Mark is surprisingly not squeeful about "The Wish," instead calling the early shift away from Cordelia (in an ostensibly Cordelia-centric episode) and the fact that no one remembers the Wishverse critical flaws.

In terms of these characters, though? It stinks. I hate it. No one learns anything. No one remembers anything. Nothing happened. No one grew, no one became a better person, and the only person who could have possibly gleamed a message from all of this is the audience. I think I would have preferred a barely tolerable explanation that kept the ramifications of that parallel world in someone's mind. I suppose that since Cordelia died in her wish, it was inevitable that all of this wouldn’t matter. But I'm just not a fan of stories that don't matter. Why tell them if they just disappear and if they have no lasting effects?

He liked it, but not as much as pretty much everyone else does.

I'm curious what he'll think once he gets to Dopplegangland. And the eventual ongoing presence of Anya.

Yeah, I get how on an initial viewing, you could think, okay, nothing really changed, that was fun, so I do wonder if he'll retroactively like the episode more after he sees its place in the series.

I actually like The Wish less and less every time I watch it. I still enjoy Vamp!Willow and Vamp! Xander, but the Master rises and builds an automated system for draining blood from humans? It seems lamer every time I see it.

The whole point of this alternate universe is to show Cordelia that she needs to assign blame where it needs to go.

I think Mark is wrong in this. I thought the whole point was to show what Sunnydale would be like without Buffy. Cordelia's wish is just what allows us to see that. Plus, to introduce Anya, but of course Mark wouldn't know that. Cordelia never really stops blaming Buffy for everything, even when she is on Angel, so if Mark is looking for that to happen, he's out of luck.

I like alternate universe storylines or what if story lines even if the characters don't remember because it's interesting to see what might have been. At least it's interesting for me anyway.

Even if Joss had never followed up with The Wish it still showed the viewers what could have been.

I still think The Wish could have been a great multi-episode arc. Kill Cordelia at the end of the first hour, bring Buffy in at the very end of the second, etc. Make everyone think that the show is pulling the season 3 version of Angel losing his soul for the rest of the season.

But then again, it's a very tight episode as is (although as sj points out, the master's plan is pretty weak).

But then again, it's a very tight episode as is (although as sj points out, the master's plan is pretty weak).

I wonder if it was a budget thing. If they couldn't afford to make all those creepy monsters that were supposed to be released when the Hellmouth opened, so they just went in a different direction.

I like alternate universe storylines or what if story lines even if the characters don't remember because it's interesting to see what might have been.

I totally agree. I see people with similar objections about what might happen with Fringe, as if seeing alternate versions isn't a valid commentary right there about the characters we see every week. The people onscreen don't need to learn so much as we do.

Stargate always had other versions of SG1 (and boy, did they ever die a lot) and I was entertained just about every time. Do it well, and it's an education on the prime timeline/universe/etcetera. It's like saying I don't know more about Cas because druggie Cas in The End never really existed and might never do so.

Bah. Bah, I say--bah.

Six different timelines and a movie!

Yeah!

Also seeing different timelines is a way to show what traits an characteristics are core to a character and what is there because of the circumstances.