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Season 7, Episode 10
Written by Marti Noxon & Douglas Petrie
Directed by David Grossman
Original Airdate: 17 December 2002
"Sorry to barge in. I'm afraid we have a
slight… apocalypse."
Giles
REGULAR CAST
SPECIAL GUEST STARS
GUEST STARRING
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
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The gang research The First, but don't have much
luck finding anything. Dawn grows impatient with Andrew's state of
unconsciousness, but keeps researching at Buffy's request. Buffy asks
for a book and her mother hands it to her. Joyce warns her that she
needs to rest if she intends to defeat this evil, but Buffy knows the
vision isn't real and then Xander wakes her up from her dream. The
Ubervampire drags Spike further into a cave where the First has taken on
Drusilla's form to watch Spike get tortured.
At the Summers house, Dawn and Anya secretly try to force Andrew to wake
and he does as Buffy walks in the room. They begin to interrogate him
again about the First, but he takes some prompting before he's willing
to help them. Andrew leads the gang to the school basement where the
seal is still exposed on the ground, but no Spike or First Evil to be
seen. Although they don't know what the seal did or does, the gang grab
shovels and cover it with dirt again. On the way out, Buffy and Dawn run
into Principal Wood, also carrying a shovel. Buffy and Dawn try to
explain Buffy's surprising recovery from being sick and their own
possession of a shovel while the principal explains himself and asks
Buffy to return to work soon.
At the house, Willow begins a spell to find the First, but it doesn't go
anything like she planned. Explosive bolts send Anya and Buffy flying
while Willow is briefly possessed by the First Evil. Xander smashes a
bowl used in the spell which breaks the effects and sends Willow
crashing. She's fearful of the magic and hurting people and begs Buffy
not to let her hurt anyone with magic. Buffy starts to leave to find the
First herself, but is surprised to find Giles standing outside her front
door. With him are three young girls--Kennedy, Molly and Annabelle--who
are potential slayers that he's trying to protect.
Giles informs the whole gang about the First's plans to destroy all
slayers-in-training, their watchers and eventually the two active
Slayers, Buffy and Faith. He breaks the news that the Council has been
completely destroyed along with most of their records, except for the
few books and references on the First he stole while there was still
time. Giles goes over basic knowledge about the First Evil, explaining
that it can only take on the appearance of the dead, but it's incapable
of solid form. He informs Buffy that unfortunately, she's the only one
strong enough to actually stand a chance of winning against the First.
One of the Slayers, Kennedy, objects to the situation and wonders why
they're hiding out on the Hellmouth of all places with only one person
responsible for all their lives.
In the cave, the Ubervampire tortures Spike by dunking his head under
water while "Drusilla" lectures Spike about following the rules. Kennedy
helps Willow make the sleeping arrangements around the house and
ultimately, Kennedy ends up staying in Willow's room. The girls convene
in the kitchen and start eating cookies after Dawn burns the meal she
was trying to cook. Buffy and Giles walk and talk together as they
search for an entrance to the cave Buffy remembers from the first time
she encountered the First and it's minions, the Bringers. Buffy
unintentionally finds it as she falls through some old planks covering
the ground. As she searches the caves, she's viciously attacked by the
Ubervampire. She stakes the demon, but it doesn't kill him and he
proceeds to beat her up badly. Buffy narrowly manages to escape the cave
by climbing out and the vampire is kept at bay by the rising sun.
Giles and Buffy return to the house to find the three potential slayers
hanging out in the kitchen. Giles tells them all about the vampire Buffy
fought, a Turok-Han. He explains that it's part of a separate race of
vampires that is far superior to and feared by the everyday vampires
Buffy is used to. At work, Buffy researches "evil" on the Internet as
Principal Woods stops to check on her. Again, in the cave, Spike is
smacked around by the Ubervampire while Drusilla dances about and tries
to convince Spike to decide to be on their side of the game. Spike
doesn't fall for the mind tricks and earns himself more of a beating
from the Ubervampire.
Buffy reviews her wounds as her mother pays her another visit. Joyce
talks to Buffy about evil and it's constant presence in everyone and
about the pressure Buffy's feeling to deal with this evil. She wakes up
to find that she's still at work and had been in the middle of a meeting
with a student. The student walks off and Principal Wood watches on from
his office as a very tired Buffy tries to deal with the stress. Later
that evening, the gang prepares for sundown and the potential danger it
brings to them. The potential Slayers get weapons while Andrew tries
unsuccessfully to convince Buffy and Xander to untie him. As Buffy
watches for the sun to set, Giles reminds her that she's the one being
depended on and then Molly interrupts, informing them that Annabelle ran
off.
The could-be Slayer runs through the streets of Sunnydale until she's
captured by the Ubervampire and quickly killed. Buffy shows up in time
to find the dead body and be attacked by the Ubervampire herself. She is
hurt and runs off in search of better fighting grounds and a useful
weapon. Again, the vampire has the upper hand, but Buffy drops a bundle
of heavy steel beams on the creature, smashing it to the ground.
Practically unaffected, the Ubervampire rises from the mountain of beams
and goes after Buffy again. He throws her around some more, finally
tossing her through a stone wall where she's buried under rubble and
steel on the other side.
The First in Drusilla's form gets angry with Spike as he continues to
refuse to cooperate. Because of Buffy's faith in him, he feels strong
enough to refuse. A terribly wounded Buffy sits alone at home as she
listens to Giles and Willow talk in another room. They worry about
Buffy's condition and their ability to fight this thing that seems so
much bigger than them all. Buffy finally comes downstairs and gives an
inspirational speech about this huge challenge before them that is
bigger than any evil they've ever faced. She tells the group that she's
more scared than ever, but she's not about to back down now. There's a
new plan: they're declaring war on this evil instead of waiting for it
to make a move.
TRIVIA
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After 58 appearances on the series and
the most frequent recurring character, Kristine Sutherland is credited
as a special guest star. This is her final appearance on the show, and
it's as the Joyce we all know and love.
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Iyari Limon, who plays Kennedy was born
in 1978 in Guadalajara, Mexico, but soon moved to South California. She
speaks both English and Spanish. She appears in every episode from this
one to Chosen. Clara Bryant also
makes the first of five appearances as Molly in this episode.
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Anthony Stewart Head is well known for
using props whilst acting, so it must have been hard for him not to be
able to touch anything when he arrived back in Sunnydale. In an
interview with the BBC, he said "the rules were slightly vague about
what you could and couldn’t do. I was constantly asking, “Can I do this
or not?” What was patently clear was that I couldn’t touch any props, to
everyone’s great joy, because I have a tendency to use props a lot. Part
of the way I work is to try to bring some of the outside world in to the
scene, rather than just play the scene off the page. You have a life and
the scene happens to be part of that, and so, quite often, I’d involve
something, so everyone thought it was very funny that I was stuck not
being able to use props. It proved a challenge because I had to make
sense of it - why would Giles come in and not touch anybody, not hug
anybody, not involve himself like the usual thing? I was basically
playing stuff had become so important and so serious and so fast with
the First, and I was suddenly saddled with the responsibility of
bringing all these girls in and finding them all over the world without
the Watcher’s Council. I internalised it all and was in my own little
world of seriousness, trying to deal with everything, and had shut down
and wasn’t allowing myself to be friendly."
CONTINUITY
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Buffy uses a website called
"people.places.things" to look up the First. This website will come in
handy in Chosen.
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When Willow is almost possessed by the
First while trying to use a locator spell to find it, she is terrified,
harking back to the conversations She had with Cassie about her killing
everyone with her power from
Conversations With Dead People.
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Giles and Buffy visit the Christmas tree
lot that she and Joyce visited in Amends.
GOOFS
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Dawn's hair changes throughout the
episode.
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Annabelle's dead body moves positions in
different shots.
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Buffy's scars seem to move and change
places.
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Andrew's bandage disappears when the gang
go to the school, and reappears when they get back home.
Lessons |
Beneath You |
Same Time, Same Place |
Help |
Selfless
Him |
Conversations With Dead People |
Sleeper |
Never Leave Me |
Bring on the Night |
Showtime
Potential |
The Killer in Me |
First Date |
Get It Done |
Storyteller |
Lies My Parents Told Me
Dirty Girls |
Empty Places |
Touched |
End of Days |
Chosen
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