Original Air Date: July 14th, 1999

Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon

Summary

Buffy is still by the roof ledge outside Faith's apartment, utterly shocked. She eventually decides to leave and exits by a ladder on the roof. Just as Buffy disappears from sight, the Mayor appears in Faith's apartment. He notices the mess in the apartment and the broken window, becomes completely distressed and orders all the vampires to find Faith. He quietly tries to reassure himself that Faith is alright.

Xander enters the library and gives Giles the coffe he asked for. They continue to look through dusty old volumes in search of info on the Ascension. Cordelia joins them and asks Giles whu Wesley has decided to return to England. Giles explains that since Buffy has quit the Council, she will no longer need a Watcher. Cordelia is upset but agrees to help them look for info.

At Angel's mansion, Willow is taking care of Angel. The wound by his left shoulder has swelled to an ugly shade of red. Angel mistakes Willow for Buffy, she corrects him and reassures him that Buffy will be arriving shortly. Willow leaves Angel's room and joins Oz in the main hall. Buffy enters the mansion and asks to be alone with Angel. Buffy sits on Angel's bed and tells him that she can cure him, all her has to do is drink her blood. Angel refuses, afraid that he'll kill her. He continues to refuse until Buffy punches him three times, angering him. His demon visage sets into place. Buffy grabs his head and shoves it into her neck. Angel's bloodlust takes over and he begins to drink. Buffy collapses beneath him and they fall to the floor. After a long while Angel pulls away from a completely still and slacken buffy. Angel panics when he see shtat Buffy isn't moving. He carries her to the hospital and explains to them what happened; she was bitten by a wild animal. The doctors take care of Buffy while Angel goes to make a phone call to Giles. Meanwhile, in the room beside Buffy, the doctor is telling the Mayor that Faith's head trauma is too severe and chances of her waking up are very slim. Faiht is lying immobile on a hospital bed in a coma. The Mayor discovers Buffy and begins to twist Buffy's neck back and forth. Angel rips the Mayor away and throws him into a wall. The Mayor says he'll see him at the Ascension and then leaves. Giles, Oz, Willow and Xander enter the hospital and none are too pleased that Angel drank from Buffy. Giles tells him to go home and the group goes to check on Buffy.

In a dream sequence Buffy meets up with Faith in Faith's apartment. There's a quiet bond between them; no hostility only a close feeling. Faith talks in rhymes at first, confusing Buffy. Faith tells her that 'human weakness' is the only way to kill the Mayor. Faith gives Buffy her support and suddenly Buffy wakes up. She goes over to Faith's comatose body and kisses her softly on the forehead. Buffy joins her friends in the hospital. She tells them to get everyone together and that she's ready for war.

Back together in the library, Buffy relates her plan to all of them. They all conclude that it's pretty crazy. They try to figure out the Mayor's human weakness; angel says that the Mayor had a lot of love for Faith. Wesley drops in and asks if he can help in any way. Theyquickly put him to work. Both the Mayor and Buffy are setting our their plans. There will be an eclipse at the time of the Ascension, so all the vampires will be out to play. Giles and Xander have weapons duty. Later at school, the Scooby Gang begins to talk to all their friends in private. Back in the library, Cordelia and Wesley are removing books from the shelves and putting them into large boxes. They pause as Wesley explains that he'll be returning to England after the Ascension. They fall together in an extremely awakard kiss, making them both realize that they have very little passion for each other. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Larry are unloading Oz's can of large sacks. They're told to bring everything to the library. Buffy and Angel are preparing weapons.. Angel says that he won't say goodbye, that right after the Ascension he'll be leaving town. He starts to explain but Buffy stops him, she can't hear anymore right now. Angel leaves the room as Buffy unwraps a white towel. Inside the towel is Faith's double edged knife that Buffy went back to get rom Faith's apartment, it's covered in blood.

Finally, graduation arrives, students are taking their seats. Snyer welcomes them and invites the Mayor up to the podium. The Mayor begins his long speech, he speaks in a bitter, angry tone. The eclipse occurs partway through his speech and the Mayor begins to quiver and change form into a 60 ft. high snake-like demon. Panic occurs and all the parents try to escape, the students, however, are standing their guard and on Buffys signal they all pull out weapons from beneath their robes. They fire on the demon in series. Some people bail out but they're stopped by the vampires. Oz along with some students, us fire lit bow and arrows to dispatch some vampires. angel along with most of the school's jocks hump in to fight the vamps. The battle is huge and many die among them are Harmony, Larry and Principal Snyder (who was eaten by the demonic Mayor). buffy orders everyone to evacuate when she sees that their attacks are no longer of any use. Buffy confronts the Mayor and taunts him with Faith's knife. Explaining that it slid into Faith 'like she was butter'. Buffy begins to run into the school in the direction of the library. The demon folows, destroying everything in its path. Buffy makes it to the library then jumps out a window. The Mayor stops, looking for her, and spots dyanmite everywhere in the library. Giles pushes the dyanmite trigger as soon as Buffy reaches his side. Everything explodes, leaving the school mostly obliterated.

Buffy and Xander are surveying the scene of fire trucks, cop cars and general mass hysteria from people of the neighborhood. Buffy's looking for angel and xander tells her that he made it through the fight. Xander leaves her as Giles joins her. He gives her her diploma that he managed to salvage from the disaster of graduation. He leaves to check on Wesley who got knocked out during the fight. Buffy finally spots Angel 30 feet away. Neither moves closer but they hold each others gaze for a long moment before Angel turns his back and walks away.

Cordelia and Buffy join Willow, Oz and Xander who are sitting on benches watching the blaze from the school. They're all tired and want to sleep. Oz comments on how they all managed to survive high school and they take a brief moment to savour that feeling.

Sunnydale High '99
The Future Is Ours

Written by Nika

Miscellaneous Info

~Original air date was supposed to be May 25, 1999 but the WB pulled it due to violent acts by the students towards a figure of authority (yeah but he WAS a demon)~

Quote of the Week

Willow: (about Angel) He's delirious. He thought I was Buffy.
Oz: You too?

or

Oz: Guys. Take a moment to deal with all this. We survived.
Buffy: It was a hell of a battle.
Oz: Not the battle. High school.

My Rating

3/5

My Comments

I was NOT pleased with this episode. And I don't even know where to start. The beginning started off okay. The storyline was looking up after the disappointing first parter. I really liked Angel biting Buffy though, everyone basically been waiting for this to happen and I;ve read numerous about Angel biting Buffy so that seemed fitting. That whole scene was well done. But after Buffy's dream with Faith, everything began to go downhill. The end is my major problem here. All the students loading up and firing on the Mayor in is demon form was absolutely horrible. As soon as the Mayor turned into his demon form the cheese factor went off the charts. This storyline has been building for two years now and this is how they end it? This how they expect us to be happy? The Mayor being blown up by dynamite? I'm sorry but that is not an ending. There was literally no fight, Buffy didn't seem to do much (thank god that Angel got his own fight scene though). I'm so displeased about this episode that I'm not looking forward to season four as much as I was looking forward to season three because of Becoming. Anyone else trying to figure out "counting down from 730" means (from Faith's dream)? I'm thinking that it means something drastic is going to happen at the end of two years hence the end of the series. Maybe Buffy's death? I thought the Mayor's death was quite fitting. Anyone else remember him saying that Principal Flutie's attitude towards the students is what made him get eaten? I was disappointed to see Larry die, he could really have added some character flavor to next season when everyone's off to college.

Niki's Comments

First things first, I love how Joss Whedon doesn't leave total cliffhangers, unlike other TV creators.(Hello, X-Files?!) This episode was alright, on a scale of one to ten, a 7 1/2. I give it this because it lacked the suspense of Becoming Parts 1 and 2. The drinking scene with Buffy and Angel, was that kinky or what? I liked the dream sequence, with Faith and Buffy, mostly because it gave Faith one last chance to be nice. I admit it, I cried. But I think I'm the only person that liked Faith. The Ascension was cool, but the demon-thingy looked more like a Xena/cheesy special effects to me. Although I'm glad to see Snyder dead... The Ascension seemed to climax way to soon. I can't wait to see the next season, to see if without the Buffy/Angel relationship the show will lighten up a bit, as in the first season.

Cast