Buffy 97 Season 3

The third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer began airing in the United States on Tuesday, August 4, 1998 for a six episode summer season. There was four week break in September, then a four month break from December 15 to January 12. After that, there was a break from March 23 to April 27.

Episode 28, the second of the two part season finale, aired on May 25, 1999. However, episode 23 "I Only Have Eyes For You" did not air until July 13, 1999, during the summer before the season 4 premiere. The show maintained its previous time slot, airing Tuesdays at 8:00 pm ET. "I Only Have Eyes For You" was delayed in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre because of their content.

Season Summary
During Buffy's 17th birthday, Drusilla and Spike resurrect a powerful demon called "The Judge" (Brian Thompson) who can burn the humanity out of people and who claims to be invincible. After Buffy and Angel escape from his attack, the two finally consummate their relationship which brings Angel "a moment of perfect happiness" and ends up costing him his soul. Buffy wakes up in Angel's bed the following morning alone and frets about his disappearance. Later she returns to his apartment where he torments her about giving up her virginity to him. Buffy is left emotionally devastated and suffers further betrayal after she learns that Jenny Calendar is of Romani origin and was sent to Sunnydale in order to prevent Angel from losing his soul, a mission in which she failed. Angel, now Angelus, joins forces with Spike and Drusilla as they intend to use the judge to wipe humanity off the Earth. The Scooby Gang show up to stop them and Buffy uses a rocket launcher to kill the judge and halt the vampire's plan. She then fights one on one with Angel for the first time but cannot kill him. Instead she forcibly kicks him in the testicles and leaves. Meanwhile, Willow finds out about Xander and Cordelia's relationship and falls out with Xander as a result, while Giles' relationship with Jenny is shattered due to her betrayal.

Over the next few months, Buffy readies herself for the day when she will finally have to slay Angelus and is given further incentive after Angelus murders Jenny Calendar soon after she figures out the incantation needed to restore Angel's soul. Giles is left emotionally shattered having just mended the relationship between him and Jenny and is traumatized when he finds her lifeless body in his bed, a gift left by Angelus. He attempts to take his revenge on Angelus but is saved by Buffy who claims she can't fight her mission on her own. Meanwhile, Xander and Cordelia, and Willow and Oz, now a werewolf after being bitten by his young cousin, officially begin dating and both Cordy and Oz become genuine members of the Scooby Gang. Willow also begins teaching Ms. Calendar's computer science class due to her extremely high aptitude and subsequently becomes interested in Jenny's notes and websites devoted to magic while Spike becomes increasingly jealous over Angelus and Drusilla's apparently sexual relationship while he is left unable to walk. In "I Only Have Eyes For You" it turns out that Spike is in fact ambulatory and that he is hatching a plan of his own to take his revenge on Angelus and win Drusilla back.

During the season finale, Buffy and Willow come across the spell Jenny was working on just prior to her death. While they deliberate on what is to be done, Kendra returns to Sunnydale by word of her watcher who claims that a dark power is once again rising at the Hellmouth. This power turns out to be the stone statue of the powerful demon Acathla who, once upon a time, attempted to swallow the world into Hell. Angelus hatches a plan to awaken Acathla once again and destroy the world. After he fails to awaken the demon however, Angelus sends a team led by Drusilla to kidnap Giles while he calls Buffy out to distract her. As Giles is taken away, Willow is left comatose, Xander's arm is broken and Drusilla kills Kendra. Buffy returns to the library to find the police waiting for her. She flees their attack and makes it to the hospital to find her friends. When no one can find Giles, she goes to his house where she finds a demon named Whistler (Max Perlich). He tells her that what happened with Acathla wasn't meant to go the way it did — Angel is in fact the key that will re-open Acathla but the Powers that Be thought that Angel's destiny was to stop him. Drusilla uses her psychic powers to trick Giles into giving Angelus this information after Angelus sadistically tortured the watcher. Meanwhile, Willow awakens from her coma after a proclamation of love from best friend Xander and adamantly decides to try to perform the ritual of restoration to return Angel's soul. Spike joins forces with Buffy to help take down Angelus while Buffy's mom, Joyce Summers (Kristine Sutherland), finally figures out the truth about her destined daughter. As Buffy leaves to retrieve a mystical sword brought to Sunnydale by Kendra, Joyce tells Buffy never to come back. Sunnydale High School Principal Snyder (Armin Shimerman) expels Buffy from Sunnydale High. With nothing left, Buffy storms Angelus' mansion while Xander aids a weakened Giles. Buffy is too late, even with Spike's help (who takes Drusilla out of the fray). Angelus uses his blood to reawaken Acathla. As Buffy and Angelus compete in an epic sword fight, Acathla begins to swallow the earth. Meanwhile, Willow successfully performs the powerful spell after she is overcome by an unknown mystical energy. As Angel's soul is returned, Buffy has one chance to save the world and, after kissing him and proclaiming that she loves him, runs the magical sword through Angel's chest, who is then swallowed by the portal, closing it for good. Left utterly devastated, Buffy flees Sunnydale.

Chapters

 * -|Chapter One=
 * Chapter I: The Werewolf Chapter: (Ep. 301 - 307) This chapter deals with the summer before Junior Year. An Alpha Pack lead by Derek arrives in Sunnydale with his pack consisting of Leslie, Jordy, Zack, and Ethan. Oz transitions into a werewolf, Xander and Cordelia's secret relationship blossoms and Buffy and Angel get closer.
 * The main antagonist of this chapter is Derek.
 * -|Chapter Two=
 * Chapter II: The Selke Chapter: (Ep. 307 - 318) This chapter deals with the start of Junior Year. Selke, the vampire Buffy thought was killed in a mausoleum fire, returns with a vengeance and convinces a plastic surgeon to find a solution to her "cosmetic" complaints. She's back, and she's out for blood literally!
 * The main antagonists of this chapter are Selke and Drusilla.
 * -|Chapter Three=
 * Chapter III: The Angelus Chapter: (Ep. 319 - 330) This chapter deals with the aftermath of Angel losing his soul.
 * The main antagonists of this chapter are Angelus, Spike and Drusilla.

Antagonists
At the beginning of Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3, Derek and his pack arrive at Sunnydale and became the big bad for the summer episodes of season 3. Selke was the primary big bad of the first half of season 3. Her threat is manifested in direct battles and sending minions against Buffy and her friends, but it's not until the loss of Angel's soul that the season's Big Bad is revealed, who takes a place of leadership over the two vampires. Before the final battle, Angelus's apocalypse is opposed by Spike, who becomes a reluctant ally with the Slayer, and parts with Drusilla. Angelus is defeated by the restoration of his soul, and his apocalypse averted with his own death.


 * Derek (episode 1-6)
 * Selke (episode 7-17)
 * Angelus (episode 19-30)

Characters

 * -|Main Cast=
 * Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy (30/30)
 * Nicholas Brendon as Xander (30/30)
 * Alyson Hannigan as Willow (30/30)
 * Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia (30/30)
 * Eric Balfour as Jesse (29/30)
 * Anthony Stewart Head as Giles (30/30)
 * David Boreanaz as Angel (30/30)
 * Kristine Sutherland as Joyce (21/30)
 * Robia LaMorte as Jenny (22/30) (3x01 - 3x20, alternate universe counterpart in 3x26, illusion in 3x28)*
 * Seth Green as Oz (25/30)
 * Matthew Davis as Ethan Crane (18/30) (3x16 onwards)**
 * TBA as Zack Crane (17/30) (3x16 onwards)**

Note 1: *Appears as recurring characters for ', ', and . Note 2: **Appears as a regular character through 3x20, and then a special guest character for ', and '.
 * -|Supporting Cast=
 * Juliet Landau as Drusilla (12/30)
 * James Marsters as Spike (12/30)
 * Armin Shimerman as Snyder (10/30)
 * Danny Strong as Jonathan (7/30)
 * Elizabeth Anne Allen as Amy (5/30)
 * Mercedes McNab as Harmony (5/30)
 * Bianca Lawson as Kendra (3/30)
 * Larry Bagby III as Larry (3/30)
 * -|Guest Cast=
 * Julie Benz as Darla (2/30)

Cast

 * This season has twelth series regulars since it started. Buffy and Willow are the only main characters to appear in every episode of the series to date.
 * Jenny Calendar is the first major character to be killed on the show. She departs the cast in the twentieth episode of the season, Ring of Fire.
 * In an interview Robia LaMorte talked about a possible return for Jenny in season 4. She stated that Jenny's death was something that needed to happen in order for Angelus to prove himself as a big bad and for the characters to go through a transformation and that "Anything can happen on a vampire show. Dying doesn't necessarily mean that someone's gone forever.". In another interview she stated that she´s still under contract, but executive producer Joss Whedon stated in another that they have no plans to bring her back.
 * Twins Ethan and Zack joins the cast as a recurring character in How I Survived My Summer Vacation: Part 2, joining the cast as a regular character in the middle of Season Three, replacing Jenny.