Buffy Season I Episode Guide: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

SYNOPSIS

While observing and evaluating Buffy's vampire slaying technique, Giles discovers a ring left behind by one of the vampires. It contains some strange markings on it, so he brings it back to the library. There, they learn that it signifies the Order of Aurelius. At this time, Owen, a shy poetry-reading student, enters the library. This takes Buffy by surprise, for she has a crush on Owen. He checks out a book by Emily Dickinson and leaves. Later, in the cafeteria during lunch, Cordelia invites Owen to the Bronze. He invites Buffy along, much to Cordelia's dismay. However, Buffy and Willow learn that an ancient prophecy is set to be fulfilled that very night. Buffy has to go to the cemetery instead of the Bronze and wait for the rising of The Annointed, a warrior that is supposed to rise from the ashes of five dead and lead the Slayer into Hell. Absolutely nothing happens at the cemetery, so Buffy leaves and runs off to the Bronze. She finds Cordelia dancing with Owen there, so she leaves without being seen. Meanwhile, a shuttle bus transporting five passengers from the Sunnydale Airport crashes. All five passengers, including the driver, a lone woman, a mother and her young son, and a strange preaching man, are killed by the vampires.

The next day, Owen finds Buffy and asks her out. They agree to go to the Bronze that night, much to Xander's disappointment. Just before Buffy leaves for the Bronze, Giles shows up at her house with the newspaper. The headline reports the bus crash that killed five people. Since this coincides with the prophecy, Giles wants Buffy to go with him to the funeral home where the bodies were taken. She refuses, saying that she needs a break from her hunting routine. Giles eventually caves in and lets her go out with Owen, then goes to the funeral home himself, where he encounters two vampires. He wards them off with a cross and flees into the funeral home, eventually hiding in the room where all the bodies are kept. Xander and Willow find him there, then take off for the Bronze to get Buffy.

At the Bronze, Angel shows up to ask Buffy why she isn't with the rest of her group. Owen rejoins her, and Buffy is forced to introduce them to each other. Just then, Xander and Willow show up, and through some subtle hints, they inform Buffy that something is going on at the funeral home. Buffy tells Owen that she has to go. However, when they arrive at the home, they find out that Owen has followed them all the way there. Unable to get rid of him, Buffy hides Willow, Xander, and Owen in an observation room. She then searches for and finds Giles in the storage room. Unfortunately, the strange preacher, whom Giles believes to be the Annointed One, is in the same observation room. He rises, now a vampire, and approaches Willow, Xander, and Owen. They run out of the room and find Buffy, who instructs them to get out. Buffy runs back to the storage room to get weapons from Giles, but the preacher vampire has followed her there. He knocks out Giles, who crashes against the controls for the incinerator. As the fire is lit, Buffy fights the vampire. Just as he is about to bite her, Owen comes in and attacks the vampire, freeing Buffy. During the battle, the vampire slams Owen's head against a metal door hard, then leaves him on the floor for dead. Enraged that Owen is dead, Buffy attacks the vampire with all her strength, finally tossing him into the incerator, where he is burnt to death. It is then that she realizes that Owen is still alive, although quite dazed. He gets up and goes home, refusing any help from Buffy.

The next morning, Buffy is depressed, believing that she ruined her chances with Owen. He shows up, wanting to go out with her again. However, he only wants to relive the adrenaline rush from nearly getting killed. Faced with this fact, Buffy refuses his date offer. She then sits down with Giles, and he tells her that he too had to deal with making many sacrifices in order to fulfill his destiny as a Watcher. They take light in the fact that they prevented the Master's prophecy by killing the Annointed. However, what they don't know is that the prophecy has already been fulfilled; The Annointed One is really the young boy from the shuttle bus.

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