Across seven seasons and over 140 episodes total, plus a spinoff that’s just as good, Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a lot of great moments and stories that defined and influenced television to this day. Fans of the series still love to sing the praises of iconic episodes like Season 6’s musical outing, “Once More With Feeling,” or Season 5’s surprisingly emotional goodbye, “The Body,” and don’t even get them started on Season 4’s almost-totally-without-dialogue episode, “Hush.” One of the things that set Buffy apart from many of its contemporaries was how often it was willing to test the limits of the series while never losing sight of wanting to challenge its characters, despite how contained a story might be.
Case in point, 27 years ago today, a standalone episode of the series arrived that would not only leave a giant mark on the series as a whole but would plant the seeds for major developments in all of the characters’ lives. On December 8, 1998, Season 3’s “The Wish” made its premiere on The WB and, with just one line of dialogue, created ripples throughout both Buffy lore and the plan for the series. That line? “I wish Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale.”
“The Wish” Gives Buffy Its First Alternate Universe
At the start of “The Wish,” everyone is largely in a low place. After Xander and Willow’s brief kiss was noticed by their respective love interests, Cordelia and Oz, all four are down in the dumps, but especially Cordelia, who has had her entire popularity standing in the school disrupted by the gossip of her ex-boyfriend’s cheating. In a low moment, Cordelia utters the above phrase out loud while standing in front of a newcomer to the school, Anya, who reveals herself to be a demon and who immediately grants the wish.
Cordelia’s wish births an alternate universe immediately; not only does the school have a fraction of the students it’s supposed to, but everyone speaks in a reverential and fearful tone about their current life. As Cordelia begins to navigate this new reality, it becomes clear that this world, where Buffy never arrived, has given way to vampiric takeover. In this universe, The Master was never defeated and has turned a sizeable chunk of Sunnydale’s residents into vampires, including Xander and Willow, who set their sights on Cordelia as she unknowingly wanders the streets.
Luckily for her, Cordelia is saved by Giles, Oz, and other students who are keeping up the fight to try and defeat the vampire threat. Cordelia tries to explain to Giles what’s happened, revealing she’s surprised he’s even still in Sunnydale since he’s Buffy’s watcher and she’s not in town. This twist throws Giles for a loop, having never revealed to anyone that he IS a Watcher in this reality, and making him believe that she’s right about their world being wrong. After Xander and Willow return to make a meal of Cordelia, hope seems lost but it prompts Giles to do some investigating into her claims, trying to bring Buffy to Sunnydale while also investigating the amulet Cordelia was wearing at the time of her death (one that Anya allowed her to wear prior to her big wish)
Eventually, it’s revealed that not only does this universe have an evil Xander and Willow, but when we finally meet Buffy, she’s far from the spirited person we’ve come to know for three seasons. In a wild final moment, this alternate timeline is one filled with death as a giant fight breaks out, many of them offering a reflection of the real reality in a unique way. Xander tries to kill Buffy with an arrow, only for Angel to step in front of it and dust as he calls out to her one more time; plus, Buffy stakes Xander, Oz stakes Willow on a broken piece of a cage, and The Master snaps Buffy’s neck. Having taken Cordelia’s warning to heart, Giles smashes the necklace she wore, which resets the wish and forces Anya to have no power remaining in her world.
“The Wish” Remains One of the Best Buffy Episodes For One Reason
Alternate universe episodes are somewhat common in genre television, with Star Trek and Doctor Who dabbling in them most famously. Like those episodes before it, Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s take on an alternate timeline naturally veered into territory that was alien to what fans expected. For example, in this reality, Buffy is jaded, cynical, and literally has scars from her years of being the slayer. This distinct take on the lead hero works alongside the all-new versions of all the other characters that “The Wish” let the cast explore, giving fans a new flavor of their favorites while also making the audience question the dynamics of the real world based on these slight changes.
That’s why “The Wish” is able to maintain its place as one of the best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It successfully explores the “What if” idea that has fascinated genre fans across their favorite franchises by telling a complete story, but also in how it utilizes the dynamics that fans already know from the show to its advantage. It does not take long for the new reality of “The Wish” to shock viewers with how different things really are, and by flipping so many things on their head in unexpected ways, the series can break the rules of every other episode by bringing back dead villains, making classically good characters evil, and totally altering the personality of the lead. “The Wish” is a masterclass as the illusion of this new reality is sold so quickly and so well that it can make the audience believe that their favorite characters are dead.
Even better, though, the effects of the alternate universe in this episode didn’t stay fully confined and would set the stage for major stories down the line in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The introduction of Anya, the vengeance demon, could have easily been a one-off occurrence for the series, but instead, she was a recurring character in Seasons 3 and 4 before being upgraded to a series regular in Season 5, appearing throughout the show until the series finale. Furthermore, the plot of Anya’s vengeance-granting powers was revisited later in the same season, when she tries to sway Willow into helping her get her powers back. This summons the Vampire Willow from the alternate reality, allowing star Allyson Hannigan to show off even more of her chops and planting the seed for the eventual reveal of Willow’s sexuality (“I’m so evil and skanky. And I think I’m kinda gay!”).
“The Wish” was an episode of Buffy that, on paper, could have gone very wrong. It’s an alternate reality episode, which might make it disposable in the long run, plus Sarah Michelle Gellar’s appearances are sporadic. In execution, though, “The Wish” is still one of the strongest of the entire series, and constructed so well from a writing perspective that someone with no knowledge of the series itself could actually tune in and watch (though the arrival of Giles and Angel might throw them for a loop).
