REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
• Seth Green as Daniel “Oz” Osbourne
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
• Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
• Dagney Kerr as Kathy Newman
• Pedro Balmaceda as Eddie
• Katherine Towne as Sunday
• Lindsay Crouse as Professor Maggie Walsh

CO-STARRING

• Mike Rad as Rookie
• Shannon Hillary as Dav
• Mace Lombard as Tom
• Robert Catrini as Professor Riegert
• Scott Rinker as R.A.
• Phina Oruche as Olivia Williams
• Denice J. Sealy as Student Volunteer
• Evie Peck as Angry Girl
• Jason Christopher as Nonserious Guy
• Jane Silvia as Conservative Woman
• Mark Silverberg as Passing Student
• Walt Borchert as New Vampire

SYNOPSIS

Buffy and Willow patrol the graveyard while going over the class options for their freshman year of college. Unknown to them, a vampire rises, but decides not to try his luck and runs away. The first day of college proves to be a bit stressful on Buffy, as she seems to find that she’s the only one who isn’t feeling comfortable in her surroundings. Flyer after flyer is thrown at her as she tries to make her way around campus, and then finally she locates Willow and Oz. Willow loves the college experience and Oz knows many of the students. Buffy and Willow go shopping for books and Buffy accidentally knocks a stack of Psychology books onto the head of another student, Riley Finn. Buffy manages to make a complete fool out of herself, while Willow and Riley find the common ground of Psychology to talk about.

Buffy meets her new roommate, a very hyper freshman named Kathy Newman, who’s obsessed with Celine Dion and snores. In her first attempt at a college class, Pop Culture, Buffy manages to get herself kicked out of the classroom for first talking and then supposedly not being on the list of students. Buffy then meets Riley again in the halls and he leads the way to Psych where Buffy meets her new, incredibly tough professor, Professor Maggie Walsh. That night, a lost Buffy runs into Eddie, another lost student, and they manage to work together and find their way. Buffy makes it back to her dorm, but Eddie gets caught by a group of vampires. The vampires later strip Eddie’s room of all his belongings and leave a note to make it look like he just left.

When Eddie doesn’t show up for Psych class the next day, Buffy worries and goes to find him. Instead, she finds him gone, but suspects it wasn’t by choice. Meanwhile, the vampires go through Eddie’s stuff and as the lead vampire, Sunday leaves their lair, a newly vamped Eddie rises. Buffy goes to Giles’ place and finds a woman, Olivia, dressed in one of Giles’ shirts and Giles dressed in a robe. Buffy asks him for help, but he suggests she handle it herself since he can’t be there for her all the time.

That night, Buffy spots Eddie on her patrol around campus and quickly stakes him. Sunday and her gang show up and Sunday beats Buffy up pretty badly, breaking her arm and causing the Slayer to run away from the fight. The next day, Buffy hides from her friends, not wanting to explain what happened. After talking about how they beat up the Slayer, Sunday, so sure that Buffy is going to die that night, sends her lackeys to take all of Buffy’s things so it looks like she left college.

Buffy returns home for the day to find that her mother is using her room for art storage and that only leaves her feeling even more unwanted. Someone calls the house, and when Buffy picks up the phone, there’s no one there. Although she doesn’t know it, Angel’s on the other end. Returning to her dorm, Buffy finds all of her stuff gone and a note. Xander runs into Buffy alone at the Bronze that night and tells her about his summer. After his car broke down he found a job working in the kitchen of a male strip club, and surpassingly even filled in for one of the strippers. That, however, is a story no one will ever hear. Now paying rent to live in his parent’s basement, Xander talks to Buffy about her college experiences and manages to talk her through her depressing attitude about her life.

After some research is done, they locate Sunday’s lair. A weaponless Buffy accidentally crashes in and ends up fighting with the vampires again. Sunday steps on Buffy’s golden umbrella which she received on Prom Night for being “Class Protector” and suddenly Buffy snaps into Slayer mode. Willow and Oz go to Buffy’s dorm and find her and all her stuff gone, but Xander arrives and vaguely fills them in on the danger that Buffy is in. Back at Sunday’s lair, Buffy finally starts kicking some butt and uses her resources. With a little help from Xander, Willow and Oz, Buffy kills Sunday and her lackeys. The Slayer and her Slayerettes are back in action. Giles, who finally came to realize that he has to help Buffy, shows up just as they’re leaving.

One of the vampires that managed to escape runs across campus and then is suddenly hit with tasers. Three hooded figures armed with sophisticated weapons close in on him.

TRIVIA

CONTINUITY

GOOFS

CROSSOVER

David Boreanaz and Sarah Michelle Gellar had cameo parts in each others’ season premiere episodes. In this episode, Buffy notices someone who looks like Angel in the Bronze (we see Boreanaz for a split second) and in the Angel episode City Of, we briefly hear Sarah’s voice on the phone. In this episode, Buffy picks up the phone in the Summers’ house and no one answers her. It’s Angel on the other end.