"Anne" was a decent season premiere, and "Faith, Hope and Trick" does a good job setting the table for what's to come in terms of the season arc. But in my opinion, the amazing "Homecoming" is the first truly great episode of season 3. From here on out there's hardly a bad moment all the way through the two-part season finale, let alone a bad episode (well, there's Gingerbread, but I did say "hardly").
The more I think about season 3, the more I think it's really about identity. In this episode, Buffy and Cordelia come into conflict because Buffy is struggling to reconcile her popular, pre-Slayer persona with her current responsibilities, and how those responsibilities have changed her as a person. She decides to run for Homecoming Queen as a way to recapture the high school experience she feels she is missing due to her Slayer duties, and our Cordy--who back in season one's Out of Mind, Out of Sight elucidated her reasons for working really hard to be popular ("it beats being alone all by yourself")--sees this as a threat to her position atop the social hierarchy. This sets into motion an epic battle for school dance supremacy that will wrench the Scoobies apart, but in an amusing way.
By the end of the episode, Buffy and Cordelia are being stalked by an amusing variety of henchmen as part of Slayerfest '98, a ploy by Mr. Trick to rid Sunnydale of his two biggest problems (he mistakes Cordelia for Faith). There are some amazing character beats here for both girls, although Cordelia furiously beating a demon with a spatula takes the take. Buffy's angst about missing out on key high school moments won't be resolved until The Prom, but by the end of this episode she and Cordelia have a newfound mutual respect; as Buffy laments the loss of the popular girl as she became the Slayer, Cordelia finds a bit of the Slayer within the popular girl. The final reveal of who actually wins Homecoming Queen is priceless.
The only real downside to the episode--and it's a nitpick--is that I don't believe David Greenwalt has a sufficient grasp of the high school social dynamic to believably portray Homecoming Queen candidacy. If a girl in my high school had been trying to BUY votes with cupcakes or--more egregiously--money, I think people would have just thought she was desperate and pathetic. But it's funny enough, so I'll let it slide.
(Okay, another demerit for Faith sabotaging Scott's date. His reasons for dumping Buffy are completely legitimate. I mean, can you really blame a high school student for breaking up with somebody because they turn out to be a bit of a high-maintenance bummer? What are you supposed to do, waste six months on a relationship with them when you could be dating somebody who's actually fun and seems invested in you and isn't secretly pining away for somebody else? But it's in keeping with Faith's incredibly selfish understanding of the world, even if she's doing this on her friend's behalf.)
I would also like to defend the somewhat controversial Willow/Xander infidelity subplot set off by this episode. A lot of viewers seem to object to it on the grounds that Xander and Willow have known each other for so long they seemingly should have hooked up already if they were going to at all, so why is it happening now?
To me it makes complete sense. For Willow's part she clearly has unresolved feelings for Xander, in spite of her relationship with Oz, and I think it wouldn't take much for her to act on those very old and deeply set impulses; all she needs is one small sign Xander reciprocates. As for Xander--well, we saw in Anne that his relationship with Cordelia is completely racked with doubts and insecurity, as evidenced by the fact that neither of them saw one another over the summer and came back to school without even knowing if they were still a couple. In episodes like Go Fish and Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered last season, their relationship--founded thus far only on the sexual tension of mutual bickering and disdain--was shown to have grown sufficiently to the point that Cordelia was willing to make significant sacrifices to stay with him. But Xander, being innately insecure, cannot bring himself to trust, in spite of this evidence, that the relationship is anything besides one of convenience; he can't believe he could really mean that much to her. From his perspective Cordelia is out of his league in every possible way--rich, smart, beautiful, and socially adept. In his mind, he is certain the other shoe is going to drop; he just doesn't know when. So when he sees Willow--his best friend, his soul mate, his "sure thing"--standing in front of him looking all womanly, he gives in to the newfound sexual attraction because he knows there is absolutely NO WAY Willow will reject him, the way Cordelia inevitably must. If he pre-emptively sabotages his relationship with Cordelia, he can control the narrative of that rejection. He is not only attracted to Willow now, but to that sense of control. Humans do counter-intuitive things like that all the time in real relationships, and I think the storyline was a mature take by the Buffy writers on immaturity, if that makes sense.
The more I think about season 3, the more I think it's really about identity. In this episode, Buffy and Cordelia come into conflict because Buffy is struggling to reconcile her popular, pre-Slayer persona with her current responsibilities, and how those responsibilities have changed her as a person. She decides to run for Homecoming Queen as a way to recapture the high school experience she feels she is missing due to her Slayer duties, and our Cordy--who back in season one's Out of Mind, Out of Sight elucidated her reasons for working really hard to be popular ("it beats being alone all by yourself")--sees this as a threat to her position atop the social hierarchy. This sets into motion an epic battle for school dance supremacy that will wrench the Scoobies apart, but in an amusing way.
By the end of the episode, Buffy and Cordelia are being stalked by an amusing variety of henchmen as part of Slayerfest '98, a ploy by Mr. Trick to rid Sunnydale of his two biggest problems (he mistakes Cordelia for Faith). There are some amazing character beats here for both girls, although Cordelia furiously beating a demon with a spatula takes the take. Buffy's angst about missing out on key high school moments won't be resolved until The Prom, but by the end of this episode she and Cordelia have a newfound mutual respect; as Buffy laments the loss of the popular girl as she became the Slayer, Cordelia finds a bit of the Slayer within the popular girl. The final reveal of who actually wins Homecoming Queen is priceless.
The only real downside to the episode--and it's a nitpick--is that I don't believe David Greenwalt has a sufficient grasp of the high school social dynamic to believably portray Homecoming Queen candidacy. If a girl in my high school had been trying to BUY votes with cupcakes or--more egregiously--money, I think people would have just thought she was desperate and pathetic. But it's funny enough, so I'll let it slide.
(Okay, another demerit for Faith sabotaging Scott's date. His reasons for dumping Buffy are completely legitimate. I mean, can you really blame a high school student for breaking up with somebody because they turn out to be a bit of a high-maintenance bummer? What are you supposed to do, waste six months on a relationship with them when you could be dating somebody who's actually fun and seems invested in you and isn't secretly pining away for somebody else? But it's in keeping with Faith's incredibly selfish understanding of the world, even if she's doing this on her friend's behalf.)
I would also like to defend the somewhat controversial Willow/Xander infidelity subplot set off by this episode. A lot of viewers seem to object to it on the grounds that Xander and Willow have known each other for so long they seemingly should have hooked up already if they were going to at all, so why is it happening now?
To me it makes complete sense. For Willow's part she clearly has unresolved feelings for Xander, in spite of her relationship with Oz, and I think it wouldn't take much for her to act on those very old and deeply set impulses; all she needs is one small sign Xander reciprocates. As for Xander--well, we saw in Anne that his relationship with Cordelia is completely racked with doubts and insecurity, as evidenced by the fact that neither of them saw one another over the summer and came back to school without even knowing if they were still a couple. In episodes like Go Fish and Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered last season, their relationship--founded thus far only on the sexual tension of mutual bickering and disdain--was shown to have grown sufficiently to the point that Cordelia was willing to make significant sacrifices to stay with him. But Xander, being innately insecure, cannot bring himself to trust, in spite of this evidence, that the relationship is anything besides one of convenience; he can't believe he could really mean that much to her. From his perspective Cordelia is out of his league in every possible way--rich, smart, beautiful, and socially adept. In his mind, he is certain the other shoe is going to drop; he just doesn't know when. So when he sees Willow--his best friend, his soul mate, his "sure thing"--standing in front of him looking all womanly, he gives in to the newfound sexual attraction because he knows there is absolutely NO WAY Willow will reject him, the way Cordelia inevitably must. If he pre-emptively sabotages his relationship with Cordelia, he can control the narrative of that rejection. He is not only attracted to Willow now, but to that sense of control. Humans do counter-intuitive things like that all the time in real relationships, and I think the storyline was a mature take by the Buffy writers on immaturity, if that makes sense.