Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: recapping the First Evil's plan and powers plus a bit of a reminder of Kennedy and that Spike killed Principal Wood's mom. Currently Buffy is doing a bed check on a house full of Teen Slayers. Sleeping bags and Foreign Languages for Dummies books are scattered all over the place. Upstairs is also filled with sleeping Teen Slayers except for Chole who is crying. When Buffy goes to her she's tackled and subdued by the First Slayer who does the cryptic thing telling Buffy that it's not enough. Buffy awakes, looks around at the sleeping Teen Slayers. Credits.
Spike and Anya are on their way to get drunk, an activity that Anya is calling a date and Spike is calling getting drunk. They're jumped by a demon sent by D'Offryn to kill Anya. Spike beats it back and then flees with Anya.
At the school things are heating up with rowdy kids and mysterious disappearances. Wood is getting concerned that maybe he's in over his head and gives Buffy a leather bag that belonged to his mom, an "Emergency Kit" that was supposed to be handed down to the next Slayer. Buffy invites Principal Wood back to the Summer residence after work to show him her other job. Wood seems not so terribly impressed with Andrew but more so with the Slayer Dojo in the backyard. Kennedy is practicing her Marine drill sergeant routine as she goes all "gimme 20" on Chloe. Buffy meanwhile does her war weary Marine platoon leader, grimly convinced that not everyone is going to make it home from the 'Nam. Principal Wood wants to see "the vampire" so Buffy takes him to the basement where Spike and Anya are in mid-tiff. Spike is rationalizing his running like a bunny from the demon. Spike and Principal Wood get into a chest thumping contest before Buffy drags Principal Wood upstairs.
That night as they settle down Buffy and Dawn are going over the contents of the "Emergency Kit". Then they find Chloe's body. First Evil as Chloe shows up to brag how easy it was to get Chloe to commit suicide. As First Evil talks more and more Teen Slayers arrive to gasp and cry. The First uses Buffy's own words to tell the Teen Slayers that they might as well all just roll over and die now. Buffy is unimpressed, merely cutting down the body and burying it beside Annabelle. She returns to the house to give another rousing speech and piss everyone off and to declare an emergency.
Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Kennedy, Principal Wood, Xander and Anya open the former Slayer's "Emergency Kit". They ignore the weapons and head straight for the book and locked box. Buffy busts the lock and inside are little metal cutouts and a candle holder. Dawn explains that you stick the metal cutouts in front of the candleholder to make a play about the First Slayer's origin.
They, of course, all think it's a perfectly sane and wonderful idea to light up a candle and start sticking miniature lawn ornaments into it. Dawn translates from the book while Xander applies cutouts. Suddenly the cast begins to hear the soundtrack; never a good sign. Dawn translates haltingly until the text suddenly shifts into English, starts referring to an exchange and the shadows on the wall start moving on their own. Sort of a Peter Pan thing without the... never mind... long story short...
Vortex opens. Buffy jumps in. Demon gets spat out.
Scoobies fight the demon and get their collective ass kicked. The demon runs into the night and the Scoobs plan what to do. Anya's all for letting Buffy find her own way back but she's outvoted. Spike volunteers to get the demon while Willow and the others open a portal; the theory being that they'll just do another exchange. Spike makes a quick stop to pick up the leather duster he had stashed away in the high school basement. While he locates and eventually kills the demon Willow does the spell. It fizzles the first time but she does the contact lens thing, sucks the life out of Kennedy and Anya and, voila, instant portal.
Buffy, meanwhile, has been making friends. The three shadowy men tell her that she was expected but that they have no knowledge for her, only power. They bonk her on the head, chain her to a cave wall and get out a box with a smoky demon in it. They tell Buffy that it is the energy, heart and spirit of a demon and let it loose on her. The demon cloud tries to go into Buffy through her nose and mouth but is rejected. It then moves a bit lower. Buffy rants and raves a bit (understandable, actually) and then busts the chains followed by heads. She defeats the shadowy men but one of them shows Buffy something just before...
Spike tosses the dead demon into the portal and Buffy is back in Sunnydale just in time for the denouement.
Things aren't rosy. Kennedy is very wary of Willow and the fact that the magic spell used her like a giant pink bunny with a bass drum. Kennedy says goodnight and Willow heads to Buffy's room. Buffy too is very subdued and is wondering if she made a mistake in rejecting the power and that maybe the First Slayer is right, that what they have isn't enough. Willow asks Buffy what she saw and we get a flashback of the Nosferatu's head before the camera pulls back to show a CGI forest of them.
Fade to black.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Rant warning. Willow is beginning to tick me the hell off. Redemption means feeling remorse, learning from your mistakes and not repeating them. Andrew is doing the redemption thing. He feels bad that he killed Jonathan. He knows that he made a mistake. He knows he was manipulated into killing Jonathan but he still takes responsibility. And when placed in a similar situation he stands firm.
It is slightly weird that I'm finding Andrew a decent human being while I'm half convinced that Willow is going to hell in a handbasket.
In the good old days the magic battery power was offered freely. When Tara and Will were in synch their hands would find each other and the power would exceed the sum of the parts. When Willow needed to heal Buffy offered her strength. Willow lied to Kennedy because magic doesn't work that way. It works that way when Willow gets impatient and frustrated. It works that way when Willow goes for the shortcut. It works that way when Willow decides that the ends justify the means without considering that the means shape the end. Because if Willow had reached out and said to Kennedy 'I need your help' there is not a doubt in my mind that Kennedy wouldn't have taken that hand.
Now, under either the "magic is lesbian sex" or the "magic is an addiction" theory Kennedy has just been done wrong. Because Kennedy is right, it should have been cool and just because she was flip about the magic doesn't mean she should be treated like an Energizer battery.
End of rant for now.
Only in Buffy the Vampire Slayer do you actually get more air time after your character is killed.
What is it that North America does to Watchers? I mean, Giles comes to the States and returns to being a rebellious punk. Wesley comes to the States and morphs from Bertie Wooster into Mad Max. And Wood's Watcher decides that the prehistoric heirloom should remain in the care of a five year old kid rather than ohh, maybe being of some help to the next Slayer? Can it simply be because they're force to make their tea with the bag in the cup?
Just a nitpick but stone aged people didn't have chains. Not even stone chains.
Care to place a bet how many times Buffy introduced the Principal as Robin Hood before they got a good take?
"It's not enough." Just short enough to seem clear cut yet vague enough to have the meaning twisted. Like "Death is your gift" was twisted around.
When the drums started and it got creepy, Kennedy reached out for Willow's hand. Hard to see on the long shots but there on the closeup. And once again Kennedy was hanging over Willow's shoulder in every shot. Except for the one when Buffy came back and it was Xander.
"What I do best" is Wolverine of the X-men's tag. Finally a nod to a Marvel comic book.
Speaking of comics, that whole putting on the duster just smacked of a comic movie's typical "suit up" scene.
I'm trying to figure out why Willow went from nice to furious. She seemed resigned to a long wait one second and then, pop, banshee.
Theory time which means speculation from mostly thin air. The shadowy men wanted to goose the Slayer power by giving Buffy another dose of the demon. So, all they have to do is figure out another way to do it. Two pop to mind. One would be to combine the powers of the Chosen Two back into the Chosen One. The other would be to do the merge spell again. I mean, why take a demon's spirit, energy and heart when you have Willow, Kennedy (or Dawn but Buffy doesn't choose her) and Xander to use?
RANDOM QUOTES
Anya: "Why in the name of almighty Grathnar would I let myself become human again?"
Spike: "You're really talking to the wrong fella."
Buffy: "The Hellmouth has begun its semiannual percolation. Usually it blows around May."
Buffy: "Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it's easy. Just think of Chloe. I'm the Slayer, the one with the power, and the First has me using that power to dig our graves."
Willow: "Screw it! Mighty forces, I suck at Latin, OK? But that's not the issue. I'm the one in charge and I want that portal open. Now!"
Willow: "You okay? You've been real quiet..."
Kennedy: "Since you sucked the life out of me?"