Director: Joss Whedon
synopsis: Willow and Xander are walking along beside the graveyard
at night, playing "name that movie quote." Xander is eating an ice
cream cone. Xander comments how boring the summer has been, because
he's so "restless," and he's "actually looking forward to school starting
up." Which "wouldn't have anything to do with a certain girl
we both know who is a vampire slayer," is Willow's response. Xander
tries to convince her that he's over her, but wants to know when she's
coming back. Willow says she hasn't heard from her. Xander
comes up with another quote, from Witness, and sticks his
ice cream cone onto Willow's nose, and then pretends he's going to lick
it off, saying "you're nose looks so tasty." He goes to wipe it off,
and as he does their eyes meet, and they almost kiss, but he breaks away
and spies a vampire. Before the vamp can dig in, though, a hand grabs
it from behind and throws it off. "Hi guys," says Buffy, and then
kicks the vampire into the branch of a tree where it explodes into dust.
"Miss me?" Opening credits roll.
Hugs are exchanged as Willow and Xander greet Buffy. "Man, you're timing really doesn't suck." Xander tells Buffy that vamp activity has been non-existent, and Buffy tells him that she had a relaxing summer, "hung out, partied some, shopping was also a major theme." Willow and Xander relate how they buried the master's bones, but that was the only excitement. Buffy seems quiet, however.
Mr. Summers helps Joycie (whose name we don't actually know yet) unpack, and Joycie asks if Buffy managed to stay out of trouble in L.A. Hank says she did, but she was very distant. Mrs. Summers worries that she won't make it through the school year.
The first day of school, Cordelia relates to her friends how terrible her summer was. "They just decide to go to Tuscany. Art and buildings! I was beachless for a month and a half." Cordelia decided that even though that kind of adversity builds character, she has enough character.
The troll relates to Giles how incredible it is when the children come back and the campus fills up, "like locusts, crawling around, mindlessly bent on feeding, mating, destroying everything in site in their relentless, pointless desire to exist." Giles asks him if, "given your abhorrence of children, school's principal was not your true vocation?" The troll tells him he has to keep an eye on them. "A bunch of hormonal time bombs. Every time a pretty girl walks by, every boy turns into a gibbering fool." At that moment, Ms. Calendar walks by, and Giles leaves the troll talking to himself as he awkwardly greets her. "See the way these kids gaze at each other? Think they're thinking about learning. I try to tell them about the important things in life. Discipline. Responsibility. Punctuality. I might as well be talking to myself." He is, in fact, as Giles heads off towards the faculty room with Calendar.
Giles asks about her summer, and she tells him it was "extreme. I did Burning Man in Black Rock, such a great festival, you should have been there. They had drum rituals, mobile sculptures, raves, naked mud dances...you would have just...hated it with a fiery passion." Giles is about to agree, when he is distracted by the thought of naked. "And you probably spent all summer with your nose in a book," she says, and when he responds "I suppose you'd consider that frightfully dull," she says, suggestively, "depends on the book."
Buffy, Willow, and Xander approach then, and great Giles enthusiastically. "Yo, G-man, what's up?" "Nice to see you, don't ever call me that," Giles tells Xander. They greet Calendar as well, and then Giles asks how Buffy is. "Alive and kicking." Willow brings the news that "Buffy killed a vampire last night," and looks around, embarrassed at how loudly she spoke. "I think you can get a little more volume if you speak from the diaphragm. Calendar is surprised that there are still vampire's since the hellmouth is closed, but Giles tells her that the hellmouth is "closed, not gone. The mystical energy that emanates from it is still concentrated in this area." They wonder if the vampires are up to anything in particular, and Giles says he must consult his books. "8 minutes and 43 seconds, pay up," says Xander to Willow, who hands him a dollar. "I called 10 minutes before you had to consult your books about something." Giles looks hardly amused. They leave, and Buffy says she's ready to start training, even though Giles suggests she take a few days off.
That day at training, Buffy seems to have a few issues that need to be worked out. She is overly-aggressive when attacking a combat dummy, and has a few visions of the master before she breaks it with a kick. "It's safe to say you've stayed in shape," Giles tells her. "I'm ready. Whatever they've got coming next, I'm ready." She pulls her hair back anxiously, and Giles looks at her, concerned.
At the factory where the Anointed one has holed up, a group of vampires listens to Absolam pontificate about how they are going to take back the night, and how "within three days a new hope will arrive. He will show us the way." The Anointed smiles.
The next day, Buffy sits in silence as Willow and Xander approach her. She is sort of out of it, and she tells them that she had "weird dreams." Xander tells her that "dreams are meaningful," and Willow agrees. "Tell me about it. The other night I dreamed that Xander...uh...it wasn't Xander, in fact it wasn't me, it was a friends dream, and she doesn't remember it." Just then Giles comes up and tells Buffy he knows what the vampires may be up to. Buffy says they can deal with it, but Giles says, "I don't know. I mean, I killed you once it shouldn't be too difficult to do it again." Suddenly Giles punches her onto the table and begins to strangle her while Willow and Xander watch. Buffy pulls at his face to get him off, and it slides off, revealing the face of the master. Suddenly Buffy wakes up and discovers Angel in her bedroom. Buffy asks, somewhat meanly if this is a social call, and Angel tells her no. "So let me guess that means grave danger. Gosh, it's good to be home." Angel tells her that the Anointed is gathering forces, but he doesn't know why. Buffy tells him that she'll find out soon enough and she can handle herself. Angel tells her not to underestimate the Anointed, he has power. She tells him "you woke me up from a really good dream," and turns away. "Sorry," Angel says, "I missed you." She turns back and says "I missed you?" but he's gone.
The next day as Joycie drives Buffy to school she tries to coax some info out of Buffy as to why she's so distant, but Buffy stares out of the window and doesn't say anything. At school, Willow seems excited about Angel stopping by, but Buffy, rather rudely tells her it was pure shop talk, and he was warning her of danger. They decide to head to the Bronze, and then run into Cordelia. "Oh look, it's the three musketeers." "Was that an insult?" Buffy wonders. "It kinda lacked punch." "I would have gone with stooges," Xander suggests. Cordelia asks, somewhat excitedly, if they fought any demons over the summer, and Willow and Xander try to cover. "Uh, yes our own personal demons, such as lust, or thrift." "I would have gone with stooges also," says Buffy. Cordelia blurts out about "big squiggly demons that came from the ground, remember, prom night? With all the vampires!" "Cordelia, you mouth is open, sound is coming out, this is never good," says Buffy, and then Xander explains that they can't tell anyone about their adventures. Willow worries that Cordelia had been blabbing about the night the master died all summer, and Cordelia responds "like I'd tell anyone I spent the whole evening with you? Besides it was all so creepy, that master guy, all the screaming, it was all so creepy. I don't even like to think about it." She turns to Buffy and says with honest emotion "So your secret's safe with me."
"That works out great. You won't tell anyone you're the slayer, and I won't tell anyone you're a moron," says Buffy walking away. The three watch her go, surprised and wondering what's up with her...
That night at the Bronze, Willow worries about Buffy since she's been mean ever since she came back. Xander is distracted, waiting for Buffy, despite Willow's efforts to attract his attention. She even dips her nose in her ice cream in an effort to recreate the night they almost kissed, but he doesn't even notice. She wipes her nose, dejectedly.
At the graveyard, Absolam and the Anointed watch as the other vampires dig up the masters bones.
Buffy walks in and encounters Angel. "So, is there danger at the Bronze, should I beware?" "I can't help thinking I've done something to make you angry. And that bothers me more than I'd like." "I'm not agree. I don't know where that comes from." "What are you afraid of? Me? Us?" "Could you contemplate getting over yourself for a second? There's no us. Look Angel I'm sorry if I was supposed to spend the summer mooning over you but I moved on. To the living." She walks away leaving Angel confused and upset.
Willow asks what's wrong with Angel, and Buffy says she doesn't know, and asks Xander to dance. Buffy leads him to the dance floor, and begins a very sensual dance, writhing her body all over his grinding her hips against his, and working her arms around his neck. The two are watching by Cordelia, a confused and jealous Angel, and a very confused, betrayed Willow who seems near tears from her best friends back stabbing. "Xander," she says in a breathy, seductive voice. "Did I ever thank you, for saving my life." Xander indicates no. "So moves behind him, keeping contact with his body at all times, and moves her face right up to his ear. "Don't you wish I would?" she says, and leaves, walking first past Willow, then Cordelia, then Angel, without acknowledging any of them. Xander is left on the dance floor alone, confused, and certainly not happy.
Cordelia is the only one to follow Buffy out of the Bronze, however. "You're really campaigning for bitch of the year, aren't you?" "As defending champion, you nervous?" "I can hold my own. You know, we've never really been close, which is nice cause I don't really like you that much, but you have, on occasion, saved the world and stuff so I'm going to do you a favor...Get over it...Whatever's causing the Joan Collins ‘tude, deal with it. Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever. But get over it. Cause pretty soon you're not gonna have the loser friends you got now." Buffy suggests that Cordelia start minding her own business, and Cordelia says "I'll just see if Angel feels like dancing." She never gets the chance, as she is grabbed by two vampires and drug into a building, but Buffy just walks away, not noticing.
Cordelia is thrown down into a cellar where she stumbles on a prone form–it is Ms. Calendar. Buffy walks home through the graveyard, and sees the masters grave–empty. Just for a moment, she sees the master over her shoulder, but he's not there. She backs away, near hysterics.
The next day, Willow insist to Giles and Xander Buffy is possessed since she's been acting like such a bitch. Xander suggests she's just attracted to him, but at a looks from the two agrees with her assessment. Giles suggests that Buffy merely has issues, and hasn't dealt with her experience with the master yet. Buffy walks in, telling them that the master's grave has been dug up, and says they're going to bring him back. Giles says that he's never heard of a revivification ceremony being successful, and Buffy gets angry because they're possible. When Willow jumps in to defend him, Buffy pretty much tells her to shut up and butt out, leading Xander to yell at her. At the height of the tension, Principal Snyder shows up and makes them all get back to class.
"There are some things I can just smell, it's like a 6th sense." "No, that would be one of the five," Giles says. "That Summers girl. I smell trouble, I smell expulsion, and just the faintest aroma of jail." Giles defends her, and Snyder thinks it's weird that he has faith in kids.
Giles finds a Latin text of the ceremony to , which requires his bones and the blood of the person or persons closest to him. Buffy insists that would be here since they "killed each other. It really promotes togetherness." A rock flies in with Cordelia's watch, and a note that says "come to the Bronze before it opens or we make her a meal."
Buffy says she going to the Bronze to save the day, and all three decide it's a bad idea. Buffy says it doesn't matter since they're not going, but despite warning by all three that it's a trap, she storms out saying "this is my fight."
Outside the Bronze, Buffy encounters Angel who tells her she needs to trust someone. "I trust me," she says, but he says she can't do it alone and she's not as strong as she thinks. She challenges him to a fight. "You must have thought about it, what would happen if it ever came down to a fight, you, vampire, me, the Slayer, I mean you must have thought about it. Well lets find out...Come on. Kick my ass." He reminds her why she's there, and she tells him to stay out of her way.
In the Bronze, she sees a female crying on the floor, but realizes that it's not Cordelia. Angel realizes it's a trap. "I don't like this...there's the bate, where's the hook." As Buffy easily subdues the vampire, she wonders "why they'd send just one?"
In the library, Giles has figured out what the spell really needs: the person or persons who were with the master when he died. He realizes that "it is a trap," and vampires close in on them. "It just isn't for her..."
Buffy tells Angel to watch the vampire, and runs into the library to find it trashed. Xander wakes up, but pushes her away when she rushes to him. She asks where are the others, and he says "I don't know. I don't know what you're problem is, what you're issues are, but as of now I officially don't care. If you'd worked with us for five seconds you could have stopped this...If they hurt Willow I'll kill you." He tells her that they took the others because they needed the ones who were with the master when he died: Giles, Willow, Cordelia, and Calendar.
Buffy and Xander return to the Bronze and Buffy tortures the vampire to get the information on where the Anointed one is. "What are you going to do, kill me?" the vamp asks, laughing, and Buffy says "as a matter of fact, yes. But since I'm not going to kill you anytime soon, the question becomes how are we going to pass the time until then..." She shoves her cross down the vampire's throat, and covers her mouth as smoke pours out. "So, one more time..."
In the factory, Absolam is pontificating again. Willow, Giles, Cordelia, and Calendar are hung upside down over the master's bones, and Absolam begins the ceremony as Buffy, Xander and Angel come in. Buffy tells them to get the others down. "We need you to distract the vampires," Angel tells her, and Xander asks what she's going to do. "I'm going to kill them all. That ought to distract them."
As the ceremony begins, Buffy stakes one vampire and the rest attack her. Xander and Angel pull the others away, and Absolam dispatches a vampire to stop them while leading the Anointed out, and Buffy fights the last two.
Buffy kills one while Angel and Xander get the others down, and then Angel fights the vampire that came to stop them. Calendar crawls to Giles while Xander holds Willow, and Giles asks about Buffy. "She's working out her issues," Xander says.
Downstairs, Angel kills his vampire while Buffy continues to run roughshod over hers. Finally, Absolam comes back bearing a sledge hammer "Enough!" He shouts. "You're day is done girl. I'll grind you into a sticky paste and hear you beg before I smash in your face." "So, are you going to kill me or our we just making small talk?" Enraged, Absolam charges Buffy while the other vamps comes from the other side. Buffy calmly breaks off a large wooden candle stand, and holds it out. The vampire runs into the broken end and crumbles to dust, while Absolam runs into the fire and is utterly consumed. His sledge hammer falls to the ground, and Buffy drops the stand.
"It's over," Willow says, but Xander realizes it's not. Buffy slowly pics up the sledge hammer and smashes the master's skull, then proceeds to smash the rest of the skeleton to pieces while Giles, Willow, Xander, and Angel watch. Finally, with the broken bones scattered about, Buffy breaks into sobs and falls into Angel's arms.
The next day, Cordelia talks to Calendar about the ordeal. "And you know what the worst part is? It stays with you forever. No matter what they tell you, none of that rust and blood and grime comes out. I mean, you can dry clean till judgment day, you are living with those stains."
"Yeah, that's the worst part about being hung upside down by a vampire who wants to slit your throat. The stains," Calendar responds, a look of incredulity in her face, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Cordelia, of course, doesn't get it. "I hear ya."
Buffy tells Giles she doesn't think she can face them, because she "put her best friends in mortal danger on the second day of school." Giles asks her if she's going to "crawl inside a cave for the rest of your life?" and she asks "would it have cable?" Giles tells her that "you acted wrongly, I admit that, but, believe me, that's hardly the worst mistake you'll ever make." Realizing exactly how that sounds, he says "that wasn't quite as comforting as it was meant to be." "Points for effort."
Buffy walks into the class, uneasy, but Willow and Xander have saved her a seat. They tell her that their teacher is really boring, and talk about what they should do tonight. Willow says the Bronze is kinda beat on Wednesday's and Xander comments "well, we could ground our enemies into talcum powder with a sledge hammer, but, gosh, we did that last night." Buffy cracks a smile, and the camera fades away, as the three continue to talk, their friendship intact.
At the factory, the Anointed surveys the destruction of the masters bones, and whines "I hate that girl."
