Buffy The Vampire Slayer : Season 3 : Episode Guide @ Blue Flashing Light
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Dead Man's Party
After unpacking the last of her belongings, Buffy stops by her mom's bedroom to announce that she's heading outside. Joyce hangs up a Nigerian mask that she got from a friend at her art gallery, then hesitantly gives her daughter permission to go find her friends. Later, in a dark alley, Buffy notices a shadowy figure roaming the alleys. Suspicious, she follows him and accidentally draws his attention by stepping on an aluminum can. The figure spins around and thrusts a stake at her, which Buffy easily blocks. As she grabs the stake out of the man's hands and turns it towards him, she realizes that it's Xander. Before either of them can say much, a vampire appears and attacks the both of them. During the struggle, Buffy hears Cordelia's voice on a
walkie-talkie attached to Xander's waist. Soon enough, Cordy, Willow, and Oz arrive on the scene, all decked out with stakes and crosses. Buffy is surprised to see her friends work as a team to get the vampire off of Buffy. One by one, though, they are knocked to the ground by the powerful vampire. Finally, Buffy jumps in and finishes the job, reducing the vampire to a pile of dust. After Buffy greets her bewildered friends, they head over to Giles' apartment. The Watcher is emotionally overcome with joy from seeing his Slayer safe and sound, although he doesn't fully express it until he's alone in his kitchen. In the living room, Buffy avoids discussion topics relating to what she did over the summer. She then makes plans with Willow to meet somewhere the next afternoon.
The next day, Joyce and Buffy visit Principal Snyder in his office. Despite Joyce's protests, Snyder refuses to readmit Buffy back into the school. Afterwards, Joyce drops Buffy off at a coffee shop where she plans to meet Willow. However, Willow never shows up. Buffy heads home, and as she heads towards her front door, a woman steps out. She introduces herself as Pat, a friend of Joyce's at the book club. Inside, Joyce tells Buffy that she invited Giles and her friends over to dinner the following evening. Buffy goes into the basement to get their fancy company plates. There, she finds a stray cat that has been dead for a while. Buffy and Joyce bury it outside. Later that night, after both Buffy and Joyce have fallen asleep, the eyeholes of the mask in Joyce's bedroom begin to glow. As they do so, the stray cat works its way out of the ground as if it had never died.
Overnight, Buffy dreams that she is walking around the Sunnydale High campus. Nobody else is there, except for Angel. She then wakes up and heads to the kitchen. The stray cat reenters the Summers home, shocking both Buffy and Joyce. Giles arrives shortly with a cage to capture the cat and bring it back to the library for further study. After finding the cat in Joyce's bedroom, he notices the Nigerian mask on her wall. He then informs Buffy that she is no longer allowed on school grounds. At the library, Giles studies his demonology text while the rest of the Slayerettes make plans for the dinner that evening. By the end of their discussion, the intimate dinner has become a full-blown party, complete with pot luck snacks and Oz's band. During the
discussion, Giles careless flips past a page without looking at it. On this page is a picture of the same mask hanging in Joyce's bedroom.
That evening, Pat comes over to visit Joyce. Merely moments after Buffy shuts the door, Oz's band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, arrives. Buffy was not notified in advance that they had planned a huge party, but that's exactly what she gets before long. After wading through dozens of people she's never even met before, Buffy finds Willow near the band. Buffy pulls her over to a quieter area and asks Willow if she's been avoiding her. Willow denies this, then immediately leaves Buffy alone and heads back to where the band is playing. On her way upstairs, Buffy briefly talks to Xander and Cordelia, who are lost in their own world of nonstop smoochies. Buffy then stops outside the kitchen, where Joyce and Pat are talking about having Buffy back home. Buffy overhears her mom talking about how much more difficult it is now that Buffy's home. Unable to take much more animosity from her closest friends and family, Buffy goes up to her bedroom and starts packing her bag again. Meanwhile, Giles
finally finds what he's been looking for in his texts: the picture of the Nigerian mask. Horrified by what he reads, he calls the Summers home, but one of the partygoers answers the phone, and the music is too loud for him to fully understand what Giles is saying. Giles gives up and drives towards Buffy's home. On the way, he accidentally hits a man in the middle of the road. Upon getting out and inspecting the body, Giles realizes that this man died long before he ever wandered onto the road. The corpse grabs Giles and shoves him against the car. Giles watches in horror as he sees several more zombies appearing from the
shadows. All over town, corpses arise from crime scenes, hospital beds, and even their graves, all with one destination in mind: the Summers household. Giles finally fends off the zombies and gets back in his car.
Willow finds Buffy packing her bag in her bedroom. Not long after they argue over Buffy's decision to run away, Joyce enters the bedroom. Her reaction to seeing Buffy's packed bag is much more heated. Buffy tries to get out of the house, but Joyce stops her right in the middle of the main floor. As everybody gathers around and watches, Joyce drops all her restraints and angrily chews out Buffy for what she did (and didn't do) over the summer. Buffy tries to defend herself, but Xander joins in and offers his own cold remarks. Just as it seems that everybody is against Buffy and her whole world is caving in, the zombies invade the household. They quickly and brutally attack and kill several of the guests, while everybody else runs for their lives. Many try to keep the doors and windows blocked off, while others just panic in general. One of the zombies grabs Pat and drags her off down a hallway. While Buffy, Joyce, Xander, and Willow run upstairs, Oz and Cordelia hide in a downstairs closet. Upstairs, Joyce finds Pat lying flat on the floor. They help her to her feet and into Joyce's bedroom. While the group tries to keep the zombies from forcing the door open, Willow checks Pat's pulse and realizes that she's already dead.
Several moments later, Oz and Cordelia step out of the closet and notice that all of the zombies are now upstairs. They run into Giles, who has just arrived. He explains that the mask contains the power of the zombie demon named Ovu Mobani, or Evil Eye. All the zombies are after it, and whoever puts it on will become the demon. Upstairs, nobody notices Pat as she suddenly gets up. Surprised to see that her friend is alive, Joyce runs over, only to be knocked to the floor by the zombie Pat. As Joyce
and Xander look on, Pat puts the mask on, which immediately molds to her face. Pat begins to speak, except it isn't her voice anymore. It is the voice of the demon Ovu Mobani, and the zombies that were previously trying to get into the room are now paralyzed with fear by Mobani's presence. Buffy tries to attack the demon, but it turns its head and flashes a brilliantly white light which stuns Buffy. Unable to move, Buffy takes the powerful blow of the demon hard. The demon then stuns Willow and moves in for the kill, but not before Buffy recovers and pushes Mobani through the second story window, along with herself. After they crash onto her backyard, Buffy tries to avoid the demon's gaze by covering her eyes. Giles tells Oz to warn Buffy that attacking its eyes is the only way to defeat Mobani. Oz runs out and immediately falls victim to Mobani's stun flash. Buffy uses this moment to her advantage and thrusts a shovel directly into the demon's eyes. It cries out in horror, then vanishes, along with all of the other zombies. After everybody regroups inside, nobody can bring themselves to spite Buffy any longer, as she finally embraces Willow after so long.
The next day, Giles visits Principal Snyder's office and threatens to contact state officials if Buffy isn't readmitted. When Snyder doesn't believe his threat, Giles applies a little brute force to get his message across. Later, Buffy and Willow meet at the coffee shop. Willow discusses her experiments with witchcraft. They understand what each other has been feeling during the past few months, and like the true friends that they are, accept it.
Quotes:
Joyce: "It cheers up the room."
Buffy: "It's angry at the room, Mom. It wants the room to suffer."
Buffy: "I'd like to find Willow and Xander."
Joyce: "Will you be slaying?"
Buffy: "Only if they give me lip."
Joyce: "You must be starving."
Buffy: "I was until that four-course snack you served me after dinner."
Buffy: "Didn't anyone ever warn you about playing around with pointy sticks?
It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye."
Cordelia: "Come in, Nighthawk! Everything okay?"
Buffy: "'Nighthawk'?"
Buffy: "What if he's mad?"
Xander: "'Mad'? Just because you ran away and abandoned your post and
your friends and your mom and made him lay awake every night worrying
about you? Maybe we should wait out here."
Xander: "Check it out. The Watcher is back on the clock. And just when you
were thinking career change, maybe becoming a... a looker or a... a seer."
Giles: "Thank you, Xander."
Buffy: "I got in a few hours ago, but I wanted to go see my mom first."
Giles: "Yes, yes, of course. How, how did you find her?"
Buffy: "Well, I pretty much remembered the address."
Oz: "Hey, so you're not wanted for murder anymore."
Buffy: "Good. That was such a drag."
Xander: "Did you go to Belgium?"
Buffy: "Why would I go to Belgium?"
Xander: "I think the relevant question is why wouldn't you? Belgium!"
Cordelia: "So were you, like, living in a box or what?"
Buffy: "Well, it's a long story."
Xander: "So skip the heartwarming stuff about kindly old people and saving
the farm and get right to the dirt."
Buffy: "You guys seem down with the slayage, all tricked out with your walkies
and everything."
Cordelia: "Yeah, but the outfits suck. This whole Rambo thing is so over. I'm
thinking more sporty, like Hilfiger maybe."
Willow: "We dusted nine out of ten."
Oz: "Six out of ten."
Willow: "Six out of ten."
Buffy: "Well, thank you for the offer, but I think I just wanna' get back to my
normal routine. You know, school, slaying. Kid's stuff."
Xander: "Oh, I would, but, uh, I'm kind of tied up."
Cordelia: "You wish."
Buffy: "Mom is making an appointment with his ugliness. I know she can
break him."
Joyce: "But... you can't keep her out of school. You don't have the right."
Principal Snyder: "I have not only the right, but also a nearly physical
sensation of pleasure at the thought of keeping her out of school. I'd describe
myself as tingly."
Principal Snyder: "Yes, and while she may live up to the not-a-murderer
requirement for enrollment, she is a troublemaker, destructive to school
property and the occasional student. And her grade point average is enough
to... I'm sorry, another tingle moment."
Principal Snyder: "I'm quite sure that a girl with the talents and abilities of Buffy
will land on her feet. In fact, I noticed as I came in this morning that Hot Dog on
a Stick is hiring. You will look so cute in that hat."
Joyce: "This isn't over. If I have to, I'll go all the way to the mayor."
Principal Snyder: "Wouldn't that be interesting."
Buffy: "Private school? You mean, like jackets and kilts? You want me to get
field hockey knees?"
Joyce: "It's not that bad."
Buffy: "What about home schooling? You know, it's not just for scary religious
people anymore."
Joyce: "What if I invited Willow and Mr. Giles and everybody over for dinner
tomorrow night. Don't you think that would be nice?"
Buffy: "..."
Joyce: "Since I sort of already did, I was hoping for a 'yes'."
Joyce: "Run down and get the company plates."
Buffy: "Mom, Willow and everybody aren't company-plate people. They're
normal-plate people."
Joyce: "We never have guests for dinner. Indulge your mother?"
Buffy: "Next time, I get to pick the mother-daughter bonding activity."
Joyce: "Do you wanna' say something?"
Buffy: "Like what? 'Thanks for stopping by and dying'?"
Buffy: "Am I dreaming?"
Angel: "I'm probably the wrong person to ask."
Buffy: "I'm afraid."
Angel: "You should be."
Joyce: "I've been on the phone with the superintendent of schools. At least he
seems more reasonable than that nasty little horrid bigoted rodent man."
Buffy: "A girls school? So now it's jackets, kilts, and no boys? Care to throw
in a little foot-binding?"
Joyce: "It's not your fault you have a special circumstance. They should make
allowances for you."
Buffy: "Mom, I'm a Slayer. It's not like I need to ride a little bus to school."
Joyce: "I mean, I would think they would be happy to have a... a superhero. Is
that the right word? I mean, it's not offensive, is it?"
Buffy: "Welcome to the Hellmouth petting zoo."
Buffy: "You know, I wanted forest pine or April fresh, but Mom wanted dead
cat."
Buffy: "You know, I love art talk as much as the next very dull person, but we
have work to do, Giles. Research mode."
Oz: "It looks dead. It smells dead. Yet it's moving around. That's interesting."
Cordelia: "Nice pet, Giles. Don't you like anything regular? Golf, USA Today,
or anything?"
Giles: "I'm trying to find out how and why it rose from the grave. It's not as if
I'm going to take it home and offer it a saucer of warm milk."
Oz: "Well, I like it. I think you should call it Patches."
Cordelia: "I'm the dip."
Xander: "Uh, you gotta' admire the purity of it."
Cordelia: "What? Onion dip. Stirring, not cooking. It's what I bring."
Oz: "Well, a gathering is brie, mellow song stylings. Shindig: dip, less mellow
song stylings, perhaps a large amount of malt beverage. And hootenanny:
well, it's chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny."
Xander: "Well, I hate brie."
Cordelia: "I know. It smells like Giles' cat."
Giles: "It's not my --!"
Xander: "And what'll we talk about at a gathering anyway? 'So, Buffy, did you
meet any nice pimps on your travels? And, oh, by the by, thanks for ruining our
lives for the past three months.'"
Xander: "She doesn't want to talk about it, we don't want to talk about it, so
why don't we just shut up and dance?"
Oz: "Yeah, I think I could supply some dingo action."
Xander: "Okay, so one vote from the old guy for a smelly cheese night, and
how many votes for actual fun, huh?"
Buffy: "Do you want to see my mom?"
Pat: "Please--."
Buffy: "MOM!!!"
Xander: "Some kind of party, huh? I guess a lot of people are glad to have you
back."
Buffy: "It seems like people I didn't even know missed me."
Xander: "I mean, it's great to have the Buffster back. Isn't it?"
Cordelia: "Totally! Except you were kind of turning me on with that whole boy
Slayer look."
Xander: "Was I now?"
Cordelia: "You bet, Nighthawk."
Guest: "This party? Heard it was for some chick that just got out of rehab."
Guest: "Party Villa. Can I rock you?"
Guest: "Yeah! Fiesta foul! You gotta' do a shot!"
Giles: "I need to speak to Buffy! Now!"
Guest: "Bunny?"
Guest: "Sorry, he's not here. You got the wrong casa, Mr. Belvedere."
Willow: "You're leaving again? What, you just stopped by for your lint brush
and now you're ready to go?"
Willow: "Oh no, have a great time. Oh, oh, and don't forget to not write."
Buffy: "I'm trying."
Willow: "Wow, and it looks so much like giving up."
Willow: "I, I'm having all sorts of... I'm dating. I, I'm having serious dating with a
werewolf. And, and I'm studying witchcraft and, and killing vampires. And I
didn't have anyone to talk to about all this scary life stuff."
Giles: "Unbelievable. 'Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty? It raises the dead.'
Americans."
Joyce: "Buffy, what is this?"
Willow: "She was running away again."
Joyce: "You know what? I don't care. I don't care what your friends think of
me or you for that matter, because you put me through the ringer, Buffy. I mean
it. And I've had Schnapps."
Buffy: "Punish you? I didn't do this to punish you."
Xander: Well, you did. You should've seen what you put her through."
Buffy: "Great. Thanks. Anybody else want to weigh in here? How about you
by the dip?"
Jonathan: "No thanks."
Xander: You can't just bury stuff, Buffy. It'll come right back up to get you."
Giles: "Oh, good show, Giles."
Giles: "Like riding a bloody bicycle!"
Xander: "Look, I'm sorry that your honey was a demon, but most girls don't
hop a Greyhound over boy troubles."
Cordelia: "Put yourself in Buffy's shoes for just a minute, okay? I'm Buffy,
freak of nature, right? Naturally, I pick a freak for a boyfriend, and then he turns
into Mr. Killing Spree, which is pretty much my fault --."
Buffy: "Cordy! Get out of my shoes."
Xander: "Let her finish! You at least owe her that."
Buffy: "God, Xander, do you think you could at least stick to annoying me on
your own behalf?"
Xander: Fine. You stop acting like an idiot, I'll stop annoying you."
Buffy: "Oh, you wanna' talk acting like an idiot, Nighthawk?"
Willow: "Talking about it isn't helping, we might as well try some violence."
Willow: "I was being sarcastic!"
Joyce: "Are these vampires?"
Buffy: "Uh, I don't think so."
Willow: "Buffy, heads up!"
Buffy: "No, not vampires."
Xander: "Man, this sucker wobbles, but he won't fall down!"
Joyce: "What do we do if they get in?"
Xander: "I kind of think we die!"
Giles: "Cordelia, it's me! It's me!"
Cordelia: "How do we know it's really you and not zombie Giles?"
Giles: "Cordelia, do stop being tiresome."
Cordelia: "It's him."
Oz: "I think the dead man's party's moved upstairs."
Oz: "Well, what happens if they get the mask?"
Giles: "If one of them puts it on, they become the demon incarnate."
Cordelia: "Worse than a zombie."
Giles: "Yes, worse."
Xander: "Generally speaking, when scary things get scared, not good."
Buffy: "Not looking. Not looking!"
Buffy: "Hey, Pat.
Joyce: "So, is this a typical day at the office?"
Buffy: "No. This was nothing."
Giles: "I'd like to have a word with you."
Principal Snyder: "If that word is 'Buffy', then I have two words for you: 'good'
and 'riddance'."
Giles: "You had no grounds for expelling her."
Principal Snyder: "I have grounds, I have precedent, and a tingly kind of
feeling."
Principal Snyder: "Sorry, I'm not convinced."
Giles:
Willow: "I mean, I'm not a full-fledged witch. That takes years. I just did a
couple pagan blessings, and a... teeny glamour to hide a zit."
Willow: "I tried to communicate with the spirit world, and I so wasn't ready for
that. It's like being pulled apart inside. Plus I blew the power for our whole
block. Big scare."
Buffy: "I wish I could've been there with you."
Buffy: "You're really enjoying this whole moral superiority thing, aren't you?"
Willow: "It's like a drug!"
Buffy: "I'm the bad. I can take my lumps... for a while."
Willow: "All right. I'll stop giving you a hard time... runaway."
Buffy: "Will!"
Willow: "I'm sorry... quitter."
Buffy: "Whiner."
Willow: "Bailer."
Buffy: "Harpy."
Willow: "Delinquent."
Buffy: "Tramp."
Willow: "Bad seed."
Buffy: "Witch."
Willow: "Freak!"