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Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season

List Price: $59.98
Your Price: $44.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Yet another stunning season from Joss Whedon and Co.
Review: Now, looking back on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER after seven utterly brilliant seasons, the magnitude of their achievement is still difficult to gauge. Every season managed to be unique and original, both making a host of connections with the seasons preceding it, as well as carrying it boldly towards new plot lines, new characters, and fresh crises. After the amazing second season of Buffy, with the heartbreaking story of Buffy and Angel's great love, it didn't seem possible that producer Joss Whedon and his crew could match their prior achievement. Was Season Three better than Season Two? Season Five better than either? Six as good as any of those? It really doesn't matter. What is amazing is that for seven years, they managed to produce the most consistently fascinating series that television has ever seen, completely redefining what it was possible for the medium to do.

Season Three opens with one of my all time favorite episodes of BUFFY, "Anne." Buffy, after the shattering events that close Season Two, flees Sunnydale for Los Angeles, where she gets a job as a waitress in a diner using her middle name, Anne. She has renounced her past, her name, her vocation as slayer, and her sense of purpose in life. By accident, she reluctantly agrees to help a girl, and ends up in a massive industrial plant run by demons and powered by human slave labor, with all the slaves reduced to identifying themselves as "No One." One of the truly triumphant moments comes when one of the demons, going down a line of fresh slaves and forcing each one to identify him or herself as "No One," arrives at Buffy, who up till this moment has rejected both her name and her vocation, and asks her who she is, to which she replies: "I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." Simultaneously reembracing both her name and her vocation, she then proceeds to seriously smack demon butt in one of the best fight sequences in the entire run of the show.

The major plot lines of Season Three include the arrival of Faith, a somewhat rogue slayer who is Buffy's bad girl alter ego; the return of Angel from the demon dimension to which he had been sent at the end of Season Two; the attempt of the Mayor of Sunnydale to transform himself into a nearly invincible demon; Giles's termination as Buffy's watcher and the appointment of a new watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce; and Buffy's ongoing struggle to find some kind equilibrium between her vocation as slayer and her desire to have a normal teenage life. At the end of the season, Angel, realizing his relationship with Buffy is an impossible one, leaves Sunnydale for Los Angeles, where he will accidentally be joined both by Cordelia (who will mature from bratty Queen Bitch of Sunnydale High School into a magnificent heroine in her own right) and the prissy Wesley, who will eventually gain in heroic stature himself. This illustrates the optimistic message of the Buffyverse: people can change and become more than they are. Clearly, in the Buffyverse, leopards can indeed change their spots, and people manage to do that with great regularity. Vampires and demons as well.

Season Three brings to an end the Scooby Gangs high school years. From this season forward, they will all be struggling with the kinds of issues that signal the passage to adulthood. In this the philosophy of the makers of the series is manifest: life is not a state, but a process. People constantly deal with new problems and new situations. People change. Joss Whedon has said that in creating Buffy he created a character we could care about. And we do. We love her and the rest of the Scooby Gang because they are not static, because they do change, because they constantly meet new challenges and difficulties, and not just monsters and vampires. We love them because they experience the same things we do.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Truly Inspired Television
Review: This is the season that counted for Buffy. Halfway through season two, the televsion viewers discovered the allure of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," and could hardly wait to see what Joss Whedon and his team had in store. What they had, was the tightening of creative bolts and flawless, seamless continuation. The glue to this high-flying season of Buffy was the story-arc of a power hungry, half-demon who's the mayor of Sunnydale. He looks to ascend and leave those who oppose him (and those whom he feels like) in his deadly wake. He's a suberbly crafted villian, the kind you love to see impaled, but one you can't take your eyes off of.

Naturally, this complicates things for Buffy, who has returned to Sunnydale after a summer in self-imposed exile. In the seasons' first two episodes, she deals with the issues of healing her relationships with her mother and her close friends. Tempers and tensions mount before they explode at Buffys' welcome home party in the second episode. Also on Buffys' platter, is the unexpected and sudden reemergence of Angel, whom she killed last season and the arrival of Faith, and unstable and overly-aggressive Slayer, who eventually makes a relationship with the mayor. At first glance, all these overlapping storylines seem cluttered, but Buffys' gifted team of writers make it cohesive and fluid, while still packing the scripts with crackling dialouge and dry-as-twigs humor.

What makes season three exceptional is the mounting tension that builds throughout the season and reaches a fever pitch with the last batch of episodes when Buffy battles Faith, Angel once again is at the threshold of death and the mayor prepares his ascension. It's all a whirlwind of sacrifice, impending doom and loyalty that ends triumphantly, which adds a nice contrast to the heartbreaking conclusion of the previous season.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Josh Sabbagh
Review: Season 3 is an incredible season, one of my favorites. It has alot to do with buffy dealing after killing angel. At first shes run away byt returns to sunnydale with problems. A new slayer comes named faith who later on turns evil and works for the mayor as he palns his ascention. Also angel comes back to life which has buffy decide what shell have to do. Giles gets fired and buffy will have to have a new watcher and it deals with growing up nad how relations change. Plus buffy graduates this season. with guest appearances from James Marsters- spike and eliza dushku-faith

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MC BoB from radford high
Review: I love season 3 .
the three best things about this season.
faith helping buffy out , faith becoming evil and most of all
faith vs buffy in a combat match.
realy kool slayer vs slayer.
I get it 5 +1 stars
+1 for the buffy vs faith fight

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: staying in school for the last time
Review: This season was great with episodes like Band Candy, Homecoming, Bad Girls, The Prom, and Graduation Day Parts 1&2. I really like how the characters have grown over the season like Willow has a boy friend, Cordilia doesn't tease the Scooby Gang as much Xander is Falling in love with Cordilia, but Buffy and Angels relationship has taken a turn for the worst torwards the end of the end of the season. I think this season is one of their bests. I like the episode Earshot because you suspect that someone is planning to blow up the scool but it's actually a school lunch lady that wants to poison the students. The rest of the 21 episodes are also funny in their own ways. I think the part when Buffy runs through the school (Graduation Day part2) wile the mayor is chasing after her then out the window Buffy goes, the mayor is traped in the schools library and then BOOOOM the School blows up, I thought that was cool with the special affects. When A new slayer comes to town named Faith in the beginning of this season, Buffy gets along with her until she goes overboard with the slaying like in the episode Bad Girls when she kills a human person then Faith turns her back on the Gang and starts having a bond with the mayor. I know everyone will enjoy this season. I did...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Buffy at her peak...
Review: I can't say more about how great this season is! I could watch these eps over & over...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Year Buffy Found It's Groove
Review: Friday, January 10, 2003--As usual, I bought this "Buffy" DVD set the Friday after it was released. And, also as usual, I finished off the whole thing in about a week. That's how great this show is. Once you start watching, you get hooked. Upon first viewing, I felt that this, the third season, was somewhat of a disappointment coming off the fantastic second season. However, after much consideration, I finally realized that while this season lacks a great over-all epic arc (the whole Angel-goes-bad thing was brilliant; compare this to the genuinely entertaining but non-threatening Mayor...See my point?), it was much better in episode-to-episode consistency, and only one dud can be found among the 22 shows presented here - the fair but grating "Band Candy." That said, I'll get down to a few season specifics, without giving too much away to people just catching up on DVD. Early on, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar, who gets better with every passing season) returns home after running away to L.A. after being forced to kill off her beloved Angel (David Boreanaz, who returns, but I'm not telling how). After a slow start with "Anne" (Buffy comes home) and "Dead Man's Party" (Buffy deals with the aftermath of running away), things kick into high gear, as the show introduces, in "Faith, Hope & Trick," its best supporting character ever: the enigmatic rogue slayer, Faith (Eliza Dushku). She is one of the main reasons this season is so much fun, but not the only. Remember that thing I said about episode-to-episode consistency? Well, while the first and second seasons faltered slightly with camp like "Teacher's Pet" and "Bad Eggs," as well as a few more, season three only has the one. Plus, this is also the season "Buffy" finds the perfect tone - the year that all of the horror and humor and drama mixed so perfectly that it established itself as one of the greatest TV shows ever. There are too many classics here to mention, but these are my five faves, in no particular order: "Earshot," "Amends," "Doppelgangland," "Helpless" and "Enemies." One of "Buffy"'s best seasons, but not my absolute favorite - that honor belongs to season five (due on DVD Dec. 9).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Epic is the Third Season
Review: How do you top the wonder that is Buffy's second season? Add a quirky big bad, a rogue slayer, an alternate world, and the struggle that is Buffy and Angel's relationship and you've got something that is almost as good (and is good enough for some fans) to top the second season.

This is the season where I really became a major fan of Buffy. The writers never disappointed. Although the beginning episodes seem a bit off in places (Anne - Beauty & the Beasts, but all are good in their own way), the season plot really begins to take shape. The Mayor is introduced, and his plans to "ascend" and take over the world are revealed. Faith was introduced in the third episode as the Slayer to replace Kendra from season 2, and she is one heck of a character. Especially after she commits a horrible accident and decides to jump on the Mayor's side. The season's middle showcases some of the best stand alone episodes (although storyline is furthered along little by little). The Wish and Doppelgangland give us a taste of a different world for the Slayerettes. Also in the third season is the show's more controversial episode, Earshot.

As usual, the cast continued to mature and surprised the viewers with their abilities. Sarah Michelle Gellar's ability to show many ranges of emotion is great, and is seen in Revelations to Amends to the final showdown with the Mayor. Alyson Hannigan and Nicholas Brendon continue to mature their characters in a flawless way. David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter left the show with a bang and lasting impressions. Anthony Stewart Head was there as the mentor, and Seth Green's bigger part was appreciated. New to show was Eliza Dushku. She put a lot of spark into the show with her character. Emma Caulfield's intro was priceless.

The DVD set settled my craving for the third season with plenty of informative featurettes, great commetary listens, and spiffy menus. FOX should be highly thanked for giving us these seasons like they are. But should be glared at for not doing it as fast as they are in the UK.

Buffy's third season was just a foreshadowing of the more good stuff to come from the actors, writers, and Joss Whedon himself in the future.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Addicting!!
Review: Season 3 of 'Buffy' continues with the dark tone of the 2nd year, while finishing some storylines that went unresolved, and setting up some new ones. It is by far the most addicting year of the series, playing like a soap opera that doesn't want to let go. I stopped watching the series after the first episode of this season, so thank goodness for the DVD sets. Once I popped this baby in, I COULD NOT stop watching. While it does start off a bit weak, this amazing series grows and ends strong in every possible way.

Anya and Faith; two of my favorite 'Buffy' characters; are introduced here, and this season brilliantly foreshadows what will come later in the show. I am continually amazed with the show's exceptional writing and brillint acting, as well as the well-developed characters and complicated storylines. By the time you finish these episodes, the series will have cast a spell on you that you'll find very hard to shake. Recommended!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Buffy Season 3
Review: Buffy season 3 is considered by the majority of the television audience as the best season of Buffy. It is the most popular and the most seen. This season has exceptional episodes and huge moments that set the rest of the series. The writing and directing in this season was amazing with the most important and influential episodes of the series: "The Wish" "Amends" "Bad Girls" "Earshot", and "Graduation Day". WIthout these episodes the series would never be the same. This is the season to own if you enjoy the philosophical depth of Buffy and the extreme character development that occurs in this season. For new Buffy fans. See how the character become the way they are. This is only second in my opinion of terms of Buffy DVDs (season 4 being my fav DVD set). A must buy!


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