Graduation part 1
Graduation part 1
Season 3, Episode 21 (Episode 55 of entire series)
Harmony's being nice to Willow? This'd be a good time to panic. The panic. The people in the streets. This episode put the Mayor in Slayer Headquarters (library) for the first time. Anya shows more interest in Xander, and provides some info. on the Ascension. Willow and Oz share more than smoochies, Angel gets poisoned, Buffy bags the Watchers Council once and for all, and she and Faith fight..to the death? All in all, not a bad set-up for the finale.
Show opens with Xander and Cordy by the cap'n'gown table. Yeesh. Seeing that sea of maroon made me think of my own high school graduation. In fact, I had a nightmare about my graduation....4 or so years after the fact. Weirdness. Anyhoo, Cordy complains about the color of the gowns -- apparently she campaigned for the teal, ugh -- but Xander thinks maroon is dignified. He's preparing to die. I guess maroon is a stately color, after all.
Cut to Harmony approaching Willow..they're signing each other's yearbooks, talking about missing each other and stuff. Too funny. I was waiting for Willow to open it up and see "have a nice summer." But no. Buffy comes by, and she and Willow chat about stuff. Basically Willow's all misty, is going to miss stuff about school. But Buffy isn't in that frame of mind. She even talks about skipping graduation in order to kill the mayor instead. Xander comes by with the newsflash that Buffy can do both...the commencement speaker is none other than Mayor Wilkins!
Meanwhile, Faith pays a visit to local college professor Lester Worth. Apparently, the Mayor wants him dead, and Faith's packing a big knifey dagger. When Worth asks why he's supposed to be killed, Faith tells him she didn't think to ask. We hear this big groaning sound off-camera. Yow. You know, I guess knowledge really is a dangerous thing. I mean, if Lester hadn't had any...he might still be around. Not. Cut to a scene at Faith's place, where the Mayor's tidying up. Faith emerges in some dress that she feels uncomfy in, but Papa Wilkins is all too reassuring that she looks great, and that the Ascension is going to be her day, too. You have to sort of dig on this wacky relationship.
Next day, Willow rides up to school on her bike. Don't even get on the topic of me and bike riding. Anyhoo, Percy comes up to Willow to thank her for helping him in history; he got a B- on the final. The whole thing touches Willow...she tells Oz that they have to find a way to stop the Ascension so that the Mayor won't eat Percy and the rest of the class.
Meanwhile, Xander pops into Mr. Miller's class, late. What's hysterical about this is the fact that Xander gives him the "thumbs-up" sign after Miller thanks him for joining them. It reminded me of that whole "bonding with Larry" scene back in Phases. Anyhoo, Anya starts asking Xander if they could maybe hang out over the weekend. She makes some man-type generalizations about sports. Xander basically lets her know that if he survives the Ascension, maybe they can get together.
In the library, ex-Watcher and sux-Watcher are semi-fencing. Buffy notices an article in the paper about the death of geologist Prof. Worth, and alerts the Watchers that it's probably Faith's handiwork. She thinks it means that Worth knew something about the Mayor or the Ascension, so they decide that Buffy'll go check out the scene of the crime. Enter Xander with Anya, the only being who's witnessed and survived an Ascension. Anya's pretty freaked about the whole thing, says there's no way to stop it, and that the Ascended demon is different from regular demons in that it's pure, not a human/demon hybrid. Basically, she says these demons are much bigger than the norm. Yi.
Wilkins and Snyder are outside looking at the preparations for the graduation, and Wilkins pays Snyder a compliment or two, says that Sunnydale owes him a debt, which will be paid in full tomorrow. Then Wilkins enters the library to see the entire Scooby gang in convo about the Ascension. It's an interesting scene. It kind of makes me think how a scene like this might have played out with The Master..except with the Master, maybe there'd have been less talk, and just more killing. Anyhoo, Giles goes to stab the Mayor with a fencing sword, but the Mayor just says, "Whoa!" and pulls it out. He tells the gang that he'll eat them, and that his speech is not to be missed.
Apparently, Anya doesn't agree. She tells Xander that her solution to the Ascension is to get the hell out of town. Except, she doesn't say hell. Back at home, Buffy kind of does agree with Anya, kinda sorta. She's packing her mom's suitcase, asks her mom to leave town so she doesn't have to worry about her. What I like about this scene is partly the fact that Joyce makes one of those off-handed comments about evil -- like she did in Season 1, especially -- only this time, she understands the deeper meaning of it. She knows about the evil, and she also knows what it means for Buffy.
Back at Willow's place, she and Oz are doing the research thing in the hopes of warding off the Ascension. It leads to panicking in the form of sexual activity. 'Nuff said.
Across town, Buffy's scoping out Worth's place when Angel comes by. They have another of those conversations that don't-wanna-be-exes have, and it ends in pain. Literally. It turns out that Faith's shot Angel with a poison dart thing in an effort to distract Buffy from dealing with the Ascension. What's kinda cool about this scene is that Faith was positioned near the sign "Sun Cinema"...ooh..sun, vampire...yada yada yada. I actually don't think I noticed that the first time, but it's pretty cool, isn't it?
Back at the library, Wesley explains that the Council should know what's ailing Angel, and how to cure it. Willow and Oz have been called to assist in finding out what the poison is, and meanwhile, the Mayor and Faith are bonding over spiders and stories of Faith's childhood. Yuck. Anyhoo, Xander's about to go on a quest to the magic shop when he runs into Anya in the hallway. She's come back for him in the hopes that he'll go with her, to survive the Ascension. She tells him that he makes her feel like she wants to vomit, to which he replies, "Welcome to the world of romance." Anyhoo, she tries to make her case by saying that Xander won't be of much help to the others, that he'll probably get in the way. Not exactly a winning argument, but hey. It ends with her saying that she hopes he does die. World of romance, indeed!
Meanwhile, Angel's been moved to his place, and Wesley arrives to tell Buffy that the Council couldn't help. It's a pretty cool scene that ends with Buffy's quitting the Council. Wesley looks alarmed and asks for Giles's help. As if.
Buffy learns from Oz and Willow that the only way to reverse the poison's effect is if Angel drains the blood of a slayer. You have to love the irony of it, I guess.
Willow and Oz look for Faith's address, while Xander tells Buffy that he doesn't know if she should do this, he doesn't want to lose her. When Buffy says she won't get hurt, he tells her that's not what she meant. Gosh. Shades of Becoming part 2, sorta. So of course when Buffy's washing her face and looking in the mirror in the next scene, there's a sticker that says "Lost" on it. Hm..
Buffy goes to Faith's place, Faith's kind of glad to see her. Then sort of surprised and wary when she learns that it's her blood that Buffy's after. I can't do the fight scene justice, so I won't try. But it ends with Faith's being sliced by her own dagger, the one the Mayor had given her, and by her jumping off the balcony onto the back of a truck. Buffy looks down, staring in disbelief and horror. Well, yeah. I mean, now where's she gonna get the blood of a Slayer, hmmm?
At the end of the 'sode, we've learned that big demons like the one the Mayor's planning to become can be killed by large volcanic activity...that the Gavrok spiders are high in fiber, and the Mayor learns of the scuffle over at Faith's. Tune in next week...or weeks...to see how the season finale plays out. (Or sooner, whenever I finish the page for it.)
1. The gang discovered that it took volcanic activity to kill the Ascension beast.
2. Buffy and Faith fought; Buffy gutted Faith, but Faith took the plunge off of the balcony railing rather than help be a party to Angel's cure.
1. Anya's survived one Ascension and isn't eager to see another one.
2. The Gavrok spiders are full of fiber.
3. Angel can be a klutz.
4. Amyrat has a nice Habitrail thing going.
5. Mr. Miller likes to trip students up on the "e" in Hangman.
6. The Watchers Council doesn't help vampires survive, under any circumstances.
7. Willow has a good credit standing with the folks at the magic shop.
8. Oz's form of panicking leads to sexual behavior. "This'd be a good time to panic."
Buffy: "This is my last office romance, I'll tell you that." -- to Angel, in the street.
Xander: "Come on, guys, the suspense is killing Angel." -- to Willow and Oz, who've found the cure for Angel.
The Mayor: "We don't knock during dark rituals?" -- to the vamp underling who's barged in to say there's trouble at Faith's.
1. Sunnydale High School
2. Buffy's house
3. Professor Lester Worth's Bachelor Pad
4. Faith's place
5. The Mayor's Office/City Hall
6. Angel's place
7. Willow's room
8. Streets/Alleys
1. Buffy
2. Willow
3. Xander
4. Giles
5. Cordelia
6. Angel
7. Wesley Wyndam-Price
8. Oz
9. Anya
10. Percy West
11. The Mayor
12. Faith
13. Harmony
14. Mr. Miller
15. Professor Lester Worth
16. Principal Snyder
17. Mayoral Vamps (May not do page for, but may..)
Check out the Dingo Action! Results for this episode..your answers to wacky questions and what you thought of the 'sode.
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