A friendly demon offers Faith and Buffy the Books of Ascension for $5,000. Faith, now a double agent, butchers him at his home and takes the books, on orders from the Mayor.

She also tries to seduce Angel, so he’ll lose his soul, which doesn’t work, but makes Buffy jealous. The Mayor hires a black-clad sorcerer to take his soul with magic, and Angelus is back! He and Faith team up and capture Buffy. Faith lets some details about the Mayor’s ascension slip, then Angel and Buffy reveal they were just acting, and now they know the ascension will be on Graduation Day. The sorcerer was just returning a favour to Giles. Buffy is disturbed by how convincing Angel’s act was, and needs some time off.

Review:
The writers continue to tantalise the audience with little details about the Mayor’s past, and the animosity between Faith and Buffy steps up another big notch. The scene where Faith gloats immediately prior to finding out Buffy and Angel have tricked her is fantastic television, full stop.

Best line: Mayor Wilkins: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat. And I happen to know that’s factually true.”

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Trivia: The Mayor is over a hundred years old, and apparently “built Sunnydale for demons to feast on.”

Buffy and Angel got to see the film Le Banquet d’Amelia. It’s a bit... saucy.