5/5 When door closes another one opens
  by C. O. Hartman (Incommunicado Cay)
Angel's last full season on Buffy, Faith's first. Just as the final year of high school ushers in a new chapter in the characters lives, it also brings in a rogue slayer as a protagonist for Buffy and the Scoobie Gang. Dusted Vamps, killed critters, heroic action, just what the doctor ordered. The big finale sees the loss of the high school and Buffy's one true love. Excellent writing and compelling acting with plenty of special effects to boot. The Joss Whedon blueprint.

4/5 Great follow-up
  by jackbauerfan
This third season of Buffy was great, it picked up right where season 2 left off. Buffy is now living in LA, in a depression after being forced to kill Angel at the end of the last season. Back in Sunny dale, her friends are trying to fill the void left by her absence, hunting the vampires on their own. The very first episode, "Anne", is one of my favorite episodes in the series, and also my favorite season premiere. I mean, the season just opened with a bang. Somehow, that whole slave thing underground reminded me of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." Anyway, Buffy eventually returns to Sunnydale after remembering her calling. At first, her mom and her friends seem happy to have her back, but with time, Buffy realizes that they are all very angry with her for leaving the way she did.

Now I just want to say something here that I haven't said in my earlier reviews of this series. I hate Buffy's mom. She's such a control freak. I mean, in the first two seasons, it was understandable for her to be so overbearing. She didn't know that Buffy was the slayer. She thought Buffy was just immature. Now that she knows, she's going to be more understanding, right? Well, no. She, along with Willow and Xander, are very angry at Buffy for leaving Sunnydale. Um, WHAT!? Buffy just killed the man she loved, she sacrificed him to save the world! And let's not forget the fact that she lost just about everything else, too. She was, at the time, wanted for murder, expelled from school, and kicked out of her house by her mother. You know, the same one who's angry at her for leaving. So Buffy left for a few months to be alone for a while. Only someone as strong as Buffy could have had all that happen to her and not gone insane or committed suicide. And her friends are mad at her for putting them through...what? I would have expected this from her mom, but her friends? I don't know. This whole thing seemed kinda contrived to me.

So Buffy makes up with her mom and her friends. The next episode, "Faith, Hope, and Trick", introduced Faith, a character that many people love and/or love to hate. She's a new slayer, the one who was called after Kendra's death. Faith is the polar opposite of Buffy. Not a lot is said about her childhood, but we get the impression that she came from a very disfunctional family. Her watcher has been killed, and a very dangerous vampire named Kakistos is after her. Her and Buffy are able to kill Kakistos, and they start to become friends. However, Faith's dark side starts to take over her, and she ends up allying herself with the Mayor of Sunnydale, who wants to take over the world by turning into a pure demon. I love the character of Faith, and I love what they do to her in future seasons of Buffy and Angel.

Angel is somehow brought back from Hell. How? We don't really know. It's hinted at that the First brought him back, but we never really find out for sure. That's kind of annoying. Angel and Buffy try to stay apart, but find it too hard to not be involved with each other. At the end of the season, Angel decides to leave Sunnydale and seek out his own spin-off show in LA. I think this was a wise move on the part of the writers, since Angel didn't really have all that much to do in this season. And his show was awesome.

There were a few things I didn't like about this season. First of all, the relationship between Cordelia and Xander ends when he cheats on her with Willow. And then Cordelia goes back to being a snotty brat like she was in season one. That kind of disarmed what they did to her in season two, starting to make her into a nicer person. Secondly, Principal Snyder. At the end of season 2, when he expells Buffy from school, they make it seem like he's working for the mayor. He knows that they are on a hellmouth, and it's hinted at that he knows Buffy is the slayer. However, in this season, it seems that he does not know anything about the mayor's plans. Thirdly, this season introduced the character Anya. I loathed this character. I will have more to say about her in upcoming reviews. There are a few instances here and there where you can see small mistakes the writers made. They are not huge, but you can see that this was leading to the crap we had to watch in seasons 4, 5, and 7.

Even with my minor complaints, this season is very good. There are excellent comedic episodes, such as "Homecoming", "Band Candy", "Lover's Walk", and "The Zeppo". There are also dark episodes, such as "The Wish", "Amends", "Bad Girls" and "Helpless." There are also some stupid episodes, like "Dead Man's Party" and "Gingerbread". The season finale, "Graduation Day", was excellent. My friends and I actually did something like that at our high school graduation. Only we used guns. Lots of guns. Overall, this season was very well-done, and a good followup to season two. I didn't like it as much as season 2, but it was still very entertaining.


5/5 Thanks Guys
  by David J. Le Bahn (Boston)
Product better than expected (which always nice), received earlier than expected, and I am very very pleased!

5/5 Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season Slim Set
  by Laura L. Jones (Hunlock Creek, PA)
Product arrived as described on time and in great condition. We will purchase from this vendor again.

5/5 even better with Faith
  by Zaftig Artist (SLC Utah)
I'm already a Buffy fan. I love the infusion of new slayers, especially Faith, who seems to be the antithesis of Buffy's persona.