Sarah's Sober Second Thought Series: Dust In The Wind

[Primetimer]

S3 is something of a letdown, with one legendary exception. Sarah explains in the Buffy Rewatch.

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[Loandbehold]

The Wish remains my favorite episode. But, I'm ashamed to say, I never noticed Faith being killed outside The Bronze. I'll have to look for that next time I watch. I loved the introduction of Anya, and that the episode turns alternate universe shows on their head. Usually, the person goes to the alternate universe to either correct something that needs to be corrected or to learn something that will help them when they get back. Instead, we have Cordelia dying within a day of her arrival. She isn't the one to save the day (although she does give Giles the idea) and she doesn't learn anything. Instead, we get a great view into what Sunnydale would have been without Buffy. I also enjoyed the monthly memorial day, John Lee asking Cordelia to the Winter Brunch, Willow playing with "the puppy," Buffy's lone slayer attitude, and the climactic Ballet O'Death. It's what "It's a Wonderful Life" should have been.

 

Amends I can do without. That and Gingerbread, so I agree with Sarah there. Fortunately, there are no clunkers the rest of Season 3. The show just keeps building to Graduation Day. Even Earshot and The Prom are two very good stand-alone episodes. It's why I prefer Season 3 to Season 2, which suffered with Go Fish bringing the Angelus arc to a screeching halt.

[VCRTracking]

I remember the "Cordelia funeral" fakeout in "Lover's Walk" fooling me completely and at first shocked because by that point news of the Angel spinoff and that she would be on it.

 

I liked Amends the first time but now that it's clear after watching Angel: The Series that Angel and Angelus are two separate people and not just "Angel on a bad day" I think Angel shouldn't feel guilty over things he did without a soul.

Edited August 6, 2014 by VCRTracking

[Dianthus]

Agree: The Wish is a great ep. I must confess I didn't notice Faith outside the Bronze either. This is the perfect introduction of Anya, and a good look at just how much damage vengeance wishes can do, no matter how innocuous they may seem.

 

Disagree: I will defend Lovers Walk to the death. The scene between Spike and Joyce sparkles like a jewel, and Spike mock threatening to feed on Joyce just to f*ck with Angel makes me laugh just thinking about it.

[marsman]

MVP Cordelia...YES!

And 'The Wish' is the exact point I went from liking this show to loving it.

[Spartan Girl]

I didn't like Gingerbread either, mainly because Joyce didn't have to deal with the fallout of almost burning Buffy at the stake and basically saying she wanted a normal daughter instead of her because all of the adults magically forgot almost everything afterwards. 

[VCRTracking]

Gingerbread does have one of my favorite Cordelia moments, when she finds Giles knocked unconscious again:

 

Cordelia: How many times have you been knocked out, anyway? I swear, one of these times, you're gonna wake up in a coma.
Giles: Wake up in a...? Oh, never mind. We need to save Buffy from Hansel and Gretel.

 

Edited August 7, 2014 by VCRTracking

[Kristen]

Of all the sins in "Amends", pretty much the one I can't ever overlook is that accent. Sweet Jaysus.

[Fat Elvis 007]

I actually love Gingerbread quite a lot, but the one thing that never sat right with me is that there is no final scene with Buffy and Joyce dealing with what just happened. That might have been OK in the first two seasons, when Joyce was still in the dark, but the entire point of this episode is Joyce trying to cope with Buffy's slayer life and (with the help of magical influence) failing miserably. There needed to be some closure with that; the episode just isn't over until that happens, and yet it ends anyway. The actual final scene with Willow and the newly-ratted Amy is still cute, though.

[Wilowy]

Well, Joss said it WASN'T Faith getting munched outside The Bronze, just a coinkedink look-samey thing. Hmm.

[ladyrott]

I am in the middle of a rewatch with my best friend (We did Faith Hope & Trick last night) and I have been dying to get to The Wish to check out Faith being munched (never noticed the look alike/Faith in all my watches).  Now I find out it's just a look alike....I am so disappointed.  :(

[Sarah D. Bunting]

It's more fun to think it is, so just pretend Joss never said anything.

[DkNNy79]

I like "Amends" as well, especially the ending.  The contrast between Buffy and Angel walking together in the snow.  Buffy in white looks so tiny, next to Angel in his black coat.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎06‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 2:30 PM, PreviouslyTV said:

S3 is something of a letdown, with one legendary exception. Sarah explains in the Buffy Rewatch.

Read the story

Have to disagree on virtually all of this, except the fashion talk (so right about the Cordettes outfit, she looks like she should be in Sixpence None the Richer). Season 3 is all kinds of awesome. It is NOT Faith being bitten at the Bronze, ED has stated that at a convention, it may be her stand-in/stunt double getting some overtime. The Spike we see here is so very different than the one in s6 where admittedly he was overused. As for the hysteria I always figure the Mayor worked some mojo to keep everyone in denial and by the time he died everyone was so inured to it they just kept the mindset. Torrance where Buffy was filmed was the centre of the Satanic Panic that gripped LA in the 80s so it's not that unrealistic.     

On ‎06‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 5:56 PM, Loandbehold said:

The Wish remains my favorite episode. But, I'm ashamed to say, I never noticed Faith being killed outside The Bronze. I'll have to look for that next time I watch. I loved the introduction of Anya, and that the episode turns alternate universe shows on their head. Usually, the person goes to the alternate universe to either correct something that needs to be corrected or to learn something that will help them when they get back. Instead, we have Cordelia dying within a day of her arrival. She isn't the one to save the day (although she does give Giles the idea) and she doesn't learn anything. Instead, we get a great view into what Sunnydale would have been without Buffy. I also enjoyed the monthly memorial day, John Lee asking Cordelia to the Winter Brunch, Willow playing with "the puppy," Buffy's lone slayer attitude, and the climactic Ballet O'Death. It's what "It's a Wonderful Life" should have been.

 

Amends I can do without. That and Gingerbread, so I agree with Sarah there. Fortunately, there are no clunkers the rest of Season 3. The show just keeps building to Graduation Day. Even Earshot and The Prom are two very good stand-alone episodes. It's why I prefer Season 3 to Season 2, which suffered with Go Fish bringing the Angelus arc to a screeching halt.

It ain't Faith!

Amends divides opinion but Gingerbread is marvellous, the more Joyce in an ep the better. 

On ‎06‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 7:34 PM, VCRTracking said:

I remember the "Cordelia funeral" fakeout in "Lover's Walk" fooling me completely and at first shocked because by that point news of the Angel spinoff and that she would be on it.

 

Oh, absolutely, I literally shouted 'NO THEY CAN'T KILL CORDY!' That's easy to say about Angel but hard to make reality, imagine remembering every moment of it and how you enjoyed it at the time. 

Edited August 2, 2018 by Joe Hellandback

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎06‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 10:30 PM, Dianthus said:

Agree: The Wish is a great ep. I must confess I didn't notice Faith outside the Bronze either. This is the perfect introduction of Anya, and a good look at just how much damage vengeance wishes can do, no matter how innocuous they may seem.

 

Disagree: I will defend Lovers Walk to the death. The scene between Spike and Joyce sparkles like a jewel, and Spike mock threatening to feed on Joyce just to f*ck with Angel makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Every Joyce/Spike scene is brilliant, even the one in Forever which she's not actually in. 

On ‎07‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 2:24 PM, marsman said:

MVP Cordelia...YES!

And 'The Wish' is the exact point I went from liking this show to loving it.

Took you that long? BBB did it for me. 

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎07‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 5:21 PM, Spartan Girl said:

I didn't like Gingerbread either, mainly because Joyce didn't have to deal with the fallout of almost burning Buffy at the stake and basically saying she wanted a normal daughter instead of her because all of the adults magically forgot almost everything afterwards. 

Nowhere does it say everyone forgot about it all? As Buffy says in OAFA the Scoobs are big on forgiveness and each has erred and ben forgiven at some point. Don't forget Buffy also wanted to be an ordinary girl at times. 

On ‎07‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 5:49 PM, VCRTracking said:

Gingerbread does have one of my favorite Cordelia moments, when she finds Giles knocked unconscious again:

 

 

Ironic that CC would later 'wake up in a coma'?

On ‎08‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 12:17 AM, Kristen said:

Of all the sins in "Amends", pretty much the one I can't ever overlook is that accent. Sweet Jaysus.

Better than Tom Cruise in Far and Away! The worst ever has to be Lois' old boyfriend in Lois and Clark;

although Sean's ain't bad. 

Edited August 2, 2018 by Joe Hellandback

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎08‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 3:02 AM, Fat Elvis 007 said:

I actually love Gingerbread quite a lot, but the one thing that never sat right with me is that there is no final scene with Buffy and Joyce dealing with what just happened. That might have been OK in the first two seasons, when Joyce was still in the dark, but the entire point of this episode is Joyce trying to cope with Buffy's slayer life and (with the help of magical influence) failing miserably. There needed to be some closure with that; the episode just isn't over until that happens, and yet it ends anyway. The actual final scene with Willow and the newly-ratted Amy is still cute, though.

After all this mother and daughter have been through and how close they are I think forgiveness is a given.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎08‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 8:35 PM, Sarah D. Bunting said:

It's more fun to think it is, so just pretend Joss never said anything.

Is it? Why would Faith even be in Sunnydale yet? I much prefer to think after Buffy's death Faith comes to Sunnydale, kills the Master and she and her sister Dawn are cared for by Joyce and Giles whilst forming her Scooby gang of Oz, Larry, Amy, Harmony, Jenny and Jonathon.   

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎08‎/‎08‎/‎2014 at 9:51 PM, DkNNy79 said:

I like "Amends" as well, especially the ending.  The contrast between Buffy and Angel walking together in the snow.  Buffy in white looks so tiny, next to Angel in his black coat.

Both SMG and Buffy seem to have a thing for tall men, Jerry O'Connell, Freddie, Angel, Dracula, Riley, RJ, Owen not one under six feet, at least Spike and Parker were more her size.