While waiting for a new vampire to rise, Buffy gets into an argument
with Angel. Angel tries to walk away in a huff, and while chasing
him, Buffy falls into an open grave. Angel surmises another risen
vampire, but tracks and a shoe on the ground lead Buffy to a
different conclusion: "Whoever was buried here didn't rise
from this grave... she was dragged from it."
The next day, Buffy and Xander
find Giles practicing to ask Ms. Calendar out, and Buffy tells
him of the empty grave. Giles suggests Willow's help, and Buffy
retrieves her from the Science Fair sign-up, where she's talking
with nice, quiet Chris Epps and creepy yearbook photographer
Eric, who's busily snapping pictures of Willow and Cordelia for
his "private collection." Willow finds that the grave's
former occupant was killed in a car accident last week with two
of her friends. Giles says it could be a voodoo priest creating
a zombie army if there's more than one body missing, and Buffy
suggests they check the other two graves. That night, while Giles
and Xander dig, Buffy complains to Willow of Angel's jealous
behavior. "Love makes you do the wacky," Willow sagely
observes. Willow also reveals that Cordelia dated Chris' brother
Daryl, a football star who was killed while rock climbing last
year. After cheerleading practice, Cordelia runs into Angel and
they find body parts in a dumpster.
The
graves are empty, lending credence to the "army of zombies"
theory, but upon returning to the library Buffy and friends find
Angel and Cordelia, who tell them about the body parts. "What
I saw didn't add up to three whole girls," Angel says. The gang deduces that whoever's been digging up the
bodies and expertly dismembering them is a student at Sunnydale
High, and checking the lockers of Willow's science club
friends leads to two clear suspects, Eric and Chris. A photo
in Eric's locker provides the motive: they're making a
girl. The next day, Giles fails spectacularly to ask Ms. Calendar
out, but she doesn't notice and they wind up with a date to that
night's big football game anyway. Chris and Eric don't yet have
a head, and Eric decides they'll have to kill someone to get
it. They are encouraged by a shadowy figure — a reanimated
Daryl.
Chris gives in to Daryl's
emotional persuasion, and he and Eric agree to go after Cordelia.
Paying a visit to Chris' house, Buffy meets Chris' mother, who
is nearly catatonic, totally engrossed in watching Daryl's taped
football games to the point where she doesn't even know what
day it is. Buffy explores the house and finds out that Cordelia
is the intended victim. She rushes back to the school where she
saves Cordelia from Eric in the nick of time, and Chris tells
her about Daryl.
Daryl has gone to the football
game as well, and grabs Cordelia himself. She's taken to an abandoned
science lab, where Daryl promises to be a better boyfriend to
her. With Chris' help, Buffy tracks them to the lab, and drags
Willow, Xander, Giles and Ms. Calendar along. Buffy tries to
fight Daryl, and their fight sets the lab on fire. Xander gets
Cordelia out of the burning building, and Chris stops Daryl from
killing Buffy. Daryl promises not to leave his incomplete bride,
and stays in the building to die. Ms. Calendar agrees to a second
date with Giles, and a slightly repentant Buffy walks Angel home.
