History Recap / BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E22GraduationDayPart2

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything[=/=]KissOfTheVampire: The scene of Buffy forcing Angel to drink her blood has an overt sexual vibe. There's a lot of thrusting going on, Buffy and Angel fall to the floor, Angel's making sounds of enormous ecstasy. While he's lying on top of her, she grabs a metal object for support, and it just crumples. She also wraps her legs around him, then spasms [[DestructoNookie kicking a table in half]].
** The Season 5 premiere "Buffy vs. Dracula" confirmed that being bitten by Angel was pleasurable to Buffy.

* DefensiveFeintTrap[=/=]DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Buffy grabs the Demon Mayor's attention, and holds up Faith's knife. She taunts him about stabbing Faith with it, then hightails it back into the school, with the enraged Olvikan in pursuit.

Eep! Uh, I'd obey the crazed-with-grief-soon-to-be-demon if I were you, dude. The henchvamp exits as the Mayor quietly goes bonkers.

** Willow suggested to Buffy in "The Harvest" that one way she could get out of school would be to "blow something up." In this case blows up the school itself.

-->'''Xander:''' OK, but you're destroying a [[SpotOfTea perfectly good cultural stereotype]] here.

*** May be an ActorAllusion joke. Before Tony Head played Giles, he was widely recognized in Britain and to a lesser degree in the US as "The guy from the coffee adverts."

* WhatTheHellHero: None of the Scoobies are particularly pleased to discover that Angel fed off of Buffy to cure his poison, despite the fact that Buffy ''forced'' him to do so. Xander is the most vocal

* PutOnABus: This episode is the last in which Creator/DavidBoreanaz and Creator/CharismaCarpenter are series regulars, and marks the final appearance of Cordelia and Wesley. The trio will make their triumphant return to the Buffyverse that following season on the spin-off show, ''Angel''. However, Angel will continue to appear at least once per season (either in person or in flashbacks), with the exclusion of Season Six. (Looks like you're stuck with him, Xander.)

* {{Defictionalization}}: A bona fide Sunnydale High yearbook was was released as a tie-in after this episode aired. It [[AllThereInTheManual reveals]] the surnames of some guest characters among other things.

-->'''Wilkins:''' Well, I'd get set for some weeping if I were you. I'd get set for a ''world'' of pain. Misery loves company, young man, and I'm looking to share that with ''you and your whore!''" It's short-lived, however, as the Mayor [[MoodWhiplash creepily shifts back]] to 'jolly' in no time flat.

* HypocriticalHumor: Snyder takes the podium. He acknowledges that this is "a time for celebration," and tells everyone to sit still and shut up. He orders Xander to "spit out that gum." At last, Snyder introduces the Mayor, but not before an aside: "I ''saw'' that gesture. You see me after graduation."

* ProphecyTwist: Back in "Amends", the First (as Jenny Calender) told Angel, "Sooner or later, you will drink her." In this episode, he does.

* ProphecyTwist: Back in "Amends", The First (as Jenny Calender) told Angel, "Sooner or later, you will drink her." In this episode, he does.

* MeaningfulEcho: In the previous episode, The Mayor let a self-conscious Faith know just how important she was to him by saying that the Ascension was her day as much as his - an opportunity for her to blossom. After finding Faith comatose in this episode, The Mayor gently repeats the line, indicating how much he plans to make everyone pay for the pain Buffy inflicted on Faith.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Mayor says that NothingIsTheSameAnymore now they've graduated, and he's right; the dynamics of the Scoobie Gang (and ex-Scoobies like [[Series/{{Angel}} Angel, Cordelia and Wesley]]) change dramatically once they've left SHS. And of course the dream sequence with Buffy & Faith set up both [[spoiler:Faith's return next season as well as Season 5; specifically the term "big sis", fortelling Dawn, and "counting down from 7-3-0", as in two seasons before Buffy's death.]]

** After a whole season of easy amiability, Wilkins finally loses it. He snarls a threat at Buffy, furious at what's been done to Faith. Angel says he's not exactly misty-eyed over the loss. Notably, this is the ''only'' time Wilkins ever uses foul language; even his LastWords are "Well, gosh!".

** After a whole season of easy amiability, Wilkins finally loses it. He snarls a threat at Buffy, furious at what's been done to Faith. Angel says he's not exactly misty-eyed over the loss.

* VillainousBreakdown: The Mayor, upon seeing Faith in a coma, shows rage [[AffablyEvil for the first time]] and tries to smother Buffy in her sleep and attacks Angel in front of civilians, going so far as to break his foul language etiquette. He regains his composure for the final showdown though, his last words being [[GoshDangItToHeck "Well, gosh!"]]

* RealityEnsues:
** The Mayor completes his plan to ascend and become a full demon (almost every demon seen on the show is actually some flavor of low-powered half-demon or another). This also removes the immortality that he had benefited from previously, which leads to the Reality: The heroes, knowing how big and strong he will become, bait him into a trap where they have laid a considerable amount of high explosives to blow him to giblets.
** Wesley leads the charge against the Mayor's forces, and goes down in one punch to the face.

* GoshdangItToHeck: PlayedForLaughs when the Mayor's FamousLastWords are a mild "[[OhCrap Well Gosh!]]" Not so earlier when he has an uncharacteristic burst of anger and calls Buffy a whore.

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: In the Buffy/Faith dream, Faith comments, "Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0", which going by the date that the episode was ''supposed'' to air, and given the fact that the year 2000 was a leap year, marks exactly 2 years (730 days) before Buffy dies. "Little Miss Muffet" also foreshadows the arrival of Dawn. In Season 5, the poem is quoted several times with regard to the Key, which Glory is furiously searching for.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Mayor says that NothingIsTheSameAnymore now they've graduated, and he's right; the dynamics of the Scoobie Gang (and ex-Scoobies like [[Series/{{Angel}} Angel, Cordelia and Wesley]]) change dramatically once they've left SHS. And of course the dream sequence with Buffy & Faith set up both Faith's return next season as well as Season 5; specifically the term "big sis", fortelling Dawn, and "counting down from 7-3-0", as in two seasons before Buffy's death.

* GoshdangItToHeck: PlayedForLaughs when the Mayor's FamousLastWords are a mild "[[OhCrap Oh Gosh!]]" Not so earlier when he has an uncharacteristic burst of anger and calls Buffy a whore.

* KilledOffForReal: Snyder, Larry, and Mayor Wilkins. Of course, this being a genre show, two of those characters reappear later on (as a nightmare and a [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith meatsuit]], respectively). Harmony gets bitten by a vampire during the one-on-one fight between vampires and students. In Season 4 she'll be BackFromTheDead.

** Harmony proves useless in the ensuing battle, getting vamped. Guess that the Mayor's "no eating" rule is a wash. Harmony returns in Season Four. The circumstances of her siring is agreed by most to be a PlotHole, though some fics paint her as being vamped by a distance member of the Aurelian line.

** The Mayor completes his plan to ascend and become a full demon (almost every demon seen on the show is actually some flavor of low-powered half-demon or another). This also removes the immortality that he had benefited from previously, which leads to the Reality: [[spoiler: The heroes, knowing how big and strong he will become, bait him into a trap where they have laid a considerable amount of high explosives to blow him to giblets]].

** Willow suggested to Buffy in "The Harvest" that one way she could get out of school would be to "blow something up." Can do!

* FelonyMisdemeanor: The Mayor smiles at the class of '99 and says that it's a special day, the town's centennial, Blah blah blah [[ItsTheJourneyThatCounts journeys are about change]] blah. Buffy gets a look of horror on her face when she realizes he's going to do the entire NewEraSpeech. "...''Evil''."

* RealityEnsues: The Mayor completes his plan to ascend and become a full demon (almost every demon seen on the show is actually some flavor of low-powered half-demon or another). This also removes the immortality that he had benefited from previously, which leads to the Reality: The heroes, knowing how big and strong he will become, bait him into a trap where they have laid a considerable amount of high explosives to blow him to giblets.

* SecurityCling: Cordelia cowers behind the diminutive Jonathan just as the school blows up. According to Danny Strong, [[ThrowItIn this scene was an idea of Charisma's, because she never got much screen time with him]].

* AnimalisticAbomination: The Mayor transforms into one: Olvikan