Okay, I'm new here and I must have my say on this episode, although this thread's been dormant for months.
😉 "The Wish" is, imo, one of the greatest episodes of series. But it was an episode that disturbed me so much the first time that it was a while before I could bear to watch it again. Several episodes of the show have had that effect on me, as do a number of episodes of
Angel.
Xander and Willow seemed to be right-hand henchmen of the Master, I too can see one or both of them being sired by him directly. It would have been even more shocking to see them working with Darla and maybe even Jesse, but particularly Darla. I guess if Darla had been there she might have had the scene with Angel, or she and Willow may have tortured him together, with Xander looking on (imagine that!)
It really broke my heart to see Willow and Xander vamped up in The Wish. Did no one else feel like this at first?
Buffy is so cold and alone in the alternate reality. No loyal Xander, no best friend Willow. "We fight, we die, nothing's going to change that". She doesn't want help from Giles, she doesn't even really want it from Angel "don't fall on this (stake)!" Yes, it is remarkable that Buffy dies at the hands of the Master in Cordelia's "Bizzaroland" as well as in the original reality. I thought the Master was much more cold and menacing in this episode than he ever was in Season 1, their battle was so much more dramatic. They exchange gazes of hate across the factory floor and push everyone else out of the way to get at each other. I think what disturbed me so much was partly Cordelia's tragedy, but mostly seeing all of our beloved characters killing each other before Buffy herself falls to the Master. And now having seen it over again more than once, the message I get from the episode is unmistakable:
Yes, Sunnydale and the World are lost without Buffy, but Buffy alone would not win the battle, not even survive, without her supporting circle of friends, helpers and advisors. Right at the beginning, when Buffy, Xander and Willow are having the picnic where they kill the demon, and Buffy tells them "I have you guys". In the alternate reality, she has nobody
