Welcome To The Hellmouth
4V01
"If we don't find her, there's gonna be one more dead body in the morning." - Buffy
Sixteen-year-old Buffy Summers has moved to Sunnydale from L.A., hoping to leave her troubled past behind. But Sunnydale High librarian Rupert Giles knows who Buffy is: she is The Slayer, the one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to hunt and kill vampires. He knows about her past because he is her new Watcher -- the person whose destiny it is to train and guide Slayers on their path. Buffy quickly makes two friends: the shy, bookish Willow, and the goofy but loveable Xander, who is instantly attracted to Buffy.
When a student is found dead in a locker -- with bite marks on his neck and completely drained of his blood -- Giles enlists Buffy's help. She resists, trying to get out of the slaying game for good, but Giles insists that a crucial mystical upheaval is about to occur. Little do they know, a bewildered Xander overhears their conversation -- Buffy's secret is out. Later, in a dark, eerie chamber, we see a vampire who seems to be confirming Giles' prophecy. The vampire, Luke, kneels in front of a pool of blood and says, "The sleeper will awaken. And the world will bleed."
On her way to the Bronze, Sunnydale's hippest (and only) club, Buffy is followed by a handsome, mysterious stranger. He tells her she must be ready for the Harvest, and gives her a small cross. Giles meets her at the Bronze and she tells him about the encounter. Giles convinces her to use her power, and wants her to try to sense if there are any vampires in the room. She does sense one and finds him talking to Willow, but the two have walked away. Trying to catch him unawares, she grabs a makeshift stake, turns a corner and attacks... Cordelia, the snootiest girl in school, who already thought Buffy was a loser for hanging with Willow. Now she thinks Buffy's certifiable. We see Jesse, Xander's buddy, chatting with a girl we saw in vampire garb earlier, but who now appears as a normal student, Darla. Back to the pool of blood, something breaks through the surface and rises: the demonic Master Vampire. He is hungry and weak, and asks Luke to bring him something young.
Outside the Bronze, Buffy enlists Xander's help in finding Willow, who's already been lead to a mausoleum by the vampire. Willow's happy to find Jesse there, until she sees that Darla has already bitten him in the neck. Buffy and Xander enter, and Buffy promptly kills the vampire boy. Now Willow is finally in on the secret. While Darla tries to attack Buffy, Xander and Willow lead a weakened Jesse out. Luke joins the battle and throws Buffy across the room. When Buffy tries to get up, Luke pounces on her and tries to bite into her neck... [to be continued...]
More Information
Welcome to the Hellmouth is a typical introductory episode which spends more time familiarising the audience with the main characters, and explaining the premise. The series picks up more or less where the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" movie ended, but sensibly assumes that the viewer won't have seen it. All the various elements are juggled with consummate skill. Writer Joss Whedon still finds time to work in plot strands that will be taken up in the next episode, while admirably driving the narrative forward.
First impressions are very favourable. The main characters are appealing, and the show's premise is commendably unusual. This is hardly surprising, as most of the bugs were worked out by the feature film, and an elusive untransmitted pilot episode. At this stage, the characters seem fairly stock, (the computer nerd, the stuffy British librarian, etc), but they're quickly fleshed out in the next couple of episodes. Even in the era that's given us The X-Files and countless inferior spin- offs, there's no show that's directly comparable to Buffy.
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