Xander finally gets the nerve to ask Buffy out, and she feels bad when she has to tell him that she doesn't feel that way about him. Things get far worse, though, when she overhears Giles and Angel discussing a prophecy saying that the Master's ascension is at hand and that she will die trying to stop him — at this she shouts out, telling Giles that she quits. But the vampires are growing stronger and after an attack at the school she decides it is time to face the Master. She is led to him by the Anointed One and is quickly overcome, the Master draining her blood and leaving her face down in water. Xander finds Angel, telling him she has gone to face the Master, and the pair set off to help, arriving to find her apparently dead. Xander, however, performs CPR and Buffy awakes feeling stronger than ever. Meanwhile, Giles, Willow, Cordelia and Ms. Calendar are fighting off vampires and a huge monster that has come from the Hellmouth at the school. Buffy arrives back at the school to face the Master again and this time wins, throwing him through a glass roof onto a wooden shard below. At this, the monster disappears back into the Hellmouth and the gang retire to Bronze to relax.
For a longer synposis of this episode, you can read one here.
We see Cordelia and Miss Calendar both join the inner circle of Buffy's Scoobies.
Buffy dies in this episode, which will play an important role in Season Two.
Xander telling Buffy that she's turning him down because he's not dangerous like Angel is will come up again and again.
Episode Goofs:
The skylight over the library seems a little out of place since the natural light that enters the library is always through side windows.
When the Master pushes Buffy into the water, she lands facedown with her arms under her body but when Xander and Angel arrive her arms are floating straight out from her body.
Not really a goof but more of a nitpick, but how does Xander know where Angel lives and how does Giles get Angel's phone number? As well, when Buffy says to Joyce that they can't afford the white dress it makes you wonder who's buying Buffy's clothes in the first place since they aren't exactly Wal-Mart brands.
Notes & Trivia:
Although Joss Whedon had written scripts for the show before, this is his first turn as both writer and director.
This is the first episode to be rated TV-14.
Even though Whedon was certain that the show would be picked up for a second season, he opted against a season-ending cliffhanger as he hates loose ends.
Memorable Dialogue: Xander, practicing to ask Buffy to the Spring Fling dance: "Y'know, Buffy, Spring Fling just isn't any dance. It's a time for students to choose, um... a mate and then we can... observe their... mating rituals and tag them before they migrate just kill me!"
Willow: "You think I wanna go to the dance with you and watch you wish you were at the dance with her? You think that's my idea of hijinx? You should know better."
Buffy: "I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you."
Music:
Patsy Cline - I Fall To Pieces
Jonatha Brooke & The Story - Inconsolable
Links of Interest:
n/a
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