Season 3, Episode 6

Written by Jane Espenson

Directed by Michael Lange

Original Airdate: 10 November 1998

"Giles at sixteen? Less Together Guy, more Bad-Magic-Hates-The-World-Ticking-Time-Bomb Guy."
Buffy

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase

• David Boreanaz as Angel

• Seth Green as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne

• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

• K. Todd Freeman as Mr. Trick

• Robin Sachs as Ethan Rayne

• Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins III

• Armin Shimerman as Principal R. Snyder

CO-STARRING

• Jason Hall as Devon MacLeish

• Peg Stewart as Mrs. Barton

SYNOPSIS

• While in the graveyard with Giles, Buffy doubles her slaying with studying for the SAT's. At school the next day, Buffy tells Willow and Oz of a SAT related nightmare, and then Oz offers to help her study for the SAT's while Willow brags about how smart he is. Buffy tells them about how Giles and her mother have her scheduled 24/7 to keep her out of trouble. They find Principal Snyder in the Cafeteria handing out boxes of candy, which they have to sell to make money for Band uniforms.
  
  Buffy tries to sell the candy to her mother, but Joyce only buys 20 bars. They talk about Buffy driving and Joyce says no, partly because Buffy completely flunked last year's test and she also doesn't want her to be able to leave on her own. At the library, Buffy is training with Giles where he blindfolds her and hands her a ball to throw at him. He claims she won't be able to do it, but she throws it at a wall and it bounces off, hitting Giles in the head. Buffy, satisfied with proving Giles wrong again, leaves, claiming to be going back home.
  
  Instead, she goes to visit Angel at the mansion where he's practicing Tai Chi. Buffy brings him some blood, and he asks her about Scott, but instead of telling him that she's no longer dating Scott, Buffy say's that he's fine. Angel tells her that he worries about her, and then tells her that it'll be better when he doesn't need her anymore. Arriving home late, Buffy is caught by her mother and Giles. They've found out that she has been lying to them about where she is. Buffy is sent to bed, while Giles and Joyce sit on the couch and eat some of the chocolate that Buffy has sold them.
  
  The next day at school, Giles doesn't show up to watch over Study Hall. Xander and Willow play footsie under the table until Cordelia turns around. Worried, Buffy goes to Giles' place and finds out that he's looking through records while her mother is sitting on the couch. Giles claims that he is working on scheduling Buffy's activities with Joyce and he just didn't go into work. Her mother offers Buffy the car keys, and she takes the opportunity, not wanting to blow her chances of getting to drive. After she leaves, Giles lights up a cigarette and Joyce pulls out a bottle of wine.
  
  Buffy is driving wildly through Sunnydale with a very frightened Willow in the passenger seat and with the parking break on, which she later removes. Back at Giles' place, he and Joyce are listening to music and smoking. Joyce suggests going to the Bronze, but Giles wants to go out and have some fun, instead of going to that 'dead' place.
  
  At the Bronze, 'The Dingoes' are playing on the stage as Buffy and Willow come in and discover that all the adults of Sunnydale are there, acting like a bunch of teenagers. Even Ms. Barton is there, and she's literally wasted. Snyder starts hanging around with Buffy and Willow and ends up following them everywhere they go. After too many scary images are implanted into their minds, Buffy, Willow and Oz leave, and Snyder follows. While Buffy and her friends are driving to find Giles, a car hits the side of their vehicle. In the factory where the chocolate is being manufactured, Mr. Trick checks up on Ethan Rayne, who he's employed to enchant the candy to distract the adults of Sunnydale. Their purpose: a dedication to the demon Laconus, which is necessary for Mayor Wilkins' ascension.
  
  Meanwhile, Giles and Joyce are roaming the streets, until Joyce notices a coat that she likes in the window of a closed store. Giles uses a trashcan to break the window and then steals the jacket. When the alarm goes off, a cop shows up, brandishing a firearm. Giles tells him that he'll never use it, and when the cop turns his head, Giles beats him up, and steals the gun. He and Joyce then kiss and collapse on the hood of the police car. Elsewhere, after realizing that there are no vampires around, Buffy sends Willow and Oz to find Xander and Cordelia and asks them to look up information on "candy curses."
  
  At the factory, Buffy and Snyder go to where the chocolate is, but Buffy runs into Joyce and Giles making out in the middle of the street. Buffy tries to reason with her mother, but to no avail. She then goes into the factory, taking Joyce along with her; Giles and Snyder follow afterwards. Inside, Buffy finds Ethan and chases him. After getting caught and hit a few times, Ethan gives up all of the information that he has. He tells them that Trick needed the adults of Sunnydale to be distracted so that he can make a tribute to Laconus.
  
  Meanwhile, four vampires come into the local hospital and take four newborn babies. At the library, the rest of the Scooby Gang are looking up information on the situation. Buffy calls Willow and finds out that Laconus eats babies. They lock up Ethan with some handcuffs that Joyce had on her, and then go to the hospital where they try to figure out where to find the babies. Giles has an information flash, and remembers that Laconus is a large demon that they'll find in the sewers.
  
  Buffy, Giles and Joyce crash the party underground where Mayor Wilkins and Mr. Trick are waiting for the demon to come and take their offerings. Buffy beats up and stakes three of the four vampires while Giles and Joyce get the babies to safety. Wilkins escapes as one of the vampires is thrown into a pool of water. Laconus then comes out and eats him. Trick tries to take on Buffy, but Giles steps in the way and ends up getting thrown into the pool. As he comes out, and just before Laconus can eat him, Buffy pulls down a gas pipe, and lights the gas on fire, using it to burn Laconus.
  
  After Mr. Trick says a few last words, Buffy, Giles and Joyce head home. The next day at school, most of the adults have come down, including Snyder who promptly chooses Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordelia as volunteers to clean graffiti off the lockers. Buffy complains to Giles about how the SAT's went. They meet up with Joyce outside and Buffy tries to defend herself, and the large dent in the car, by reminding them that she got to Joyce and Giles before they did anything. However, as she gets into the car, Giles and Joyce subtly confirm that something did happen.

TRIVIA

• The exercise Angel is doing in the courtyard of the mansion when Buffy comes to see him is T'ai Chi Ch'uan, a Chinese martial art which is also used as a form of Taoist yoga.

CONTINUITY

• Angel mentions Scott Hope, who broke up with Buffy in Homecoming, although she hasn't told him yet.

• Ethan Rayne is hired by Mr. Trick to bring in the magickal candy, and he returns to Sunnydale for the first time since The Dark Age. After this episode he leaves again, until resurfacing in A New Man.

• Joyce and Giles have sex with each other in this episode, while under the influence of the band candy. Buffy finds out about in Earshot, and uses it as proof to Giles that she's really her in Who Are You.

• Buffy drives her mother's car in this episode, and it's the first time, although she's been trying to get a lesson since Surprise. She doesn't drive that much, although she does in Who Are You and Him.

• Possibly going with the Ethan Rayne theme, Giles's Mark of Eyghon tattoo from The Dark Age can be seen.

• One of Cordelia's posters from Homecoming is in Xander's locker.

• Unless she was told sometime during Faith, Hope and Trick, this episode marks the first time she hears about and meets Mr. Trick. She won't battle him fully until Consequences, during which he almost kills her.

GOOFS

• How did Ethan get inside the wooden box in such a short space of time?

• When Buffy stakes the two vampires in the sewers, she stakes the right side of their chest instead of the left.

• What did Buffy do with the gun that she took from Giles?

• Why did all the 'teenage' adults speak and act as though their teenage years were spent during the 1970s?

• When Buffy torches the snake demon, she takes many steps backwards, but when there is a shot from behind, Sarah's stunt double is standing in the original spot.

Anne | Dead Man's Party | Faith, Hope and Trick | Beauty and the Beasts | Homecoming

Band Candy | Revelations | Lover's Walk | The Wish | Amends | Gingerbread

Helpless | The Zeppo | Bad Girls | Consequences | Doppelgangland | Enemies

Earshot | Choices | The Prom | Graduation Day (Part 1) | Graduation Day (Part 2)