The Wish
The Wish
Season 3, Episode 9 (Episode 43 of entire series)
They coulda called this one Put the Blame on Mame. After Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, she finds herself in an alternate reality where vamps rule Sunnydale, no one has a life, and no one can drive to school. Cordy blames all of her misfortunes (stemming from the break-up with Xander 'cause he cheated) on Buffy. When she comes to realize that Buffy's needed in Sunnydale and that most people were happy, etc., it's too late..'cause..she dies shortly after. This episode features the reappearance of The Master, as well as Harmony and Larry. Also interesting is the fact that pretty much everyone dies by the hand of someone who's had a significant impact on their life. And lastly, I have to say I'm pleased to see that Giles finally had a bigger role than he's been getting!
I admit, when I saw the trailer I thought, neat, we'll see major events that woulda transpired had Buffy not been around 1st season..like the actual vamping of Willow at The Bronze, and Xander's being a bug person, and..stuff like that. Anyhoo, I was sorta wrong. Basically, the show begins with a dripping, slimy monster type who's pinning Buffy to a tree. With Willow's help, she kills it, and she and Willow and Xander bond about lovelorn things. Xander asks Buffy how she makes it, and she tells him she relies on her pals. Then they casually mention Faith, maybe because everyone in t.v. land has been wondering about her.
Anyway, the next day at school, Willow tries to chat with Oz, but he tells her he needs his space and to leave him alone. He also mentions that he thinks she wants to talk about it to ease her pain, but that's not his problem. Meanwhile, Cordy's been ragged on by Harmony, who proposes that she date Jonathan. After all, he's got a moped! Cordy also meets this new chick Anya. Later in the hallway, when Cordy sees Xander coming her way, she stops a guy named John Lee to make it look like she's flirting or kissing him or something. Good technique. Although John Lee Hooker? insults Cordy and stuff. (You'll notice I didn't mention how Cordy was ripping up pix of her and Xander and Willow and all, and burning Xander's pix. That's because while many chicks may do it -- hey, this chick I knew in college did it once, yikes! -- it's freaky.)
Later, Anya approaches Cordy and commiserates about how terrible men are and how clueless Xander is in particular. She keeps leading Cordy by saying stuff like "Don't you wish.." and Cordy cuts her off, saying that she doesn't wish, she acts.
Maybe Cordy forgot about the necklace Xander gave her back in Bewitched, Bothered, & Bewildered -- although that time it actually protected her from a spell -- or maybe she just really believed in the good luck aspect of it..but when Anya loans her her necklace and she sees the gang sitting over on a bench, she starts bitching and moaning about Buffy. She blames Buffy for all of her misfortunes, even though Anya keeps trying to get her to pin it on Xander. So she utters the fateful words "I wish Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale," and poof...someone has made it so.
Soon Cordy finds herself on a littered, empty campus. John Lee asks her to the Winter Brunch, the classes are empty, there are monthly memorials, there's a curfew, and The Bronze is definitely off-limits. Everyone's clothing sucks, too. Cordy ends up walking home after dark and she runs into Xander and Willow...she discovers that they're vampires. I guess she didn't think about that part when Harmony told her that they were dead. She rambles on about Buffy and is about to get chomped on when Giles, Oz, Larry, and Nancy roll up in..surprise, surprise, a van of Oz's. This reminds me of 1st season Sliders, where they had this same cab driver in the first few episodes, in the alternate worlds.
Turns out that The Master and the vamps live at the Bronze, and the Master has some wacked-out plant that's about to open. He sends Willow and Xander to kill Cordy before she can contact the Slayer and ruin the plan. They make good on it, while Giles looks on from the cage. Yow, this is a freaked-out scene. On many different levels. Just..yow. Fortunately, Giles notices Cordy's necklace and removes it from her body so's he can study it. I have to say also that Giles's outfit in this episode rocked, and I'm not one to notice clothing on this show, really.
Basically, we get to see that Willow is one sadistic vamp. She reminds me of Dru, only maybe a bit more sane. More on that on Will's character page. (Not yet. Geez. Gimme time to do it.) We also see that Willow and Xander are a couple, Angel's the tortured puppy of the family, and Sunnydale just plain sucks. Meanwhile, Giles calls Cleveland and talks to Buffy's watcher, saying that Buffy's needed in Sunnydale. She finally arrives, in a sort of commando-type outfit, and with her longish hair, and a scar on her lip. She saves Giles from his bout with some vamps, and she appears very much to be a self-reliant chick who seems to not have friends. Or at least, she enjoys flying solo. She also spits to clean her shoe. Yick.
Buffy goes to the vamp hangout and finds Angel, who knows who she is. He tells her that it's his destiny to help her, and he wondered when she was coming. Then they go to the factory. Yes, it's kind of again reminding me of Soylent Green -- which was mentioned in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date -- only this time it's by the vamps, for the vamps, and well, just for the vamps. They have this assembly-line type rotary belt thing that has a bunch of needles or something that go into a person, thereby draining the blood and making food for the vamps. It's practical. Anyways, Buffy and Angel show up, Angel gets killed (I think by Xander but I'd haveta check), Willow gets killed when Oz shoves her into a piece of wood, Xander gets killed, I think by Buffy, and then Buffy's neck is snapped kinda by the Master. It's all weird and interesting and makes sense. Dissect it yourself. There's no room here.
Meanwhile, Giles has summoned Anyanka and discovered that the way to reverse the wish is to smash the power source, the necklace-y gem thing. So he does, thereby restoring order. The present-day is back, everyone's alive, and this time when Cordy makes her wacky wishes, Anya has no pendant and can't grant them. Thus endeth another episode. Oh, and it was pretty nifty to see Xander, Willow, and Buffy sort of bemoaning their situations outside of school again. Even if they weren't bemoaning a whole lot...cause it reminded me of yet another season 1 ep., I Robot, You Jane. See? Ah...Season 1....
1. Buffy used a knife thing to kill Squid monster.
2. Buffy and Angel fought some vamps at the Plant. Though really, that didn't get the job done.
3. Giles researched the pendant and learned that the way to reverse the spell was to crush the pendant. Kinda like when he smashed the bust of Janus in Halloween.
4. Giles summoned Anyanka, took the pendant, and crushed it.
1. Pretty much most demon/monster voices sound like Eyghon's.
2. Vamp Willow could have ADD. I'm not saying any vamp is a genius, okay? I'm sticking with ADD.
3. In the karmic realm, Oz must be doing okay. He wasn't a vamp.
4. Sunnydale would really, really bite without Buffy. Literally.
1. Sunnydale High School
2. Some streets
3. An open-type grassy place.
4. The Bronze
5. Giles's place
6. The Master's Factory
1. Buffy
2. Willow
3. Xander
4. Giles
5. Cordelia
6. Angel
7. Oz
8. The Master
9. Harmony
10. Larry
11. Jonathan
12. Anya
13. John Lee
14. Nancy
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