Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S3/E01 Anne

Ah, a graveyard. It's good to be home. A newly-risen vampire struggles to climb out of his grave. As he's almost free, he looks up, and the camera pans back through a pair of legs standing in front of him. Sike. It's Willow, sporting a shorter haircut and a sly smile.

""That's right big boy -- come 'n get it.""

He growls and lunges at her, and she looks surprised that her line didn't have more of an effect. Xander and Oz move in to assist. Oz, however, has a little trouble getting the wood out of his pants (well, you know), and the vamp takes the opportunity to do a cool backflip over Xander. The vamp runs. Dramatic music swells as Oz narrows his eyes and readies himself for a long-distance staking -- but his arm is like a wet noodle, and the stake bounces harmlessly off a trashcan. ("That really never works.")

Xander wonders at the vamp's acrobatics. Oz suddenly recognizes the vamp as Andy Hoelich from the gymnastics team. Xander, fuming, chastises Willow for her cheesy line, but she defensively points out that Buffy always has a quip ready. Xander misses her punnage, and Willow admonishes him for breaking the "past-tense rule." Right, right; Buffy's due back any moment now. The gang speculates on Buffy's return as the camera pans out.

Buffy is standing on the beach, close to sunset. A pair of arms encircle her; it's Angel. "I'll never leave. Not even if you kill me".

Buffy wakes up. She walks to the window, and the camera pans out to reveal a street that's definitely on the wrong side of the tracks.

In the morning, Buffy -- in pigtails and a checkered uniform -- waits on a young couple who are canoodling. The girl is vampire-wannabe Chantarelle (from "Lie to Me"), only looking much more like a Street Urchin. The lovers have matching tattoos that, when placed together, form a heart with their names on them: "Rickie" and "Lily." After reading Buffy's name tag, which says " ANNE ", Lily wonders if they've someplace before. Buffy, realizing she's just been made, asks another waitress to cover for her.

Meanwhile, Sunnydale High is rebooting for the new year. Oz was supposed to go to summer school but forgot, so he's repeating senior year (lucky us). Xander and Cordelia initially look happy to see each other again, but each is waiting for the other to make the first move. After some fumbled dialogue, they dart off in opposite directions. Giles continues his search to find Buffy. He gets off the phone and announces that he has a lead -- a report of a young girl fighting vampires in Oakland. This is apparently not the first such lead they've had. Xander suspects they won't find Buffy until she wants to be found.

Night. Buffy walks back from work. Lily calls to her, "Buffy?" Buffy stops in her tracks. Lily asks if Buffy recognizes her, and promises that she didn't tell anyone Buffy's identity. We learn for sure that Lily is homeless, and Buffy reveals that Anne is her middle name. Lily says that she's always changing her name; Chanterelle was part of her "exotic phase." Buffy informs her that chanterelle is a mushroom. Lily looks alarmed, and Buffy backpedals by telling her that it's an "exotic mushroom." Ah well. Inevitably, Lily asks Buffy for some cash, but an old man shambles in between them. He creepily says, "I'm no one," and wanders out into the street before freezing like a deer in the headlights. Since he's actually in the headlights, Buffy races out and pushes him to safety, and gets hit by an SUV for her trouble. A crowd forms around Buffy, but she recovers and quickly runs off. Rounding a corner, she runs right into a missionary, knocking a bunch of flyers out of his hand. As they gather the flyers up, he introduces himself as "Ken." He inquires after her well-being, and PSAs about kids on the street. He gives Buffy a flyer for a halfway house called "Family Home."

Giles returns from his false lead ("Bunch of school kids in heavy mascara") to visit with Joyce. She opens the door expectantly, but is disappointed to see him. She's afraid to leave the house in case Buffy calls or shows up. Giles tells Joyce that she shouldn't blame herself for Buffy's departure, but Joyce turns it around: "I blame you." Ooph.

Lily finds Buffy at the diner. She tells Buffy that Rickie has disappeared, and begs her for help. Cut to a blood bank, where Lily exposits that she and Rickie Lily and Ricky went there the day before to score money (and cookies). Buffy asks a large female doctor if Rickie has been in in the last day. Negative. As they leave, the ominous music of "I'm Not Telling The Whole Story" plays of the doc's face.

Out in the street, Buffy finds the man whose life she saved the previous night lying dead in the gutter, having drunk drain cleaner. She kneels and turns his arm over, and finds the "Lily" tattoo. Buffy concludes that Rickie has somehow been "drained" of his youth.

Lily waits nervously at Buffy's apartment. Buffy enters, and breaks the news about Rickie. Lily doesn't take it very well, accusing Buffy of maybe bringing a monster that caused this. Lily runs outside, straight into the arms of Ken. He invites her to come to Family Home, telling her that Rickie has already joined them. Meanwhile at the blood bank, Buffy interrogates the doctor from earlier, who pleads that she just forwards "them" the names of the "healthy ones.". Cut to Ken preparing Lily, who's now wearing a smock, for a ceremony called a "Cleansing." Ken instructs Lily to kneel in front of an ink-black, rectangular pool. He explains that the pool is to "wash away the past." With motor oil? Meanwhile, Buffy's at the Family Home door, asking some goon if she can join up ("You know, I just -- I woke up, and I looked in the mirror and I thought, 'Hey! What's with all the sin?'"). When that doesn't work, she kicks the door open and finds Ken in the cleansing room -- just in time for the tar to suck Lily into the pool. Buffy tries to follow, but Ken tangles her up and they both fall in, right through the black pool and into a hellish-looking forge. Young men and women, all dressed in the same style of smock as Lily, working as slaves. Some are being whipped by demon guards. Ken reveals himself as a demon of some sort with a human face glued on, and sends his guards after the girls. The two are quickly caught and told that they will be living there for as long as they can serve as useful slaves. Time moves much more quickly in their current reality, which is why Rickie aged so many years while no time had passed on Earth.

Buffy, Lily, and several other kids are brought before a demon guard for orientation. He barks at the kids, "YOU ARE NO ONE NOW." Right. Let's practice. Demon Guard asks a boy at one end of the line who he is. The boy stammers, "Aaron." Wrong answer. Guard clocks him with a club. Buffy seems to steel herself at that. Lily's next in line: she cheeps, "No one!" Ding ding ding! You've been voted Most Likely Not To Get Clocked On The Head By A Demon Guard! Then it's Buffy's turn:

""I'm Buffy. The vampire slayer. And you are?""

He tries to beat her down, but she makes short work of the three guards, and instructs the kids to follow her. Time for the fight. Buffy is kicking demon ass and taking demon names. Aww yeah, who's no one now? Lily shepherds the kids out; they reach a large iron gate gate, which Buffy lifts up with slayer strength. The kids go under it, and Buffy starts to go herself when Ken tackles her from behind. He bowls her over, and the gate crashes down, impaling him through both legs. The kids are escaping upward through the portal. Buffy picks up a spiked club and approaches Ken.

""Hey, Ken, wanna see my impression of Gandhi?""

She rains the club down on his head. Lily is still trying to figure out the joke.

""...Well, you know, if he was really pissed off.""

Buffy's apartment. She offers to give Lily the tour, but only take two steps before announcing, "This concludes our tour." Buffy says the rent is paid up for the next three weeks, and that Lily can take over her shifts at the diner. Lily regards Buffy's diner uniform, and asks for permission to be "Anne". Buffy smiles her assent.

Back at home, Joyce hesitantly answers the door again. She opens the door to find her daughter on the front steps. After a few moments, they hug.

Tropes:
""I'm -- I'm dirty. I'm, I'm bad, with the sex, and the envy, and that loud music us kids listen to nowadays.""
 * Adventure Duo: Pint-Sized Powerhouse Buffy, and lanky Cloudcuckoolander Lily.
 * Art Shift: With better ratings came a bigger budget for the show; this episode was the first to be shot on larger-format 35mm film instead of the 16mm of the first two seasons, leading to a visible jump in image quality, particularly in nighttime scenes.
 * An Axe to Grind / Drop the Hammer: The guards take swings at Buffy with hand axes and blacksmith hammers.
 * Another Dimension
 * Bad Liar / Dirty Harriet: Buffy trying (and failing) to talk her way into Family House.

"Larry: If we can focus, keep discipline, and not have quite as many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is gonna rule!"
 * The Bait: Cordy. And as a bonus, she's wearing red.
 * Bare Your Midriff: Lily.
 * Benevolent Architecture: In the foundry, Buffy climbs hand-over-hands up a rope chain to escape the mob of guards.
 * The giant spiked gate which closes on Ken. Yeeowch.
 * Between My Legs / Closeup On Head: Willow getting her Slayer on.
 * Big Damn Kiss: The gag from "What's My Line" of swelling music when Cordelia and Xander kiss is repeated.
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Larry getting psyched up for the new football season.

"Oz: I don't know, I think we're getting a rhythm down.
 * Book Ends: Willow and Buffy's nonsensical one-liners.
 * A knock at Joyce's door.
 * Brutal Honesty: As Buffy is rifling through some files, the nefarious doctor enters and demands to know what she's doing. Buffy: "Breaking into your office and going through your private files." Hee.
 * Buffy-Speak: Xander ordering Cordelia to go act "baity."
 * Call Back: Chantelle, one of the Vampire Vannabes from "Lie to Me".
 * Cordelia suggesting that Xander might have got together with an "Inca Mummy Girl" while she was away.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Xander and Cordelia in the hall.
 * Carry a Big Stick / Gory Discretion Shot: Buffy splattering Ken's head.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: On her way to work, Buffy passes a guy handing out leaflets to a homeless kid. Then we hear a plaintive "I'm no one," and Buffy sees a decrepit homeless woman lying in a doorway. Buffy looks perturbed, but thinks nothing of it.
 * The City Narrows: Buffy finally tracks down Rickie, long since keeled over, in an abandoned warehouse full of Hobos.
 * Comically Missing the Point / Let's Split Up Gang: At the blood bank, Buffy thinks it would be best if she and Lily split up. Lily nods in agreement, then blankly asks, "Can I come with you?"
 * "Okay, where did I lose you on the whole 'splitting up' thing?"
 * Crash Into Hello: Old!Rickie and Anne, unbeknowst to her. Her empty glare at the "rude" old man is definitely a case of Harsher in Hindsight.
 * Cut His Heart Out With a Spoon / You Got Spunk: Ken. "You got guts. I think I'd like to slice you open and play with them."
 * Cut Phone Lines: The female Doctor threatens to call the police, but Buffy, barely looking up, rips the phone out of the wall. Slayer strength!
 * Diner Brawl: At the diner, Buffy waits on two trucker types. She instructs Trucker #1 to pay at the counter, and he offers to pay in trade, if you know what I mean. Trucker #2 slaps her behind as she walks away. She glares over her shoulder, and from the music we're meant to think an ass-kicking is imminent, but instead she keeps walking.
 * Disposable Vagrant
 * Dissimile: It seems Buffy has confused Gandhi with Teddy Roosevelt.
 * Diving Save: Buffy pushing Old!Rickie out of a vehicle's path.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Social issues covered by this episode include teenage runaways and sweatshops.
 * Ken drops the anvil with this line: "This is not a good place for a kid to be. You get old fast out here."
 * At one point in the battle with Ken's henchmen, Buffy wields both a hammer and a sickle. The factory setting, hard labor and symbols from the old Soviet Union may be a visual play on the spirit of workers rising up against their oppressors.
 * The Drifters: Lily, Rickie, and "Anne" herself.
 * Driven to Suicide: The used-up slaves who get spit back into the real world.
 * Dual-Wielding: Buffy, hammer and sickle axe in hand. (In Soviet Russia, Vampire slays YOU.)
 * Environmental Symbolism: Helen's Kitchen.
 * Failed a Spot Check: Cordy and Xander bickering at each other, unaware that the vamp has singled out Willow. Like a well-oiled machine, these Scoobies.
 * Family-Unfriendly Violence: Ken getting shredded by the collapsing gate. But he did deserve it.
 * Fluffy the Terrible: Ken.
 * Greasy Spoon
 * Half Truth: Xander whines over how weak and uncoordinated the gang is without a Slayer.

Xander: We're losing half the vamps.

Oz: Yeah, but...rhythmically."

"Lily: Can we get cake?
 * Hannibal Lecture: As Buffy and Lily are stewing in a cell, Ken drops by to gloat through the prison bars. He taunts Lily about her boyfriend's suffering, then turns his attention to Buffy, ridiculing her for running away from her old identity -- to disappear. "Congratulations. You got your wish."
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: Ken momentarily releases Lily and steps to the platform's edge to lecture everyone on "the price of "rebel--!!". One assumes he was going to say "rebellion," but we'll never know for sure, because Lily takes this opportunity to shove him off the platform. Thud.
 * Hypocritical Humor: When Buffy asks for their order, Rickie dumps some change on the table and asks what they can afford with that much.

Rickie: Don't be stupid. We gotta eat healthy. [to Buffy] You got any pie?"

"Giles: Joyce, you mustn't blame yourself for her leaving.
 * I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: Xander: "I can't wait to see Cordelia. [horrified realization] I can't believe I can't wait to see Cordelia."
 * I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Ken holding a knife to Lily's throat and threatening to kill all the slaves if even one rebels.
 * Idiot Ball: The Scoobies getting trounced by an undead gymnast.
 * Impaled With Extreme Prejudice: Ken.
 * Important Haircut: In addition to the pigtails, Buffy now has strawberry blonde highlights.
 * Institutional Apparel: The government-issue smocks given to those kids who are about to be "Cleansed."
 * It Gets Easier: Buffy to Anne in the epilogue.
 * Its Kind of a Funny Story: Oz prefacing his admission that he's repeating the 12th grade.
 * It's Personal: Willow stubbornly defends her quips, but admits her choice of words was lame. Oz suggests this trope instead. "There's a reason why it's a classic."
 * Latex Perfection: Ken's rubber mask. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to glue that thing on?!"
 * Linked List Clue Methodology: Buffy discovers that the runaways have all been stamped " CANDIDATE " by the blood bank.
 * Load-Bearing Boss: Ken. After Buffy returns with all the others, the black pool solidifies.
 * The Lost Lenore: Buffy for Angel; even the sight of Lily and Richie smooching makes her envious.
 * Made a Slave
 * Malaproper: Xander. "Look, I don't mean to poop the party here..."
 * Meaningful Echo: I'm no one.
 * At hearing news of Rickie's death, Lily says despairingly, "But -- he takes care of me." We can surmise that she's has spent years drifting from one 'protector' to the next. At the end, Lily (now "Anne") is resigned to standing on her own feet, but laments, "I'm not very good at taking care of myself."
 * We'll see.
 * Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Ken's stooge at the blood bank.
 * Mythology Gag: "Lily" and her boyfriend attempting to buy lunch at a diner by dumping a bunch of change onto the table. David Arquette and Luke Perry did the exact same thing in the Buffy feature film.
 * Not Allowed to Grow Up: Oz, doomed to repeat his Senior year of high school. Oh well, his loss is our gain.
 * No OSHA Compliance: The original "fire and smoke factory". Justified as it is in a hell dimension, so de rigueur.
 * Not So Weak: Lily. Just in time, too; she has no one but herself to rely on now.
 * She later goes on to become a tough independant lady on Angel.
 * Negated Moment of Awesome / Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Subverted with gusto. Oz's stake whistles through the air for a short distance, then lands with a pitiful thunk.
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Oz with books? Something is horribly wrong.
 * The Oner: During the first act, there's a 3:24 sequence of Sunnydale High humming with activity. It starts with Giles and Willow coming down the stairs in the library and ends with Xander and Cordelia's encounter in the lounge with nothing to say to each other. Smash Cut to Buffy sitting on her bed on in Los Angeles, contrasting all of the mayhem at school with Buffy's solitude. This long shot has been broken up in the syndicated versions, dampening the effect.
 * Open Says Me: We see the inside of the blood bank in dim light. A shadow appears outside the glass pane of the door. The doorknob rattles, then is ripped out of the frame. Slayer strength again!
 * Parental Substitute

Joyce: I don't...I blame you. You've been this huge influence on her, guiding her. You had this whole relationship with her behind my back. I feel like you've taken her away from me."

"Cordelia: What's the plan?
 * Perp Sweating: Buffy and the doc.
 * Plot Relevant Age Up / Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time passing differently in alternate dimensions is introduced here; it will become more relevant with Angel's and later 's return from the afterlife.
 * Portal Pool: Ken's "cleansing" pool.
 * Red Shirt: Rickie. Though his death was ultimately self-inflicted, the real cause was "Family House."
 * Rescue Sex / Suggestive Collision: Xander comes at Andy Hoelich, stake ready, but is easily overpowered. Upon seeing Xander in distress, Cordelia's scorn immediately turns to concern, and she dogpiles on Andrew from behind. They end up with Andrew sandwiched between Xander on the bottom and Cordelia on the top. With Cordelia's weight on top of him, Andrew can't hold back the stake any longer, and he explodes into ashes. Cordelia falls down on top of Xander. The two of them look at each other for an instant, then grab each other and start kissing passionately.
 * The Reveal: Ken assuring Lily that her boyfriend is safe and sound at his halfway house.
 * The Runaway: Buffy, of course. Also implied to be the case with Lily. When Buffy asks what they call Lily "at home", Lily looks away with an expression that clearly says, "Home is where the sexual abuse is."
 * Selective Obliviousness: Willow's "past-tense rule." She daydreams that Buffy will suddenly show up when school starts. Xander brings her back to reality: "She can't just show up; she got kicked out."
 * She's Back: "I'm Buffy. The Vampire Slayer. And you are?"
 * Shaped Like Itself: Cordelia seems to have a feeble grasp on what being "bait" entails.

Xander: The vampire attacks you.

Cordelia: And then what?

Xander: The vampire kills you. We watch. We rejoice."

"Ken: [to Lily] He forgot you. Took him a long time. He remembered your name years after he'd forgotten his own. But, in the end..."
 * Shout Out: Lily wears a white t-shirt that says, "Dent" and has a red heart with the words "Home of" visible inside the heart. This is most likely a nod to Rocky Horror, in which a billboard depicts a large red heart with the word "Denton" above it (Denton is the name of the town in which the film takes place) and the phrase "The Home of Happiness" inside it.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: It goes without saying, Lily and Rickie.

""I don't want any trouble. I just want to be alone and quiet in a room with a chair and a fireplace and a tea cozy. I don't even know what a tea cozy is, but I want one.""
 * Stock Footage: The montage depicting the teen runaways will be used again in the Angel pitch tape. The image of the teenage girl with the large skirt alone in the street will be used in the credits of Angel.
 * Sue Donym: Buffy Anne Summers.
 * Tap On the Head: As Buffy and Lily gawk at the demon factory, Ken cheerfully reappears behind them and conks Buffy out with his club.
 * Title Drop: Both the episode title and the show title made it in.
 * Trailers Always Spoil: David Boreanaz still appears in the credits despite his character being killed the previous season. This gives away the fact that he will be brought back back from Hell. Until then, however, he only appears in Buffy's dreams.
 * Tranquil Fury: Joyce's speech to Giles.
 * Trapped in Another World
 * The Triple: The doctor warns Buffy that she's in a whole lot of trouble. Lady, don't argue with a grouchy Slayer at 3am.

"Cordelia: [Xander] didn't meet anybody over the summer, did he? No, who's he gonna meet in Sunnydale, but monsters and stuff? But then again he's always been attracted to monsters..."
 * A Truce While We Gawk: The guards holding Buffy freeze in place when Ken shouts his ultimatums. Lily pushes him from behind, and he falls screaming to the floor below. The guards holding Buffy just watch as he hits bottom with a loud thud.
 * Try Not to Die: Willow thinks the gang's not doing so hot on patrol, but Giles is just happy they're all safe. Willow assures Giles that it's "part of our whole mission statement. 'Don't get killed.'"
 * Very False Advertising: Rickie ordering some peach pie. Buffy grouchily scribbles down the order, then snarks, "Can't guarantee there's a peach in it."
 * Villain Ball: "Humans don't fight back. Humans DON'T FIGHT BACK! That's HOW IT WORKS!!"
 * Weirdness Magnet


 * We Need a Distraction: The escaped kids hide under the stairs while Buffy and Lily hatch a plan: Buffy=diversion, Lily=get the kids to safety.
 * Welcome to Hell / Welcome to My World: Ken warmly welcoming Buffy and her sidekick to his dimension.
 * Later, when Lily wonders if they're in Hell, Ken waxes philosophic about Hell being "the total absence of hope."
 * World Half Empty: Smash Cut from Buffy's dream of her and Angel on a beautiful beach to Buffy alone in a rundown apartment with police cars screaming by outside.