| "Lessons" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 7 Episode 1 | ||
| Directed by | David Solomon | ||
| Written by | Joss Whedon | ||
| Production code | 7ABB01 | ||
| Original air date | September 24, 2002 (2002-09-24) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayerseason 7 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Lessons" is the first episode of theseventh season of the television showBuffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired onUPN on September 24, 2002. Dawn finds vengeful spirits in the new Sunnydale High while Giles is rehabilitating Willow in England.
InIstanbul, a dark-haired girl is pursued through an arched hallway by two people in hooded cloaks. After trying various escape routes, she is trapped in a dead-end. She sees a drain pipe and uses it to scale the building, barely escaping the duo and easily climbing up to the roof. There, another hooded figure is waiting and pushes her off the building. She screams, but she lands on the ground alive, on her back. Two hooded figures hold her down, yet she fights back. A third figure raises an arched, shiny, silver dagger and stabs her.
Buffy is inSunnydale training her sister how to fight vampires. She instructsDawn that fighting and slaying are about power. They discuss the fact that Sunnydale High has just reopened; Dawn will be attending for the first time.Xander, who is working construction at Sunnydale High, notes that the principal's office is right over the Hellmouth. Buffy follows Dawn into the school where she meetsPrincipal Robin Wood.
Buffy goes into a bathroom, where she finds a mysterioustalisman. Upon seeing the talisman, she sees adead girl who threatens her. She says Buffy was unable to protect her, and that she will not be able to protect Dawn either. Buffy tries to warn Dawn, but ends up only embarrassing her in front of her whole class. Dawn then sees a similar dead student. She hurries to the bathroom where she meets Kit Holburn, who has also been seeing things. They are about to leave the bathroom when the floor caves in and they wind up in the high school basement. Dawn and Kit run into another student in the basement, Carlos Trejo, who says he saw a dead janitor. They are soon confronted by the three dead people, who tell them that everyone dies in Sunnydale, and they will be no different.
Dawn calls Buffy on her cell phone. Buffy descends into the basement to help Dawn, only to run into the three dead people herself. After a brief conversation (the dead girl, for example, says that she "was ripped to death by awerewolf"), Buffy realizes that the three dead people are trying to prevent her from going through a certain door. Buffy makes it to the door on her second try. She opens the door, but instead of finding Dawn and the other two students, Buffy finds a derangedSpike. Once Buffy locks the dead people out on the other side of the door, she realizes Spike is frail and unwell. She asks him about a series of cuts on his chest, and he replies that he tried to "cut it out". Before their conversation can continue, Dawn calls Buffy again. In spite of Spike's mad rambling, he is able to tell Buffy that the dead students are notzombies orghosts, but actually manifest spirits controlled by a talisman, raised to seek vengeance.[1] Buffy tells Dawn to find a weapon because the spirits are corporeal, and then leaves Spike alone, seeing that he is in no shape to help her.
Buffy then calls Xander and tells him to seek and destroy the talisman. Buffy follows Dawn's screams to another room in the basement, where she finds Dawn has made a weapon from a purse filled with bricks. Dawn throws the weapon to Buffy, who then fights the spirits off as Xander wrestles with one in the bathroom after locating the talisman. Xander breaks it and the spirits disappear.
Back in the school proper, Buffy sends Dawn, Kit, and Carlos off to class with some words of advice. Wood is impressed that Buffy is able to convince Kit and Carlos, the only two students with school records as long as Buffy's, to socialize and to go to class. He offers her a job working as an outreach counselor at the school, and she gladly accepts.
Spike huddles in the school basement and tells anapparition ofWarren Mears that he has prepared a speech to give Buffy, but she will not understand what he has to say. As Warren paces around Spike, he morphs successively intoGlory,Adam,Mayor Wilkins,Drusilla andthe Master - the previous villains of the series in reverse order. They all speak to Spike about a plan "to go back to the beginning," and finally, the Master morphs into Buffy, telling Spike that it is not about right or wrong: it is about power.
Meanwhile,Willow is studying withGiles inWestbury,England. She studies magic and meditation with acoven ofWiccans that Giles knows. She is learning control, but feels frightened and distraught because she "killed people" andnearly destroyed the world with her dark magic. Later, she has a terrible vision of "the Earth's teeth" — the Hellmouth. She tells Giles, who has taught her that everything is connected, but not every connection is good.[1]
The scenes set in Westbury were actually shot atAnthony Head's house inSomerset, England. He owns the horse seen in the episode, and it is named "Otto".[2]
Kali Rocha filmed all of her scenes for this season in one day, including those in "Selfless".
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