The Harvest (10 Mar. 1997)

Buffy and her friends encounter a powerful vampire bent on opening a portal to a dimension inhabited by demons.

Director:

John T. Kretchmer

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Joss Whedon

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Mark Metcalf	...	The Master
Brian Thompson	...	Luke
David Boreanaz	...	Angel
Ken Lerner	...	Principal Bob Flutie
Kristine Sutherland	...	Joyce Summers
Julie Benz	...	Darla
Eric Balfour	...	Jesse
Mercedes McNab	...	Harmony
Jeffrey Steven Smith	...	Guy in Comp. Class
Teddy Lane Jr.	...	Bouncer

Storyline

At night in the cemetery, Buffy saves Xander and Willow from vampires, later Giles explains their race descends from primeval demons. Meanwhile the vampires bring Jesse as offering to their master as the hell-mouth, before his ascension and 'harvest', but hearing about a slayer he rather keeps Jesse alive as chained bait for her. Buffy realizes the mausoleum must be the entry, and meets Angel again there; she enters alone- but Xander catches up, determined to help his mate. Giles reads up on the harvest. Jesse turns out to be a vampire already, but the heroes escape into safe sunlight. The master anoints vampire Luke as his killing, soul-devouring vessel. Xander guesses right Jesse will still go to the Bronze, the town's single cool club, like normal school-kids, and so does the whole vampire gang before Buffy's...

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Plot Keywords:

library | heroine | female protagonist

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 March 1997 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the credits, Giles describes the origins of vampires to Buffy, Xander, and Willow. He states, "...waiting for their animals to die out, and the old ones to return." In Season Seven, the old ones, the primordial vampires, return.

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Goofs

Cordelia says they're going to The Bronze that night because there's no cover, yet the bouncer is counting a handful of cash when the vamps show up.

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Quotes

Cordelia: [to Willow] Excuse me. Who gave you permission to exist?

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Connections

References The Wild Bunch (1969)

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Soundtracks

"Right My Wrong"
(uncredited)
Performed by Sprung Monkey

User Reviews

Solid Buffy

The Harvest

The Good; Never suspected they'd turn Jesse and was shocked when they killed him (Xander bags his first vamp, it'll take Willow and Cordelia 2 whole seasons to kill their first). The fight at the end is terrific especially Buffy's trick and 'give me the Spielberg (such a shame that there are no more commentaries on season 1, roll on Buffy Special Edition DVDs). Love Willow's trick on Cordy and we have Harmony for the first time (here unnamed). Willow hacks for the first time. Great scenes with the hand trying to pull Buffy back into tunnels (Xander saves her for the first time?) whilst the sun going down has never seemed quite so menacing not to mention Darla skipping along to the Bronze.

The bad; The vamps seem affected by the all too common slow moving monster syndrome. Also all the bodies disappear from the Bronze at the end whilst considering they're supposed to be lifelong friends Willow and Xander seem to forget about Jesse awfully quickly. Also considering we later establish what a formidable vamp Darla is Willow seems to overcome her awfully easily with just a jar of holy water

Best line; Willow; "I need to sit down" Buffy; "You are sitting down" Willow; "Oh, good"

Questions and observations; the vamps look slightly different to what we later see, their skin more mottled and talons more pronounced. We later see in The Wish that whilst the Harvest would have been bad it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Is it Cordy who bumps into Jesse and forces him onto Xander's stake? I must say I'd never seen the supposed gay subtext between the Master and Luke until it was pointed out by Joss but now it seems impossible to miss 8/10 solid Buffy