View source for Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S2/E08 The Dark Age

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A man is hurriedly making his way through the school grounds trying to find Giles, when he is approached by a decomposing woman, "Diedre". The corpse strangles him, before falling to the ground and dissolving.

Giles tells Buffy to meet him later at the hospital where there will be a blood delivery, which attracts vampires. When Giles gets back to the library, a detective is waiting for him who informs Giles that there was a homicide on campus and the dead man had Giles' address on him. Giles identifies the body as an old friend from London, Henry Phillip. The body has a tattoo, which Giles claims he does not recognize.

Shaken, Giles does not meet Buffy at the hospital, and she battles the doctor-dressed vampires alone until Angel shows up. She goes to check on Giles who looks dishevelled and appears to have been drinking. He calls another friend in London and finds out that she is dead too. As he rolls up his sleeves, we see he has the same tattoo as Phillip. Meanwhile, Phillip comes back to life in the morgue, his eyes flashing, and escapes.

On Saturday, Cordelia finally tells Buffy about the homicide detective's visit. In the library, Buffy finds Giles' former friend Ethan, the costume shop owner who had caused chaos on Halloween. As she calls Giles, Ethan mentions the "Mark of Eyghon". Giles says she is in danger, and the dead Phillip enters.

A panicked Giles shows up and, after a scuffle which leaves Jenny unconscious, Phillip dissolves. When Jenny comes to, she seems normal but her eyes flash. Willow discovers the "Mark of Eyghon" in a book: the demon Eyghon has the ability to possess the body of a dead or unconscious host. They figure out that the demon has jumped from Phillip's body to Jenny's. Possessed, Jenny tries to seduce Giles at his apartment. When Buffy comes to the rescue, Jenny jumps out the window. Giles explains to Buffy that he ran with a bad crowd when he was young, and they used the demon Eyghon as a temporary high – directing him in and out of each other's bodies. But one friend died, then Diedre, and now it seems the rest of the group is being killed.

Buffy goes to the deserted costume shop to try to defend Ethan against Eyghon/Jenny. Ethan knocks her out, ties her up and puts the mark of Eyghon on her. He then uses acid to remove his own tattoo so that Eyghon will take Buffy instead of him. Jenny enters, completely demonic, and Buffy breaks free. Angel arrives and chokes Jenny until she loses consciousness, whereupon Eyghon moves to the nearest dead body: that of Angel. The two demons, the vampire within and Eyghon, fight for control in Angel's body, and Eyghon is destroyed. Jenny returns to normal, but Ethan escapes.

{{tropelist|page=The Dark Age}}
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: For Giles
* [[Almost Kiss]]: Averted; the school bell rings as Jenny and Giles are about to kiss, but they do it anyway.
* [[Body Surf]]
* [[Bookshelf Dominoes]]: Ethan tries to knock down Buffy this way.
* [[Brain Bleach]]: The Scoobies have this reaction at the thought of Giles and Jenny having sex.
* [[Conveniently-Placed Sharp Thing]]: Ethan Rayne has Buffy tied up, with her arms wrapped around the edges of a table and tied together beneath it. There is a conveniently located screw sticking out the bottom of the table that she uses to saw through the ropes.
* [[Cower Power]]: Rayne leaps behind Buffy when Zombie!Philip does his [[Super Window Jump]].
* [[Cut Phone Lines]]
* [[Dark and Troubled Past]] / [[Former Teen Rebel]]: Giles
* [[Demonic Possession]]
* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: Giles again
* [[Evil Sounds Deep]] / [[Kubrick Stare]] / [[Animal Eyes]]: Possessed!Jenny.
* [[Fantastic Aesop]]: Demonic possession = drug experimentation.
* [[Finger-Twitching Revival]]: Jenny
* [[Foe Yay]]: Apart from the usual Giles/Rayne, Eyghon throws in plenty of [[Double Entendre]] while fighting with Giles.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]:
{{quote|'''Miss Calendar''': All right guys, the first thing we're gonna do is-- [Buffy enters] Buffy!
'''Xander''': Huh? Did I fall asleep already? }}
* [[The Glasses Come Off]]
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]
* [[Gotta Kill Them All]]: Eyghon's motivation
* [[Groin Attack]]: Cordelia shows she is good in a fight after all.
* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: At the beginning of the episode Buffy is training away, in gym clothes. Now take a look at [[Kim Possible]], which in many ways is Buffy with a spy rather than horror theme. Her casual outfit of lime top and blue cargoes is a carbon copy of Buffy's gym clothes.
* [[Hollywood Homely]]: Cordelia telling Xander that he needed "a year supply of acne cream".
* [[I'll Kill You!]]
{{quote|'''Buffy:''' I'm gonna kill you. Will that blow the whole karma thing?}}
* [[Kill It with Fire]]: Ethan burns off his tattoo with acid.
* [[The Main Characters Do Everything]]: Angel defeats Eyghon
* [[Mark of the Beast]] / [[Embarrassing Tattoo]]: The Mark of Eyghon
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]
* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: The demon Eyghon possesses Jenny, whose [[Evil Makes You Monstrous|appearance gradually becomes demonic]]. When Eyghon is expelled, she immediately reverts.
* [[Not So Different]]: Knowing Giles was also foolish in his younger years increases Buffy's bond with him.
* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]
* [[Out-of-Character Moment]]: Willow turns into [[The Determinator]] when Xander and Cordelia are about to fight.
{{quote|'''Willow''': Willow: HEY! We don't have time for this! Our friends are in trouble! Now, we have to put our heads together and, and get them out of it! And if you two aren't with me a hundred and ten percent, then ''get the hell out of my library!''}}
** [[Foreshadowing]] Willow's leadership role whenever Buffy and Giles are not around, particularly in early Season 6.
* [[Revealing Hug]]
* [[Sinister Silhouettes]]: Eyghon before he enters Rayne's shop.
* [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]]: Willow's plan for defeating Eyghon.
* [[Villain Exit Stage Left]]: Rayne, naturally.
* [[You Won't Feel a Thing]]: Subverted.
{{quote|'''Ethan''': Now this may sting a little, just at first. But don't worry, that'll go away once the searing pain kicks in.
}}

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[[Category:Recap]]
[[Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]
[[Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap]]