Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Graduation Day (2)

Graduation Day (2)
Season 3, Episode 22
Airdate	July 13, 1999
Production Number	3ABB22
Written by	Joss Whedon
Directed by	Joss Whedon
← 3x21 Graduation Day (1)	4x01 → The Freshman
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Three

Graduation Day (2) is the twenty-second episode of the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the fifty-sixth episode overall. As the mayor prepares for his ascension, Buffy and her allies prepare for war.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Seth Green (Oz)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Harry Groener (The Mayor), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), Danny Strong (Jonathan Levinson), Larry Bagby, III (Larry Blaisdell), Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall), Ethan Erickson (Percy), Eliza Dushku (Faith)

and Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)

Co-Starring: Paulo Andres (Dr. Powell), Susan Chuang (Nurse), Tom Bellin (Dr. Gold), Samuel Bliss Cooper (Vamp Lackey)

Plot Overview

With Angel cured and Faith in the hospital, everyone plans for the upcoming battle. As the Mayor prepares for the events that will ensue his Ascension, the Scoobies try to use the clues they have to figure out a way to stop the Mayor in demon form.

Notes

Monster of the Week

The Mayor succeeds in ascending into demonhood and transforms into a giant snake creature before he can finish his commencement speech. After discovering the murdered professor's research in the previous episode which indicated that a large demon, presumably the one that the Mayor became, was killed by an active volcano, the gang manages to kill the Mayor by luring him into the library and blowing up the entire school.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Student	Wilkins	Eaten	Sunnydale High
2–4	Vampires	Students	Shot with Arrows	Sunnydale High
5	Larry	Wilkins	Hit by Tail	Sunnydale High
6	Snyder	Wilkins	Eaten	Sunnydale High
7	Harmony	Vampire	Bitten	Sunnydale High
8	Vampire	Cordelia	Staked	Sunnydale High
9	Wilkins	Giles	Blown Up	Library

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Sunnydale High: In order to defeat the Mayor, Buffy blows up the school with him inside it. The high school remains in ruins and is not rebuilt for several years.

• Foreshadowing: Buffy's dream contains a great deal of foreshadowing to events which do not come to pass until the season five finale. She gives Buffy a riddle, "miles to go, Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0." She the common theory is that she meant 730 days or two years in the future. This bit of foreshadowing will crop up several more times until the fifth season finale.

Characters

• Angel: Angel drinks human blood for the first time with his soul firmly in his body. This only serves to reinforce his understanding that he and Buffy cannot stay together, which leads to him leaving town for good.

• Faith: Faith has fallen into a coma as a result of severe head trauma, likely stemming from her drop off the roof after Buffy's attack. The doctor tells the Mayor that there is very little chance that she'll ever wake up.

• Cordelia and Wesley: After much flirting, Cordelia and Wesley finally discover that they have absolutely no chemistry and their relationship, such as it was, ends abruptly.

Referbacks

• Halloween: Xander dressed as a soldier on the Halloween where everyone took on the traits of their costumes due to a spell cast by Ethan Rayne. Xander retained a great deal of his military training and has been called upon to use it at least once before—when he stole a rocket launcher for Buffy in Innocence.

Buffy: Do you remember any of your military training from when you became soldier guy?

Trivia

The Show

• Final Appearances: Angel makes good on his promise and leaves Sunnydale for good, in favor of setting up shop in Los Angeles. Cordelia, unable to afford college, unwittingly follows him there in an attempt to make money as an actress or model. They, with a new character introduced in the first episode, make up the core billed characters of Angel. Wesley also leaves Sunnydale and also eventually finds himself in Los Angeles.

• Mutant Enemy: On the Mutant Enemy title card, the monster is wearing a black graduation cap.

Behind the Scenes

• International: Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been dubbed into many different languages and the title translated for each different international version. Some international translations of this episode's title are:
  • French: "La Cérémonie, Deuxième Partie" ("The Ceremony, Part Two")
  • Italian: "La sfida - II parte" ("The Challenge - Part 2")
  • German: "Tag der Vergeltung" ("Day of Retaliation")
  • Japanese: "卒業の日　パート２" ("Sotsugyō no Hi Pāto 2" - Graduation Day, Part 2")
  • Spanish: "El día de graduación, Parte Dos" ("The Graduation Day, Part 2")

• Postponed: Like Earshot, this episode was directly affected by the Columbine High School shootings which occurred April 20, 1999 and the resulting backlash against teen-oriented violent media. Although animosity was largely focused upon industrial musician Marilyn Manson and video games like Doom, Buffy was seen as an inappropriately violent show set in a high school locale.

  Only hours before the season finale was meant to be aired, The WB caved to pressure and pulled the plug on the episode; instead showing a rerun from earlier in the season without notice. A spokesman for WB implied that the network was afraid of graduation ceremonies being attacked by telling Entertainment Weekly, "we think the timing is bad. We want everyone who'll be out wearing caps and gowns to remain safe."

  The network received a great deal of media attention for its decision and thousands of irate fans sent the network angry letters to voice their disapproval. Sarah Michelle Gellar made a public statement denouncing the network's decision to pull the episode, although Seth Green hesitantly agreed that the episode could seem "callous and inappropriate" so soon after the shootings. Series creator Joss Whedon encouraged fans to "bootleg the puppy," as the episode aired in Canada on schedule.

  The episode was not broadcast in the United States until July 13. Despite airing mid-summer, the season finale attracted 6.5 million viewers and remained on par with ratings for the rest of the season.

• Controversy: According to Marti Noxon in a DVD commentary, the explosion scene was filmed at 5AM in Torrance, CA, where the series traditionally shot exterior scenes. The explosion was so large and so loud that it woke up residents, broke windows and set off car alarms. Production crews were immediately barred from filming any more in the town as a result.

• Marketing: The yearbook seen in the last scene of the episode was later reproduced and sold as a tie-in product.

Quotes

• Xander: Here's your coffee. Brewed from the finest Colombian lighter fluid.

Giles: Thank you. (drinks) Horrible.

Xander: Aren't you supposed to be drinking tea, anyway?

Giles: Tea is soothing. I wish to be tense.

Xander: Okay, but you're destroying a perfectly good cultural stereotype here.

• Cordelia: I demand an explanation.

Xander: For what?

Cordelia: Wesley.

Xander: Uh... inbreeding?

• Oz: Any change?

Willow: He's delirious. He thought I was Buffy.

Oz: You too, huh?

• The Mayor: Murderous little fiend! Did you see what she did to my Faith?

Angel: Hadn't made any plans to weep over that one.

The Mayor: Well, I'd get set for some weeping if I were you. I'd get set for a world of pain. Misery loves company, young man, and I'm looking to share that with you and your whore!

• Cordelia: I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan.

Oz: We attack the Mayor with hummus.

Cordelia: I stand corrected.

Oz: Just keeping things in perspective.

• Buffy: Faith told me to play on his human weakness.

Willow: Faith told you? Is that before or after you put her in a coma?

Buffy: After.

Willow: (confused) Oh.

• Angel: Well, he's not crazy about germs.

Cordelia: Of course. That's it. We'll attack him with germs.

Buffy: Great! We'll get him cornered and then you can sneeze on him.

Cordelia: No! No, we'll get a container of Ebola virus and - and, uh... Or it doesn't even have to be real. We can just get a box that says "Ebola" on it and, um... chase him. With the box.

Xander: I'm starting to lean towards the Hummus Offensive.

Oz: He'll never see it coming.

• Buffy: (to Wesley) The Council is not welcome here. I have no time for orders. If I need someone to scream like a woman, I'll give you a call.

• Principal Snyder: Congratulations to the Class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate.

• Buffy: My God. He's gonna do the entire speech.

Willow: Man, just ascend already.

Buffy: Evil.

• The Mayor: (seeing the library full of explosives) Well, gosh.

• Buffy: If someone could just wake me when it's time to go to college, that'd be great.

• Oz: We survived.

Buffy: It was a hell of a battle.

Oz: Not the battle. High School.