Writer:

Joss Whedon

Director:

Joss Whedon

Regulars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase

David Boreanaz as Angel

Seth Green as Oz

Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest Stars:

Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

Cast:

Julia Lee as Lily

Carlos Jacott as Ken

Mary-Pat Green as Nurse

Chad Todhunter as Rickie

Larry Bagby III as Larry

James Lurie as Teacher

Michael Leopard as Roughneck

Harley Zumbrum as Demon guard

Barbara Pilavin as Old woman

Harrison Young as Old man

Alex Toma as Aaron

Dell Yount as Truck guy

School is back in session, and Buffy's friends are fending off vampires without the help of the Slayer. Buffy, on the other hand, is in Los Angles with a new name and identity. But when an old acquaintance by the name of Lily remembers her, Buffy is drawn into a plot to drain teenagers of their youth. Buffy tries to help Lily find her missing boyfriend, and ends up getting both of them sucked into a demon dimension. Fighting her way out, Buffy saves Lily and many others, closing the gateway permanently. Having been reminded of her real identity, Buffy heads back home. — Short synopsis by Anthony C. Blade.

Joss seems to have some unresolved cold war issues, as Ken's weird underground labor camp seems to hearken back to the American view of communism back in the fifties and sixties. The Soviet imagery was reinforced by Buffy winding up with a hammer and a sickle (actually a hunga munga — see Notes — but close enough) during the climactic fight scene. The plot and visuals of Buffy's escape from the forced labor complex were also highly reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the 1984 sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

An Old Rickie

Poisons himself in an abandoned building.

Andy Hoelich, Vampire

Staked by Xander and Cordelia in a a graveyard.

Demon

Stabbed by Buffy in the demon-dimension factory.

Demon

Axed by Buffy in the demon-dimension factory.

Ken (Demon)

Clubbed by Buffy in the demon-dimension factory.

Total: Five (possibly more during the factory melee)

Giles: "I mean, you know, I appreciate your efforts to keep the vampire population down until Buffy returns, but if anything should happen to you, or you... should be killed, I should take it somewhat amiss."  Willow: "You'd be cranky?"  Giles: "Entirely."

Larry: "If we can focus, keep discipline... and not have quite as many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is gonna rule!"

Willow: "I'm trying to get to 'cute,' really, but I'm still sorta stuck on 'strange.'"  Oz: "Well, I'd be willing to bargain down to 'eccentric' with an option on 'cool.'"

Buffy: "I don't want any trouble. I just wanna be alone and quiet in a room with a chair and a fireplace and a tea cozy. I don't even know what a tea cozy is, but I want one."

More quotes from this episode...

Ken: "You've got guts. I think I'd like to slice you open, and play with them."

• A tea cozy is a knitted or quilted cover used primarily by the British to keep a teapot hot.

  

• "Wanna see my impression of Gandhi?"  Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948), also known by the title "Mahatma," was an Indian activist and spiritual leader. His creed of satyagraha, or passive resistance to injustice (the Indian word means "truth force"), was adopted later by Martin Luther King, Jr. among others. His tireless and peaceful efforts on behalf of the underprivileged led to the independence of India in 1947 after centuries of unjust British rule.

• During the big fight scene at the end, Buffy is wearing quite a nice pair of white Nike running shoes. But a few minutes later, after Lily pushes Ken off the ledge, Buffy climbs the chain and reaches the top wearing a gray (or really dirty white) pair of Keds or similar canvas sneakers.

• Seth Green, who plays Oz, becomes a regular cast member in this episode.

• This episode featured the debut of a new opening credit sequence, with a new arrangement of the theme song and a new montage of scenes, most from the second or third seasons.

• A number of guest stars from previous episodes appeared here. In addition to Julia Lee returning as Lily/Chantarelle, there were cameos by Larry Bagby III as Larry ("Halloween" and "Phases") and James Lurie as a teacher (the same role he played in "Innocence").

• Buffy's middle name is Anne. An interesting note: there is a chain of stores in the UK called Ann Summers, selling lingerie and such. Joss may or may not be aware of this (he did attend high school in England).

• Stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt has a non-speaking cameo in this episode as the guy who holds the door at Family Home open when Buffy tries to bluff her way in, and who then tries to slam it in her face when she fails. It's his second cameo in the series — his first was as the unfortunate vampire upon whom Buffy takes out her parental issues in "Ted."

• The sickle-like weapon that Buffy uses in the climactic underground fight scene is called a hunga munga. Atlanta Cutlery, a company which sells hunga mungas, says they are an African weapon which has even been used as money. (Big thanks to Nick Nayko for this information!)

• Bellylove - "Back to Freedom" (From Bellylove EP, Bad Boy Kitty Records, 1998)
  This song starts during the montage of runaway teenagers, and carries over to reveal Bellylove performing live on stage at the Bronze.
  Official Site

Brian:

Buffy returns after what felt like the longest summer of my life, and what we get is quite good, but not great. The problem is that "Anne" is actually two solid but unremarkable episodes squeezed into the space of one hour. In one episode, Buffy's friends and family back home deal with her absence by killing monsters, and in the other Buffy herself deals with her own absence by killing a monster. The "back home in Sunnydale" storyline was nice, but a bit too functional for me. I guess that's how Joss operates—he gets out of the gate almost on autopilot, and builds up the depth and complexity of the various storylines as the season progresses. Despite my lukewarm response to the storyline, the only specific I can really complain about is that I felt the awkward reunion of Xander and Cordelia seemed to be forced, like they were making the characters behave in ways they didn't want to just for the sake of a story. Willow, however was in fine form, and Oz's first episode as a regular showcased him excellently. Meanwhile, Buffy's adventures in the nameless city with the extraordinarily whiny Lily (who was, despite her whininess, a rather interesting character to me) started out rather disappointingly. The mawkish and nearly nauseating dream beach sequence had everyone at our Premiere Party either giggling or groaning. The Ken storyline also started out badly, with the seemingly obligatory montage of homeless runaway kids after Ken's introduction speech bringing an unwelcome touch of Seventh Heaven to the proceedings. But as the episode went on the story, much like Buffy and Lily, got stronger and stronger, and once they fell through the black goo into Ken's netherworld, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Although the symbolism was somewhat heavy-handed (the parallel between the forced denial of personality imposed by the demons and Buffy's voluntary renunciation of identity, for instance), I found Buffy's rediscovery of her heroism and, through that, her true self to be a good story well-told. The ending seemed a bit rushed, though. Buffy's return to Sunnydale, and especially her reunion with her mother, had better be dealt with in detail next week or I will feel definitely gypped. Ultimately, my strongest impression of "Anne" is that it was far and away a much better season premiere than last year's. Thank god the summer's over! (7/10)

Will:

Well, the wait is over. Four months of waiting and anticipation culminated in the first annual Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode Guide Season Premiere Party. Ten crazy Buffy fans got together to get our long-awaited dose of Buffy. I personally feel a bit let down. I liked the episode, and it contained all of the things that I love about the show. My main problem is that it did not contain enough of them. Buffy's friends fighting without Buffy just seems to be a bit disappointing. One of the things I love about this show is the quality of the entire cast, and unfortunately most of them were absent from a good portion of the episode. Willow, Xander, Cordy, Oz and Giles all seemed like they were given token appearances. The episode centered around Buffy and her road home, but I feel that it was too much Buffy. The season premiere would have been better served if it was two hours long rather than a rushed one hour taste. In addition, I found the "Land of the Homeless Children" thing to be a bit over the top. Joss did resolve the cliffhanger from last season and I found it to be believable. I actually enjoyed the storyline of the episode, even though it seemed to be "Buffy encounters Freddy Krueger on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." As I said earlier, I did like this episode, and any criticisms that I appear to be making are simply me being overly critical of a show that I love. One thing that I did love about the episode was the sequence at the first day of school. The camera shots going from one conversation to another without a break in shooting was very cool, and a step up in technical quality as far as I am concerned. Joss and company did a very good job with this offering, and I was mostly impressed. The wit, drama and characters that I love all came to visit me tonight. I can't wait until next week. (8/10)