1.5 Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Plot Synopsis (Display)

Highlights

• Buffy's panic-stricken horror when she realises Giles needs her to patrol on the same night as her date. "They're bad calculations! Bad!"
• Xander looking down at his Tweety-Pie wristwatch, after seeing Owen lend Buffy his gold pocket-watch.
• Giles' calmly understated "Damn" when he finds himself waylaid by vampires outside the funeral home.

Unusual Weaponry

Buffy uses an autopsy trolley to slide a vampire into the crematorium fires

Pop Culture References

Owen: "At least you don't have to eat your Soylent Green"
A reference to the 1973 film of that title, starring Charlton Heston. In a futuristic society on an over-crowded Earth, resources are scarce and only the rich can afford decent food. The starving masses are fed on new concoctions produced by the Soylent Corporation, the green variety turning out to be made from human remains! Owen has chosen a rather pretentious way of basically saying school dinners are crap!

Slayer Quips

We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Buffy, and you're (stab) history!

Mythology

The Master reads from an ancient prophecy: "Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet him and usher him to his immortal destiny."
Giles describes the Order of Aurelius as a very old and venerated vampire sect. Their leader, Aurelius, prophesied that his followers would come to the Master and bring him the Anointed, who would rise from 'the ashes of the Five' on the evening of the thousandth day after the Advent of Septus.

Nitpicks

• Since vampires usually turn to dust clothes-and-all, why was there a ring left behind when Buffy killed the vampire in the opening sequence? Could be explained if he was carrying the ring rather than wearing it? Or that the ring, representing the "Order of Aurelius" has special powers?
• Buffy appears to continually change height during the dancing scene with Owen. Sometimes the top of her head is level with his nose, other times her arms are at full stretch just to reach his neck. She must have been hopping on and off a box like a step-aerobics class!
• At one point, Giles says "I have volumes of lore, of prophecies, of predictions. But I don't have an instruction manual."
  Yes he does! In a later episode, What's My Line, Kendra refers to the "Slayer Handbook" and Giles says that after meeting Buffy, he realised the handbook would be no good in her case - however it does seem to exist!