Plot Synopsis
Several separate encounters take place around Sunnydale on one night, which is told in real time. Uniquely among Buffy episodes, none of the main characters interact with one another. According to the episode's staff writers, the primary emotion to be felt during this episode is "being alone".
On patrol, Buffy discovers that her latest vampire foe is an old high school classmate named Holden Webster. Upon recognizing her, "Webs" stops their fight and takes on a friendly demeanor – seeming pleasantly surprised to have run into her and asking how she has been. Because she doesn't immediately remember him, Webs begins to jog her memory about the half dozen times they interacted with each other. Buffy finally recalls him, and the two begin to reminisce. The vampire, a psychology major in life, proceeds to psychoanalyze Buffy, and she opens up to him about her innermost conflicts and problems. She slays him in the end, but not before he identifies Spike as the vampire who (recently) sired him.
Back at Revello Drive, Dawn prepares for a night alone at home. An unnaturally loud banging sets her nerves on edge. She talks with her friend Kit on the phone, asking, "See? Do you hear that?" when the banging begins again. Eventually, Dawn comes to believe that her mother is trying to contact her, and the malevolent force is working to prevent her. Dawn manages to exorcise the malevolent force and Joyce appears to warn her that when the time comes, Buffy won't choose her.
In a story entirely devoid of dialogue, Spike picks up a woman at a bar, walks her home, and feeds on her, leaving her dead on her own doorstep.
Jonathan and Andrew return from Mexico to dig up an artifact hidden near the Hellmouth. Andrew is secretly in contact with what appears to be the ghost of Warren, while Jonathan is having a personal revelation that he misses high school and still cares for his old friends. After they dig up the artifact, Andrew, on Warren's instructions, insults and kills Jonathan, causing his blood to spill all over a 'door' in the dirt.
In the library, Willow is visited by the ghost of Cassie, a girl Buffy once helped, who claims to have been sent by the dead Tara. The ghost relays Tara's message that Willow will end up killing everyone if she ever uses magic again, and recommends suicide as a solution. This tips Willow off that she has not been talking to Cassie, and she demands to know who the being really is. The being reveals itself as The First and threatens Willow and all her friends before vanishing.
Read more about this topic: Conversations With Dead People
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