Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lessons

"And stay away from hyena people. And any lizardy-type athletes..."

And so we're back to Buffy, and at last we're starting the final season. It's fantastic to find that this episode is written by Joss Whedon himself. Whatever happens later on, this season gets a fantastic start with a script so quotable it made choosing the quote a real problem. I mean, I could have gone for "Synchronised swimming. Complete mystery to me", which is a comment I have much sympathy with me.

We start, though, with a mysterious sequence in Istanbul where some cliche baddie monks catch a girl and brandish what looks awfully like a sacrificial knife. It looks potentially both nasty and arc-related; we will see.

We then move, following how last season ended, to Buffy teaching Dawn how to fight vampires, which is nice to see. And of course a contractual scene with Willow and Giles in the inevitably picturesque English countryside, where Willow is being taught to control her powers by an apparently cool yet unseen coven led by a suspiciously Marvelesque "Miss Harkness". Willow seems pretty together now, getting used to living with the guilt, the fear and Giles going "all Dumbledore" on her. Interesting that Giles mentions in passing that Willow's magic is not an addiction; an acknowledgement that it was always a clumsy metaphor?

But the big thing is the re-opening of Sunnydale High and the baddie of the week- some zombie-ghosts of people Buffy failed to save. Dawn's first day at school seems to parallel Buffy's, to the extent of her acquiring friends to parallel Willow and Xander, although fortunately there's no Jesse figure. The new Principal seems mysterious and interesting; he seems rather quick to offer Buffy a job as counsellor. I'm sure we will learn more.

Oh, and we find a confused Spike, or rather William, very vulnerable and completely losing his cool. But something is coming, something which Willow feels through the Earth and which Spike sees as brief cameos by Warren, Glory, Adam, Mayor Wilkins, Drusilla and the Master. Something which sets up the season to come with some elegant breaking of the fourth wall. There promises to be, indeed, quite a ride...