Sixteen-year-old Buffy Summers has moved to Sunnydale from L.A., hoping to leave Buffy's troubled past behind. But Sunnydale High librarian Rupert Giles knows who Buffy is: she is the Slayer, the one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to hunt and kill vampires. He knows about her past because he is her new Watcher -- the person whose destiny it is to train and guide Slayers on their path. Buffy quickly makes two friends: the shy, bookish Willow, and the goofy but lovable Xander, who is instantly attracted to Buffy.   
      When a student is found dead in a locker -- with bite marks on his neck and completely drained of his blood -- Giles enlists Buffy's help. She resists, trying to get out of the slaying game for good, but Giles insists that a crucial mystical upheaval is about to occur. Unbeknownst to them, a bewildered Xander overhears their conversation -- Buffy's secret is out. Later, in a dark, eerie chamber, we see a vampire who seems to be confirming Giles' prophecy. The vampire, Luke, kneels in front of a pool of blood and says, "The sleeper will awaken. And the world will bleed."   
      On her way to the Bronze, Sunnydale's hippest (and only) club, Buffy is followed by a handsome, mysterious stranger. He tells her she must be ready for the Harvest, and gives her a small cross. Giles meets her at the Bronze and she tells him about the encounter. Giles convinces her to use her power, and wants her to try to sense if there are any vampires in the room. She does sense one and finds him talking to Willow, but the two have walked away. Trying to catch him unawares, she grabs a makeshift stake, turns a corner and attacks... Cordelia, the snootiest girl in school, who already thought Buffy was a loser for hanging with Willow, and now thinks she’s certifiable. We see Jesse, Xander's buddy, chatting with a girl we saw in vampire garb earlier, but who now appears as a normal student, Darla. Back to the pool of blood, something breaks through the surface and rises: the demonic Master Vampire. He is hungry and weak, and asks Luke to bring him something young.   
      Outside the Bronze, Buffy enlists Xander's help in finding Willow, who's already been lead to a mausoleum by the vampire. Willow's happy to find Jesse there, until she sees that Darla has already bit him in the neck. Buffy and Xander enter, and Buffy promptly kills the vampire boy. Now Willow is finally in on the secret. While Darla tries to attack Buffy, Xander and Willow lead a weakened Jesse out. Luke joins the battle and throws Buffy across the room. As he tries to bite her in the neck, he burns his hand on her cross, giving her a chance to escape. She finds her friends struggling with several vampires. Buffy impales one and the others flee. Meanwhile, Jesse has been taken to the Master, who hears about Buffy. By her strength, he can tell that she's the Slayer. The Master knows that Buffy will come looking for Jesse, and then she will be his.   
      Giles enlists Willow to check the internet for more information about the Harvest, while Buffy decides to go look for Jesse. At the mausoleum, she runs into the stranger again, whose name is Angel. He warns that the Harvest will be that night. Then Buffy is shocked to find Xander has followed her. They find Jesse, who tries to lead them out, until he turns to face them and they discover he's become a vampire. More vampires surround and chase them, but they manage to escape to the street through a grating. The Master is furious that the Slayer has escaped. But he allows Luke to feed from him as a way of gaining strength for himself. He dabs some of his blood on Luke's forehead and paints a three-pointed star.   
      Willow's research explains that on the night of the Harvest, the Master Vampire can draw power from one of his minions while it feeds and then can break through from their reality to ours. The minion is called the Vessel, and bears the symbol we saw painted on Luke. Xander guesses the vampires will converge on the Bronze, since it's always filled with young people. That night, a newly confident Jesse strides into the Bronze and hits on Cordelia, who actually allows the former loser to dance with her. Soon, a gang of vampires takes over the club, with Luke at the helm. By the time Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow get there, the suckfest is in full swing, with the Master gaining strength from each victim. Buffy manages to kill a few other vampires, then Jesse winds up impaling himself on a stake a frightened Xander was holding. Buffy breaks a large window, trying to make Luke think the streetlight is daylight, which will destroy him. He buys it for a second, and she takes advantage of his confusion by driving a stake through his back. Now the Master is too weak to break through to the other side, and Sunnydale has been spared.   
      This time.   
This episode was a great introduction to the show for those unfamilar with it.  **** (out of 5)

      Buffy, in an attempt to bring some normalcy into her complicated life, decides to try out for cheerleader. When she goes to the big tryout, she meets a quiet girl named Amy. As one girl auditions, she gets more and more into her routine, and suddenly her hands begin to smoke. Buffy knocks her to the ground and puts the girl's smoking hands out. Amy tells Buffy that her mother was a cheerleading star and she feels pressure to make the squad. When Amy leaves, Willow says it's a lot more than pressure -- she thinks Amy's mom is a tyrant. Neither Amy nor Buffy is chosen as part of the regular squad -- both are alternates. Amy is distraught when she is only chosen to be third alternate -- with Buffy as first alternate.   
      In a spooky attic with a cauldron, someone is casting spells with dolls. The next day, snooty Cordelia Chase, who has made cheerleader, is temporarily blinded while taking her driving test. Giles thinks Amy's a witch, but the only way to prove it is to form a potion and pour it on her -- if her skin turns blue, she is a witch. Buffy, Xander and Willow join forces to test this theory in chemistry class, and Giles is proven correct. Then another cheerleader has a mysterious accident, and when Amy reacts to it with horror, it makes Buffy doubt whether Amy realizes what she's doing. Amy comes home in a huff to find her mother on the couch watching TV. She tells her mother to write her history report. We see that Amy is holding an ID bracelet which Xander gave Buffy for good luck at the cheerleading tryouts -- Buffy will be Amy's next victim.   
      As first alternate, Buffy is now on the cheerleading squad, and starts acting strangely during practice. When she tosses another cheerleader across the room, it's time for the next alternate to come in -- Amy. Buffy suddenly becomes weak, and Giles says the only way to keep her from dying is to get Amy's spell book. Willow and Xander stay at school to keep an eye on Amy. Giles and Buffy force their way into Amy's house, and Buffy discovers that the woman they're speaking to is not really Amy's mother but Amy herself. The mother switched their bodies so she could relive her glory days as a cheerleader. Giles finds the spell book, and they all troop off to school, where "Amy" is getting ready to cheer. As Giles chants, "Amy" becomes weaker as the transformation begins. "Amy" charges out of the gym to find Buffy and kill her. Just as she’s about to get her, the transformation is complete. "Amy" is now the real Amy, and the mother goes berserk. She starts to cast an evil spell on Buffy, but Buffy deflects it with a mirror and sends it back to the mother, who disappears. Everything seems to be back to normal, until we catch a glimpse of the mother's cheerleader trophy in a school display case. Its eyes are moving...   
Interesting episode introducing the fact that Buffy is going to be dealing with more than vampires in this show. ***

      Buffy’s kindly biology teacher, Dr. Gregory, is attacked after class by a giant praying mantis, but as far as the students know, their teacher is just missing. The mysterious Angel appears at the Bronze that night to warn Buffy about a pending attack. His arm looks as if it was cut by a tiger’s claw. The next day, Dr. Gregory’s class is being taught by a substitute teacher -- the comely Miss Natalie French, who drives Xander ga-ga. She tells the class about the science fair, and asks for volunteers to help her create a model of a praying mantis egg sacks -- after school. As expected, Xander’s hand shoots up, as does football heartthrob Blayne’s and every other boy in the class. Miss French decides that Blayne can be her assistant that afternoon, and Xander the next. Later in the cafeteria, Cordelia opens the fridge to discover Dr. Gregory’s headless body. Buffy speculates that Angel’s warning and his unusual wound have something to do with Dr. Gregory’s gruesome murder, so she stakes out the park. She sees a vampire with one arm that has three sharp claws where the hand should be. The creature approaches Miss French, who is walking by with grocery bags, but instead of pouncing on her, he sniffs her and runs away in terror.   
      Buffy catches the teacher turning her head around -- all the way around. Buffy finally figures it out: Miss French is a praying mantis! Following her lead, Giles tries to get in touch with a friend in England who’s an expert in the field -- the only catch being that the man is institutionalized. Meanwhile, hacker par excellence Willow has found that Blayne’s mother has reported him missing. Since it’s Xander’s turn to work with Miss French this afternoon, Buffy warns him, but he thinks Buffy is just jealous. Miss French gives Xander a drink as soon as he shows up. As he’s getting woozy, he thinks he hears someone calling, but she ignores it. She takes his hand, and her arm turns into a praying mantis’ foreleg. He promptly passes out, and he is dragged away by Miss French. When he comes to, he finds himself in a cage in Miss French’s cellar, with Blayne in an adjoining cage. Surrounded by headless bodies in cages, he calls to Miss French, who is now completely converted to her giant-mantis form.   
      After talking to his strait-jacketed friend, Giles confirms there is a creature called a She-Mantis, who lures male virgins to her nest. An extremely powerful foe, it was the She-Mantis who put Giles’ friend into his deranged condition. Buffy suggests that Giles record some bat sonar from the video library -- playing that for the She-Mantis will disrupt her nervous system. Exhausting other methods, Buffy decides to enlist Claw Guy to help her sniff out the She-Mantis. Going from door to door, he finally winces when they reach the correct house. Turning on her, he tries to attack Buffy, who promptly kills him with a fence slat. Buffy enters the basement and uses a few blasts of the insecticide to send her scurrying off, then plays the bat sonar. The tape has the desired effect on the crazed insect, enabling Buffy to hack it to death with a machete. We think this is the end of the She-Mantis until we catch a glimpse of the inside of Dr. Gregory’s classroom closet, where a glistening egg sack is stirring at the bottom.   
She-Mantis's! Talk about different. What next grasshoppers. ***

      In the middle of a late-night sparring session at the cemetery, Buffy and Giles discover a ring with a mysterious engraving in it. The scene shifts to the Master Vampire's lair, where the Master explains that the Anointed One -- the Master's greatest warrior and the Slayer's greatest foe is due to rise from the ashes of five dead. The next day, Buffy is asked out by a handsome, poetry-loving classmate named Owen who she is smitten with. Buffy's good mood is spoiled by Giles, who's connected the engraving in the ring to a violent prophecy which is about to be fulfilled... that night. Buffy very reluctantly joins Giles at the cemetery, but nothing happens there. Meanwhile, an airport van crashes and although the five passengers -- including a burly, tattooed man who's been ranting incoherently -- survive the wreck, they die when the van is overtaken by vampires.   
      The next day, Owen and Buffy decide to try again, much to Giles' (and a very jealous Xander's) chagrin.   
      As Buffy prepares for her date, Giles comes over with the news: five people were killed the night before, just as the prophecy described, and one of them -- the tattooed man -- was wanted for murder. This leads Giles to believe that he is the Anointed one. Buffy insists on going on to the Bronze with Owen, but Willow and Xander agree to go along with Giles to the Sunnydale Funeral Home so he can check the bodies for clues. Giles is greeted by vampires, and though Willow and Xander try to help him, they realize this is Buffy's domain. They run off to the Bronze to fetch her, but she’s already hooked up with Owen. Unable to blurt out their news, they merrily suggest to Buffy a jaunt to the funeral home.   
      Once they get there, they're shocked to find Owen has followed them. As Buffy looks around for clues, the tattooed man -- now a vampire -- arises from a gurney and tears the place apart. Buffy kicks him, knocking him on a gurney, which hits the cremation oven and slides him right in. The next day, Owen is pumped up about the previous night’s adventures and can’t wait for the next date. Realizing she almost got him killed, Buffy reluctantly gives him the "let's be friends" speech. Giles commends her on her maturity, and reminds her that she did prevent a disaster. But all is not resolved. We see the Master in his lair, welcoming the Anointed one: it is an eight-year-old boy from the van accident, who smiles to reveal a mouth full of fangs.   
Great episode dealing with Buffy's social life, or lack thereof, introduces the annointed one who figures in later episodes. ***

      The students of Sunnydale High school are spending the afternoon at the zoo. Besides the standard zoo animals, this facility has a special new hyena exhibit, marked "Positively No Admittance." This piques the interest of Sunnydale's obnoxious cool crowd, who have already had their fun tormenting Buffy and a shy, bookish student named Lance. After grabbing poor Lance's notebook, they enter the forbidden hyena house, forcing him to follow. Xander, worried about his timid classmate, decides to come to his rescue. As they wait for Xander, Buffy and Willow meet an eccentric zookeeper, who claims the hyenas can understand human speech -- they learn people's names, call out to them, and then eat them. Meanwhile, the crowd in the hyena house starts to get rough with Lance, but suddenly their eyes start flashing yellow -- apparently, they've stepped into a mystical circle on the floor and a transformation has taken place. We see the eyes of one student who never meant to be there, and they're flashing yellow, too. It's Xander.   
      Back at school, Principal Flutie proudly introduces the students to Herbert, the Sunnydale Razorbacks' new mascot. Not quite as menacing as the team's namesake, Herbert is a actually a little pig. Xander elicits a strange reaction from Herbert when the two exchange a glance. Since returning from the zoo trip, he is more confident, more aggressive, and generally not the same old Xander. His love-sick puppy stares have turned to animal leers -- he has even taken to sniffing Buffy.   
      Willow brings the news to Buffy and Giles that Herbert is dead-- the pint-sized porker has been eaten by the hyena-possessed students. Buffy tries to confront Xander, but he becomes even more aggressive and pounces on her. They scuffle for a while, but Buffy finally decks him, and locks him into a steel book-return cage. When it is discovered that the pack is responsible for Herbert's demise, Principal Flutie is up in arms. He summons the group to his office to reprimand them, but doesn't get the chance.   
      The news horrifies everyone -- Principle Flutie has been eaten! The "official" story is that a pack of wild dogs did it, but Buffy, Willow and Giles know the truth. Since Xander was with Buffy when the incident occurred, she is relieved that he was not involved. Giles has figured out that in order to restore order, the spirits of the hyenas must be taken from the students and put back into the animals. While Buffy and Giles go to the zoo, Willow offers to watch over Xander. The zookeeper, well-versed in these matters, offers to help with the "transformation," and says that all the students must return to the mystical circle in the hyena cage. But one member of their pack is missing -- Xander -- and Buffy and Giles realize, to their horror, that they will seek him out, leaving Willow vulnerable to their attack. When they do just that, Xander breaks free from the cage, but Willow hides. They escape the school grounds and Buffy leads them all to the zoo.   
      While everything seems to be going according to schedule, it turns out that the zookeeper's plan is to absorb all the hyena’s spirits himself. He does, and grabs Willow in order to perform a predatory act which is part of the ritual. Xander, back to his old self, reacts to seeing his friend in jeopardy and dives on the zookeeper, freeing Willow. When the zookeeper goes after Buffy, she hurls him into the hyena cage, where he is promptly devoured.   
This episode is definitely not for the squeamish, especially considering poor Principal Flutie and of course Herbert. ****

      On her way home from the Bronze, Buffy encounters three vampires, who've been sent to avenge the death of one of the Master's minions. Just as they're about to attack her, Angel appears and they begin to fight. Angel and Buffy manage to make it safely to her house, where she repairs the wound he got in the scuffle. He spends the night in her bedroom, sleeping next to her bed. The next day at school, Giles identifies Buffy's attackers as warrior vampires, and steps up her training in case a more serious melee takes place. Later that day, Buffy and Angel share a passionare kiss, but then to her horror, she sees that he is a vampire!   
      Angel meets up with Darla, who was his lover and partner in crime hundreds of years earlier. She chastises him for spending time with the slayer. Meanwhile, Giles identifies Angel as a 240-year-old vampire who came to America 80 years ago, living alone and never killing again. Darla, anxious to do Buffy in, goes to her house and pretends to be a student planning to study with her. Buffy's mother, Joyce, lets her in and Darla promptly bites her in the neck. Angel enters the house and tells Darla to let Joyce go. Darla passes Joyce to him and he is tempted to bite her, but doesn't. When Buffy enters, she sees Angel holding her mother and, assuming he is the one who bit Joyce, she tosses him out the window. This finally gives her the impetus to kill him, and she meets him at the Bronze with a crossbow. He explains that he did many heinous deeds over the course of his lifetime, but his soul has been restored and he is now haunted by them. Darla finds them together and tries to shoot Buffy. Angel impales Darla from behind and she turns to dust. When the Master finds out that Darla, his favorite, has been slain, he goes berserk, but the Annointed One comforts him.   
      Back at the Bronze, Angel and Buffy agree that despite their strong feelings for each other, it's not realistic for them to pursue any kind of relationship. They kiss goodbye and when Buffy walks away, the imprint of her cross has been seared into Angel's chest.   
We finally find out about Angel (who's supposed to become a regular next season). ***

      In the Middle Ages, a young man approaches a horned demon, who smiles at him and then breaks his neck. Later, a group of monks, outraged by the deed, chant in Latin, open a book and the demon is sucked into it -- its pages now filled.   
      Back in the library, Buffy opens a crate and finds the long forgotten book. Along with Xander and Willow, the school's two computer experts are helping scan books: Fritz, a menacing looking bruiser, and Dave, a geekier kid. Also present is Miss Calendar, the computer science teacher, who rides Giles about his fear of technology. As Willow scans the ancient book, the characters disappear from its pages. When she looks away, words appear on the screen: "Where am I?"   
      A week later, Willow tells Buffy about Malcolm, a boy she's having an online romance with. Buffy, worried about her naive friend enlists Dave's help to try to find out more about Malcolm. Dave tells Buffy to leave Willow alone. Meanwhile, Miss Calendar stumbles upon the ancient book and asks Giles about its blank pages. When Giles notices the horned demon on the cover, he suspects trouble. Dave gets Buffy to look for Willow in the girls' locker room but when she gets there, Fritz has rigged up some wires in the shower to try to electrocute her. A puddle reaches the exposed wires and Buffy is sent flying into the locker room -- the soles of her shoes smoldering. A shaken Dave tells the computer he can't kill Buffy. Angry at his disrespect, it types up a suicide note for him.   
      Back in the library, Giles explains to Buffy and Xander that in the Dark Ages, the souls of demons were sometimes trapped in certain volumes, where they remained harmless until the pages were read aloud. When Willow scanned them, the demon, Moloch, was unleashed into the computer, and how had access to any computer in the world. Moloch preys on impressionable minds, which makes both Fritz and Dave vulnerable to his power. Buffy tries to delete Willow's files, hoping to "delete" Moloch along with them, but Moloch appears on the screen warning Buffy to stay away from Willow.   
      Looking for Willow in the computer lab, she finds Dave's body hanging, with the suicide note pinned to it. Fritz goes to Willow's house, chloroforms her and brings her to a mysterious warehouse where Dave had been spotted earlier.   
      A desparate Giles asks Miss Calendar for help and discovers she has extensive knowledge of the mystical realm. She helps him repeat the spell the monks had chanted while she links up a configuration of different computers around the world.   
      Meanwhile, Buffy and Xander try to save Willow at the warehouse. By the time they arrive, Moloch has left the computer and appears as a robotic incarnation of the horned demon that was back in the Dark Ages. He breaks Fritz' neck and is about to break Willow's when the spell takes hold, immobilizing him. Injured, but fighting, he lunges at Buffy, but she ducks and he punches a high-voltage junction box and is electrocuted to death.   
Definetely a weaker episode, though the robot demon is interesting. **

      Giles has been roped into supervising Sunnydale's talent show. When Buffy, Xander and Willow stop by to tease him about it, the new principal punishes them by insisting they come up with an act.   
      One of the dancers in the show is found dead, with her heart removed. The last person she was seen talking to was Morgan, a strange, awkward student who is a ventriloquist in the talent show with his dummy, Sid. When Buffy tries to question Morgan, he gets nervous and rubs his head. Sid seems to have a mind of his own, and Morgan talks to him as if he were real. Still suspicious, Buffy goes to check out Morgan's locker, but finds only the empty puppet case. When Buffy goes to sleep that night, Sid is outside her window. She feels him enter the room but when she screams and turns on the light, he's gone.   
      The next day, Giles tells Buffy, Xander and Willow about a brotherhood of demons who need human organs to maintain their humanity. Although this sounds like Morgan may have killed the dancer for her heart, these demons have super strength, while Morgan has been growing weaker. Willow discovers a book which says that dolls and mannequins are capable of becoming human by harvesting organs. Buffy, looking for Morgan in the prop room, finds him dead, with his brain removed. A light rig suddenly comes crashing down on her, and Sid is next to her with a kitchen knife. They have each mistaken the other for a demon. Sid explains that he was a human, but then was cursed, and he thinks the demon who cursed him is in the talent show. If he can kill that demon, he'll be free. Backstage at the talent show, Morgan's brain falls from the catwalk -- apparently the demon has rejected it. Willow researches Morgan's records and finds out that he had brain cancer. This means the demon is still going to be looking for a healthy, intelligent brain.   
      We find Giles in the auditorium, innocently helping Marc, a student performing a magic act in the talent show. Marc convinces Giles to fill in for his assistant and lie down in a guillotine. Just as Giles realizes he's about to get his brains removed, Buffy runs in to save him. Marc changes into a demon, and Sid finally stabs him in the heart. Now that the demon is dead, the animated Sid turns back into a normal puppet. Suddenly, the curtain opens as a stunned audience attending the talent show looks at the dumbfounded gang on stage.   
Another show that is sort of slow though definetly gory (nice brain). Check out the new principal played by Armin Shimerman (Quark on Star Trek DS9. **

      Buffy has a nightmare about being attacked by the Master. Later in class, a student opens his book and spiders emerge and attack him, while a young boy stands outside the classroom window. In his lair, the Master explains to the Anointed One that fear is the most powerful force in the world, and changes are about to take place.   
      Buffy, Willow and Xander question the spider boy, who says he's had recurring nightmares about such attacks. Later in class, Buffy finds out there is a test she's totally unprepared for. As soon as she starts writing, she glances at the clock and sees almost the entire hour is up. Again, the boy appears. Later, a girl goes into the school basement and is attacked by a huge Ugly Man. Questioned in the hospital, she's able to provide one clue: the attacker said the words "Lucky Nineteen."   
      Xander enters a class to find everyone staring at them -- he's only wearing boxer shorts. Buffy finds a newspaper picture of the boy who keeps appearing. The article says he's in a coma after falling down the steps after a little league game. Buffy notices his uniform number: 19. Giles says even though the boy's in the hospital, perhaps Buffy has been seeing his astral body, which can travel through time and space. Buffy's father picks her up at school and explains he left home because Buffy caused so much trouble and was a disappointment to him. He leaves Buffy in shock -- and the boy appears again. Willow and Xander talk to Giles, who explains that their nightmares have been coming true, leaving everyone vulnerable to all sorts of danger. Buffy finally confronts the boy, who explains that Ugly Man wants to kill him. Suddenly, the Ugly Man appears and starts to attack Buffy, who is no match for him.   
      Giles warns Xander and Willow that Buffy's nightmares could be fatal, and they must find her. Willow's attempt leads her into her own nightmare: she is onstage in an opera for which she is woefully unprepared. Xander's search leads him to yet another nightmare: a clown he feared from childhood chases him with a knife. Buffy and the boy manage to escape Ugly Man by literally jumping from school during the day into a cemetery at night. The Master appears and shoves Buffy into an open grave. Willow, Xander and Giles need to find Buffy -- unless Billy is awoken, all reality will become nightmares within hours. They notice a cemetery -- in darkness -- is across the street, and go to investigate. Seeing Buffy's headstone, Giles laments not protecting her better, until Buffy emerges -- as a vampire. Giles says it's reversible, if only Billy could wake up. They go to the hospital and Ugly Man appears again. Buffy manages to attack him. She asks the little boy to finish the job -- he walks up to him and peels something off his face. Buffy returns to normal, and the real little boy awakens from his coma. His little league coach enters and is shocked to find the boy awake. Buffy confronts him about beating up the boy for losing a game -- when he tries to flee, Xander grabs him. Buffy's dad shows up after school and cheerfully greets her -- another happy ending at the Hellmouth.   
The gangs nightmares are interesting goiing from the standard (Xander forgeting his pants) to Buffy's (and Giles) fear of her becoming a vampire. ***

      As the Spring Fling dance nears, Cordelia's new boyfriend is mysteriously beaten up at school -- by a baseball bat with no one attached to it. The attacker leaves a cryptic message on the locker, which leads Buffy to believe it wasn't an ordinary monster. Giles suggests it might be an invisible creature or a ghost.   
      Another attack finds Cordelia's friend Harmony flying backwards down a flight of stares, with no apparent outside force. After hearing a girl's voice, Buffy pursues the invisible attacker to no avail. Buffy enlists Willow's help in trying to get a list of missing kids -- perhaps this invisible girl is one of them. Meanwhile, Angel appears at the library and says he's worried about Buffy -- he knows that something big is about to happen but he doesn't know what.   
      Shock of shocks -- Cordelia is elected the May Queen for the school dance. Buffy is convinced Cordelia is the link between the two mysterious attacks. She finds a girl in Willow's printout, Marcie Ross, who she thinks might be the one. Marcie was in the band, and the invisible girl keeps hiding in the ceiling above the band room. Buffy follows her there to find a nest of sorts where the invisible girls has been hiding. Another attack occurs: Cordelia's teacher is almost suffocated.   
      Further investigation reveals that Marcie was in everyone's classes, but no one seems to even remember that she existed. Giles says she simply became invisible because she was perceived that way -- it's all due to physics, helped along by living above a Hellmouth. Marcie's goal seems to be to destroy Cordelia, who is already wigged out by the attacks on people close to her. Cordelia's coronation as May Queen that evening would be the perfect place for Marcie to attack, but Cordelia is none too thrilled about being used as bait. As Cordelia gets ready at school for the dance, Marcie yanks her up through the ceiling. Meanwhile, Giles, Willow and Xander hear some haunting music and try to follow it, hoping to find Marcie. The trio is led to the boiler room where they are overcome by gas fumes. Marcie anesthetizes both Buffy and Cordelia, brings them to the Bronze and ties them up. Marcie, armed with an arsenal of creepy surgical instruments, explains to Cordelia that she intends to give her a face no one will ever forget. She slices Cordelia's cheek, but Buffy manages to free herself and a scuffle ensues. Buffy finally knocks Marcie out, just as a pair of FBI agents arrive to take Marcie away. Angel saves the unconscious gang in the boiler room, but Giles tells Buffy it was a janitor -- he doesn't want to remind Buffy of her lost love. Cordelia acts grateful to the gang, but becomes her normal obnoxious self when her newly-healed boyfriend and her cooler-than-thou friends show up.   
Cordelia actually shows a nice side in this episode (if only briefly). The ending with the classroom of invisble students makes for great conspiracy theorys. ****

      At the Bronze, Xander rehearses asking Buffy out to the prom by trying his speech out on lovesick Willow. Meanwhile, Buffy is having a closer call than usual with her vampire attackers. Giles reads a frightening prophecy about the Master and the Slayer, and an earthquake hits Sunnydale.   
      Buffy tells Giles about her attack, and lets him know that she's starting to get scared. When Xander finally getes the nerve to ask her out, she turns him down, saying she doesn't think of him "that way" and doesn't want to spoil their friendship. In the library, Giles and Ms. Calendar discuss the prophecy: the earthquake, along with several strange occurrences in Sunnydale, seem to confirm that the apocalypse is near. Buffy overhears Giles telling Angel, "Tomorrow she'll face the Master and she will die." Buffy freaks out and tells Giles she wants to quit. More signs of the end appear: a roomful of students, including Cordelia's new beau, are found dead at school, totally unnerving Willow, who discovers their bodies. Buffy decides that even though she's afraid, only she can try to save the world by facing the Master. She goes out with a crossbow, and the Anointed One leads her to the Master. Meanwhile, Xander enlists Angel's help in trying to protect Buffy.   
      The Master bites Buffy, and she drops into a puddle. This allows him to break through to the "other side." Xander and Angel find Buffy, and Xander is able to revive her using CPR. Meanwhile, Cordelia, Willow and Ms. Calendar find themselves driving through a sea of vampires in the streets. They try to escape to the library, but the undead follow them. As they try to fight them off, a huge, horrific monster comes up through the floor and attacks them. Buffy makes it back to the school and fights the Master on the roof. She throws him through the roof window and he falls through, getting impaled on the way down. He disintegrates, and the monster and the vampires disappear with him.   
      "We saved the world. I say we party," exclaims Buffy the Vampire Slayer.   
The last line says it all, a great episode and some great lines in it, I know it looks like thats all for the Master but we can always hope (and what about the annointed one?) *****