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.

It's a rare case of Buffy truly crushing on a boy who is not Angel, although there are similarities - Owen is tall, brooding, and likes to read. Buffy tries to make two dates with the guy, but in each case "emergency slaying duties" pop up and she has to not show up at all in the first case and leave suddenly in the second case. Unfortunately, in the second event, Owen decides to follow her.

There's a funny scene in The Bronze where Cordelia, Owen, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Angel are all gathered around with everybody talking in code about the danger that's going on and where it's going on while trying to not let Owen in on what's happening. There's also Angel looking rather jealous at the Owen/Buffy situation.

At the ending there is a bonding moment between Buffy and Giles with a kind of father/daughter discussion where Giles tells Buffy about how his dreams of being a fighter pilot were destroyed when his own father told him that his destiny was to be a watcher. It's one of the first of many such scenes where Giles becomes the father figure Buffy needs in her life.

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.

Is it just me or does this Owen guy look like he could be Buffy's dad? Seriously doesn't he look about 35 years old?

It's a fun episode- definitely not a masterpiece but there are still plenty of good lines and jokes. I always enjoy seeing Xander desperately hanging in the periphery!

I really loved the final reveal at the end! I hope the little kid thing gets explored in subsequent episodes.

Too many Snappy quirky comebacks get old really fast. Buffy not acting like a teenager but a 12-year-old that's boy crazy. Ick, just ick Terrible writing terrible story thank God the rest of the episodes are better.