Changes: First Date

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"First Date" is the fourteenth episode of the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the one hundred thirty-sixth episode altogether. It was written by Jane Espenson and directed by David Grossman. It originally broadcast on February 11, 2003.

Principal Wood asks Buffy out to dinner, to which she accepts partly because she likes him and partly because she is intrigued as to what he really is. Xander also agrees to go out at night with Lissa, a girl he meets at a tool demo somewhere in Sunnydale. Things go very differently for them. Buffy finds out Robin Wood is in fact the son of a Slayer, while Xander's date turns out to be a demon. Willow receives an SOS text message from Xander and she and Spike round up Buffy and Wood to rescue Xander. Wood finds out Spike is a vampire. Later, The First shows itself to Wood in the guise of his dead mother and tells him it was Spike who killed her.

Synopsis

Giles reveals that he was able to save himself from the Bringer in Robson's flat because the Bringer's shoes squeaked, alerting him to his presence. Buffy discusses the removal of Spike's chip with Giles; Giles doesn't believe that it was the right thing to do while Buffy is convinced that it was.

File:714 FirstDate1.jpg

Principal Wood's secret.

At work, Buffy tries to hunt for clues about whether Principal Wood is good or evil in his office. When she is about to open a cabinet, Principal Wood finds her in his office and asks her out to dinner. Back at the house, Buffy expresses mixed feelings about the date, and is unsure over whether she is interested in him. Willow suggests that it would be good for Buffy to "move on." Xander enters and reveals that he too has a date that evening. Upstairs, Buffy is getting dressed for dinner when Spike appears in the hallway, and tells Buffy that he feels fine about her having a date with another man, although Buffy tells him he doesn't have to be noble. The two are on friendly terms with one another.

On Buffy's date, she and Wood are jumped by a group of vampires. Buffy slays most of them, and thinks that Wood has set her up until she sees him take out two of the vampires. At the restaurant, Wood reveals that he is a "freelance" demon hunter, and tells her about his mother -- that she was the Slayer and was killed when he was four years old, after which he was raised by her Watcher. Buffy is struck by the idea that it is possible for a Slayer to have children. Meanwhile, Xander's date appears to be going well until he learns that she is a demon who has, like other demons, been motivated to work for The First. She ties him up to the wooden structure over the seal in the school basement and sticks a knife between his ribs.

File:714 FirstDate2.jpg

Xander: It can't just keep happening that demon women find me attractive. There's gotta be a reason.

Throughout the episode, the First again appears to Andrew in the form of Jonathan, and attempts to get him to kill the Potential Slayers staying in the house, using the gun that Willow brought to the house in "The Killer in Me", while she was Warren. There is a mislead in which the viewers are led to believe that The First has successfully persuaded Andrew to kill the girls. However, it is revealed that Andrew is committed to helping Buffy and her friends, telling the First, "I'm good now." In the second scene with Andrew and the First, Andrew is wearing a wire that Willow has set up and the others are listening to his conversation with the First through Willow's headphones. Andrew shows the First the gun and asks it questions about its intents and potential weaknesses. The First discovers that Andrew is wired and is not pleased, but not before telling Andrew that it isn't time to use Spike again for the First's purposes. The First appears to Willow, Dawn, Anya, and Kennedy in the guise of a horribly maimed Jonathan, threatening them before disappearing.

Immediately after the First leaves, Willow receives a text message with a help code from Xander. Spike offers to go fetch Buffy. He finds her at the restaurant with Wood in a slightly romantic moment, and they all rush out to rescue Xander, driving in Wood's car, the three of them awkwardly together with Spike in the backseat. When they get to the seal beneath the school, they fight and kill the demon woman and find Xander not too badly hurt. They prevent the seal from opening again, but during the course of the fight, Wood finds out that Spike is a vampire and that Buffy cares about him very much, making him uneasy.

Back at the house, Spike tells Buffy that as The First is not ready to use him yet, he will leave town. Buffy tells Spike not to leave because she isn't ready for him not to be there. In the final scene of the episode, The First shows itself to Wood in the guise of his dead mother, who is the Slayer seen in the 1977 flashback in "Fool for Love", and tells Wood that it was Spike who murdered her.

Buffy finds Chloe cowering a in a corner and asks if she's alright. Buffy is tackled by The First Slayer and tumbles down the stairs. The First Slayer lands on top of her and says "this is not enough!".

Cast

Starring

Special Guest Starring

Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
Ashanti as Lissa

Guest Starring

Danny Strong as The First/Jonathan Levinson
Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells
Iyari Limon as Kennedy
Sarah Hagan as Amanda
Kristy Wu as Chao-Ahn
K. D. Aubert as The First/Nikki Wood
D. B. Woodside as Principal Wood

Background Information

Production

K.D. Aubert portrays Nikki Wood in this episode (and in "Lies My Parents Told Me"). Nikki Wood was originally portrayed by April Weeden-Washington in "Fool For Love".

Deleted Scenes

Wood confirms that he grew up in Beverly Hills:

Buffy: "In Beverly Hills."

Wood: "See now, that detail takes the edge off my Little Orphan Robin story, but yeah, that was true."

Xander asked Lissa a very logical question:

Xander: "Did you hatch out of a praying mantis egg in the old high school?"

References

During Xander's monologue about turning gay, he makes a reference to fantasizing about Scott Bakula. Andrew then dreamily remarks, "Captain Archer..." a reference to Star Trek: Enterprise, which was also airing on UPN at the time.

Quotes

Willow - "We have this system we set up a while back. Like codes. This one's either 'I just got lucky; don't call me for a
while' or 'my date's a demon who's trying to kill me'."
Kennedy - "You don't remember which?"
Willow - "It was a long time ago!"
Dawn - "Well, if we play the percentages..."
Giles - "Something's eating Xander's head."

Spike - "Anya said you were the First. Said you were evil. You're supposed to be all go-through-able."
Giles - "Then what the hell did you tackle me for, you berk? What's that supposed to do?"
Spike - "I, uh, I didn't think of that."

Continuity

The scene in which Buffy and Anya talk in the bathroom includes a line about a red stain on Buffy's shirt ("It [the shirt] says 'I sometimes get blood on my shoulder'...or it might be pizza."). This refers to a scene in "Conversations with Dead People" when Dawn gets pizza sauce on one of Buffy's tops.

Again with keeping with this season's theme of "back to the beginning", at the very beginning of the episode when Giles and the Scoobies are walking in the graveyard, there's a gravestone clearly marked "Snyder", a reference to Principal Snyder, the Sunnydale High School principal of Seasons One through Three. However, since Snyder was swallowed by The Mayor in demon form, there should not have been a body to bury in the graveyard (though it is not unheard of to have a gravestone placed in a graveyard when you have no body to bury, for example if someone was lost at sea).

As Xander himself points out, Lissa is only the latest of several demonic women who have been drawn to him. Her predecessors include Natalie French from "Teacher's Pet", Ampata from "Inca Mummy Girl", and, of course, Xander's ex-fiancee Anya. Even Xander's Sunnydale High girlfriend Cordelia Chase ended up becoming part demon (although the Scoobies may not be aware of this).

Giles shows great frustration with Buffy and her methods, a theme that will continue right up through the final episode.

Principal Wood expresses surprise when Spike is revealed to be a vampire. Earlier, while driving, he seems to glance at Spike in the car's rear-view mirror. This appears to be a production oversight, as it is established earlier in the series that vampires, even with souls, cast no reflection. It could be possible that Robin was confused by Spike's lack of reflection, but didn't want to let Buffy and Spike in on it, as Buffy and Wood were not yet sure if they could trust each other.

Music

Patty Medina - "Still Life"
Trembling Blue Stars - "Ammunition"

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 Back at the house, Spike tells Buffy that as The First is not ready to use him yet, he will leave town. Buffy tells Spike not to leave because she isn't ready for him not to be there. In the final scene of the episode, The First shows itself to Wood in the guise of his dead mother, who is the Slayer seen in the 1977 flashback in "[[Fool for Love]]", and tells Wood that it was Spike who murdered her.
-Buffy finds Chloe cowering a in a corner and asks if she's alright. Buffy is tackled by [[The First Slayer]]] and tumbles down the stairs. The First Slayer lands on top of her and says "this is not enough!".
+Buffy finds Chloe cowering a in a corner and asks if she's alright. Buffy is tackled by [[The First Slayer]] and tumbles down the stairs. The First Slayer lands on top of her and says "this is not enough!".
 ==Cast==