The Harvest (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)
Encyclopedia
"The Harvest" is the second episode of season one
of the WB Television Network
television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by executive producer Joss Whedon
and directed by John T. Kretchmer
. The episode originally aired in feature-length format alongside part one, "Welcome to the Hellmouth
", on March 10, 1997, and attracted 3.4 million viewers. As such, and even though it is typically shown as two separate episodes in reruns, the action continues directly from the cliffhanger ending of "Welcome to the Hellmouth", as Buffy Summers
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
) struggles to save Jesse McNally's (Eric Balfour
) life.
) is about to finish off Buffy
, who is trapped in a stone coffin, but she repels him with the silver cross that a mysterious stranger (David Boreanaz
) had given her earlier that evening. She then escapes the mausoleum and saves her new friends Xander
(Nicholas Brendon
) and Willow
(Alyson Hannigan
) from vampires in the graveyard. However, Darla (Julie Benz
) has already taken Jesse, and she and Luke now inform The Master (Mark Metcalf
) about Buffy's unusual fighting abilities and knowledge of the supernatural, and it is suspected that she may be a new Slayer. The Master decides to use Jesse as bait.
Giles
(Anthony Stewart Head
) and Buffy give Xander and Willow a brief introduction to the world of vampires, demons and Slayers. Willow accesses the city council's plans for Sunnydale
's tunnel system, and Buffy realises that there must be a means of access to it from the crypt where she fought Luke and Darla. Willow expresses her "need to help" now that she knows about the supernatural, and so continues assisting Giles with research. Xander, however, is hurt when Buffy declines his help in physically tracking down Luke.
Willow is researching the Master in the computer lab when she overhears Cordelia
(Charisma Carpenter
) badmouthing Buffy, and is then insulted herself when she attempts to defend her new friend. Willow exacts revenge by convincing the computer-illiterate Cordelia to press the DEL key to "deliver her assignment", thus deleting it from the system.
The dark stranger appears again just as Buffy is about to enter the tunnel system in the crypt, and tells her his name is Angel. He gives her directions to The Master's lair, but pointedly refrains from wishing her luck until after she is out of earshot. Xander catches up with Buffy in the tunnels, having decided to follow her anyway despite her earlier discouragement. They find Jesse seemingly alive and unhurt, but he leads them to a dead-end in the tunnel system and then reveals that he has already been turned into a vampire. Buffy and Xander barely escape, with Xander having to pull Buffy out of a manhole and back into the safety of daylight while a vampire's hand tries to pull her back.
Underground, The Master is unhappy about their escape and punishes the vampire Colin by violently poking his eyes out. Luke then drinks the Master's blood, turning Luke into "the Vessel". Back at the library, Giles explains that The Master arrived in Sunnydale 60 years ago to open the Hellmouth - a portal between this reality and another, demonic reality which, if opened, will allow demons to invade the Earth - but he was swallowed by an unexpected earthquake and is now trapped in a church that was buried underground. Tonight is a once-in-a-century opportunity called The Harvest in which, by allowing Luke to drink his blood, The Master will now gain strength from each victim's blood which Luke drinks that night until he is powerful enough to finally break free from his underground confinement. To prevent this, Buffy and her gang of friends must kill the Vessel. They wonder where Luke might attack so as to ensure the optimum number of victims, and Xander suggests The Bronze
.
On her way there with the others, Buffy stops by her house to pick up some additional weapons before the fight, but is promptly grounded
by her mother, who has received a call from Principal Flutie about Buffy skipping classes and is now terrified that the same events which led to Buffy being expelled from her previous school are happening again. Knowing that she cannot abide by her mother's wishes, Buffy collects her weapons from a secret compartment in a chest (the top layer of which is filled with stereotypical girlie items so as not to arouse suspicion) and climbs out of the second-floor window.
Luke and other vampires burst into The Bronze to begin feeding. Buffy arrives just in time to save Cordelia
, who was newly attracted to Jesse because of the greater confidence he had gained as a vampire. Buffy notices the Vessel mark on Luke's forehead, and begins to fight him. Xander confronts Jesse with a stake, but is spared the choice of either killing or being killed by his former best friend when a fleeing woman accidentally pushes him into Jesse so that the stake pierces the vampire's heart. Darla knocks Giles to the ground and is about to bite him, but Willow saves him by pouring holy water on Darla. Buffy smashes a window so that extra light pours into the room, and Luke is momentarily stunned because he thinks it is daylight, allowing Buffy to stake him and so prevent The Master from rising. Angel watches as the now-leaderless vampires flee from The Bronze; he is clearly impressed by Buffy's success.
The next morning, despite Xander's expectation that "nothing will ever be the same", Cordelia exemplifies Sunnydale residents' typical state of denial when it comes to the paranormal. Giles warns Buffy and her friends that the Hellmouth will continue to act as a magnet for demonic forces and so many more battles will lie ahead, which they accept more nonchalantly than he would like.
Joss Whedon noted in the commentary for this episode 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.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 1)
- Crew :Series creator Joss Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner. David Greenwalt joined the series as co-executive producer as 20th Century Fox wanted an experienced television producer as Whedon had never ran a television series before. Whedon wrote the most episodes, writing three...
of the WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by executive producer Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
and directed by John T. Kretchmer
John T. Kretchmer
John T. Kretchmer is an American film and television director.Throughout his career he has amassed a number of television credits namely Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Charmed, The Twilight Zone, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Special Unit 2 , Dark Angel, Psych, Burn Notice, Veronica Mars,...
. The episode originally aired in feature-length format alongside part one, "Welcome to the Hellmouth
Welcome to the Hellmouth
"Welcome to the Hellmouth" is the series premiere of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This episode and "The Harvest" were originally aired as a two-part series premiere on The WB Television Network...
", on March 10, 1997, and attracted 3.4 million viewers. As such, and even though it is typically shown as two separate episodes in reruns, the action continues directly from the cliffhanger ending of "Welcome to the Hellmouth", as Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
) struggles to save Jesse McNally's (Eric Balfour
Eric Balfour
Eric Salter Balfour is an American singer and actor of film and television. He is the lead singer of Born As Ghosts, formerly known as Fredalba...
) life.
Plot
Luke (Brian ThompsonBrian Thompson (actor)
Brian Thompson is an American actor. His distinctive square-jaw profile, powerful voice, and imposing stature has led him to be typecast as a villain in many action films and TV series, and a some comedies: Joe Dirt, The Three Amigos, Weird Science, Key West, and Life Stinks.-Career:Thompson has...
) is about to finish off Buffy
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
, who is trapped in a stone coffin, but she repels him with the silver cross that a mysterious stranger (David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz is an American actor, television producer, and director, known for his role as Angel on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Special Agent Seeley Booth on the television crime drama Bones....
) had given her earlier that evening. She then escapes the mausoleum and saves her new friends Xander
Xander Harris
Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as in numerous items in the series Expanded Universe, such as comic books, tie-in novels and video games...
(Nicholas Brendon
Nicholas Brendon
Nicholas Brendon , is an actor best known for his character Xander Harris in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer .-Early life:...
) and Willow
Willow Rosenberg
Willow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan...
(Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Lee Hannigan is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg in the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films, and Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.-Early life:Hannigan was born in...
) from vampires in the graveyard. However, Darla (Julie Benz
Julie Benz
Julie M. Benz is an American actress, best known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and as Rita Bennett on Dexter, for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television...
) has already taken Jesse, and she and Luke now inform The Master (Mark Metcalf
Mark Metcalf
Mark Howes Metcalf is an American actor in both television and film.-Early life:Metcalf attended Westfield High School in Westfield, New Jersey.-Film and television work:...
) about Buffy's unusual fighting abilities and knowledge of the supernatural, and it is suspected that she may be a new Slayer. The Master decides to use Jesse as bait.
Giles
Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure...
(Anthony Stewart Head
Anthony Head
Anthony Stewart Head , usually credited as Anthony Head, is an English actor and musician. He rose to fame in the UK following his role in television advertisements for Nescafé Gold Blend , and is known for his roles as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Uther Pendragon in...
) and Buffy give Xander and Willow a brief introduction to the world of vampires, demons and Slayers. Willow accesses the city council's plans for Sunnydale
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
's tunnel system, and Buffy realises that there must be a means of access to it from the crypt where she fought Luke and Darla. Willow expresses her "need to help" now that she knows about the supernatural, and so continues assisting Giles with research. Xander, however, is hurt when Buffy declines his help in physically tracking down Luke.
Willow is researching the Master in the computer lab when she overhears Cordelia
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
(Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Lee Carpenter is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards. In her most recent film she starred opposite Sylvester Stallone and Jason...
) badmouthing Buffy, and is then insulted herself when she attempts to defend her new friend. Willow exacts revenge by convincing the computer-illiterate Cordelia to press the DEL key to "deliver her assignment", thus deleting it from the system.
The dark stranger appears again just as Buffy is about to enter the tunnel system in the crypt, and tells her his name is Angel. He gives her directions to The Master's lair, but pointedly refrains from wishing her luck until after she is out of earshot. Xander catches up with Buffy in the tunnels, having decided to follow her anyway despite her earlier discouragement. They find Jesse seemingly alive and unhurt, but he leads them to a dead-end in the tunnel system and then reveals that he has already been turned into a vampire. Buffy and Xander barely escape, with Xander having to pull Buffy out of a manhole and back into the safety of daylight while a vampire's hand tries to pull her back.
Underground, The Master is unhappy about their escape and punishes the vampire Colin by violently poking his eyes out. Luke then drinks the Master's blood, turning Luke into "the Vessel". Back at the library, Giles explains that The Master arrived in Sunnydale 60 years ago to open the Hellmouth - a portal between this reality and another, demonic reality which, if opened, will allow demons to invade the Earth - but he was swallowed by an unexpected earthquake and is now trapped in a church that was buried underground. Tonight is a once-in-a-century opportunity called The Harvest in which, by allowing Luke to drink his blood, The Master will now gain strength from each victim's blood which Luke drinks that night until he is powerful enough to finally break free from his underground confinement. To prevent this, Buffy and her gang of friends must kill the Vessel. They wonder where Luke might attack so as to ensure the optimum number of victims, and Xander suggests The Bronze
The Bronze
The Bronze is a fictional nightclub in Sunnydale, the fictional setting for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of 144 episodes of the series, 66 have at least one scene at the Bronze, not including its appearance in the unaired pilot....
.
On her way there with the others, Buffy stops by her house to pick up some additional weapons before the fight, but is promptly grounded
Grounding (punishment)
Grounding is a form of punishment given to children, preadolescents or adolescents by their parents for misbehavior....
by her mother, who has received a call from Principal Flutie about Buffy skipping classes and is now terrified that the same events which led to Buffy being expelled from her previous school are happening again. Knowing that she cannot abide by her mother's wishes, Buffy collects her weapons from a secret compartment in a chest (the top layer of which is filled with stereotypical girlie items so as not to arouse suspicion) and climbs out of the second-floor window.
Luke and other vampires burst into The Bronze to begin feeding. Buffy arrives just in time to save Cordelia
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
, who was newly attracted to Jesse because of the greater confidence he had gained as a vampire. Buffy notices the Vessel mark on Luke's forehead, and begins to fight him. Xander confronts Jesse with a stake, but is spared the choice of either killing or being killed by his former best friend when a fleeing woman accidentally pushes him into Jesse so that the stake pierces the vampire's heart. Darla knocks Giles to the ground and is about to bite him, but Willow saves him by pouring holy water on Darla. Buffy smashes a window so that extra light pours into the room, and Luke is momentarily stunned because he thinks it is daylight, allowing Buffy to stake him and so prevent The Master from rising. Angel watches as the now-leaderless vampires flee from The Bronze; he is clearly impressed by Buffy's success.
The next morning, despite Xander's expectation that "nothing will ever be the same", Cordelia exemplifies Sunnydale residents' typical state of denial when it comes to the paranormal. Giles warns Buffy and her friends that the Hellmouth will continue to act as a magnet for demonic forces and so many more battles will lie ahead, which they accept more nonchalantly than he would like.
Arc significance
- The concept of "The Old Ones" and their history on earth is discussed by Giles. In Season 5 of AngelAngel (TV series)Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
, the Old One Illyria becomes a major character.
Writing
Although it is never revealed in the series, the Master's real name as listed in the script of this episode is Heinrich Joseph Nest.Joss Whedon noted in the commentary for this episode 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.