Ok, here is my reasoning;

Season one Cordelia was written to be the bitch. That was her cut and dry role, every so often she would be given something different (Out of Mind, Out of Sight) but her role was to insult, look down upon the Scoobies, and provide a sale of evilness. Where Coredelia is the "demon" at school, she is not equipped with fangs (and if she did have them I am sure they would be removed post-haste.). Cordy, I believe, is set up to work on the metaphores of the show.

In season two Joss really begins to use Cordy and pair her off with Xander. While some may think it was to just pair him off, as our other characters are currently in relationships (Bangel, Willow/Oz, Giles/Jenny) but I think it was called for from the characters and played beautifully. They slowly peel away the first of the many, many layers of her exterior (it isn't until Angel that she is laid bare) but once you pair her off with Xander, have her become accepting of the Scoobies, and become one herself it sort of stops short. In all honesty, it was a throw up between two and three for my favorite Cordy season but then I thought about season three.

Season three Cordy continues the character development and takes it a step further. Besides having Cordy bask in her Xander relationship and be fully accepting she also stands on her own. When Xander acts out in arseness we feel sympathy for Cordelia and take her side (I did). The break up provided the opportunity for Cordy to fall back into her old ways, she may not be Queen Bee anymore but I do believe had she kept at it, it was only a matter of time before Harm fell back into line. Free Cordy, without attachments to Xander, still helps out here and there, she still wanders into the library. She moves foward and who doesn't love her and Wes?

Basically I feel season one is flat (but fun), season two is the first great step, but season three is where Cordy stands on her own with all of the stengths that have been built up over the past two seasons.

Agree completely about season three Cordy.

i agree with the reasoning but i love her in season 2 and 3 equally but i hated seeing her humilitated by xander so i choose 2!

I can't pick between 2 or 3, but i going with Two because it was the start of Her&Xander and She was still her bitchy self but accepted into the Scoobies.

iagree with arabellla on season 3 but i love her in season 2 as shes really starting to be accepted in the scoobies and while i like Xander/anya better i love the Xander/cordy relationship

See my only issue with her relationship in season two is because I sort of hate Xander sometimes so I like to go against what makes him happy - it makes me happy

ALL! OMG i wanted to KILL xander when he cheated on her like i think instead of the no buffy wish with anya she should have wished xander SUFFERS, no one messes with queen C biatch!

I loved her in all but season 3 is when she began to let the walls down and let people in more... although it was hard to trust anybody ever again after what Xander did she still had a different look towards the world that she couldn't leave alone even when she was in LA.

it seemed like she actually cared about someone other than her self (she cared about xander). But i loved her in all three she made me laugh alot.

she was with xander, and she was still hilarious!