Band Candy - Plot Synopsis

Plot Synopsis

Buffy combines her slaying with studying for the SAT in the graveyard with Giles. At school the next day, Buffy tells Willow and Oz of a test-related nightmare. Oz offers to help her study and Willow brags about how smart Oz is. Buffy tells them Giles and her mom have her scheduled 24/7 to keep her out of trouble. They find Principal Snyder in the cafeteria handing out boxes of candy, commanding the students to sell it to pay for band uniforms.

Buffy sells half of her chocolate bars to her mom, who refuses to let her drive. Buffy then leaves for the library, ostensibly for the night. She sells the other half of her quota to Giles, then leaves, ostensibly for home. Instead, Buffy brings blood to Angel, who is practicing T'ai chi. He asks her about Scott. When she arrives home, Buffy finds her mother and Giles waiting, both of them angry that she lied to them about her whereabouts. They send her to bed and proceed to munch on her candies. Meanwhile, at a local warehouse filled with workers packaging the candy bars, Ethan Rayne is revealed to be overseeing the operation. For some reason, he stops a worker from eating one of the chocolate bars.

The next day, Giles fails to show up for study hall, where Xander and Willow are playing footsie. Foreshadowing the weird behavior displayed by the adults, the substitute behaves oddly. Worried, Buffy goes to Giles' place and finds her mom on the couch. Giles explains that they are rescheduling her activities to lessen her burden, and Joyce offers her car keys. After a surprised Buffy leaves, Giles lights up a cigarette and Joyce pulls out a bottle of Kahlúa. Giles, now as his teenage Cockney personality "Ripper," invites Joyce out for some fun.

Buffy frightens Willow with her driving. They find the Bronze packed with adults who are acting like teenagers, including Principal Snyder, Mrs. Bartrum and Willow's shirtless, stage diving doctor. Snyder starts following Buffy and Willow. They leave with Oz and decide to head over to Giles' place to find out what is going on.

At the warehouse, Mr. Trick checks up on Ethan Rayne and the production of the chocolate bars. Trick suddenly (and arbitrarily) accuses one of the workers of eating the candy, and kills him as an example. He then leaves to perform the "tribute."

Meanwhile, Joyce notices a coat in a shop window, which Ripper destroys to steal the coat. The ensuing alarm attracts a cop, whom Giles beats unconscious (and steals his gun). He and Joyce start making out on the hood of the police car.

Buffy gets into a car accident, and damages her mom's car. When a passerby takes the candy bar Snyder is munching on, Buffy puts two and two together and realizes that the candy is making adults regress to their adolescence. Buffy sends Willow and Oz to the library and drives to the warehouse after Snyder tells her where the band candy comes from. Upon arrival, Buffy finds her mother and Giles kissing in the middle of the street. Buffy tries to reason with her mother, with no luck. She enters the factory, taking Joyce along; Giles and Snyder follow. Inside, Buffy finds and catches Ethan; her threat of violence easily persuades him to reveal that Trick needs to dull Sunnydale adults in order to collect a tribute intended for a demon named Lurconis.

Meanwhile, four vampires enter an unguarded hospital to remove four newborn babies. The teenage researchers arrive at the hospital a little later where Willow phones them from the library and relays to them the discovery that Lurconis eats babies, and Giles remembers that the demon may be found in the sewers.

Down in the sewers, the Mayor, Mr. Trick, and the four vampires are chanting in a ceremony to summon Lurconis. Buffy, Giles and Joyce crash the party underground, and the Mayor quickly flees unnoticed. Buffy defeats the vampires while Giles and Joyce retrieve the babies to safety. Trick escapes and the huge demon appears. Buffy pulls down a gas pipe, igniting a fire that kills Lurconis.

Back at his office, the Mayor asks why Trick fled, allowing Buffy to kill Lurconis. Trick replies that he thought he did the Mayor a favor by having the Slayer kill the demon, leaving one less demon to whom the Mayor would owe tribute. The Mayor warns Trick against doing him any more such favors.

The next day, the adults have returned to their senses. Snyder, reverted to grumpy and misanthropic, chooses Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordelia as "volunteers" to clean up the mess in the hall. Buffy complains to Giles about the SATs. They meet Joyce, but Buffy fails to notice their awkwardness upon seeing each other.