buffy seems to have a normal date with Angel, and all is spiffy. That's not going to last though. I mean, it's the Hellmouth. Meanwhile, she starts to suspect that maybe Faith isn't all there..okay, she knows that already but..she's pushed over the edge I think by two things. One is that she notices the way that the books of Ascension demon guy was wailed on (read: killed) and the other is when she sees Faith over at Angel's, cozying up to him. Buffy and Angel do a good set-up to uncover Faith's true motives and what she thinks of Buffy, etc. That's gotta hurt B. Like, you just know that Kendra wouldn't have turned on Buffy like this..Basically, this episode ends up pitting Slayer vs. Slayer for real...Buffy's now gotta deal with the fact that Faith is working for Public Enemy No. 1, The Mayor. She's also gotta deal with the fact that Angel had to smooch Faith and pretend to be on her side in an effort to destroy Buffy, so I mean, that would shake a gal up a little. And it does. Buffy does the drawing back from Angel thing for a while. Yee. It's too bad that Mr. Platt bought it, 'cause I mean, Buffy could do ads for Issues R Us.

Earshot finds Buffy in an interesting situation. Here she's infected by some slain monster goo, and takes on some sort of telepathy-thing, wherein she can read everyone's mind..everyone except for Angel's that is. She discovers that Angel has loved only her, and also discovers that sometimes knowing what everyone's thinking sucks big time. Probably the coolest thing though, is her saving of Jonathan..she mistakenly believes that he's about to take out the school but soon learns he's going to off himself. So she does the saving thing. Then she kicks the lunch lady's hind end. It makes sense if you know that LL was trying to poison the students. Anyhoo, Buffy also learns of her mom's and Giles's tryst, that Wesley digs Cordy, and..well, you get the idea.

Choices has Buffy sort of excited about maybe being able to leave the Hellmouth in order to attend college. So she decides that she wants to deal with the Mayor once and for all, get the Books of Ascension. She concocts a plan, and intercepts a package box thing for the Mayor, and it would all have been swell had Willow not been captured. So basically, Buffy has to decide if she should save Willow or...save the world. I'm starting to think of that Dionne Warwick ensemble song about Friends...augh! Anyhoo, Buffy decides to make the trade with Faith and the Mayor, and in the process, she has her relationship with Angel thrown in her face yet again...this time by the Mayor. Nothing huge this time out except Buffy realizes she probably won't ever get off of the Hellmouth. She also tells Willow that she kind of loves her, when she finds out Willow will be going to college in Sunnydale, too. Aw. Well....that's what friends are for? (Sorry. But if I have to suffer with that song in my head, I'm going to share it. Heh.)

The Prom kinda reminds me of Prophecy Girl, but only 'cause Buffy gets to wear another kick dress. (I prefer the one from PG, but hey.) Anyhoo, the biggest thing to happen here is that Buffy gets dumped by Angel. It's gotta be tough. But hey, they've been doing this dance for a while, so...okay. Later she does some routine slayage, taking out some hellhounds so that everyone else can dig the prom. Probably most poignant is the fact that her classmates recognize her as Class Protector, and thank her for giving them the lowest mortality rate in the school's history. She's touched. I'm touched. We're all touched. Then Angel shows up to give her a dance. He doesn't tell her that he likes her dress, but hey..can't have everything...She got her perfect high school moment, I guess, and maybe that's enough.

In Graduation part I, Buffy decides to take the fight to Faith. This is partly spurred on by the fact that Faith struck Angel with a poison dart (okay arrow from crossbow, but we all know how much I like to use the word 'dart' when speaking of Angel) and only the blood of a Slayer will cure him. Anyhoo, Buffy learns more about the Ascension, quits the Council, and seriously wails on Faith, stabbing her in the gut with Faith's own dagger. Yi.

Graduation part II leads Buffy back to the delusional Angel, whereupon she forces him to drink from her. After some time in the hospital, Buffy's raring to go. She hatches a large-scale plan to bring down the Mayor after he's ascended, and wreaks much havoc. She glimpses the death of Principal Snyder, and the look on her face is just..well, neat. This episode has Buffy saying goodbye to Angel for good. Actually she doesn't really say goodbye, they just sort of have eye contact from a distance. Spent from the battle campaign, all Buffy wants now is a nice long nap...wake her when it's time for school, willya?

Buffy Page for Season 4.

Previous Buffy Character Page (Seasons 1 and 2).

Story Arcs: Buffy vs. The Master; Buffy and Angel; Buffy vs. Spike & Dru; Xander and Buffy; Buffy vs. Kendra; Buffy vs. Faith


Buffy as Anne The ABCs of Sunnydale

The Episodes

The 411/Mythology

The 511/Relationships

The 611/Slayerships

Dingo Action!

Sunnydale

Main Entrance

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Pic of Buffy-as-Anne courtesy of Cynthia!

Sound file courtesy of Techzero

This page last updated October 7, 1999

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