Just as Luke is about to make Buffy 'lunch' he burns his hand on the cross that Angel gave Buffy. He leaps back in pain and Buffy is able to get out and go after Darla. Xander and Willow have been surrounded by a group of vampires and are about to be re-captured when Buffy arrives to save them all but Jesse who was caught by Darla. Luke and Darla take Jesse before the Master, the most powerful of all the vampires. Jesse becomes bait to lure Buffy to the Master.

Giles and Buffy explain to Xander and Willow about Buffy's calling and about all the strangeness that goes on in Sunnydale. They take it quite well considering.

Buffy offends Xander when she refuses to let him go with her to save Jesse. it's her job and her responsibility. Willow ends up helping Giles do research on her computer.

Once Buffy realises where the vampires are coming from she gets Willow to pull up information on the sewer system and any underground tunnels.

At the mausoleum, Buffy find the entrance to the Master's lair and thr handsome guy turns up again, this time to warn her not to go down there. He introduces himself as Angel and at Buffy's insistance directs her on where to go.

Xander has been following Buffy and catches up with her as she is making her way towards the Master's lair. He tells her that he is going to help ,whether she likes it or not, because Jesse is his friend.

They find Jesse wandering the tunnels and end up running blindly down the tunnels as they are chased by another group of vampires. Jesse leads them into a storage room and reveals himself to be a vampire. Buffy manages to throw him out of the room and get the door closed. But it won't hold for long.

Buffy and Xander have a close escape after finding a ventilation shaft and head back towards the library.

After some more of that research thing, Giles and Willow find out that The harvest is a mass feeding for the Master to allow him to break free of his underground prison and walk the earth.

Back in the vampire's lair, the Master chooses Luke as the Vessel, the vampire that will feed and provide the strength for the Master to get free.

Buffy pops home to get vamp-killing supplies, but ends up getting grounded by her mother. When she does finally mamage to sneak out, it's too late and by the time she gets to the Bronze. Luke and several other vampires have got there first and are beginning the Harvest.

Buffy gatecrashes the private party and fights with Luke, while Willow, Xander and Giles sneak people out the Bronze's back door. Xander saves Cordelia (for the first time) by staking Jesse who is about to make a meal of her. It was an accident, someone bumped into him and the stake plunged . . .

Buffy tricks Luke into believing that the sun had come up by throwing a cymbal stand through one of the blacked-out windows, but the 'sunlight' is just a streetlight.

It distract's him just long enough for Buffy to stake him. Vampires-0 Slayer-1

Now the Master will not be able to rise and the Harvest has been stopped. Hooray!

Our View

Excitment, fights, jokes. The perfect ingredients for a great Buffy episode. The best scene of the episode was when Giles had to explain the role of the Slayer to Will and Xand. Fantastic.

Our Score - 10

The Professional View

Even better. Here we see the various strands that make Buffy work meshing perfectly, with humour and extreme violence to the fore. Extreme eye candy, certainly, but with depth and intelligence. Simply gorgeous.

Their Score - 9