Writer:

Douglas Petrie

Director:

David Grossman

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:

Eliza Dushku as Faith

Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins III

Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

Cast:

Michael Manasseri as Horned Demon\

Gary Bullock as Shrouded Sorcerer

• The horned demon looks like a younger relative of D'Hoffryn (the demon Anyanka wanted help from) in "Doppelgängland."

• The shrouded sorcerer is another friend from Giles' mysterious past.

Horned Demon

Stabbed four times by Faith in his motel room.

Total: One

Giles: "Demons after money. Whatever happened to the still-beating heart of a virgin? No one has any standards anymore."

Buffy (on Faith's apparent intimacy with Angel): "You're right. Faith would never do that."
Willow: "Faith would totally do that. Faith was built to do that. She's the 'do that' girl!"

More quotes from this episode...

Horned demon: "Plane ticket. Out of the Hellmouth before it's adios Slayer loco."

• Faith: "Then Buffy and the Superfriends are gonna —." — The Superfriends were a group of cartoon heroes in the 1970s and 80s. The cartoon took on a few different formats, and included (at various points) such characters as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Wonderdog.

• Buffy: "So, ascension possibly not a love-in." — A "love-in" was a 1960s hippie phenomenon: a gathering to demonstrate mutual love or in protest of inhumane policies.

• Faith: "I don't want to get all 12-steppy." — Twelve step programs, which originated with Alcoholics Anonymous, are recovery programs consisting of twelve progressive steps toward full recovery. They usually deal with an addiction of some sort.

• Buffy (about Faith): "The girl makes Godot look punctual." — "Waiting for Godot" is a play by Samuel Beckett, published in 1952. The play consists of conversations between Vladimir and Estragon, who are waiting for the arrival of the mysterious Godot, who continually sends word that he will appear but never does.

• The Mayor: "Not that I read much poetry. Except for those little ones in the Reader's Digest." — Reader's Digest is a monthly magazine, featuring a wide variety of articles, including little jokes, quotes, and poetry.

• Faith (regarding the ascension): "And all your little lame-ass friends are gonna be Kibbles 'n Bits." — Kibbles 'n Bits is a dog food made by Heinz Pet Foods — that's right, a subsidiary of the same company that makes your favorite ketchup!

• Consequences — Angel notes that the Council has Faith back on active duty, since she was taken off duty in "Consequences," due to her murder of Allan Finch.

• Passion — After knocking Buffy out, Angel tells Faith that he's learned that Buffy is "so cute when she's sleeping." This is a reference to when Angelus sneaked into her room and drew a picture of her sleeping in "Passion."

• Faith goes to Angel's and shows him the demon's blood on her hands. We don't see her wipe her hands off (though it's conceivable that she did), but when she hugs him, none of it ends up on him.

• In the Mayor's office, the reflection of Angel's hand can be seen in the Mayor's nameplate.

• The movie Angel and Buffy saw was "Le Banquet d Amelia," which as far as we can tell is not a real movie.

• Another book mentioned: the Merenshtadt text.

• Did the voice of the horned demon sound familiar? Michael Manasseri (who played the demon) portrayed Wyatt on the TV series "Weird Science."

• Oz's hair is blond again (he's done filming Austin Powers 2, we assume).

• The Mayor is over 100 years old, not human, and apparently he intentionally "built Sunnydale for demons to feed on."

Jeremy:

I liked this one quite a bit. Granted the "it was all just an act" plot was just a little bit better than an "it was all just a dream." I think it was played wonderfully, especially Angel pretending to be Angelus. Watching it more than once, however, still has holes in it, as far as when the whole plan was conceived. The Mayor was great once again. Totally nonchalant, since he is now immortal. I just hope he will live on after the ascension; he is a great villain. Overall, the acting was great, the plot was excellent, and it had me yelling at the TV. (8/10)

Jamie Marie:

I'm torn on this one. On one hand, I was really pissed off that they took Angel's soul. I don't want to see anymore back-and-forth action there. On the other hand, I was very pleased to see that it was a trick. Actually, I sort of thought it could be (there were a couple of clues), but then I thought that I wouldn't be so lucky, and dismissed the thought. But am I actually pleased that they decided to trick us? Well, it was somewhat tortuous, but in a sick way, also enjoyable. See, I just can't make up my mind. I would have rather they made it clearer exactly when the plan was hatched (though I would only want it to be clear in retrospect). Although I went through and deconstructed it and decided how I think things unfolded, there is room for argument (check out the newsgroups and witness), and I would rather there wasn't. Bad writing? Perhaps. Bad decision? In my humble opinion, yes. But there were good aspects. I loved Angel's interpretation of Angelus -- I even said to Jeremy during the first viewing that he seemed different, and wondered if David Boreanaz was just out of practice or what. Now I see it as proof of his acting ability, establishing just enough of a personality difference between the real Angelus and his impression of Angelus. So does he do it so well because he's "seen" Angelus in action, or because he enjoyed getting in touch with his inner evils? Hmmm... And the Slayer vs. Slayer scene, from Faith's "why I hate Buffy" speech to the knife-to-throat stalemate, was great, and I would like to see something similar in the future, except with a real resolution (and preferably written and directed by Joss). Overall, I liked it, but I didn't love it, though it could be one of those where my opinions change over time. (8/10)