From The TV IV

Lessons is the first episode of the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the one-hundred and twenty-third episode overall. As Sunnydale High reopens, Buffy sends Dawn off to her first day of high school. While at Sunnydale High, Buffy faces the undead entities of the people she failed to save.

Guest Stars: Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Alex Breckenridge (Kit Holburn), Kali Rocha (Halfrek), DB Woodside (Principal Robin Wood)

Co-Stars: Mark Metcalf (The Master), Juliet Landau (Drusilla), Harry Groener (Mayor Wilkins), George Hertzberg (Adam), Clare Kramer (Glory), Adam Busch (Warren), David Zepeda (Carlos), Jeremy Howard (Dead Nerd), Ken Strunk (Dead Janitor), Rachel Bella (Dead Girl), Ed F. Martin (Teacher), Simon Chernin (Student), Jeff Denton (Vampire)

Uncredited: Ciaran Hope (Café Guitarist/Singer)

Contents 1 Plot Overview 2 Notes 2.1 Monster of the Week 2.2 Body Count 3 Arc Advancement 3.1 Happenings 3.2 Characters 3.3 Referbacks 4 Trivia 4.1 The Show 4.2 Behind the Scenes 4.3 Allusions and References 4.4 Memorable Moments 5 Quotes 6 Reviews

[edit] Plot Overview

[edit] Notes

[edit] Monster of the Week

• Manifest Spirits: The zombie-ghosts that appear throughout the episode were created by someone using a talisman to raise their spirits and bodies. The spirits are dissipated when the talisman that manifested them is broken. It isn't revealed who or what left the talisman in this episode.

[edit] Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Vampire "Pelletti"	Buffy	Decapitated	Graveyard

[edit] Arc Advancement

[edit] Happenings

• Sunnydale High: Sunnydale High reopens for the first time after being demolished by Buffy and the rest of the graduating class during the season three finale, Graduation Day.
• Big Bads: Various Big Bads from the past six seasons appear in this episode. This includes The Master, Drusilla, Mayor Wilkins, Adam, Glory and Warren Meers. They appear to Spike in the order that they last appeared.
• Back to the Beginning: Buffy and Xander both go back to Sunnydale High, albeit as employees.

[edit] Characters

• Willow: Willow is in England trying to harness and control her magical powers with Giles. It's discovered that the magic is actually a part of her now, and not just a hobby anymore.
• Spike: Spike has spent the entire summer locked up in the basement of Sunnydale High after his soul was given back to him in the season six finale, Grave.
• Buffy: Buffy accepts a job as sort of a counsellor at Sunnydale High. She accepts without hesitation so that she can keep an eye on the school.

[edit] Referbacks

• 3x22 - Graduation Day: Sunnydale High was destroyed when the graduating class of Sunnydale High attempted to stop Mayor Richard Wilkins III's ascension into demonhood. They succeeded, but at the cost of many students and the school itself.

• 6x20 - Villains: Willow began her crazed killing spree with Warren after he accidentally shot Tara dead.

Willow: I deserve a lot worse. I killed people, Giles.

• 1x06 - The Pack and Graduation Day: The last two principals of Sunnydale High were Principal Flutie and Principal Snyder. The first was eaten by students under the sway of the hyena's power and the second was eaten by the demon form of the Mayor.

Xander: The last two principals were eaten. Who would even apply for that job?

• 1x06 - The Pack, 1x11 - Out of Mind, Out of Sight, and 2x20 - Go Fish: Buffy tells Dawn to watch out for hyena people, lizard-type athletes, and invisible people. These were all at the center of incidents that occurred at Sunnydale High before it was destroyed.

Buffy: And stay away from hyena people, or any lizard-type athletes, you know, or if you see anyone that's invisible.

• 2x21 - Becoming (1): Buffy tells Dawn that on her first time, she missed the vampire's heart too. This was shown in a flashback in the referenced episode.

Buffy: My first time out, I missed the heart too.

• 6x22 - Grave: The gashes on Spike's chest come from him trying to physically remove his soul from his body, which he was tricked into getting back in the season finale.

Spike: I... I tried to get it out.

• 4x07 - The Initiative: Adam refers to Spike as "number 17." This is a reference to Spike being codenamed "Hostile 17" while under the control of the Initiative.

Adam: She's exactly where I want her to be. And so are you, Number 17.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] The Show

• First Appearances: This episode marks the first appearance of several new characters including Kit Holburn, Carlos Trejo and Principal Robin Wood.
• Music: The song "So High" by Strange Radio is playing acoustically in the Espresso Pump where Halfrek and Anya are.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

• Spinoff: Carlos and Kit were introduced in this season in order to set up potential supporting characters in case UPN decided to make a Dawn spinoff series. Kit was meant to be the spinoff's Willow and Carlos was meant to be its Xander.
• Sinking Ship: This is the first episode in which David Greenwalt was not credited in some way for.
• Scrapped Scenes: There were originally going to be more scenes in Britain, but poor weather conditions caused the shoot to be called off.
• Borrowing Stuff: Both the horse and the house that appear in the episode's scenes in England were actually owned by Anthony Stewart Head.

[edit] Allusions and References

• Dumbledore: Dumbledore is the head of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter novels and films. He is played by Richard Harris in the movies.

Willow: Instead you go all Dumbledore on me.

• To Serve Man: Dawn's last comment is a reference to an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "To Serve Man" in which a race of aliens come to Earth bearing goodwill and knowledge. The United Nations decode a book left behind by the aliens as To Serve Man. But, when everyone believes that it's a handbook for the furthering of mankind, it's actually a cookbook.

Dawn: I know, you never know what's coming, the stake is not the power, 'To Serve Man' is a cookbook.

• Leon Czolgosz: The reference to "Mrs. Czolgosz" is likely a reference to Leon Czolgosz, the man who assassinated President McKinley in September 1901. In 1900, he married Emma Wisemki after she came looking for the man who impregnated her (which was presumably him).

Halfrek: Do I have to mention Mrs. Czolgosz?

• Crimean War: The Crimean War lasted from 1853 to 1856 and involved France, Britain and Turkey fighting with Russia over control of Eastern European colonies and other imperialist justifications.

Halfrek: There was that thing in the Crimean War.

• Alice in Wonderland: The phrase "curiouser and curiouser" appears often in the Lewis Carroll books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Alice, a girl who fell into the mysterious fantasy world by accident.

Principal Wood: Curiouser and curiouser.

[edit] Memorable Moments

• Spike being berated and tortured by the various "big bads" of the last several seasons.

[edit] Quotes

[edit] Reviews

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