SYNOPSIS
Buffy lies trapped in a tomb, Luke bending over her, ready to bite, he leans in for the kill but recoils back, smoking from the cross around her neck. Seizing the moment, Buffy kicks him back and runs into the cemetery to find Willow and Xander still struggling with the vampires. She soon sees them off only to find that Jesse is missing.
The next day, Buffy, Xander and Willow gather in the library with Giles, who brings the doubtful Willow and Xander up to date on the whole vampire/slayer tale. With a little help from Willow and her not-quite-legal computer skills, they soon find the entrance to the electrical tunnels where the vampires are hiding. Skipping class on her second day, Buffy sets off to rescue Jesse, leaving the others to research the Harvest
Meanwhile in the underground church, The Master and Jesse have become acquainted. Learning from Luke that there may be a slayer in town, The Master upgrades Jesse from dinner to bait.
At the mausoleum, Buffy finds the entrance to the tunnels and Angel waiting for her. Still with the cryptic he advises her not to go down there and then tells her how to find the vampires. Making her way through the dark tunnels, Buffy is startled by Xander who has also skipped school to follow her. They continue their search for Jesse who they soon come across, along with the waiting vampires. Chased by the vampires, they find an empty room and shut the door, only to find that they are trapped.
As Buffy, frantically tries to close the door on the vampires, Jesse morphs into vamp mode. Buffy throws him out of the room into the other vampires, slams the door shut and starts looking for a way out. They find a grate above them and escape into the daylight, vampires hot on their heels.
In the underground church, The Master isn’t too pleased that his second helping of dinner got away but manages to console himself with the thought of the upcoming Harvest and his freedom.
Back at the library, Giles and Willow update Xander and Buffy with what they have discovered about the Harvest. Some sixty years ago, The Master came to Sunnydale looking to open the mouth of hell. Unfortunately, an earthquake stopped him and got him mystically trapped underground in a church. The Harvest is a ritual whereby a vampire, becomes a ‘vessel’ to The Master and strengths him with the blood of every victim he drinks from. The time for the Harvest is, of course, that very night and Luke is getting chosen as the vessel as they speak.
The obvious place for the night’s suckfest is The Bronze, so Buffy (via a quick stop at home for weapons and getting grounded for skipping school) and the gang head to that very place. But, due to Buffy being delayed at home, they arrive too late and the vampires have already locked themselves and the unsuspecting clubbers in.
Giles, Willow and Xander try to find a back way in while Buffy makes her grand entrance via the window and finds the party in full swing. She soon gets Luke’s attention just as he is about to have a drink on Cordelia and the night’s fighting starts. As Giles and co usher people out of the back door, Xander finds Jesse about to snack on Cordelia. But all’s well that ends well and it’s not long before both Jesse and Luke are dust and the rest of the vampires are running for their unlives.
The next day is a bright and sunny morning and, despite the nights events the students of Sunnydale High go about their business as normal much to Xander and Willow’s surprise. As Giles explains that people try and rationalise what they don’t understand and conveniently forget what they cannot rationalise the gang look forward to their next big adventure and getting kicked out of school.
TRIVIA
- The scooby gang is formed in this episode.
- Joss Whedon noted in the commentary for this episode that he felt horrible for giving Eric Balfour so many lines with “s” in them, which he had to recite while in “Vamp-face”. He had such a difficult time getting the lines out around the prosthetics that new ones were designed for vampire characters required to speak frequently; the older style ones were given to vampire lackeys with few or no lines in future episodes.
- In the commentary, Joss Whedon comments on Buffy flipping onto the Bronze stage, noting that she never did that again as she could’ve just walked or ran. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie) on the other hand, featured Buffy flipping towards small distances numerous times.
- The Marster’s line “You’re all weak” is a reference to Mark Metcalf’s famous line in Animal House.
- Although it is never reveled in the series, the Master’s real name is listed in the script for the episode as Heinrich Joseph Nest.
- Buffy breaking the window in The Bronze behind Luke, making him believe that the light from the flood light is sunlight, although it is 3am was originally written by Joss Whedon for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie).
QUOTES
Giles: Oh, I-I need to sit down.
Buffy: You are sitting down
Willow: Oh. Good for me
Angel: They’ll be expecting you
Buffy: I’ve got a friend down there, or at least a potential friend. Do you know what it’s like to have a friend?
[Angel lowers his eyes]
Buffy: That wasn’t supposed to be a stumper.
Giles: So, all the city plans are just open to the public?
Willow: Um, well, in-in a way. I sort of stumbled onto them when I accidentally decrypted the city council’s security system.
Buffy: So, Giles, got anything that can make this day any worse?
Giles: How about the end of the world?
Buffy: Knew I could count on you.
Xander: I don’t like vampires. I’m gonna take a stand and say they’re not good.
Giles: We’re at the center of a mystical convergence here. We may, in fact, stand between Earth and its total destruction.
Buffy: Well, I gotta look on the bright side. Maybe I can still get kicked out of school.
Willow: He stole my barbie. We were five.
Xander: Oh, yeah, that’s a plan. ‘Cause all schools aren’t on Hellmouths.
Willow: Maybe you could blow something up. They’re really strict about that.
Darla: That’s fine with me.
Giles: The Earth is doomed.
GOOFS
- When Harmony asks Cordelia during computer class if they are going to the Bronze that night Cordelia responds that they are because it is Friday and there is “no cover”. Later on, however, when everyone is at the Bronze, the doorman can be seen counting money outside as Darla and the rest of the vampires arrive. If there was no cover why is he counting so much money?
- When Cordelia and her friend are in the computer lab working on an assignment, their dialogue implies it’s a database problem. Cordelia states “goto end,” implying they’re using a database language. But when we see the screen shot the program is a graphics plotting function in the C programming language.
- When Jesse gets staked, the stake goes closer to his collarbone than his heart.
- Luke feeds on several people on stage at the Bronze, then lets them fall lifeless to the floor. Yet after Buffy kills Luke, an overhead shot of the stage area shows no bodies lying on the floor.
- Buffy is looking for Jesse in a mausoleum when Angel appears behind her, bathed in sunlight.
MUSIC
Right My Wrong – Sprung Monkey (as Buffy talks to Flutie at the school gates)
Wearing me Down – Dashboard Prophets (in the Bronze as Cordelia steps on to the dancefloor)
Ballad for Dead Friends – Dashboard Prophets (as Luke leads the vampires to the Bronze)
Episode guide
© Cider
Characters and Story © Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy & 20th Century Fox
