Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode Guide
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Dead Man's Party
Season 3, Episode 2 (#3ABB02)
Original aired October 6, 1998

Synopsis
A Nigerian mask that Buffy's mother has aquired from the gallery has the unique power of resurrecting the dead.


Buffy returns home, but everything remains far from "normal". Everyone's relieved to have Buffy back, but no one's quite comfortable either. The issues that made her leave, and everyone else's anger at her for leaving, are still there, unresolved and unsaid. Angel still haunts Buffy's dreams. Her friends seem too busy to hang out with with her. Despite being cleared of the murder charges, principal Snyder refuses to un-expel Buffy. Also, Joyce has taken up some activities to fill her time and made a new slightly creepy friend, Pat, in the process. Buffy feels completely out of place.

Joyce decides to invite Giles and the gang over for dinner to help welcome Buffy home. In preparation, she sends Buffy down stairs to unpack the "guest plates", where Buffy gets the added bonus of finding a newly dead cat. She and Joyce bury it, but by the next day comes back - zombie cat. It's almost comfortingly normal, in an sick, disgusting, only-on-the-hellmouth sort of way. While combing the library for the cause, the gang decides to do a big party open to the general public at Buffy's instead of a small party of just them. Giles argues against it, but the gang wins out. No one tells Joyce or Buffy, and Pat convinces Joyce to let her come as well.

As night falls, the disastrous party gets rolling. Knowing almost none of the people stumbling around her house makes Buffy feel even more isolated, and the raucus party atmosphere makes it difficult for her to talk with the rest of the gang. While they deny avoiding her, they still do so. Joyce and Pat hole up in the kitchen where Pat plies Joyce with schnapps and steers their conversation in a rather anti-Buffy direction. Buffy overhears the wrong part of their conversation and starts getting ready to leave again because no one seems to want her around.

Meanwhile, since sundown, the mask has been quietly raising dead people all over town. Giles, who stayed behind at the library to reseach finally finds out about the mask and its powers. Not only does it turn the dead into zombies, it also calls them to itself, the first zombie to put it on becoming powerful zombie demon whose name roughly translates to Evil Eye. He tries to call the house to warn Buffy, but the party goer who answers doesn't know who he's talking about, and Buffy is upstairs getting out her just recently closeted suitcase.

Willow catches her packing and they begin to have it out. Buffy tries to get away but only makes it to the livingroom before Joyce stops her. A cathartic argument including the rest of the gang ensues, and everyone finally begins to come clean. Then the zombies attack. The gang fights back like the semi-professionals they are, but can't stop the zombies from killing many of the partiers including Pat. Giles arrives with information about the mask, but too late. Zombie-Pat succeeds in putting on the mask, but Buffy figures out how to destroy her anyway, vaporizing all the zombies.

While the issues aren't solved yet, the combination of honesty and a life threatening supernatural situation has put things in perspective. Everyone is talking again and they know they can ultimately depend on each other. The next day, in a move that would make any protective surrogate father proud, Giles succeeds in "persuading" Snyder to let Buffy come back to school.


Written by Marti Noxon
Directed by James Whitmore, Jr.

Guest Stars
Kristine Sutherland as Joyce
Nancy Lenehan as Pat
Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder
Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson

Quotes

  • Buffy: What about home schooling? You know, it's not just for scary religious people anymore.
  • Giles: Unbelievable. ... (Falsetto, mocking Joyce) 'Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty? It raises the dead.' ... Americans.
  • Willow: I have to make allowances for what you're going through and be a grown up about it.
    Buffy: You're really enjoying this whole moral superiority thing, aren't you?
    Willow: (super chipper) It's like a drug.
  • Xander: Generally speaking, when scary things get scared, not good.

Addtional Notes

  • This episode showcases what's made Buffy so popular over the years. It brings new light to a real-world problem, one in which we can relate to the characters' feelings, by juxtaposing it with a fantastic supernatural situation. In this caes, it deals with kids running away from home and the pain that causes for their friends and family. And it does this without preaching.
  • In this episode we see a few more examples of Giles' shady past. Not only does he hot wire his own car, but he even strong arms Principal Snyder into letting Buffy back into school. Kids all over the world must have begun wondering what hidden talents the librarian at their school had...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode Guide
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Sources:
Booklet text from Buffy the Vampire Slayer:Season 3 (DVD)
www.imdb.com
If you have any other notes or trivia for this episode, please /msg me.