School Hard

These snapshots may contain SPOILERS for the entire series, so if for some reason you haven't yet seen some of the episodes and do not want to know what is going on, read no further.

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A dangerous new vampire named Spike comes to town, hoping to use the power of the Hellmouth to restore his love, Drusilla, to health. He has killed two Slayers before, and he decides to make Buffy the third, attacking Sunnydale High on Parent Teacher Night. Buffy must find a way to stop Spike and his vampire minions, lead her mom and the other parents and students to safety, and keep them from finding out that she is the Slayer.
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BUFFY: ... I have at least three lives to contend with, none of which really mesh. 

The consensus seems to be that this was the episode that started the show on the road to greatness, and I tend to agree. It had drama, was funny, had character building, action, and didn't take itself too seriously.

While this episode is primarily interested in introducing Spike and Drusilla, we also see the growing dislike between Xander and Angel.
Angel is Spike's (grand)sire.

The Sunnydale sign that Spike knocks down on the way into town gives the population as 38,500. This is the first of three times that he causes the sign to be knocked over.

Foreshadowing

Upon Spike first seeing Buffy you get a sense of him stalking her in a predatory sense, with a lot of sexual tension thrown into the mix.

SPIKE: A slayer with family and friends. That sure as hell wasn't in the brochure.

Principal Snyder and the detective knowing what's really going on in Sunnydale in terms of the vampires. - Mayor

Spike trying to restore Dru's strength here at the Hellmouth.



My views/status of characters;
Buffy - like
Willow - like
Xander - like
Giles - like
Cordelia - like
Spike - like
Angel - neutral


Overall I consider this a very good episode compared to the rest of the season.