3.01 Anne | A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast

"Had too many of these bad dreams. Dread unshakable memories." That lyric from the song Jenny and Kristen wrote for "Anne" captures the state Buffy is in when season three opens. She is living in a cramped apartment in a city that is definitely Los Angeles (though the script insists it isn't), going by her middle name, waiting tables, and eating cold spaghettiOs straight from the can. The season two finale left her expelled from school, blamed for Kendra's murder, kicked out by her mother Joyce, and forced to kill the love of her life, Angel. The premiere has to rebuild her from that rubble.

The Scoobies in Disarray

Back in Sunnydale, the gang is a wreck without Buffy. Giles is frantically flying to every lead, trying to find her, while Xander and Willow cover for her absence by patrolling themselves. Giles sanctioning this is a stretch—he would never have let them go alone in season one—but it reflects how desperate and disorganized everyone is. Willow is hoping Oz will visit her at school, not realizing he didn't graduate and is about to become a super senior. Xander and Cordelia, who spent the summer apart while she was in Mexico, are doing the awkward "we didn't talk all summer and now I don't know how to act" dance. Their dynamic is captured perfectly when Cordelia, wearing a bright red dress, volunteers to be vampire bait, and Xander, still fuming about her supposed