Season 1, Episode 8
Written by Ashley Gable and Thomas A. Swyden
Directed by Stephen Posey
Original Airdate: 28 April 1997
"Wrong and wrong, snobby. You think the realm
of the mystical is limited to ancient texts and relics? That bad old science
made the magic go away? The divine exists in cyberspace same as out here."
Jenny Calendar
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
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Robia LaMorte as
Jenny Calendar
-
Chad Lindberg as
Dave Kirby
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Jamison Ryan as
Fritz Siegel
CO-STARRING
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Pierrino Mascarino as
Thelonius
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Edith Fields as
School Nurse
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Damon Sharp as
Male Student
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Mark Deakins as
The Voice of Moloch
SYNOPSIS
-
In Cartona Italy, 1418, a demon called Moloch the
Corrupter is controlling the mind of a young man before him and then he
snaps his neck. Meanwhile, a group of monks are performing a spell to
trap Moloch in a large book. As the spell takes effect and Moloch is
slowly sucked into the book, words appear on the pages. The book is
closed, placed in a box, and the box is sealed.
Back in the present, Buffy opens the box and pulls out the book. Jenny
Calendar, the school computer science teacher is helping Giles scan
books into the computers along with some of her students Fritz and Dave.
Moloch's book is placed in Willow's pile. Everyone leaves but Willow
stays late to scan a few more books, one of which happens to be the book
containing Moloch. If the pages are read, he will be set free. When she
turns away from the screen, "Where am I?" appears on the computer
screen.
Later that week, Buffy notices Willow's strange behaviour. She says that
she met a guy named Malcolm on the Internet. Buffy is a bit worried that
Willow is so worked up over some guy she met on the Net who could be
just about anyone. She goes to Dave for help but he tells her to leave
Willow alone. Buffy takes his weird behaviour as a hint to find out what
he's up to. She follows him to a computer research building, which
supposedly has been shut down for a long time. However, the place is
crawling with people working. Plans are made for Buffy and Xander to go
and find out more about this place.
In the computer lab, Willow is talking to Malcolm on the computer but
quickly ends their conversation when he mentions Buffy's expulsion from
Hemery High in LA. Willow never informed him of this and she is scared
that he knows. When Buffy arrives at the lab searching for Willow, Dave
tells her that Willow is waiting in the Girls' locker room for her.
Fritz is in the locker room rigging up a trap for Buffy to be
electrocuted by setting live wires in a shower stall. He turns on the
water just as Buffy arrives and then leaves. Dave arrives to warn Buffy
but the water hits the wires and sends her flying across the room before
she can get away. Dave hurries back to the computer lab where he tells
Moloch that he won't do his dirty work anymore but Moloch responds with
a suicide note for him. Fritz is in the room as well, ready to kill
Dave.
When Buffy heads back to the lab to talk to Dave, she finds his body
hanging from the ceiling with his suicide note. Back at the library,
Giles figures out what is going on while Buffy makes the connection that
Moloch is Malcolm. She and Xander rush to save Willow but they are too
late. Fritz arrived earlier, knocked her out, and took her away to the
research facility. Moloch now has a robotic form, which was made by his
followers. He kills Fritz and then prepares to kill Willow when she
refuses to join him. A sudden jolt stops him from killing Willow and
Buffy and Xander finally break through just in time. They start fighting
and Willow manages to escape from Moloch.
Meanwhile at the library, Giles has asked Jenny Calendar for help with
stopping Moloch. She reveals her knowledge of all the mystical stuff
around Sunnydale and Giles tells her of Buffy being the Slayer. Jenny
then gets on the computer to form an energy circle so they can perform
the ritual to stop Moloch. The spell works, except instead of sending
him back to the book, it traps him in his robot body. Moloch is
infuriated at this and attacks Buffy. Willow saves her by hitting him
with a fire extinguisher. He knocks her aside and then Buffy manages to
trick him into hitting an electrical box. He short-circuits and then
blows up.
TRIVIA
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As with The Pack,
Charisma Carpenter is absent from this episode, despite her credit as a
series regular.
-
The radio announcer in one of the scenes in
this episode is voiced by Joss Whedon.
-
This episode sees the first appearance of
Jenny Calendar, who appears in fourteen episodes all together over the
course of the first three seasons. Actress Robia LaMorte previously
worked with The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, and also worked on
Beverley Hills 90210, with series regular Emma Caulfield, although
they never appeared together. Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie
stars Hilary Swank and Luke Perry also had regular roles on the show, as
did Rebecca Gayhart, who was up for a role in Firefly until Joss
replaced her.
CONTINUITY
GOOFS
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Just before Willow is captured by Fritz at
her house, the computer goes black-screen to announce new mail. She
doesn't touch it, but when Buffy and Xander get to her room the computer
is displaying the e-mail.
-
Giles says that a common practice was to
trap demons' souls into books. But demons don't have souls.
-
When Buffy goes to turn on the computer to
delete Willow's files she never touches the monitor 'on' button. She
touches the area above the button, yet the screen pops on.
-
How does Buffy manage to follow Dave to the
CRD building so easily when he's driving and she isn't?
-
Why didn't Buffy see Dave's hanging body as
she entered the lab?
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When Giles leaves the library after
discovering the blank book, why don't we see him in the window of the
room he goes into?
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Buffy's status changes from 'sophomore' to
'senior', between the two records which Moloch accesses. Her date of
birth also changes from 24 October 1980 to 6 May 1979. Actually her
birthday is neither and is seen as 19th January 1981. Her birthday
episodes usually air on the same date every year.
Welcome to the
Hellmouth | The Harvest |
Witch | Teacher's Pet |
Never Kill a Boy on the
First Date
The Pack |
Angel | I Robot, You Jane |
The Puppet Show |
Nightmares |
Out of Mind, Out of Sight |
Prophecy Girl
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