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| 57. The Freshman Original Air Date: October 05, 1999 Written by: Joss Whedon Directed by: Joss Whedon Guest Cast: Marc Blucas (Riley Finn) Lindsay Crouse (Prof. Maggie Walsh) Katharine Towne (Sunday) Pedro Balmaceda (Eddie) Dagney Kerr (Kathy) Buffy and Willow stakeout a cemetery, but college interferes with their plans. While planning Buffy's college schedule and attempting to find courses that are not too terrifying, they miss their target crawling from his grave and beating a hasty retreat into the night. The next day Buffy finds herself in a sea of confusing sights, sounds and instructions on the College campus. While Willow is enthusiastic and Oz is quietly confident, Buffy seems overwhelmed. Even the Library is vast and imposing, nothing like the comfortable High School Library. While Buffy and WIllow are in the bookstore, Buffy accidentally drops some books on Riley Finn, a Teaching Assistant for the psychology class Willow talked Buffy into joining. After having a short conversation with Riley, Buffy leaves to find her assigned room and her new roommate, Kathy. Kathy's bubbly enthusiasm, Celine Dion poster and loud snoring quickly begin to irritate our hero. Sitting in on a class to see if she wants to sign up, Buffy is embarrassed and ejected for talking, by a rude and imperious instructor. Riley meets her in the hall and helps her find the psychology class. The professor, Maggie Walsh, quickly informs all, that her class will be a demanding one. After dark, Buffy bumps into fellow psychology student, Eddie, wandering the grounds. He is as lost as she on the sprawling campus. Using his map, Buffy recommends a direction and they walk and talk about how tough college can be. They discuss the need for things that make people feel comfortable and secure. Eddie keeps a copy of "Of Human Bondage" by his bed, as his security blanket. They part on an up-beat note, with Eddie suggesting that they help each other get through psychology class and their first year. After they part, a gang of young vamps captures Eddie. The vampires enter Eddie's dorm room and hurriedly clean out his belongings, leaving a note saying he has quit school. The following day, Buffy is curious when Eddie isn't in class and checks on her new friend. After reading the note, she finds Eddie's copy of "Of Human Bondage" in a desk drawer and knows something is amiss. Back in their lair, the vampire gang picks through Eddie's stuff, literally over his dead body. Their leader, Sunday, laments the banality of their haul and demeans her cronies. As she strides from the room, Eddie awakes. Buffy walks into Giles house to find a pretty black woman in the kitchen, wearing just a man's shirt. A bathrobed Giles quickly joins them and explains that Olivia is a visiting friend. While Oliva dresses, Buffy expresses how gross it is to think about Giles having a private life. She then tells him her reservations about Eddie's disappearance. Giles takes a hands-off approach, for once. When he encourages Buffy to find her own solutions, she puts on a brave face and leaves. That evening, walking the dark campus, Buffy sees vampire Eddie and stakes him. Sunday and her gang confronts Buffy. In single combat, Sunday seems confident and arrogant. Sunday wrenches Buffy's left arm, it makes a sickening cracking sound. Shaken and cradling her arm, Buffy runs and stumbles away, in fear. In the dark of her own room, as Kathy snores away, Buffy tests her arm, grimacing in pain. The next day, she holds her arm by her side, as she walks the campus and avoids her friends. The vampires, in their lair, laugh as they recount the story of their encounter with the Slayer and look forward to finishing her off. A visit home finds that her mother has already begun using Buffy's bedroom as a storage space. When she returns to her dorm room, Buffy finds that the vampire gang has taken her things and left a fake note saying she has left college. At the Bronze, she briefly thinks that she glimpses Angel, but it's not him. Then Xander arrives. He admits that he never finished his cross-country trip. His car broke down in Oxnard, where he got a job at a Ladies' Night nightclub, as a dishwasher and, maybe, a male stripper, but he refuses to finish the story, beyond numerous hints that he didn't enjoy the experience. He now lives in his parent's basement, as a rent-paying tenant. When Buffy tries a brave face about college, Xander doesn't buy it. She then tells him of her encounter with Sunday and her gang. Xander digs deeper and Buffy admits that she is having doubts about her ability to cope with life. She is feeling defeated and scared. Xander delivers a pep talk, telling Buffy about how many times he has felt scared and that she is what he thinks of when he needs a shot of courage. Together they agree to take on the gang. Breaking into the College offices, they find clues to the abandoned frat house that has become the vampire gang's lair. Through a skylight on the roof, they observe the vampires playing with Buffy's things, including her diary! Xander is sent to find Buffy's weapons trunk, which they don't see in the frat house. Soon after Xander leaves, the skylight breaks and Buffy falls through, landing amid the vampires. Striking first, Sunday begins the battle. Meanwhile, Willow and Oz are telling Kathy, that Buffy wouldn't just run away (at least, not this time), when Xander arrives and discreetly tells Willow and Oz that Buffy needs help, but they have time to prepare. When knocked to the floor, Buffy sees her weapons chest, under some boxes. Sunday taunts Buffy by stomping her "Class Protecter" umbrella award from prom night. Grabbing Buffy by her left arm, Sunday applies pressure and more cracks and pops are heard. Buffy begins to fight back, effectively. As the tide turns, Willow, Oz and Xander arrive to dispatch two male vampires that try to flee. Sunday and Buffy fight on. Sunday bends Buffy's right arm back and also grabs Buffy's left arm. Both arms make load, cracking sounds. But, Buffy informs Sunday; her arm is hurt, but not broken. She then, delivers a roundhouse left, which knocks Sunday into the air and several feet back. A male and female vampire escape the fight. Buffy's friends ask her if she needs help, but she tells them no. She twirls a stake in her hand like a majorette's baton and hurls it across the room, imbedding it in a dazed Sunday's heart. As they carry Buffy's things across the campus, they discuss what they might do with the loot from the vampire gang. A winded Giles, carrying two handfuls of weapons, runs up and admits that he cannot bring himself to teach her self-reliance by shunning her and he wants to help her fight evil, like they did before. A confused Giles is then enlisted to help carry boxes. Buffy tells Xander that she now feels she knows what to expect from college. The male vampire, that escaped earlier, scurries across the campus, sticking to the trees and bushes. A noise alerts him, too late, as a taser-like device is fired into his chest. An electrical charge knocks him on his back and he watches, helpless, as three heavily armed men, dressed in camouflage and ski masks, approach. Summary by: OBCooke at EpisodeGuides.com |
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