Welcome to Rewatching Buffy, the part of the blog where I rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each Tuesday evening, you’re invited to join me as I attempt to rediscover what made me love this show so many years ago.

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• At a funeral home, a corpse lies in an open casket.
• Buffy, Xander, and Dawn emerge from closed coffins.
• They’re there because the corpse in the open casket is potentially a vampire.
• Turns out, she is a vampire and Buffy stakes her before she can even get out of her coffin.
• Buffy is anxious about her first week actually talking to the kids as their counselor.
• At school, Buffy is visited by her first student who was being picked on by some guy.
• Then another student tells her he doesn’t want to talk.
• Then the oldest kid from Home Improvement shows up because he thinks Buffy is hot.
• Xander and Willow walk and talk… discussing the whole “from beneath you it devours…” thing.
• Willow worries that she might not be able to help when the time comes.
• Their walk takes them to Tara’s grave where Willow finally takes time to say good-bye.
• Buffy continues seeing students…
• One guy thinks he might be gay and wants Buffy to go on a date with him just so he can be sure.
• Dawn complains about her sister…
• And then there’s this one girl, Cassie, who believes she’s going to die next Friday.
• It is Sunnydale… So are we talking premonition or suicidal ideation?
• Buffy keeps the conversation going and Cassie confirms that she’s not going to kill herself.
• She just knows she’s going to die next Friday.
• Cassie gets these visions… there will be coins… Buffy will go someplace dark underground… and Buffy will try to help, but it won’t prevent anything.
• Buffy reports Cassie’s conversation to Principal Wood, but doesn’t get the response she was hoping for.
• So Buffy goes to Dawn, asking her to befriend Cassie.
• The gang researches Cassie’s records and she’s a good kid who gets good grades.
• Then they Google her in an early use of the term…
• Turns out Cassie has her own web page with lots of poems that she’s written.
• Dawn thinks the bad guy will be this guy, Mike, who’s asked Cassie out a bunch of times only to be repeatedly rejected.
• But Buffy and Xander think it might have something to do with Cassie’s violently alcoholic father.
• The dad is off the hook when it’s clear he won’t be seeing Cassie the day she claims she’s going to die.
• Cassie is waiting for Buffy outside her dad’s house and thanks her for trying, but there’s no point.
• She tells them there are so many things she wants to do in life, but she knows that she won’t.
• Cassie understands that it’s inevitable.
• Meanwhile, somewhere over the Hellmouth, a group of red hooded figures chant in a circle, setting fire to pictures of Cassie.
• Buffy heads down to Spike’s basement, but he’s catatonic.
• She wants to know what kind of evil is in this school, but he can only confirm that the evil is here.
• He talks like the evil is himself… but we know better, don’t we?
• Buffy confronts Cassie’s friend, but he’s not mad that she kept rejecting him.
• The principal is going through lockers… standard procedure… and they accidentally spill some coins on the floor.
• Buffy finds the kid whose locker the coins came from, but this guy doesn’t know anything about Cassie.
• She pushes the kid and he knows she’s talking about the “suicidal” girl and she knows a bunch of guys who want to mess with her.
• The red hood gang, including the oldest son from Home Improvement, are now sitting in a circle with a meat cleaver in the middle.
• They’re performing a ritual that’s supposed to make them rich.
• Cassie is their chosen sacrifice.
• Oh, hey, Buffy’s in a red robe, too!
• She easily kick’s Home Improvement‘s butt.
• Buffy mocks the kids for not being able to actually raise their lame demon… but then the lame demon appears behind her.
• While Buffy is distracted fighting the demon, the red hood kid tries to kill Cassie.
• But Spike shows up with a torch, which Buffy uses to incinerate the demon.
• Spike saves Cassie, punching the red hood kid even though it’s super painful for him.
• Cassie whispers to Spike, “She’ll tell you. Someday she’ll tell you.”
• The demon, in one last move, bites the red hood kid before exploding.
• Buffy saved Cassie…
• But then Cassie collapses and dies.
• Buffy later finds out that her family has a history of heart irregularities.
• I want to know if there are any consequences to the Home Improvement kid getting bitten by that demon.
• Body count: Vampires – 1; Demons – 1