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Buffy returned in Joss Whedon's television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this time played by Sarah Michelle Gellar for all of the show's 144 episodes.

In season one ( 1997 ), Buffy begins to accept the responsibilities and dangers of her calling as the Slayer after moving to the small California town of Sunnydale.

She becomes best friends with Xander Harris ( Nicholas Brendon ) and Willow Rosenberg ( Alyson Hannigan ), and meets her new Watcher, Rupert Giles ( Anthony Stewart Head ).

Together, they form the Scooby Gang, and work together to battle various supernatural occurrences which plague Sunnydale High.

In the season finale, Buffy battles the villain known as the Master ( Mark Metcalf ), and is drowned in the process.

She is resuscitated by Xander and rises to defeat the vampire.

In the show's second season ( 1997 – 1998 ), Buffy continues to come to terms with her destiny, finds forbidden love with benevolent vampire Angel ( David Boreanaz ), and clashes with new villains Spike ( James Marsters ) and Drusilla ( Juliet Landau ).

In the episode " Surprise ", Buffy loses her virginity to Angel, an event which triggers the loss of his soul and unleashes his sadistic alter-ego, Angelus.

Angelus proceeds to subject the characters to mental and physical torture for the remainder of the season.

In the final episode of season two, Buffy is forced to reveal her identity as the Slayer to her mother ( Kristine Sutherland ), and send the newly-good Angel to hell in order to save the world.

She then leaves Sunnydale for Los Angeles in the hopes of escaping her life as the Slayer.

Season three ( 1998 – 1999 ) sees Buffy reconnect to her calling, her friends, and her family after her departure, as well as make difficult life decisions regarding her relationship with the resurrected Angel.

She must also deal with the introduction of rebellious new Slayer Faith ( Eliza Dushku ), who becomes increasingly destructive and disloyal over the course of the season.

In the season finale, Buffy is forced to stab Faith to save Angel's life, and lead her classmates into a climactic battle against the demonic Mayor of Sunnydale ( Harry Groener ).

Angel then leaves Sunnydale in hopes Buffy can have a more normal life without him.