Welcome to Sunnydale two new vampires, Spike (also known as William the Bloody) and his lady friend Drusilla. Spike is a rebellious kind of guy, not liking all the rituals and traditions of the vampires and Dru ius crazily insane and the love of Spike's life. Well, now the introductions are done, lets get on with the story.

Their arrival in Sunnydale coincides with the Festival of St. Vigeous, the one time of the year when the vampires are all powerful and a real menace.

Before then, though is the night which strikes fear into Buffy's heart, Parent-Teacher Night. It's Snyder's Hoop of the Week. Buffy (along with a girl called Sheila) have to organise the whole event without any help from anyone else. Snyder just wants them to fail and Buffy is scared to death about what her teachers will say to her mother, and if Snyder get's hold of her mother, she might as well leave now.

The Annointed One and his followers are not happy with Spike's arrival and his taking over of the dwindling numbers of vampires. Spike however, has other things on his mind - namely the Slayer and he goes to the Bronze to watch her and sees her kill a vampire in an alley by the Bronze. he congratulates her on her kill and tells her that he will kill her on Saturday.

Unfortunately for both Spike and Buffy, Spike gets too impatient and attacks the school two days early, on Parent-Teacher Night. Buffy, her mother and Snyder end up trapped in a closest with a few other people while Spike strolls the halls, giving an ugly death to anyone foolish enough to get in his way.

Buffy makes her escpae from the closest warning everyone else to stay there, she then goes off to get some weapons. Angel, Giles and Xander are in the library. Angel decides to create a diversion using Xander. Xander (stupidly?) agrees and is dragged out by Angel in the guise of being lunch. Angel and Spike meet and we learn that the two of them already know each other, (Spike calls Angel his sire) and Angel (pretneding to be a nasty vampire) offers Xander to Spike as a Snack. References to Anne Rice ahoy!

Still trapped in the closest, Snyder and Joyce argue which prompts Snyder to drawn some derogatory observations about Buffy and her mother.

Buffy and Spike finally meet again and get into a lovely big fight, which Spike gets the upper hand in, until Joyce (who went to find her daughter) turns up and clubs him over the head with the handle of a fire axe. Hooray Joyce

All the vampires retreat while they still can. Once they are gone the authorities are called and Snyder and the police chief concoct a stroy about the vampires beig a gang on PCP, because no one would beleive the truth otherwise.

Spike returns to the Annointed One, tail between his legs, but is angered by the 'Annoying One's' attitude and throws him ina cage and exposes him to sunlight. Goodbye little boy. Spike takes control of the Sunnydale vampires and then goes off to watch TV with Dru.

Our views

Hooray for Spike and Dru, our two favourite vamps. This episode was a stunner right from the start. The scene where Angel uses Xander as bait was really good, especially the references to Anne Rice. The exchanges in the closest between Joyce and Snyder were fantastic. And we're glad the Annoying One is gone, because we did not like him.

Our score - 10

The Professional View

A gorgeous episode. Drop-dead funny but with a basic tension right up to the closing scene and the first hint of an 'X-Files'-like conspiracy arc waiting to happen! The introsduction of Spike and Drusilla is the point at which 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' went from being a merely very good show into a great one!

Their Score - 10