Everything
You Wanted to Know About the Best Show on Television
Buffy
isn't a show that easy to pick up - you've got to watch it at least
three or four times until you hit its groove and even then you might
not catch some of the references to episodes past. In order to
prepare for the airing of the Buffy season finale next week
(yeah!), what I attempt to do below is to give you the Buffy
Basics - a primer for the show so you can sit down, watch it
and understand just what in the heck is going on.
Terms:
Sunnydale:
Where Buffy the Vampire Slayer takes place. Sunnydale is in
California and also happens to be over a little thing called
Hellmouth. Hellmouth is just what it sounds like, evil lurks,
demons exist, and they are all desperately trying to get
out.
Vampires:
The undead. Vampires are without a soul and the major way to kill a
vampire is by a stake through the heart. Sunlight, beheading, and
fire are other ways to kill vampires. When vampires are killed they
are turned to dust. Vampires cannot enter a home unless they are
invited in, however once they are invited in the invitation sticks
until you perform a curse to revoke the invitation. Crosses and holy
water keep vampires at bay.
Sire:
When a vampire makes another person a vampire, he has sired a
vampire. This is done when the vampire sucks the person's blood and
then the victim sucks the vampire's blood. Buffy terms it a "whole
big sucking thing."
Characters:
Buffy:
Buffy came to Sunnydale in her sophomore year after being kicked out
of her old school because she burned the gym down (it wasn't her
fault the gym was running rampant with vampires.) The truth of this
show is that "into each generation a Slayer is born. One girl in all
the world, a Chosen One." Buffy is her generation's slayer. A new
slayer does not come along until the one before her dies. A slayer
has superhuman strength, excellent martial arts and karate skills and
a killer wardrobe. At the end of the first season, Buffy died briefly
before being resuscitated by Angel and Xander. Her momentary death
spawns the creation of another slayer - Kendra, who arrives to
Sunnydale during the show's second season. Willow, Xander, Oz,
Cordelia, and many other Sunnydale students know that Buffy is the
Slayer and unlike in the show's first season, Buffy now does little
to hide this fact. One of the last people to find out that Buffy is
the Slayer was Buffy's mom, Joyce, who was clueless about her
daughter's calling until the end of last season.
Angel:
Angel has been a vampire for almost 250 years and has, of course,
sired many a vampire. Perhaps the most important of which was
Drusilla, who he made into a vampire, but not before he killed her
whole family and drove her crazy. At the turn of the century Angel
was cursed with a soul by gypsies. A soul forced Angel to live with
and face the consequences of his actions; he was cursed with the
knowledge of knowing how many people he had killed. Angel's travels
finally brought him to Sunnydale, where he became Buffy's protector
and helper. He also fell in love with her. On Buffy's 17th birthday,
Angel gave Buffy an Irish claddagh ring signifying his love and
devotion to her. Buffy and Angel slept together that night and Angel
experienced one true moment of happiness. This moment of true
happiness lifted the gypsies' curse and rendered him soulless once
again. Angel became Angelus, an out and out vampire. He went around
torturing Buffy and her friends and killed Buffy's teacher and Giles'
girlfriend ,Jenny Calendar. Willow, who was just starting to become
practiced in witchcraft, began working on a spell to restore Angel's
soul to him. In the season finale, Buffy is forced to send Angel to
Hell to prevent the demon Acathla from bringing about Hell on earth.
Tragically, Willow's spell works only seconds before Buffy must send
Angel to Hell . Buffy knows that she must do this in order to save
the world. So Buffy, kissed him, told Angel to close his eyes and
then sent him to Hell. This season, Buffy placed the claddagh
ring at the very spot where she sent Angel to Hell. We don't know for
sure but many fans speculate that the love of that ring brings Angel
back from Hell. He is extremely weak, but still with a soul and
therefore still good. Slowly Angel got his strength back. Buffy and
Angel still love each other and cannot resist the temptation to
be together - the attraction and devotion is too strong. Finally
Buffy's mom tells Angel that he is ruining her daughter's life and if
he truly loves her, he will leave Sunnydale. Angel knows this is true
and breaks up with Buffy. In the last episode that we saw this
season, Faith has poisoned Angel and he is dying a slow, painful
death. Fret not, however -- Angel has his own show on the WB next
season, so I think we can count on the fact that he will
survive.
Willow
and Xander: Willow is Buffy's best friend. Willow and Xander
grew up together and have been best friends all their lives. Willow
has had a Joey Potter -like crush on Xander since before she can even
remember. Xander, of course, was clueless to this fact and spent the
first two seasons lusting after everyone except for Willow
(especially after Buffy who he had/has a major crush on.) Willow is
the brainiac of the group and this season she has been perfecting her
witchcraft. When Xander started his relationship with Cordelia, this
was particularly painful for Willow. It forced her to note that
Xander would rather be with someone he hates than be with Willow.
Willow eventually finds love with Oz. However, this season while
Xander and Willow are trying on outfits for the upcoming Homecoming
dance, they kiss. Both feels guilty, since Xander is dating Cordelia
and Willow is dating Oz. The guilt does not prevent them from more
kissing or from playing footsie in science class. Spike returns and
kidnaps Willow and Xander because he wants Willow to cast a love
spell to help him get Drusilla back. Injured and feeling like they
may die, Willow and Xander kiss just as Cordelia and Oz run into
rescue them. Willow eventually makes up with Oz and in an effort to
prove her love to him, says she wants to sleep with him. Oz tells her
the time isn't right, but in the second to last episode of the season
(and the last one we saw); Willow and Oz sleep together for the first
time.
Oz:
Willow's boyfriend and also a werewolf. Once a month during a full
moon, Oz must be locked up to prevent him from attacking people. Oz
is a droll man of few words and many hair colors.
Cordelia:
The bitchy, rich girl that every high school had. She became a
full-fledged member of the group when she started dating Xander, who
she truly loved. When she discovered Willow and Xander kissing, she
fell down and was hospitalized. When she returned to school, she
wouldn't speak to Xander and told the demon Anya that she wished
Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale. Cordelia's wish gave the
viewers a peak into a Buffyless Sunnydale and it wasn't pretty -
Xander and Willow were demons, Angel was held hostage, and vampires
ruled the town. Xander and Cordelia never reconcile, but Xander does
find out that Cordelia has been working at a local dress shop because
her father has lost his money. He buys Cordelia the prom dress she
wanted but can no longer afford. Cordelia will be joining the new
show Angel next season.
Giles:
Buffy's Watcher, the man placed in Sunnydale to train Buffy and to
guide her in her fight against the demons of the world. Giles was a
member of the Watcher's Council, an organization that is actually his
boss and makes decisions about how he handles Buffy. He was ousted
from the Council for getting too emotionally attached to Buffy - for
he loves her as a father loves his daughter. Buffy has felt extremely
betrayed by him On her 18th birthday, she is lured into fighting a
demon without her powers to prove that she is still ready to be a
slayer. It is a right of passage that happens to every slayer on her
18th birthday and Giles wasn't permitted to give her any warning that
it was about to happen. Giles is stripped of his Watcher duties after
Buffy's 18th birthday (for he eventually helps her) and Wesley
becomes Buffy and Faith's new Watcher. Wesley is easily frightened
and rather clueless. He relies heavily on Giles for help. Cordelia
also has a huge crush on Wesley and the feeling is mutual. Giles
loved Jenny Calendar, who was killed by Angel last season and there's
been some hint of romance between Giles and Buffy's mom but so far
nothing major has happened (except in one episode when they weren't
themselves.) Giles is also the school librarian, although the only
students ever in the library are Buffy and the gang.
Kendra
and Faith: In the second season, a new slayer comes to town -
Kendra (remember Buffy's brief death created a new slayer). In the
two part season finale last season, Kendra is killed by Drusilla, a
particularly painful moment for Buffy (especially considering that
Buffy is accused of killing Kendra.) This season, Faith arrives on
the scene as Kendra's replacement. A tough, street-wise slayer, Faith
is someone not a peace with her slayer abilities and continually
tries to entice Buffy (who she calls "B") to let loose and get a
little wild. On one evening, Faith kills a human by mistake and finds
that she likes using her powers for evil and more importantly she
likes the status her crossover to the dark side gives her with the
Mayor. Her need for attention and her refusal to admit that she's
done wrong lead her to become the mayor's right hand gal and Buffy's
major foe. Last season Buffy was forced to kill Angel. In the second
to last episode of this season, it appears that she has killed
Faith.
Spike
and Drusilla: Season two villains - the Sid and Nancy of the
Vampire world. At the end of season two, Buffy and Spike form an
alliance to unite against Angel - Buffy because she needs to save the
world and Spike because he realizes that Drusilla is falling in love
with Angel. Spike returned briefly this season, a lovelorn vampire
because Drusilla had dumped him. He'll be returning to the show
full-time next season.
The
Mayor: This year's super demon - he's been spending all
season working on becoming a demon incarnate and on graduation day he
will succeed. Basically all the officials in Sunnydale - the mayor,
the sheriff and the principal, know that Sunnydale is over Hellmouth
and are in an alliance about this fact. Although we recently learned
that Principal Snyder is a little shocked by the scope and depth of
the mayor's evilness.
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