Overall Rating: 8.4
Matt: 8.2
Eric: 8.6
Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Director : James A. Contner
Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg.
Main guest stars : Tom Lenk as Andrew, Iyari Limon as Kennedy, Clara Bryant as Molly,
Indigo as Rona, Felicia Day as Vi, James C. Leary as Clem
Original broadcast date : January 21, 2003
My one-line description:
In a cemetery, Rona and Vi are being attacked by a vampire. It grabs Vi by the
neck and leans in as if to bite her
then stops. Its Spike, whos
helping Buffy train the SITs. Buffy appears and criticizes their actions; she asks
the girls what they were thinking about when Spike attacked, and after lying a bit
they finally confess they were thinking about running away. Buffy replies that running
away to regroup is a good idea it allows them to face the battle on their own
terms. She then asks Spike what he was thinking about, and he replies that he was
thinking about the hunt. Buffy decides to show the SITs how its done, and Spike
and her simulate a fight
but they almost end up touching each other in the wrong
places, and embarrassedly break apart, while the SITs smirk.
The next morning, Buffy is lecturing the SITs on the Firsts withdrawal it had a lot vested in Ubie, so now it has to regroup. It gives them time, but itll be dangerous when the First returns. The girls still arent too sure of themselves and their power, and questions fuse. Buffy tells them that she knows theyre tired and far from home, but even though being a Slayer means breathing death, its cool since they have a purpose in life. As she leaves them to their thoughts, Buffy passes Dawn in the doorway and tells her to prepare for school. Dawn doesnt look too happy about it.
At work, Buffy is on the phone telling Xander to lock the bathroom door if hes taking a shower (har har). We also learn that Giles is in China fetching another SIT. While she talks, Amanda (the girl from Help) appears, and Buffy motions for her to come in. She hangs up, and Amanda tells her about her latest problem some boy is being mean to her, and she wonders if that means he likes her (poor Amanda, she looks like Season 1 Willow without the good looks). Buffy confusedly rambles about boys and girls being mean to one another as a way to show interest, which leaves Amanda confused and a bit lost.
Late that afternoon, the Slayer comes home to the now-usual teenage mayhem. She attempts to break it up, but Willow attracts her attention to the fact that the Coven has located another SIT right here in Sunnydale. Theyre all worried that the First is once more among them in disguise, but Willow promises to do a locator spell while Buffy is out training with the younguns.
In the kitchen, Molly and another SIT are playing with some weapons, and when Dawn
walks in, Molly jokingly points her crossbow at her. Dawn isnt impressed. In
fact, she looks depressed that the SITs are going out while shes getting ready
for bed. Buffy comes in, followed by Andrew, who is begging her to let him come along.
Buffy, of course, wont have any of it.
Sometime later, Willow is assembling the ingredients for her locator spell. She throws them in the fireplace, explaining to Anya, Xander and Dawn what each ingredient stands for, and finishes off by throwing in a hardboiled egg. Immediately, a noxious smell invades the room, along with a lot of smoke. A big ball of orange energy arises, but just hovers there in the middle of the room. The Scoobies are all disgusted by the smell, so Dawn moves to open the front door and the energy ball rams right into her. As Dawn stands, startled and unmoving, Willow looks at her with stupefied realization Dawn is a potential Slayer.
The Scoobies are very happy, but Dawn is having a lot of trouble taking all of this in. She begs them not to tell Buffy right now, especially since ghost-Joyce told her things about the Slayer. Willow notes that Buffy will have to die for Dawn to become the Slayer, and the teen suddenly panics this is too much for her head. She flies upstairs into her room, while the others discuss what they should do. Upstairs, Dawn hears them talking, and suddenly makes a decision. Opening the window, she slips outside (in a scene reminiscent of Buffy in Welcome to the Hellmouth.
Buffy and Spike, meanwhile, have taken the SITs to a run-down demon bar. They sure wonder why theyre here, but Buffy explains that sometimes the Slayer has to go to unsavoury places like this to get information from the demons. She seems pretty adamant that its the only reason the Slayer would come to a place like this except suddenly, somebody joyfully calls her name. She turns around its Clem! She happily greets him and asks him how hes been, then introduces the SITs to him. Getting an idea, Buffy takes Clem aside
When they come back, Clem gets close to the girls
and in a shocking second, shows them his true face (boo!). The SITs are, of course, scared out of their wits
Walking around town, looking quite confused, Dawn runs into Amanda, who is just coming back from school. She has a cut on her forehead, and Dawn asks about it. Amanda thinks Dawn wont believe her, but she tells her she ran into a man
who changed into something there was something wrong with his face and his teeth. She managed to lock him in a classroom before getting away. Dawn realizes what this is about, and says shell take care of it she knows about these things. Amanda replies that she was looking for Buffy, because shed heard she may be able to help with this kind of thing. Dawn uncomfortably says that she also can help.
The two girls drop into the school building from an open window, and proceed to the classroom where the vampire is locked up. When they get there, however, Dawn discovers the door is unlocked
Dawn pushes it open, and they slowly enter no vampire. They think hes gotten away, but the camera tilts upwards to show him hanging from the ceiling over the door
He drops onto them, and the girls, startled, run off further into the classroom. As Dawn tries to do battle with the bloodsucker, the scene shifts to
crypt, where Buffy and Spike are teaching the girls about how a vampire lives. One SIT suddenly asks Spike how he used to live when he had no soul, and he tries to describe it in endearing terms, using the word posh (much to Mollys pleasure). Comfy, adds Buffy. The girls, not dumb at all, ask when she had the chance to discover it was comfy. Spike and Buffy embarrassedly try to explain, while the girls laugh. However, the laughter dies down when they find a dead body
Leftovers, Buffy says, before realizing that its a newborn vampire
At the school, Dawn picks up a flagstaff, breaks it in half and whacks the vampire with it. She merely succeeds in slowing it down, and the girls decide that the better part of valor is to run away.
As the newborn vampire gets up, growling, one of the SITs comments that she thought that this was a dead body. That was a minute ago, Buffy replies; now, its the enemy. She engages the fiend, while lecturing the SITs about how important it is not to make any mistake. After all, it only takes one vampire to kill them.
Dawn and Amanda barricade themselves in a room using heavy office furniture, but its obvious the vampire is going to break the door down
Which he finally manages, of course. But by then, they have bigger problems, as four or five Bringers have shown up. And theyre not looking for Dawn
At the crypt, Buffy finishes giving her lecture to the SITs, while still battling the vampire. Being done, she and Spike step outside and close the doors to the crypt, locking the terrified girls in with the vampire
At the house, Willow is knocking on Dawns bedroom door, and getting no answer. Anya suggests breaking the door down, but Willow just opens it no lock. Inside, no Dawn, but they look at the open window and realize whats going on. And they know the Bringers will be on the lookout for her
Amanda, meanwhile, is petrified with fear as the Bringers chase the girls down a
staircase. Realizing this isnt her fight, Dawn hands the broken flagstaff
over to her, and encourages the reluctant SIT to use it she has to do this.
Impressively, Amanda overcomes her fears and launches herself at the vampire, while
Buffy, Spike and the gang, having just arrived, take care of the Bringers. Amanda
easily dusts the vampire; after all is done, Dawn explains to her sister that Amanda
is the new SIT they were looking for.
The next morning, the SITs Amanda among them are in the living room
sharing the stories of their recent exploits, as Dawn watches from the doorway.
Buffy comes by, and Dawn informs her that shes going to hit the research.
Buffy nods and goes into the living room, calling the SITs to more training in the
basement. They all file out, walking past Dawn. Only Amanda glances at her and
smiles briefly as she walks by her. Shes not part of their world.
Clearly sad, Dawn goes to the dining room and sits down in front of a book but her mind is elsewhere. After a moment, she notices Xander standing in the doorway behind her. He tells her that he knows what it feels like to be the one not chosen, to not be special. He says that for seven years, he watched his friends grow more and more powerful Buffy, Willow, Oz
And hes the one who fixes the broken windows. He adds that Buffy and the others probably dont know what she went through and what shes feeling, but he does he saw her at the school, how one second she had the power, and the next she handed the crown over to Amanda without a hesitation. Youre not special, he says. Youre extraordinary. Dawn now has tears in her eyes, and Xander gently kisses her on the forehead. As he turns to go, she muses that maybe thats his power seeing in other people. He smiles and comments that maybe he should get a cape. Dawn laughs through her tears as he leaves the room. Left alone, she gets down to the research.
Summary by OttsFiveByFive
Special thanks to Loey.