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Season 4, Episode 1
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon
Original Airdate: 4 October 1999
"When it's dark, and I'm all alone, and I'm
scared, or freaked out or whatever, I always think, 'What would Buffy do?'
You're my hero."
Xander
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
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Mike Rad as
Rookie
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Shannon Hillary as
Dav
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Mace Lombard as
Tom
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Robert Catrini as
Professor Riegert
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Scott Rinker as
R.A.
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Phina Oruche as
Olivia
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Denice J. Sealy as
Student Volunteer
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Evie Peck as
Angry Girl
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Jason Christopher as
Nonserious Guy
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Jane Silvia as
Conservative Woman
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Mark Silverberg as
Passing Student
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Walt Borchert as
New Vampire
SYNOPSIS
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Buffy and Willow patrol the graveyard while going
over the class options for their freshman year of college. Unknown to
them, a vampire rises, but decides not to try his luck and runs away.
The first day of college proves to be a bit stressful on Buffy, as she
seems to find that she's the only one who isn't feeling comfortable in
her surroundings. Flyer after flyer is thrown at her as she tries to
make her way around campus, and then finally she locates Willow and Oz.
Willow loves the college experience and Oz knows many of the students.
Buffy and Willow go shopping for books and Buffy accidentally knocks a
stack of Psychology books onto the head of another student, Riley Finn.
Buffy manages to make a complete fool out of herself, while Willow and
Riley find the common ground of Psychology to talk about.
Buffy meets her new roommate, a very hyper freshman named Kathy Newman,
who's obsessed with Celine Dion and snores. In her first attempt at a
college class, Pop Culture, Buffy manages to get herself kicked out of
the classroom for first talking and then supposedly not being on the
list of students. Buffy then meets Riley again in the halls and he leads
the way to Psych where Buffy meets her new, incredibly tough professor,
Professor Maggie Walsh. That night, a lost Buffy runs into Eddie,
another lost student, and they manage to work together and find their
way. Buffy makes it back to her dorm, but Eddie gets caught by a group
of vampires. The vampires later strip Eddie's room of all his belongings
and leave a note to make it look like he just left.
When Eddie doesn't show up for Psych class the next day, Buffy worries
and goes to find him. Instead, she finds him gone, but suspects it
wasn't by choice. Meanwhile, the vampires go through Eddie's stuff and
as the lead vampire, Sunday leaves their lair, a newly vamped Eddie
rises. Buffy goes to Giles' place and finds a woman, Olivia, dressed in
one of Giles' shirts and Giles dressed in a robe. Buffy asks him for
help, but he suggests she handle it herself since he can't be there for
her all the time.
That night, Buffy spots Eddie on her patrol around campus and quickly
stakes him. Sunday and her gang show up and Sunday beats Buffy up pretty
badly, breaking her arm and causing the Slayer to run away from the
fight. The next day, Buffy hides from her friends, not wanting to
explain what happened. After talking about how they beat up the Slayer,
Sunday, so sure that Buffy is going to die that night, sends her lackeys
to take all of Buffy's things so it looks like she left college.
Buffy returns home for the day to find that her mother is using her room
for art storage and that only leaves her feeling even more unwanted.
Someone calls the house, and when Buffy picks up the phone, there's no
one there. Although she doesn't know it, Angel's on the other end.
Returning to her dorm, Buffy finds all of her stuff gone and a note.
Xander runs into Buffy alone at the Bronze that night and tells her
about his summer. After his car broke down he found a job working in the
kitchen of a male strip club, and surpassingly even filled in for one of
the strippers. That, however, is a story no one will ever hear. Now
paying rent to live in his parent's basement, Xander talks to Buffy
about her college experiences and manages to talk her through her
depressing attitude about her life.
After some research is done, they locate Sunday's lair. A weaponless
Buffy accidentally crashes in and ends up fighting with the vampires
again. Sunday steps on Buffy's golden umbrella which she received on
Prom Night for being "Class Protector" and suddenly Buffy snaps into
Slayer mode. Willow and Oz go to Buffy's dorm and find her and all her
stuff gone, but Xander arrives and vaguely fills them in on the danger
that Buffy is in. Back at Sunday's lair, Buffy finally starts kicking
some butt and uses her resources. With a little help from Xander, Willow
and Oz, Buffy kills Sunday and her lackeys. The Slayer and her
Slayerettes are back in action. Giles, who finally came to realize that
he has to help Buffy, shows up just as they're leaving.
One of the vampires that managed to escape runs across campus and then
is suddenly hit with tasers. Three hooded figures armed with
sophisticated weapons close in on him.
TRIVIA
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Marc Blucas makes his first appearance as
Riley Finn, destined to become 'the rebound guy.' He appears in eight
episodes before becoming a series regular in
Doomed.
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Phina Oruche, who as Olivia, makes two more
appearances this season in Hush and
Restless, makes her debut here.
Phina and Anthony Stewart Head were in acting class together in the past
and he suggested her for the role in Buffy.
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Dagney Kerr plays Buffy's annoying roommate
Kathy for the first time here and appears in the proceeding episode
Living Conditions. Her real name is
Michelle Kear.
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Lindsay Crouse, who will appear as Maggie
Walsh for nine episodes this season, makes her first appearance in this
episode. Lindsay appeared in the 1995 movie Bye Bye, Love with
Eliza Dushku and Amber Benson, and has been nominated for an Oscar for
her work on Places in the Heart in 1984.
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Charisma Carpenter and David Boreanaz have
been removed from the opening credits.
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Christian Kane, who plays Lindsay McDonald
on Angel, originally auditioned for the role of Riley Finn. He told
EW.com, "I auditioned for Buffy, for the role that Marc Blucas has".
CROSSOVER
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David Boreanaz and Sarah Michelle Gellar had cameo
parts in each others' season premiere episodes. In this episode, Buffy
notices someone who looks like Angel in the Bronze (we see Boreanaz for
a split second) and in the Angel episode
City Of, we briefly hear Sarah's
voice on the phone. In this episode, Buffy picks up the phone in the
Summers' house and no one answers her. It's Angel on the other end.
CONTINUITY
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Sunday breaks Buffy's Class Protector
award, which she received from the Senior Class in
The Prom.
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Buffy says "I hope it's a funny aneurism"
referring to how her mother will react about the cost of her books. This
is a big foreshadowing of Joyce's actual death in season five's
The Body - she died of an aneurism.
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Olivia calls Giles 'Ripper' at one point,
implying she knew him at the time he was a evil-seeking rebel as seen in
The Dark Age.
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Giles reminds Buffy that officially, she no
longer has a Watcher. Buffy quit the council in
Graduation Day (Part 2).
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Willow mentions the time that Buffy ran to
Los Angeles following the events of
Becoming (Part 2).
GOOFS
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In The Yoko Factor,
Angel cannot enter Buffy's dorm room without invitation, so how did
Sunday's vampires get in to steal her stuff in this episode?
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The first time Buffy is lost on campus, she
is carrying a bag. It's stripes are different on each side, and after
each shot, the bag turns round.
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In the scene in which Buffy tries to sleep
while Kathy snores, Buffy's bedcovers are high up her body during
close-ups but quite a few inches lower in the longer shots.
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When the vampires clean out Eddie's room,
you can see them in the mirror above the sink.
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The stoner vampire is packing Eddie's stuff
by the sink. After a quick cut to the stereo that the other vampire is
stealing, the stoner vampire is shown sitting at a desk, just finishing
the goodbye note.
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Why are Sunday's gang living in a house
with a giant skylight?
The Freshman |
Living Conditions |
The Harsh Light of Day |
Fear, Itself |
Beer Bad
Wild at Heart |
The Initiative |
Pangs |
Something Blue |
Hush |
Doomed
A New Man |
The I in Team |
Goodbye Iowa |
This Year's Girl |
Who Are You |
Superstar
Where the Wild
Things Are |
New Moon Rising |
The Yoko Factor |
Primeval |
Restless
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