Episode Title: Smashed
Original Air Date: November 20th 2001
“Help me out here, Spock, I don’t speak loser.” – Spike
On the last episode we ended on a series of goodbyes as Willow and Tara broke up and Giles returned to England. Of course Willow isn’t alone for long as she manages to “de-rat” Amy with the pair soon running wild in Sunnydale.
Episode Title: Tabula Rasa
Original Air Date: November 13th 2001
“Time is what turns kittens into cats” – Teeth
Coming down from last weeks singing and dancing extravaganza, this episode sees the group dealing with the fallout which makes sense seeing how you can’t binge on sugar without a crash. Still with the Scoobies dealing with the fact they may have pulled Buffy out of heaven, Giles planning his return to England and Spike and Buffy dealing with conflicting emotions. Still Willow believing she can solve all her problems with magic decides to cast a memory loss spell over Tara and Buffy only to instead gives the whole group magically induced amnesia just in time for the demon loan shark “Teeth” to arrive in Sunnydale to collect on Spike’s gambling debts.
Episode Title: Once More With Feeling
Original Air Date: November 6th 2001
“So Dawn’s in trouble. Must be Tuesday” – Buffy
So here we are finally another of the big Buffy episodes and one of the most fondly remembered alongside “Hush” as Joss Wheldon finally got to make the all singing and dancing musical episode that he’d been trying to make since season 1. For Buffy and The Scoobies meanwhile they along with the rest of Sunnydale find themselves compelled to sing and perform big musical numbers about their day to day lives but how long is it until some major secrets are revealed?
For some reason the prospect of an episode full of singing and dancing seems to really tap into the Buffy fanverse for some reason, but rewatching this episode now much like on its initial viewing I still found this to be a highly problematic episode, let alone needless extended for what essentially is a gimmick episode.
Episode Title: All The Way
Original Air Date: October 30th 2001
“Mist, cemetery, Halloween…This should end well.” – Giles
It’s Halloween in Sunnydale once again and with the monsters taking their traditional break, the gang are being kept busy at the Magic Box which is bizarrely having its busiest day ever. This of course is kind of strange for a town were the residents seem to be oblivious that anything supernatural is happening and yet somehow there is enough magic users to make a magic shop a thriving business venture.
Early in the shows run it was established that in this world Halloween is seen as a night off for monsters who consider the whole thing kinda tacky. Of course this rarely seems to be the case for Buffy and this week it would seem is no different as Dawn and her friend Janice sneak out with a pair of older boys unaware that they are actually vampires.
Episode Title: Life Serial
Original Air Date: October 23rd 2001
“Stop touching my magic bone!” – Jonathan
Continuing the upbeat tone of last weeks episode, here “The Trio” are continuing with their schemes against Buffy even though she has no clue of their alliance as they set about testing the Slayer using their various abilities.
Still facing money issues and an unclear future Buffy this week attempts to find some form of direction for her life first by attempting to go back to school before looking at possible career options as she takes a job as part of Xanders construction team, only to soon start showing up the other workers with the advantages her Slayer strength gives her as she lifts girders with ease. She also attempts retail work at the Magic Box only to find herself struggling to deal with a problematic mummy hand. All the while her attempts at finding normality are being interfered with by the Trio
Episode Title: Flooded
Original Air Date: October 16th 2001
“Are you in the wrong line? That’s for deposits, that’s for withdrawals, and this one… Is for getting kicked in the face.” – Buffy
Finally after a sluggish start to the season we finally get some semblance of normality on the show as Buffy settles back into every day life including the numerous problems which come with it as with the basement flooding, she is faced with the reality that her and Dawn or broke and with no way to raise the required funds for the repairs. At the same time Sunnydale faces a new threat in the form of “The Trio” who have summoned a dangerous demons to do their bidding.
“Well, yeah. The jet-lag from hell has gotta be, you know, jet-lag from hell.” – Anya
Picking up directly from the end of the last episode with the remaining demon bikers high tailing it out of town as Buffy reunites with the Scoobies. However Buffy is still recovering from her resurrection, let alone adjusting to the changes which have happened since her death. A situation only made the worse when it appears that something came back with her.
“Demons. Ah, well, there’s something you don’t see every day. Unless you’re us.” – Xander
So at the end of the first half of this season opener, things really weren’t looking good for the group what with Giles having left and demon bikers invading Sunnydale. The group meanwhile were left with the impression that they had failed to resurrect Buffy when the ceremony was interrupted unaware that Buffy was not only brought back to life but now buried alive in her own coffin.
Episode Title: Bargaining
Original Air Date: October 2nd 2001
“Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea.” – Spike
So here we are at the start of the Bronze era of the show which had in the break between seasons moved networks to UPN. This first episode though picks up the story give months after Buffy sacrificed herself to save her sister Dawn and close the gate opened by Glory. In the meantime Willow has taken it upon herself to become the group leader while the Buffybot acts as a decoy to the local Supernatural population maintaining the illusion that the Slayer is still alive and active in Sunnydale.
It’s certainly been a season of brave choices for the show as we not only saw the introduction of a major new character in Buffy’s sister Dawn but also the death of her mother both things which on their own could have threatened to derail the show so all the more credit to the show runners for being able to somehow pull them both off.
This season we also saw Buffy tackling her toughest foe to date in the hell god Glory, who not only managed to be both a terrifying challenge for her to battle but also frequently providing some of the funiest moments of the season as she tormented Buffy and belittled the dimwitted and unfaulting devotion of her demonic minions.
Channel: Superhero 