Buffy: The Wish (3.9)

Alternate universe stories are a time-honored tradition for genre television, and what makes Buffy's interpretation so special is in its clever subverting of our expectations as an audience, as well as its really beautiful ideas about having faith in something. Cordelia takes center stage for the early stages of the episode, angry and bitter over Xander's infidelity, and repeatedly humiliated by the bitchy popular girls she abandoned in order to be with him. She encounters a new girl in school who unexpectedly grants her wish to live in a Buffy-free Sunnydale, only to end up in a world where vampires rule, the human population is rapidly dwindling, and few saviors are in sight.

In the first twist of the episode, Cordelia (who we all assumed would drive the episode) is swiftly murdered a la Psycho, 'our' voice suddenly gone, leaving us trapped in a world with no connection to the Sunnydale we know and love and relying on Giles to piece together the small bits of information he has to get 'our' world back. In the end, it's only his blind faith that save the day, so sure that the 'other' world has to be better than the one he's part of over there. It's a nearly poetic ending, depicting that no matter how lost something may seem, things always work out somehow.

The subversion of our ensemble of characters is awesomely done. To make Cordelia's pain even more ironic, she's trapped in a world where Xander and Willow are not only lovers once again, but are also the ones who end up killing her. Alyson Hannigan is a revelation here, giving Vamp Willow a kinky sexuality and a sleazy, almost child-like, persona. She's pretty terrifying. Angel is the lost boy, locked up in a cage and dreaming of the day when the destiny he was promised will eventually come. Giles is also a lost soul of sorts, commandeering a four-strong group of vampire hunters, the last ones around confident enough to fight back.

And then there's Alterna-Buffy, with facial scars and a demeanor that can only honestly be called 'butch'. She has the, uh, 'unflattering' fashion sense of Kendra mixed with the jaded bad girl quality of Faith. We're not told what exactly happened to make her end up this way, but possibly existing without the support group of Giles and her friends Buffy went postal, becoming an angry young woman whose isolation leaves her dead in the end.

The finale is a stunning piece of television, with the cast dying one by one, and the horrifyingly ironic imagery of Oz killing Willow, completely unaware of the connection they have in the other world.

The Wish is another classic episode which blends a standalone story with characterization that truly resonates. In both realities Giles is the hero, in our reality Cordelia begins to work through her sadness, while Alterna-Buffy's personality and ultimately her death say so much about our own Buffy and how important her allegiances are. It's a ridiculously smart hour that becomes something so much more than the predictable 'gimmick' it easily could have been. A+

Credits
Guest stars Mark Metcalf (The Master); Emma Caulfield (Anya); Larry Bagby III (Larry Blaisdell); Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall)
Writer Marti Noxon Director David Greenwalt