Round One
Season 1, Episodes 9, 10, 11, 12
Episode 9- The Puppet Show
We open with a creepy voice talking about being flesh again, while watching the students backstage at the high school. We then see Cordelia singing off key while Giles is feeling the torture of having to run the talent show. Buffy, Xander and Willow arrive, mocking him and the other students, only to be caught by Mr. Synder who informs them that they have no choice and have to be in the talent show. We then see the kid with the dummy and right off Buffy has a bad reaction to the sight of it. When Willow asks her why, she simply says she's just always been creeped by them. The dummy's voice then changes and he starts telling dirty jokes.
We then see a female student in the locker room get attacked, by an unseen demon who once again says he will be flesh.
We then see the gang freaking out about what they are going to do. The kid with the dummy starts talking to them, the dummy hitting on Buffy.
We then see Synder and Giles talking about the history of the school, and the amount of strange deaths are connected to it. And we learn how much Synder hates kids, people in general. We hear a scream, and the dead body of the girl is found. Giles tells the group that the girls' heart was removed by someone with a knife, and they right away rule out demon. Buffy tells them that her slayer self is telling her that it is more likely to be a demon. They start to interview the students, and one tells them that the last person to talk to her was the dude with the dummy.
Buffy goes to talk to the student with the dummy, and walks in on what appears to be the dummy talking on it's own. When the student appears he tells her that he was practicing throwing his voice, then crumples clutching his skull and the dummy starts to mouth off at Buffy.
Back at the library, the group all figure that Morgan, the puppet guy is a murder, all but Buffy who still seems to think it's a demon. Giles tells her to go check his locker for anything that might prove he's the killer, like the missing heart. She doesn't find anything but Synder catches her, threatening her. Synder thinks she's the murder. Buffy manages to open the dummy case only to find it empty.
We then see Morgan arguing with the dummy, telling him that just can not kill Buffy, even though the dummy tells him this last kill will set him free.
We are then at Buffy's house, her mother teasing her about the talent show. At this point, her mom still has no idea about her being a demon hunter and thinks everything is normal teenaged stuff and gives her advice.
We see the dummy staring through the window at Buffy, then running around her room. She screams and her mom comes in, and Buffy has a normal moment of a kid being scared. Her mom notices the window is open, and Buffy says she never left it open.
The next day, back at the school, Cordelia is trying to get bumped up to the top of the show, but Giles spaces on her, and finally gets rid of her by commenting on her hair. Buffy walks in and tells the group that Sid the dummy is really alive. Xander and Willow wonder if Buffy is just freaked out too much, and put off the idea that the dummy is just a dummy. But Giles gives them a bit of research that talks about a group of seven demons that can take the form of non-humans, and who every so many years if they collect all the human organs can become human. They still think that Morgan is the main suspect.
Buffy sees the dummy move on it's own later in class, just before the teacher takes the dummy away and puts it in the cupboard. When he goes to collect it later, he sees it's missing, and panics.
Back at the library, we see Xander stole him. This gives Buffy a chance to talk to Morgan alone, while Willow and Giles do research in the demon section, which the dummy overhears.
Buffy runs into Synder in the drama room where he threatens her again. Back in the library, the dummy is missing. Buffy finds Morgan dead, then gets attacked in the drama room.
She wakes up to find Sid the dummy running around on his own. He attacks her with a knife, they fight, each thinking the other is the murdering demon. We find out Sid is a demon hunter who was cursed to be a dummy, but not till after having killed the other six of these demons. They realize that the demon is in the show, and have to figure out which student.
We get a little bit of history on one of the slayers from Sid, who had been alive in the 1930's. He tells her that if they get this last demon, the curse will be lifted and he'll just die. And admits that since he was cursed he's outlived countless demon hunters and slayers.
They realize no one in the show is missing, and have to come up with a different plan. Giles starts to suspect Synder, and follows him, while Buffy goes looking for Sid who is now missing. What she finds is Morgan's brain just left hanging around.
Back at the library, the group start to think they have been lied to by Sid. They then learn that Morgan was sick, and his brain was useless. They realize that Willow and Giles are the next targets. Giles meanwhile is talking to one of the students in the drama room, who is working on his magic act which happens to include a guillotine. Buffy manages to save him just in time, killing the demon, while Xander and Willow untie Giles.
Sid stabs the body in the heart and then dies himself. Just as the curtain opens for the beginning of the show, with everyone standing there.
Under the credits we see Buffy, Xander and Willow doing a scene from a play.
Episode 10- Nightmares
We open with Buffy in what looks to be a part of the Master's lair. The Master is stalking her, and manages to catch her, but just before he can bite her, she wakes up from a dream. Her mom lets her know that her dad will be there that weekend.
We see Buffy and Willow walking in school, talking about how she never sees her dad, and Buffy comments on the fact that they split up the same time she found out she was the slayer. We see the group in class, and one of the students opens his book to be covered in spiders, at the same time that Buffy sees a young kid in the doorway. The kid tells her he's sorry about that.
Back in the lair, we see the Master talking to the Anointed One about fear, telling him that it's all in the mind and can be controlled. He then says that something is happening above ground, something powerful that is bringing trouble.
Back at Sunnydale High, we see Buffy getting dropped off by her mom, who asks her why she was screaming in her sleep again? Buffy is more concerned about hanging out with her dad for the weekend. We then see her and the others talking about the spiders in the classroom the day before, and how did it happen? This gets them talking about some of their fears, and find Giles running around lost in the shelves. Giles tells them that they need to talk to the student who the spiders happened to. They learn that he's a specialist in the topic of spiders, and that he's haunted by nightmares of them, because he feels guilty for having left his brother looking after his pet spiders and they all died.
We then see Buffy go to a class that she's been skipping all year, only to find out there is a test that she was not aware of, and the panic sets in. Before she knows it, class is over and she's failed the test. We see the same young boy from the day before standing in the doorway again, the kid sees another student heading to the basement and tells her she shouldn't go in there. The female student is standing in the basement, and a creature attacks her. The creature simply says "Lucky 19".
Buffy and Giles then show up at the hospital to see if they can find out who attacked her. While they are at the hospital, they learn that there is a boy in a coma that was attacked the same way.
Back at the school, we see random students have some of their worst fears come true. Like a biker wannabe's mom shows up to embarrass him. Then Xander and Willow walk into class and suddenly Xander is naked.
Back at the library, Giles is poured over newspapers and his biggest fear of not being able to read has come true. Buffy notices a photo of the kid she's been seeing around the school and realizes it's the first victim in the coma. Giles brings up the idea of astral projection, as being the reason the kid was around school. Buffy's dad then shows up out of nowhere and tells Buffy that he doesn't want anything to do with her ever again, and that she's the reason they got divorced. This is one of Buffy's biggest fears. Then we see the kid again in another doorway.
Back in the library, Willow and Xander show up, and tell Giles about the naked fear coming true. We then learn that Willow is afraid of being noticed. Giles then realizes that it's all their nightmares coming true. We learn that the kid, Billy, is the reason the nightmare world has become true.
Cordelia's nightmare is that she becomes a major geek with braces and bad hair. Meanwhile, Buffy has started to follow astral Billy around the school. Just as Buffy starts to talk to him, the creature shows up.
Big battle, and the creature manages to get Buffy on the run. Her and astral Billy exit the school and see a baseball game, where astral Billy hints at the creature being the baseball coach. They then run into a graveyard where the Master buries her alive. Giles, Willow and Xander split up trying to find Buffy, each having their own big nightmares. Willow is forced to star in an opera, Xander is chased by a killer clown, and Giles sees Buffy die becoming a vampire.
Giles tells Buffy that they have to wake Billy up from his coma, in order to return everything to normal. They arrive at the hospital to find total chaos. They see Billy still in his coma, and astral Billy hiding in the back of the room. The creature then shows up, and Buffy attacks him, taking advantage of this vampire nightmare self's new strength. Knocking the creature out, she tells astral Billy that he needs to unmask the creature in order to kill him. The kid needs to face his fears.
A mystical light appears, and everyone is back to normal, with Billy coming out of his coma. Just then the coach walks in, unaware that Billy has woken up, and tells Xander that he comes by every day, waiting to see if his Lucky 19 will wake up. When Buffy tells the coach that Billy is awake, he tries to run, but Giles and Xander grab him.
Back at school, the group are talking about how the coach was arrested for what he'd done, as Buffy's dad shows up to pick her up for the weekend.
Episode 11- Out of Mind Out of Sight
We open with Cordelia and her friends talking about the spring dance, and Buffy trips over them spilling everything in her purse. Buffy starts to remember when she was the school queen bee.
In class, we see that Cordelia is actually smarter then they thought, but we learn just as shallow as always. We then see Cordelia's boyfriend in the locker room, and we hear a girl's laugh just before he gets attacked by a flying baseball bat.
Cordelia is then seen bribing students for their vote on prom queen, making Buffy feel even more lost. When Xander and Willow start mocking Cordelia for it, Buffy admits that she used to be the Cordy in her old school.
We then see Synder talking about how there are no dead students there in the school that week as we see Mitch, Cordelia's boyfriend being wheeled out by medics. Buffy goes to check the crime scene but is stopped by Synder, but Willow's quick thinking gets Synder's attention letting Buffy investigate. Buffy sees the word "look" written on the lockers where the attack happened.
In the lunch room, Giles and the group talk about the different kinds of ghosts or someone with telekinesis, trying to figure out what the cause was.
In the yard, we see Cordelia talking to Harmony about Mitch, and her shallowness is on display. We see a flashback of a similar conversation that happened a few months before and hear a girl's voice say hi, and Cordelia brush them off. Buffy then shows up to talk to Cordelia, just as someone pushes Harmony down the stairs. Synder starts asking what happened, and Cordelia says she fell but Harmony swears someone pushed her. Buffy then hears the girl's laugh again and follows it. She doesn't see anyone but someone bumps into her. She then sees a panel in the ceiling move.
We see two strange guys in suites standing around the outside of the school as the gang walk by talking about ghosts. Xander comments about an invisible people and admits he'd love to be invisible in order to spy on the girls' locker room. They realize it's someone with a grudge on Cordelia because both attacks were on her friends. Buffy decides to hunt down the invisible girl, and Giles tells her to focus on listening, which will play a major role in coming seasons with her slayer powers.
Buffy stakes out the school later that night and hears someone playing the flute. We then see Giles in the library, also hearing strange sounds, only to discover Angel waiting for him.
They talk, and Giles makes the comment about a vampire in love with the slayer and how poetic and sad it is. Angel then tells him something bad is about to happen with the Master. They continue talking about a missing book called the Cotex, which we find that Angel has. Giles then has a moment of fanboyness at the idea of getting his hands on the missing volume.
We then see another flashback of the girl trying to fit in with Cordelia and her friends, totally ignoring her. Back to the present, Cordelia wins the May Queen, and we see the gang standing around the edge of the school yard talking about the list of dead and missing students, with Buffy still certain that Cordelia is the real target. Willow notices the guys in suites just as Buffy reads about one girl named Marcy on the missing list. Her profile says that she played the flute, and Buffy tells them that she had heard someone playing a flute the night before in the school.
Buffy then goes to the music room and investigates, finding a hidden room in the attic where a girl's made herself a home.
We then hear the girl's laugh again right before a teacher gets attacked. Cordelia shows up and saves her, just as something writes the word "listen" on the chalkboard behind them.
Back in the library, the gang are discussing what she found in the attic. And Buffy shows them the yearbook she found, pointing out that no one had anything to say to her. Giles then realizes that it's not really a magical issue that caused her to become invisible but a scientific one. More of a quantum physics. Explaining that because of the way we perceive things, we manifest our own reality, and because the girl felt invisible she made herself become invisible. Cordelia comes running into the room, and begs Buffy for help because of having seen her bag of weapons. The gang tells her that it's an invisible girl and points out a photo of Marcy, where upon Cordelia says she's never seen her before in her life.
In the attic we hear Marcy talking angrily about Cordelia. We get a bit of insight on Cordelia, and learn that she's just as insecure as everyone else. The rest of the gang hear the sound of a flute and follow it, which ends up being a trap. Meanwhile, Cordelia and Buffy are grabbed.
In the basement where Xander, Willow and Giles are trapped, the gas has been turned on, while Buffy and Cordelia are being held at the Bronze.
We see the word "learn" in gold glitter on the wall of the Bronze. We hear Marcy telling them that her plan is to make Cordelia a monster by slicing her up.
Meanwhile back at the school, Angel shows up and gets Willow, Xander and Giles out. We then see Buffy trying to fight Marcy. Closing her eyes, Buffy is able to focus on what she hears and manages to defeat Marcy. Just then, the men in the back suites who end up being FBI break into the Bronze and take Marcy.
We then see the gang walking through the school, and Cordelia thanking them, and we see the beginning of the change in her. Until Mitch shows up and mocks the group.
Final scene is a teacher in front of an invisible class, and as Marcy opens her text book we see she's begun Assassination training.
Episode 12- Prophecy Girl
We open at the Bronze. Xander is talking to what we think is Willow, asking her out, but he's actually practicing what he wants to say to Buffy.
We then see the graveyard, where Buffy is fighting a vampire, a few feet way from where Cordelia and Mitch are parked in car making out. We then see Giles in the library, reading the Cotex that Angel had given him in the previous episode, and we learn that the Master is about to rise. Giles then goes into a panic as he realizes that Buffy is going to die.
Sunnydale is then hit by an earthquake. We see the Master screaming for joy, then turns to the Anointed One and states in a flat voice "what do you think? 5.1?"
Back at the library, we see Giles looking deflated and worried. We learn that it's the next morning, and Giles hasn't left in almost a day and a half. Buffy shows up and tells him that she slayed three vampires within minutes of each other the night before.
Buffy, Xander and Willow are walking through the yard, and Xander shoos Willow off in order that he can talk to Buffy alone. He starts to ask her out but she has to let him know that it's not going to happen. Xander then reacts by insulting Angel and walking away.
Back in the library, Giles is on the phone when Miss Calendar walks in. They start comparing notes on all the weird stuff that has happened in the last few weeks, and Miss Calendar says that a monk in Europe has emailed her with a message about the Anointed One. Giles then starts to really pay attention. He tells her to get ahold of the monk and find out everything she can.
We then see Cordelia and her new boyfriend talking, she asks Willow to do some electronic stuff for her, just as Xander tells Willow that Buffy turned him down. He then asks Willow, and she turns him down telling him that it would hurt too much to go with him.
Night time, and Buffy is in the school bathroom, seeing blood pour out of the sink. When she goes to tell Giles, she walks in on him and Angel talking about how there is a prophecy in the Cotex saying that she will die the next night.
Buffy starts to laugh, getting their attention and starts to wonder what the next slayer is going to be like? She breaks down in the middle of the library and tells them that she quits. Both Angel and Giles tell her that she can't, it doesn't work that way. In a gesture of frustration and fear, she rips the cross off her neck that Angel had given her in episode one.
We then see Willow trying to call Xander, who is laying in his room listening to country music. Next is Buffy pouring over photos of her and the gang, her mother walks in to see if she's okay. She figures it's the prom that has Buffy upset, and shows her a dress that she bought as a gift for her.
Next morning at the school, we see Cordelia and Willow talking about the fact that Cordelia's new boyfriend bailed on her. They then see him and his best friend watching tv in the staff lounge, and when they go to confront them, find them the entire group was slaughtered.
We then see Buffy in her prom dress which happens to be white, as her mother tells her that Willow is on the news. We then see Buffy sitting with Willow in her room, Willow telling her that it really hit her that life wasn't ever going to be the same. Willow then comments on liking the dress. Which she's wearing under a back leather jacket. (just like Kristy Swanson did as Buffy in the original movie in 1992)
Meanwhile, in the lair, the Master sends the Anointed One to the surface.
Back in the library, Giles and Miss Calendar are taking about the Hellmouth. Giles then tells her that he's planning on killing the Master himself, just as Buffy walks in and tells him that it's her job she's going to handle it. They argue, then she knocks him out.
Buffy then goes outside, and spots the Anointed One, knowing who he is and willingly follows him.
Back in the library, the rest of the group is there, talking about the end of the world. Xander gets all angry and heads off. We then see Buffy in the lair, in her dress.
Xander shows up at Angel's and tells him about Buffy running off, and demands that he take him to find them.
Back in the library, they try to figure out where the Hellmouth will open.
In the lair, Buffy and the Master begin their fight, while Angel and Xander make their way through the sewers. Willow and Miss Calendar believe that the Bronze, where the prom is being held, is the spot that the Hellmouth will open and race off there. But, they only make it half way out the parking lot before a mob of vampires come after them.
Back in the lair, we see the Master grab Buffy, and tells her that had she not shown up, he'd have been unable to feed and would have been trapped. He bites her, then as he pushes her into a puddle, tells her that he likes her dress. The barrier that has been holding him suddenly breaks open and he goes to the surface. Just as Angel and Xander run in to find Buffy dead.
Xander refuses to give up and says that since she drowned in the puddle, she can be brought back with CPR. Xander then manages to save her.
Back at the school, we see Cordelia drive up and tell Willow and Miss Calendar to get in the car. Cordelia drives right into the school and they all run for the library. (this is one of those Night of the Living Dead at the door moments)
We see the Master then on the rooftop of the school, gloating. Back in the lair, Buffy tells them that she feels stronger, different, and they head off to find the Master.
Meanwhile, in the library the floor has opened up and creatures are starting to rise. We see Buffy, Angel and Xander heading to the school. The Master is watching from the roof's window. He's shocked when he sees Buffy standing beside him still alive. They fight and Buffy throws the Master through the window onto a broken piece of wooden table. As he turns to dust, the other creatures and vampires run away, the Hellmouth closed.
We see the whole gang now in the middle of the library wondering what to do now that they saved the world. Buffy closes out with the line "We saved the world, I say we party." And then Angel tells her that he really likes her dress.
That brings us to the end of season one. I'll be back later with the next round of the Slayer Fest...hang in there.
