The Harvest

⤷ Note: This article is about the episode. For other uses, see the Harvest.

"The Harvest" is the second episode of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the second episode in the series. Written by Joss Whedon and directed by John T. Kretchmer, it was originally broadcast on March 10, 1997, on The WB network.

Synopsis[]

SPECIAL TWO-HOUR SERIES PREMIERE — Picking up where the feature film left off, Buffy Summers and her mom move to Sunnydale, California for a fresh start, unaware of the evil lurking in this quiet suburb. Somewhat reluctant in her role as the slayer, Buffy quickly makes friends and enemies at her new school. While also meeting her new "Watcher," Giles, the staid school librarian, her newly assembled team encounters the ever-abundant unearthly creatures in Sunnydale.^[1]

Summary[]

Luke attempts to bite Buffy, who is trapped in a stone coffin, but he is repelled by the silver cross that the mysterious stranger had given her earlier that evening.

Buffy escapes the mausoleum and rescues Xander and Willow from the vampires in the cemetery. Meanwhile, Darla has taken Jesse underground. She and Luke inform the Master that the girl they fought is likely the Slayer. The Master decides to use Jesse as bait to lure Buffy to him.

Giles and Buffy give Xander and Willow a brief introduction to the world of vampires, demons, and Slayers. Willow uses a computer to view the city council's plans for Sunnydale's tunnel system. Remembering her fight in the mausoleum, Buffy realizes it must have access to the underground tunnels. Xander is hurt when Buffy declines his help but follows her anyway.

Willow is researching the Master in the computer lab when she overhears Cordelia and Harmony trash-talking Buffy. When Willow attempts to defend Buffy, Cordelia insults her. In turn, Willow suggests Cordelia press the DEL key to "deliver" her assignment, which erases all her hard work.

Buffy skips school to search for the hidden tunnels in the cemetery. Inside the mausoleum, the mysterious stranger appears just as Buffy is about to enter the tunnel system. He tells her his name is Angel and gives her directions to the Master's lair, only wishing her luck after she is out of earshot.

Xander catches up with Buffy, wanting to help save his friend. They enter the tunnels and manage to find Jesse. They are suddenly ambushed by vampires, and Jesse, upon leading them to a dead end, reveals he has been turned. Buffy and Xander barely manage to escape through a vent leading to above ground, with Xander pulling Buffy out of a manhole. Underground, the Master is unhappy about their escape and punishes the vampire Colin by poking his eye out.

Luke drinks the Master's blood and has a symbol drawn on his brow, turning Luke into the Vessel. Every soul Luke takes will give the Master more strength to break out of his imprisonment.

Buffy and Xander return to the school library. Giles explains that the Master arrived 60 years ago to open the Hellmouth, a portal to another reality, but was swallowed by an earthquake. He is now hoping to escape with the help of a Vessel in a once-in-a-century opportunity called the Harvest. To prevent the Master from escaping and opening the Hellmouth, they must kill the Vessel. Xander suggests that the vampires will be at the Bronze.

On her way there, Buffy stops by her house to get weapons and is promptly grounded by her mother, who has been called by Principal Flutie about Buffy skipping classes. Buffy grabs her weapons from a secret compartment in a chest and climbs out of her bedroom window. Giles, Xander, and Willow head to the Bronze to back her up, with Giles warning Xander that the Jesse they know is dead and all they will see of him now is the thing that killed him.

Luke and other vampires burst into the Bronze and start killing those inside. Buffy arrives in time to save Cordelia before Luke can bite her. She also notices the Vessel mark on Luke's forehead. Xander eventually kills Jesse after a fleeing woman unknowingly pushes him into Xander's stake. Willow pours holy water on Darla when she is about to bite Giles, causing her to run away in pain.

After shattering a window, Buffy tricks Luke into believing a streetlight is the sunlight, then stakes him in the back when he realizes it's still night. With Luke dead, the Master's plan fails, and he is weakened again. The other vampires flee. Outside the Bronze, Angel realizes that Buffy has stopped the Harvest, saying, "I'll be damned."

The next morning, Cordelia exemplifies the denial most Sunnydale residents undergo after paranormal encounters as she tells a fellow student about the previous night. Giles warns the budding gang of more battles ahead. Buffy, Willow, and Xander walk off while discussing ways that Buffy could get herself kicked out of school. Giles looks on after them and says to himself, "The Earth is doomed."

Continuity[]

• When Willow asks why they could not contact the cops, Buffy replies that they would go in with guns, which are not particularly useful against vampires or demons. In "Flooded," when a security guard tries shooting a demon robbing a bank, Buffy, referring to the gun, tells him "these things, never useful."
• The Old One Giles describes as the one who sired the first vampire will be revealed to be Maloker in The Core, Part One.
• Xander staking Jesse is brought up nine years later, in support of a cop who had just staked his sired partner. He describes: "When I think of that night, I don't see the face of a vampire. I just see Jesse's face. But believe me... you don't want her hurting any more people." (Apart (of Me), Part Two).
• Buffy claims she isn't strong enough to kick down the Bronze's front door, which she'll be able to do so five years later in "Once More, with Feeling," and to a crypt door in "End of Days."
• Buffy talks about getting kicked out of school; Principal Snyder will expel her in "Becoming, Part Two."
• While discussing possible actions that could get Buffy kicked out of school, Willow suggests that she blow something up; although Buffy dismisses the idea in favor of something that won't get her sent to prison, she goes on to destroy Sunnydale High itself in "Graduation Day, Part Two."
• Giles will repeat his line, "The Earth is doomed," in the final episode "Chosen," except later he will say, "The Earth is definitely doomed," while Buffy, Willow, and Xander discuss going to the mall after saving the world.

Appearances[]

Individuals[]

• Adam
• Angel
• Colin
• Cordelia Chase
• Darla
• Robert Flutie
• Rupert Giles
• Alexander Harris
• Harmony Kendall
• Luke
• Maloker (Only mentioned)
• Master
• Jesse McNally
• Willow Rosenberg
• Buffy Summers
• Joyce Summers
• Bouncer (The Harvest)
• "Miss Motormouth"
• Unidentified Cordette (The Harvest)
• Unidentified girl (The Harvest)

Organizations and titles[]

• Cordettes
• Order of Aurelius
• Scooby Gang
• Slayer
• Sunnydale Police Department (Only mentioned)
• Vessel
• Watcher

Species[]

• Human
• Old One (Only mentioned)
• Vampire

Events[]

• Apocalypse (Only mentioned)
• Battle at the Bronze
• Earthquake (Only mentioned)
• Primordium Age (Only mentioned)

Locations[]

• Los Angeles (Only mentioned)
  • Hemery High School (Only mentioned)
• Sunnydale
  • Bronze
  • Church (Order of Aurelius)
  • Hellmouth (Only mentioned)
  • Mausoleum (Order of Aurelius)
  • Revello Drive
    • 1630 Revello Drive
  • Sunnydale City Hall (Only mentioned)
  • Sunnydale High School
    • Sunnydale High School library

Objects[]

• Buffy Summers' cross necklace
• Holy water
• Stake
• Vampyr
• Mister Gordo

Rituals and spells[]

• Harvest

Death count[]

• Unidentified vampire, staked by Buffy with a tree branch at the cemetery.
• Jesse McNally, sired by the Order of Aurelius (only mentioned).
• An unidentified bouncer, drained by Luke at the Bronze.
• An unidentified girl, also drained by Luke at the Bronze.
• Unidentified vampire, staked by Buffy with a pool cue at the Bronze.
• Unidentified vampire, beheaded by Buffy with a cymbal.
• Jesse McNally, accidentally pushed by a girl into a stake held by Xander.
• Luke, staked by Buffy on the Bronze's stage.

Behind the scenes[]

Production[]

• Joss Whedon noted that he felt horrible for giving Eric Balfour so many lines with "s" in them, which he had to recite while in vamp face. He had such a difficult time getting the lines out around the prosthetics that new ones were designed for vampire characters required to speak frequently; the older style ones were given to vampire lackeys with few or no lines in future episodes.^[2]
• Additionally, Whedon commented on Buffy flipping onto the Bronze stage, noting that she never did that again as she could've just walked or ran.^[2]
• Whedon "apologizes" in the audio commentaries for the way the scene in which Luke kneels before the Master was shot (making it look as though Luke was giving the Master "pleasure").^[2]
• The Master's line "You're all weak" is a reference to Mark Metcalf's famous line in Animal House.

Broadcast[]

• "The Harvest" (along with "Welcome to the Hellmouth") had an audience of 3.4 million households upon its original airing.^[3]
• "Welcome to the Hellmouth"/"The Harvest" was one of the debut episodes of several popular series (along with Felicity, Angel and Dawson's Creek) that were featured in The WB's farewell broadcast The Night of Favorites and Farewells on September 17, 2006.^[4]

Pop culture references[]

• When storming the Bronze, Buffy references The Wild Bunch (1969), a Western where all the remaining characters are killed in the final shootout.

Goofs[]

• Cordelia tells Harmony they are going to the Bronze, as it's Friday night and there's no cover charge. However, there is clearly a cover charge when they go.
• When Buffy throws Luke away from her, she wears her crucifix necklace, but when she exits the crypt, it has disappeared. When she returns to the library, it's back on again.
• Each time a vampire is dusted off-screen, the sound effect of their demise is not heard.
• The credits list Skip Schoolnik under "Editied By," misspelling "edited."

Music[]

• Sprung Monkey — "Right My Wrong"
• Dashboard Prophets — "Wearing Me Down"
• Dashboard Prophets — "Ballad for Dead Friends"
• Walter Murphy — original score

International titles[]

• Armenian: "Քաղոցք" (Quail)
• Czech: "Žně" (Harvest)
• Finnish: "Ystäviä ja paholaisia, osa 2" (Friends and Demons, Part 2)
• French: "Bienvenue à Sunnydale, partie 2" (Welcome to Sunnydale, Part 2)
• German: "Die Zeit der Ernte" (Time of the Harvest)
• Hungarian: "A vámpírlakoma" (The Vampire Feast)
• Italian: "La Riunione" (The Reunion)
• Japanese: "収穫" (Harvest)
• Polish: "Żniwa" (Harvest)
• Portuguese (Brazil): "Bem-vindo à Boca do Inferno, Parte 2" (Welcome to the Hellmouth, Part 2)
• Romanian: "Recolta" (Harvest)
• Russian: "Жатва" (Harvest)
• Spanish (Latin America): "La cosecha" (The Harvest)
• Spanish (Spain): "La cosecha" (The Harvest)
• Swedish: "Skörden" (The Harvest)

Adaptations[]

• Joss Whedon provided the audio commentaries for this episode.
• The episode was included in VHS collection The Slayer Pack.
• The book The Harvest includes a novelization of this episode.
• The episode script was included in The Script Book: Season One, Volume 1.

Gallery[]

Promotional stills[]

Behind the scenes[]

Advertisement[]

"The Harvest" promo

"For each generation, there is only one Slayer."

Quotes[]

References[]