When She Was Bad (Buffy episode)
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"When She Was Bad" is the first episode in the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Plot synopsis
Summary
Willow and Xander are thoroughly bored, until they are attacked by the first vampire to be seen all summer. They are saved by the first Buffy Summers to be seen all summer, back from her Los Angeles holiday, and in a very bad mood. The next night, Buffy has a vision of the Master killing her, brought on by the Anointed One planning to resurrect the Master. Members of the Scooby Gang are kidnapped by the Anointed One's gang, who intends to raise the Master by draining their blood over his bones. Xander is the only one spared, and tells Buffy it was her fault they were taken. Buffy, Angel and Xander charge in to the rescue, and Buffy destroys the Master once and for all by crushing his bones.Expanded overview
Xander and Willow quiz each other on film quotes, Willow is failing the increasingly boring game on the outskirts of a cemetery. The pair comment on the quiet summer in Sunnydale since they buried the Master in the graveyard. A tender moment ensued when Xander playfully put ice cream on Willow's nose, but just as he was about to kiss it, a vampire appears behind Willow. Xander intervened and was barely holding onfight when Buffy shows up. She tells her friends about spending the summer in Los Angeles with her father, Hank. At home, her mother is a bit uneasy about Buffy's shopping spree. Hank explains that he felt guilty when Buffy appeared distant.At school, Principal Snyder expresses again his disgust with students. Giles spots Jenny Calendar and slips away; an oblivious Snyder babbles on. Giles finds the younglings and explains that although they have closed the Hellmouth, the mystical energy still attracts evil forces to the town. He asks Buffy to resume her training after school.
Whilst practicing, Buffy has a vision of the Master and begins beating on a dummy. At night, she dreams of being killed by the Master when Angel appears in her room to warn her of the child-looking Anointed One. Buffy coldly brushes him off. He tells her he missed her and leaves before she can reply.
The next day, the young Scoobies run into Cordelia, who seems unmotivated about keeping Buffy's identity a secret. Buffy throws an insult at Cordy that her friends find "too good." At the Bronze, Xander and Willow wonder about Buffy's behavior. Willow tries to recreate the ice-cream moment, in vain. Buffy then arrives in a very revealing dress and mocks Angel. She begins a slow, sensual dance with Xander that makes everyone squirm.
Meanwhile, the Anointed One and his preacher pal are forcing their vampires to dig up the Master's bones barehanded through consecrated earth.
Back in the club, Buffy leaves Xander hanging mid-dance. Cordelia confronts her outside and tells her to get over her problems. Buffy leaves and Cordy is kidnapped by two dark figures. They throw her into a basement with an unconscious Ms. Calendar. Buffy walks to the grave that holds the bones of he who triggered her attitude, and finds it dug up.
At lunch the next day, Giles shares Xander's and Willow's concerns about Buffy, who shows up to tell them about her discovery. Giles remembers some revivification spells and Buffy is angered that he never told her. Snyder shoos away the students and tells Giles he would like to expel Buffy.
That night, the Scoobies learn that a revivification spell needs the blood of the "closest" person to the deceased. Cordelia's watch, wrapped around a large rock, sails through the library window. Buffy leaves for the obvious trap, saying she cannot look out for them while slaying.
Outside the basement where Cordelia was held, Buffy tries to pick a fight with Angel, who ignores her. Inside, they find one female vampire. Buffy realizes that the trap is not for her. At the same time, Giles realizes that the foreign text actually said that the ritual requires the blood of those physically nearest to the Master when he died -- in other words, Giles, Willow, Cordelia and Ms. Calendar.
Buffy returns to the library to find a bloody Xander, who angrily warns that if anything happens to Willow, he will kill Buffy. They go back to the female vampire, whom Buffy tortures into confession. Buffy interrupts the ritual while Angel and Xander rescue the others. Before she leaves, Buffy crushes the Master's bones, letting out her frustrations.
The next day, Buffy apologizes for her behavior and is pleasantly surprised to find herself forgiven. Meanwhile, the Anointed One gazes at the scene of destruction and exclaims, "I hate that girl!"
Writing and acting
- Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) was ill during the filming of this episode.
- Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) came back to the second season of "Buffy" much slimmer. She claimed it was because she had just finished filming I Know What You Did Last Summer in the South, where the food was so unbearable that she "lost all her baby fat."
- A conversation between Buffy’s parents was deleted from the episode:
- :Hank: "Oh, I’m spoiling her. Did I forget to mention that?"
- :Joyce: "What you forgot is that I’m gonna have to deal with another year of ‘Daddy would let me buy that."
Production details
Music
- Alison Krauss - "It doesn't matter"
- Christophe Beck - "Resurrection"
- Christophe Beck - "Sledgehammer"
- Cibo Matto - "Spoon"
- Cibo Matto - "Sugar Water"
Quotes and trivia
- This was the first episode:
- :That featured David Boreanaz (Angel) as a regular cast member.
- :That featured Anthony Stewart Head's voice narrating "Previously on Buffy".
- Xander and Willow used lines from such films as Terminator, Planet of the Apes and Star Wars in their quiz game. There was also a misquote from Witness ("I mock you with my ice cream cone, Amish Guy").
- Willow's favorite band Cibo Matto had a cameo in The Bronze. They performed "Spoon" and "Sugar Water." Earlier in the episode, a Cibo Matto poster is spotted outside Buffy's locker and Xander sarcastically mentions that the band can dance in clogs. Willow bought it.
- Xander had said to Buffy in "Prophecy Girl", "I want to dance with you". In this episode his wish comes true.
- At the end of the episode, as Buffy chats with Giles before she goes to class, she is wearing a gold inverted cross necklace. In some Christian traditions, an inverted crucifix is a sign of the loss or repudiation of divine grace.
Continuity
Arc significance
- At the end of the episode, Buffy, Willow and Xander discuss what to do later that day. Xander suggests miniature golf, but Willow reminds him that there is "no course here." But ten episodes later in "Ted", Ted brought his charmed ones and Buffy to just such a course. Mayor Wilkins also mentions a miniature golf course to Faith in "Enemies", although it isn't clear if he means a course inside of the city limits.
- When asked how she planned to interrupt the ritual, Buffy replied, "I'm gonna kill them all." Angel had predicted so in the last season premier.
Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Buffyverse | ||
| Main | Canon | Index Chronology: Ancient | Modern | BS1 | BS2 | BS3 | BS4/AS1 | BS5/AS2 | BS6/AS3 | BS7/AS4 | AS5 | Future | Flashbacks | |
| Buffy | Characters (main) | Characters (minor) | Episodes | Plot | Comics | Film | Pilot (unaired) | Promo: History.. | Novels | Promos: Pre-"Bargaining" | |
| Angel | Characters (main) | Characters (minor) | Episodes | Plot | | |
| Spin-offs | Comics | Fan made productions | Fray | Novels | Spike movie | Undeveloped productions Buffy Animated | Card Game | RPGs | Tales of Slayer (prose) | Tales of Slayers | Tales of Vampires | Toys | Video Games Upcoming: Blackout | | | | | | Portal Through Time | Spike vs Dracula | | |
| Powers | Angel Investigations | Circle of the Black Thorn | Order of Aurelius | The First Evil | The Initiative | Monsters | Old Ones | The Powers That Be | Ra-Tet | Scooby Gang | Senior Partners | Watchers' Council | Wolfram & Hart | |
| People | Adam | Amy | Andrew | Angel | Anya | Buffy | Caleb | Connor | Cordelia | Dawn | Darla | Doyle | Dru | Eve | Faith | Fred | Giles | Glory | Gunn | Harmony | Holtz | Illyria | Jasmine | Jenny | Joyce | Jonathan | Kate | Kennedy | Lilah | Lindsey | Lorne | The Master | Mayor Wilkins | Oz | Professor Walsh | Riley | Spike | Tara | Warren | Wesley | Willow | Xander | |
| Places | L.A. | Sunnydale Bronze | Caritas | Hellmouth | Hyperion | Library | Magic Box | Pylea | Sunnydale High | |
| Music | Complete Tracklist | Use of Music in Buffy & Angel | Dingoes Ate My Baby | Film | | | Once More, With Feeling | |
| Key Terminology | "Demon" | "Slayer" | "Vampire" | "Watcher" | "Werewolf" | "Witch" "Child of Senior Partners" | Shanshu | Sunnydale Syndrome | Tro-Clon | |
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