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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: December 8, 1998
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “The Wish” (season 3, episode 9). [Stream on Netflix.]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Before it was what was expected of critically acclaimed TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was finding new and interesting ways to shake up its format. It only makes sense; after all, the concept of Buffy in the first place is a genre blend of teen drama and gothic horror. So why not also throw in, say, a silent episode (season 4’s “Hush”) or a musical episode (season 6’s “Once More with Feeling”). Under the guiding hand of Joss Whedon, Buffy played with timelines, body-swapping, and implanting false memories of a kid sister who’d never been there before. Buffy thrived on this kind of thing.
Which is why season 3’s “The Wish” is one of the all-time greatest Buffy episodes. The premise could not be simpler. Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter, getting a rare showcase) is fresh off her breakup with Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and runs into new-girl Anya (Emma Caulfield, in her Buffy debut). When Anya turns out to be a vengeance demon, Cordelia’s idle wish that Buffy Summers has never come to Sunnydale (and thus set in motion the chain of events that led to Cordy dating Xander in the first place) suddenly becomes grim reality. Emphasis on the grim.
This dark turn on It’s a Wonderful Life starts off how you’d expect. Without Buffy around to protect Sunnydale, the town has fallen prey to the vampire scourge. Early curfews are the rule; fear reigns; class attendance is at an all-time low. But the real masterstroke lies in bringing season 1 villain The Master (Mark Metcalf) back into play, and at his right hand … vampirized Xander and vampirized Willow (Alyson Hannigan). It’s a worst-case scenario that gets even worst-er when alt-universe Buffy finally does show up, scarred on the outside and a damaged soul inside. In the context of the season at large, Alt-Buffy stands in for the absent Faith (Eliza Dushku), a slayer who’s had to go it alone and bears the weight of that in her impenetrable exterior. It’s a brilliant piece of un-showy storytelling in the middle of an episode that has surface pleasures for days. Xander and Willow get to luxuriate in being bad; Cordy gets to play the heroine for once; Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) gets to prove his worth all over again.
And that’s all before getting to the climax, an eye-popping and merciless extermination is every single character we’ve come to love on this show. The crazy thing is, this wasn’t the first time Buffy Summers died right before our eyes, and it wouldn’t be the last.
It’s not the deaths of beloved characters that hurts the most. It’s that moment when Buffy stakes Xander without so much as a backwards glance. A Buffy-verse without the central friendship of Buffy/Xander/Willow is the darkest timeline indeed.
[You can stream Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s “The Wish” on Netflix.]
