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What's My Line, Part One

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season 2, Episode 9
Air date November 17, 1997
Written by Howard Gordon
Marti Noxon
Directed by David Solomon
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What's My Line, Part Two

"What's My Line, Part One" is episode 9 of season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Contents

Plot

As career week arrives, Buffy feels isolated and apathetic because the students around her are exploring their choices for the future, while her fate as the Slayer is already set in stone. Even so, she must join Willow and Xander in filling out career questionnaires.

Spike works on a cure for Drusilla as she lays out Tarot cards. He becomes frustrated with Dru's childlike behavior and ruminates on Buffy's interference in his plans. He believes Drusilla's cure can be found in the book, stolen from Rupert Giles, that Billy Fordham delivered to him in "Lie to Me".  Dalton, a vampire transcriber, is unable to read  it.  Drusilla informs Spike that the book is in code, and she knows the location of the key needed to decipher it.

Buffy witnesses Dalton stealing an object from a mausoleum, but he escapes when she is distracted by another vampire. She enters her bedroom through the window out of habit, despite the fact that her mother is out of town for a few days, and finds Angel waiting to warn her of grave danger, and she notes with irritation that he does this a lot. He discovers her childhood obsession with Dorothy Hamill (Dorothy dolls, posters, and haircut), and offers to take her ice skating the following day. At school the next morning, the test results are revealed, much to the chagrin of Buffy and Xander. Buffy reports to Giles, and he is distressed and disappointed when she tells him about the theft from the mausoleum.

Spike and Drusilla examine the key stolen by Dalton, a gold cross. Spike decides to call in the Order of Taraka , an ancient guild of assassins, to rid himself of Buffy once and for all. Back at school, Willow is taken into a secluded lounge area to be recruited by a leading software company, along with Oz, the boy who has been watching her for weeks. At the mausoleum, Giles realizes with concern that Josephus du Lac (a member of a religious sect that had been excommunicated by the Vatican) is buried there. He is the author of the book stolen from the library, and Giles believes the key was stolen from the tomb.

In the meantime, the assassins begin to arrive. A large, intimidating man exits a bus, and a door-to-door beauty salesman walks down the sidewalk past Buffy's house to her next-door neighbor's. He gains an invitation inside, the door closes, and the lady of the house screams. A young woman attacks an airplane worker in the cargo hold of a plane, escaping with little difficulty.

Giles tells Buffy, Xander, and Willow about the "du Lac Cross" which can be used as the key, and he enlists their help with further research. Buffy manages to keep her ice skating date with Angel. She is attacked while ice skating, and Angel arrives in time to help her fight off the assassin whom she kills with the blade of her skate. Angel, recognizing the assassin's ring, asks Buffy if she knows what it means ("I just killed a Super Bowl Champ?"), and then warns her that she should leave Sunnydale and hide. Angel is wounded and doesn't want Buffy to have to touch his vampire face, but she removes her gloves to touch his face with her bare hands, assuring him that she hadn't even noticed, and kisses him. The female from the plane watches from the shadows.

The assassin next-door to Buffy's house feeds on the body he had killed by disintegrating into hundreds of writhing worms which can reshape themselves into limbs at will. Buffy is paranoid and jittery, suspicious of each person who passes by in the hallways at school. As Oz passes her, she panics and pins him against a locker. Oz declares her to be a "tense person". Buffy arrives at Angel's empty home and falls asleep in his bed. Angel goes to Willy's bar for information, and Willy finally confirms Angel's suspicions that Spike is behind the assassins, but before Angel can leave he is attacked by the mysterious female. They fight, and she locks him in a metal cage in front of an eastern window, with only a few short hours until sunrise.

Giles awakens Willow, who had fallen asleep ("Don't warn the tadpoles!" she exclaims, subsequently explaining that she has "frog fears"). He reveals that the missing manuscript is a ritual to restore a weakened vampire back to health. Xander and Cordelia enter Buffy's house, and Xander searches for her while Cordelia waits downstairs. She hears a knock at the door and lets in the centipede assassin, again appearing as a make-up salesman promising free samples. In Angel's bedroom, Buffy awakes to find herself being attacked by the mysterious woman. They fight, and the woman tells Buffy that her name is Kendra, the Vampire Slayer...

Starring

Guest Starring

Co Starring

Trivia

  • The hold of the plane in which Kendra arrived in Sunnydale was turned upside down and used as a sewer tunnel in later episodes.[1]
  • The ice rink, called Iceland, is found at 8041 Jackson Street in Paramount, California. This is around 25 miles from where Buffy was filmed.
  • Dorothy Hamill: When Buffy talks about a "Dorothy Hamill phase," she means ice-skating since Hamill was an American ice-skater who won a gold medal in the 1976 Winter olympics.
  • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport: The software recruiter says to Willow, "The jet was delayed by fog at Sea-Tac but he should be here any minute."
  • The Simpsons: Buffy says to Giles "Have a cow, Giles." She is playing on The Simpsons phrase used by Bart Simpson, "don't have a cow" (which means "don't get worked up").
  • What's My Line?: An American game show which ran from 1950 to 1963. Contestants had to guess what unusual jobs or products were linked to mysterious guests from clues given by the host (John Charles Daly). The UK version featured the mystery guests miming their jobs.
  • My Fair Lady: After Dalton has a success, Spike says "By George, I think he's got it," playing on Henry Higgin's (played by Rex Harrison) singing line "By George, she's got it! I think she's got it!"
  • “What‘s My Line, Part One” pulled in 3.5 million households on its original airing.[3]


Continuity

  • This episode introduces the character of Kendra, the first vampire slayer besides Buffy to be featured on the show.
  • The idea of Buffy's death in "Prophecy Girl" activating a new slayer (thus allowing there to be two slayers) will remain important throughout the series, especially after the introduction of Faith.
  • Buffy fights two vampires, she dusts one before seeing the other run away, "One down, one... gone.". The same situation plays out with two demons in "Earshot".
  • Darla asks Angel in the season one episode, "Angel", if he believes Buffy would ever be able to kiss his 'real face.' She does in this episode.
  • On the table in Angel's apartment there are two ashtrays, although he is never seen smoking.
  • The term "Scooby Gang" is used for the first time, when Xander tells Cordelia, "You want to be a member of the Scooby Gang you gotta be willing to be inconvenienced every now and then."
  • It is revealed there are forty-three churches in Sunnydale.


Music

  • Vivaldi - "Spring" from The Four Seasons.


References

  1. ↑ Golden, Christopher and Holder, Nancy. "The Watcher's Guide, Volume 1 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)", page 95.
  2. ↑ Episode Guide: What's My Line Part One http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/indetail/whatsmylineone/trivia.shtml
  3. ↑ Nielsen Ratings for Buffy's Second Season http://home.insightbb.com/~wahoskem/buffy2.html
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