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Season 3, Episode 21
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon
Original Airdate: 18 May 1999
"What's the matter? All that killing, you
afraid to die?"
Buffy
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
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James Lurie as
Mr. Miller
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Hal Robinson as
Professor Lester Worth
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John Rosenfeld as
Vampire Lackey #2
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Adrian Neil as
Vampire Lackey #1
SYNOPSIS
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Xander and Cordelia pick up their gowns for
graduation and then discuss how Xander doesn't think he'll live through
Graduation. Willow's signing yearbooks, and basking in the happy feeling
in the air for all graduating seniors. Buffy just can't get pumped about
the whole thing and doubts she'll even attend. Then they find out that
Mayor Wilkins is going to be the commencement speaker at graduation.
Faith is sent on a mission to kill a Professor Lester Worth, and she
does, not even knowing the reason why she was asked to kill him.
Mayor Wilkins gives Faith a cute pink dress to wear to the ascension and
she hopes she doesn't let him down. Percy shows Willow his B- on his
History final, and how excited he is to just graduate and forget
everything. Oz shows up and Willow's now bummed about the chance of
everyone dying so she suggests finding a spell to stop it. In class,
since finals are over and they're doing nothing but playing Hang Man,
Anya attempts to ask Xander on a date but is unsuccessful. He mentions
the ascension and she tenses at the word. It turns out she's been
through one.
While Buffy is discussing the recently murdered Professor with Giles and
Wesley, Xander brings Anya in and she tells them all about the ascension
she witnessed. She tells them that Mayor Wilkins will turn into a true
demon, not anything like the demons that walk the earth today. A true
demon is not tainted by human qualities, and they're much bigger. Snyder
shows Mayor Wilkins the setup for Graduation Day, and Mayor Wilkins
tells him his great debt to Sunnydale will be repaid in full.
Mayor Wilkins then visits the Scooby Gang in the library. He tells them
he's going to eat Buffy and Giles stabs him with a sword. After pulling
it out, he walks away, leaving them all in shock. Anya leaves to get as
far away from Sunnydale, knowing that there is nothing that can stop it.
At home, Buffy packs her mother's things and after plenty of convincing,
Joyce agrees to leave town.
Willow and Oz look for a spell, but Willow is doubtful she'll find what
she wants since she can't even turn Amy back from a rat. Oz continues to
be calm and finally, Willow can't take any more of it. She tells him to
panic and he does by kissing her. Buffy searches the professor's office
and Angel shows up to watch her back at Giles' request. Outside, the two
argue but are interrupted when Faith shoots Angel with an arrow. It
misses the heart, but as they find out later at the library, the arrow
was poisoned. They discover, from material Buffy took from his
apartment, that Worth found a body beneath lava rock of a dormant
volcano. They realize Mayor Wilkins can be killed once he's in his demon
state.
They move Angel to the mansion while Wesley contacts the Council for the
cure to the poison. The phone rings, disturbing Willow and Oz in the
peaceful afterglow. The two slept together, but they don't have time to
waste when they are needed to help find the cure for Angel. Later, at
the mansion, Wesley informs Buffy that the council won't help a vampire.
Fed up with the Council, she tells him she's no longer working for them.
Mayor Wilkins reveals he has to eat some of the spiders from the Box of
Gavrok and he sends Faith home to wait for the ascension. Anya, packed
and ready to go, tries to convince Xander to come with her, but he
refuses to leave his friends.
At school, Oz finds a cure for Angel: draining the blood of a Slayer.
Buffy goes to Faith, armed with Faith's knife, with the intention of
bringing her to Angel, dead or alive. The two fight for quite a while
before Buffy pulls out the knife and stabs Faith in the stomach.
Standing on the ledge of her apartment building, Faith congratulates
Buffy on actually killing her, then drops off and lands onto the bed of
a truck as it's driving by. Buffy just stands there and watches in
horror with the bloody knife still in her hands.
TRIVIA
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Cordelia complains that she wanted the
graduation robes to be teal and not maroon in colour. In the original
script, she wanted the red but the school went with the blue.
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The first trailer for Angel aired
during this episode. It showed Angel against a red background with the
words: 'Angel: This Fall.'
CONTINUITY
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Willow and Oz finally consummate their
relationship in this episode, after Willow tried to seduce him in
Amends.
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Wilkins calls Faith a 'firecracker' in this
episode, a nickname that her mother used, and one the First uses in
Touched.
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When Joyce catches Buffy packing, she asks
if she's running away again, which happened in
Becoming (Part 2).
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Percy thanks Willow for not kicking his
ass, which he believes she did in
Doppelgangland.
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Willow mentions a spell that communicates
with shrimp. Anya mentions a world of shrimp in
Superstar, as well as a world devoid
of shrimp. Tara finds that a pleasant thought (she's allergic) in
Triangle, while Illyria visits the
world full of shrimp at point, which she tells Wesley in
Underneath.
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Buffy says that Angel will be her last
'office romance,' although she contradicts this later with both Riley
and Spike.
GOOFS
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The boom mic is visible twice in this
episode: once when Joyce announces "Buffy, I'm home" and once when Angel
enters the apartment.
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When Angel is talking to Buffy, he holds a
box in two hands which changes to one hand in the next shot.
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Willow says, "Oh trusty soda machine...I
push you for root beer. You give me Coke." She actually hit the Pepsi
button, not root beer.
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When Faith and Buffy are fighting on the
balcony, Faith falls on some cement and gets quite a bit of white dust
on her bottom but it's gone when she breaks out of her handcuffs.
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When Angel is in the library, we see his
face is sweaty, but from the side it looks dry.
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)
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