Bring on the Night (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Bring on the Night" is the tenth episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot synopsis

The gang research The First, but don't have much luck finding anything. Dawn grows impatient with Andrew's state of unconsciousness, but keeps researching at Buffy's request. Buffy asks for a book and her mother hands it to her. Joyce warns her that she needs to rest if she intends to defeat this evil, but Buffy knows the vision isn't real and then Xander wakes her up from her dream. The Ubervamp drags Spike further into a cave where the First has taken on Drusilla's form to watch Spike get tortured.

At the Summers house, Dawn and Anya secretly try to force Andrew to wake and he does as Buffy walks in the room. They begin to interrogate him again about the First, but he takes some prompting before he's willing to help them. Andrew leads the gang to the school basement where the seal is still exposed on the ground, but no Spike or First Evil to be seen. Although they don't know what the seal did or does, the gang grab shovels and cover it with dirt again. On the way out, Buffy and Dawn run into Principal Wood, also carrying a shovel. Buffy and Dawn try to explain Buffy's surprising recovery from being sick and their own possession of a shovel while the principal explains himself and asks Buffy to return to work soon.

At the house, Willow begins a spell to find the First, but it doesn't go the way she planned. Explosive bolts send Anya and Buffy flying while Willow is briefly possessed by the First Evil. Xander smashes a bowl used in the spell which breaks the effects and sends Willow crashing. She's fearful of the magic and hurting people and begs Buffy not to let her hurt anyone with magic. Buffy starts to leave to find the First herself, but is surprised to find Giles standing outside her front door. With him are three young girls – Kennedy, Molly and Annabelle – who are potential slayers that he's trying to protect.

Giles informs the whole gang about the First's plans to destroy all slayers-in-training, their watchers and eventually the two active Slayers, Buffy and Faith. He breaks the news that the Council has been completely destroyed along with most of their records, except for the few books and references on the First he stole while there was still time. Giles goes over basic knowledge about the First Evil, explaining that it can only take on the appearance of the dead, but it's incapable of solid form. He informs Buffy that unfortunately, she's the only one strong enough to actually stand a chance of winning against the First. One of the Potentials, Kennedy, objects to the situation and wonders why they're hiding out on the Hellmouth of all places with only one person responsible for all their lives.

In the cave, the Ubervamp tortures Spike by dunking his head under water while "Drusilla" lectures Spike about following the rules. Kennedy helps Willow make the sleeping arrangements around the house and ultimately, Kennedy ends up staying in Willow's room. The girls convene in the kitchen and start eating cookies after Dawn burns the meal she was trying to cook. Buffy and Giles walk and talk together as they search for an entrance to the cave Buffy remembers from the first time she encountered the First and its minions, the Bringers. Buffy unintentionally finds it as she falls through some old planks covering the ground. As she searches the caves, she's viciously attacked by the Ubervamp. She stakes the demon, but it doesn't kill him and he proceeds to beat her up badly. Buffy narrowly manages to escape the cave by climbing out and the vampire is kept at bay by the rising sun.

Giles and Buffy return to the house to find the three potential slayers hanging out in the kitchen. Giles tells them all about the vampire Buffy fought, a Turok-Han. He explains that it's part of a separate race of vampires that is far superior to and feared by the everyday vampires Buffy is used to. At work, Buffy researches "evil" on the Internet as Principal Woods stops to check on her. Again, in the cave, Spike is smacked around by the Ubervamp while Drusilla dances about and tries to convince Spike to decide to be on their side of the game. Spike doesn't fall for the mind tricks and earns himself more of a beating from the Ubervamp.

Buffy reviews her wounds as her mother pays her another visit. Joyce talks to Buffy about evil and its constant presence in everyone and about the pressure Buffy's feeling to deal with this evil. She wakes up to find that she's still at work and had been in the middle of a meeting with a student. The student walks off and Principal Wood watches on from his office as a very tired Buffy tries to deal with the stress. Later that evening, the gang prepares for sundown and the potential danger it brings to them. The potential Slayers get weapons while Andrew tries unsuccessfully to convince Buffy and Xander to untie him. As Buffy watches for the sun to set, Giles reminds her that she's the one being depended on and then Molly interrupts, informing them that Annabelle ran off.

The could-be Slayer runs through the streets of Sunnydale until she's captured by the Ubervamp and quickly killed. Buffy finds them both and is badly injured in a fight with the monster.

The First in Drusilla's form gets angry with Spike as he continues to refuse to cooperate. A terribly wounded Buffy sits alone at home as she listens to Giles and Willow talk in another room. They worry about Buffy's condition and their ability to fight this thing that seems so much bigger than them all. Buffy finally comes downstairs and gives an inspirational speech about this huge challenge before them that is bigger than any evil they've ever faced. She tells the group that she's more scared than ever, but she's not about to back down now. There's a new plan: they're declaring war on this evil instead of waiting for it to make a move which Buffy says,"If they want an apocalypse, we'll give em one."

Continuity

Arc significance

• This episode finally puts a name to the season's Big Bad: The First, and fully introduces the Turok-Han and its superior abilities - almost killing Buffy single-handedly.
• With the introduction of Kennedy, Molly and Annabelle, the episode marks the start of Buffy and the Scoobies recruitment of Potential Slayers, which proves important by the finale, while also hinting toward Kennedy's instant attraction to Willow.
• Giles is shown to have survived his attack a few episode prior, although this is put into question later.
• Despite there being no record of The First's true form, Willow is able to summon a ghostly demonic apparition, which could be an impression of the original body of The First, while trying to use a location spell.
• Xander and Andrew inadvertently bond over comic book references - marking the start of Andrew's redemption and eventual transformation into a Watcher in the following comic book series along with Xander himself.
• This is the second time Buffy gets beaten and wounded. The first was in Season 3's episode "Helpless"
• This is the final appearance of Buffy and Dawn's mother Joyce in the series.

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Bring on the Night

• "Bring on the Night" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Bring on the Night" at TV.com