Original Air Date: May 17, 1999

Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon

Summary

Cordelia and Xander are picking up their graduation gowns and Cordelia is displeased with the maroon color, she wanted teal. Xander likes the color and says he wants to look respectable because he's got a gut feeling that he's going to die on graduation day. Willow is signing yearbooks by the stairs. Harmony drops by and they sign each others yearbook. Harmony compliments Willow on being so smart and Willow's tickled pink. Willow says to her that they'll keep in touch. Buffy joins Willow by the stairs, she is surprised by Willow's words because they all hated Harmony. Willow admits that she's missing everything about high school and she hasn't even left yet. Buffy doesn't share Willow's feelings and says she might not even go to graduation making up some excuse about the Ascension. Xander joins them and reveals the ugly news; the Mayor is going to be their commencement speaker for the grad. No one is pleased.

Later at professor Nester Werth's house. The professor answers the door to find Faith. She tells him that she was sent by the Mayor and he welcomes her in. The professor is a little surprised that the Mayor is interested in is work. Faith asks if they're alone and his answers is yes. Faith pulls out a knife and kills him without even a second thought. The Mayor wanted him dead.

Back at Faith's apartment, Faith relates from behind a dressing wall that everything went well, unless of course, you were the profesor. The Mayor is pleased and asks Faith is she's ever going to come out from behind the changing screen. She steps out in a pink flowery dress looking extremely uncomfortable. The Mayor is elated with her appearance. He picked the dress out for her for the day of the Ascension. She says that the dress just isn't her style and he tells her that no one can tell her who she is and that the Ascension is not only his day but hers as well. She hopes that she won't let him down.

The next day at school, Willow locks her bike up as Percy runs to catch up to her. They exchange hellos and Percy thanks her for all the school work help that she's given him this year. Oz joins Willow as Percy leaves. He brings up the Ascension and Willow decides she needs to find a spell to deal with the Mayor.

Xander tries to sneak in to class but the teacher notices his entrance and makes him choose the first letter in a game of hangman. Anya, who is sitting beside Xander, leans over to ask him if he wants to go out with her this weekend. Xander tells her that if he survives the Ascension he'll be happy to go out with her. At the mention of the word Ascension, Anya completely freezes up. Meanwhile in the library, Buffy hols up a copy of the Sunnydale Press with the headline 'Professor Found Murdered' in large letters. Buffy is sure that Faith is responsible. Giles takes the paper from her and reads the article while he fences with Wesley. All three of them have no idea why the Mayor would want the professor. Buffy decides to go to the professor's apartment tonight, Giles tells her to watch out for Faith. The topic moves to the Ascension as Xander bursts in with Anya. He relates that Anya's been to an Ascension, and she begins to tell of an Ascension 800 years ago with the demon Lohesh. She explains that the demons that walk the earth are human hybrids, the Ascension means that the person will become pure demon. Much bigger and a lot stronger.

Meanwhile, Snyder is showing the Mayor around the courtyard where the graduation day ceremonies will be held. The Mayor congratulates Snyder on his work and says that he will be repaid in full. Back in the library, Anya continues with her explanation of the Ascension asWillow and Oz enter the library. The continue to grill Anya but she can't remember any more than whats she's already told them. Suddenly, the Mayor walks in and everyone is taken aback. The Mayor makes small talk while everyone glares at him, Giles in particular. Buffy makes a smart comment about the Mayor and he says that he's going to eat her. Giles can take no more of this and picks up a sword on the table and plunges it deep into the Mayor's chest. He calmly pulls out the sword and insults Giles' dsiplay in front of the children. He finally leaves saying that he'll see them all at graduation.

Later on, Xander catches up to Anya in the hall. She tells him that she's getting out of town as quickly as possible. Anya leaves as Cordelia approaches them. Xander explains a bit of the Ascension to Cordelia but she's oblivious to the consequences of this event. Later at Buffy's house, Joyce returns home to find her daughter packing up her clothes. Buffy tells her to leave town immediately. Joyce figures out that a demon is coming to town and reluctantly agrees to leave. Meanwhile, at Willow's house, Oz & Willow are looking up info on the Ascension. willow is completely frustrated and Oz makes a nonchalant comment about their lives. Willow gets upset because he isn't being very expressive about the fact that they might die. Willow begins to bablbe on about things after high school, Oz cuts her off with a deep kiss and tells her he's starting to panic.

That night at the professor's house, Buffy is putting books that might be useful into a cardboard box. Angel makes his entrance by tripping over the door frame. He's here to help but she's somewhat cold to him. She tries to get him to leave but he picks up the box and says he'll walk her home. They reach outside and buffy explains that she's upset because he seems to be crowding her and she wants space. After a confusing conversation that made little sense, Angel gets angry and says he'll get out of her face. Just as he goes to leave, an arrow bolt plunges through the left side of his chest. Buffy and Angel are both stunned as Angel drops to the ground and Buffy cradles him. Up on a rooftop, Faith is holding her long bow. A vamp tells her she missed the heart and she says she meant to.

At the library, Buffy and Giles pull both shards of the bolt out of Angel's chest. Buffy bandages him up while Wesley makes a discovery in the professor's papers. Apparently, a volcano was used to kill the demon in the last attempted Ascension. Buffy helps Angel to his feet but he faints immediately. They revive him and he tells them that his shoulder is completely numb and he's burning up. He's sure that it's poison, Wesley says that he'll contact the Council to find find an antidote. They decide to move Angel to his own bed before sunrise, Buffy's concern for Angel shows as she assures him that he'll be okay.

Meanwhile, Willow and Oz are in bed under the covers holding each other. Willow feels completely different and Oz tells her that he feels that same way as her. The phone rings, Willow picks it up, listens, hangs up and tells Oz that they have to go.

At City Hall, the MAyor brings in the box of Gavrok just as Faith pops in. Faith relates the news on Angel, extremely pleased with herself. The Mayor is also pleased because this will keep Buffy out of the way for a while. Next up is the ritual of Gavrok, in which the Mayor must east some of the spiders in the box. Faith asks what she should do and the Mayor tells her to take it easy, she doesn't want to and he lovely calls her a firecracker. Faith begins to say that he mother used to call her that... she quickly clams up and says she'll see him tomorrow.

At the school, the gang is gathered in the science lab. Willow sends Xander on an erran run to the Magic Shop for ingredients for a spell. On his way out, he runs into Anya who urges him to leave town with her. He won't leave because he feels that he has to help.

At Angel's mansion, Buffy is sitting next Angel on his bed while he moans in pain. She hears the front door open and gets up to see who's there.She joins Giles and Wesley in the main entrance. Wesley relates that the Council will not help in curing a vampire, under any circumstances. Buffy is extremely pissed off. Wesley continues to say that the orders from the Council are to focus on the Ascension. Buffy gets even madder and says she won't be taking any more orders from Wesley or the Council. Giles agrees with Buffy and Buffy tells Wesley that he can tell the Council that she's no longer working for them. Wesley tries to convicen her that she's wrong but she won't listen. Giles stays with Angel as Buffy heads out to help her friends find a cure.

Willow has found the poison, called Killer of the Dead, and tells Buffy that the only way to cure it is by draining the blood of a Slayer. Buffy's plan is to get Faith, kille her, then feed her to Angel. The migrate to library and Buffy opens the cage to collect some weapons. Xander says that he doesn't want to lose her. She says she won't get hurt but Xander tells her that that wasn't what he meant. Buffy pulls out Faith's knife from the weaponry closet adn looks at it carefully.

Faith is relaxing in her aprtment with the music blaring loudly. Buffy sneaks in quietly and turns off the music. Faith asks Buffy is Angel's dead yet and her reply is that he won't die and the cure is Faith's blood. Faith won't be taken alive but Buffy doesn't see a problem with that. Faith comments on Buffy's leatherpants and jacket and how they look just like her own clothes. Buffy says she's ready to releaser her anger. They puncher each other once then stop in a fighting stance, eyeing each other carefully. Buffy starts the fight and they continue to fight furiously for a long time. They eventually smash through a window and land on the lower level of the roof. Buffy handcuffs Faith's wrist to her own. They continue to gith and Faith manages to break the cuffs. Meanwhile, Angel calls out Buffy's name while Willow and Oz watch over him. Giles and Xander, find some more info on the demon and Giles pulls out the appropriate book and turns to a page. The page is a huge fold-out of the demon of the Ascension.

The Mayor is finishing up a spider when a vampire bursts in abruptly and tells the Mayor that there may be trouble at Faith's. Meanwhile, Buffy and Faith are still fighting. Buffy pulls out Faith's knife. Faith wants it back and Buffy tells her she's about to get it back. The continue to fight and end up on a ledge high above the road below. Buffy seizes the momentary lapse in Faith's concentration and plunges the knife into Faith's gut. She pulls it out, shocked. Faith looks down and back up, strangely enough, proud of Buffy for having stabbed her. She punches Buffy to the ground, who is still too chocked to react. Faith still won't let Buffy take her to Angel and falls off the ledge onto the back of a truck passing by. Buffy runs to the ledge to stop her but she's too late and all she sees is the truck moving swiftly with Faith in the back.

TO BE CONTINUED

Written by Nika

Miscellaneous Info

 

Quote of the Week

Faith: You did it. You killed me.

My Rating

3/5

My Comments

It was sweet how Willow was missing everything about school, too bad Buffy wasn't as excited about graduation though not going to the grad would be a little extreme. I would have thought that at least she would have been happy because she would have more freedom. I mean, she seemed more excited in Choices when Willow said she would be going to the same university. Wouldn't that mean that she was at least looking forward to it?

Faith's killing of the man in his apartment was an act to show us that she is the bad guy and that she's gone too far off the deep end to save her. I think that her not even caring about why she was killing the man was a little strange. Wouldn't you want to know... Well she does seem to be a perfect hit man (woman) so I guess she wouldn't care...

The Mayor's choice of a pink flowery dress for Faith on the day of the Ascension was little strange. I would have thought he'd know her a little better by now. Maybe he's pretending that she's his daughter... But if she has to fight on the day of the Ascension wouldn't that dress be a little impractical. Even the Mayor said that there would probably be some fighting. I noticed that Faith's tattoo wasn't worn in that scene. So there's a blooper for you people.

Giles and Wesley's fencing scene was interesting. I wonder why they were fencing though? Just practice? It was funny how Wesley was always one step behind Buffy and Giles, he really doesn't seem to understand either one of them.

The Mayor walking into the library was an interesting thing. How many people expected that to happen? I certainly didn't. It was really weird seeing him in the library, it kind of threw everything off balance seeing him in there.

Well, Oz showed a little more emotion but it still wasn't as much as I was expecting from him. I was kind of looking for something a little more deep, something more substancial. Even a nervous breakdown would have been interesting to see from him. Well, now as far as we know, Cordelia is the only one in the group that hasn't had sex.

Angel's entrance by tripping into the dead man's house was great. Really different than what we normally expect from him. Very funny. I can understand Buffy not wanting to see him because it makes it harder for her and for him. Angel keeps showing up though so it at least shows that he still cares a great deal for her. Angel getting shot near the heast was absolutely scary. But because we knew about thw Angel series next year, we all knew that he couldn't die. I really wish that they'd waited until after the season finale of Buffy to announce that he was getting his own spin-off show because then at least it would have left us a little more suspense.

Faith's stories about her childhood and her mother seemed to hold some meaning. I'm still sticking with my theory that Faith's mother has got something to do with how she turned out so angry. Maybe she was killed, maybe Faith killed her or maybe she was an absolute hag and she tried to kill Faith.

Xander's not running away from the situation at hand was really great. I didn't used to like him as much anymore because of the way he acted towards Angel but he definitely showed a lot of growth in this episode. He's come a long way from the skateboarder in the pilot.

The Watcher's Cohncil does not seem to care at all about their Slayers. They should at least try to keep in contact with their Slayers, get to know them better. Since they're so far away in England, it makes it really hard for them to understand the situation in Sunnydale. They don't understand that if Angel dies it would likely make Buffy weaker inside and that she wouldn't do as well in her duties. And Buffy clearly showed that if the Council wasn't willing to back her up then she wasn't going to back them up. I think Buffy's move was brave but I think it wasn't thought through well enough. If she turns her back on the Council they'd likely send some people out to kill her. If they have a dysfunctional Slayer they should do something about it. But they didn't do anything with Faith so maybe they won't care here but if there are two Slayers that aren't listening to them, they are going to run into MAJOR problems.

Xander's comment about not wanting to lose Buffy was the best understanding from him that I've ever heard. He understands what's going on and he knows what happened to Faith so he's afraid to lose Buffy to "the dark side".

Buffy's dressing up like Faith was just bizarre. I was much happier with this fight scene. Buffy didn't get in as many shots as Faith did and for a few moments there, I was afraid that something really bad was going to happen. Buffy did it though. She managed to gut Faith. Faith seemed proud of her, which was a tad strange. But Faith still didn't have any loyalties to Buffy and by throwing herself onto the back of that truck we don't know for sure whether or not she's going to die.

This episode wasn't as good as last year's two parter season finale and that really disappointed me. I was looking for something a little more like Becoming but we can wait until the second part next week to find out wether or not this compares to last year's finale.

Niki Bartl's Review

This was a pretty good ep. Not the best, (which is reserved for Passion, due to a very good bad Angel, got that?) but it was good. There are a few things in Graduation, Part 1 which bug me. We'll start with the most important. We know Angel isn't gonna die, due to the major fact that he's getting his own show, and that kind of ruins the suspense. Will he live? Will he die?. Number two, you can definately tell when they use Sarah Michelle Gellar and when they use Sofia Crawford for their fight scenes. I think it's because Sarah's hair is slightly shorter. Third, Faith was a wench, but she was sorta cool. She perservered, and I loved how she hops into the truck when she dies so she won't cure Angel. Speaking of which, is she REALLY dead? But I must put out my plea for SPIKE AND DRU!!!! I WANT THEM BACK! Sorry, had to get that out. I'm so sorry to all the Buff-lovers out there, but she is really starting to annoy me. I mean, first with the don't-tell-me-what-to-do,-I'm-so-cool attitude, and then the I-wanna-look-like-Faith. I loved when Xander was worried about losing her, 'cause I think that's what slightly happened. If you look at the season one Buffy, and the season three Buffy, I like the season one Buffy a heck of a lot more. She's a lot happier, more innocent, funner (yes, I know that's not a word). One final question, though... can the Council take away Buffy's powers?

Cast