buffy9x07
Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.
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TEASER
FADE IN:
1 EXT. WOODED AREA - NIGHT 1
In a small clearing within what appears to be a vast wooded
area stands a man -- a watcher named MAX along with his
slayer -- SIERRA. Max is a tall, slender man in his late
thirties and dresses in typical watcher fashion.
He is preparing a circle on the shadowed ground as Sierra is
lighting a series of candles at his side. She looks somewhere
around sixteen -- definitely not of age yet. She places the
candles, one by one, within the circle's circumference. The
candles are placed strategically in the circle with precise
distance from one another.
As she finishes and the last candle is in its place, Max
kneels down within the circle and places a book on the ground
by his side. Though he appears utterly calm, his slayer
doesn't appear to be nearly as confident and he takes note;
speaking with a British accent.
MAX
Things are going to be okay,
Sierra.
SIERRA
I know.
MAX
You're nervous?
SIERRA
(quickly)
No…
Her watcher is obviously not buying it.
SIERRA (cont'd)
Okay. A little bit.
MAX
That's perfectly understandable,
but you have nothing to fear. This
is just one of the many trials that
you'll have to face as a slayer and
it will be by no means the worst.
SIERRA
(hesitantly)
Is this thing worse than a vampire?
MAX
Considerably. But you are an
extremely capable slayer and I'm
fully optimistic that you will
reign victorious.
SIERRA
(nervous)
Okay…
MAX
Now, if you'll hand me the
talisman?
Sierra hands him a small talisman from within her pocket. He
holds it tightly within his hand as begins the ritual.
MAX (cont'd)
Lokane, I beseech thee. Please hear
my plea. I humbly beg you to appear
before me.
He pulls a small container from within a nearby bag and pours
it's contents - blood - upon the ground. Sierra watches with
fear as Max continues the ritual.
MAX (O.S.) (cont'd)
I offer you blood. I offer that
your will may be done. Lokane… now
you will come.
Max stops and Sierra looks nervously at her surroundings,
clenching the swords in her hands more tightly -- nothing.
She spins several times around, but still nothing.
SIERRA
(fearfully)
Max?
(BEAT)
Is it here?
LOKANE (O.S.)
Fools!
Sierra quickly whips around to see her watcher lying
unconscious on the ground.
Above him hovers LOKANE -- a hideously vile demon with a
severely disfigured face. What could almost be mistaken as
scars on its face seem to possess more of an ornate value. He
stands well over six feet tall and is wearing a sort of black
battle gear over his muscled body.
He stands, glaring at Sierra.
LOKANE
You've summoned me for a training
exhibition?
SIERRA
I… we…
LOKANE
(walking towards her)
Do you even know what I am, little
girl?
SIERRA
You're Lo… I mean I know that…
Lokane smiles boldly, revealing a set of exquisitely horrific
fangs.
LOKANE
I'm going to have fun with you…
Max is slowly beginning to come around as we hear the
beginning of Sierra's fight. Several scrapes of the sword and
a hiss later -- a SCREAM rings out.
Max's eyes quickly burst open and he watches in horror.
From Max's ground level and sideways view, all we see is
Lokane's massive feet.
Several seconds later, however, Sierra's body lands on the
ground with a THUD. She lays motionless -- dead.
Lokane stands, licking his fingers and chuckling merrily to
himself.
LOKANE (cont'd)
I love the taste of innocence.
(turning to Max)
Don't you?
As he turns back, however, the circle is empty. Max is gone.
Lokane scowls and mutters some curse under his breath - this
is far from over.
BLACK OUT:
END OF TEASER
ACT ONE
FADE IN:
2 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - LOUNGE - MORNING 2
XANDER, ANYA, and ANDREW lounge around the lounge in the
early morning hours. Xander and Anya sit together on the
couch with Andrew laid out across the floor, watching
television. Xander appears to have dozed off.
ANYA
Honey?
(beat)
Xander?
No response. Anya sighs and takes a deep breath.
ANYA (cont'd)
(yelling)
Xander!!
Xander jumps from his place on the couch.
XANDER
Wh-what? Is it the baby? Are you
okay? Are you in labor?!
ANYA
(holds up an empty jar)
No, but now that you're up, I would
like an extra pillow, and that
glamour magazine I caught Andrew
reading earlier, so I can try and
curse all the people in it who look
prettier than I do.
XANDER
Magazine?
Anya gives him the look of a vengeance demon and he realizes
that now is not the time to ask questions.
XANDER (cont'd)
(forcing a smile)
Yes, dear…
As Anya's face clicks unnervingly quickly back into sweetness
and love, Xander begins to walk toward the kitchen, before
having a pearl of wisdom for Andrew.
XANDER (cont'd)
(to Andrew)
You should thank God daily for the
gift of homosexuality.
ANYA (O.S.)
Xander? Still a definite pillow
shortage in here!
Xander sighs again and exits the room.
3 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - BUFFY'S ROOM 3
BUFFY and WILLOW sit quietly on Buffy's bed, meditating. They
sit, legs crossed and hands held, as Willow works to help
heal the still-injured Buffy.
BUFFY
(mock war movie speak)
Give it to me straight, Doc... How
bad is it?
WILLOW
(playing along)
I'm sorry, son - the leg's gonna
have to go.
The girls share a laugh for a moment - but the moment soon
fades. Willow picks up on Buffy's defeated expression and
lets go of her hands, looking sympathetically back at her.
WILLOW (cont'd)
Are you okay?
BUFFY
Huh? Oh, yeah, 'course I am. I just
got my little behind kicked around
by a new and possibly unstoppable
demon that we have to stop, and to
cap it all I keep running into my
ex.
(sighs)
Yup, things are sure looking up
here on Walton's Mountain.
WILLOW
Hey, this is just a temporary
setback, right? I mean, we've
bounced back after you getting much
bigger beatings than this before,
no reason we can't do it this time
with a hundred per cent more
success.
Willow closes her eyes with a smile and reaches out for
Buffy's hands again to carry on the meditation.
Buffy takes her hands - but doesn't share Willow's look of
quiet confidence one bit.
4 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - KITCHEN 4
GILES and MARIE are sitting at the kitchen table, doing
research, as Xander walks in from the lounge.
XANDER
(sarcastic)
Have you ever felt the
uncontrollable urge to kill your
fiancée and eat your young?
Giles and Marie share a look, before Marie chuckles and pats
Xander on the head.
MARIE
It does get easier, Xander, trust
me.
XANDER
You got kids of your own?
MARIE
Me? Oh, goodness, no, can't stand
the little monsters, but I raised
plenty of them. My sister's a one
woman baby factory, I've got five
nieces and nephews back in England,
last time I checked.
GILES
I'm sure Xander's choice of
sarcastic comment was just for
effect. This time, anyway.
XANDER
(sarcastically)
I'll try to control myself in
future.
Xander begins rummaging through the cabinets.
GILES
(cleaning his glasses)
How are Buffy and Willow getting on
upstairs?
XANDER
I think she's getting better.
Willow's using a healing spell to
try and coax out some of the left
over badness from her little
Caretaker incident.
(beat)
Hey, do you guys know if there are
any more pickles, or any more yams
for that matter?
GILES
I know for a fact that there are no
yams, and as far as pickles, your
guess is as good as mine.
MARIE
There are no pickles.
Xander turns around with a look of fear placed firmly upon
his face.
XANDER
(direly)
You guys have got to be kidding…
GILES
Xander, there is an entire
refrigerator full of food! I'm sure
you can find something else!
XANDER
No. It wasn't for me. It was for
Anya. See, I'm trying this new
thing where I anticipate her food
cravings, and tonight's experiments
rests solely on me having pickles
and yams in the next ten minutes...
GILES
Oh, dear…
XANDER
(solemnly)
Yeah. That's right. I can't go back
in there without one or the other
readily available. She'll have the
uncontrollable urge to curse her
fiancée. - and for once, that is
not sarcasm.
Xander peers back around the corner and into the lounge.
5 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - LOUNGE 5
Anya sits with Andrew at her side. They appear to be going
over plans for the wedding. She laughs heartily at something
that Andrew says.
6 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - KITCHEN 6
Xander pulls back from the corner and presses his back up
against the wall -- petrified.
XANDER
And she's looking at wedding plans!
You guys haven't seen me, okay?
Xander rushes towards the back door and makes his escape.
MARIE
(smiling to Giles)
To be young again, eh, Rupert?
Makes me wonder why we made such a
fuss of it all when we were their
age.
GILES
(grins)
It wasn't that long ago, was it?
They share a reciprocal smile.
GILES (cont'd)
Yes, well… back to research?
MARIE
Of course.
Marie gets back into her books, but Giles takes another long
look at her - his attraction to her as clearly on show as a
big old flag waving over his head.
7 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - BUFFY'S ROOM 7
Buffy and Willow still sit motionless on the bed. Finally
Willow opens her eyes while Buffy's remain closed. She
appears to be almost in a state of euphoria.
WILLOW
Feel better?
BUFFY
(sly grin)
Does a girl enjoy sex after
slaying?
Buffy quickly opens her eyes to see Willow staring back with
her eyebrows intriguingly raised. She squirms.
BUFFY (cont'd)
Did I just say that out loud?
WILLOW
'Fraid so.
BUFFY
Well, not that it's out, the answer
to that question is yes.
WILLOW
(smiling promiscuously)
Good to know.
BUFFY
You should open up shop, Will.
People would pay good money for…
She begins to stand, but winces and quickly sits back down.
BUFFY (cont'd)
… pain!
WILLOW
(helping her back down)
You're not totally healed yet.
BUFFY
I noticed.
WILLOW
It's not a miracle. It's magic.
It'll help, but it won't cure it
altogether without pulling power
from some high up forces and I
don't really feel like having a
snake slither from my mouth this
morning, so… this is the best
you'll get for now. But, still,
better than a kick to the ass!
BUFFY
Agreed. It beats being in a lie
induced coma.
(beat)
I'm still hurting from the
Caretaker, obviously, but… I'm
gonna be fine.
Willow senses the lack of sincerity in Buffy's voice towards
the end.
WILLOW
But…?
BUFFY
(forcing a smile)
But I'm kind of freaked.
(beat)
You know that after I woke up, I
was going to leave.
WILLOW
(understanding)
Yeah?
BUFFY
I just wanted to leave this life
behind. I'm just sick and tired of
feeling sick and tired. You know?
Willow nods.
BUFFY (cont'd)
I thought that it would be great to
maybe be able to lead a quasi
normal life for once.
(beat)
And I almost did. The only thing
that kept me from doing so, was you
guys...and that almost wasn't even
enough. I know that sounds
terrible…
(motioning to a bruise on
her face)
… but it was because of things just
like this. This Caretaker came
along just like the rest of the Big
Bads always have. And after I kill
him there will be another, and
another. I just…
(tearing up)
I don't know that I can handle this
again!
Breaking Benjamin's 'Rain' begins playing in the background
as Buffy breaks into tears. Willow takes Buffy into her arms
and begins trying to console her.
WILLOW
Ssh... It's okay. Everything's
going to be okay.
Though unbeknownst to Buffy, tears begin to slowly roll down
Willow's face as well.
We linger around for several seconds watching Buffy and
Willow share an outpour of emotions before we cut to:
8 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - LOUNGE - AFTERNOON 8
Buffy enters the lounge to find most everyone pitching in for
research mode. She pauses for a moment to make sure there are
no tears showing on her face before she steps into everyone's
view.
BUFFY
Any luck?
ANYA
(mouth full of food)
Be int bind nthng. norry.
Buffy stares at her in confusion.
XANDER
Roughly translated… that means 'we
ain't found crap.'
BUFFY
(disbelief)
Nothing?
GILES
Sorry, Buffy. I'm afraid not.
MARIE
While we've been able to start
locating references to the
Caretaker in our books, now we know
who we're looking for, we've turned
up nothing on how to stop or even
wound him.
(sighs)
I'd settle for giving him a limp or
a bloody headache at the moment...
BUFFY
Why is it that every time something
big comes along, we have no idea
what it is? We need to write this
stuff down for future generations.
ANDREW
(raising his hand)
I could-
BUFFY
No.
ANDREW
You don't even know what I was
going to say!
BUFFY
You were going to try to break out
your skeezy little camcorder and
play documentary time with the
slayer again.
ANDREW
Hey! That's a very expensive and
well crafted camcorder. But aside
from that, yeah… that's what I was
going to say.
(thinking)
Do you have ESP?
BUFFY
(ignoring Andrew)
So what's the plan?
XANDER
Plan?
BUFFY
Okay. What's not the plan?
XANDER
We do have a lot of those.
ANYA
(mouth still full)
Abey ee cud ooz a dentinl mrtal oo
kill t.
Everyone stares at her for several seconds before she
swallows her food.
ANYA (cont'd)
What I said, was that maybe we
could use a dimensional portal to
kill it, or to trap it anyway.
GILES
That's actually not a bad idea!
Anya has already gotten another bite of food before
answering.
ANYA
(nodding)
Ank oo.
XANDER
That is a great idea, hon, but we
still don't know where to find it.
MARIE
Or any of its weaknesses.
BUFFY
So we're still planless?
WILLOW
Well, we've got an outline of a
plan. That's a start, right?
GILES
It's a start. We'll keep searching.
I'm confident we'll find something
before long.
Buffy looks like she wishes she could share their optimism,
and leaves the room again.
9 EXT. STREETS OF CLEVELAND - NIGHT 9
Max steps into the crowded streets of Cleveland from the
depths of your typical taxi cab. He cautiously inspects his
surroundings as he takes his bag from the trunk and tips the
cabbie.
Satisfied that no imminent danger is present, he starts his
trek across the street and disappears into the sea of people.
10 EXT. ALLEYWAY 10
As the taxi pulls away, we can barely make out a FIGURE
standing in the alleyway just across the street. The eyes
quickly glow red and fade slowly away as the figure fades
into the shadows.
BLACK OUT:
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
FADE IN:
11 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - KITCHEN - MORNING 11
The gang huddles around the kitchen counter, trying to get
breakfast before going about their Monday morning business.
Buffy and Giles stand alongside one another at the counter,
preparing their respective plates.
BUFFY
So I guess you didn't find anything
more after I went to bed?
GILES
Nothing, I'm afraid. And I've
exhausted every resource that this
particular Head Watcher has at his
disposal.
BUFFY
So it's hopeless?
GILES
Not hopeless. Just frustrating.
Something will come about, I'm
certain.
BUFFY
(doubtful)
Yeah, because we're just lucky like
that. The Caretaker is more likely
to show up again before any
information on him does!
Giles acknowledges her statement with a subtle look of
disclosure.
MARIE (O.S.)
Hello?
BUFFY
In here!
Marie enters the kitchen.
MARIE
I should have known that you would
all be in the kitchen.
XANDER
You know us. We can't get through a
day without-
The doorbell RINGS. Everyone looks to one another curiously --
who could it be? Buffy exits the room to answer the door.
Max is waiting on the doorstep for her and she blinks in
surprise at him as he nods a greeting to her.
MAX
Buffy Summers? Maxwell Sherman. I
was hoping that I might have a word
with you.
BUFFY
(untrusting)
About what?
MAX
You are Miss Buffy Summers, I
presume?
BUFFY
It really depends on who's asking.
What is this about? Because if
you're here about the phone bill,
we paid it yesterday.
MAX
No, no. You've got me confused. I'm
here on professional business, but
not that of a phone company. More
along the supernatural lines.
BUFFY
Okay. I'm not so good with riddles
or euphemisms, so if you've got
something to say you should just
come out and say it.
MAX
I'm a Watcher.
BUFFY
Oh. Why didn't you just say so?
(stepping aside)
Giles! There's a Watcher here.
MAX
(impressed)
Giles? Rupert Giles is here?
BUFFY
(confused)
Yeah. He stays here when he's in
town. I know, he sounds pushy, but
it's kind of the watcher-slayer
code of conduct. Teach you to slay…
stay in your house. I'm sure you
know all about that, though, being
a Watcher, you're… wait.
(beat)
You're not another evil Watcher,
are you?
MAX
I assure you, my intentions are
honorable.
Giles comes to stand alongside Buffy at the door.
GILES
Yes?
MAX
Mr. Giles! It's an honor to meet
you. My name is Maxwell Sherman.
GILES
Maxwell… oh, you're in South
Dakota. You're Sierra Goldman's
Watcher.
MAX
(beat; smiling boldly)
Yes. I am. I'm honored that you
know who I am!
GILES
Yes, well, I've tried to make
certain that I familiarize myself
with most every Watcher-Slayer
relationship. With the overwhelming
number of girls there now are,
however, it's proven to be quite
difficult.
MAX
Yes. I suppose it has.
There is an awkward beat - Giles looks the new arrival up and
down, and Max shifts nervously from foot to foot before Buffy
interrupts.
BUFFY
I really hate to break up the old
people party here, but is this just
a social call or are we in some
kind of grave danger?
(looking out the door)
And where is your Slayer?
MAX
(hesitantly)
That's why I've come. I fear the
worst has happened Mr. Giles.
Sierra was killed last night.
Buffy and Giles trade troubled looks before we cut to:
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Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.