"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Lessons (2002)

Director:

David Solomon

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator)
Joss Whedon (written by)

TV Series:

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)

Original Air Date:

24 September 2002 (Season 7, Episode 1)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Sunnydale High is re-opened, with a new designed campus and a new principal, Robin Wood. It is Dawn's first day at school there and Buffy accompanies her to class, only to discover evil spirits lurking in the basement.

Plot Keywords:

Heroine | Lesbian | One Word Title | Sister Sister Relationship | Reference To Britney Spears

Cast

  (Episode Cast overview, first billed only)

Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Emma Caulfield	...	Anya
Michelle Trachtenberg	...	Dawn Summers
James Marsters	...	Spike
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Alexandra Breckenridge	...	Kit Holburn (as Alex Breckenridge)
Kali Rocha	...	Halfrek
D.B. Woodside	...	Principal Robin Wood (as DB Woodside)
Mark Metcalf	...	The Master
Juliet Landau	...	Drusilla
Harry Groener	...	Mayor Richard Wilkins
George Hertzberg	...	Adam
Clare Kramer	...	Glory

Runtime:

41 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

Bath, Somerset, England, UK

Company:

Mutant Enemy

Trivia:

In the coffee shop scene, when Halfrek is advising Anya to improve her vengeance, Halfrek warns Anya to remember what happened with "Mr. Czolgosz" (phonetically spelled "Cholgosh" in the captions for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers). This is a reference to a moment in the episode "Superstar" in which Anya, while explaining what she used to do as a vengeance demon, said, "Vengeance wishes, on ex-boyfriends. I'd wish he was a dog, or ugly, or in love with President McKinley, or something." On September 6, 1901, a fanatical fringe Anarchist named Leon Czolgosz shot President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Czolgosz is one of the main characters depicted in the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical "Assassins;" Joss Whedon, the writer of this episode, has given many interviews (mostly in conjunction with "Buffy"'s musical episode) in which he has expressed his admiration for the works of Stephen Sondheim.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When The First (masquerading as Drusilla) speaks to Spike, she touches his hair and cheek, but The First is unable to touch anything. However, since Spike is still mentally unstable after getting his soul back, it is possible that he's just imagining Drusilla is touching him.

Quotes:

Buffy Summers: Doesn't mater how well prepped you are or how well armed you are. You're a little girl.
Dawn: Woman.
Buffy Summers: Little woman.
Dawn: I'm taller than you.

Soundtrack:

So High

The uneven beginning of an uneven season

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

In season seven I stop liking entire EPISODES and start liking individual SCENES within the episodes. Of all the BTVS seasons, seven has the most missed opportunities. The Scoobies just aren't right this whole year, none of the characters seem like themselves. (Spike and Willow, at least, have excuses to be a little "off," everyone else is just acting weird for no reason.) The story arc this season has a lot of wrong turns and dead ends. "Lessons" and "Conversations with Dead People," in particular, introduce concepts and ideas that never go anywhere. This season has things happening and changing with no explanation. The episodes don't seem to flow together or tell a cohesive story the way past seasons have. Plus, there are the Potentials, who just about ruin the entire show for me. That said, BTVS season seven has some flat out brilliant moments. Isloated scenes that can rival anything else on the show. "Lessons" is not a great episode, but it ends on one of the coolest scenes ever. If you're going to watch season seven, you should probably start with this episode.

"Lessons" revolves around the reopening of Sunnydale High. Yes, the school has been rebuilt directly over the the Hellmouth, again. Buffy is understandable worried when her sister heads off to class. She begins looking around the campus and runs into the good-looking new principal, Ribon Woods. Meanwhile, Willow is in Engalnd recovering with Giles. Her magic is no longer an addiction, but a part of her. She can feel something wrong within the earth, as is an evil darkness is trying to rise.

Back at Sunnydale High, Dawn and two fellow classmates are attacked by ghost things. Trapped in the basement, Dawn calls Buffy for help. While searching for her sister Buffy is confronted by the ghost things, who tell her that she's suppose to be the Slayer, but she allowed them to die. Buffy says that she doesn't care. She finds Spike hiding in a small room directly over the Hellmouth. He's acting crazy and doesn't seem to know what's going on. Still, he tells her that he thinks the ghost things are being controlled by and amulet. Buffy calls Xander to tracks down the amulet in a bathroom and he destroys it. Dawn and her new friends are saved. Principal Woods offers Buffy a job as a councilor.

There are some good parts to the episode. I actually like Principal Woods (most of the time, anyway) and his reaction to Buffy talking on her cell phone is just hilarious. Especially when she tells him it's an emergency phone call from her dog walker. Of course, it's really Dawn telling her about the ghosts in the basement. "They're all dead?" Buffy asks, trying to figure out what's attacking her sister. "Your dogs are dead?" Principal Woods gasps in genuine horror. It just cracks me up. Also, the scene with Halfreck and Anya in the coffee shop is really good. Halfreck is worried that Anya isn't fully committed to being a demon again. "It's a real bad time to be a good guy." The scenes with Willow and Giles are nice, too. The two of them have always had a special bond and it's great that they're coming together after the whole Dark Willow thing last season.

The best part of "Lessons" is Spike, though. (Granted, Spike is usually my favorite part of every episode, but still...) I have no idea why he's in the basement or how he got back to Sunnydale, and I don't care. His crazy, twitchy, brokenness is just so interesting to watch. His hair's all wrong. He's alternately crying and shouting and then having sudden moments of clarity. He's tried to cut the soul out of his chest. He's being haunted by the First and by his past, especially his attempted rape of Buffy. He's William and Spike and a mixture of the two. It's just brilliant. And then at the end, the First confronts him and morphs into all six of the show's previous Big Bads. From Warren, to Glory, to Adam, to the Mayor, to Dru, to the Master and finally into Buffy. Its speech to Spike as it changes it just so d*nm neat that you want to applaud. (I do think the season two's Big Bad was Angelus, not Drusilla, though. And Spike never met the Mayor or the Master on screen. But, I'm not really complaining.) This one scene is the coolest the First will ever be.

On the down side, Dawn's says something like "It's not fair to scare me on my first day of high school," which doesn't make any sense. Back in season five's "Tough Love" didn't she say that she was in the ninth grade? Wouldn't that make her a junior by season seven? Also, who put that magical charm thing in the bathroom? Is that ever explained? And who the heck are those two students that Dawn meets up with? We never see them again. Also, why would the First want Buffy to investigate the school? By targeting Dawn and pulling her into the basement, it was pretty much guaranteeing that Buffy would get involved. Which would allow her to find Spike, which is just what the First didn't want to happen, right? It wants to brainwash Spike or whatever. So why take a chance of reuniting him with Buffy by having them in the same place? Why not keep Buffy and Dawn out of it until the First is ready to strike? Am I missing something or was this just a really dumb, pointless plan?

My favorite (non-morphy Big Bad scene) part of the episode: Spike looking at Buffy sadly and murmuring, "Buffy, duck." She blinks at him in confusion, "Duck? There's a duck down here?" Then she get whacked in the head with a board. It makes me chuckle every time.