Season One
Big Bad: The Master
Beginnings: Buffy first arrives at Sunnydale High, relinquishing
popularity and a normal life to take up the duties of the Slayer, under the
guidance of her Watcher, Giles. She picks up a few friends, Xander and Willow,
and they join her in the fight against evil.
Resolution: Although a prophecy is fulfilled when the Master kills
Buffy and manages to ascend into Sunnydale, Xander revives her using CPR and
she is able to fight and kill the master, averting the apocalypse.
Other Interesting Sidenotes: Buffy and Angel, the vampire cursed with a soul, first
meet and begin to fall in love this season.
Quote: "We saved the world. I say we party." -Buffy,
"Prophecy Girl"
Season Two
Big Bad(s): Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla
Love Connections: Xander and Cordelia become a couple, Willow and Oz begin a
relationship, Giles' love interest, Jenny Calender, is killed by Angelus and
later used to torture him, an awry spell causes all the women in Sunnydale
except Cordelia to fall for Xander, Xander tells Willow he loves her just
before she comes out of a coma and says Oz's name.
Complications: Buffy and Angel's love grows, culminating in a "moment
of true happiness" which results in Angel losing his soul and reverting to
his evil state, Angelus. Meanwhile, his old vampire friends Spike and Drusilla
come to town. A new slayer, Kendra, activated when Buffy briefly died in
"Prophecy Girl", is introduced. In the intense two-part Season
Finale, Angelus, Spike, and Dru decide to try to unearth an evil demon,
Acathla, who will swallow the entire world into hell. In a fight, Drusilla
kills Kendra, and Buffy is forced to run from the police, who believe she is
the killer. Willow and Xander are also hurt in the attack, and Cordelia flees.
Meanwhile, Willow believes she has found the spell to restore Angel's soul.
Buffy goes to look for a missing Giles, who is being tortured by Angelus and
Drusilla for information on awakening Acathla. Spike tries to strike a deal
with Buffy, wanting to have Drusilla back the way she used to be and out of
Angelus' clutches. He agrees to leave town with Dru forever if Buffy will help
him. When Joyce sees her stake a vampire, Buffy is forced to confess to her
nother that she is the Slayer, and Joyce, panicked, tells her that if she
leaves the house, she shouldn't come back. Buffy leaves. She returns to the
school to retrieve the sword Kendra brought that will defeat Acathla, and
Principal Synder sees her there and expels her. Drusilla tricks Giles into
believing she is Jenny Calender, and he reveals that Angel's blood is the key
to the awakening ritual. Whistler, who was the one to convince Angel to use his
soul for good, tells Buffy that only Angel's blood can both open and close the
vortex to hell. Xander catches up with Buffy on the way to the mansion where
Angelus is, but doesn't tell her that Willow is trying to restore Angel's soul.
As Buffy bursts into the mansion, Spike attacks Angel, interrupting the ritual.
Xander unties Giles to drag him to safety, and Drusilla begins to fight with
Spike. While everyone is distracted, Angel manages to use his bloodied hand to
pull the sword out of Acathla, awakening him. Buffy and Angel begin a sword
duel. Meanwhile, Willow seems to be posessed as she performs the ritual. Spike
knocks Dru out and runs off with her. Buffy has Angel up against Acathla and is
about to kill him when Willow restores his soul. However, since Acathla is
already awake, Buffy has no choice. Angel has no idea what is going on, and
Buffy gives him one last kiss before driving the sword through him and Acathla,
closing the vortex and sending both of them to hell. The next day, Buffy,
believing she cannot go home, takes a bus out of Sunnydale. The End. Once more,
no Apocalypse. Whew.
Season Three
Big Bad: The Mayor
Welcome Home: Buffy, who has been living in another city as a waitress
all summer, returns to Sunnydale to less than welcoming friends. After they
have to come together to face zombies, however, their friendships begin to be
reforged. A new slayer, Faith, activated by Kendra's death, arrives in time to
help Buffy fight an ancient, cloven villian. Buffy secretly discovers that
Angel has somehow returned after 100 years of torture in hell. Spike returns to
Sunnydale broken and dumped by Drusilla.
New Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Price also arrives.
Bad Happenings: Buffy is forced to come to terms with Faith's
recklessness and utter lack of remorse when the newer slayer stakes a human.
Faith joins the evil Mayor. Wesley and Cordelia share a really, really awkward
kiss (sorry, had to throw that in...). A fight between Buffy and Faith puts her
in a coma. The Mayor prepares to "ascend" into his demon form on
Graduation Day, and Buffy enlists the help of the entire Sunnydale High student
body in a massive battle against him and an army of the undead during a solar
eclipse. Buffy leads him into a dynamite trap, effectively blowing up both the
demon Mayor and the school. Neither Buffy or Angel can handle their
relationship, and Angel departs for LA.
Season Four
BIg Bad:Adam
A New Start: Buffy and Willow start at the University of California,
Sunnydale, as Xander returns from a trip of self-discovery.
Special Eps: "Hush" featured a long period of absolute
silence, where no character spoke a word.
Love Hurts: Buffy is hurt by a one-night stand with the first guy
she's been attracted to since Angel left, an upperclassmen named Parker Finch.
Willow is hurt when Oz's primal instincts lead him to another werewolf girl,
Veruca. Anya, Xander's prom date and a former vengeance demon, returns to
kindle a relationship with him. Buffy finds a new beau in Riley, her Psychology
TA who is actually part of a demon-hunting organization called the Initiative.
Commanding Commandos: Spike is captured by the Initiative, who implant him
with a chip that prevents him from hurting human beings. Buffy becomes more
involved with Riley and the Intiative, but both of them pull away from the
group when Professor Walsh tries to kill her. Adam, a mixture of several
different demon parts, kills the Professor, who is his creator. Faith returns,
using a mysterious gift from the Mayor to switch bodies with Buffy, long enough
to do damage to Buffy and Riley's relationship. Oz comes home to Willow, only
to discover that she has fallen for fellow witch Tara. Angel returns briefly to Sunnydale, and Riley learns
about Buffy's past with him. Spike tries to join forces with Adam to defeat
Buffy by breaking apart the Scooby Gang. Riley learns from Adam that Professor
Walsh had implanted a chip in him that Adam has activated to carry out his
plan. Buffy figures out it was Spike tearing the friends apart, and they
reunite to try to defeat Adam. Spike narrowly escapes death from Adam's wrath
at this fact. Demons are unleashed on the Initiative soldiers as part of Adam's
plan to create a race of human/demon hybrids. Willow, Xander, and Giles perform
an enjoining spell to strengthen Buffy for her fight with Adam. Riley manages
to cut the chip out of his own chest just in time to save Buffy from some of
Adam's monsters. The spell completed, Buffy, with all the power of Willow,
Giles, and Xander, holds off Adam's attacks and pierces his chest with her
hand, pulling out his Uranium power supply. She levitates the power supply in
her hand and dissolves it into thin air. The spell over, they collapse with
fatigue, and are saved from one last demon by Spike. Meanwhile, a mysterious
government official orders the Initiative burned as a failed experiment. In the
season finale, the first slayer haunts Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles as they
come face to face with their worst fears in their dreams.
Season Five
Big Bad: Glory
Ultimate Seduction: The season opened with a fight against the most
well-known vampire of all time- Dracula.
Sibling Rivalry: Buffy's sister, Dawn, showed up at the last of the Buffy
v. Dracula. Also, "The Replacement" featured Nicholas Brendan's real
twin brother as Xander's evil double.
Love Sucks: Buffy is astonished to learn that Riley has been
spending his nights in the arms of vampires, and their relationship is
destroyed. Spike admits his love for Buffy, and is hurt to the point of having
a Buffy Bot made by her brutal rejection.
Search for the Key: Through a series of clues, Buffy's "sister"
Dawn is revealed to be a powerful key, sought after by an evil power called
Glory. Meanwhile, Buffy's mother becomes very ill, and has to undergo brain
surgery. At the hospital, Buffy meets Ben, whose body is also inhabited by
Glory. Giles purchases the Magic Box as a new headquarters for the Scoobies.
Buffy's mother dies tragically, sending the entire gang into shock and despair.
They don't have long to mourn, however, as Glory discovers that Dawn is the Key
and sets after them. When Dawn is taken, Buffy retreats into her own mind and
Willow has to enter it to draw her back out to save her sister. Glory prepares
to use Dawn to break down the walls between dimensions and unleash a Hell dimension, and suceeds
in opening the portal using Dawn's blood. The only way for it to close is for
Dawn to die, and since their blood is linked, Buffy throws herself into the
opening portals, killing herself and closing them in the season finale and end
of the 100th episode.
Season Six
Big Bad: The Geeky Trio of Jonathan, Andrew and Warren? Willow?
It's a bit unclear.
A Spot of Light: "Once More, With Feeling" marked the first
musical episode of Buffy, featuring several very fun original songs.
Dark Rising: Buffy's friends plans to resurrect Buffy are disturbed by
a gang of marauding demons. Giles returns to England. Buffy is resurrected, but
has to dig herself out of her own grave, and seems deeply disturbed. Back on
earth, she has to deal with very adult money problems, and the fact that she
thinks she had been in Heaven. Willow descends into magic addiction, destroying
her relationship with Tara and affecting all of her friendships. The trio of
nerddom try several different tactics to win against the slayer, failing each
time. Buffy has a destructive sexual relationship with Spike. Xander gets cold
feet about his future with Anya, and leaves her at the altar. She angrily
becomes a vengeance demon again, and a brief night of passion between her and
Spike reveals Buffy's relationship with him to her incredulous friends. Spike
travels to Africa to get his soul back. After Tara is mistakenly killed instead
of Buffy, Willow goes insane with grief, becoming a very powerful evil witch
intent on destroying those who have hurt her. She kills Warren by removing his
skin, and Andrew and Jonathan flee to Mexico. Xander talks Willow out of
destroying the world and proves his worth by reminding her of broken yellow
crayons and how much he loves her. The apocolypse is once more averted.
Season Seven
(In Progress)
Big Bad: The First Evil?
Recurring Quote: "From beneath you it devours..."
So Far: Dawn starts at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High, where
the new Prinicipal, Wood, hires Buffy as a counselor. In England, Giles helps
Willow learn to control her power for good. Buffy learns to her chagrin that
Spike has regained a soul for her sake. Several girls around the world are
killed by mysterious hooded men. In a really really evil cliffhanger, an axe is
being swung by one of them at Giles' neck. The dead seem to return and talk to
Willow and Dawn, convincing Willow that the evil has begun to bite. It's
discovered that Spike is being triggered by some evil force to feed off of
humans again, and Buffy ties him up in hopes of keeping him good. Meanwhile,
Andrew and Jonathan return to Sunnydale to "help" the slayer, but
when Andrew slits Jonathan's throat at the bidding of a spirit that looks like
Warren, it's revealed that Andrew is really trying to open a seal over the Hellmouth.
However, Jonathan's blood isn't enough, and the Big Bad sends the hooded men
(revealed to be Harbringers) to capture Spike, using blood dripping from him to
open the seal and bring forth a "real vampire". Oh, and the Watcher's
Council is blown up, and no one knows where Giles is (grr).
