Prophecy Girl

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"Prophecy Girl" is the first season finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is the twelfth episode overall. It was both written and directed by Joss Whedon. The episode originally broadcast on June 2, 1997.

Giles discovers an ancient book foretelling Buffy's death at the hands of The Master. Will she stay true to her destiny or abandon her calling?

Synopsis

Xander is practicing lines on Willow in the Bronze, preparing how best to ask Buffy to the prom. Cordelia is in a car making out with Kevin, as Buffy slays a vampire nearby. An earthquake is felt all over town, and the Master revels in it.

The next morning, Buffy is meeting Giles in the library, where no significant damage was sustained in the earthquake. Buffy explains that the vampires are rising in number and getting braver, but Giles is distracted by his thoughts. After biology class, Willow finds an excuse to leave, leaving Xander alone to ask Buffy to the prom. Buffy gives him the "let's just be friends" routine. Xander takes the rejection badly, and walks off to wallow in his misery.

Meanwhile, Miss Calendar interrupts Giles' study in the library, telling him that she sees apocalyptic portents and demands to know what is happening. She tells him Brother Luka, a monk in Cortona, is e-mailing her about the Anointed One. Giles asks her to get more information about this, promising he will explain everything later. In the school hall, Kevin and Willow promise to help Cordelia set everything up in the Bronze for the dance. Willow sees Xander wallowing in his misery and offers sympathy. When Xander asks her to the dance, she refuses to be his second choice.

That evening, as Buffy enters the library, she hears Giles telling Angel that the prophecies say that she will face the Master and die. A shocked Buffy yells that she is quitting, leaving the cross Angel gave her on the table. She goes back home and tries to convince her mother to go away for the weekend. Instead, Joyce gives her a stunning white prom dress, and after she tells her about when she met Buffy's father, encourages her to go to the dance.

Buffy killing The Master

The next day at school, Cordelia and Willow find the members of the audio video club, including Kevin, slaughtered by vampires, as "Three Little Pigs" cartoons play. Having heard the news, a sympathetic Buffy shows up at Willow's, all decked out in her prom dress. Willow is shell-shocked; even though she has faced vampires and death before, until this it has never been quite so personal. Buffy heads back to the library, where Giles has explained to Miss Calendar that Buffy is the Slayer. Buffy reinstates herself as the Slayer, knocks Giles out when he tries to stop her and goes to face the Master. Outside of school, Colin the Anointed leads her by the hand to the Master's lair.

Willow and Xander show up at the library, where they discover that Buffy has gone off to see the Master. Xander leaves, only to show up at Angel's apartment, where he forces Angel to lead him to the Master's lair. Xander and Angel approach the lair, as the Master and Buffy fight and taunt each other. The Master tells Buffy that it is her blood which will free him, drinks from her and leaves her to drown in a shallow pool. At the library, Willow and Ms. Calendar decide that the Hellmouth is underneath the Bronze, and leave. However, as they leave, they see an army of vampires approaching the library. Cordelia rescues them in her car, and drives the car straight into the school. Xander and Angel reach Buffy, and Xander performs CPR (as Angel couldn't do it himself, since vampires don't breathe). When Buffy regains consciousness, she heads to the surface to kill the Master. Cordelia, Willow, Giles and Jenny fight off vampires trying to enter the library, and just as Giles realizes that the Hellmouth is directly underneath the library, a tentacled creature rises through the floor. Buffy throws the Master into the library, where he is impaled on a jutting piece of wood and his soft tissues disintegrate, leaving only his skeleton and the world turns back to normal. The stunned friends stare at each other wondering what to do now. "We saved the world. I say we party," suggests the resurrected Slayer. They then head off.

Continuity

• Buffy dies for the first time, not from the Master's bite, but from drowning in the pool of water after he feeds on her. This has major repercussions as her death caused a new Slayer, Kendra, to be called.

• Buffy would later die a second time. She was also killed in the Wishverse by The Master. She also may have died after being shot by Warren since she flatlines right before Dark Willow magically removes the bullet and seals the wound.

• Buffy was essentially cut off from the Slayer line (no new Slayer is called after her second death), with Kendra, and later Faith, being the ‘active’ Slayer; although many assume that Buffy's death would still activate a new Slayer, the lack of any record of a new Slayer after her second death suggests that this is not the case.

• Buffy tended to favor the crossbow when heading to face a particularly dangerous vampire.

• The demon that comes out of the Hellmouth reappears later.

• The Master dies. Unlike lesser vampires, The Master's bones are left behind after his death.

• The Hellmouth is revealed to be directly beneath Sunnydale High School's library.
• Buffy rejects Xander's feelings in this episode. Xander later returns the favor years later, when Buffy confessed her feelings for him in "Turbulence".

• Angel notes that vampires cannot give CPR due to their lack of breath.

• When Buffy rejects Xander, he says "Guess a guy has to be undead to make time with ya", refering to Angel. This is ironic as Buffy's most true loves Angel and later Spike are both vampires.

Appearances

Individuals

• Angel
• Kevin Benedict Template:1st
• Jenny Calendar
• Collin the Annointed One
• Cordelia Chase
• Rupert Giles
• Xander Harris
• Hellmouth Spawn Template:1st
• The Master
• Willow Rosenberg
• Buffy Summers
• Joyce Summers

Organizations and Titles

• Order of Aurelius
• Scooby Gang
• The Watcher

Species

• Demon
• Human
• Vampire

Locations

• The Church (Order of Aurelius)
• The Hellmouth
• Summers' residence
• Sunnydale High
  • Sunnydale High School library
  • Sunnydale High School Audiovisual room

Body Count

• Three unidentified vampires, sprinkled by Buffy near the Campus. Two of them before the start scene
• Five students were killed by vampires in the audiovisual room: Kevin and two boys and two girls unidentified
• Buffy, left to drown by the Master at the Order of Aurelius' lair
• one vampire, dusted by Angel
• The Master, impaled on a broken piece of table desk wood after being thrown by Buffy to the floor of the Sunnydale High library

Behind the Scenes

Production

• While Joss Whedon had written other scripts for the show before, this episode was his first turn as writer/director.

• The exchange between Buffy and Angel where he starts to tell her that he likes her dress but she cuts him off saying "Yeah, yeah. It was a big hit with everyone." was added in production and not in the original script.

• The huge demon that comes up out of the Hellmouth at the end of the episode was created at Optic Nerve. The budget didn't allow for a computer-generated effect, so tentacle "costumes" were created. Each tentacle has a human being inside manipulating it from within.

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

• When Buffy dies Angel is not able to give her CPR because vampires can’t breathe. However, There are two instances where vampires can, and need, to breathe. A few of the vampires on the show were seen smoking (especially Spike). Also, on both Buffy and Angel, vampires have been choked into unconsciousness. An example of this is seen when Spike choke-holds Drusilla into unconsciousness before leaving Sunnydale.

Broadcast

• "Prophecy Girl" pulled in an audience of 2.8 million households.

Pop Culture References

• When Cordelia and Willow are Kevin and other students dead, the television is on, showing an episode of The Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig

Deleted Scenes

• The following scene - right after Buffy has turned Xander down - was cut because of length:

Xander bails, wandering off under the archway. Buffy sits by herself on the bench, bummed. Which is when the hail of pebbles starts. The first few get Buffy's attention, tiny hard pellets hitting the ground around her. She stands as more start coming down. People - including Buffy - all run for cover as the real shower starts. Buffy stands under the archway, watching the hail come down.

ANGLE: XANDER

Walking away, not near Buffy. He hears:

Student (O.S.) - "Check it out! It's raining stones!"

Xander looks back over his shoulder.

Xander: - "Figures."

Music

• Patsy Cline - "I Fall to Pieces" (Played by Xander as he is moping in his room after turned down by Buffy and Willow.)
• Jonatha Brooke - "Inconsolable" (Plays as Buffy looks at her photo album.)
• Nerf Herder - "Buffy Main Theme" (Plays after Buffy is resuscitated and goes off to kill The Master.)
• Walter Murphy - original score

International Titles

• French: Le Manuscrit (the Manuscript)
• Portuguese: A Garota da Profecia (Prophect Girl)
• Finnish: Ennustus (prediction)

Other

• A "Just say NO" poster was hung in the room where Xander was wallowing in his misery, where Willow rejects his rebound attempt to get a date to the dance. This is ironic because both Willow and Buffy "just said no" to Xander.

• The Master is well over 600 years old, even older than Dracula (also known as Vlad the Impaler and ruled from 1456-62), and seems to have gained the kind of hypnotic powers Dracula is famous for.

Quotes

Willow and the Master: "By the way, I like your dress."

Xander: "You were looking at my neck."

Angel: "What?"

Xander: "You were checking out my neck. I saw that."

Angel: "No, I wasn't."

Xander: "Just keep your distance, pal."

Angel: "I wasn't looking at your neck."

Xander: "I told you to eat before we left."

The Master: "Yes, yes! This is a sign. We are in the final days! My time has come. Glory, glory! (to the Anointed One)What'd you think? 5.1?"

Xander: "How could you let her go?"

Giles: "As the soon-to-be-purple area on my jaw will attest, I did not let her go."

Buffy: "I'm sorry. It's just... been a really weird day."

Xander: "Yeah, Buffy died and everything."

Willow: "Wow, harsh."

Giles: "Should've known that wouldn't stop you."

Willow: "I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I'll see you on Monday."

Xander: "That's okay. I don't wanna go. Just gonna go home, lie down, and listen to country music. The music of pain."

Buffy: "When he wakes up, tell him... I don't know. Think of something cool, tell him I said it."

Buffy: So that's it, huh? I remember the drill. One slayer dies, the next one's called. I wonder who she is. Will you train her? Or will they send someone else?"

Giles: "Buffy... I..."

Buffy: Does it say how he's gonna kill me? Do you think it'll hurt?"

Buffy: (Angel walks towards her) "Don't touch me! Were you even gonna tell me?"

Giles: "I was hoping I wouldn't have to, that there was some way around it. I..."

Buffy: "I've got a way around it. I quit."

Giles: "It's not that simple."

Buffy: "I'm making it that simple. I quit! I resign! I-I'm fired! You can find someone else to stop The Master from taking over."

Giles: "I'm not sure that anyone else can. All the signs indicate..."

Buffy: "Signs? Read me the signs! Tell me my fortune! You're so useful, sitting here with all of your books! You're really a lot of help!"

Giles: "No I don't suppose I am."

Angel: "I know this is hard."

Buffy: "What do you know about this? You're never gonna die!"

Angel: "You think I want anything to happen to you? Do you think I could stand it? We just gotta figure out a way."

Buffy: "I already did. I quit, remember? Pay attention!"

Buffy: "It's getting hairy out there Giles. I killed three vampires last night, one of them was practically on school grounds."

Giles: "Their numbers are increasing."

Buffy: "And they're getting cockier. Look, I'm not loving it. Last night was a pretty close call."

Giles: "Yes."

Buffy: "Giles, care? I'm putting my life on the line battling the undead. Look, I broke a nail, okay? I'm wearing a press-on. The least you could do is exhibit some casual interest. You could go "hmmh"."

Giles: "Hmmh?"

Angel: "I really like your..."

Buffy: "Yeah, yeah. It was a big hit with everyone."