Graduation Day, Part Two

"Graduation Day, Part Two" is the season finale of the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the fifty-sixth episode altogether. It was written and directed by Joss Whedon. It originally broadcast on July 13, 1999.

Buffy forces Angel to feed on her to save his life and he must rush her to the hospital to save hers. The Mayor Ascends, and the Class of '99 blows him and the school away.

Synopsis


After stabbing Faith, Buffy stands stunned for a few moments, then drops the knife and escapes from the rooftop just before the Mayor enters Faith's empty apartment with a group of vampires. The Mayor, devastated by the thought of losing Faith, orders the vamps to find her.

At the library that night, Xander and Giles search for information on the demon Olvikan, while at the mansion, Willow watches over Angel; delirious, he mistakes her for Buffy and confesses how much he needs her. When Buffy finally returns, she sends Willow away, then demands Angel drink her blood so that he will be cured. He refuses, weakly, but she strikes him to bring out his vampiric side, then pulls his head to her throat. He drinks deeply, pulling away when Buffy loses consciousness from blood loss.



Angel rushes Buffy to hospital, explaining that she's lost a lot of blood. In another room, a doctor tells the Mayor that Faith's head trauma coupled with massive blood loss means she is unlikely to regain consciousness. The Mayor notices Buffy in bed, and tries to smother her until Angel tears him away. The Mayor leaves with a message not to miss the second act of the show.

Dreaming, Buffy visits Faith, who is packing up her apartment. Faith says human weakness never fades, "Not even his." Faith tells Buffy that it's time to go and then Buffy wakes up in the hospital bed. She walks over to Faith and kisses her forehead, then strides into the waiting room, telling her friends to get ready for war.

At school, Buffy outlines a plan which relies heavily upon Xander's mystical military knowledge and discuss what the Mayor's human weakness is. Eventually Angel realises what it is - Faith, given the Mayor's grief at the hospital. Meanwhile, the Mayor explains to his group of vampires that when the eclipse takes place, he wants the vampires to keep the people from running, as he must feed within the first few minutes to sustain the change. Angel and Xander get to work creating a bomb, which Giles is assigned to detonate. While putting away books, Cordelia and Wesley finally kiss, and discover they have no sexual chemistry at all. Oz reassures Willow that they'll make it through this and they share a passionate kiss. In the library, Angel tells Buffy he'll simply disappear when the battle is over, because to say goodbye would be too painful. Buffy is upset, but doesn't lose focus as she pulls out the most important weapon of the upcoming battle... Faith's knife, still covered with her blood.



At graduation, the Mayor starts his speech, but is interrupted by the eclipse, which triggers his transformation into the 60-foot snake demon Olvikan. The parents and teachers scatter, and the students gather together in one large group.



At Buffy's signal, everyone rips off their robes, revealing weapons and crosses. Under Xander's guidance, the students attack the demon with flame throwers and flaming arrows. Principal Snyder is eaten by the snake-demon in mid-lecture. Some students break from the group and run in fear - right into the mayor's vampires approaching from behind.

Students in the rear mount a ranged counterattack and drive the vampires back into another group, including Wesley and Percy West, at the rear led by Angel. A melee ensues as both groups attack the vampires. Cordelia stakes a vampire, but other students - including Larry and Harmony - are killed.

Suddenly, Buffy calls up the demon-mayor, still holding the knife:

"Hey! You remember this? I took it from Faith. Stuck it in her gut. Just slid in her like she was butter. You want to get it back from me... dick."

Buffy then starts to make a run for it as the now enraged monster gives chase determined to kill her. She leads him through the school, as he smashes the place apart following. Buffy reaches the library, then dives through a window to the outside. The demon smashes through the doors to find the room filled with explosives. He says, in the Mayor's voice, "Well, gosh." Giles hits the plunger killing the Mayor, as well as completely destroying Sunnydale High School.

As Wesley is taken away in an ambulance, Giles congratulates Buffy on a job well done, presenting her with her diploma, which he pulled from the rubble. After he leaves, Buffy sees Angel at a distance. The two stand and look at one another for a brief time before Angel turns and walks off into the night, headed for a new life in Los Angeles.

Buffy meets up with her friends and they preapre to head for home. Before they do, Oz tells them they should take a moment to reflect on the fact they survived. Buffy comments that it was a hell of a battle, but Oz tells her he doesn't mean the battle, but the fact they survived High School. After taking the moment, the friends walk away from the remains of the school, as a charred yearbook lies nearby bearing the legend: "The Future is Ours".

Production

 * According to Marti Noxon in a DVD commentary, the explosion scene was filmed at 5 a.m. in Torrance, California, where the outdoor scenes had been filmed for the previous three years. The explosion was so huge it woke up many of the residents, broke windows and set off car alarms. As a result, the town refused to allow Buffy to film there again.


 * This episode's broadcast was delayed in the U.S. from May 25 to July 13, 1999 due to unintentional plot similarities to the Columbine killings, which led to concerns on the network's part that, if another incident occurred during a school graduation, clips from this episode would be shown on news programs.

Deleted Scenes

 * This line was cut:
 * Xander: "Guys, we blew up the school! It's the best day ever!"

Other

 * This episode portrays the first time Cordelia ever "dusts" a vampire.


 * Douglas Petrie wrote a Buffy comic, Double Cross, that takes place immediately after this episode and concerns events after Angel left Buffy.


 * The Mutant Enemy zombie that always appears at the end of each episode is wearing a black graduation cap.


 * The Sunnydale High Yearbook seen in this episode was released as a tie-in product after this episode aired.
 * This is the first episode of the series to feature the last appearance of a main character (in this case, Cordelia). Later episodes to do this are "Restless" (Oz), "As You Were" (Riley), "Villains" (Tara), and, of course, the series finale "Chosen".


 * The background music when Angel is draining Buffy is the same as used on the episode main menu's sequence of the Season 3 DVDs.

Quotes
Giles - "Buffy no longer needs a Watcher." Cordelia - "Well, does (Wesley) have to leave the country? I mean, you got fired and you still hang around like a bog loser, why can't he?"

Xander - "Well, it's just good to know that when the chips are down and things look grim, you'll feed off the girl who loves you to save your own ass."

Cordelia - "I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan." Oz - "We attack the Mayor with humus." Cordelia - "I stand corrected." Oz - "Just keeping things in perspective." Cordelia - "Thank you."

Angel - "Well, he's not crazy about germs." Cordelia - "Of course, that's it. We'll attack him with germs." Buffy - "Great. We'll get him cornered and then you can sneeze on him." Cordelia - "No! No, we'll get a container of Ebola virus and, and, um- Or, it doesn't even have to be real. We could just get a box that says Ebola on it and, um, chase him. [long pause] With the box." Xander - "I'm starting to lean towards the humus offensive." Oz - "He'll never see it comin'."

Snyder - "Congratulations to the class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate. This is a time of celebration, so sit still and be quiet."

Giles - "There's a certain, um, dramatic irony attached to all this. A synchronicity that borders on-on predestination, one might say." Buffy - "Fire bad. Tree pretty."

Continuity

 * Willow suggested to Buffy in the Season One episode "The Harvest" that one way they could get kicked out of school would be to "blow up the school".


 * This episode sees the destruction of Sunnydale High, the scene of a great deal of paranormal activities thus far in the series. As the Mayor said, "Nothing will ever be the same. Nothing."


 * The death of recurring character Larry in this episode, a subject of significant debate amongst fans, was not confirmed until Season Six ("Smashed"). Harmony, seen in this episode being bitten by a vampire, will be confirmed dead - and arisen as a vampire - just three episodes later in "The Harsh Light of Day".


 * In the Buffy/Faith dream, we encounter the first foreshadowing of Buffy's death at the end of Season 5. Faith's comment, "Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0", comes (roughly) 2 years (730 days) before Buffy dies. The term "Little Miss Muffet" is a reference to Buffy's little sister Dawn's arrival. A crazy man also refers to "curds and whey" when he accosts Dawn in "Real Me". Glory also makes references to "sitting on a tuffet" when she goes looking for the Key during Season 5. Also, exactly one year from this episode, Buffy sees a clock in her room during her dream reading 7:30, which Tara tells her is completely wrong, as one whole year has passed ("Restless").


 * This episode is the last in which David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter are series regulars, and in which Alexis Denisof is a recurring character. The three will return to the Buffyverse the following season on the spin-off show, Angel. But while this episode marks the final appearance of both Cordelia and Wesley on Buffy, Angel will continue will appear on Buffy at least once (either in person or in flashbacks) in every season with the exception of Season Six.


 * This marks the second time in a row that the Principal of Sunnydale High has been eaten alive. The first, Mr. Flutie, was eaten alive when a pack of hyenas possessed a group of kids. Of his predecessor being eaten, Principal Snyder says that that's what happens when you're soft on students.

Music

 * Christophe Beck - "Faith's End"
 * Christophe Beck - "Poison Arrow"
 * Spectator Pump - "Sunday Mail"
 * Christophe Beck - "Aftermath"
 * Christophe Beck - "Drink Me"
 * Christophe Beck - "Little Miss Muffet"
 * Christophe Beck - "One Last Look"
 * Christophe Beck - "War"
 * Sir Edward Elgar - "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1"