When She Was Bad
Buffy returns to Sunnydale from spending summer vacation with her father in Los Angeles. Willow and Xander are relieved at first, as the summer has been exceedingly dull, though Buffy returns just in time to save the pair from a vampire-the first such they've seen since the Master was killed. The relief turns to concern, however, as Buffy is withdrawn, snappish, a little too eager to continue her training, and more rude to Cordelia than even she deserves. She also has a nightmare about Giles attacking her while Willow and Xander calmly look on. When the Master's buried bones go missing, everyone is concerned. Giles learns of a revivification rite that requires the "closest" to the Master when he died. It turns out to be a bad translation from Sumerian to Latin, and by the time he realizes it mean "nearest", he and Willow are taken, along with Cordelia and Jenny, all of whom were next to the Master when he was impaled. Buffy, Xander, and Angel must stop the Anointed One and his new deputy, Absalom, from completing the ceremony.
The romantic entaglements kick into high gear in this episode. Xander and Willow come within microns of actually kissing each other in the teaser after Xander licks ice cream off Willow's nose-interrupted by the vampire attack and Buffy's return to the Hellmouth. Buffy, still reeling from her experiences with the Master and refusing to outwardly deal with it, plays mind games with all her friends, and she is cold to angel.
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