Lessons (Buffy episode)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Lessons”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Episode no. Season 7
Episode 1
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by David Solomon
Guest stars Anthony Stewart Head
   (Giles)
Alex Breckenridge
   (Kit)
D.B. Woodside
   (Principal Wood)
Kali Rocha
   (Halfrek)
Production no. 7ABB01
Original airdate 24 September 2002
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"Grave" "Beneath You"
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"Lessons" is the first episode of the seventh and final season of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

[edit] Summary

Dawn finds vengeful spirits in the new Sunnydale High; Giles is rehabilitating Willow in England.

[edit] Expanded overview

Istanbul: A dark-haired girl is running through the arched hallway, looking over her shoulder and panting from the exertion of running so fast. She slips down an embankment. She's being chased. A man on the street sees her through his front door, and closes it rather than help her. Two people in hooded cloaks are chasing her. After trying various alleys looking for an escape route, she finds herself trapped in a dead-end. She sees a drain pipe next to her and decides to use it to scale the building. The people chasing her grab her foot, but she manages to escape their grip and easily climbs up to the roof. There, another hooded figure is waiting and pushes her off the building. She screams, but she lands on the ground alive, on her back. Two hooded figures hold her down, and she fights back with all her might. A third figure raises an arched, shiny, silver dagger and stabs her...

Buffy is in Sunnydale training her sister on how to fight vampires. She instructs Dawn that fighting (and slaying) are about power. They discuss the fact that Sunnydale High has just reopened. Meanwhile, Willow is studying with Giles in Westbury, England. She studies magic and meditation with a coven of wiccans that Giles knows. She is learning control, but feels frightened and distraught because she "killed people".

Xander is working construction at the new high school which Dawn is to attend. He notes that the principal's office is right over the Hellmouth. Buffy follows Dawn into the school where she meets Principal Robin Wood. She wanders into a bathroom, where she finds a mysterious talisman. Upon seeing the talisman, she sees a dead girl who threatens her. She says she was killed by a werewolf and Buffy was unable to protect her, and that she will not be able to protect Dawn either.

Anya is still in the vengeance business, and is drinking coffee with her fellow vengeance demon Halfrek. "Hallie" tells Anya that the other demons are noticing a lack of quality in her work, and that "something big is coming".

Buffy tries to warn Dawn, but winds up only embarrassing her. Dawn then sees a similar dead student. She hurries to the bathroom where she meets Kit Holbum, who has also been seeing things. They are about to leave the bathroom when the floor caves in and they wind up in the high school basement. Willow, back in England, has had a vision. She saw "the earth's teeth" -- the Hellmouth. She tells Giles, who has taught her that everything is connected, that not everything that is connected to the earth is good.

Dawn and Kit run into another student in the basement, Carlos Trejo, who says he saw a dead janitor. They are soon confronted by the three dead people. The dead people tell them that everyone dies at Sunnydale, and they will be no different. Dawn calls Buffy on her new cell phone. Buffy descends into the basement to help Dawn, but cannot find her. Instead, she finds a deranged Spike holed up in a small room.

He has scratches around his heart which he explains as attempts to "cut it out". He is rambling incoherently, but tells Buffy that the dead students are not zombies or ghosts, but "manifest spirits" raised by a talisman. Buffy calls Xander, telling him to find and destroy the talisman. She then hears Dawn screaming, and runs to her rescue. She fights the spirits off as Xander wrestles with one to destroy the talisman. Xander breaks the talisman and the spirits disappear.

Buffy then sends Dawn, Kit, and Carlos off to class. Principal Wood is impressed that Buffy was able to convince Kit and Carlos to socialize and go to class (Saying that they are the only two students with school records as large as Buffy's had been). He offers her a job working as a counselor at the school, and she gladly accepts. She wants to be able to keep an eye on her sister, the school, the Hellmouth, and the new principal.

Spike is now huddled in a corner in his basement room. He says that he had a speech to Buffy prepared, but she would not understand. Warren Mears is seen pacing around him. He begins to give a speech about how great he is. He turns into Glory, Adam, Mayor Wilkins, Drusilla, and then The Master - i.e. the previous major villians of the series in reverse order. These each speak to Spike about a plan to go "back to the beginning". The Master says, "It's not about right. It's not about wrong." Then he transforms into Buffy and tells Spike, "It's about power.", the same thing Buffy had said to Dawn.

[edit] Acting

  • Kali Rocha filmed all of her scenes for this season in one day, including those in "Selfless".

[edit] Main cast

[edit] Special guest star

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] Also starring

[edit] Writing

[edit] Arc significance

  • This is the first of multiple episodes to begin with the murder of a Potential Slayer, until their pivotal stand in "Chosen."
  • "Lessons" reintroduces The First Evil, this season's Big Bad. The First makes an initial probe of Sunnydale's mettle under Buffy's reign by tormenting Angel in the season three episode, "Amends."
  • It is discovered Anya has been "slacking off" as a vengeance demon and is getting pressure from her superiors about it.
  • The character of Principal Wood is introduced, later to be revealed as Nikki Wood's son.
  • Having worked at Doublemeat Palace during season six, Buffy is now employed at Sunnydale High, where Principal Wood creates a counselling position for the express purpose of luring the Slayer on staff.
  • Spike has returned to Sunnydale with his newly regained soul, but no one there knows it. Buffy struggles with her impatience of Spike's apparent madness and continues to have mixed feelings about him even after she learns he has a soul in "Beneath You."

[edit] Continuity

  • The teaser follows the trend of Season Premiere's taking place in a graveyard since When She Was Bad, in which Buffy, Willow and Xander reunite in a cemetery. In Anne, Willow, Xander and Oz patrol a cemetery in place of an absent Buffy. The next year, in Season 4's The Freshman, Buffy and Willow decide on what college courses to take in the graveyard. Season 5's Buffy vs. Dracula, shows Buffy needing that extra dose of slaying-in-the-graveyard before bedtime. With Buffy dead, Season 6's Bargaining, Part 1, shows Giles, Spike, Xander, Tara, Anya, and the Buffybot patrolling in the cemetery under the leadership of Willow. Finally, in this episode Buffy trains Dawn in the techniques of vampire slaying.
  • During season six, Willow's problems with magic are depicted as simiilar to drug or alcohol addiction, where going cold turkey is perhaps the best solution. By season seven, however, magic has become an essential part of Willow's being, like water or warmth, and we are told that she will never be able to live without it. It is imperative, therefore, that Willow learn to balance her power—too little and she'll freeze or die of thirst; too much, and she'll drown or burn to a crisp. Until the very final episode, Willow struggles for this control in the face of increasing pressure from those around her to over- or under-use her powers.
  • This episode marks Dawn's first day at Sunnydale High. The First comments to Spike, "We're going back to the beginning." The first episode of Buffy depicted the Slayer's first day at the old Sunnydale High. (This is just one of many references to the old days of Sunnydale High.)
  • When the manifest spirit student says he wants Dawn to be his girlfriend, Buffy replies, "Wrong sister. I'm the one that dates dead guys." Buffy has had relationships with two vampires -- first with Angel (seasons one through three) and then with Spike (season six). However, Dawn (unknowingly) kisses a vampire in the season six episode, "All the Way."
  • Although Spike is aware very early in season five ("Out of My Mind") that he has fallen in love with Buffy, during season six their violent relationship intensifies and becomes overtly sexual ("Smashed"). Buffy eventually breaks it off ("As You Were") and, not long after, a desperate Spike nearly rapes her in a misguided attempt to force the Slayer to resume their affair ("Seeing Red"). Spike's ultimate bid to win Buffy's love is his effort to regain his soul through a series of deadly trials in darkest Africa ("Two to Go," "Grave"). As season seven progresses, Spike and Buffy forge a true partnership as they gradually come to trust that each will be there for the other ("Showtime," "Touched").
  • The regaining of Spike's soul is key in the series finale's battle, when Buffy asks him to wear an amulet (brought by Angel in "End of Days") that can only be wielded by someone both ensouled and possessing preternatural strength.
  • The six villains Spike sees in succession each represent the Big Bad of a previous season of Buffy, beginning with season six and moving backward (Warren Mears, Glory, Adam, Richard Wilkins, Drusilla, and Master). The entity impersonating them is The First Evil, originally encountered tormenting Angel in the season three episode, "Amends." The First evil is able to take Buffy's likeness because the Slayer has actually died twice, once (for a few minutes) in the season one finale, "Prophecy Girl," before being revived with CPR by Xander, and again (for five months) in the season five finale, "The Gift," before being ritually summoned back by Willow at the start of season six ("Bargaining, Part One"). Likewise, The First can assume the likenesses of undead (i.e., dead) vampires such as Drusilla. On the letters page of Buffy Season Eight #6, Whedon responds to the question of how the First could have impersonated Warren if he'd never died, by saying, "He was legally dead for like a second. Amy didn't tell him 'cause she didn't want to upset him. I forgot, okay?!"
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] Cultural references

  • Food channel: Buffy jokes where she learned how to make cereal. Correctly called The Food Network, the cable television channel airs food-themed programs, such as Emeril Live.
  • Leon Czolgosz: Halfrek reminds Anya of the time she forced an unfaithful man named "Mr. Czolgosz" to fall in love with President McKinley. Leon Czolgosz assassinated President McKinley.

[edit] Production details

[edit] Music

[edit] Locations

  • The scenes set in Westbury were actually shot at Anthony Stewart Head's house in Somerset, England. He owns the horse seen in the episode, and it is named "Otto".

[edit] Translations

  • French title: "Rédemption" ("Redemption")
  • German title: "Alles auf Anfang" ("Back to the Roots"/"Reset")
  • Italian title: On TV "La consulente" ("The consultant" (a female one)) or, on DVD, "Lezioni" ("Lessons")
  • Spanish title: "Lecciones" ("Lessons")
  • Turkish title: "Dersler" ("Lessons")

[edit] Technical goofs

  • The First (as Drusilla) touches and moves Spike's hair, However it is made clear later in the season that The First is not corporeal, which means it is unable to physically touch anything.
  • The pants Buffy slips her cell phone into do not have a back pocket.
  • One of Sarah Michelle Gellar's real life tattoos can briefly be seen on her left hip when Buffy & Xander are discussing Sunnydale High School. This tattoo is not present later in the episode.

[edit] Timing

  • Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
Location, time
(if known)		 Buffyverse: Fall 2002 - December 2002
(non-canon = italic)
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.01 Lessons
Mexico, 2002 Buffy/Angel book: Seven Crows
L.A., 2002 A4.01 Deep Down
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.02 Beneath You
L.A., 2002 A4.02 Ground State
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.03 Same Time, Same Place
Sunnydale, 2002 Buffy book: Apocalypse Memories
L.A., Las Vegas, 2002 A4.03 The House Always Wins
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.04 Help
L.A., 2002 Angel book: Dark Mirror
Sunnydale, 2002 Buffy book: Mortal Fear
Sunnydale, 2002 Buffy book: Spark and Burn
Sunnydale, L.A., 2002 Buffy/Angel book: Heat
L.A., 2002 A4.04 Slouching Toward Bethlehem
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.05 Selfless
L.A., 2002 A4.05 Supersymmetry
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.06 Him
L.A., 2002 Angel book: Solitary Man
L.A., 2002 A4.06 Spin the Bottle
L.A., 2002 Angel book: Love and Death
L.A., 2002 Angel book: Monolith
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.07 Conversations with Dead People
L.A., 2002 A4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.08 Sleeper
L.A., 2002 A4.08 Habeas Corpses
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.09 Never Leave Me
L.A., 2002 A4.09 Long Day's Journey
Sunnydale, 2002 B7.10 Bring on the Night
Unknown, 2002 Tales of the Vampires: Stacey
New York, 2002 Tales of the Vampires: Spot the Vampire
Unknown 2002 Tales of the Vampires: Taking Care of Business
L.A., 2002 A4.10 Awakening

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Buffyverse
Canon · Index · Joss Whedon
Buffy
Angel
People
Amy · Andrew · Angel · Anya · Buffy · Connor · Cordelia · Darla · Dawn · Doyle · Drusilla · Eve · Faith · Fred · Giles · Groo · Gunn · Halfrek · Harmony · Holtz · Illyria · Jenny · Jonathan · Joyce · Kate · Kennedy · Lilah · Lindsey · Lorne · Maggie · Oz · Riley · Robin · Spike · Snyder · Tara · Warren · Wesley · Willow · Xander
Villains
Key terminology
Demon · Slayer · Vampire · Watcher · Witch
Expanded Universe
Auxiliary
Powers
Places
Music