As the night of the Sadie Hawkins' dance approaches Buffy sees a couple arguing; the boy can't accept that their relationship is over and produces a gun. Buffy jumps him and suddenly there is no sign of the gun and even though the couple remember what happened they have no real idea why they had the argument. Later, during class, Buffy has a vivid daydream; she is still in the classroom but it is 1955 and a student is flirting with a teacher. There are other strange occurrences; a hand reaches out of Xander's locker and grabs him and suddenly the cafeteria is crawling with snakes. Willow investigates shootings at the school and discovers that on the night of the Sadie Hawkins' dance in 1955 a student shot and killed at teacher he had been in an illicit relationship with before committing suicide. It seems the event is doomed to be repeated unless something can be done to give him some sort of peace.
This was an enjoyable ghost story; I liked how the nature of the threat wasn't immediately obvious and how Giles went off on the wrong track thinking Jenny must be involved. There were some impressively creepy moments; especially if one is scared of snakes or wasps. We are reminded that Principal Snyder knows his school is located on the Hellmouth and learn that the mayor is also aware of this. The ultimate resolution is one of the best; largely because it isn't how anybody planned things; any further details would spoil it. The final moment is also great as we learn that Spike isn't as incapacitated as we, and Angel, had been led to believe; it will be very interesting to see what happens with him next. Overall this was a pretty impressive episode.
This was an enjoyable ghost story; I liked how the nature of the threat wasn't immediately obvious and how Giles went off on the wrong track thinking Jenny must be involved. There were some impressively creepy moments; especially if one is scared of snakes or wasps. We are reminded that Principal Snyder knows his school is located on the Hellmouth and learn that the mayor is also aware of this. The ultimate resolution is one of the best; largely because it isn't how anybody planned things; any further details would spoil it. The final moment is also great as we learn that Spike isn't as incapacitated as we, and Angel, had been led to believe; it will be very interesting to see what happens with him next. Overall this was a pretty impressive episode.