Buffy heads resolutely to the front door -- she's going to find The First. Xander wants to come with, but she's set on going it alone. Xander reminds her that they don't have any idea where The First may be. Buffy: "It's out there. It's hurting my friends. I'll find it." She opens to the door to reveal Giles standing on the other side. Buffy is stunned but pleased. She goes in for a hug, but is intercepted by a parade of Junior Miss Slayer Pageant contestants. They come tumbling in with their bad accents. Giles apologizes for showing up unannounced and explains, "I'm afraid we have a slight apocalypse." Well, the "Australian" one's accent is particularly bad, Giles, but I'm not sure I'd go so far as "apocalypse."

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Back at Casa Summers, the Junior Miss Slayers stand all in a row. What, no Buffy and Giles hug? I feel robbed. Just a few weeks ago, I posted on the boards about how moving I found the scene in "Flooded" where Giles comes back to Sunnydale and sees Buffy alive for the first time. When I saw that Giles was returning, I was hoping for another such scene. What is with this show and its insistence on never delivering any emotional payoff? Just a crumb, guys! I'm starving over here. Dawn, arms folded, appraises the Junior Misses. Ah, just what this show needs. More snotty teenagers. I'm sure that'll boost the ratings. "They're all Slayers?" Dawn sniffs, clearly miffed that they have a mystical calling and all she has is shiny hair. "Potential Slayers," corrects Giles. "There were many more like them all over the world, but now there's just a handful and they're all on their way to Sunnydale." "The others were murdered." says Buffy. Then we get a bunch of flashbacks of the Istanbul Slayer and the German Slayer.