REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
• David Boreanaz as Angelus
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Charles Cyphers as Coach Carl Martin
• Jeremy Garrett as Cameron Walker
• Wentworth Miller as Gage Petronzi
• Conchata Farrell as Nurse Ruth Greenliegh
• Armin Shimerman as Principal R. Snyder

CO-STARRING

• Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson
• Shane West as Sean Dwyer
• Jack Patellis as Dodd McAlvy

SYNOPSIS

The Sunnydale High swim team is gathered on the beach, celebrating a victory. While many people party and Xander complains about the swim team getting to have a celebration, Buffy sulks on a rock watching the ocean. A guy named Cameron approaches Buffy and starts sputtering out poetic words. Buffy tries to scare him off, but he says he’s only looking to talk and nothing more. All of a sudden, Jonathon Levinson is dunked into a bucket of ice water. Buffy rescues him and scares off the two dunkers.

Two swimmers named Dodd and Gage walk down the beach and talk about how weird Buffy is. Dodd stops and Gage keeps walking. When he smells something weird, Gage turns around and goes after his friend who seems to have disappeared. As Gage walks by, Dodd’s skin is found on the ground with nothing left inside. Nearby, a vicious creature crawls into the sewers. The next day, Willow is teaching class and, when it is over, Snyder confronts her and tells her she should probably let Gage pass. Buffy meanwhile, comes to school with Cameron and he makes a pass at her. She hits his head against the steering wheel and supposedly breaks his nose. Snyder happens to see this and blames Buffy for it all.

Later, Buffy starts rambling on to Giles and her friends about this entire incident. Giles informs her that they found the remains of Dodd on the beach. Cameron hits the sauna and while he’s in there, he hears some weird noises. The coach bursts in and tells him he’s had enough. While everyone is studying in the library, Xander goes out to go get a drink. On his way to the machine, he bumps into Cameron. They exchange words and Xander laughs at him for trying to get Buffy. Cameron heads off to the cafeteria for a snack while Xander tries to decide between Grape and Orange soda. Cameron screams and Xander rushes to the scene only to find the cafeteria in shambles and Cameron’s skin on the ground. As he turns around, the creature responsible for the mess appears behind him.

In the library, Cordelia tries to draw the monster that Xander saw before running off like a woman. Buffy and Willow return with the info that Cameron and Dodd were the two best swimmers on the team and that Gage is suspected to be the next pile of skin. Buffy is assigned to shadow Gage while Willow gets to interrogate Jonathan under a lamp. Jonathon says he wanted revenge on the team, but he only peed in the pool and wasn’t responsible for the deaths. The next day, Buffy follows Gage around and he grows suspicious of her. At the Bronze that night, Buffy is caught by Gage and she attempts to cover it up, but fails. He ends up leaving, only to encounter Angelus in the parking lot. They talk about Buffy and then Angelus vamps out and bites him. Seconds later, he stops and starts to spit the blood out. Buffy comes to the rescue and then walks Gage home. Buffy suspects that Angelus spat his blood out because there were steroids in it.

The following day, at the swim team’s practice, Buffy, Willow and Cordelia talk about what could be causing the deaths. Cordelia comments on the cute new addition to the team and then realizes that its Xander. He walks over to the girls and informs them that he made the team. Willow tells Buffy that Jonathon wasn’t responsible for the deaths, but he still got his revenge by peeing in the pool. Then Xander dives in. Later, the team goes to soak in the sauna, where Xander continues to babble, but no one pays attention. Just outside the sauna, a set of claws comes through a grate.

While Buffy waits for Gage to exit the locker room, she hears him yell. When she gets in there, she finds Gage and a giant fish creature. Gage then cries out in pain and falls to the ground. He rips open his shirt and then his skin, revealing that he’s also a creature. Buffy tries to fight them both off but one grabs her from behind and bites her arm. The coach comes in and saves her and she is sent to the nurse’s office. Coach Martin is told that his team members are becoming fish creatures. Buffy and Giles go hunting for fish creatures in the sewers while Xander again hits the sauna to try and find out how he can get some steroids. The guys tell him that it’s in the steam from the sauna.

Nurse Greenliegh tries to put an end to Martin’s attempts to make his team better by supplying them with steroids in the steam. He throws her into the fish creature’s pen as food. Xander warns everyone that he’s had three exposures to the steam and is worried about becoming a fish creature. Buffy tells Giles to get the rest of the team locked up while she goes to talk to the coach. She does and finds out what Martin is doing. Holding a gun to her, he tells her to get in the pen. He tells her that she’s not for food, but for another purpose.

Xander and Cordelia go to help find the swim team members. Xander goes into the locker room to check and to also see if he’s becoming scaly. A creature formerly known as Jason comes out and jumps into the pool. Cordelia thinks it’s Xander and goes into a huge speech about how much she cares for him. He kneels down by her and tells her that the creature isn’t him. Back at the library, Xander decides that since Buffy hasn’t returned, he should go after her. He meets up with Martin and fights him for the gun. Xander wins and knocks the coach out. Buffy meanwhile is down in the pen, with water up to her waist while fish creatures surround her and attack. Xander pulls her out and then Martin him on the head. Buffy accidentally knocks Martin into the hole and his swimmers attack him.

While everyone recovers and the swim team are inoculated against the steroids, the fish creatures are left to their freedom and swim out to see.

TRIVIA

CONTINUITY

GOOFS