Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season Three (1999)
Joss Whedon
Impression published on Friday, 2009-10-16 | Television Serial | 3 stars
Season Three of the show that put Joss Whedon on the map is definitely the "all killer, no filler" season.
Which, of course, means that it's also the last season of the show's upward progress: if the second season was the one where he worked out all the bugs and characters who had nothing to contribute to the large arcs (i.e. cut the dead weight), then the third season is the one where Whedon draws a clear line in the sand between the show's toddling times and its maturity. It is, to say the least, extremely convenient that the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ends with its core cast's high school graduation.
Whedon's heavy-handed signals that the show is about to change from a sometimes-floundering teeny-bopper Thursday night serial to a grown-up, must-see piece of television to one side, however, there is quite a bit else to recommend this season.
For starters, the show's eponymous protagonist is, for much of this season, freed from her romantic entanglement with "Angel", (who's scenery-chewing anti-acting and Muppet-y grimaces are, without a doubt, the weakest and sorest spot of the first three seasons), and allowed to share pivotal and momentous scenes with the unusally-charismatic, hyper-kinetic (textbook 'butter-face) Eliza Dushku (who is introduced as Buffy's nemesis).
Also highly engaging is Whedon's on-the-fly reconfiguration of the show's primary supporting cast members in order to get them ready to be serious participants in the show's impending fourth season (which will, if Whedon gets to half of what he's got on his plate, is set to be a real doozy). Giles' expulsion from The Order, Willow's increasing prowess as a spell-slinger and Angel's reconfiguration as a wandering hero, doomed to walk the Earth alone, servant to his conscience and some (as of yet) undisclosed destiny are all a ton of fun to watch.
Jolly good.
