TV-Reviewed

This episode opens up with Buffy kicking some vampire butt. She is out hunting and playing around with Giles. She kills the vampire with style and finds a ring. Giles believes this wasn’t just a vampire looking for a kill but looking for something else. The master is in his lair reading from the great book and is assured that the anointed one will appear soon. He makes it clear that he doesn’t want any failures. These vampires get beaten down more from him than the slayer. That can’t be good for their morale.

Buffy is in the library talking to Giles when her crush of the week pops in. His name is Owen Thurman played by Chris Wiehl. He’s a shy kid who doesn’t get out much. This drives the girls crazy. Cordelia and Buffy literally bump into each other just to grab a seat next to him. He tells the girls that he will be at the Bronze and he hopes to see Buffy there. She was so excited that he was interested in her she forgot that she was the slayer. Giles heard about the anointed one was coming and wanted Buffy to check it out. She does reluctantly but gets excused by Giles later on after nothing pops up in the cemetery. She arrives at the Bronze to find Cordy all up on her man. Buffy feels hurt and leaves. Don’t worry, she will get a second chance.

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

Owen finds Buffy and invites her on a date. He gives her his watch so she will have no excuses this time. She asks Willow and Xander for help on her wardrobe but Xander acts like the father figure. Buffy does find something attractive to wear with the help of Willow. She hears the doorbell ring and runs down the stairs only to find Giles. An incident happened where a group of passengers on a bus got murdered. Giles thought that one of these was the anointed one and wanted Buffy to check it out. She tells Giles that she has a date and she can’t miss it. She convinces Giles that she can do both and he lets her go free. Instead, he checks out the morgue and finds more than he can bargain for. He encounters a few vampires but manages to escape. He gets word out to Willow and Xander about his current troubles and he wants them to find Buffy. They find her at the Bronze with not just Owen but Angel too! He showed up to warn her about the potential danger. Willow and Xander slips the info to Buffy and she is off to save her watcher but before she leaves she gives Owen a kiss on the cheek! It must have been some kiss because Owen follows her to the morgue. Buffy now has to not only protect Owen but her secret as well. She does an okay job with the help of her friends. She does manage to kill the most dangerous vampire of the bunch but only after she thinks that he killed Owen. She goes into a frenzy beating up the vampire and throws him into the oven to burn and turn into dust.

Owen gets up and tells Buffy that he has to go. She believes that she has lost her chance at Owen but Owen delivers a surprise the next day. He wants to hang out with her more because he thinks that she is exciting and dangerous. Buffy tells him no and she sets him free from her heart. She tells Giles that she would be the death of him and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if that came to pass. Meanwhile it looked like the master has got what he wanted. The vampire that she killed wasn’t the anointed. The anointed rose before Giles arrived. How is Buffy to kill a vampire that took the form of a child?

This episode was one of the better ones this season. The acting was good and the special effects keep getting better. The mood was darker than usual but I can understand it with the anointed storyline. This episode was one of my favorites and I believe this was the episode that helped jump start the phenomenon.

Rating: 7.0