Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Buffy's ability to have a halfway normal life are squelched at each pass. When the Watcher finds something in one of his books, anything she wants to do is put aside. Here she meets a guy named Owen, who is the strong silent type, who is taken with her, but whom she can't inform of her "gifts." There is another on of those things that are predicted, which will allow the master escape from his captivity. Two dates with Owen are ruined by the fact that Buffy is a vampire slayer. Things are prophesied, including the deaths of five people on a mini-bus. There is a long involved scene at a mortuary where Buffy must save the day.

Buffy dates. Or tries! I like this episode a lot because it gets back into the overarching season 1 storyline. Some fun stuff with Giles and with Cordelia as well.

Unfolding ancient vampiric prophecy is the central theme as Buffy tries to adapt to a dualistic life... or is it a duelist life? Her friends are with her most of the time, but a split during an investigation goes terribly awry.

Action is there, mostly hand-to-hand combat with uglies and Buffy. A new face is pulled into the mix while dramatic romantic tension swirls around the group. High school is hard enough socially, these baddies from the underworld complicate the problem.

Revealing character development overall, nice to see a progression in the story rather than one-off jump-in jump-out episodes, yet viewer friendly to pull in those who haven't seen the show before.

Excellent episode, the only drawback I think was a bit of 'rinse and repeat' formula as we've seen a lot of these elements in previous episodes. Still, entertaining show and plenty of draw to see more.

Overall I enjoyed this episode as it tied into the story arc for season 1. On paper the anointed one (annoying one) sounded cool but was ultimately a bit of a let down, although I enjoyed the twist reveal/ misdirection. Seeing the Master was a treat as always and I liked how this episode begins to lay the ground work for the S1 finale.

I found it odd Buffy would pine for someone like Owen. I found him dull, pretentious and condescending at times. Buffys attempts to win Owen over were comical though and made for some moments. I have to also give props to Owen for his complete dismissal of Cordelia, but that's all he gets. His character shift at the end of the episode was also quite jarring.

Xander also continues to be Xander as his immature reaction to Buffy and Owen is as eye roll inducing as ever. His language towards Owen and Buffy in general is pretty horrendous and that's before we get too him doing his peeping tom act....

Overall this was a fun episode with a great red herring flung into mix which at the time made the ending more impactful than it would actually go onto be with the "annoying one"

Teenage vampire slayer Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) juggles her social life with staking the undead, dating sensitive hunk Owen (Christopher Wiehl) whilst trying to find the Anointed One, who has been prophesied to rise up and release head bloodsucker The Master (Mark Metcalf). Needless to say, holding down a relationship while dealing with vampires doesn't prove all that easy.

Another Buffy episode that doesn't quite do it for me: whenever the Master and his vampiric acolytes are the central villains of the piece, I tend to switch off (mentally, not literally). Lucky for me, then, that—despite the show being called Buffy The Vampire Slayer—vampires are often the least of her worries, with far more exotic demons and creatures lurking in the shadows waiting to bring death and chaos to Sunnydale. Roll on the next episode...