| Written by: | Marti Noxon |
| Directed by: | David Semel |
| Starring: | Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase David Boreanaz as Angel Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles |
| Guest Starring: | Seth Green as Oz Saverio Guerra as Willy Kelly Connell as Norman Pfister Bianca Lawson as Kendra James Marsters as Spike Juliet Landau as Drusilla |
| Co-Starring: | Danny Strong as Hostage Kid (Jonathan) |
Buffy dealt with finding out that she is not the only slayer in the world and rescued Angel with the help of her friends and Kendra.
At first, Buffy did not believe that Kendra was a slayer, but she eventually proposed that they suspend their fight until Giles could figure it out. Meanwhile, Angel was getting a little too close to getting a fatal sunburn.
Giles accepted the possibility that Kendra really was a slayer. He realized that Buffy did "die" in "Prophecy Girl" and that Kendra might have become a slayer then. Kendra, on the other hand, had difficulty understanding the concept of "friends" or that Buffy might have some of them. Buffy was simply upset that she was no longer the only slayer.
Kendra eventually mentioned that she locked Angel in a cage where he would be exposed to sunlight. Fortunately just then, Willy came and helped him out. Willy dropped Angel into the sewer, where Spike was waiting for him.
At Buffy's house, Cordelia was examining Norman's samples until she noticed a grub on him. Xander came down, noticed more grubs, and decided that it was time to run. Rather than try to get outside, which would have been smart, they ran into the basement, where Norman, in swarm of grubs form, was able to trap them. Xander managed to seal them in with duct tape, which did not result in anyone suffocating.
Buffy and Kendra burst into Willy's bar to find no Angel, but no Angel dust either (pun unintended but not unwelcome). Kendra then decided to beat up Willy. He said that he rescued Angel, and kind of left out the part where he delivered Angel to Spike. He also asked if Buffy and Kendra would be interested in nude modeling.
Giles, Kendra, Buffy, and Willow discussed the theory that Spike was trying to revive Drusilla. It became clear in the conversation that Kendra was very well read on demonology, including some books that were too dense even for Giles. All this caused Buffy to become extremely jealous, but it also led Buffy to imagine the possibility that she could pass her duties on to Kendra and live a normal life.
Meanwhile, Cordelia and Xander were getting so angry with each other that they kissed. This convinced them that they had to leave, even if it meant risking an encounter with a bug guy. Xander made it out, but Cordelia endured a grub shower. Rather than take off her coat, Cordelia simply panicked as Xander sprayed a hose on her.
Oz approached Willow as Buffy went to a law enforcement seminar. He discussed his ambitions, which involved a particular guitar cord but no jobs.
The law enforcement seminar started with a woman in a police officer's uniform (Patrice) pulling out a gun and trying to shoot Buffy. She missed Buffy but did hit Oz in the shoulder as he was shoving Willow out of the way. Buffy disarmed her, but she had another gun. Fortunately, Buffy had another slayer as Kendra came to the rescue. Patrice briefly used Jonathan as a hostage before fleeing the scene.
Giles, Buffy, Kendra, Willow, Xander, and Cordelia all met at the library. Xander was attracted to Kendra for about 30 seconds until she showed a complete inability to speak to males her age. Giles indicated that Spike's ritual required Drusilla's sire, that is, Angel. Even Xander agreed that they needed to rescue him.
Meanwhile, Drusilla had Angel half-naked and tied to her bedpost. She proceeded to torture him by pouring holy water on him while talking about her family, the family that Angel killed. When Spike arrived, Angel started hinting that he could satisfy Drusilla better than Spike could. Spike nearly staked him when Drusilla reminded Spike that they need Angel alive undead.
Buffy and Kendra had a discussion on their different slaying methods. Kendra was always taught that school, friends, and family were distractions. Buffy believed that emotion, improvisation, and imagination are important. They decided that it might be a good idea to confront Willy again.
Willy initially denied knowing about the ritual, but a threat from Kendra convinced him that he should show them where the ritual would be. He promptly delivered Buffy to the spot, where Norman, Patrice, and two vampire minions were waiting for her. Spike was not pleased to have Buffy there but wanted Patrice to kill Buffy anyway. She was about to when Kendra took some unnecessary flips and freed Buffy.
The battle commenced. Giles shot a vampire with a crossbow. Buffy attacked Patrice as Kendra fought Spike. Xander lured Norman, in bug form, into a pool of glue. Buffy and Kendra switched opponents. After trading a few blows, Buffy went to rescue Angel, and Spike got distracted by Willy. Willy escaped when Spike realized what Buffy was doing and rejoined the fight. Willow staked the second vampire minion. Patrice made the mistake of ticking Kendra off by tearing Kendra's only shirt and got pounded.
The fight ended when Spike threw a torch into some cloth. This started a fire that trapped Kendra, Giles, Willow, Xander, and Cordelia with an exit that required an IQ above 60 to find. Spike tried to carry Drusilla away, but Buffy threw something that I would know the name of if I were Catholic, but I am not, so I do not. According to the script, it is called a "censer." In any case, it conked Spike on the head, causing him to collapse into a pipe organ, which collapsed onto him and Drusilla. Buffy and Kendra carried Angel away as the others figured out that they had an exit.
The next day, Oz talked about animal crackers with Willow, interrupting himself only to state the obvious. Cordelia tried to avoid Xander, but he convinced her to go to an empty classroom to argue, which led to more kissing. Buffy sent Kendra away in a taxi to the airport, where Kendra will actually sit in a seat as she flew home.
Meanwhile, in the church, Drusilla carried Spike away from the rubble and promised to make him strong again as he made her strong.
Of all the episodes so far, only the battle in "School Hard" compares to the battle at the end of this episode.
Willy is an interesting character.
Kendra's accent was laughably bad. According to the episode commentary, Bianca Lawson worked with a vocal coach to speak a particular Jamaican dialect. The commentary failed to mention that they decided to have he speak in an accent the day before shooting started, so she had no time to perfect the accent. The script, which is available as an extra, does not reflect Kendra's dialect.
The threat of the Order of Taraka, which was a big deal in the last episode, is just an afterthought here. In the first part of "What's My Line," Giles and Angel made a big deal about how the Order of Taraka was relentless and unstoppable. However, either they are stoppable or Buffy will have to deal with them for the rest of the show. It would have been much better to make the Order more mercenary. This way, Spike's unwillingness to pay for more mercenaries can be an excuse to focus on other opponents.
There is a good battle scene at the end of the episode. Buffy and Kendra took on Spike and Patrice. Xander and Cordelia took out Norman. Giles and Willow took care of the two vampire minions.
Kendra's accent was unintentionally comic.
Buffy found out that being a slayer no longer made her unique.
Buffy worried about the fact that Spike has captured Angel and might kill him.
Xander and Cordelia kiss for the first and second time.
Oz and Willow have their first meaningful conversation.
Buffy, despite all of her complaints, considers being the slayer as part of her identity. She was very threatened by the presence of another with that same title, and even Kendra told her that being a slayer is who she is rather than just her job.
Xander is very disconcerted to learn that he is attracted to Cordelia. He also found himself defending Angel.
Cordelia is apparently attracted to Xander and is as upset about that as Xander is.
Kendra appears to be a by-the-book, emotionless slayer.
Drusilla may harbor some resentment toward Angel for killing her family, or she may simply know that reminding him of his past crimes is a good way to torture him.
Oz appears to be attracted to Willow, which, to me, seems to be about the easiest thing in the world.
This episode established that there can be more than one slayer in the world.
Drusilla is now strong again, but Spike appears to be weak.
Spike came to Sunnydale with one goal, to heal Drusilla. In this episode, he succeeded. He probably wished that he came out of it unscathed and that Angel died as well, but he still gets the award.
Giles figured out how Kendra could be a slayer and discovered key points of the ritual that Spike was going to perform.
It is hard to pick a goat because most of the characters had goals that were not mutually exclusive, so nearly everyone succeeded. Spike wanted to heal Drusilla. He did so. Buffy, and to varying degrees most of the other characters, wanted to rescue Angel. They did so. Oz wanted to get to know Willow. He did so. The only failures were Patrice's and Norman's job to kill Buffy. Of the two, Patrice had, by far, the best chance of succeeding. With at least two guns and the element of surprise, she failed to kill Buffy during the career fair. She failed again in the church.
Oz did not actually save Willow's life. The shot that hit him would not have hit anyone had they remained where they were. It was probably a smart move on Willow's part, however, to convince him that he did save her life as it gives him an opening to pursue a relationship with her.
Like many people, I noticed that there is no consistency about whether the ritual at the end of the episode needed to be performed during the full moon or during the new moon.
Kendra referred to the Slayer's Handbook. In the first season, Giles said that he did not have a guide on how to be a watcher. Some people see this as a contradiction, but it is not. The Slayer's Handbook would be a guidebook for slayers. What Giles lacked was a guidebook for watchers.
Other than gross people out, what could Norman Pfister do to anyone that was so bad?
The assassin posing as a police officer was not wearing an Order of Taraka ring when she was trying to shoot Buffy. Obviously, Norman was not either when he was in bug state. I did not notice if he had a ring in human state.
What's My Line, Pt. 2 Script is of mild interest. I did use it to look up the thing that Buffy threw at Spike at the end of the battle and to confirm that Kendra's lines were not written in dialect.
What's My Line, Pt. 2 Commentary by Writer Marti Noxon This commentary is a continuation of the commentary for the first part of this episode. There are spoilers through about the first third of season 4. Insights include:
"You promise not to go all wiggy until we can go to my watcher and figure this out." Buffy
"Wiggy?" Kendra
"You know, no kicko, no fighto." Buffy
"Did I not see you kissing a vampire?" Kendra
"Buffy would never do that! Oh, except for sometimes you do that." Willow
"What are you gonna do with him anyway?" Willy
"I'm thinking maybe dinner and a movie. Don't want to rush into anything. I've been hurt, you know." Spike
"I did not kill him." Kendra
"And I don't need to kill you." Buffy
"My buddy Angel? You think I'd let him fry? I saved him in the nick. He was about five minutes away from being a crispy critter." Willy
"I have to ask. Has either of you girls considered modeling? I have a friend with a camera, strictly high-class nude work. You know, art photographs, but naked. You don't have to answer right away." Willy
"Well the E-flat, it's doable, but that diminished ninth, you know, it's a man's chord. You could lose a finger." Oz
"Who sponsored career day today, the British soccer fan association?" Xander
"You and bug-people, Xander. What's up with that?" Buffy
"Man, that guy got major neck in his day." Xander
"Angel's our friend, except I don't like him." Xander
"It's OK, Kendra killed the bad lamp." Buffy
"Yeah, it bugs me too, seeing him like that. Another five minutes, though, and Angel will be dead, so I forbear. Don't feel too bad for Angel. He's got something you don't have." Spike
"What's that?" Buffy
"Five minutes." Spike
"It's your lucky day, Spike." Buffy
"Two slayers." Kendra
"No waiting." Buffy
"That's me favorite shirt. That's me only shirt!" Kendra
"The monkey's the only cookie animal that wears clothes. You know that? You have the sweetest smile I've ever seen. So I'm wondering, do the other cookie animals feel sorta ripped? Like, is the hippo going 'Hey, man, where are my pants? I have my hippo dignity.' And, you know, the monkey's just 'I mock you with my monkey pants.' And then there's a big coup in the zoo." Oz
"The monkey is French?" Willow
"All monkeys are French. You didn't know that?" Oz
"Right, I hired a Latvian bug man to kill Buffy, so I could kiss you." Xander
"Sit in your seat; you eat your peanuts; you watch the movie, well, unless it's about a dog or Chevy Chase." Buffy
"I'm not telling me watcher about that. It is too strange that a slayer loves a vampire." Kendra
"Tell me about it." Buffy
"Still, he is pretty cute." Kendra
"You talk about slaying like it's a job. It's not. It's who you are." Kendra
"Did you get that from your handbook?" Buffy
"From you." Kendra
"Don't worry, dear heart. I'll see that you get strong again, like me." Drusilla
Highlight the space after each question to find the answer. It is strongly recommended that you do not do so if you have not seen episodes through the episode indicated.