The first season of Buffy comes to an end in this episode written by Joss Whedon. It went by far too quickly. It starts off with Xander practicing what he is going to say to Buffy when he asks her out by trying it out on Willow. This must be so hard for Willow since she has such strong feelings for Xander. He of course doesn't even notice.

Meanwhile across town Buffy almost ruins Cordy's make out session while fighting vampires. It seems that more and more of the undead are coming into town and giving the slayer problems. Back at school Giles is pulling an all-nighter, it seems that the prophecy says the Master will rise and the slayer will die. Before he can look into it anymore the whole town is struck by a massive Earthquake. The Master is beyond excited, calling out glory, glory. Could he be talking about Ben? Is Ben Glory? Am I getting ahead of myself? Is he simply saying glory since he is all into his vampire religion and I'm just reaching? Most likely but it is still fun to think about.

Buffy goes to school the next day and Giles is acting all weird towards her. Pushing her away, almost as if he can't stand to be in the same room with her. He has too much on his mind. She is bothered by the way he is acting but he doesn't explain, he just kind of sends her away. This is too hard for him, he cares about her too much, almost as a father cares for a daughter.

The Scooby's walk out of class and Willow talks about nerds being in, it was true back then and even more true now. This show was oh so ahead of its time. Xander gives Willow the nod telling her to leave before kicking some kid out of his seat. He sits Buffy down and goes into his pitch, just a bit before changing tactics and just coming out with it. SHe sits there and watches him make a fool of himself. She points out that he and Willow are her best friends, he says Willow isn't looking to date her, or if she is she is playing it close to the chest, its a bit of unintentional foreshadowing that I've always liked. Xander tells Buffy that doesn't matter, she either feels something or she doesn't and she says she doesn't. He asks her to try and then makes a snide remark about Angel before storming off. I've been in both their places before and neither one is fun. I always feel bad for both of them. Emotions always make life so much harder. Poor Xander, poor Buffy. Poor me.

Giles calls Angel asking him to come meet him after the sun goes down and Jenny shows up to tell Giles she is scared. That signs all point to the end times and that a monk keeps emailing her about the anointed one. Giles is sure he is dead but snaps at Jenny to go and find out everything she can from the monk. She doesn't like that he is being so forceful but she does as he asks. This is a more manly Giles that we won't see again for a few years.

Cordy is getting ready for the dance and even sucks up to Willow a bit to ask her a favor. It is nice to see how much Willow has grown over this season. She is more sure of herself and less mousey. She spots Xander and breaks off from Cordy to go talk to him. He tells her how bad it all went. He asks her to be his date and she shoots him down. She doesn't want to be his back of date and who can blame him? I love Xander, even if the internet hates him, but that was cold. Willow is his best friend and he knows how she feels about him, how could he not? He had no right to treat her like that.

Blood comes out of the sink, sending Buffy to go find Giles who she finds talking to Angel. She over hears him saying that she is going to die tomorrow night. This makes her laugh, people do weird things when they find out bad news. The two men go to find her freaking out. At first she keeps her cool, just asks a lot of questions like is Giles going to train the new slayer, or how she dies, or if it will hurt or why Willow had never seen anything like this before and Buffy makes her promise to stay in before going back to her slayer duties. Oh and Willow likes the dress.

Jenny gets up to speed on everything that is going on with the Master and Buffy. It also seems the monk who knew about the anointed one is missing. The last thing he sent out implies that the anointed one is a kid. Giles plans on going against the Master himself but Buffy stops him. Buffy knocks him out and tells Jenny to tell Giles she said something cool. Jenny points out that it will cost her life and Buffy says maybe she can take him with her.

Buffy finds the anointed one and tells him that she knows who he is. He leads her into the tunnels. The Scooby's meet up in the library as everyone gets up to speed. Willow and Xander don't seem too happy that Jenny is here. Xander takes off to go save Buffy leaving everyone else to sit and plan the next move.

Xander heads over to Angel's house and tells him to take him to the Master's lair. Angel points out how out of league Xander is but Xander pulls out a cross and tells him he hates him but Buffy likes him and he needs Angel to prove Buffy right. They both know that the other loves her and the two of them go to look for her. Jenny and the others change tactics and start looking for the location of the hellmouth.

Buffy finally comes face to face with the Master. She tries to act tough and even fires an arrow right at his heart. To bad he catches it. Angel and Xander are not getting along as they go looking for her. Willow and Giles put together that the hellmouth must be at the bronze since that is where the harvest was. The prom is going on there as they speak so Jenny and Willow rush off to warn everyone. The Master catches Buffy from behind. Her fate is sealed. The vampires close in on the school and we learn that the hellmouth isn't at the bronze it is under the school. The Master uses his powers to bring Buffy to him, the Master tells her that she sets him free by coming there. Her blood gives him the power. He bites her and drinks from her. I'll never know why he didn't drain her, he just drank a little and drops her into a puddle. Tells her he likes the dress and breaks out of the barrier.

Angel rushes to the lair and Xander is right behind him. Angel pulls Buffy out of the water and tells Xander that she is dead. CPR is the only thing that can save her and only Xander can do since Angel is already dead and has no breath. Cordy saves Willow and Jenny as the vampires close in on the school. See she is a hero, the best hero of them all! Buffy wakes up coughing out the water. Xander saved her life. The slayer is back yo!

Cordy drives through the school to get to the library, you just have to love her. You have to, if you don't there is something wrong with you. The girls make it to the library and Giles tries to block the door. The vampires keep trying to break it down. Meanwhile behind them some kind of demon tentacle starts to break through the floor.

The Master takes in the surface world now that he is free as Buffy leads Angel and Xander to go find the Master. Buffy feels different, somehow stronger than she use to.  Why? I don't know but she does. The vampire swarm into the library from all sides. Buffy somehow knows right where the Master is and is on a mission to stop him. Xander and Angel stand guard while Buffy goes to face the Master alone.

The tentacle demon breaks into the library from under the library and Giles figures out where it is. The Master is freaked out by Buffy still being alive. He uses his powers to pull her towards him once again. Giles tries to keep the demon at bay as it tries to kill the girls. Buffy breaks free of the Masters spell and starts to kick his ass. Xander is showing himself as a better and better fighting against the undead now. The Master gets ahold of Buffy but she breaks free and knocks him down into the library. He  gets stabbed through the heart and dies. The demon is sucked back into the hellmouth that closes. The vampires flee. For some reason the Master turned to bones instead of dust.

The Scooby's all get together and decide to go to the bronze. After all the day is won and Buffy is back from the dead. The season ends with Angel talking about how much he likes her dress. Such an amazing end to the first season. How could anyone not love this show? It is so ahead of its time.

Here we have the last of the season one episodes that sets something up that is never followed up on. In this story by  Joss Whedon that was written by Ashley Gable & Thomas A. Swyden, we meet a girl named Marcie who turns invisible and gets recruited by the FBI but we never see her again, not even in the initiative season. It is a damn shame.

Cordy is telling Harmony and her boyfriend about what kind of dress she is going to wear to the dance and Buffy runs into her. Cordy and Harm mock Buffy as they leave her behind looking like a fool. Cordy then jumps into talking about the time in the first episode when Buffy attacked her.

Cordy actually knows what she is talking about in her English lit class. This is one of the first times we see that Cordy is smart as well as beautiful. Her boyfriend brags to his friends that he is going hook up with Cordy. His friends take off and a floating bat with a girl's laugh beats the hell out of him.

The next day Cordy is bribing people with food to get them to vote for her and Willow and Xander fall into inside jokes about how stupid Cordy use to be. They see that Buffy isn't into it so they mock the idea of winning the title queen at a dance and Buffy says at her old school that was important to her. Xander tries to back track but they are interrupted by news that Cordy's boyfriend was beat by a floating bat. Buffy goes to investigate but Snyder stops them, at least until Willow and Xander start talking about a lawsuit.

Once in the locker room Buffy sees that someone wrote Look on the lockers Giles finds the Scooby's in the caf and tells them that he is worried about all of this. It doesn't seem like anything he has ever heard before. One of his guesses is an invisible creature, that was almost on the mark. His other guess, that of it being a ghost is what everyone thinks is the answer. Xander is asked to help Giles but wants to switch with Buffy, at least until he is told he has to talk to Cordy, aw if he only knew what is to come.

Cordy isn't worried about her boyfriend being beat up, she is instead worried about how she will look standing next to him. Buffy tries to talk to Cordy when Harmony is pushed down the stairs. The girl laughing is heard this time by Buffy, she takes off to follow it as Snyder tells Harmony not to sue. Buffy is attacked by the invisible girl. Buffy bumps into her and figures out that it isn't a ghost but a real girl who can turn invisible.

The Scooby's try to figure out who it is, the only thing they have to go on is that it has something to do with Cordy. Buffy stays late to protect Cordy and we can see just how jealous she is as she watches Cordy get ready. She misses the limelight.

As Giles looks up invisible girls he runs into Angel who came to talk to Giles and says that it is too hard to be around Buffy because of how he feels about her. Angel wanted to talk about the Master. He warns that something big is on the way. It turns out that Angel has the book that Giles is missing about slayer lore.

We keep seeing flashbacks of this girl, Marcie trying and failing to be friends with Cordy. Meanwhile in the here and now Cordy is named queen. While Cordy is talking we see two men in suits watching her. Later that day Buffy finds Marcie's yearbook and figures that she must be the ghost girl. The teacher who was helping Cordy is attacked by Marcie, she puts a bag over her head and chokes her out. Cordy shows up and saves her life. On the board, writing itself is the word Listen.

It turns out that they all knew her but none of them remember her. They also learn that Marcie really is out to hurt Cordy runs into the library to ask Buffy for help. Buffy agrees to help her out. None of them have ever heard of look, listen and learn so they are all confused about the last word. Buffy and Cordy talk about what it is to feel alone. Cordy says that she feels alone all the time, that most of her friends just want to be around her so that they can feel popular but don't really care about her or what she thinks.

The Scooby's hear her playing the flute and go to find her. Buffy stands guard outside the closet while Cordy gets changed. Marcie leads the Scooby's into the boiler room where it turns out she was playing a tape to trick them into going down there and locking them in. Buffy starts talking about when she use to be popular and Cordy mocks her until she stops talking. Buffy goes inside only to find Marcie has captured her. Meanwhile the gas is on full down in the boiler room. The Scooby's don't have much time left. Buffy takes a hard fall and is put to sleep with drugs.

Buffy and Cordy wake up tied to chairs where the word Learn is written for all to see. Cordy's face is numb and Marcie gets ready to cut into it while the Scooby's try to escape the boiler room. It all seems hopeless. The Scooby's pass out and Marcie cuts Cordy. Buffy breaks free and knocks Marcie back while Angel saves the Scooby's and shuts off the gas. Buffy tries to fight Marcie but it is hard when you can't see who you are fighting. She tells Cordy to shut up and she starts listening for Marcie, it works and she knocks her down, just as Buffy starts winning the men in suits show up and tell everyone that they are FBI. They take Marcie and leaves.

Everything seems to be back to normal, but Giles lies to Buffy about Angel saving them and Cordy tells the gang thank you. Willow invites Cordy to lunch but her boyfriend shows up and she falls back into form. Marcie is sent to a school full of invisible kids who are being trained to become assassins. Something that could have been called back to later on even in the comics but never was. This one bothers me the most out of all of them because it is such a cool idea. Bring back Marcie! 

This episode that has a story by Joss Whedon and was written by David Greenwalt starts off with a bang. Buffy is walking through the Masters lair and he moves in for the kill when Buffy wakes up. Joyce sends her off to school but assures her that her father is going to come see her this weekend.  Buffy tells Willow that her parents got divorced last year but were separated a while before that. It doesn't really fit with the comics but that means they messed up since this came first.

We learn very quickly that Xander only pays attention to what girls wear and not what they say, even if the girl in question is his teacher. Buffy spots a little boy hanging out outside the classroom and moments later a kids book is over come with spiders. They swarm all over him.

Buffy keeps having nightmares, waking up screaming throughout the night. Buffy keeps worrying that her father isn't going to come for her but Joyce keeps telling her that she will show. Giles was lost in the back of the library. He seemed shaken. The Scooby's go to talk to the guy who was over run with spiders and he tells them how he loves spiders, until he was set off to camp and his brother let them all die and ever since he has had nightmares about spiders overrunning him. He blames himself for getting them all killed.

Cordy tells Buffy there is a history test and Buffy follows her. She isn't ready for it, Cordy seems unusually cheerful towards her. It is nice to see them getting along again. If only for a bit. Buffy goes to write her name on the test and her pencil breaks. Time seems to just be flying by. Her history teacher is a guy but in the pilot wasn't it a woman? She talked about the fun part of the black plague was. . . I think that was a mistake but it could just be part of the nightmares.

A girl goes down stairs to have a smoke break and the creepy little boy tells her that she shouldn't go down there. A monster attacks her beats her up, ironically there is a sign that says smoking kills. Buffy and Giles go to visit the girl who was beat up and she tells them that the only thing she heard was lucky 19. It turns out that she is the second victim. The first is the little boy who Buffy keeps seeing around the school and he is in a coma.

People around the school start having their worst fears come true. Xander and Willow walk into class and suddenly his clothes are gone. Giles can't read, he can normally read 5 languages. Buffy thinks the coma kid might be astral projecting. They are trying to figure it out when Hank Summers, Buffy's dad shows up and asks to talk to her. They go outside and he says that it is time to tell her the truth. He tells her that they broke up because of Buffy. Her being there was too much for them to handle. They couldn't deal with it. She ruined their lives because she was rude and not as smart as she should have been. He also tells her that she is being immature by crying about it. He also tells her that he doesn't want to do these weekend visits anymore, they don't do anything for him so he leaves. She sees the coma boy.

Xander and Willow head to the library to find Giles and Buffy. They only find Buffy, she is still elsewhere. Willow puts together that it is everyone's nightmares coming true. Giles said that dreams would be a wacky musical version of this. . . can you say Once More With Feelings!!! Giles and Willow put together that it must be Billy, the coma kid. They need to stop him fast because he just turned Cordy, my love, into a nerd with bad hair and that can not stand!

Buffy goes to talk to Billy. He is so sad, poor kid. He is lucky 19, or at least that is what the monster calls him. Buffy tries to get the information out of him but the monster shows up and starts attacking the slayer. He is a lot stronger than she is, forcing Buffy to run.

The Scooby's split up to find Buffy. Willow spots Cordy being dragged kicking and screaming into the chess club. That poor poor girl I should go save her. Some grabs Willow and she screams as we jump over to Xander finding a blocked off part of the school and a trail of candy bars leading him down a path he should not follow. Look I love candy but even I'm not that stupid. Come on Xander!! Buffy and Billy end up at the baseball field where the kid tells Buffy how he messed up the game. He should have won it for them. Buffy points out that there were other kids playing and it wasn't all his fault. The monster has found them again! They run off! Leading them to a cemetery.

Willow is thrown on stage to sing an opera, something she doesn't know how to do!! She is scared out of her mind of being in front of people as we learned last episode with the dramatic reading. Xander is attacked by a killer clown, something that he has been afraid of since he was 6. Buffy and Billy are attacked by the Master who throws her in a coffin and buries her alive, something that I has always been scared of, and something that will come back to hunt her in a few years. Willow and Giles find Xander as the killer clown chases them down, until Xander mans up and knocks the clown out. It makes him feel a lot better. No one else seems to be facing their fears the way he is.

Willow spots that the graveyard is across the street and it is night there. They find Buffy's gravestone. Giles is devastated. Buffy digs her way out of her grave, something she will do again years later. Giles and the others freak out for a moment when they see that she is a vampire. He tells her that they can fix this. She just has to keep it together till then.

The Scooby gang goes to Billy's room and see his astral form telling him that he is too scared to wake up. The monster attacks. Buffy goes to face him. Vampire slayer verses the monster, it is a lot  closer fight this time. Buffy knocks him out. She tells Billy to come finish it himself. He does it and the nightmares all go away as Billy wakes up. Just then the coach shows up and calls the boy his lucky 19. Buffy tells him he is awake and the coach doesn't seem happy. The boy calls him out on it and he tries to run off but Xander and Giles catch him. The coach gets arrested and Buffy's dad, her real dad comes to pick her up, thus ending this episode.

I like this episode a lot because it shows us that sometimes the most evil of monsters are really humans. We are the most evil thing in this world and this episode shines a light on it.

We have made it to the episode that introduces us to the greatest demon hunter ever. . .Sid! Written by Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali. The episode starts off with a voice talking about being made whole again. We move through a group of untalented students getting ready to audition where see a kid with a creepy puppet and hear Cordy trying and failing to sing. Giles is stuck supervising it, while he talks about the new principle named Snyder. The Scooby's sit and mock Giles for a while before running into the new principle, he forces all 3 of them to sign up for the talent show. Poor kids.

The kid with the puppet named Sid, additions and half way through it the puppet starts talking in its own voice and makes fun of the kid. Getting a reaction from everyone. Back in the locker rooms a girl is getting changed when she hears someone coming. The voice from the start yells that it will be made fresh and she screams.

The kids trying to show off skills and talents at this school are just jokes. Willow, Buffy and Xander are practicing a dramatic scene but Xander isn't in the spirit of it. The puppet hits on the girls and they get annoyed at his host for it. Snyder talks to Giles about how he is going to change everything about the school. He is going to whip it into shape. He doesn't think kids should be treated like people.

The girl is the locker room had her heart removed. It was removed by a knife, so the gang is thinking that it was a human and not a demon who did it. Buffy keeps pushing demon but Giles isn't buying it. I forgot how many times this first season Giles is wrong and one upped by Buffy. It's kind of funny. The gang goes to start questioning everyone about the girl and they all point them towards the kid with Sid. The kids name is Morgan. Buffy talks to Morgan and sees how he keeps holding his head. Sid tells Buffy off and she thinks it is Morgan. She hasn't yet put it all together yet.

The Scooby gang thinks it is Morgan who is doing everything. Buffy is fighting against this believe but everyone is against her.  Buffy breaks into his locker and someone is watching her. Out of nowhere Snyder gets a hold of and tells her he is watching her. Someone else is still watching both of them. She goes to get Sid but he isn't in there. We see that Sid and Morgan are the ones watching them. In a empty room Sid and Morgan are talking about Buffy and having to get rid of her. Once she is gone Sid will be free. Morgan fights against it.

Joyce wants to go see the talent show but Buffy doesn't want her there. She thinks that Joyce will be safer if she doesn't come. Buffy goes to sleep and Sid watches her from outside her window. Buffy lets out a scream and there is no sign of Sid. Joyce tells her it was all a nightmare. The magician keeps messing up his act as Cordy fights with Giles about where in the show she preforms.

Buffy tells the other Scooby's about what happened the last night. She tells them that she thinks it was Sid and all they all make fun of her. The rest still thinks that it is Morgan and not Sid. Meanwhile Giles finds out about a tribe of 7 demons who need to get 7 human organs to stay looking like humans. They now think that Morgan might be one of these demons.

In class the next day Sid keeps watching Buffy and turns to talk to Morgan. The teacher snaps at him and Sid talks back to the teacher. She takes the dummy up and Morgan is bothered by this. Sid keeps talking trash from inside the locked cabinet.  After class he goes to see the teacher to get Sid back but he is missing. Morgan freaks out.

It turns out that Xander stole him and brings him into the library to show the rest of the Scooby's. Xander keeps slamming his head into things to prove he is not real. Buffy goes off to find Morgan. Xander is having way too much fun with all of this. Willow and Giles go to do more research.

Buffy starts looking around under the stage where the only person she finds is Snyder who threatens her. He is very creepy and it wouldn't be a stretch to think that he is the demon. Willow finds a passage that says that if a doll has life it can harvest human organs to become a human. Now they start to agree with Buffy about the killer being Sid. Buffy finds Morgan's dead body and gets trapped under some lights. The demon. . . or puppet stole Morgan's brain and now is closing in on Buffy. She tries to get free but Sid shows up and tries to kill her. She gets free and traps Sid, the two of them both tell the other that they will never be human.

Buffy takes Sid back to the Scooby gang and we learn his back story. He was a demon hunter who was cursed into a dummy. Sid has killed 6 out of the 7 demons and if he can kill the last one he will be free. Now that the demon has the brain he will have taken off so they just need to find out who is missing. Buffy figures out that when Sid kills the last demon he will die. But it will be a blessing for him. He is ready to go.

No one is missing from the show. Buffy hops down to talk to Giles and Sid is gone. They are back to thinking he did it. Snyder watches on all creepy like making us think he might have did it. Buffy finds Morgan's brain so now we know the demon or dummy or Sid still needs a brain. They find out that Morgan has cancer and that is why the brain was rejected. Buffy and Xander think the demon is after Willow, meanwhile the magician is working with Giles. He is trying to cut his head open since he is the demon!!

Xander figures out that the demon is after Giles. Buffy runs off to go find him. She stops the demon from cutting off his head at the last minute but the rope still breaks and is about to cut off Giles head until Xander saves him. Together Buffy and Sid manage to kill the demon and save the day. Giles is shaken. Sid turns into just a dummy, his spirit leaving it behind. The episode ends with the Scooby's doing the drama reading. It is bad. Very Very Very bad. So bad that Willow runs off stage.

I love it!  

Welcome to episode 8 of the show we all know and love. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This story was written by Ashley Gable & Thomas A. Swyden. While being a great episode it does date the show more than any other episode. Not for any real reason other than the laptops seen in it. They look so ancient. The story itself almost fits in better now than it did then.

It starts off in the 1400's where a demon who gets people to love him before killing them is banished into a book for all time. Or at least till some stupid people from the 90's scan him into the computer and set him free on the internet. Who is responsible for all of this? Well the computer teacher and her students. Now this computer teacher? Yeah she is Jenny Calendar, future girlfriend of Giles and all around cool character whose time was cut far too short.

After everyone else leaves for the day Willow stays late and scans the book in question onto the schools computer. Right afterwards a message reads Where am I? The next day Willow tells Buffy that she was up all night talking to some guy, Buffy is all excited for her until she finds out that she met the guy online. That part scares Buffy. Willow gets kind of hurt that Buffy isn't happy for her so Buffy changes gears and becomes the supportive friend.

We see students, with the old ancient laptop, papers get replaced with pro-Nazi papers. The demon is on the move. Xander is jealous of Willow and her new online boyfriend. He is jealous of everyone and everything this season. Season one Xander is Mr. Jealousy. If a turtle got a girlfriend he would break down in tears. He starts putting thoughts into Buffy's head and gets her to rethink the relationship as well. Now she is against Willow's new relationship as well.

Willow starts coming to school late and blowing off classes. She starts getting into fights with Buffy about it. This new relationship is causing problems in their friendship and her life as a whole. Buffy goes to one of the smart guys in school for help and he gets all weird about it. Buffy thinks for a moment that he is behind it but he swears he isn't. Buffy goes to Giles and he thinks all the people who use computers are crazy like that. He can't do anything to help.

Buffy follows the smart kid back to a building runs by scientists. The weirder smart kid gets orders from the computer to kill Buffy. Things are getting bad and fast! Xander tells them that it closed down last year. So the question is who reopened it and why? Buffy says that her spider senses are tingling, a Marvel reference that fits well since the X-Man Kiddy Pryde is one of the inspirations for Buffy Summers herself. Buffy and Xander plan to check it out why Willow talks to her boyfriend who is starting to scare her.

Giles and Jenny get into a fight about computers vs books. Giles makes some good points that over the years have been proven to be true. Human interaction is quickly dying. We have started to cut ourselves off from one another and go out of our way to hide in our homes and pretend other people don't exist. It is getting bad!

Buffy is told that Willow is looking for her in the locker room where the shower is on. Buffy goes to turn it off and someone throws live wires into it almost killing her if it was for the one smart guy warning her. She lived but only just. The smart guy quits working for the computer demon.

Buffy and the others figure out what is going on. Buffy tries to find out more about him but the demon confronts Buffy and Xander says that he can't do anything while stuck in a computer while Buffy and Xander point out all that he can do. While this story is good for when it was made it could be so much more deadly in the modern age where we live our whole lives behind these damn machines.

Xander keeps trying to get a hold of Willow. Buffy finds the guy who saved her dead so she sets out with Xander to find and keep Willow safe while Giles tries to find a way to get the demon out of the computer and back into the book. Willow gets home to find a massage from her boyfriend wanting to meet her. She closes it and it turns back on. Someone knocks on the door but there is no one there. She turns around to look and gets kidnapped.

Giles starts to tell Jenny about the supernatural but she already knows. Buffy and Xander find Willow's house empty. Where are her parents? They figure that she must be at the building the computer kids rebuilt. Jenny knows the demon Giles is taking about. She is saying that everything he can find in his books she can find online. She is basically a cyber witch. She agrees to help Giles get him back into the book.

Willow wakes up to see her boyfriend, a evil demon robot. Adam? No not yet! The first evil robot demon! Jenny puts together a cyber circle to try and trap him again. Willow tells the demon off for lying to her. He tells her that he didn't. He also points how the world needs him. How people are evil and hurt each other every chance they get. He can save people from themselves. All they have to do is give him their love. Giles and Jenny start preforming the spell as Buffy and Xander try to get to Willow who is trapped with the demon. He finally accepts that she doesn't want to be with him. He feels that the only thing left to do is kill her but Giles spell halts him for a minute while Buffy breaks into the room.

The spell works, well kind of. He isn't trapped in the book, he is trapped in his robot body. The demon tries to kill the Scooby's, even over powering Buffy. Willow starts hitting him with a fire extinguisher. It gives Buffy the distraction she needs to electrocute him and save the day. Giles goes to see Jenny, giving her an earring and you can see just how much he likes her. Giles says that knowledge gained from computers are fleeting where as the knowledge from books lasts a great deal longer. She also starts flirting with Giles.

The Scooby's talk about how none of them have good love lives. They are all doomed to cursed relationships.

The origin of Angel is here at last, written by the one and only David Greenwalt. The episode starts off with the Master growing more and more pissed off that Buffy keeps stopping his me so he sends the 3 The Scooby's hang out at the Bronze as it has the most unsanitary event known to man. The prefumigation party where if you kill and turn in a cockroach you get a free drink. And people dig this. What happened to our health codes? To human hygiene? I' disgusted. . .  oh look a cockroach. Where's my free drink?

Buffy heads home and is attacked by the  3 when Angel swings by to save her. They rush back to her house where she invites him in. Angel takes his shirt off so that Buffy can patch him up and you can see how attracted to him she is. The chemistry between these two is intense Joyce comes home and Buffy rushes to her aid and tries to get upstairs as fast as possible, so that she wouldn't find Angel so of course he comes out and introduces himself. Joyce kicks Angel out so Buffy pretends to have him leave and then sneaks him up into her room.

Angel tells Buffy that vampires killed him family, it is kind of true, one vampire killed his family. He did it himself when e first became one. He quickly changes the topic when it gets close to this. Buffy and Angel have their first sleepover and while nothing happens between the two of them it is still very sweet. Xander is beyond jealous. There isn't a word for how jealous he is. It's bad.

The 3 offer their lives to the Master since they failed and he toys around with the thought of letting them live, then Darla kills them. Giles tries to tell Buffy that she needs a lot more training and she kicks his ass showing him up. She gets home and finds her diary on the stand and  starts yelling at Angel about reading it and that nothing he thinks he read is what she meant. He tells her that her mother moved it and he never looked inside. The two start kissing and he vamps out and jumps from the window. She lets out a scream, the man of her dreams just became the man of her nightmares.

Giles tells Buffy that there is no such thing as a good vampire. She has to slay him. It is her duty. Angel goes home to find Darla waiting for him. We learn here that Darla and Angel have a history. That they have been together for a long time and she is pissed that he is running around with a high school girl. He says that he isn't like Darla and the others and she points out that he is more like them than he would like to admit, that he can only hide from it for so long and the real Angel will come out soon. It's also the first time we hear about the curse.

Giles finds records of Angel but they are old. He hasn't done anything in almost a 100 years. Buffy asks if he could have reformed and Giles says that vampires don't reform. Later that night Willow and Buffy are working on history so that they can really talk about boys instead. Buffy doesn't want to kill Angel, she thinks he is a good man, or vamp as it is.

Joyce is home alone when Darla knocks on the door. She pretends to be a friend of Buffy's who is here to help her study for history. Joyce invites her in. Angel gets to the house just as Joyce lets out a scream and Darla has started feeding. She tosses the body to Angel and takes off. He vamps out, he didn't mean to it was just instinct but Buffy walks in and tosses him out of a window telling him that she will kill him if she sees him again.

Buffy gets Joyce to the hospital where the other Scooby's meet up with her. She is very confused about the librarian being there but she rolls with it. Buffy is now on a war path. She wants to go and stop Angel, she is pissed and wants blood. Giles warns her that Angel is dangerous and she needs to be careful while Darla is whispering dark thoughts into Angel's ear. He doesn't want to hear it but Darla won't stop.

Joyce and Giles start talking about Buffy. The start of a horrible relationship that Giles needs no part of. He can do so much better than her. Joyce mentions Darla and Giles figures out what really happens. He tells Willow and Xander and the three of them set off to go find Buffy.

Buffy tracks Angel down to the Bronze, since it is closed it is the perfect place for a show down. Angel doesn't try to explain who he is, what he is he just goes for the fight. Almost as if he wants to die. He even starts taunting Buffy, she asks him why he played all these games with her. Why didn't he just attack and kill her when he had the chance. He admits to Buffy that killed his family and everyone he met. He tells her about he curse that the gypsies did to him. He tells Buffy he hasn't fed on a living human being since that day. Which is a lie. We know of at least two people he has turned into a vampire since then. He tells Buffy that Darla fed on her mom and Buffy tells Angel he can kill her, he doesn't. That's the moment Darla shows up and we see the love triangle to end all love triangles. Darla and Buffy fight over Angel or Angelus as his demon name is. Darla even owns up to being Angel's sire.

Darla shoots Angel, it won't kill him but it will hurt! Buffy's crossbow is no match for a pair of guns. She is literally outgunned. Willow yells information that everyone already knows down below and it gives Buffy a chance to turn the tables of Darla. She tries and it goes her way or a bit but those damn guns keep getting in the way. Angel swoops in and stakes Darla. Stakes his sire, stakes his lover. He sacrifices his past for his future. It is the very definition of romantic. The Master breaks down. He misses Darla, his favorite child for 400 years. The anointed one whispers in his ear telling him that he will stand with him. He will help him on his quest.

  Angel shows up at the bronze to talk to Buffy. Xander shows off some more of that signature jealousy of his. He should really just start calling himself that. Angel tells Buffy that the two of them could never be a thing. So of course they start kissing. Her cross, the one he gave her burns into his neck and he says nothing. He takes the pain because it means he gets to kiss her.

One of my favorite episodes in season 1 written by Matt Kiene & Joe Reinkemeyer. We start off in the zoo as four bratty kids go around picking on people. Starting with Buffy and moving on to some nerdy guy. Willow and Xander point out to Buffy that even if the zoo is lame at least they aren't in class and she suddenly likes it more.

The jerk kids take the nerd into the hyena exhibit that is closed off. Buffy gets ready to go in and help but Xander jumps the guy and goes in first. Buffy and Willow try to follow him but the grounds keeper keeps them out. Telling them that some times hyena's can call out your name. Creepy.

Xander confronts the kids and the hyenas look up at them. Suddenly they aren't kids anymore but hyenas in kids bodies. With Xander as their leader. Willow tells Buffy how much she loves Xander and points out that Buffy feels the same way about Angel. She tries to deny it but Willow points out the leather coat that she is wearing. Xander picks this moment to show up. He is acting strange and not like himself at all.

Xander sniffs Buffy, very weird. The rest of the pack comes in and seem to pack down to Xander. They pick on some kid, calling him fat and Xander laughs. Willow and Buffy don't find it funny. Neither do I.

Principle Flutie chases a cute little pig with razors tied onto his back. This show seems to love pigs, or hate them depending on how you look at what happens to the little guys. Willow tries to teach Xander about math and he seems to be getting worse and worse at it. He freaks out and storms off. The pig is scared out of it's mind when it sees Xander.

It's a rainy day so PE plays dodgeball. The nerdy kid is on the same team as the pack including Xander while Buffy and Willow are on the other side. Xander takes out Willow leaving Buffy against the pack and the nerd. The pack attacks the nerd and leaves Buffy be. Buffy goes to stop them but they all take off and the PE teacher says how much he loves the game. Willow goes to confront Xander and he tells her off, that he doesn't need her and he wants nothing to do with her anymore.

The pack, lead by Xander eat the poor pig. It jumps from that to the scene where the pack walks through the cool looking way to cool. I don't know why but I have always loved this scene. It's so much fun and makes Xander look like a badass.

Willow feels like Xander just loves Buffy and hates her now. Buffy thinks that something is wrong with Xander and Giles thinks that is it just Xander being 16 years old. Buffy figures out that Xander is acting like a Hyena and Giles figures out about the primals.

Flutie calls the Pack, minus Xander into his office to confront about the poor pig while Xander tries to mate with Buffy by force. She puts him in check. He may be stronger but he isn't slayer strong. While Buffy is fighting off Xander the rest of the pack eats Flutie, thus giving us the end of the nice principle. Buffy locks Xander into the cage that sits in the library as Giles comes in and tells them about Flutie's death.

Buffy leaves Willow to watch Xander while Buffy and Giles go to talk to the grounds keeper. Xander tries to talk Willow into letting him out. He tries to play on her feelings for him and turn her against Buffy but he over plays his hand. She figures him out. The grounds keeper seems to know that the hyenas can do weird things. He tells Buffy it can be reversed and that the rest of the pack will come for Xander, which means Willow is all alone with a pack of man eating teenagers.

The pack frees Xander and Willow runs and hides. The pack finds Willow but Buffy saves her just in time. The two of them and Giles lock themselves in class to hide. The pack attacks a family trying to get into their car and Buffy stops them. She then leads them to the zoo. Giles goes inside to get things ready while Willow keeps watch outside.

Giles figures out that the grounds keeper wanted the power for the hyenas himself and he set it all but failed to figure it out and the pack stole his power by mistake. Willow rushes in and the grounds keeper is there alone. He ties Willow's hands up and tells her that he is sing her as bait. She buys it at first but quickly comes to figure out what is happening. She yells a warning to Buffy. He does a spell and takes the hyena's spirits from the pack. Xander rushes to free Willow but the guy fights him off and Buffy tosses him in with the real Hyenas who make quick work of him. This is when Giles picks to wake up.

Xander fakes not remembering anything and Giles tells him that he won't tell anyone. It's a fun episode that I've always enjoyed.

Buffy kills a vampire while Giles lectures her on not being good enough. In the ashes of the vampire she killed he finds a ring. The Master reads the prophecy about the anointed one, how five will die and he will rise. The anointed one will lead Buffy to her death and the Master is pissed that they almost messed it up by going out a night early. This episode by Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali sets the stage for the rest of the season. Pretty much everything until Spike shows up and kills the little brat.

Buffy is showing off to Giles that she can figure out what is going on just as well if not better than he can. Buffy in on her A game so she has to get knocked off, enter Owen! The cute guy that Buffy has a crush on. He seems like a bit of an awkward loser to me but Buffy and Cordy both seem to love him. Go figure. Giles tries to get back on track with finding out about the vampires that are in town but Buffy could care less. All she can think about is Owen.

Buffy brags to Willow and Xander gets jealous, that is his favorite color this season. Everything makes him jealous. Buffy tries to sit with Owen but Cordy blocks her and makes her look like a fool. Karma is a mean mistress. Cordy asks Owen to come out to the Bronze and he in turn invites Buffy. Cordy is heartbroken.

Giles tells Buffy about the prophecy of the anointed one and that it happens tonight, the same time that Buffy has her date with Owen. She is forced to blow it off and go to the graveyard with Giles where nothing happens. He lets go and she rushes to the Bronze only to find Owen in the arms of Cordelia. Leaving Buffy heartbroken. She leaves and goes home feeling defeated.

It turns out that Giles wasn't wrong. It was this night, they were just in the wrong place. A nearby bus is attacked by the vampires. Five people were killed.

Owen tells Buffy how sad he is hat she never showed. He tells her how Cordy kept throwing himself at him and he has no interest. He only likes Buffy. She says yes to their date. Giles shows up and shows her the article about the bus crash. He thinks that it might be the prophecy, turns out he is right, but Buffy won't hear it. She is going on her date with Owen no matter what.

Giles decides that he is going to check it out on his own. Buffy and Owen left before Giles but when Willow says that they should go with he jumps to going with Buffy and Owen, Giles is far too gone. I love the writing on this show. It is always so witty.

Buffy and Owen are having a great time on their date. Cordy shows up and right away tries to steal Owen away from Buffy. He isn't having it. She isn't use to getting shot down and doesn't handle it well. She storms off, leaving Buffy and Owen alone. No sooner does Giles get to the morgue than he is attacked by a gang of vampires. He runs inside and locks himself in a room. He is out numbered and out fanged. Willow and Xander show up, talking to Giles from outside a barred window. Giles sends them to go and get Buffy.

Cordy is bitching about Buffy and Angel walks in. She says Hello Salty goodness, the same thing she says in Spin the Bottle when she goes back to being a teenager and meets Angel. I love call backs like that. When Cordy sees that Angel is here for Buffy it pisses her off even more. She isn't the only one who quickly becomes upset. When Angel finds out that Buffy is on a date he gets upset. Xander and Willow show up, Buffy wants them all to leave but they say morgue and she figures out that Giles in trouble. She tries to ditch Owen but he follows her.

Buffy gets Xander and Willow to distract Owen while she goes and finds Giles. She tells him to stay hidden while she gets Owen and the others out of there. I don't get how Owen isn't picking up on something being wrong here? He is very slow. Xander and Willow block the door so that no one can get in and Owen just goes with it. He opens a curtain just in time to see the crazy guy from the bus rise as a vampire. The gang think that this must be the anointed  one. Buffy and Giles hear him attack the others and rush to their aid. Buffy takes him on so the other can escape but their path is blocked by the other vampires.

Buffy and Giles are tossed around like a rag doll and Owen rushes to help her. Xander and Willow  follow him, after all they promised Buffy they would keep him safe. Owen knocks out the vampire and makes sure Buffy is ok. The vamp wakes up and kills Owen, not really but that is what Buffy thinks, that's why the episode is named Never Kill a Boy on the first date. His death gives Buffy the anger she needs to beat the vampire by throwing him in the fire. She finds out Owen is alive and rushes to his side. He starts acting all weird and doesn't want to be around her. Poor Buffy.

Buffy asks Willow and Xander if Owen asked about her, they tell her no. Xander starts hinting around that she should date him but then Owen shows up and Willow drags Xander away. Buffy and Owen talk about what happened the night before. He asks her out again. He tells her how amazing last night was. He wants to go get in danger with her again. She tells him no. She breaks it off with him because she doesn't want to get him hurt. He is after the wrong thing and she knows it won't end well. Giles shows up and tells her about the time he learned about his destiny, even talks about his grandmother being a watcher, remember we learned about her in Tales of the Vampires? Giles helps Buffy deal with the break up. That this isn't the end of the world and that it isn't her fault that he was almost killed.

Buffy and Giles pat themselves on the back for killing the anointed but well the prophecy says the slayer will not know him, will not stop him and she didn't. Turns out the little boy on the bus is the anointed one. The season turns here and we are in for one hell of a ride!

Episode 4 is written by the one and only David Greenwalt. Who is he? He's the co-creator of the spin off show Angel! This is the first episode that he put his pen to, how cool is that?

The episode starts off with Xander slaying a vampire, wooing Buffy and more or less being a rock star. The stuff that dreams are made of, or at least Xander's dreams. He wakes up in science class where Buffy is put on the spot to answer a question about ants. She gets it wrong and the teacher takes her aside after class to tell her that he expects great things from her. She is smart and an go far as long as she doesn't let negative opinions get her down. She leaves class feeling great, so of course the teacher is killed moments later.

Later that night at the Bronze Xander walks around trying to fit in, news flash, he doesn't. Nothing he does it right, or cool. He's a loser, well not really. He's a teenager trying to find his place in the world he just doesn't know where it is. He takes a seat next to some classmate talking about how much sex they have. The jock says he slept with about 8 girls and Xander tries to pretend that he is hooking up with Buffy and Willow, but Buffy takes off the moment that Angel shows up. She clearly only has eyes for her mystery man. He clearly likes her as well, he gives her his jacket and Xander couldn't be more jealous.

Angel is a bit tore up, hey he is finally doing something around here! He tells Buffy about a vampire with a fork for a hand and Buffy goes to tell Giles who doesn't seem too worried. The Science teacher who has faith in Buffy is now gone, well duh he is dead! So they have a sub, and all the guys couldn't be happier! None of them can take their eyes off of her. Xander is even drooling a bit. He can't get out a sentence and the jock swoops in and takes the teacher away. Xander is left standing dumbfounded.

As they go into class Buffy finds their real teacher's glasses on the floor. Buffy starts to figure out that something is wrong. Any normal person would have picked them up. Cordy opens the fridge at school and the teacher's dead body falls out, minus a head.

Buffy and Giles figure out that whatever killed her teacher might not be the same guy who Angel warned her off. Buffy goes to the park to check it out. While there some old homeless guy warns her to go home, that this isn't the place she wants to be hanging out at night. She finds the vampire with a fork for a hand and they fight it out but the homeless man shows up, turning out to be a cop.

The fork vampire then tries to attack the sub but she takes one look at him and he runs off freaked out. Why would a teacher scare a vampire? The plot thickens! She tells Giles and he admits that it doesn't seem right. She needs to keep an eye on her. So Buffy runs to class but gets stopped by Principle Flutie who makes her talk to a specialist. She over hears Cordy talking to one about how it is helping her lose weight and the death has helped her so much. Only Cordy!

Buffy finally makes it to class just in time to see the sub's head turn all the way around. She even puts together that she might be an insect and that the jock who worked with her yesterday never came to class. Buffy is becoming  a real detective. The sub tells Xander to come meet her at her house and he agrees. He is in danger. It's nice how on Buffy the role of damsel in distress can be a guy as well a woman.

Willow's hacking skills are getting better and better. Giles finally comes around to believing Buffy and Buffy runs to tell Xander what they have found out. He thinks that Buffy is just jealous and tells her to stay out of his life. He gets to the sub's house and she is in a sexy little black dress and gives him booze. She is not a good teacher, she even starts hitting on him, asking him if he has ever had sex before. She is seducing him. She tells him that she knows he is a virgin and that is what she likes. He hears someone crying for help but she tells him it is nothing, as the drugs kick in he tells her that he loves Buffy just before he passes out.

Xander wakes up in a cage with the jock who tells him that the sub mates with you before cutting off your head. He tells her that she is a bug, proving Buffy right. Xander stays more or less relaxed. Hanging out with Buffy has mellowed him a bit. Giles finds out that she is a praying mantis who feeds on virgins. Buffy needs to hurry if she is to save Xander.

Buffy and co show up at her house to find an old woman. Turns out the praying mantis stole her identity to get into the school. They are now at a loss as to how to find and save Xander. And he needs them fast! The mantis comes for Xander and he attacks her breaking free and making a run for the stairs but she knocks him down. She sets Xander up for mating. He's all but dead.

Buffy finds the vampire with the fork and forces him to lead her to he mantis, figuring that since he is scared of her that he can detect her. He breaks free after leading them to the house and Buffy slays him. She breaks into the basement just in time to save Xander. She uses the tape recording of the bat to hurt her but it's just a recording of Giles voice. One of the funniest moments of the first season. They finally get the tape right and play the bat sound. Buffy makes quick work of killing the mantis and saving the guys. The jock threatens to sue if they tell anyone that he is a virgin. Very funny.

Buffy offers Angel his jacket back but he tells her it looks better on her. The start of romance is at a start. The new science teacher is dreadfully boring. Now the ending of this episode, much like the last one is an example of season 1 setting up so much that never came to pass. The last scene is mantis's eggs in the closet getting ready to hatch. Now if it is getting ready to hatch it isn't going to take 3 years to finally hatch, that just doesn't make sense. Also does that mean that the science teacher was virgin? So many questions that I now have.

Over all this was a cool episode and the first to really give Xander a spotlight which we can never have enough of. Unlike most of the online Buffy fan's I love Xander. He's a great character.  

Episode 3, written by Dana Reston, starts out with Giles having a meltdown because Buffy is trying out for cheerleading. After all it's safe right? When does referring to something as safe ever seem like a good idea? It almost always means the show will cut to something bad happening and sure enough the moment the words are out of her mouth the episode cuts to a witch preparing  spell.

Xander gets Buffy a bracelet that says yours always. He ties to play it off that it came like that and he didn't tell them to put that. Willow is clearly jealous. After all she loves Xander and all he has to do is stop being blinded by the hot blonde they hang out with.

Buffy and a girl by the name of Amy hit it off. Turns out she is an old friend of Willow's. The girl is all about cheerleading and wanting to be just like her mother. The girl trying out while they are taking catches on fire. Just like that.

Giles assures them that they are not dealing with Vampires. They think that the problem is with amber. That she is the one that caused this to action. Willow calls her and Xander the slayeretts, not yet the Scooby's but not a bad first try.

Buffy goes home to talk to her mom about her day and her mom could careless about what is happening in Buffy's life. Buffy tells her that she is doing cheerleading and Joyce says that will get her out of trouble, Buffy points out she isn't in trouble and her mom says not yet. That's the type of person Joyce is. The online Buffy fans love Joyce and I just don't get it. She is a horrible mother, the worst. She hates her daughter all you have to do is watch the show to see that.

Cordy threatens Amy not to get in her way. She wants to be a cheerleader and she isn't going to let anyone get in her way. Amy doesn't seem happy about the threat. Buffy and Amy are both alternates while Cordy made the team.  The hidden witch does a spell on Cordy while Joyce tries to tell Buffy to join year book. Telling her that whatever it is that Buffy does gets her in trouble and got her kicked out of school. Blaming Buffy for all their family problems. You can tell she felt bad afterwards but she still should never have said it.

Cordy is made blind and wrecks her driver's ed car. Buffy saves her at the last minute from getting run over. Buffy and co quickly put together that it must be Amy. She wants to be a cheerleader so bad that it has to be her getting rid of other cheerleaders. Giles tells Buffy they have to make sure it is her before they go after her. Willow says they need to check who rented all the witch books out of the library. Turns out all of them were rented out by Xander so that he could look at the naked pictures in the book. The perv!

Buffy manages to put a potion on Amy showing them that she is a witch but the fact that she looked scared when she saw what happened convinces Buffy that maybe she isn't sure what she is doing. They need to talk to her mother. Meanwhile at Amy's house we see how scared her mother is of her.

Buffy is infected by a spell that makes her way too hyper. It's starting to kill her and even gets her kicked off the team. She is acting almost drunk. Amy makes it on the team. Giles and a dying Buffy confront her mom who seems far too scared to be normal. Buffy figures out that Amy and her mom switched bodies. Giles finds all of Amy's books. He can now undo the spells.

Amy, or Amy's mom is in the middle of cheering when Giles starts undoing the spells. She starts flashing back to her body. She knows something is up and isn't happy about it. She storms into the classroom Giles is working in right as the spells are undone. Buffy protects Amy, now back in her body, from her crazy mother. She does a spell to end Buffy once and for all but Buffy uses a mirror to reflect the curse and she vanishes. Is this the end of Amy's mother?

Like a lot of plot lines in season 1, they leave it set up for a sequel to this episode but never does anything with it. Her mom is trapped inside a statue in the display case and with the exception of Oz looking at it and thinking the eyes move with her, and Xander figuring out that Amy is following in her mom's footprints, they never really bring it up again. A lot of cool storylines that could have been continued but never were. Oh well, still the best show ever made.