Buffy Logo 'Showtime'
Story Code '7ABB11'

by David Fury
Buffy

When Rona, another Potential Slayer, arrives at Sunnydale Bus Station she is immediately attacked by the Bringers; luckily Buffy arrives to meet her, and swiftly deals with Rona’s attackers. Meanwhile, at the Summers house, Willow makes friends with another Potential named Kennedy, and tells her that Giles has the Witches coven in England searching for more Potentials or Watchers. Downstairs, everyone else is worrying about the Turok-Han, believing that the deadly vampire-creature will attack the house and kill them all. Buffy arrives home with Rona, and becomes frustrated after learning that no-one has any new information on how to defeat the First, or how to rescue Spike. Giles suggests visiting an oracle called Beljoxa's Eye, but Anya is vehemently opposed to the idea, as it means she will have to beg one of her old demon friends to open up the portal that leads to the oracle. Buffy pleads Anya to change her mind, for Spike’s sake more than anything else. Elsewhere, Spike is being taunted by the First, which is now wearing the form of Buffy; the vampire ignores his tormentor’s barbs, doggedly believing that Buffy will rescue him. Across town, Anya and Giles attempt to convince the owner of a demon bar into opening the portal for them; Anya evens offers the demon sex in exchange for the favour, but he informs Anya that because she is now human, all of the demon community find her repulsive. When Giles threatens to send Buffy to the bar to kill all of his customers, the demon reluctantly opens the portal, enabling Giles and Anya to step through. Buffy and Xander untie Andrew, using a few mild threats to keep him under control; Willow receives a phone call from a witches’ coven in England, who tell her that another Potential is now in Sunnydale, and is staying at a motel; Buffy and Xander immediately leave to find her. Down in the basement, the rest of the Potentials are training with various weapons and equipment, but none of them are any good at it, and they quickly realise that not one of their number is up to defending themselves, let alone being called to replace Buffy as the Slayer. As they become increasingly concerned about their mortality, one of the Potentials, Eve, convincingly notes that there is nothing that they can do to save themselves from the First. Arriving at the motel, Buffy and Xander break into a room and discover Eve’s body on the floor; seeing that she has been dead for several days, they realise with shock that the Eve back at the Summers house is actually the First, masquerading as the young girl in order to gather information on Buffy and the others. At the house, Andrew tries to prove his usefulness to Dawn, but the girl is unimpressed, and remarks that Buffy told her that she could kill Andrew if she wanted. Xander and Buffy rush home and confront the First, who by now has learned all of the Potentials’ weaknesses. Before vanishing, the First gloatingly tells Buffy that the Turok-Han will be coming for them after sundown, leaving everyone shaken and anxious. Inside the portal, Giles and Anya question Beljoxa's Eye about the First, asking how they can defeat it, but the only information the oracle will reveal is that something has disrupted the line of the Chosen, giving the First the opportunity to wreak havoc - and the Slayer herself is the source of the disruption. Anya immediately believes that she and the rest of the Scooby gang are to blame, as it was they who brought Buffy back from the dead. Meanwhile, Buffy holds a council of war in an attempt to formulate a plan to deal with the imminent arrival of the Turok-Han; however, thanks to ‘Eve’, all the Potentials are too terrified to contribute anything. Buffy, Xander and Willow all look at each other and then retreat to the kitchen. In its lair, the First begins preparations for the coming battle. Buffy asks Willow to cast a spell over the house to protect them from the Turok-Han and the Bringers, who have now surrounded the residence. Out of all the Potentials, Kennedy is the only one ready for the battle. Although extremely troubled about casting a spell again, Willow manages to create a barrier around the room, but the Turok-Han bursts into the house and proves too strong for the barrier, forcing the Scoobies and Potentials to fight their way through the Bringers and beat a hasty retreat. Buffy orders everyone else away, planning to draw the Turok-Han after just her, but after a few moments the Turok-Han picks up the scent of the Potentials and turns to pursue them instead. Lead by Xander and Willow, the girls arrive at a huge construction site; the Potentials are all terrified, and become even more so when the Turok-Han arrives. Buffy appears and engages the vampire-creature in a vicious battle, while everyone else climbs to relative safety on the scaffolding at the side of the site, giving them a ringside view of events. As the brutal conflict continues, Dawn suddenly realises that it was all planned: when Buffy, Xander and Willow went to the kitchen, they were actually engaged in a telepathic conversation with each other, discussing how to deal with the Turok-Han. Buffy beats the Turok-Han by decapitating it with a piece of wire, proving to the Potentials that the seemingly unstoppable vampire-creatures can be killed. Back in the First’s lair, Spike looks up to see Buffy approach him; believing her to be the First, he steals himself for more torture, but she instead cuts his bonds - Spike realises that this is the real Buffy, and she leads him to safety...

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), James Marsters (Spike), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Tom Lenk (Andrew), Iyari Limon (Kennedy), Clara Bryant (Molly), Indigo (Rona), Amanda Fuller (Eve), Camden Toy (Ubervamp), Lalaine (Chloe), Felicia Day (Vi)
Directed by Michael Grossman

TX (US): 7th January 2003

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Anya, Dawn and Giles