Ah, the end of season two. You know, I love recapping Buffy, but sometimes I wonder why I didn't just pick a really, truly crappy show that would be easy to tear to shreds. Oh that's right, I did. It was called The Others and the psychological scars are just beginning to heal from writing only four recaps. Anyway, fill in the usual season-two disclaimers that it's hard to be funny about an episode this sad. Because I don't thank people enough: thanks to Sars and Wing, to Sep who is a stupendous writing partner and even better friend, and finally, a shout-out to the Buffy board regulars for all your insight and humor.
Buffy is in the Sunnydale High library, kneeling over Kendra's body, when two police officers burst in with their guns drawn. The male officer demands that Buffy "freeze!" because that's what cops on TV are contractually obligated to say, and the female officer checks for Kendra's pulse. The male officer asks about the status of "that one over there," and Buffy notices the unconscious Xander for the first time. She makes a move to run to him, but the cops detain her. Fuck tha police, and Buffy says it with authority. The male cop hustles Buffy out into the corridor, where she encounters Snyder, who doesn't believe her protestations of innocence. Nasty words are exchanged, and the cop begins cuffing Buffy and reading her Miranda rights. He doesn't get far, however, before Buffy smacks him in the face and flees down the corridor. The cops follow.
Aw. The last time we'll see the season-two credits.
Hospital. Sad music plays as Buffy sneaks in, wearing an oversized coat and black watch cap pulled down low. Sort of an obvious disguise, but what can you do with someone whose fashion sense is as damaged as Buffy's? She checks medical charts and tries to appear inconspicuous. Xander walks up behind Buffy and taps her on the shoulder; she spins and hugs him tightly. Aw, poor Xander has his arm in a cast, which he lightly refers to as a "souvenir." Buffy asks about the others as some cops round a corner in the hall, so Xander grabs her in another tight hug until the cops have walked past. Buffy joshes that Xander was "copping a feel," but his sad face alarms her.
Willow, looking sallow and quite convincingly unconscious, lies in a hospital bed. Xander explains that she has head trauma and could wake up at any time. Buffy expresses regret that she allowed Willow to try the curse. She reaches out to smooth hair off of Willow's forehead as Xander stands by, fiddling gently with the blanket. Oh, man. You know, I've seen this episode a million times and I would have thought myself immune, but here I am already with tears in my eyes. Well, it's been a hard week, folks, and having just seen a powerful exhibit of art inspired by the Holocaust doesn't help. Anyway, tissue break for poor Willow and sad guilty Buffy. Parents are rare in the Buffyverse, and apparently Willow's are out of town, but Xander has called them. As he leaves to call Oz, Cordy enters the hospital room; she and Xander hug. Cordy explains that she ran from the library and "made it through three counties" before she noticed no one was in pursuit. When Xander asks if Giles is with Cordy, she says she hasn't seen him. He's not in the hospital either, and Buffy looks terribly concerned.
Becoming, Part Two
Giles lies unconscious on the floor, and as he begins to wake up, we see that Angelus is lounging to him. He's excited that Giles has come around, and he hops up, telling Giles that he plans to torture him; Angelus is all excited because "the last time [he] tortured somebody, they didn't even have chainsaws." Giles staggers to his feet and spies the overgrown garden gnome, Acathla. In a manner I would describe as nonchalant and which Ash called fey, Angelus explains that he's tried to wake Acathla, but gotten no results, and so wants Giles to tell him what he's doing wrong. He finishes by beetling his brows even further down and growling that he's really looking forward to torturing Giles. Looking at that Neanderthal face and partially unbuttoned satin shirt is torture enough, buddy.
A uniformed cop clomps down the stairs at the Summers residence as Joyce explains to a detective type there must be some mistake. Joyce suggests that Buffy slept over at Willow's house, and one of the cops identifies Willow as the "second victim." The detective reminds Joyce of Buffy's history of violence and then leaves. Joyce studies his business card with her usual befuddled air.
Buffy bursts into Giles's apartment, calling his name. "I don't think he's here," responds Whistler as he descends from upstairs. He identifies himself to Buffy, and when she demands to know what he wants, he jokes that he needs a date to the prom. Buffy has had just about enough and slams Whistler, his baggy vintage suit, and his porkpie hat up against the wall, threatening to "pull out [his] rib cage and wear it as a hat." Then Whistler gives a little speech that really doesn't make much sense when you think about it -- he claims, "It wasn't supposed to go down like this. Nobody saw you coming. I figured this for Angel's big day." But let's review -- he sent Angel to spy on Buffy in LA, and afterwards he saw what a smitten kitten Angel was. What did he and TPTB really think was going to come out of that situation? Anyway, Mr. Shift-The-Blame asks Buffy what she's going to do about Angelus and what she's "prepared to give up," which really seems to make it seems like Angel's demon status is all Buffy's fault when we know it's actually the fault of that simpering wench, Darla. "You don't have anything useful to tell me, do you?" snaps Buffy. "What are you, just some immortal demon sent down to even the score between good and evil?" Whistler looks both surprised by her spot-on evaluation and rather like he has a severe gas pain and tells her, "Good guess." Buffy tells him to get "off [his] immortal ass" to help, and as she storms out, he calls after her that the sword (brought by Kendra in the episode) isn't enough. "You gotta know how to use it!" he yells after her.
Buffy mopes along a Sunnydale street. A police car pulls up to her and a Sunnydale cop, so nonexistent in all episodes and so very prevalent in this one, jumps out and tells Buffy to put her hands on her head. If I were a struggling actor, I would hate to get these cop roles -- the clichd dialog would send me to my bed weeping every night. Anyway, as Buffy raises her hands, someone kicks the crap out of the cop, who falls unconscious onto the hood of his car. "Hello, cutie," says Spike, and gives her a toothy grin. Sigh. They fight briefly but Spike backs off, claiming he's there to talk, not fight. He tells her he wants to get rid of Angelus, wants to put him "in the bloody ground," which of course is only a vampiric-type metaphor since a staked Angelus will leave behind nothing to bury. Buffy laughs and accuses Spike of trying to pull a "lame trick," but when Spike tells her Angelus has Giles, she lowers her stake and looks somewhat prepared to listen. As he searches through his pockets and then the cop's pockets for a smoke, Spike tells her he wants to save the world. Buffy is skeptical, but Spike explains, "I like this world. You've got dog racing, Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here." Spike says that he wants Dru back and can't stand the way she acts around Angelus. Buffy is pissed by this explanation and snaps, "The whole earth may be sucked into Hell, and you want my help 'cause your girlfriend's a big ho? Well, let me take this opportunity to not care." Spike tells Buffy he's all she's got, and as the cop begins to wake up, they leave to talk.
At the hospital, Xander sits to Willow's bed, with Cordy standing beside him. Cordy nicely offers to go get some coffee and Xander sits alone with Willow. After a pause, he grabs her hand and begs her to wake up, asking who will help him with his trig and who he'll call every night. He tells her she's his best friend, and then desperately admits, "I love you." At that point I think Willow's eyelids flutter and her hand moves, but it's hard to see through this sudden blurring in my eyes. Another tissue break and I'm all better, just in time to see the look on Xander's face as Willow wakes up and her first word is a whispered, "Oz?" And then things get blurry again for awhile. Oz is in the doorway and Xander moves to let him sit to Willow, where he holds her hand and whispers to her. Xander leaves to get a doctor. Willow tells Oz her head feels big, but he reassures her that it's "head size" and gives her a gentle kiss. "Is everybody else okay?" wonders Willow.
Giles is bound to a chair, blood on his hands. Angelus sits nearby, casually polishing Giles's glasses, which he then places back on Giles's face, telling him, "Rupert buddy, I'm impressed." Giles claims to have been "never better" and Angelus is glad to hear it. He kneels to the chair and, placing his hands somewhere off-screen, tells Giles, "Tell me when it hurts." It looks like it hurts already, you know? Torturing-Angelus is a bit pretentious and, as usual, seems to mostly talk to hear the sound of his own voice.
Becoming, Part Two
Buffy and Spike walk up to her house, eyeing each other suspiciously. As they walk, Joyce pulls up alongside them in the driveway, babbling that the police were at the house and wanting to know if Buffy is okay. Buffy gives Spike an expressive "don't say anything in front of my mother" eye roll. Joyce demands, "Who is this man?" and then tries to tell Buffy that "terrible things" have been happening. "What, your mom doesn't know?" laughs Spike, necessitating Buffy to lie very unconvincingly that she and Spike are in a rock band together. Apparently Buffy plays the drums and Spike sings, and I must say that is a show I would pay to see. Joyce is skeptical, and Buffy is impatient to move the discussion inside. As they approach the house, a vampire jumps out at them. Buffy and Spike make short work of the vamp, who ends up getting dusted right in front of the astonished Joyce. The vamp is identified as "one of Angelus's boys"; Spike, in that crushingly sexy way he has that could send excited shivers down a lump of cement, mutters, "He won't get a chance to tattle on us now." Happy sigh. Um, back at the action, Joyce demands to know what is going on and Buffy tells her, "Mom, I'm a vampire slayer." Joyce takes an extra helping of "befuddled" to go with her entre of "confused."
Willow lies in her hospital bed, talking to Buffy on the phone as Oz hands her a bowl of Jell-O. Yum -- there's nothing I love more after a life-threatening blow to the head than a bowl of crushed animal hooves artificially colored red. That's good eatin'. Willow baby-voices that she's okay and Buffy, in her kitchen, apologizes for not being with her in the hospital and says she caught a "lucky break" in their search for Giles.
In the living room, Joyce sits uncomfortably on the sofa while Spike sits nearby in a chair and studies the walls. Joyce takes a sip from a glass, and I hope for her sake that it's a good stiff drink. Long, silent pause.
Buffy is still in the kitchen and now she's talking to Xander, who is still in Willow's hospital room. What kind of crazy visiting hours for concussion patients does this hospital have, anyway? Buffy tells Xander that Angelus is based in the old mansion and that she's going to head over there at dawn. Xander offers assistance, which is turned down, and then asks if she thinks Giles is still alive. "I think he is, " replies Buffy. "I just wish he was here to tell me what to do." Aw, the room's gone blurry again.
Joyce and Spike are still sitting in the living room. Finally, Joyce turns to Spike and asks, "Have we met?" "You hit me with an ax one time," he replies honestly. "Remember [gesturing as though holding an ax], uh, 'Get the hell away from my daughter.'" Joyce makes a sound like she recalls the incident, but I don't think she does. It's that old Sunnydale magic. Oh, and Spike's referring to incidents from "School Hard," the fourth episode of season two, wherein he and Dru make their debut. Spike is spared from Joyce's forced attempt at small talk when Buffy finally comes into the living room. She assures her mother that Willow is fine and then gets down to cutting her deal with Spike. Spike says he'll help kill Angelus in exchange for getting to leave town with Dru. In the background Joyce asks, "Angel? Your boyfriend?" but she's ignored. Buffy says Drusilla doesn't get to live because she killed Kendra, to which Spike replies, "Dru bagged a Slayer? She didn't tell me! Hey, good for her!" Nasty look from Buffy, and Spike continues, "Though not from your perspective, I suppose." Hee. So empathetic, that Spike. Joyce is relieved to hear that Buffy didn't in fact kill Kendra and Buffy snaps, "Of course not." They get into a discussion about whether Kendra "explode[d]" like the vamp outside the house, but Spike is impatient and draws Buffy aside. "Honey, are you sure you're a vampire slayer?" interrupts Joyce. Spike ignores her, insisting that he'll take Dru out of the country. Buffy agrees, and Joyce again interrupts, "I mean, have you tried not being a Slayer?" I love the clever subtext in those two lines of Joyce's. Buffy sends Spike on his way, telling him that if Giles dies, she'll kill Dru. Spike leaves, and Joyce whines something about Buffy's "father figure." Buffy snaps that being the Slayer is just fate and her mother should accept it. This is the point at which I think some understanding and gentleness on her part would have considerably eased her mother's distress, but it's entirely realistic that Buffy, as a teenager, wouldn't have much consideration for her mother's feelings. Mom Summers wants to call the police, and they argue their way into the kitchen. Joyce can't accept the whole new unexplained world that has opened before her and tries to pick up the phone to call the cops. Joyce, don't you know 911 is a joke? Buffy slams her hand down on the phone, insisting loudly that only she can fight forest fires, er, I mean demons. "Just have another drink," snots Buffy; Joyce responds by throwing her drink aside and yelling that Buffy can't "dump" this thing on her and "pretend it's nothing." Buffy insists she doesn't have time to explain. Her mother snaps that she doesn't accept that Buffy is a vampire slayer, and Buffy chides her for ignoring all the fights she's been in, the blood on her clothes. Joyce tries to issue an ultimatum, saying Buffy has to stop, but Buffy yells that it can never stop. She insists that she never chose to be this way, and would rather be gossiping about boys or even studying instead of saving the world again. She tells Joyce to "chill," but Joyce says she won't let Buffy leave the house. They get into a shoving match, and Buffy opens the back door. "You walk out of this house, don't even think about coming back!" barks Joyce. Buffy just looks at her and then walks out the door. Poor Buffy -- parents just don't understand. Joyce slumps, her head in her hands.
There's like a whole party going on in Willow's hospital room, what with the presence of Oz, Cordy, and Xander. They discuss Buffy's plan, and Willow says she want to try re-cursing Angelus again -- to restore his soul. Xander tells Willow that she doesn't look up to the task, but Willow tells him to check out her "resolve face." She wants to help Buffy by souling Angelus before he ever wakes Acathla. Oz, who has been sitting quietly, remarks that he must have missed out on some stuff, because "this is all making a kind of sense that's -- not." Willow instructs Oz to go with Cordy to the library to fetch books. Then she tells Xander to find Buffy and tell her of the plan so she can stall Angelus.
Torture chamber at the mansion. Giles is slumped, still bound to his chair, and Angelus circles him, still trying to pull off "menacingly urbane" and failing. He's taken a wrong turn somewhere around "chattily annoying," I think. Angelus tells Giles he can make the pain stop, and I think Giles would have to be very addled not to understand that simple dynamic. Giles pants a little and begs, "Please." Angelus sits before him, ready to hear the information he needs. Giles speaks quietly so Angelus has to place his face very near Giles's. "In order to be worthy -- you must perform the ritual -- in a tutu! Pillock!" Angelus stands up and instructs a henchvamp to bring him the chain saw, but Spike rolls in, telling Angelus to calm down. He points out that killing Giles won't get Angelus the information he wants, and that he has another plan. He calls Drusilla into the room and asks her if she wants to play a game.
Buffy strides across the threshold of the library and pulls down the yellow crime-scene tape. As she crosses the chalk outline of Kendra, she pauses and is careful not to disturb it. Having reached the table, she pulls out a duffel bag from underneath and starts pawing through it. Snyder enters and says, "You do know this is a crime scene, don't you? But then, you're a criminal so that pretty much works out." Buffy protests her innocence and has faith that the police will figure that out. Snyder retorts that the "police of Sunnydale are deeply stupid." No shit! They missed a duffel bag chock full of weapons at a crime scene which they then left unguarded? Then Snyder goes on to expel Buffy from school, leaving no doubt that he's relishing the moment. In response, Buffy draws the blessed sword out of the bag and looks it over. Snyder is getting a little nervous now. With her attention still on the sword she says, "You never ever got a single date in high school. Did you?" With that she heads for the door, passing so close to Snyder that he's forced to lean backwards to avoid the blade. After she's departed, Snyder dials his cell phone. He instructs the person on the other end to "tell the Mayor I have good news."
At the mansion, Dru is kneeling behind Giles. She dabs his brow with a handkerchief and says, "Poor thing. Let's see what's inside," while running her hands over his head. She gasps at something that is revealed to her and moves to face Giles. She holds up her two hypnotizin' fingers and does her little spiel. Then she holds her hands over his eyes and commands him to "see with [his] heart." As she removes her paw, her visage has changed to that of Jenny Calendar. Giles smiles and starts to speak, but Jenny shushes him. Giles desperately tells Jenny that they have to get Angel away from Acathla, while Dru as Jenny skillfully draws the necessary information out of Giles. As Jenny kisses Giles passionately, the camera pans out to reveal Spike and Angel observing the scene. Angelus: "Of course. The blood on my hands must be my own -- okay. Kill him." He turns to go but Spike quickly interjects, "Uh. But what if he's lying?" Angelus concedes the point. Spike looks over at Dru, who is still making out with Giles, and he clears his throat and says her name reproachfully. He has to try a couple of times to get her attention until she turns around and sheepishly lisps, "Sorry. I was in the moment."
Back at Fort Giles, Whistler is raiding the larder. Buffy enters and demands, "What did you mean, the sword isn't enough?" Whistler, in his habit of not answering anyone without first annoying the crap out of them, mutters something about an Englishman's fridge and dating nuns. He finally explains that once Acathla opens a vortex to hell, only Angel's blood can close it, and that "one blow will send 'em both back to hell." I realize that in the porno remake of this episode (Be Cumming II), it would be one blow-job that would do the trick. He warns her that "it's all on the line here," but she assures him that she's "got nothing left to lose." To her retreating figure Whistler says under his breath, "Wrong, kid. You got one more thing."
On the way to Angelus's mansion, Buffy is accosted by Xander, who has been waiting for her in the bushes. "Cavalry's here. Cavalry's a frightened guy with a rock, but it's here." Buffy hands him a stake instead, and then tells him to get Giles and get out. Xander, as if the thought is just occurring to him, says, "Willow! Uh, she told me to tell you --" Beat. "Kick his ass." Buffy wordlessly continues walking, and Xander follows her after hesitating a moment. Now, I'm not suggesting we talk it to death on the boards; in fact, if I see a thread entitled, "Xander's lie" I'm going to bludgeon myself to death with my mouse, But I would like to know why there wasn't ever any aftermath with Buffy finding out what Willow actually said.
Inside the mansion, Spike, Dru, and Angelus are gathered to attempt to wake Acathla again. Angelus ritualizes, blah blah blah.
Back in Willow's hospital room, Cordelia and Oz have returned with the supplies and have set everything up on Willow's bed tray. Cordelia stands waving her sage again while Oz has an open book on the other side of the bed. Oz mentions to Willow that he's never taken Latin, but Willow tells him that he just has to speak it; the understanding is immaterial. Again, I ask, what kind of hospital is this? They don't have a problem with burning sage and dark rituals performed on the beds?
Back at the mansion, Angelus cuts himself in preparation for freeing Acathla. Buffy enters quietly behind one of the henchvamps and quickly decapitates him. That was cool. I wish they did it more often. If I were the Slayer, I'd say enough of this pointy little toothpick crap. Give me some steel and watch the heads roll! Anyway, the killing has attracted Dru and Angelus's attention, and Buffy meets Angelus's gaze with a "Hello, lover." Angelus tries to affect a bored tone, saying, "I don't have time for you," but Buffy corrects him: "You don't have a lot of time left." Angelus reminds her that the deck is stacked against her odds-wise, and that's Spike's cue to rise out of his wheelchair and whack Angelus hard from behind with a long piece of metal. Angelus screams and collapses. Spike continues to beat the tar out of Angelus as Dru looks on, horrified. By this time, Buffy is busy with another of the henchvamps. While she's so occupied, Dru moans and launches herself onto Spike, tackling him to the floor. Fight fight. Enter Xandman. He punches a vamp headed his way and shoves him back towards Buffy for a bigger beating, then heads off to look for Giles. Spike and Dru stand face-to-face with Spike saying, "I don't want to hurt you, baby." Dru's answer is to grab him by the throat and shove him against the wall. He quickly rebounds with a hard punch, saying, "Doesn't mean I won't." Is it totally wrong that I enjoy seeing Dru get smacked down? ["Let's just say you aren't alone." -- Sars]
Becoming, Part Two
Back in the Willow ward, Cordelia has got the incense thing, like, totally covered. Willow casts her stones and gives Oz the cue. He starts saying a whole buncha stuff in Latin.
Xander pushes aside a curtain between another room and finds a bruised Giles tied to his chair. At Xander's call, Giles lifts his head slowly as Xander busies himself with the ropes. Giles protests that Xander isn't real and that "it's a trick. They get inside my head, make me see things I want." Xander turns to face Giles and replies, "Then why would they make you see me?" Poor Xander -- always the butt of an easy joke. Giles concedes the point and Xander helps him up.
As they enter the main hall, it's still a scene of chaos. Dru is fighting Spike, and Buffy is busy with the random henchvamp when Angelus comes to. He stumbles over to Acathla and reaches for the sword with his bloodied hand. Again a blindingly bright light emanates. This catches Buffy's attention, and she observes Angelus removing the sword. Buffy clambers to get to her own sword. Dru excitedly says, "Oh! Here he comes," while Spike starts choking her from behind.
At the Willow ward, the chanting goes on, but Willow is getting progressively weaker.
At the mansion, Angel says smugly, "My boy Acathla here is about to wake up. You're going to hell." Buffy grimly replies, "Save me a seat," as she thrusts. Angel parries, and they're off! Ching ching ching! SMG is actually pretty okay at this fencing stuff.
Willow is panting heavily now, enough to worry Oz and Cordelia. She looks like I do right before I barf. Suddenly Willow's head snaps ceilingward and back down. She gazes intensely into the Orb and, possessed, begins to chant in Rumanian.
At the mansion, the fight has progressed into the atrium. Buffy thrusts, Angel parries. She loses her sword and is knocked into a table. Things are not looking good. At least. Acathla is taking his sweet time opening a portal to hell. Spike is still choking Dru, who is still squealing pitifully until he chokes the, uh, breath (?) out of her and she loses consciousness. Can someone explain to me how choking an undead creature will harm them? That kind of thought makes my head all hurty. As Dru slumps, Spike catches her and carries her out. At the doorway to the atrium, he pauses to look upon Buffy and Angelus. When he sees Buffy backed up against a wall, without her sword and with Angel advancing on her, he says, "God, he's gonna kill her." He pauses to watch for another moment before shrugging and heading on his way.
Angelus is toying with his prey, pointing his sword at a frightened Buffy. "Now that's everything, huh? No weapons. No friends. No hope." Buffy closes her eyes in anticipation. "Take that away and what's left?" He draws the sword back and thrusts it straight at her face. Buffy uses the Force or something and grabs the blade between both her palms. She then opens her eyes and says, "Me." She shoves her palms outwards, causing the hilt to hit Angelus square in the face. He staggers back, and she hops to her feet and retrieves her sword. Ching, clang, chink -- Buffy fights with renewed vigor and begins to beat Angelus back indoors.
Outside the mansion, Spike smashes through the garage door with his car. The windows are, of course, painted black. He lays rubber and takes off. Inside the car, Dru is passed out in the passenger's seat. Spike looks over at her and reaches around her neck, pulling her towards him. I would tell him to keep his eyes on the road, but what's the point? He can't see through the windshield anyway.
Back at the mansion, Buffy is getting the better of Angel.
At the hospital, Willow's tray table is lurching wildly. Willow chants, "So it shall be! So it shall be! Now!" Only in Rumanian. The orb grows bright for a moment, then goes dark. Willow relaxes, and whatever spirit was there leaves her body.
At the mansion, Buffy readies her sword to dispense the killing blow, but stops when Angelus groans and gasps loudly. His eyes glow for a mere second and he collapses. Angel raises his head ["and we know it's Angel, because the way David Boreanaz plays good Angel is to have him look perpetually dazed, as if he's just run into a tree thirty seconds ago" -- Sep] and asks Buffy what's going on. Strains of the Buffy/Angel theme thrum in the background. Buffy realizes that the curse has succeeded and lowers her sword. He points out the cut on her arm and hugs her close to him and says, "Oh Buffy. God. I -- I feel like I haven't seen you in months." Buffy closes her eyes and sighs deeply. She cries into his shoulder. Behind Angel, Acathla's tummy growls -- he's hungry. Buffy opens her eyes to see Acathla's eyes glow red, and his mouth opens, revealing a small but ever-growing vortex. She gapes in shock, realizing that she has to kill Angel to close it. Buffy lets go of Angel and then kisses him softly as the vortex grows larger. Buffy breaks off the kiss and tells Angel that she loves him. He returns the sentiment, and then she touches his lips with her fingers and instructs him to close his eyes. He does, and she kisses him again tenderly (even though her face is all squinched up in pain) before stepping back and thrusting her sword fiercely into his chest. His eyes fly open as he looks down to see the sword impaling him. He reaches towards her and calls her name as the bright light emanating from the sword engulfs him. He looks at her, confused ["I assume you mean more so than usual. See above" -- Sep], and she backs away slowly, unable to meet his gaze, staring fixedly at the sword protruding from his chest. Behind Angel, the vortex meets him and suddenly closes into Acathla's mouth, taking him with it. Buffy stares at the demon, who is again stone, and she, I, Sep, and probably the rest of the free world begin to sob.
"Full of Grace" by Sarah McLachlan begins to play over the scene as Buffy walks across the street in the early morning towards her house. Inside, Joyce climbs the steps and looks towards Buffy's door. She enters the room to find some of Buffy's things strewn across the bed. She spies a note and picks it up to read it. As she's reading, she starts to cry and sits down heavily.
Cut to SHS. Xander and Giles, who is walking rather unsteadily, approach Oz, who is pushing a wheelchair-bound Willow, who really wouldn't have been released from the hospital so quickly, much less allowed to attend school. Everyone compares stories and they realize that nobody has heard from Buffy. "But we know the world didn't end, 'cause...check it out," says Oz. Willow is of the opinion that the spell was a success, and Xander postulates that it might have worked too late after Buffy had already killed Angel. Oz suggests that she'd want to be alone in that case, and Willow hopelessly romanticizes that perhaps Angel was cured and he and Buffy went off to be alone together. Cordelia: "Well, she's gotta show up sooner or later. We still have school." "Yeah," falters Willow. "She'll be here in a while." They turn and head indoors. Oh, my heart aches.
Buffy takes a moment to look at the school from behind a tree and watches them go inside. She turns and walks down the street.
The shot shows houses passing by from the inside of a bus and then the camera pulls back enough for us to see Buffy's reflection. We see the bus head down the road, and the camera comes to rest on sign that reads "Now leaving Sunnydale."