Buffy Season II Episode Guide #13: When She Was Bad

It's the end of summer vacation for the students of Sunnydale High. Buffy spent her vacation with her father. Xander, Willow, and Giles used their time for such activities as burying the remains of the Master, whom Buffy defeated during prom night months ago. On the last night before the start of the school year, Willow and Xander's playful banter nearly leads them to a kiss, but a vampire appears out of nowhere for the first time since the Hellmouth was closed. Xander tries to fight it off, but the vampire is too strong and prepares to sink his fangs into Xander's neck. Just then, Buffy arrives and defeats the vampire. Looks like things are back to normal, as far as normalcy above the mouth of Hell can be.

The next day, the first day of school, Giles and Ms. Calendar reunite with Buffy, Willow, and Xander. To Giles' surprise, Buffy decides that she's ready to continue her training, so they meet in the library after school. While attacking a punching stand, Buffy has visions of the Master which drive her to repeatedly pound on the stand until she breaks it clean off its support. This worries Giles, but he doesn't say anything. Later that night, Buffy has a nightmare in which Giles attacks her in front of Xander and Willow. Before she wakes up, Buffy pulls at Giles' face, only to reveal that it is a mask, behind which lies the Master. As Buffy stirs from her sleep, she notices that Angel has entered her room. He warns her that the Annointed One has been gathering vampires in an unknown location, but Buffy really doesn't care about what he has to say and turns her back to him. Confused, Angel leaves her room. Elsewhere, in the graveyard, vampires dig up the remains of the Master. Watching over them is their leader, the Annointed One.

The next day, Buffy, Willow, and Xander bump into Cordelia, who loudly asks if they fought any demons recently. Willow and Xander clue Cordy in on the do's and don'ts of discussing Buffy's Slayer activities, but Cordy makes it clear that she hasn't and won't tell anyone about Buffy's secret. Instead of a thank you, Buffy replies, "Well, that works out great. You won't tell anyone that I'm a Slayer, and I won't tell anyone you're a moron." At this point, Willow, Xander, and Cordy realize that Buffy is not acting like herself. They meet up later that night at the Bronze. Angel is there also, but when he tries to ask Buffy what's wrong, she shuns him and invites Xander onto the dance floor. She teases him and slides her body around his, confirming everyone's suspicion that something was definitely wrong with Buffy. As Buffy leaves the Bronze, Cordy tries to talk some sense into her. Once again, Buffy just ignores her and walks away. She's so caught up in herself that she doesn't even notice vampires grabbing Cordy and draggin her away. Cordelia is taken to a dark warehouse, where she finds Ms. Calendar lying on the floor, unconscious.

Giles and the others receive a note with Cordelia's bracelet attached to it. The note reads: "Come to the Bronze before it opens, or we make her our meal." Buffy goes by herself, telling the others that she doesn't want them accompanying her on any more missions. On the way to the Bronze, Buffy meets Angel again, who follows her into the Bronze. Inside, they find a lone vampire that poses little challenge to Buffy. This confuses them, since if it were a trap, there should have been more. Buffy realizes that she may have been tricked and rushes back to the library, leaving Angel behind to watch the vampire. When Buffy gets back to the school, she finds the library trashed, as if a fight had just occurred there. Xander is still there, but his nose is bloody, and Willow and Giles are gone. He is furious with Buffy, since her dismissal of the group led to the attack and abduction. Xander threatens to kill Buffy if the vampires hurt Willow. Trying to keep a clear head, Buffy asks why Xander wasn't taken along with the other two. Xander explains that Giles discovered the revivication ritual for the Master required the blood of those that were closest to him, physically, when he died. Since Buffy was on the roof and Xander was downstairs with Angel, that left Giles, Willow, Cordelia, and Ms. Calendar, all of whom were in the library with the Master when he died. Buffy and Xander go back to the Bronze and interrogate the vampire.

In the warehouse, the vampires begin the ritual by hanging the four sacrifices upside-down above the remains of the Master. Buffy, Xander, and Angel quietly sneak in. While Xander and Angel climb upstairs to rescue their captured friends, Buffy walks straight into the group of vampires and attacks them. During the battle, Xander and Angel manage to pull the others out of danger and get them back on to the floor. After nearly three minutes of fighting, Buffy defeats the last of the vampire gang, then turns her attention to the Master's skeleton. Determined to rid herself of the nightmares once and for all, Buffy picks up a sledgehammer and smashes the skeleton into thousands of pieces. She then drops the hammer and buries her face in Angel's chest, tears streaming from her eyes.

The next day, Buffy is reluctant to meet Xander and Willow in class. She doesn't know if they'll ever treat her as a friend again. There's no need to worry, however, for Xander and Willow haven't changed their opinion of the Slayer one bit, and are ready to continue their lives together as usual. Back in the warehouse, the Annointed One looks over the scene of the battle, especially the crushed remains of the Master.

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