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Season 2, Episode 20
Written by David Fury and Elin Hampton
Directed by David Semel
Original Airdate: 3 May 1998
Coach Marin "Boy, when they were handin' out
school spirit, you didn't even stand in line, did you?"
Buffy "No. I was in the line for "shred of sanity"."
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
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Charles Cyphers as
Coach Carl Martin
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Jeremy Garrett as
Cameron Walker
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Wentworth Miller as
Gage Petronzi
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Conchata Farrell as
Nurse Ruth Greenliegh
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Armin Shimerman as
Principal R. Snyder
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
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The Sunnydale High swim team is gathered on the
beach, celebrating a victory. While many people party and Xander
complains about the swim team getting to have a celebration, Buffy sulks
on a rock watching the ocean. A guy named Cameron approaches Buffy and
starts sputtering out poetic words. Buffy tries to scare him off, but he
says he's only looking to talk and nothing more. All of a sudden,
Jonathon Levinson is dunked into a bucket of ice water. Buffy rescues
him and scares off the two dunkers.
Two swimmers named Dodd and Gage walk down the beach and talk about how
weird Buffy is. Dodd stops and Gage keeps walking. When he smells
something weird, Gage turns around and goes after his friend who seems
to have disappeared. As Gage walks by, Dodd's skin is found on the
ground with nothing left inside. Nearby, a vicious creature crawls into
the sewers. The next day, Willow is teaching class and, when it is over,
Snyder confronts her and tells her she should probably let Gage pass.
Buffy meanwhile, comes to school with Cameron and he makes a pass at
her. She hits his head against the steering wheel and supposedly breaks
his nose. Snyder happens to see this and blames Buffy for it all.
Later, Buffy starts rambling on to Giles and her friends about this
entire incident. Giles informs her that they found the remains of Dodd
on the beach. Cameron hits the sauna and while he's in there, he hears
some weird noises. The coach bursts in and tells him he's had enough.
While everyone is studying in the library, Xander goes out to go get a
drink. On his way to the machine, he bumps into Cameron. They exchange
words and Xander laughs at him for trying to get Buffy. Cameron heads
off to the cafeteria for a snack while Xander tries to decide between
Grape and Orange soda. Cameron screams and Xander rushes to the scene
only to find the cafeteria in shambles and Cameron's skin on the ground.
As he turns around, the creature responsible for the mess appears behind
him.
In the library, Cordelia tries to draw the monster that Xander saw
before running off like a woman. Buffy and Willow return with the info
that Cameron and Dodd were the two best swimmers on the team and that
Gage is suspected to be the next pile of skin. Buffy is assigned to
shadow Gage while Willow gets to interrogate Jonathan under a lamp.
Jonathon says he wanted revenge on the team, but he only peed in the
pool and wasn't responsible for the deaths. The next day, Buffy follows
Gage around and he grows suspicious of her. At the Bronze that night,
Buffy is caught by Gage and she attempts to cover it up, but fails. He
ends up leaving, only to encounter Angelus in the parking lot. They talk
about Buffy and then Angelus vamps out and bites him. Seconds later, he
stops and starts to spit the blood out. Buffy comes to the rescue and
then walks Gage home. Buffy suspects that Angelus spat his blood out
because there were steroids in it.
The following day, at the swim team's practice, Buffy, Willow and
Cordelia talk about what could be causing the deaths. Cordelia comments
on the cute new addition to the team and then realizes that its Xander.
He walks over to the girls and informs them that he made the team.
Willow tells Buffy that Jonathon wasn't responsible for the deaths, but
he still got his revenge by peeing in the pool. Then Xander dives in.
Later, the team goes to soak in the sauna, where Xander continues to
babble, but no one pays attention. Just outside the sauna, a set of
claws comes through a grate.
While Buffy waits for Gage to exit the locker room, she hears him yell.
When she gets in there, she finds Gage and a giant fish creature. Gage
then cries out in pain and falls to the ground. He rips open his shirt
and then his skin, revealing that he's also a creature. Buffy tries to
fight them both off but one grabs her from behind and bites her arm. The
coach comes in and saves her and she is sent to the nurse's office.
Coach Martin is told that his team members are becoming fish creatures.
Buffy and Giles go hunting for fish creatures in the sewers while Xander
again hits the sauna to try and find out how he can get some steroids.
The guys tell him that it's in the steam from the sauna.
Nurse Greenliegh tries to put an end to Martin's attempts to make his
team better by supplying them with steroids in the steam. He throws her
into the fish creature's pen as food. Xander warns everyone that he's
had three exposures to the steam and is worried about becoming a fish
creature. Buffy tells Giles to get the rest of the team locked up while
she goes to talk to the coach. She does and finds out what Martin is
doing. Holding a gun to her, he tells her to get in the pen. He tells
her that she's not for food, but for another purpose.
Xander and Cordelia go to help find the swim team members. Xander goes
into the locker room to check and to also see if he's becoming scaly. A
creature formerly known as Jason comes out and jumps into the pool.
Cordelia thinks it's Xander and goes into a huge speech about how much
she cares for him. He kneels down by her and tells her that the creature
isn't him. Back at the library, Xander decides that since Buffy hasn't
returned, he should go after her. He meets up with Martin and fights him
for the gun. Xander wins and knocks the coach out. Buffy meanwhile is
down in the pen, with water up to her waist while fish creatures
surround her and attack. Xander pulls her out and then Martin him on the
head. Buffy accidentally knocks Martin into the hole and his swimmers
attack him.
While everyone recovers and the swim team are inoculated against the
steroids, the fish creatures are left to their freedom and swim out to
see.
TRIVIA
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If you look at Xander now, you'll notice
that he's nowhere near as lean as he used to be - most clearly evidenced
in this episode. Nicholas Brendon wanted to see a personal trainer and
Joss originally didn't want him to - he wanted Xander to stay skinny and
boyish, but after discussing it, Joss decided that if Xander was working
a construction job, he would naturally fill out some, so he gave
Nicholas the go ahead to see a trainer.
CONTINUITY
GOOFS
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When the board at the Bronze is first
spotted, it is blank, but when Buffy rushes out to find Angelus, it
reads 'DJ 2NITE-NO COVER'.
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While Buffy is 'stalking' Gage, she is
reading a magazine. At first the back of the magazine is white, in the
next shot it's black. It appears she had it upside down and flipped it
between shots.
When She Was
Bad |
Some Assembly Required |
School Hard |
Inca Mummy Girl |
Reptile Boy
Halloween |
Lie to Me |
The Dark Age |
What's My Line? (Part 1) |
What's My Line? (Part 2) |
Ted
Bad Eggs |
Surprise |
Innocence |
Phases |
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered |
Passion
Killed by
Death |
I Only Have Eyes for You |
Go Fish |
Becoming (Part 1) |
Becoming (Part 2)
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