Original Air Date: September 22, 1997

Written by Ty King
Directed by Bruce Seth Green

Summary

The body of a dead cheerleader is dug up from the cemetery, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is officially back in the saddle. Cordelia accidentally stumbles upon a bunch of body parts in a dumpster, and the parts add up to three people -- the dead cheerleader and her two friends who were killed in the same car accident -- only some of the parts are missing. Giles suspects zombie activity, and clues lead to Chris -- a science whiz who's been quiet and withdrawn since his brother Daryl's death. We discover Chris, with his buddy Eric, has been secretly assembling a woman from these body parts for Daryl, so he won't have to be alone through eternity. The only part they don't have yet is a head -- the cheerleader's heads are unusable because the formaldehyde used to preserve dead bodies causes rapid deterioration of brain cells. There are currently three live head donors being considered: Buffy, Willow and Cordelia. Daryl votes for Cordelia, but Chris doesn't want to kill anyone, and Daryl becomes enraged. Meanwhile, Giles is courting Ms. Calendar, and their first official date is to the school's football game. That night, Eric decides to kill Cordelia, since Chris can't bring himself to do the deed, but Buffy arrives just in time to save her. As Buffy struggles with Daryl, a can of gasoline spills. A fire starts and Xander, who has arrived to help, pushes Cordelia to safety. Chris, seeing his headless fiancee is about to perish in the fire, throws himself on top of her and pledges his undying love. Angel and Buffy finally talk things out -- he admits he was jealous of her attention to Xander, and he feels left out of her life since he can only be with her at night. They walk off together as we see Daryl's tombstone.

Miscellaneous Info

-This episode sees the destruction of the "old science building", the only structure remaining of the original school after the earthquake of 1937.

Quote of the Week

Buffy: I'm an old-fashioned kind of gal. I was raised to believe that the men dig up the corpses and the women have the babies.

My Rating

2/5

Cast