Buffy Timeline: Season 3
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Timeline - Season 3
The dates listed below are more or less the dates of the events in Sunnydale, NOT in what most of us think of as “the real world.”
Click on the episode title to go to Otts’ wonderful episode summary.
Color key - Audience first sees a character, Buffy (et al.) first meet a character, Character death, Character leaves show, Romance, Breakup, Character returns, Ê= important event
Episode 1 (35th in the series)
(Buffy’s life in LA)
September, 1998
Buffy lived the summer as “Anne” (her middle name) in Los Angeles.
- We discover that Oz has to repeat his senior year.
- Buffy meets Lily, who used to go by Chanterelle back in Sunnydale (see episode 7 in season 2 “Lie to Me”)
- Buffy gives Lily her apartment, job, and name (Anne)
Buffy returns to Sunnydale and sees her mom.
Episode 2 (36th in the series)
(The gang has a party to celebrate Buffy’s return)
September, 1998 (directly after “Anne”)
- Buffy is reunited with the rest of the gang.
- Joyce tries to get Buffy back into Sunnydale High School, and fails.
- Willow et al interrupt Buffy’s packing to run away again.
Giles forces Principal Snyder into letting Buffy back into Sunnydale High School.
Episode 3 (37th in the series)
(A new Slayer shows up)
September, 1998
- Buffy finds out that she is allowed back in school.
- The Scoobies meet Kendra’s replacement Slayer, Faith.
- Buffy starts dating Scott Hope.
- We meet the vampire Mr. Trick.
- We discover that Faith’s Watcher was murdered by the vampire Kakistos
- Kakistos attacks Buffy and Faith, who kill him (huge wooden beam through the chest)
Giles is assigned to be Faith’s temporary Watcher.
- Buffy tells Willow and Giles that Angel had his soul back before she sent him to hell.
Angel is dropped out of portal into the mansion.
Episode 4 (38th in the series)
(Is Were-Oz killing people?)
Late September / Early October, 1998
- We meet Scott’s friends Pete and Debbie
Buffy discovers that Angel is back and barely sane.
- Pete has been pulling a Jekyll & Hyde and killing students, including Debbie
- Angel kills Pete to save Buffy
Episode 5 (39th in the series)
(SlayerFest ’98)
October, 1998
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
- Scott Hope breaks up with Buffy.
- Buffy and Cordelia both run for Homecoming Queen (they both lose)
- Willow and Xander kiss the wig out about it.
- We meet Mayor Richard Wilkins III.
Mayor Wilkins hires Mr. Trick to assist him.
- Buffy tells Angel that she’ll keep his return a secret.
- All the hunters in SlayerFest are either killed or run off.
Episode 6 (40th in the series)
(The students are forced to sell candy bars that make adults act like teens)
October, 1998
- Willow and Xander continue to flirt and feel guilty about it.
- Ethan Rayne is back, again. (This time he is the man behind the candy.)
- Giles and Joyce “hook up” (we discover in episode 18, season 3 “Earshot” that they had sex)
- Buffy meets Mr. Trick
- The demon Lurconis makes an appearance (to eat babies) and dies (Buffy torches it with a gas pipe)
Episode 7 (41st in the series)
(Faith gets a new Watcher)
November, 1998
- The Scoobies meet Mrs. Gwendolyn Post, Faith’s new Watcher
- Angel and Buffy kiss, confirming that they are still attracted to each other
- Xander discovers that Angel is still alive and tells the others
- Mrs. Post plants the seeds in Faith’s head that she’s an outsider
- Mrs. Post puts on the Glove of Myhnegon and attacks everyone
- Angel fights Mrs. Post, tentatively winning some of the Scoobies’ trust
- Mrs. Post dies (Buffy slices off her arm with a piece of glass and she is incinerated by lightning)
Episode 8 (42nd in the series)
(Love spells, Spike, and lots of heartbreak)
November, 1998
- Buffy discovers that she scored VERY high on her SAT’s (1430)
- Spike returns to Sunnydale, sans Drusilla (who is off with a Choas demon)
- Giles leaves for a Watchers retreat
- We meet Deputy Mayor Alan Finch, who is instructed by the Mayor to “take care of that Spike problem” with Mr. Trick
- Spike dissects Buffy and Angel’s relationship, telling them how they can never be “friends”
- Joyce finds out that Angel is back
Oz and Cordelia go to save Willow and Xander (who are being held hostage by Spike), only to find them kissing
- Spike leaves for Brazil to get Drusilla back
- Oz breaks up with Willow
- Cordelia breaks up with Xander
- Buffy tells Angel they can’t be together at all
Episode 9 (43rd in the series)
(Cordelia wishes that Buffy never came to Sunnydale)
December, 1998 (only shortly after “Lovers Walk”)
- We are introduced to the vengeance demon Anyanka (known at SDHS as the student Anya)
- We are introduced to “wishverse” Sunnydale, Giles, Oz, Larry, Buffy, Master, Angel, Vamp-Xander, Vamp-Willow
Anyanka becomes human and is now known as Anya (“wishverse” Giles crushes her pendant)
Episode 10 (44th in the series)
(“The Buffy Christmas Special”)
The days leading up to Christmas (December 25), 1998
- Angel is haunted by ghosts of those he killed (including ‘Jenny Calendar’)
- Oz and Willow tentatively reunite.
We are all introduced to the concept of an ancient evil known as “The First” (or “The First Evil”) and its priests, known as the Harbingers
- Angel tries to kill himself by waiting outside to see the sunrise.
- Angel is spared by a freak snowfall that keeps the sun away.
Episode 11 (45th in the series)
(MOO’s witch hunt)
Mid-January, 1999
- Joyce and Shelia Rosenberg (Willow’s mom), under the influence of a demon that looks like the two dead children, found MOO (Mothers Opposed to the Occult)
- We discover that there is a rule forbidding Slayers to kill humans.
- Willow, Buffy, and Amy are captured and set to be burnt at the stake.
Amy turns herself into a rat to escape.
- Giles forces the demon to reveal itself in its true form.
- Buffy kills the demon (huge stake to its neck)
Episode 12 (46th in the series)
(Buffy loses her abilities on her 18th birthday)
Late January, 1999 (about a week after “Gingerbread”)
Giles drugs Buffy, causing her to lose her Slayer abilities.
- We meet Quentin Travers from the Watchers Council.
We learn about the Cruciamentum, a secret ritual test Slayers must undergo when they turn 18.
- Giles finally tells Buffy about the Cruciamentum.
- Buffy passes the test by killing a vampire (she tricked it into drinking holy water)
Travers fires Giles as Buffy’s Watcher (citing Giles’ “fatherly feelings” for her)
Episode 13 (47th in the series)
(Xander has an adventure and grows up)
February, 1999
- The Scoobies (sans Xander) deal with an open Hellmouth, finally closing it.
- Xander has sex with Faith, who throws him out after they are done.
- Xander stops a gang of zombie students from blowing up the school.
Episode 14 (48th in the series)
(Buffy and Faith go a bit wild)
Late February, 1999
- The Scoobies meet Buffy’s new Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.
- Cordelia and Wesley begin some minor flirtation.
- Buffy and Faith do a bit of shoplifting.
- Deputy Mayor Finch dies (accidentally staked by Faith)
The Mayor performs a “dedication” ritual, making him invincible for the 100 days before his Ascension.
Episode 15 (49th in the series)
(Faith chooses her path)
Late February, 1999 (right after “Bad Girls”)
- Giles discovers that Faith has killed a person.
- Xander tells Giles, Willow, and Buffy that he slept with Faith.
- Wesley (and the Watchers Council) try to detain Faith.
- Mr. Trick dies (staked by Faith)
Faith covertly joins forces with the Mayor as his new assistant.
Episode 16 (50th in the series)
(Vamp Willow from “wishverse” comes to Sunnydale)
March, 1999
- Anya tries (unsuccessfully) to get her powers back, first asking her boss D’Hoffryn, then getting Willow to help in a spell.
- Faith secretly gets a new apartment.
- Vamp Willow (from the AU in “The Wish”) is brought into “normal” Sunnydale.
- Anya returns Vamp Willow to her own universe.
Episode 17 (51st in the series)
(Buffy and Angel trick Faith into showing her true colors)
March, 1999
- We learn a bit about the “Books of Ascension” and discover that the Mayor’s Ascension will take place on Graduation Day.
- Cordelia asks Wesley for a dinner date.
- The gang discovers that Mayor Wilkins is over 100 years old.
- Faith and a shaman appear to rip out Angel’s soul, making him Angelus (didn’t happen Ð all a setup for Faith).
Faith declares her allegiance to the Mayor to Buffy and the others.
Episode 18 (52nd in the series)
(Buffy picks up the ability to hear other people’s thoughts)
April, 1999
- Buffy gets infected with a demon’s ability to hear thoughts (she is cured later by a potion put together by Giles, Wesley, and Angel)
- Buffy discovers that Joyce and Giles had sex twice.
- Buffy stops Jonathan from killing himself.
- Xander stops the lunchroom lady from poisoning the students.
Episode 19 (53rd in the series)
(The gang trades the Box of Gavrok for Willow’s life)
Late April, 1999
The Mayor gives Faith a wicked-looking knife as a present.
- We discover that Cordelia is working in a dress shop.
- The Scoobies steal the Box of Gavrok, but Willow is captured.
- Willow filches several pages from the Books of Ascension, which contain important information.
- Buffy finally meets Mayor Wilkins.
- The Mayor trades Willow for the Box.
- The Mayor dissects Buffy and Angel’s relationship, telling them how it is doomed.
Buffy takes Faith’s knife after the confrontation in the cafeteria.
We discover that both Willow and Buffy will attend UC Sunnydale in the fall.
Episode 20 (54th in the series)
(Hell Hounds attack students in formals)
May, 1999
- Anya asks Xander to the prom.
- Xander discovers that Cordelia is working in a dress shop in order to buy a prom dress because her father got caught by the IRS for tax evasion and lost everything.Ê
- Xander secretly pays for the balance of her dress.
- Angel dreams about marrying Buffy (she goes up in flames)
- Joyce dissects Buffy and Angel’s relationship, telling Angel to leave her if he truly loves her.
Angel tells Buffy that he won’t go to the prom with her AND that he is going to leave Sunnydale if they survive the Ascension.
- Tucker (a student) unleashes Hell Hounds to the Prom (Buffy kills them all)
- Buffy receives the award of “Class Protector.”
- Angel dances with Buffy at the Prom (but doesn’t get back together with her)
Episode 21 (55th in the series)
(Countdown to the Ascension)
Early June, 1999
- The Scoobies figure out that the Mayor will Ascend at the graduation ceremony.
- Anya leaves town after giving details about the last Ascension.Ê (During the Ascension, the Mayor will become pure demon, not a hybrid like most are.)
- Willow and Oz have sex.
Faith shoots Angel with a poisoned arrow.
Buffy quits the Watchers Council.
- Buffy hunts Faith after discovering that to cure Angel he must “drain the blood of a Slayer.”
Buffy stabs Faith with her own knife; Faith falls from the top of the building where they were fighting and lands on a passing truck, ‘getting away.’
Episode 22 (56th in the series)
(The Mayor makes his move)
Early June, 1999 (directly after “Graduation Day, Part 1”)
Buffy forces Angel to drink from her, making him well and sending her to the hospital.
- The Mayor tries (and fails) to suffocate Buffy while she is unconscious.
- Buffy and Faith share a dream, where Faith tells Buffy to play on the Mayor’s human weakness.
- Cordelia and Wesley kiss, but it turns out to be a total flop.
The Mayor Ascends into a gigantic snake-demon.
- Principal Snyder dies (eaten by Demon Mayor)
- The Scoobies, Wesley, Angel, and all the students fight Demon Mayor and vampires.
- Harmony is bitten by a vampire (we later find out she was turned, episode 3, season 4 “The Harsh Light of Day”)
Demon Mayor dies (Buffy taunts him with Faith’s knife, leads him to the library, which Giles then detonates)
Angel leaves Sunnydale (for Los Angeles and his own spin-off series)
I’ve left out characters that made minor, one time only appearances. If you think I’ve missed something that is important to the canon of the show, drop me a private message on the posting boards and let me know.
- fiatlux