Xander wonders whose nightmare it is. We see a headstone with Buffy's name on it. Giles: "It's mine." No "Anne," by the way. Oh, man. Not that I really thought she was dead, but -- her poor friends. Actually, Willow and Xander seem kind of unmoved, but they could easily be in shock. Giles drops to his knees on the grave and gives this heartfelt speech: "I failed, in my duty to protect you. I should have been more cautious, taken more time to train you. But you were so gifted, and the evil was so great." ASH really sounded like he was going to start crying there. It's really the first outpouring of affection toward Buffy we've seen from him, and it's a nice setup for "Prophecy Girl." ["I don't love this ep, but his delivery of 'it's mine' gets me every time. ASH rocks." -- Sars] He places his hand on the dirt, and says he's sorry. A hand reaches through the dirt and grabs him. They all scream, for real this time, as Buffy pulls herself up and dusts herself off. When she looks up, we see that she's a vampire. I did not see that coming at all.

Willow, horror-stricken: "Buffy, your face!" Buffy puts her hands to her face and mutters, "Oh God." Xander moves forward, but she turns away, telling them not to look at her. Giles approaches her, and gently says that she never told him she'd dreamt of becoming a vampire. Buffy: "This isn't a dream." She does a great job of conveying how scared she is that this will be a permanent condition. Giles acknowledges that it's real, but he says he thinks that if they can wake Billy up, the world will go back to normal. He asks Buffy to hold it together so she can help them, and after a long pause, she says she's up to it. "But we'd better hurry. Because I'm getting hungry." Xander: "That is a joke, right?" Hee. As they walk out, Willow nervously asks Giles if he's sure the world will go back to normal, and what they'll do if they can't wake Billy up. Giles: "Willow, do shut up." I want a Giles action figure that says that. I'd also like to point out that Buffy is the only vampire I've ever noticed that doesn't lisp while wearing the prosthetic fangs. What's up with that? Maybe it's just that SMG has really good diction. I mean, can you imagine Julie Benz as Buffy here? "Thith ithn't a dream," she'd thay, as she thimpered her way through the thene.