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.

"The Wish" is an interesting variation on the It's a Wonderful Life.

And it has the same point as that movie, which is that one person can change, even save a community.

He's totally wrong that "The Wish" is or should be a Cordy-centric episode. That's just his Cordy-love-goggles on.

And this?

No one learns anything. No one remembers anything. Nothing happened. No one grew, no one became a better person,

Dude. I know you've got better aesthetic criteria than that. Don't make me get out the Animaniacs Wheel of Morality.

The master's factory o' blood though, always struck me as lame. But it's still painful watching our characters getting killed - especially Oz dusting Willow. Well, actually Wishverse!Buffy dying is the worst.

Don't make me get out the Animaniacs Wheel of Morality.

"Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it."

I may be in a minority here, but the mechanized blood machine creeped me out big time. All the test subject can do is lay there, knowing she's going to die, and she can't do anything -- anything -- to fight it. All she can do is watch her death get closer and closer.... Terrifying stuff.

The blood machine is in line with using humans for batteries in terms of "great initial shock idea--how is this practical or efficient again?"

The blood machine is in line with using humans for batteries in terms of "great initial shock idea--how is this practical or efficient again?"

Plus, I could see a vampire like Spike saying, "What is the fun in that?"

I wonder if the Master was thinking along the lines of animal husbandry rather than game hunting down the road.