2.3 School Hard

Plot Synopsis (Hide)

Buffy and another school trouble-maker, Sheila, are given one last chance to redeem themselves - organising Parent-Teacher Night together. Whichever student Principal Snyder is least impressed with will be expelled.

Meanwhile, a new vampire arrives in town. While the Master's remaining minions are discussing the Slayer, a stranger walks in to their midst and mocks their plans. He introduces himself as Spike, tells them he's already killed two Slayers and can handle the current one for them. While he talks, a dark-haired vampire girl dressed all in white walks up behind him. Spike calls her Drusilla, and behaves towards her with concern. Her manner is somewhat surreal and other-wordly, and she quickly recognises the Anointed as a being of power.

While Buffy prepares for Parent-Teacher night, with help from her friends but no sign of Sheila, Giles and Jenny warn of the "Night of St. Vigeas", a night on which vampire strength is at it's peak, which they have calculated will occur on the coming Saturday. Principal Snyder comes to check on progress, and Buffy covers for Sheila's absence, just as the other girl arrives, looking rather hung-over.

At the Bronze that evening, while Buffy dances with her friends, Spike prowls in the shadows, watching and gauging his enemy. He sends one of the Anointed's vampires out to feed, then loudly calls for a phone to ring the police, as some guy is trying to bite someone outside. Buffy takes the bait, and Spike watches as she expertly dispatches the vampire. When she has finished, he steps from the shadows, applauding her. When she asks who he is, he tells her she'll find out on Saturday, when he kills her.

Heading back to his lair, Spike comes across Sheila and intrigues her in to going with him. Later we see Drusilla in her bedroom surrounded by dolls. She is talking to them, almost as if they were people, but they are all gagged. Spike comes in and tries to persuade Dru that she needs to eat something, and we see Sheila chained to the wall in the background. When Spike leaves he pulls her down and gives her to Dru, who puts on her vamp face and moves in to bite.

In the library next evening, two sets of preparation are taking place. While Xander and Cordelia whittle stakes, Willow arms a crossbow and Giles reads aloud from one of his texts. Buffy, on the other hand, deftly slices a cucumber with a lethal-looking machete, then dashes off to make punch. As parents start to arrive, Buffy enlists Willow to try and keep Joyce away from Principal Snyder. The plan succeeds for an hour or two, with several near misses, but eventually Snyder catches up and takes Joyce off to his office.

In the library, Giles is still researching, and finally finds reference to Spike. He was originally known as "William the Bloody" and Giles discovers that he has fought two Slayers in the past century, and killed them both. Meanwhile, Joyce comes back from her conference with the principal looking grim, and tells her daughter that they're leaving, while Snyder smirks in the background.

Just as everyone is about to leave, and Snyder is beginning to put out the lights, there is a tremendous noise as Spike and his gang come crashing in through the window - he couldn't wait til Saturday. Spike leaps towards Buffy, who throws a chair to slow him down, then grabs Joyce's hand and pulls her away. Vampires are arriving from every direction, and Buffy takes charge, herding the remaining parents into the science classroom. Willow and Cordelia hide in a nearby broom cupboard, while Xander, Giles and Jenny barricade themselves into the library.

Giles remembers a secret way out from the library and sends Xander to get Angel, who knows Spike of old and may be able to help. In the science room, Snyder tries to get a window open, but Buffy basically orders him not to, and telling her mother not to worry, she clambers up into the roof-space to go for help. Just as Giles is about to head out of the library to find her, she comes crashing down through the ceiling. Loading up with stakes, she tells Giles to make sure her mother gets out alive even if she doesn't.

Back in the classroom, Snyder is seething over Buffy's authoritative behaviour, although Joyce rather unexpectedly seems to have faith in her daughter. One of the remaining parents loses patience and tries to open a window, with help from Snyder. Within moments, he is grabbed and pulled outside, kicking and screaming while Snyder looks on without lifting a finger. Joyce is the one with enough presence of mind to block the window off again.

As one of the vampires starts hacking at the science room door with a fire axe, Buffy drops from the ceiling and stakes him. All Joyce can see from the hole in the door is a raised arm followed by a cloud of dust. Buffy starts to close on the remaining vampire guard, but hears a noise behind her and turns to find Sheila. Buffy starts back towards the vampire while Sheila, grinning, picks up the fallen axe and follows. We see her face become that of a vampire as she raises the axe above Buffy's head. As they pass the library, Giles shouts a warning, and Buffy spins round and grabs the axe from Shelia, bashing her aside with it. She turns and swings the axe at the approaching vampire guard, staking him in the process. The vampire collapses into dust, and Buffy turns back to face Shelia, who takes one look then turns and flees.

Now the coast is clear, Buffy goes back to the science room and shepherds Joyce and the others towards the nearest exist. Telling her mother she will follow soon, the Slayer heads back to confront her enemies. Joyce follows the others for a moment then, worried about her daughter, turns and heads back into the school.

While all this has been happening, Xander has returned with Angel. They enter the building, with Angel pretending to hold Xander captive. Spike seems to go along with the deception for a while, but isn't fooled. He punches Angel away then leaps to the attack. As Angel and Xander run, most of the vampire follow, but Spike suddenly pauses and turns slowly to find Buffy waiting for him. As they fight in the hall, Angel and Xander keep the others occupied outside. The fight is even for a while, but eventually Spike actually gets the better of Buffy. As she lies dazed on the floor, he starts to move in for the kill, only to be bashed over the head by the fire-axe, wielded by a determined-looking Joyce who demands that he gets away from her daughter. Buffy scrambles back to her feet, and faced with the Slayer and her irate mother, Spike cuts his losses and escapes through the nearby window. As they head back to the car, Joyce tells Buffy how proud she is of her daughter's bravery and resourcefulness.

In the vampire lair next morning, Spike makes a show of apologising to the Anointed One, but it is clear he doesn't really mean what he's saying. Infuriated by the goading of the vampire second-in-command, he finally retaliates. Shoving the other vampire aside, he grabs the Anointed and throws him into a cage before hoisting him up into a shaft of sunlight which burns him to a crisp. Leaving the remaining vampire prostrate on the floor, Spike and Drusilla walk away hand in hand.

Highlights

• First time we see Spike, he crashes his car over the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign on to the verge, then gets out, lights a cigarette and says 'Home Sweet Home'.

Pop Culture References

The name of episode is based on its similarity to the movie Die Hard, where a group of supposed terrorists take over a building, and a lone hero has to use all his strength and guile to defeat them, generally by crawling through air-conditioning ducts and lift shafts.

Spike: "People still fall for that Anne Rice routine?"
Refers to the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, especially the first in the series 'Interview with the Vampire', which portray vampires as more sympathetic characters than one might expect, even as tortured souls striving to find beauty in the lives they are forced to take to survive.

Spike: "You think you can fool me?! You were my sire, man! You were my... Yoda!"
Refers to Yoda, the Jedi Master from the Star Wars movies, who trains and mentors other Jedi Knights, including the young Luke Skywalker.

Nice Touches

• In the banner-painting scene, Buffy's hair is twisted up out of the way - and if you look closely, you can see that the knot is secured by a paintbrush.
• Later in that same scene, Giles does his usual "leaning over the desk" bit to talk some sense into Buffy - only the banner on the desk is still wet and he subtly lifts his hands and tries to wipe the paint off them, while continuing his lecture.

What We Learn

• From his conversation with the police officer towards the end of the episode, it's clear Snyder knows about vampires.

Nitpicks

• Buffy rushes straight off the dance floor when Spike says someone is being bitten outside, but when she arrives to attack the vampire, she is wearing a jacket. Did she really stop to put on her coat when someone's life was in danger?
• Buffy and Willow are studying at the Bronze, and their table is covered in books and folders. However, moments later, when Xander rushes in to get Buffy a stake, the bag he rummages through is on a table by itself. Either Buffy left her bag on an unattended table while they were studying and dancing, or some other girl conveniently happened to have a stake in her handbag.
• Although I used the word 'deft' to describe Buffy's cucumber-sliceage, that was really just a bit of poetic licence. If you look closely, she was actually pretty rubbish at it - shouldn't the Slayer have a little more coordination?
• How come the stacks, reached up a flight of steps from a ground-floor library, manage to have a cellar behind them?

Buffy-Speak

Buffy: I spent a good part of my allowance on this new cream rinse, and it's neither creamy nor rinsey.

Willow: You're not focussed - it's Angel-missage.