Story Arc - S01E02 to S01E10

Episode S01E02 – The Harvest

Summary from Wikipedia

Luke (Brian Thompson) is about to finish off Buffy, who is trapped in a stone coffin, but she repels him with the silver cross that a mysterious stranger (David Boreanaz) had given her earlier that evening. She then escapes the mausoleum and saves her new friends Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) from vampires in the graveyard. However, Darla (Julie Benz) has already taken Jesse McNally (Eric Balfour), and she and Luke now inform The Master (Mark Metcalf) about Buffy’s unusual fighting abilities and knowledge of the supernatural, and it is suspected that she may be a new Slayer. The Master decides to use Jesse as bait.

In the library, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and Buffy reveal to Xander and Willow the supernatural world of vampires, demons and Slayers, and that Buffy is the latest Slayer to endow powers chosen to fight supernatural threats. Willow accesses the city council’s plans for Sunnydale’s tunnel system, and Buffy realizes that there must be a means of access to it from the crypt where she fought Luke and Darla. Willow expresses her “need to help” now that she knows about the supernatural, and so continues assisting Giles with research. Xander, however, is hurt when Buffy declines his help in physically tracking down Luke.

Willow is researching the Master and his minions in the computer lab when she overhears Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) badmouthing Buffy, and is then insulted by Cordelia when she attempts to defend her new friend. Willow exacts revenge by convincing the computer-illiterate Cordelia to press the DEL key to “deliver her assignment”, thus deleting it from the system.

The dark stranger appears again just as Buffy is about to enter the tunnel system in the crypt, and tells her his name is Angel. He gives her directions to The Master’s lair, but pointedly refrains from wishing her luck until she is out of earshot. Xander catches up with Buffy in the tunnels, having decided to follow her anyway despite her earlier attempts at discouraging him. They find Jesse seemingly alive and unhurt, but he leads them to a dead-end in the tunnel system and then reveals that he has already been turned into a vampire. Buffy and Xander barely manage to escape.

Underground, the Master is unhappy about their escape and punishes the vampire Colin by violently poking his eyes out. Luke then drinks the Master’s blood, turning Luke into “the Vessel”. Back at the library, Giles explains what he and Willow have discovered; that an ancient vampire, The Master, arrived in Sunnydale with his minions 60 years ago. He intended to open the Hellmouth, which is below Sunnydale - a portal between this reality and another, demonic reality - but he was swallowed by an unexpected earthquake and is now trapped in a church that is buried underground. If the Hellmouth opens, demons will invade the Earth. Tonight is a once-in-a-century opportunity called The Harvest in which, by choosing one of his minions to drink The Master’s blood and marking him with the ritual’s symbol, the vampire king will draw strength from each of this minion’s victims, until he is powerful enough to finally break free from his confinement and resume what he has started decades ago. To prevent this, Buffy and her gang of friends must kill the Vessel. They wonder where the vampires might attack so as to ensure the optimum number of victims, and Xander suggests The Bronze, as he realizes that the vampires have been using it as their feeding ground.

On her way there with the others, Buffy stops by her house to pick up some additional weapons before the fight, but is promptly grounded by her mother (Kristine Sutherland), who has received a call from Principal Flutie (Ken Lerner) about Buffy skipping classes and is now terrified that the same events which led to Buffy being expelled from her previous school are happening again. Knowing that she cannot abide by her mother’s wishes, Buffy collects her weapons from a secret compartment in a chest (the top layer of which is filled with stereotypical girlie items so as not to arouse suspicion) and climbs out of the second-floor window.

Luke and other vampires burst into The Bronze to begin feeding. Buffy arrives just in time to save Cordelia, who was newly attracted to Jesse because of the greater confidence he had gained as a vampire. Buffy notices the Vessel mark on Luke’s forehead, and begin to fight him. Xander confronts Jesse with a stake, but is spared the choice of either killing or being killed by his former best friend when a fleeing woman accidentally pushes him into Jesse so that the stake pierces the vampire’s heart. Darla knocks Giles to the ground and is about to bite him, but Willow saves him by pouring holy water on Darla. Buffy smashes a window so that extra light pours into the room, and Luke is momentarily stunned because he thinks it is daylight, allowing Buffy to stake him and so prevent The Master from rising. Angel watches as the now-leaderless vampires flee from The Bronze; he is clearly impressed by Buffy’s success.

The next morning, despite Xander’s expectation, Cordelia exemplifies Sunnydale residents’ denial towards the paranormal, and thus nothing apparently changes. Giles warns Buffy and her friends that the Hellmouth will continue to act as a magnet for demonic forces and that many more battles lie ahead, a fact which they accept more nonchalantly than he would like.

Discuss

After all the things that happened, everyone carries on like no paranormal things really happened. How likely is a collective denial of reality really like that?

Episode S01E03 - Witch

Summary from Wikipedia

Despite Giles’ (Anthony Stewart Head) misgivings, Buffy decides to try out for the cheerleading team in order to reclaim some of the happy, normal social life she enjoyed back in LA. During trials, the hands of a girl named Amber spontaneously combust. An unknown person is shown to be using Barbie dolls dressed as cheerleaders in a voodoo-like ritual over a cauldron. The next day, Cordelia is struck blind during her drivers ed class, and is saved from wandering into traffic in the nick of time by Buffy. According to Giles, blinding enemies is a favorite trick amongst witches.

Amy Madison (Elizabeth Anne Allen), another contender, seems to be under intense pressure to compete from her domineering mother (Robin Riker), a star cheerleader in her day, and is crushed when she only makes the substitute list after Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) and Buffy. Believing Amy to be a witch, Buffy, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) collect some of Amy’s hair during science class, to prove that she cast the spells. Amy goes home and orders her mother to do her homework, while she goes upstairs with a bracelet she stole from Buffy during class.

The next morning Buffy is behaving in a somewhat unstable manner. She blows her chance at the cheerleading squad when she tosses the head cheerleader, Joy, through the room, ceding her place to Amy. Buffy turns out to have something more than just a mood disorder: a bloodstone vengeance spell has destroyed her immune system, giving her only about three hours to live. The only way to cure her and break the other spells is to get the witch’s spell book and reverse the magic. The ailing Buffy and Giles confront Amy’s mother, Catherine, and find out that Catherine switched bodies with her daughter months before, saying that Amy was wasting her youth, so she took it for herself. Giles finds the witch’s book and takes Amy and Buffy back to the school to break the spells.

Amy/Catherine is cheering Sunnydale’s basketball team when she starts getting flashes of what Giles is trying to do. Xander and Willow are unable to stop her from storming into the science lab with an axe but buy enough time for Giles to break the spells: Amy and Catherine are restored to their own bodies, and Buffy feels well enough to fight. However, Amy’s mother’s power is too great, and it is only by reflecting her last spell back onto her that Buffy saves the day. Catherine vanishes with a scream.

When Amy and Buffy talk in the school hall the next day, they pass by the trophy collection where the cheerleading trophy of “Catherine the Great” stands. While both girls wonder where Amy’s mother ended up, the camera pulls close to the statue’s face, revealing the mother’s eyes and a muffled voice pleading for help.

Discuss

This episode covers a mother trying to live through her kid. How common is it to have a parent try and live through their kid’s experiences? Have you seen any examples of this? Why do you think it occurs? What issues/experiences might cause a parent to do this? What might happen to the child’s development because of this? What is the difference between trying to find common, relatable things between parent/child and pushing that too far?

Episode S01E04 – Teacher’s Pet

Summary from Wikipedia

After a biology class, Dr. Gregory is killed by an unseen monster, which only shows a pair of large eyes and an insectile limb. The next day, Buffy is alarmed by news of Dr. Gregory’s disappearance, but the boys in her class are more interested in the beautiful substitute teacher, Natalie French (Musetta Vander), who seems to have a fixation on insects, especially the praying mantis. Miss French suggests making model egg sacs for the upcoming science fair and asks the class for help. She selects Blayne as her lab partner for that day, to be followed by Xander the next day.

Cordelia finds the headless body of Dr. Gregory inside a cafeteria refrigerator. That night Buffy goes into the park and confronts a vampire who has a large claw in place of his right hand. They fight but are interrupted by the police and the vampire escapes. It encounters Miss French while she is walking home with groceries and flees in terror, indicating that Miss French is not human.

The next day Buffy is late for her Biology class and is horrified to watch as Miss French seems to sense somebody at the door and then turns her head 180 degrees to see who it is. After the class, Miss French claims to have left supplies at home so she asks Xander to come over to her house that evening and work on the egg-sac project there instead.

Back in the library, Buffy realizes that Blayne never returned home from helping Miss French. Giles recalls a creature known as the “She-Mantis”, or the “Virgin Thief”, which preys on virgin males to fertilize its young. That night, Xander arrives at Miss French’s house to find her wearing a tight dress and acting in a sexually suggestive manner. She offers him a drink, which he takes and then collapses. She turns into her mantis form and takes his body to a cage in the basement, where he wakes up next to Blayne.

Meanwhile, Willow calls Xander’s mother and finds out that he is not home. The Scoobies then go to the house where Miss French supposedly lives, but find a retired teacher there whose name the mantis has stolen. Desperate to find the real house before it is too late, Buffy tracks the one-handed vampire and forces him to locate the correct house. Buffy breaks through the window just as Miss French (now in mantis form) is about to mate with Xander. She burns the monster with insect repellent while the others free Xander and Blayne. Giles and Buffy, using recorded bat sonar, send it into convulsions so Buffy can hack it to death with a machete.

Discussion

In this episode the monster uses good looks to prey on innocent people. How does this parallel real life? Why are victims often young/innocent? What counter does experience have to this? Does it always work?

Episode S01E05 – Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Major questions we dive into: Buffy dates a guy that finds out who she is. He’s fascinated by the excitement and wants to be a part of it. Almost being killed made him feel “alive.” He doesn’t take the risk seriously, Buffy can’t stay with him because of it.

How does this fit with real-life cases of someone getting into danger for the thrill, and not properly managing the risk it involves?

Major plot advancement: There’s a boy who becomes a vampire. He is the Master’s “Anointed One” who will help the Master become strong and escape.

Episode S01E06 – The Pack

Major questions we dive into: The episode dives into teen bullying and pack behavior. When acting as a group, people can make terrible decisions, cruel ones, which they never would if they acted as individuals.

Major plot advancement: Principal Flutie gets eaten, and will get replaced by Principal Snyder.

Episode S01E07 – Angel

Major questions we dive into: There’s a common lore around vampires that they can’t enter a person’s home without being invited. What is this a metaphor for? This episode also equates a soul with caring about other people. Someone who causes harm to another, and even enjoys it, does not have a soul.

Major plot advancement: We find out Angel is a vampire. An old one, known for horrible things. But for the last few decades, he hasn’t been attacking people. Turns out he’s been cursed with a soul, so now he feels remorse.

Episode S01E08 – I, Robot… You, Jane

Major questions we dive into: This episode was made in 1997, at the beginning of the Internet’s popularity. It touches on the ability to, just through text, be powerful and seductive on the Internet. How to win people over with promises of love, power, or fame.

There’s also a scene where Buffy, Willow, and Xander joke that with everything happening in Sunnydale, the chance of them finding true love is non-existent. Then they stop laughing when they realize it isn’t funny. What things can happen in a person’s life that makes finding love incredibly difficult?

Major plot advancement: This episode introduces Jenny Calendar, a computer teacher. She seems to know a lot about both technology and the occult.

Episode S01E09 – The Puppet Show

Major questions we dive into: In this episode the gang figures out that a ventriloquist dummy is actually alive. They naturally think all the deaths in this episode are because of the dummy. I mean, it is creepy, right? But turns out that was a bad assumption. The dummy is also working to find out who is doing all the killing. The first point is on perspective. If a person is doing strange things, don’t always assume evil intent.

Second, the dummy is tasked with finding this last murderous demon. Once killed, the magic keeping the dummy alive will dispel, causing him to die. This touches on cases where a sense of duty can supersede a fear or death, of sacrifice, and of being so old that it is “time to move on.”

Third, why are dummies so creepy?

Fourth, the new principal is contrasted to the old with this quote: “I know Principal Flutie would have said, ‘Kids need understanding. Kids are human beings.’ That’s the kind of wooly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.” Why are there such widely different views on how to raise kids?

Major plot advancement: None

Episode S01E10 - Nightmares

Summary from Wikipedia

The episode begins with Buffy having a nightmare about going to The Master’s lair and being choked by him. Buffy’s mother, Joyce, shakes her awake, and as Buffy wakes up, she remembers that she is excited to be spending the coming weekend with her father. Buffy confides to Willow that she thinks she might have something to do with her parents’ divorce. In a class, when the teacher asks Wendell to read from the text book, tarantulas crawl out of it. Buffy sees a boy standing in the doorway, saying that he is sorry.

The next day, as the Master explains to Collin, the Anointed One, how wonderful he finds fear, Buffy is nervous about being picked up by her father after school, and her mother calms her down. At school, Willow and Xander are worried about the spiders, and want to talk to Giles about it. Giles mutters that he “got lost,” seemingly in the stacks of books. Giles has no information on the spiders so the gang goes to talk to Wendell, who explains he has been having recurring spider nightmares.

In the meantime, Cordelia lets Buffy know about a history test that Buffy has not studied for. Buffy has a hard time even finding the class, and the test is over in what feels like a moment; Buffy has not even filled in her name. She once again sees the same boy outside the classroom. As break-time begins, a girl named Laura takes a smoking break in the basement. An ugly man comes out of the shadows and says, “lucky nineteen” before assaulting Laura.

Later, Buffy and Giles interview Laura in the hospital, where they hear about “lucky nineteen.” They also find the young boy from before (Billy), in a coma due to a similar attack. More nightmarish instances start to occur, starting with Xander finding that all of his clothing has vanished and he is naked in his classroom. Giles now cannot read but he finds a picture of Billy. Cordelia’s hair becomes a disheveled, spiky mess, her designer clothes become horribly drab and nerdy, and she is physically forced to join the school chess club. Buffy realizes that she had been seeing Billy at school while he was still in a coma at the hospital. Giles theorizes she might have been seeing Billy’s astral projection.

Buffy’s father shows up and calmly tells her that she is at fault for her parents’ divorce, because she is such a difficult child and he can’t stand being around her. Then he scolds her for crying at his hurtful accusations and tells her he never wants to see her again. The Scooby Gang quickly figures out that their nightmares are becoming reality, including Xander’s nightmare of being chased by a clown and Willow’s nightmare of appearing on stage, expected to perform Madama Butterfly. Buffy finds Billy’s astral body, and then they are both found by the man who assaulted Laura. Nightmares plague everyone and Buffy learns Billy has experienced some sort of punishment for poor baseball skills. They evade the scary man and find themselves in a graveyard where The Master confronts Buffy, and buries her alive.

Meanwhile, Willow, Xander and Giles find Buffy’s grave. Giles explains that it is his worst nightmare to let Buffy die on his watch. Buffy then crawls out of the grave as a vampire, revealing her worst nightmare is dying and becoming a vampire herself. The gang decides that they must wake up Billy from his coma to stop the nightmares. In the hospital, they find Billy’s astral body near Billy’s comatose body. As the ugly man finds him, Buffy confronts him. After knocking him out, she encourages Billy to face him. Billy wakes up and everything is back to normal.

Billy’s Kiddie League coach shows up, and refers to him as his “lucky nineteen”. Buffy realizes he must be the “ugly man” who put Billy into a coma after they lost the game. He tries to run after Buffy confronts him, but is stopped by Giles and Xander and arrested. The episode ends when Buffy and her father leave for their weekend together, the previous confrontation just an unreal nightmare.

Discussion

What nightmares existed for each character in the show? How are nightmares specific to the characters?

What are common (or cliche) nightmares people experience?

How does deep-seated fear affect us?

What are the after-effects of trauma?