Buffy The Vampire Slayer

What’s it called? "Showtime."

Who’s responsible? Teleplay is credited to David Fury ("Grave," "Sleeper").

What does TV Guide say? "With the Slayer line of succession at stake, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) prepares for a showdown with the Ubervamp in this pivotal, well-written episode. Skeletal, callous and frighteningly strong, the Ubervamp (Camden Toy) is among Buffy’s deadliest foes. Chief minion of the devilish, shape-shifting First, the demon divides his time between killing potential Slayers and torturing the kidnapped Spike (James Marsters). Determined to protect her apprentices and rescue Spike, Buffy racks her brain for a plan of action while Giles and Anya (Anthony Stewart Head, Emma Caulfield) hope that a visionary creature called Beljoxa’s Eye can offer a final solution to the First threat."

The big news? Thanks to Giles, Anya and Belijoxa’s Eye (actually a multi-eyed creature in an odd, vaguely spherical cage), we learn why the First, immortal and old as time itself, has chosen now to make its move.

The bigger news? Buffy is tied directly to the First’s evil timing.

What else is TV Guide not telling us? It turns out Kennedy has something in common with John Carter.

Is Kennedy from Mars? No.

Is Faith also somehow tied to the First’s eveil timing? This is less clear.

How many slayers-in-training turn up in Sunnydale this week? In addition to the two "potential guys" who survived "Bring on the Night," four more SITs have come to Sunnydale before the episode begins. The sixth disembarks at the Sunnydale bus station in the teaser. She is met, of course, by the First’s harbingers.

Are any of the potential guys as cute as Kennedy? No. Kennedy gets hotter every time we see her. Jenny Calendar hot. But all the other SITs are plenty cute. Apparently whoever picks the potentials likes a pretty face.

Do all of the Sunnydale potentials survive the episode? No.

I would very much enjoy seeing Willow make out with a potential slayer. How are my chances? Kennedy continues to tease Will about all the room in her bed (Will cowers fearfully in a sleeping bag on the floor), and there’s a later, upright exchange about how Kennedy would almost like to see what last season’s "big bad Willow" looked like. It would give a dog a bone, but there’s no actual Kennedy-Willow touchage this week.

Any sign of Fantastico? Apparently one version of the script called for Willow to tell Kennedy that the witches’ kitty ran away, but this bit of dialogue was scotched somewhere along the way.

Do we learn this week whether Giles is really Giles? No. We won’t learn of Rupert’s true nature until 7.13.

What’s up with the Nerd of Doom? The Scoobs decide they’re too busy to babysit Andrew, so he’s finally untied and warned that misbehavior will be greeted with tremendous punishment.

What’s up with Dawn? Nothing much. She just hangs out with the potentials a lot.

And Principal Wood? MIA this week.

What’s good? The continued (and much overdue) exploration of the "potential slayer" mythos. There’s a lot of interesting discussion about whether the younger or older potentials are more likely to be the next "chosen one," and about the differing levels of training each of the potentials possess. There appears to be a lot of conflicting data with regard to how the choosing works. Also? The hints about Buffy’s (and perhaps Faith’s) connection to recent events are intriguing.

What’s not so good? The central battle with the ubervamp struck me as kinda lame. Buffy can defeat the ubervamp more easily if she doen’t have to worrry about breaking the picture window again? Buffy is stronger when she fights on the site of the school’s new library? All it takes to defeat and ubervamp is decapitation? The ubervamp sort of fills the function the demon Judge did in season two, but - boy - Buffy’s final victory this time around is sure a lot less interesting..

How does it end, spoiler-boy? Buffy helps her ex out of the cave.