7.1 - Lessons

It's Dawn's first day of High School at the new Sunnydale High.


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Joss has written his first episode in 10 months of the show, and all is right with the world. He didn't direct, but that's fine, he had Firefly going on now, he was a busy man. It doesn't even matter, because if Joss is writing, that's enough.

We open in Istanbul, where a girl is running from men in black cloaks, who catch her and stab her. Then we're back in Sunnydale.

Sunnydale High School has been rebuilt, right over the foundation of the last high school that was destroyed at graduation.

Things have immediately changed since last season. Dawn is patrolling with Buffy and Buffy is letting her get her hands dirty, teaching her to stake vamps. Dawn gets to wear black, a promise Whedon made to Michelle Trachtenberg between seasons. Spike is back, with his soul, but he's completely nutters. More on that later.

So with the new High School, a new cooler principal, played by DB Woodside, and a new attitude, Buffy season 7 already has me happier than season 6 did. The bad guys here are some ghoulies that have been resurrected to exact revenge on students...kind of like zombies. So here we have Buffy, in Sunnydale High, with teenagers, fighting monsters. There's an old school beauty about it. It just feels right. For me, Buffy will always belong in high school. That's where the show started, that's where it should end. It's full circle, and it's appropriate.

Willow is in England being trained by the coven that gave Giles the power last season. She's come to see her power as good and white, and looks at nature as the source for her power now.

So Spike is crazy. I'm not sure what to think about this. Is it the soul that drove him crazy or is it the big bad evil who we meet at the end of the episode and is tormenting him? Speaking of the big bad, it's very cool. They've gone back to the evil entity that we met in season 3, the first evil (though they haven't explained it again yet) who was tormenting Angel when he came back. This bad thing starts off with the bad guy of season 6 and morphs into each baddie from each season until he stands before Spike as Buffy. We get to see Warren, Glory, Adam, The Mayor, Drusilla, and the Master again. It's a VERY cool scene.

I'm back on board with season 7. If they can maintain this level of balance, I think the show will be much more accessible.

Rating: 8.5/10