It's that time of month again, and Willow turns the job of watching
Oz (who is in full werewolf form and locked up in the library's
book return cage) over to volunteer Xander... who promptly lays
down and goes to sleep. On patrol, Faith shares with Buffy her
conviction that all men, no matter how sensitive they may act,
are beasts deep down inside. And, unobserved by the two Slayers,
a young man named Jeff Walken runs through the thick foliage,
but falls, screaming as his unseen pursuer overtakes him.
The next day at school, Buffy
runs into Scott Hope, and all seems well as they hang with Scott's
friends Debbie and Pete, a couple. They discuss Mr. Platt, the
school counselor, with whom Buffy has an appointment and who
Debbie has to see because she's failing senior biology. Oz offers
his notes from that class as Buffy goes to keep her appointment,
kissing Scott goodbye. Oz and Willow go to the library to see
Giles extremely agitated. Walken, a friend of Oz's, was found
mauled to death in the woods, and Giles has to entertain the
unappealing possibility that it was Oz. Xander protests that
it couldn't have been, since he was there all night and he only
"rested his eyes" a few times. Everyone knows the truth,
even Xander, as he tries to joke away Giles' anger. And to make
matters worse, the window in the book cage is open. Both Willow
and Oz are quite upset. Buffy keeps her appointment with Mr.
Platt, who kindly but firmly asks about why Buffy ran away. Buffy
glosses over the details of her relationship with Angel, and
Mr. Platt tells her that one can't stay lost in love forever,
or else "love becomes your master... and you're just its
dog." A troubled Buffy returns to the library to find everyone
moping over the possibility that Oz killed someone, but she rallies
the troops to action. When they suggest that Faith watch Oz that
night, Oz gets upset and tries to leave, but it's too close to
sundown, so he unhappily slouches into the book return cage.
That night on patrol, Buffy sees something running through the
trees. She gives chase and it knocks her down, but when she gets
up she sees her assailant and her eyes go wide — it's Angel!
They fight, and Buffy manages
to knock Angel out. At the morgue, Xander and Cordelia freak
out at the sight of Jeff Walken's hideously mauled body, but
Willow cold-bloodedly collects the necessary evidence... and
then faints. Buffy takes Angel back to the mansion and chains
him up. He's feral and animalistic, nothing like the Angel she
knew. And there's a burned-in impression of his body on the floor
where he came back. Buffy heads back to the library and relieves
Faith on Oz-watching duty, and as soon as the other Slayer leaves
she starts in on the card catalog. Giles arrives in the morning
to find both Oz and Buffy asleep. Buffy has been reading up on
some pretty heavy stuff, and after he pries a little she tells
him she dreamt that Angel returned. She asks him if it's possible
for someone to return from the demon dimension, and what Angel
would be like if it was. Giles' answers are not encouraging to
her. Willow arrives with doughnuts, but is cagey about what she
found at the morgue. Buffy's too-intense questioning of Willow
makes it clear: Buffy thinks Angel could be the killer. The prospect
bums her out all day, and lunch with Scott, Debbie and Pete is
a somewhat morose affair despite Scott's sweet attempts to joke
her out of it. She runs off and heads back to the mansion where
she asks Angel if he can understand her. He doesn't respond,
and lashes out like an abused dog when she tries to touch him.
Even more upset than before, Buffy heads back to school. She
barges into Mr. Platt's office and starts to tearfully spill
about Angel when she notices Mr. Platt's cigarette burned all
the way down to the filter in his hand. He's dead, mauled terribly.
Pete talks Debbie into a
storage closet for some make-out time, but gets upset when he
notices an almost-empty jar of some green liquid. Debbie protests
that she was just trying to get rid of the stuff because of what
it does to Pete, but he only gets angrier, saying it's not the
green liquid that does it, it's her. With that, he changes into
a monstrous version of himself and starts hitting Debbie, telling
her that Mr. Platt won't listen to her whining any more. Suddenly,
he seems to come to his senses, and his face returns to normal.
He rushes to Debbie, hugging her and telling her he's sorry.
She tells him it's okay. At the library, everyone's a little
happier because the coroner's conclusion that Mr. Platt was killed
during the day lets Oz off the hook. However, it's almost sundown
and Oz isn't there. He's meeting with Debbie to give her his
senior biology notes, and he notices she's sporting a new black
eye. Debbie dismisses his concern as Pete watches from afar.
Oz returns to the library and, upon hearing the evidence, realizes
that the link between the two victims is Debbie. They conclude
that Pete could be the killer, and everyone goes off to find
Pete and Debbie while Oz locks himself in the cage. At the mansion,
Angel breaks free of his chains and runs off. Buffy and Willow
find Debbie in the bathroom trying to cover up her black eye,
and they confront her. She lets slip that Pete is the culprit,
but blames herself, saying she's what makes him angry. Buffy
angrily confronts her, saying two people are dead. "Who's
gonna be next?" she asks. It would appear to be Oz, who
is locked in the cage as Pete shows up. He accuses Oz of putting
moves on Debbie, and Oz's warnings about what's gonna happen
when the sun goes down are cut off when Pete's monstrous alter
ego comes out.
Pete rips the door off the
cage and starts to brutalize Oz, but then the sun sets, and Oz
changes into a werewolf. Suddenly the fight is more even, and
Oz bites Pete, whose scream brings everyone to the library. Buffy
grabs the tranquilizer rifle and is about to fire, but Debbie
shoves her so the dart goes into Giles, who collapses. Oz escapes,
pursued by Faith and Willow, while Buffy chases Pete off. Pete
escapes and meets Debbie in the storage closet. Debbie tells
him to leave Sunnydale because Buffy knows, but Pete is enraged
and accuses Debbie of telling. Meanwhile, Faith and Willow manage
to shoot Oz with the tranquilizer rifle. Buffy tracks Pete to
the storage closet, where she finds Debbie dead. Then Pete attacks,
but their fight is interrupted by the arrival of Angel. In full
vampire face, Angel attacks Pete, and kills him. As Buffy watches,
Angel's face reverts to normal. "Buffy?" he asks shakily,
hugging her as Buffy starts to weep. The next day stories of
what happened are all over school, but Willow knows the truth:
Pete originally made the formula to be more macho for Debbie,
but eventually didn't need the formula to change. Buffy comforts
Scott, who is shaken by the deaths of his lifelong friends. "It's
just that you never really know what's going on inside somebody,
do you?" he asks. Buffy contemplates that later as she watches
a trembling Angel sleep.
