Finally, the real vampire shows himself to the Scooby gang
Her
Royal Buffness is shaken — and more than a little stirred — when she and her
friends come face to face with THE greatest vampire of all time.
Yup,
it's Dracula himself. The big man. The one, the only, undisputed deadweight
champion of the worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrld! Dracula.
While
Buffy is powerless under Dracula’s thrall, much to the chagrin of a jealous
Riley, Xander becomes the dark one’s emissary and leads his friends into peril.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Buffy, Giles is seriously contemplating returning to
England as he feels she no longer needs his help.
Despite
staking him a good few times, he keeps coming back, in best, sequel hunting
tradition, and the battle royale is on. And just when you think things can't
get weirder, Buffy's little sister turns up. One who's never existed before...
Review:
No matter how you approach it, the concept of pitting Buffy against Dracula
sounds ludicrous. Considering that Buffy is a show that masterfully walks the
fine line between drama and camp, anything that forces the show to step outside
itself could ruin the entire mystique.
While
no one wants to start out a new season by continuing to smooch the creative
buts of the personnel at Mutant Enemy, we find that we just can't help
ourselves. Writer Marti Noxon and director David Solomon get the new year off
to a great start as the so-called King of the Vampires arrives on the scene to
check out the world famous Slayer for himself. Not to kill her, mind you, but
to get a sense of exactly who she is.
The
lovely touches throughout the episode - Dracula lives in a castle which nobody
has noticed was there before, for instance - or Spike's total lack of
impressedness at Dracula's abilities. Outstanding stuff.
Best line:
Xander: No, we're not going to (imitates Dracula's accent) leave you. And
where'd you get that accent Sesame Street? One, two, three — three victims.
Mwah, ha, ha, ha!