The Top Reasons Why Season 3 was the Best Finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

For fans of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", the show had a number of ups and downs over the years. At the end of each season, series creator Joss Whedon treated those fans to bigger and better finales. While some of those finales had their low points, few can ignore the season three finale Graduation Day Part 1 and Graduation Day Part 2. The top five reasons why that finale succeeded so effortlessly relate to the history of the show.

It signified the end of Buffy and Angel.

Sure they'd return to each others' lives in the future. Angel came back to keep a Thanksgiving evil from killing Buffy and later returned to help support her when her mother died. Buffy headed to Los Angeles to lecture Angel on spying and later to check on the Faith situation. They even shared an (off-screen) reunion after she returned from the dead. In the season three finale though, they went their separate ways.

The episode began with a reminder why the two characters worked so well together. After Faith poisoned Angel and Buffy nearly killed her, she let Angel drain her blood so he would live. He briefly decided to stay in Sunnydale before maintaining his plan to leave. He reminded her of this, while also reminded her that he loved her.

Few Buffy and Angel fans kept a dry eye in one of the last scenes. Buffy, thinking Angel left after the fight, looked up to see him standing in the road. As they stared at each other, they said more with their eyes than any one long speech could give the fans. Without a word, Angel walked off into the night, leaving Buffy behind.

The show was smart enough to bring back recurring characters...and give them something to do.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a show that frequently brought back the same guest stars. Larry, the gay football player, continued to pop up over the first few seasons, as did Jonathon, the geeky student who Buffy saved from killing himself. Buffy, in an effort to defeat the mayor, decided to involve all the students in one last battle and fans were treated to some of those famous guest stars.

When the mayor became an oversized snake, the students of Sunnydale High School ripped off their gowns to reveal an arsenal of flame throwers, stakes, knives, crosses and various weapons. Jonathon hurled himself onto a vampire, while Larry was sadly struck down by the snake as he attempted to keep the mayor at bay with a flame thrower. Percy, the jock Willow tutored during the season, returned to fight off vampires alongside Angel and live through the events. Even Cordelia's lackey Harmony returned for a brief cameo. Though she was seen being attacked by a vampire, she actually turned up in later episodes.

Favorites did expected (and unexpected) things.

The show gave each and every character something to do in the episode, giving them the right to stand alongside Buffy. Wesley attempted to join the fray, only to find himself knocked on the ground by an approaching vampire. He remained in that spot for most of the episode. His almost paramour Cordelia stepped up to the bat, slaying her own vampire.

Oz joined the fire brigade, launching fiery arrows at oncoming vampires. Willow fired her own arrows and crossbows at the mayor. Buffy and Xander led the groups, keeping them in line and instructing everyone on what to do. Even Angel led his own group, fighting off vampires.

Two comeuppances for the Big Bad.

Any given "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" season finale dealt with one Big Bad, the evil from that particular season. In season three, fans were treated to two different Big Bads. The first was Faith, the rogue slayer who tried to mend her ways, but never quite could. Buffy and Faith launched into a fight to the death during Graduation Day Part 1. When Buffy stabbed her, Faith opted to throw herself on a passing truck, rather than let Buffy use her to save Angel. She later appeared in a coma at the hospital.

Graduation Day Part 2 focused on the ascension of the mayor, as he turned into a giant snake. The students of Sunnydale High attacked him with everything they had and then some. Buffy, taunting him with the knife she used on Faith, tricked him into running after her. She led him into a rigged room, where an explosion killed him. Giles, the man behind the scenes, was not surprisingly, the one to set off the bombs.

"There's a certain dramatic irony here."

Giles says this to Buffy towards the end of the episode and sums up the entire reason why this ranks as the best season finale of the show. After three long years of high school and the ups and downs of combining slaying and school, the show said goodbye to the school. The school exploded, leaving behind only a few memories, including Buffy's high school diploma.

At the end of the episode, the core characters of Buffy, Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia contemplated their lives, as they watched the chaos around them. Oz pointed out how lucky they were to survive it, not the event, but high school. As the group walked off, the camera panned to a charred yearbook from the graduating class. Fans everywhere had to smile. The show reached an end, but another beginning was just around the corner.