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Season 3, Episode 22
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon
Original Airdate: 25 May 1999
"Hey! You remember this? I took it from Faith.
Stuck it in her gut. Just slid in her like she was butter. You want to get
it back from me… Dick?"
Buffy
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
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After stabbing Faith, Buffy stands there stunned
for a few minutes, the knife still in her hands. She drops it and
escapes from the rooftop just before Mayor Wilkins enters Faith's office
with a group of vampires. They survey the room, but find no Faith. Mayor
Wilkins is seriously devastated by the thought of loosing Faith and
orders the vampires to find her. At the library that night, Xander and
Giles are looking for information on the demon Olvikan. Cordelia comes
in, demanding to know why Wesley is returning to England. After Giles
explains, Cordelia sits down and helps them save the world.
At the mansion, Angel's slowly slipping away as Willow's watching over
him. Delirious, he mistakes her for Buffy and tells her how much he
needs her. When Willow makes the correction, he falls asleep again until
Buffy returns. Willow and Oz talk, then kiss, while waiting for Buffy.
When she does finally return, she asks them to leave so she can be alone
with him. Buffy goes to Angel and explains that she can cure him: all he
has to do is drink her blood. Weakly, he refuses and tries to get away
from her.
Buffy demands that he do it so that he will live. She won't let him die.
He suggests Faith, but she informs him that she's killed Faith, so her
blood is the only way. She hits him three times before the demon comes
forth and she forces him to drink. He drinks slowly, and deeply, and
knocks them both to the ground. Buffy's unable to make a sound, and
finally as she goes unconscious from loosing too much blood, Angel pulls
away.
Angel takes Buffy to the hospital where they take care of her. Angel
just explains that something bit her and that they have to help her. He
quickly calls Giles and everyone to come to the hospital. In another
room, a doctor talks to Mayor Wilkins as they stand around Faith in a
hospital bed. The doctor explains the trauma to her head and the massive
blood loss is just too much, and there's very little chance she'll ever
regain consciousness.
Mayor Wilkins overhears a nurse talk about another girl, and quickly
walks over to Buffy, covering her mouth and nose with his hand. Buffy
struggles weakly, but when a nurse can't get him off, Angel shows up and
tears him away. The two argue, Mayor Wilkins insults Buffy and Angel
knocks him across the room. He finally leaves with a message not to miss
the second act of the show. Giles and the gang show up at the hospital
and Angel explains that Faith is in a coma, and that Buffy cured him
when he drank her blood. Angel leaves because the sun will be up soon
and the rest go to check on Buffy.
In a dream, Buffy goes to Faith's apartment where Faith is packing up
her stuff. Faith explains that human weakness never fades, not even the
Mayor's. Faith tells Buffy that it's time to go and then Buffy wakes up
in the hospital bed. She gets up, walks over to Faith and kisses her
forehead. Then dressed, Buffy walks out to the waiting room, telling her
friends to get everyone ready. Ready for war.
At school, Snyder prepares for the ceremony in an eerily quiet school
yard. Buffy explains her "crazy" plan to her friends. She explains that
she needs everyone's help, especially Xander since he remembers his
military training. Cordelia suggests a very crazy idea of chasing Mayor
Wilkins with Ebola virus because of his fear of germs. They find out
that his weakness is Faith and Buffy says she can work with that.
Wesley shows up, offering to help in any way he can. Buffy lays out her
plan, while Mayor Wilkins explains to his group of vampires his plan. He
tells them that when the eclipse takes place, he wants the vampires to
come out and keep the people from running. Mayor Wilkins tells them it's
very important that he feed within the first few minutes to sustain the
change. Buffy assigns Angel and Xander to work together and they start
out by bickering. Their plan involves creating a volcano substitute - a
bomb. Giles is assigned to detonate it. Everyone goes out and brings
people in to help which includes Harmony and Percy. While putting away
books, Cordelia and Wesley kiss twice and find that they truly aren't
meant for each other.
Larry and Jonathan unload Oz's van of supplies, then leave Willow and Oz
in there alone. With some time until graduation, Willow and Oz decide to
take advantage of that time and the fact that they may die later that
day. In the library, Angel asks Buffy how she's doing and then suddenly
tells her that he won't say goodbye. It's too painful to have to face
her and he's decided to just leave when it's all over.
At graduation, Willow and Oz show up late. Mayor Wilkins starts his
speech, but doesn't have the time to finish it as the transformation
starts before he expected. After an eclipse, he turns into a 60-foot
snake demon. The parents scatter, and the students gather together in
one large group. At Buffy's call, everyone rips off their robes,
revealing weapons and crosses. Some students step forward with fire
launchers and burn the demon. Xander commands a wave of crossbows to be
launched. All the students have banded together and they're fighting for
the survival of their town.
The vampires attack from behind and then several students pick up
crossbows with flaming bolts and fire at the vampires. Angel heads off
another team and they fight off the vampires as well. Snyder tries
telling the snake-demon off, but instead gets eaten. Buffy orders
everyone back to attack the vampires and they launch into a battle.
While fighting, Cordelia kills a vampire, but other students like Larry
and Harmony get killed. Buffy taunts the snake and has him chase her
through the school. She goes through the library, and jumps out the
window. Just as she reaches a safe distance, and Mayor Wilkins is stuck
saying, "Well gosh," Giles detonates the bomb.
Wesley is taken away in an ambulance. Xander tells Buffy considering all
they went through, they didn't loose too much. Giles congratulates Buffy
on a job well done and even presents her with her diploma which he saved
from the rubble. After he leaves, Buffy sees Angel at a distance. The
two stand there, near tears, just looking at each other, until Angel
turns and walks away. Buffy meets up with her friends and they briefly
reflect before walking home.
They survived high school.
TRIVIA
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This was Charisma Carpenter's final episode
of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Cordelia Chase. She went to
Angel and never returned to Sunnydale.
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David Boreanaz quietly left Buffy
for his own show Angel, which aired in the autumn of 1999. His
show had only just got the green light when this episode was filmed. He
returned to Sunnydale a few times, in the episodes
Pangs,
The Yoko Factor,
Forever,
End of Days and
Chosen.
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The Mutant enemy monster is sporting a
graduation cap at the end of this episode.
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This episode was delayed by the network
because of the recent attacks at Columbine High School. It was felt that
the events of the episode may upset some viewers so close to the
tragedy. The episode Earshot was
also delayed for this reason though for a much longer period of time.
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According to Marti Noxon's DVD commentary
for Earshot, the explosion scene was
filmed at 5am in Torrence, California (where the show had been filmed
for outdoor scenes the past three seasons). The sound and vibrations
from the exploding set woke up many residents and set off car alarms,
causing locals to ban any future Buffy filming in Torrence.
Producer Gareth Davies said in an interview with the BBC,
"Unfortunately, when we warned the residents of Torrance we were going
to blow it up, we neglected to say when, and when it went up at five
a.m. in the morning … Torrance is still upset with us actually, we’re
back there next Friday and I’ve already heard of one phone call from
some irate lady saying ‘You should be punished for what you did three
years ago.’"
CONTINUITY
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Larry Blaisdell and Principal Snyder are
killed by Mayor Wilkins in this episode. Harmony is bitten by a vampire.
She returns in The Harsh Light of Day
as a vampire.
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After battling Mayor Wilkins, Wesley headed
off to become a rogue demon hunter which led him to L.A. There he met
Angel and Cordelia and joined their private investigation work in
Parting Gifts.
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Cordelia stakes her first vampire in this
episode. It won't be her last.
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In The
Harvest, Willow mentions that the school is really strict about
blowing things up. They blow it all up in this episode.
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The scar that Buffy gets from Angel's
biting of her (which the First predicted in
Amends) is noticed by Parker in
The Harsh Light of Day and by
Dracula (who adds his own) in Buffy Vs.
Dracula.
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Buffy returns the kiss on Faiths forehead
that Faith gave her in Choices.
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Faith lays the groundwork for the infamous
7-3-0 mystery in this episode, as well as referencing Dawn. She mentions
Little Miss Muffet, which is said in reference to Dawn in
Real Me, while 7-3-0 means 730 days,
which from this point means The Gift,
the episode in which Buffy dies.
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The Mayor's snake-like appearance is
mentioned several times in the series, by Xander (Primeval),
Harmony (The Harsh Light of Day),
Buffy (Shadow) and Amy (Smashed).
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the destroyed Sunnydale High will be seen
again in Doomed, and also again in This
Year's Girl, The Yoko Factor and
Out of My Mind.
GOOFS
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When Angel first gets out of bed, the
tattoo which is usually on his back can't be seen.
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When Angel uses the phone, you can see the
reflection of his fingers and his shirt in the chrome plating of the
phone.
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As Angel pulls Mayor Wilkins off Buffy, you
can briefly see his reflection in the glass of the room's door.
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At the end, when the gang is discussing the
battle, there is a couple walking down the pavement, away from the
group. The camera does a few close-ups and when it cuts back to the
far-away shot, the couple is still walking close to the group.
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As Angel carries Buffy through the
hospital, we can see that Sarah Michelle Gellar is hanging on to his
neck before realising she's supposed to be unconscious and lets go.
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The graduating kids' parents didn't exactly
get a good view of the ceremony. Their seats were behind the stand where
their children were sitting!
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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