"Choices" (Buffy 3.19): Buffy fights City Hall

Oh crap, it's on. The Scoobies are declaring a full-out assault against Faith and The Mayor. He's expecting a box o'evilness and Buffy et. al. try to steal it back. The results? Mixed. Here's Buffy's guide to taking care of evil business, Mission Impossible style.

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doo doo DOO . . . doo doo DOO. . . doo DOO!

DO keep your eye on the ball. 
In the midst of all this apocalyptic hoopla, the Sunnydale kids are making some big, season-4-affecting decisions about their respective futures, near and long-term. Willow has gotten into every school on the planet, Buff got into Northwestern, and Xander is going to make like the Beats and hit the open highway.

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Oh yes. He's totally reading On the Road like many a wanna-be hipster before him.

And Cordy doesn't have a prom dress. This is going to be important later. Trust me.

DON'T eff with the Wicca.
Willow might seem like a weak link in the gang's complicated scheme to break into City Hall and lift the Box of Gavrock, but this is a post-Doppelgangland ginger. Despite being taken hostage by a way-too-into-it Faith, Will manages to stake a vamp using her patented pencil-floating technique and lift some crucial pages from the Book of Ascension from the Mayor's lair.

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And she does it all wearing this truly hideous dress.

Also, as my intrepid co-watcher Jenn pointed out, with his girl is in danger, we get some super-hot evidence of how taciturn men express their dissatisfaction with any and all plans that don't involve saving the love of their lives by any means necessary.

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I. Love. You. Oz.

DON'T take relationship advice from The Mayor!
Angel! This guy is in the business of messing with your mind! Don't let his somewhat reasonable points about no sunny picnics and the logistics of immortality make you second-guess your life with Buffy! During the Box of Gavrock/Willow hand-off in the Sunnydale High cafeteria, Mayor Wilkins manages to squeeze in some first-rate, really chilling manipulation that hits Angel where he lives. However, there are always ways to Make It Work, and in any case, you shouldn't let the guy who is about to (spoiler alert) EAT a box of fifty billion spiders win.

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A man with moving to Los Angeles and starting a detective agency on his mind.

Next up we have an episode that will forever live in infamy for making Jenn and me cry every time we see it. It's "The Prom," baby.