future together due to Angel's immortality as a vampire; this after the Mayor watched his own wife age and come to resent him for his own immortality. They make the trade, but are disrupted by Principal Snyder and his security guards, bent on drug-busting. One of the guards opens the box and a large beetle-like creature jumps out and kills him. Another beetle breaks free and the two attack the Mayor and Buffy. Buffy squashes one and Faith kills the other by throwing her knife and pinning the creature to the wall. Despite Willow being rescued and taking a few important pages she tore from the Books of Ascension, Wesley points out that the gang are still no closer to knowing how to stop the Ascension. At school the next day, Buffy and Willow talk again about their future. Buffy ultimately cannot bring herself to leave her home of Sunnydale knowing that she will always have something to battle, so decides to attend UC Sunnydale. Despite being accepted into multiple prestigious out-of-state colleges, Willow decides to attend college with Buffy instead, having realized that fighting evil and studying Wicca are what she wants to do. Late at night, Buffy and Angel try to reassure each other that they could have a future together despite the Mayor's warnings, but both secretly remain unconvinced. Xander spots Cordelia taking a long time to browse in a dress store. When he confronts her and suggests she may have been rejected from college because she refused to tell the others where she plans on studying, she shows him acceptance letters from multiple colleges, but does not tell him that she is actually working at the dress store. Reception Noel Murray of The A.V. Club described "Choices" as "an exciting episode, marked by an especially rousing score and some of the best fight scenes I've yet seen on the show". He went on to praise Willow's character development, and the way the episode "reinforced its theme in nearly every plot point, line of dialogue and set dressing". A review for the BBC criticised 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. References External links Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 3) episodes 1999 American television episodes Television episodes written by David Fury Television episodes about abduction