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Season 7 Episode 1 "Lessons"

Season 7 finally begins!!!

 I missed the first few minutes, so when I came in we see Buffy training Dawn how to kill vampire. Preparing for next season when SMG's contract expires and she starts to battle Tara Reid and Jennifer Love Hewitt for all those <sarcasm>GREAT ROLES FOR 20 SOMETHING GIRLS THAT ARE OUT THERE</sarcasm>, leaving Sunnydale Slayer-less. They have a vampire partially buried in a grave. How he got there, I couldn't tell you. Apparently this vampire is a newbie, so he's a good candidate for Dawn to train on. Dawn fails to stake the vamp, so Buffy steps in and removes his head with a swipe of her sword. Sword? Yes, the sword that was lying on the ground. Buffy tries to impress upon Dawn the nature of power. And when you battle a vampire, the vampire has the power. This talk of power may be a theme for this season. Buffy & Dawn acknowledge that battling vampires & demons is tough, but there's something far worse looming on the horizon (sneaky foreshadowing)...we cut to opening of new high school. The girls have it right, I'd take vampires and demons over high school any day.

Now we go to the glorious countryside of England. Giles is riding a horse, and Willow is looking adorable sitting under a tree. Everything is peaceful and serene, and I'm hoping this scene lasts all episode, if not all season. Willow displaying her goddess-like powers creates a flower from nothing. Giles remarks that the flower is native to some South American country (I want to say Bolivia, but I forget). Willow responds by saying that everything is interconnected, the seeds, the dirt, the air, the roots etc. Interconnectedness also appears to be a theme of this season, or at least of this episode. We learn that Willow is under the tutelage of a coven of witches (who are not seen in the episode), and even as impressive as the coven are, Willow suspects that they are frightened of her. Willow wishes she didn't have the power (and the responsibility methinks) that comes with magic. And that she just wants to be Willow again. I second that.

The new Xander in a new suit,  in a new car goes to the Summers house to drive Dawn to school, Buffy tags along. I know that characters need to grow and change and be dynamic, and that Xander's character was getting stale and static until last season, but I miss the old Xander. The Xander who would say one thing, and the exact opposite would happen. The comic relief Xander. He's still trading quips with Buffy, but it's different now. I suppose Xander has finally grown up. Joss very cleverly has Xander's construction company rebuilding Sunnydale High, and as the school is still not complete, it gives Xander an excuse to be around the school. Buffy's excuse will be revealed shortly, as will another major character.

Buffy and Dawn bump into the new principal. He seems a pleasant enough chap, which can only he mean he'll end up either dead or a demon. It was revealed earlier that the Hellmouth is now directly under the principals office... Buffy pays a visit to the bathroom, and spots a weird looking talisman. She then encounters two zombie ghosts who suddenly appear then vanish. The zombie ghosts mention something about Buffy failing to protect them. I tell ya, nothing good ever happens in high school bathrooms. At my high school, the bathrooms were off limits, they were not healthy places to be. Glad to see it's the same in Sunnydale. 

Finally we meet up with the lovely Anya and the annoying Halifrek. Anya's hair color has changed yet again. This week it seemed dark brown. Look for it to be platinum blonde next week. The two vengeance demons are having coffee somewhere and are chitting and chatting. This scene exists to simply foreshadow and give Anya some screen time. Hali mentions that something big and old and dark and nasty is coming, and all the demons are all a fuss about it. This will be reinforced by Willow later on. Why would anyone live in Sunnydale with big, old, dark nasty things coming? You never hear about such things in Kalamazoo or Walla Walla. I'm thinking the Hellmouth really hurts Sunnydales' tourism. Anyway Hali also describes how sorry a vengeance demon Anya has become, (her 'frog' example is hilarious) foreshadowing Anya's future troubles and the challenging times ahead of her.

Dawn sees a zombie ghost in her classroom, unseen by anyone else, then goes to the bathroom to recover, she finds a girl (Kit) cowering in a stall who's also seen a zombie ghost. Things suddenly go koo-koo, and both girls fall through the bathroom floor to the basement. I wonder if Xander built that floor. We quickly cut to Willow and Giles in England. Willow is recovering from a fit of some kind. Since everything is interconnected, she can feel the trouble that Dawn is in. She knows that the Hellmouth is acting up, and that something big, old, dark and nasty is coming. Hopefully for the storylines sake, Willow be accursed by these fits all season long. She needs some tangible vulnerability, other than her feelings of guilt. Otherwise, what can possibly harm her or the Scooby Gang?

Back in the basement Dawn and Kit  meet up with a guy who snuck down the basement for a smoke. And thus we have the Scooby Gang Junior edition. They encounter a trio of the zombie ghosts, and we learn that they're people who have died in the school due to Hellmouth activity and blame Buffy for not saving them. Dawn finally does something smart and uses a cell phone (which Buffy gave earlier as a gift) to call Buffy. This interrupts Buffy and the principal's chat. Buffy goes to investigate and fights the zombie ghosts. She rips open a door she believes is holding Dawn but to her (and my) surprise it's not Dawn but Spike. Yes, Spike now lives in the basement of the high school. How very convenient. Anyway Spike is in real bad shape. He's neglected his hair, and is rambling about his soul and stuff, though Buffy has no clue what he's going on about. We learn that Spike has tried to cut his soul out. Why doesn't he just sell it? Souls seem to be just an accessory in the Buffy-verse. Spike mumbles the necessary information about the zombie ghosts. They are manifested spirits controlled by a talisman. But of course! So Buffy calls Xander on her cell and tells him to find the talisman and destroy it. The talisman (which Buffy spotted earlier) is found by Xander in the bathroom, and destroyed, the manifested spirits fade away. The Scooby Juniors walk away, while Buffy wonders who put the talisman there in the first place. The principal shows up and seeing how happy the malcontents that are the Scooby Juniors are, offers Buffy a part time counseling job. Eager to stick close to the school (and the Hellmouth, and Spike?) and to keep on eye on Dawn (as Dawn tends to find trouble). We then cut back to poor Spike. He's not doing to well mentally. He witnesses someone or hallucinates someone who morphs into the various big-bads in this order: Warren, Glory, Adam, Mayor Wilkins, Drusilla, Master and Buffy. Buffy mentions words to the effect that everything comes down to power, which is what the episode opened with. I guess everything is inter-connected...

What I liked: The references to Buffy having "mom-hair".  Dawn's glee at how great the reception on her cell phone is, even in the "freaking basement." Dawn's line that all vampires somehow pick up pretty good martial arts skills along the way. Every second that Willow & Giles were on the screen. And how the interconnectedness theme was used. How the rebuilt school is connected to the old one. How Dawn is following in Buffy's footsteps. Willow's ruminations on the interconnectedness of everything, and in case we didn't get the point, the Master puts an exclamation on it at the end.

What I didn't like: Having Spike live in the school basement. Huh? Way too convenient.  I also found it difficult to understand what Spike was saying, under his mumbles. Dawn's new friends don't excite me at all. I'm fearing we're in for an episode or three that will be based around them. Anya's limited use. The way the talisman was so carelessly left in the bathroom. If I wanted my zombie ghosts to cause some havoc, I wouldn't leave the only object that can kill them out in the open where anyone can find it. I would've preferred more Giles-Willow scenes.

Rating: The Buffy Cross & Stake web site uses a rating system of 1 (poor) stake to 6 (excellent) stakes. I'll use that system here.

4 stakes     It probably deserves a 3, but since it's the season premiere and we've been months without Buffy, I'll give it a break.

Comments, questions, answers? Happily agree, or violently disagree? Email me and let me know.

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