Homecoming

"Homecoming" is episode 5 of season 3 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Summary
The young Scoobies decide to share a limo for their last Homecoming dance. Buffy and Scott decide to go together. She takes an early leave to bring food to Angel, who is still very weak. She tells him others will not understand he is better -- and about Scott.

Scott breaks up with Buffy the next day because he finds her distracted all the time now. As she watches him walk away, we find two men monitoring her from a van. They are connected via modem to Mr. Trick and some Boss, who have video monitors all set up.

Deputy Mayor Allan Finch enters the Mayor's office. He reports two German brothers who are major criminals arriving in Sunnydale. The Mayor gently chides him for not cleaning his hands enough. Finch looks scared.

At school, the gang sends Cordelia to tell Buffy to take her yearbook photos. Buffy is training with Faith, who expresses again her views on guys. Cordelia is distracted at the library door by two guys whose votes she wants. She leaves without giving Buffy the message.

Buffy needs a recommendation from the class that changed her life, but is crushed when the teacher does not remember her. "At Hemery, I was Prom Princess, I was Fiesta Queen, I was on the cheerleading squad. And the yearbook was, like, a story of me."

The day after the last chance to get her picture taken, Buffy finds out and confronts Cordy, who couldn't care less. An enraged Buffy decides to run against Cordy. Meanwhile, Trick and a group of evildoers are discussing a competition they each have put money in: SlayerFest '98. The competitors include: the German brothers working with an older man, vampires Lyle Gorch (from "Bad Eggs") and his new bride Candy, a demon, and a human named Frawley.

Xander and Willow, trying on their Homecoming clothes in her room, cannot help admiring each other's elegance. They kiss. The next day, Buffy is analyzing the competition with Oz, Xander and Willow in the library. They look very uncomfortable. It turns out that Xander is helping her as a boyfriend, Willow is constructing Cordelia's database, and Oz is going along with Willow as always.

As the evildoers are honing their skills for their upcoming hunt, the competition at Sunnydale High is heating up as well. Ethics give way to bribery. And Buffy gets 15 minutes on a database after all; she sent Willow on a guilt trip. Xander and Willow cannot help feeling guilty about what they feel; they are helping Cordelia out of guilt.

When the limo arrives at Buffy's house, she gets a note from her friends, who want her and Cordelia to make up on the expensive ride. They do not get far; the driver runs away after stopping in the woods. A tape addresses them as Buffy and Faith and informs them of SlayerFest '98. Despite Cordelia's desperate attempts at getting someone to realize that she is not Faith, she and Buffy are both targeted by the Slayerfest competitors.

Xander and Willow are moping at the dance. Even Giles's humor fails to cheer them up. Faith is livelier; she embarrasses Scott in front of his date. Meanwhile, Buffy catches one of her pursuers and forces details out of him. Cordelia tells Buffy she loves Xander. Buffy tells her she spent a year's allowance on the dress in an attempt to achieve one ideal moment in high school. For a moment, the two understand each other.

Trick is dragged away from his den by two policemen. Cordelia finally does something good with her taunting skills: she scares Lyle away when Buffy and Giles are down. Buffy realizes the corsages they got in the limo were electronic tracking devices. She puts them on the German brothers, who annihilate each other with their high-tech equipment.

The policemen bring Trick to the office of Mayor Wilkins, who tells Trick that he needs to control rebellious youth elements during this election year.

Buffy and Cordelia arrive at the Homecoming dance just in time to hear the announcement that the vote for Queen was tied — and they both lost.

Recurring Characters
Mr. Trick