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.

First Date

• We finally get the flashback of how Giles didn’t get killed.
• He managed to turn the tables on the Harbinger, killing him with his own ax.
• Giles is telling the tale to Buffy and the Potentials as they stroll through a cemetery at night.
• He’s almost bragging about the training and sense of awareness he’s developed over the years.
• Then he’s blindsided by Spike…
• Spike is surprised that Giles isn’t non-corporeal.
• Giles is surprised that Spike’s chip didn’t fire when he tackled the Watcher.
• Guess we know what decision Buffy made last week.
• Giles is not thrilled about Spike’s lack of chip.
• BTW… now that we know Giles is the real Giles, he’s touching stuff all over the place.
• Buffy insists that since Spike has a soul, he has the potential to be a good man.
• Giles thinks her feelings for Spike are affecting her judgment.
• He tells her she’s gambling with a lot of lives.
• I think Giles is looking for conflict where there is no conflict.
• Xander meets a pretty girl at a Home Depot type store.
• He’s flirting in his Xander way.
• He asks her out.
• Buffy decides it’s time to investigate Principal Wood and snoops around his office.
• Of course, he walks in on her and doesn’t really buy her flimsy excuse for being in there.
• And then he asks her to dinner.
• It’s like there’s a theme with this episode.
• Anyone else going on a date tonight?
• When Buffy leaves the office, Wood pulls a bloody dagger out of his pocket and returns it to a hidden weapons storage area behind a white board on the wall.
• Buffy, Xander, and Willow discuss the first dates.
• Buffy worries that she may be interested in the principal because he could be evil, but she’s excited that he doesn’t have a first hand recollection of the Industrial Revolution.
• Willow asks Xander if his date is evil.
• Knowing his history with women, he feels like there’s a good chance that she is, considering she’s into him.
• Andrew is alone in the kitchen… until he’s not.
• The First appears as Jonathan, trying to convince Andrew to choose the winning side.
• It wants Andrew to kill the Potentials.
• All of them…
• And the First says Andrew can use the gun that Willow bought when she was having her identity crisis last week.
• Xander meets his date, Lissa, at the Espresso Pump.
• Meanwhile, Willow and Dawn do some research on Principal Wood.
• They can’t find anything on the Google, so Willow asks Giles if he wants to help investigate Buffy’s date.
• Now Giles is angry that Buffy and Xander are going on dates when the end of the world is nigh.
• Again… looking for conflict where there really doesn’t need to be any.
• Wood takes Buffy down a sketchy alley where they’re promptly attacked by vampires.
• Buffy stakes three of them while the principal handily dusts two on his own.
• Until she sees him kill the vampires, she thinks he set her up.
• But now she’s just confused about how he was able to fight off a pair of vampires.
• They continue on to the restaurant, where they really need to talk.
• Xander and Lissa talk about his awkward relationship with Anya.
• She seems to really be into him and he regrets not taking her somewhere nicer.
• She’s ready to make a suggestion for a change of venue.
• Wood tells Buffy that he maneuvered himself into the principal position because he knows the fight is coming and he needs to be here for it.
• That’s why he hired Buffy as a school counselor.
• Turns out, he’s the son of a Slayer.
• He was four years old when she was killed by a vampire.
• He doesn’t have any powers… just a guy who was raised by his mother’s Watcher and picked up a few things along the way.
• Andrew shows the First/Jonathan the gun and is given a plan of attack.
• Then Andrew starts asking questions… why not use Spike… does the First have weaknesses… what is it made of…?
• The First figures out that Andrew is wearing a wire and Willow is downstairs listening.
• But not before the First reveals that it’s not time for Spike yet…
• Andrew refuses to kill the Potentials.
• The First reveals itself to Willow and the others in the basement.
• Turns out that all the attempt at recording the First accomplished was pissing it off.
• Xander’s date’s second location turns out to be the Hellmouth.
• She’s got him tied up, ready to bleed him for the First.
• Turns out, she doesn’t even know about his connection to the Slayer.
• Spike goes to find Buffy on her date so they can save Xander.
• Lissa stabs Xander and starts the bleeding…
• Willow did a locator spell, so they know Xander is at the school.
• Wood drives her and Spike there, asking how they know each other.
• You know… from work…
• During the fight with the Lissa demon, Spike vamps out and Wood can’t help but notice.
• Wood manages to pull Xander off the rack just as a Turok-Han reaches out of the seal.
• When the blood flow has stopped, the seal reseals and the arm is cut off.
• Buffy manages to behead Lissa and Xander’s gonna be okay.
• Once they get back to the house, Giles is fed up with everyone’s refusal to take things seriously.
• Spike is worried about what the First said about it not being his time yet.
• He wants to leave town before it becomes his time.
• Principal Wood splashes water in his face, then sees his mother in the mirror.
• He knows it’s the First.
• But it reveals that Spike is the one who killed his mother.
• We saw it happen back in a Season 5 flashback.
• Body count: Harbingers – 1; Vampires – 5; Demons – 1