After catching Xander and Willow kissing Cordelia wants to show that she is over him and return to her old life as the school's queen bee; unfortunately now her old friends just see her as Xander's castoff; somebody to be mocked. The only person to show her any sympathy is new girl Anya. As they talk Cordelia says that she wishes Buffy had never come to Sunnydale; Anya says 'Done' and with that everything changes. Anya is in fact Anyanka, a demon who grants the wishes of spurned women. It soon becomes apparent that Sunnydale without Buffy is a much more dangerous place; The Master was never defeated and his vampires are keeping the town in perpetual terror. Willow and Xander are now two particularly cruel vampires... and much to Cordelia's chagrin are a couple. The only people fighting back are Giles and a small group of students, including Oz, but without a slayer they are fighting a losing battle. Cordelia tells Giles what happened and he requests that Buffy is sent to Sunnydale as well as trying to figure out how to reverse the spell... before the story is over familiar faces will die.
The previous episode was brilliant and I didn't expect another one to be as good for a while but this story is top notch as well. The idea of showing us what Sunnydale would have been like without Buffy was interesting and showing just how bad it could be was brilliantly executed. Highlights were seeing Willow and Xander as vampires; Alyson Hannigan showed that she can be believably very sexy as well as the usual mousy Willow. Other highlights are the return of The Master; Angel being tormented by Willow and an alternate Buffy who is more like Faith than the Buffy we know. There is plenty of action, some of it surprisingly violent for a TV show of the era and the fact that it takes place in an alternate reality means that nobody is guaranteed not to be killed before we get the inevitable reset to the familiar Sunnydale. Overall a really great episode that fans of the series should love.
The previous episode was brilliant and I didn't expect another one to be as good for a while but this story is top notch as well. The idea of showing us what Sunnydale would have been like without Buffy was interesting and showing just how bad it could be was brilliantly executed. Highlights were seeing Willow and Xander as vampires; Alyson Hannigan showed that she can be believably very sexy as well as the usual mousy Willow. Other highlights are the return of The Master; Angel being tormented by Willow and an alternate Buffy who is more like Faith than the Buffy we know. There is plenty of action, some of it surprisingly violent for a TV show of the era and the fact that it takes place in an alternate reality means that nobody is guaranteed not to be killed before we get the inevitable reset to the familiar Sunnydale. Overall a really great episode that fans of the series should love.