Buffy is back. Her hands are shredded from clawing out of her grave. Her friends are overjoyed. And she is telling absolutely none of them the truth.

The Scoobies are already dealing with the fallout from the resurrection spell — something came back with Buffy, a formless demon stitched into existence by the magic that brought her home, and it's working its way through the gang one possession at a time. Anya with a knife. Dawn breathing fire. The creature using Xander's own mouth to eavesdrop on how to kill it. You know. Normal Tuesday in Sunnydale.

But the monster-of-the-week is almost beside the point. Because Spike has been counting the days — all 147 of them — and when he looks at Buffy he knows something is wrong that the others can't see. And in the alley behind the Magic Box, she finally tells someone the truth.

She wasn't in hell. She was happy.

Snark and Fares dig into one of Season 6's quietest gut-punches: the episode that reframes everything the Scoobies thought they did, the Spike scene that changes the entire shape of the season, and a Jane Espenson script that trusts its audience enough to drop the big reveal in episode three and spend the rest of the year living with the consequences.

Welcome to Angel Season 3. Angel went to a monastery in Sri Lanka to grieve. There were demon monks. He should've gone to Vegas. 🧛‍♂️

This week on Re-Watcher's Council, we're kicking off Angel Season 3 with the premiere episode, Heartthrob — the one where Angel comes home from three months of grief-processing abroad, the team tries to figure out how he's doing without actually asking, and a vampire from Angelus's past shows up with a very personal vendetta and absolutely nothing left to lose.

We also get Fred slowly, tentatively starting to emerge from her room and find her footing at the Hyperion — the "listen for the click" scene with Angel is quietly one of the best character moments of the premiere. Cordelia is giving Angel necklaces and immediately making it weird. Wesley and Gunn are settling into their roles as a genuine team. And Amy Acker joins the main cast and opening credits as of this episode, which is very well deserved.

Oh, and the episode closes with the reveal that Darla — last seen leaving LA — is somehow, impossibly, pregnant. A vampire. Pregnant. Season 3 is going to be something else entirely.

Season 3 is here and we are ready.

Five months after Buffy's sacrifice, the Scoobies are holding it together — barely. The Buffybot is patrolling, Willow is in charge, Giles is heading back to England, and nobody's talking about the thing they're all actually doing: trying to bring Buffy back from the dead.

Snark and Fares dig into the two-part Season 6 premiere — the resurrection ritual, the Hellion demon bikers, Buffy clawing out of her own grave, and the gut-punch reveal that her friends pulled her out of heaven.

Oh, and Anya found a mystical artifact on eBay. Because of course she did.

Welcome to the darkest season. Buckle up.