Season 3, Episode 9 | Aired: 8 December 1998 | Written by: Marti Noxon | Directed by: David Greenwalt
Cordelia, humiliated and furious after the Willow/Xander incident, wishes that Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale. A vengeance demon named Anyanka (Emma Caulfield, in what will become one of the show’s most important recurring roles) grants it. The resulting alternate reality — the Wishverse — is darker than anything the show had attempted, a Sunnydale run by the Master where the Slayer is already dead and most of the cast is vampiric or dead.
What Happens
In the Wishverse, the Master runs Sunnydale openly. Vampire Willow and Vampire Xander — leather-clad, amoral, and devoted to each other — are his lieutenants. Giles is leading a ragged resistance. Cordelia, arriving in this reality, is killed almost immediately. Giles figures out what happened, contacts Anyanka in the normal world, and smashes her amulet, which reverts everything. The alternate timeline ceases. Only Giles retains a memory of it.
Key Moments
Vampire Willow — played by Alyson Hannigan as everything Willow keeps suppressed, with leather and no mercy — is the episode’s most memorable creation. She’ll be back. The death montage that ends the alternate reality: the Master kills Buffy, who barely registers it. This is a Buffy who’s been fighting alone without anyone to care whether she lives.
Monster / Villain
The Master, in his alternate-reality ascension. And Anyanka — who will be de-powered at the episode’s end and become Anya, a confused former demon trying to make sense of being human.
Notable Quote
“This is the part where you say something brave and foolish.” — alternate Giles, to no one in particular, before the final stand.
Where It Fits
The Wish introduces Anya and demonstrates what Sunnydale would be without its Slayer — and what the Slayer would be without her support. Both points matter. The episode is the show at its most confident about consequence.