SEASON SEVEN EPISODE GUIDE

Episode 7-1: Lessons
The Season 7 Premier

A young woman is running for her life though the dark streets of Istanbul, being pursued by two cloaked men. When they finally do catch the terrified girl, one of them kills her her w/ a ritualistic looking knife.  

Back in Sunnydale, Buffy is living up to her promise to train Dawn, prepping her for a newly arriving vamp. Although she tries, Dawn almost gets whacked, and Buffy has to save her. The two discuss the next big evil that Dawn will face…Cut to grand re-opening of the brand-new, state of the art Sunnydale High School, built on the same grounds where the last one stood.

We learn that Willow has been in England with Giles, who, with the help of the magical coven that instilled him with their powers last season, is trying to teach her to control her powers. Willow is extremely remorseful, and feels that, since she killed people, she should be punished. What she really wants is to be her old self again, but Giles reminds her that the power is in her, and she is responsible for controlling it.  

Xander rolls up to the Summers house in his brand new Chrysler, donning a spiffy suit (who says college is required?). He has with him the floor plans for the new High School. Buffy is growing more and more nervous with Dawn attending the school. When they compare the new floor plans with the old one, we see that the new Principal’s office is located where the library used to be – right over the Hellmouth. Before they leave for school, Buffy gives Dawn a present… 

While having coffee, Halfrek explains to Anya that the lower beings have not been impressed by her laughable-at-best vengeance spells. Anya's trying, but Hallie points out that all the powers are watching her, waiting for her to slip up.

Buffy drops Dawn off, and is slightly embarrassed when the new principal, Principal Wood, refers to her as Dawn’s mother. When she corrects him, he recalls that he’s read through Buffy’s file. He seems like a nice, hip guy. Once Dawn walks off, Buffy decides to stick around and check things out. Once the halls are clear, Buffy spots a suspicious Spanish kid, whom she follows, but loses just as fast. She stops in the bathroom and finds some weird branch looking object. She leaves it alone, and is then face to face with a very pissed of ghost zombie-looking thing.  

Dawn is introducing herself to her new class when Buffy bursts in the room screaming for her. Once Buffy realizes that she looks like a crazy person, she makes up a lame excuse for her barging in and makes a less-then-graceful exit, leaving poor Dawn sooo embarrassed. Later, the guy next to Dawn asks her for a pencil. When she gives to him, she sees him as a nasty zombie, just before he JAMS it in her eye. Completely freaked, she leaps from her seat, screaming, holding her eye, only to realize that her whole class is staring at her, and that there is no guy next to her. She excuses herself to go the bathroom.  

While there, Dawn befriends a frightened girl names Kit, who is hiding out from something terrifying, but she doesn’t think Dawn will believe her. That changes when they realize that they’re surrounded by ghost zombies (including the one that attacked Buffy and the one that attacked Dawn). They try to run, but end up getting sucked into the floor.  

Still roaming the halls, checking for evil, Buffy runs into Principal Wood. He explains to her that he knows more about her past then he led on earlier…her file is kind of required reading for principal candidates. Buffy tries to explain that there were “factors.” 

Dawn and Kit, hurting from their fall, try to make their way to an exit in the basement. They run into another student, Carlos, who is also lost. He came downstairs for a smoke, but when he met one of the zombie people, he ran like a girl. When the three of them are corner, Dawn whips a cell phone from her pocket.  

Buffy’s cell rings, and she abruptly leaves her convo w/ principal wood. She gets to the bathroom and jumps in the whole. When she’s confronted by the zombies, they make it clear that she’s the reason they’re all dead. But this new Buffy doesn’t feel sorry for them. She demands to know where they’re keeping Dawn, and makes the assumption that she’s behind the door they’re protecting. Buffy has a hard time fighting them off, but she manages to get the door open, and is face to face with Spike. She locks the two of them in the room he came from, shielding them from the baddies. Spike is obviously stressing, as his irrelevant babbling force the words "...are you real?" out of Buffy's mouth. One thing Buffy takes note of is the deep, bloody scratches over where Spike's heart would be...when asked about the marks, he replies, scared, "I tried to cut it out..."

Anyway, Dawn calls Buffy again, and Spike babbles that things she's fighting are manifested zombies, and that they can be killed by destroying the talisman that controls them. Buffy has a thought and calls Xander. Buffy finally tracks down Dawn and whips the baddies as Xander gets to the bathroom and destroys the branch thing Buffy had found earlier. The baddies disappear. 

Once they get back upstairs, Buffy offers the freighted youngsters a bit of advice...Sunnydale high can be a little hairy, but they'll be OK if they stick together. When he witnesses how good Buffy is with the kids, Principal Wood offers her a job with the school's community outreach program, and she happily accepts.

Meanwhile, alone in the basement, Spike gripes about Buffy, and we see that he's talking to Warren, who informs him that Buffy cannot understand what he is. Warren morphs into Glory, who warns that soon she'll be the talk of the world. Glory changes into Adam, who announces that everyone is where they should be. Adam morphs into The Mayor, who comments about how useless Spike's soul is, and then he turns into Drusilla, who informs Spike that he belongs to her. She turns into the Master, who explains there will be a return to the literal beginning in the near future, adding that the next few months will be. He mocks Spike for trying to do what's right, and adds that "it's not about what's right or wrong..." Then, he morphs into Buffy who continues, "...It's about power."