A coming of age tale which is just totally normal, nothing problematic here! JK it's pretty much the worst, go ahead and throw that slayers life right on the line. Angel admits to being a pedophile, Giles drugs buffy, Cordelia has to save herself from a pushy boy, and we learn all about what different crystals can do to heal you, or hypnotize you. Also Giles gets fired from his secret job but somehow still has his real job.

What a great episode! Excitement, jokes, actions, witches, weird unsubtle social commentary, and best of all the contractual minimum of Angel! Xander and Oz go on an adventure, Amy is back for a bit, little german children do in fact make terrifying ghosts and we worry a lot about the brain damage being done to Giles.

It's Christmas in Sunnydale and we all know what that means! Angel is being tormented by an evil as old as time itself. We are given no resolution to this whatsoever but Oz and Willow get back together and it's great! Angel and Buffy also get back together and Sam hates it! Also fake we get cliche Christmas miracle snow just so Buffy and Angel can hang out during the day for once. Also Zander gets caught in the snow in a sleeping bag on his lawn.

Sam knocks this one out of the park as far as predictions go. Did he guess a wish granting alternate universe creating demon getting Cordelia's revenge... no. We do get to see all of the main characters die though! Except Giles and Oz they are good apparently. Ohio Buffy is apparently super hard, Angel is a creep in any universe and the master is having to settle for some pretty bland ideas now that his plan actually worked.

SAT scores are in! But that gets forgotten pretty quickly for all the teenage mopey love stuff. Spike is back and mopey too until he talks to his BFF Joyce and goes out and kicks some ass with Angel and Buffy which is cool but then Cordelia dies, which isn't cool then she doesn't which is cool. Overall sub par episode 4/10.

All the sexual tension! An evil watcher comes into town and tries to use a really cool Nintendo power glove to take over the world, it doesn't go well, the gang finds out about Angel being back and they don't take it great, and a demon is decapitated.

Overall a pretty solid episode! Joyce is still a shitty mom but some special chocolate does chill her out pretty well, unfortunately she and Giles bone down though which is weird. We still have to deal with the background noise of Willow and Xander being awkward, Sam learns how to spell Xander's name, Angel does some old person exercises and there are no babies eaten on camera (spoilers).

It's Homecoming season! Buffy gets dumped, we finally meet the mayor, Zander and Willow have a real awkward moment and Buffy goes "full prom queen". But all of that is nothing compared to SLAYERFEST '98! It's everyone's new favorite festival, come along for all the different plotlines on this absolute Joss Whedon classic.

The moon is full, Angel is chained to a wall and a tertiary character finally acknowledges the deaths of their fellow classmates. The counselor who was mauled to death in their office got no such ceremony but hey it's a step!

A new slayer emerges from the shadows to dust disco dan the vampire man! Buffy tells the whole truth, we meet another ancient vampire who is a complete waste of time and Buffy finally is going on a date with a new boy! Oh also Angel is back but that's the worst part by far.