First Date (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
| "First Date" | |
|---|---|
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 14 |
| Directed by | David Grossman |
| Written by | Jane Espenson |
| Production code | 7ABB14 |
| Original air date | February 11, 2003 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"First Date" is the fourteenth episode of seventh and final season of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on February 11, 2003 on UPN.[1][2]
Buffy accepts a dinner invitation from high school Principal Robin Wood, making Spike wistfully jealous; Anya expresses more aggressive jealousy when Xander has a date; and both first dates provide revelations about the First Evil.
Plot
Giles leads Buffy and the Potential Slayers in a night-time cemetery tour, during which he tells how he survived the Bringer attack several weeks before by overpowering and decapitating the Bringer. He is suddenly attacked by Spike, who is surprised to learn that Giles is corporeal and not the First Evil. When Giles is confused at how Spike can no longer feel pain, Buffy admits that she persuaded the Initiative to remove the chip from Spike's head, much to Giles' consternation.
At work, Buffy tries to hunt for clues in Principal Wood's office as to whether he is good or evil. When she is about to open a cabinet, Wood finds her and asks her out to dinner. After Buffy leaves, Wood opens the case, displaying a large collection of blade weapons, into which he places a bloody dagger. Back at the house, Buffy expresses mixed feelings about the date, and is unsure whether she is interested in him. Willow suggests that it would be good for Buffy to move on (from Spike, presumably). Xander enters and reveals that he too has a date that evening, with a young woman, Lissa, he met at a hardware store. Upstairs, Buffy is getting dressed for dinner when Spike appears in the hallway, and tells Buffy that he is fine with her having a date with another man, although Buffy can tell he is jealous.
On Buffy's date with Wood, they are jumped by a group of vampires. Buffy slays most of them, and thinks that Wood has set her up until she sees him take out two of them. At the restaurant, Wood reveals that he is a "freelance" demon hunter, and tells her about his mother — a Slayer who was killed when he was four years old, after which he was raised by her Watcher. Meanwhile, Xander's date appears to be going well until he learns that she is a demon working for the First. She ties him up above the mystical Seal of Danzalthar in the high school basement, and cuts him so that he will bleed onto it and cause it to open.
In the house, the First appears to
Soon afterwards, Willow receives a text message with a help code from Xander. Spike goes to fetch Buffy, finds her with Wood at the restaurant in a slightly romantic moment, and they all rush out to rescue Xander, driving in Wood's car. When they get to the seal beneath the school, they fight and kill Lissa and find Xander not too badly hurt. They prevent the seal from opening again, but during the course of the fight, Wood finds out that Spike is a vampire whom Buffy cares about deeply, making him uneasy.
Back at the house, Spike tells Buffy that as the First has plans for him that could endanger others, he will leave town to prevent this. Buffy tells Spike not to leave, "'Cause I'm not ready for you to not be here." In Wood's apartment, the First appears to Wood in the guise of his dead mother (Nikki Wood) and leads him to conclude that it was Spike who killed her in 1977.[1]
Production
Casting
Actress and stunt double April Weeden-Washington, who played the original "Subway Slayer" Nikki Wood, told an interviewer, "I received a call from the casting director at Buffy saying that they were bringing the character back. I was told to come in and audition on September 13 [2002]. I thought I was a shoo-in because I had already established the character. There weren't many lines. Then I got a phone call from casting stating that there was 'a certain maturity' about me now, and that I didn't get the part. It was a blow for me not to get called back. I do kind of understand, seeing that the Slayers are teenagers, but the character in "Fool for Love" was older than that."[3] The actress K.D. Aubert replaced her in the role.
Reception
In 2023,
Reviewer Billie Doux comments, "This week's moral lessons are: redemption's a bitch, and never date during an Apocalypse... Buffy thought her date was evil, while Xander didn't have a clue — and it turned out to be just the reverse, with Xander once again proving that he is a demon magnet."[6]
Mark Oshiro wrote a mixed review, finding some of the jokes cheap, particularly the "continuation of the joke that only demons are interested in Xander" and the character of Chao-Ahn, "an awful, gross stereotype taken to extremely racist/xenophobic ends." While he liked the appearance of Ashanti as Lissa, he asks whether "this episode sort of criticizes itself?"[7]
Notes
- 1. His full rant goes: Xander: "What do you think happened? Another demon woman was attracted to me. I'm going gay. I've decided I'm turning gay. Willow, gay me up. Come on, let's gay... Just tell me what to do. I'm mentally undressing Scott Bakula right now. That's a start, isn't it?" Andrew (dreamily): "Captain Archer." Xander: "Come on, let's get this gay show on the gay road. Help me out here." Buffy: "What if you just start attracting male demons?"[8] Essayist Steven Greenwood discusses the scene as an example of the series' latent characterization of Xander as homoerotic.[9]
- 2.^ Spike is seen to fight and kill the "Subway Slayer," Nikki Wood, in Season 5, episode 7, "Fool for Love."
References
- ^ "Revisiting Buffy season 7 - episode 14". Den of Geek. 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ^ "Buffy / Angel: "First Date"/"Calvary"". The A.V. Club. 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ^ Doux, Billie (2003). "Interview with the Subway Slayer April Weeden-Washington". Doux Reviews. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
- ^ Grady, Constance (March 10, 2017). "In honor of Buffy's 20th anniversary, we ranked it from worst to best episode". Vox. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
- ^ Francis, Jack. "'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
- ^ Doux, Billie (2002). "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: First Date". Doux Reviews. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ Oshiro, Mark. "Mark Watches 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': S07E14 – First Date". Mark Watches. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ "07x14 - First Date". Buffy the Vampire Slayer Transcripts. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
- ^ Greenwood, Steven (2017). ""Life Isn't a Story": Xander, Andrew, and Queer Disavowal in Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (PDF). Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies. Whedon Studies TV. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
External links
- "First Date" at IMDb
