The Wish

"The Wish" is the ninth episode of the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the forty-third episode altogether.

Cordelia makes a wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale, causing an alternate reality to be created.

Synopsis
Following Xander and Willow's kiss in "Lovers Walk", Oz has called a time-out on his relationship with Willow and Cordelia is decidedly avoiding any contact with Xander. Cordelia returns to school, only to be rejected and taunted by Harmony and her former clique as being "Xander's castoff". Cordelia goes to the Bronze that night and Buffy accidentally humiliates Cordelia further by knocking her into a pile of trash in front of her friends while fighting a vampire. Cordelia later determines Buffy is to blame for her predicament as she never would have dated Xander if Buffy hadn't hung out with him and made him cooler. The next day, Anya - a new girl who has been trying to befriend Cordelia - gives Cordelia an amulet while goading Cordelia into making a wish to hurt Xander. Cordelia wishes that Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale. Anya immediately switches to demon form, that of Anyanka, and grants it.

Cordelia finds herself in a town overrun by The Master, where most of the student body are either dead or vampires and there is a nighttime curfew. Students wear dull colors in order to make them less conspicuous to the vampires who have taken over Sunnydale. Cordy finds that she is back in with her former group, but quickly loses her cool when she finds out that Willow and Xander are dead. Walking through the streets at night she is stopped by Xander and Willow, whom she realizes are vampires. Cordy is saved by the "White Hats", a group of human vampire-hunters led by Giles and including Oz and Larry.

Cordelia tries to explain to Giles what happened and asks to have Buffy back so that things could be the way they were, but, before she can elaborate, she is killed by Xander and Willow, whom the Master had sent as assassins, fearing that Cordelia would summon the Slayer to Sunnydale. Giles calls Buffy in Cleveland and, through research, discovers that the amulet is that of Anyanka, the patron saint of scorned women.

At the same time, the Master has created a human blood processing chamber in the Bronze, where he plans to industrialize blood removal from humans through assembly lines, thereby eliminating the predatory aspect of the vampire's nature.

On his way home, Giles encounters vampires who are herding humans for the plant, and, an extremely "different", war-worn Buffy rescues him when he is nearly captured himself. This Buffy is only interested in the kill and is emotionally shut down. She is cynical about Giles's prospects of reversing Anya's spell, but does offer to kill the Master while she is in town.

Pleased that Cordelia is dead, the Master allows his underlings to toy with Angel, a captive in the abandoned factory in Sunnydale. Buffy finds Angel in his jail cell and agrees to take the vampire along, after Angel relates his desire to stop the Master after the torture that was inflicted on him.

The Master starts up the plant with the first human victim before a cage of prisoners. Giles summons Anyanka, who confirms Cordelia's story. Buffy and Angel attack the vampires, but most of the characters die in the fight: Angel is killed by Xander, Xander is killed by Buffy, Willow is killed by Oz and finally, Buffy's neck is broken by the Master. As Buffy's lifeless body falls to the ground, Giles realizes that Anyanka's amulet contains her powers and tears it from her neck. To distract Giles, she asks how he can be sure the real world is a better one. Giles replies "Because it has to be". He breaks the power center and reverses the spell. Anyanka is dismayed to find herself a powerless Sunnydale High student unable to grant any of the now-very much alive Cordelia Chase's wishes.

Starring

 * Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers / Wishverse Buffy
 * Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris / Wishverse Xander
 * Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg / Wishverse Willow
 * Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
 * David Boreanaz as Wishverse Angel
 * Seth Green as Oz / Wishverse Oz
 * Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles / Wishverse Giles

Guest Starring

 * Mark Metcalf as Wishverse Master
 * Emma Caulfield as Anya Emerson/Anyanka
 * Larry Bagby III as Wishverse Larry
 * Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall / Wishverse Harmony

Co Starring

 * Danny Strong as Jonathan
 * Nicole Bilderback as Cordette #1
 * Nathan Anderson as John Lee / Wishverse John Lee
 * Mariah O'Brien as Nancy
 * Gary Imhoff as Teacher
 * Robert Covarrubias as Caretaker

Production

 * Giles's exposition was changed:
 * Giles: "Anyanka raised a demon to ruin her unfaithful lover. The demon did her bidding - but then cursed her and turned her into a sort of patron saint for scorned women. Apparently the cry of a wronged woman is like a siren's call to Anyanka."


 * Because of this alteration to Giles' dialogue, the first mention of Anya having been human before she was a vengeance demon is in "Something Blue", not counting Giles' uncut statement in "The Wish" that the destruction of her pendant would make Anyanka an ordinary woman again.

Other

 * Some viewers have claimed that Faith is visible in the background, being bitten by a vampire in the Wishverse. In actuality, the woman is simply a background extra with a similar hairstyle to Eliza Dushku.


 * This is a Cordelia-centric episode.

Quotes
Cordelia - "It's all my fault! I wasn't... I made this *stupid* wish..."

Larry - "Okay, the entire world sucks because some dead ditz made a wish? I just want to be clear."

Xander - "But you know what really bugs me? Okay, we kissed. It was a mistake, but I know that was positively the last time we were ever gonna kiss." Willow - "Darn tootin'." Xander - "And they burst in rescuing us, without even knocking? I mean this is really all their fault." Buffy - "Your logic does not resemble our Earth logic." Xander - "Mine is much more advanced."

Buffy - "Why don't I just put a stake through her heart?" Giles - "She's not a vampire." Buffy - "Yeah, well, you'd be surprised how many things that'll kill."

Cordelia - "I wish Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale." Anya - "Done." Cordelia - "That would be cool. No wait, I wish Buffy Summers had never been born." Anya - "Done." Cordelia - "And I wish that Xander Harris never again knows the touch of a woman. And that Willow wakes up tomorrow covered in monkey hair." Anya - "Done." Cordelia - "In fact, I wish all men, except maybe the dumb and the really agreeable kind, disappear off the face of the Earth. That would be so cool."

Buffy - "World is what it is. We fight, we die. Wishing doesn't change that." Giles - "I have to believe in a better world." Buffy - "Go ahead. I have to live in this one."

Continuity

 * It is worth noting that Jesse McNally does not seem to be alive in this Universe. This suggests that he either never got vamped, or that he was at some point dusted by the White Hats. Likewise, no mention is made of Darla or Luke, who were the Master's main disciples in "Welcome to the Hellmouth".


 * Additionally, there is no mention of Jenny Calendar, who would have never been killed by Angelus. Her main duty was to watch over Angel, which she presumably would still do in Sunnydale


 * Even in the alternate reality, the prophecy in "Prophecy Girl" still comes to pass as the Master kills Buffy in both realities.


 * The Buffy from the alternate reality has a similar scar above her lip as Melaka Fray.


 * This is the first mention of Cleveland, Ohio as another Hellmouth and center of demon activity.


 * Anya arrives to exact vengeance on Xander, who she later falls in love with.


 * Apparently, vampires are attracted to bright colors (or, at least, the humans of this reality believe that they are).


 * Angel (the Buffyverse version) does not appear, as he is keeping his distance from Buffy after the events of "Lovers Walk".

Music

 * Christophe Beck - "Bizzaro Sunnydale"
 * Christophe Beck - "Blood machine"
 * Christophe Beck - "Slayer's Elegy"
 * Gingersol - "Never noticed"
 * Music House - "Get out of my way"
 * Plastic - "Dedicated to Pain"
 * The Spies - "Tired of being alone"