Choices (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Plot

The Box of Gavrok is due to arrive by courier at the airport, and the Mayor offers Faith a knife in return for intercepting it. Buffy worries about her future with Angel and struggles between attending Northwestern University in Illinois or UC Sunnydale. She proposes a deal to Wesley and Giles: if she defeats the Mayor and stops the Ascension, they will accept her resignation as a Slayer so she can go to college in Illinois. Faith kills the courier and takes the box by removing his hand; Buffy watches from the bushes and later forces the driver to reveal information about the box before staking him.

The gang plans an attack on City Hall: Willow will remove the magic protecting the box, Buffy and Angel will take it, and Xander and Oz will prepare the ritual to destroy it. During the heist, Buffy's rope sticks while being lowered through a skylight, triggering an alarm. Two vampires enter, and Angel drops to help. They escape with the box, but Faith has captured Willow.

In the library, a debate ensues over whether Willow's life is worth the many thousands who could be saved. Oz smashes the pot containing the potion needed for the ritual. Buffy arranges a meeting to exchange Willow for the box. At City Hall, Willow escapes her room and reads the Books of Ascension; Faith finds her, but Giles's call stops Faith from killing her.

Reception

Vox ranked the episode at #98 out of all 144 episodes, noting that while it comes during a consistent stretch of episodes, the emphasis on college choices feels like false drama since the characters would likely end up at the same school for the show to continue. Billie Doux gave the episode 3 out of 4 stakes, describing the spiders in a box subplot as subordinate to the real action moving toward a big climax and split. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club called "Choices" an exciting episode with an especially rousing score and some of the best fight scenes on the show, praising Willow's character development and how the episode reinforced its theme in nearly every plot point. A BBC review criticized the plot, particularly Willow being kidnapped and staying to read the Books of Ascension rather than escaping, but praised the character interactions and Alyson Hannigan's performance.