Buffy and Angel Rewatch part 12

3.09 The Wish

A fan favourite and although this isn't one of my personal faves, this is definitely a fun episode. It's a good twist on the alternate reality idea and the changes that happened in alt-Sunnydale made sense within the show. I very much enjoyed the Master coming back as I thought it gave the episode something extra. Willow and Xander were definitely fun as vamps, though it was definitely a little creepy. The one thing that strikes me about this episode is that Cordy dies in the alt-verse half-way through, which means she never gets to live out her wish. Even though the show isn't about her, its odd for the stimulus for the alt-reality not to be present in the majority of it.
I liked the slow-mo ending to the alternate world as world, with the music it was very emotional especially with all the main characters bar, Giles and Oz dying. It was also interesting to see Angel being staked as its the only time in the show we get to see that! (9/10)

3.10 Amends

When settling down to watch this episode, I was preparing myself for a depressing episode but I forget that to some extent this is actually a very uplifting episode. The ending in particular is full of peace and for once in Sunnydale, peace.
I'm glad that we got an episode to address Angel coming back since its been largely ignored in previous episodes. Though we didn't get any comprehensive answers we definitely got an idea of why he was brought back. In many respects, to me at least, this episode seems to set up the Angel spin-off with Buffy giving Angel a reason to live and fight -'to make amends.' This episode along with Lovers Walk (Spike coming back on his own and Cordy breaking up with Xander) sets up the following season(s) perfectly, which had to happen of course as Angel (the show) was most likely in development when these episodes were being written. It does surprise me how early this all happens as we have yet to reach the halfway point of the season.
As for the episode itself, it was largely Angel centric, which is good as he doesn't get much to do in the rest of the season (apart from a few episodes). The flashbacks were varying in quality (as was the prosthetic make-up!) but Robia La Morte was just excellent as The First Jenny. Speaking of The First, this Big Bad is only touched on here but apart from some slight mythology changes (the whole touching thing) I was pleased to see that much of this mythology was brought back in season 7 which I think brings the show a little more full circle. The only other scenes of note were the Oz/Willow ones in which Oz was just the sweetest. His wish to wait to have sex with Willow mirrored his desire to wait to kiss in season 2; it's scenes like the Barry White 'seduction' scene which make Oz one of my favourite characters. (9/10)

3.11 Gingerbread

This is one of my favourite episodes of the season. It cleverly manages to combine quite a serious subject- mob mentality/ killings- and some of the best comedy moments of the season. My favourite funny moments were definitely towards the end with Buffy's hysterical "Did I get it? Did I get it?" and Oz and Xander's crashing in from the ceiling to save the others. Cordy also had some really funny moments in this episode getting back to her bitchy comedic self.
The concept of mob mentality was a really interesting one to explore, especially in Sunnydale where, as it is noted in the episode, a lot of deaths and mysterious disappearances happen frequently. Given that its almost a little surprising that vigilante mobs haven't formed sooner (or maybe they have were just not that successful). I liked seeing Willows mum for the first and I think last time. Willow and Xander never really had family lives apart from the occasional episode and it added another layer to Willow as a character. The kids were brilliantly creepy as Has and Gretal though I find the fairy tale thing a little hokey, but the rest of the episode is enjoyable enough to ignore that! (9/10)

3.12 Helpless

Not a brilliant episode and I think that's mainly because a lot of bad stuff happens in it. Not bad in a good way like eg Angel losing his soul, but just bad as in miserable. Giles betrays Buffy and in return loses his job as Watcher whilst Buffy loses her powers. That said, Giles losing his Watcher job is an interesting road to take as it could've rendered Giles useless for the res of the season, but instead it actually gives him a storyline to play with.
The whole idea behind this episode is probably one of it's biggest problems- its not poor writing on the shows behalf more the ridiculous idea from the Watcher's Council of giving the Slayer a test on her 18th birthday. It's just ridiculous that fighting vamps and demons daily and surviving until her 18th birthday is not enough, the Slayer has to face another test. Its a ludicrous idea but I guess it shows how inept and out of touch the Watcher's Council is. Its even more ridiculous seeing as they seem to be doing very little with Faith who has quite a lot of freedom and has already proven that she's not the most disciplined Slayer they've had. There are some more enjoyable aspects of the episode, I actually liked the Buffy/Angel scenes, they're sickly sweet but not too much so and reference the flashbacks in last season, Cordy defending Buffy and beating up that guy was also a hoot. (6.5/10)