Season 3, Episode 13
Written by Dan Vebber
Directed by James Whitmore Jr.
Original Airdate: 26 January 1999
“It must be really hard when all your friends have, like, superpowers. Slayer, werewolf, witches, vampires, and you’re, like, this little nothing. You must feel like Jimmy Olsen.”
Cordelia
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 Angel
- Seth Green as Daniel “Oz” Osbourne
- Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
GUEST CAST
- Saverio Guerra as Willy
- Channon Roe as Jack O’Toole
- Michael Cudlitz as Bob
- Eliza Dushku as Faith Lehane
CO-STARRING
- Darin Heames as Parker
- Scott Torrence as Dickie
- Whitney Dylan as Lysette Torchio
- Vaughn Armstrong as Cop
SYNOPSIS
A new force of demons, the Sisterhood of Jhe, lead Buffy, Faith and the rest of the Scooby Gang to an underground nest. The demons are killed, but in the process, Xander manages to get himself hurt. Buffy suggests he stay out of the fighting. Xander is desperate to find his place after his break up with Cordelia and the alienation from his friends. When another student throws him a football, he misses and it hits Jack O’Toole’s lunch. Jack threatens to beat him up as soon as he gets his group back together. Cordelia, having witnessed the entire event rubs Xander’s lack of cool in his face. Meanwhile, Giles informs Buffy that the end of the world is near. A group is planning to reopen the Hellmouth and bring forth the demons it contains.
After a discussion with Oz about what makes someone cool, Xander gets himself a car that he believes will make him cool. Buffy and Willow aren’t at all impressed due to the Hellmouth reopening and they fail to tell Xander about it because they want him out of the loop. While getting donuts for the rest of the researching gang, Xander meets a girl who likes his car and wants to go for a ride, but as it turns out she only likes the car. At the Bronze that night, Xander rear-ends a parked car which Jack was in. A cop shows up, Xander covers for Jack and then they, and the car girl, leave to go and get the rest of Jack’s friends. It turns out that all of Jack’s friends are already dead and he’s raising them from their graves.
At the library Buffy, Willow and Giles are researching, while Oz, in werewolf mode, is freaking out in the cage. Willow thinks it’s because he can sense trouble. Giles leaves to try and contact some spirits and hopefully get their help with stopping the Sisterhood of Jhe.
Xander, now “Car Guy” for Jack and his friends, takes them to get supplies to “bake a cake,” or rather build a bomb. While the boys are getting the supplies from a hardware store, Xander spots Willow leaving the magic shop and she, thinking the world may end, tells him she loves him. After Jack and friends decide to initiate Xander into the club by killing him and then raising him again, he runs and manages to escape in his car. He rescues Faith, who is fighting off the demons in the streets and then takes her home to her apartment and she persuades him to sleep with her. Afterwards, she kicks him out, clothes in hand.
Xander, after realizing Jack was building a bomb and after finding out it’s location, heads to the school to stop it, followed by Jack and his group of dead guys. After disposing of Jack’s friends, Xander heads down to the boiler room to diffuse the bomb. Jack shows up, and after some careful persuasion from Xander, Jack diffuses the bomb with seconds to spare. Meanwhile, Buffy, Angel, Faith, Giles and Willow are at the library trying to fend off the giant multi-headed monster and members of the Sisterhood. In the end, the Hellmouth is closed, and everyone’s a little beat up, but Xander’s a better person from it all.
TRIVIA
Many fans hated this episode when it first aired because they missed it’s point. It’s an episode through the eyes of Xander. The sub-plot about the end of the world isn’t important, it’s Xander’s view (or rather, lack of view) of it. His melodramatic view of Buffy and Angel’s relationship and Faith kicking him out are definite highlights.
CONTINUITY
The massive non-battle that we don’t see features the massive demon spawn from Prophecy Girl.
The often-mentioned Uncle Rory is again mentioned in this episode when he loans Xander his car. He’s finally seen after numerous mentions throughout the series as a guest at Xander and Anya’s wedding in Hell’s Bells.
Despite playing the guitar in his dream in Teacher’s Pet and a guitar being seen in his room in Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Xander asks Oz how to play a guitar in this episode.
GOOFS
A boom mic is visible when Giles is talking in the library.
The scene where Xander and Oz discuss “coolness” starts with a voiceover of Xander talking over a shot of food being cleaned up. In the background of this shot, you can see Xander, Buffy, and Willow at a table. But the next shot (and the rest of the scene) shows just Xander and Oz sitting together. This is because that first shot was re-used footage from I Only Have Eyes For You.
As Parker is decapitated by the mailbox you can see that there is a lot of mail sticking right out of it. After Xander drops the body we see that the mail is sticking out only a couple of inches.
When Jack and Xander are facing off while the bomb timer ticks away, the timing is not correct. At one point, the timer says :11, but two seconds later (and the beeps are audible, so you can count the seconds easily), it says :12. Then, exactly when it should explode, we see that it is at 4 seconds.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The Watcher's Guide 