1.5 Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Plot Synopsis (Hide)

An ancient prophecy foretells the arrival of "The Anointed One", a powerful warrior destined to aid the Master in his evil plans. The vampires are told that the Anointed will "arise from the ashes of the Five" and are instructed to bring him to the Master regardless of any opposition the Slayer may bring.

The Slayer, however, has other priorities, as she tries to catch the eye of the reclusive but gorgeous Owen. As Buffy and Giles research the origins of a ring taken from a vampire on the previous nights hunt, Owen comes in to the library in search of some Emily Dickinson poetry, and Buffy is obviously smitten. Later in the cafeteria, Cordelia makes a play for Owen, but to her utter astonishment, he asks Buffy out instead.

The ring leads Giles to discover the prophecy, and he calculates that tonight is the night the Anointed will appear. Despite Buffy's date plans, the two of them head for the graveyard, where they await the arrival of the Master's great warrior. Nothing happens, and they eventually conclude that nothing is going to continue to happen, so they decide to call it a night. Late though she is, Buffy makes for the Bronze, but leaves again when she sees Owen dancing with Cordelia.

Next we see a late night bus, full of passengers. One of them, a sinister-looking man, gets out of his seat and walks down the aisle, preaching aggressively to the other passengers about Judgement, while a small boy cuddles up against his mother in fear. One of the Master's vampires steps out into the road as the bus approaches, causing the driver to ram on the brakes and swerve to the side. The bus crashes to a halt, and a horde of vampires descend on the passengers and begin to feed.

At school the next morning, Buffy meets up with Owen, and pleads a broken watch as an excuse for standing him up. He suggests they try again that night, and lends her his gold pocket watch, pointing out exactly where the hands will be at seven. Although Giles turns up at Buffy's house that evening, clutching a newspaper report about five people killed in a bus crash, she leaves with Owen, telling Giles to page her if anything happens. Giles heads for the local funeral home alone, though Willow eventually persuades Xander that they should go after him.

Arriving at the funeral home, Giles is met by several vampires, who chase him into the building. He manages to barricade himself into a room, and while the vampires try to get in, Willow and Xander appear at the window. As there is no way to get Giles out, they decide to go to the Bronze to get Buffy. Angel arrives just before they do, to warn Buffy about the prophecy, and Owen is rather surprised at the number of people showing up on what he thought was a two-person date. In Owen's presence, Willow and Xander can only give cryptic clues about Giles' plight, but Buffy is quick on the uptake, and tells Owen that she has to leave.

Arriving at the funeral home, Buffy is dismayed to find that Owen has followed them. She manages to find Giles hiding in an autopsy drawer while pretending to be checking for guards, then makes Owen hide with Willow and Xander while she and Giles search for the Anointed One. Barricaded into the Observation Room, Owen pulls aside a curtain to reveal the body of the sinister man from the bus, and is startled to see it move. The man has woken as a vampire, and immediately moves to attack, but they manage to pull aside the makeshift barricade and escape. Buffy hears the noise and comes running. She tells the others to get out, and then turns back to tackle the vampire, but Owen is concerned and follows her. A fight ensues, during which both Giles and Owen are knocked unconscious, so Owen misses the sight of Buffy throwing the vampire into the crematory flames. Somewhat dazed, he is taken home by Willow and Xander.

The next day, Buffy assumes Owen will be too freaked out to want anything more to do with her, but finds the opposite is true - he actually enjoyed the experience and wants more of the same. Buffy realises he is likely to get himself killed, so reluctantly breaks up with him. Giles is surprisingly sympathetic, and tells Buffy how he first found out about his destiny to be a watcher - he understands the sacrifice side himself. They comfort each other with the thought that at least they stopped the prophecy from coming to pass. Finally, we see the Master in his lair, repeating a quote from the prophecy that the Slayer will neither recognise nor stop the Anointed One, as he greets the small boy who was killed in the bus crash.

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!