Fal-net > Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Split Decision / Introduction for the Neophyte

Introduction for the Neophyte

OBVIOUSLY, OUR SCRIPT IS GEARED toward those who are already Buffyphiles. However, the following should provide an adequate introduction for anyone desiring to read Split Decision—and understand what’s going on—without watching the twenty-nine episodes of Buffy that precede it.

When

Present day, save the occasional flashback. The “present day” for Buffy was late 1990s and early 2000s. Split Decision is set in 1998, when Buffy is a junior in high school.

Where

Sunnydale, California. Buffy creator Joss Whedon has said the fictional Sunnydale is closest to the real southern California town of Monterey. Most of the action takes place in Sunnydale High School, local bar/hangout the Bronze (the only local bar/hangout, we’re told), and a few other locations in Sunnydale.

Who

Buffy Summers. The titular Vampire Slayer. A young woman imbued with special powers that enable her to fight vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness. Meanwhile, she must also deal with all the other problems of growing up. Among those problems is that she is new to Sunnydale, having moved there with her mother after the divorce of her parents, when the series began.

Rupert Giles. Usually just called “Giles,” he is the school librarian, though this is basically just a “day job.” Belongs to the Council of Watchers, whose duty is to train and guide the Vampire Slayers. Accordingly, he has been assigned as Buffy’s Watcher, but ends up going beyond that to serve as a sort of father figure as well. Almost stereotypically uptight Brit, but not without a sense of humor, and a somewhat dark past not always on the “good” side of the occult. His less uptight side is best brought out by Jenny Calendar, with whom he falls in love.

Xander Harris. Your average dorky-but-lovable high school student. He is initially infatuated with Buffy, but by the time of Split Decision, he’s involved in a sort of love/hate relationship with Cordelia Chase. With Willow and Giles, forms the “Scooby Gang” that help Buffy fight the good fight.

Cordelia Chase. Cheerleader, most popular girl in school. Easily the antithesis of most of the Scooby Gang, but seems to keep getting thrown into bad situations with them. At the time of Split Decision, she’s beginning to warm up to the group, partly due to the aforementioned love/hate relationship with Xander. Not entirely thoughtless, but she does lack the filter that tells most people what they shouldn’t say out loud.

Willow Rosenberg. Close friends with Xander since childhood, and ends up becoming Buffy’s best friend. Rather geeky, generally unpopular, but extremely close with the rest of the Scooby Gang. She’s where they turn when they need computer-related help. At the time of Split Decision, she has started dating Oz and is slowly coming out of her shell.

Oz. Daniel Osborne, a senior at Sunnydale High School and guitar player for the band “Dingoes Ate My Baby.” Cool in an avant-garde way, quite smart, and a werewolf (though this only manifests three nights a month, so he passes as a perfectly normal human). In love with Willow.

Angel. A vampire … but a “good” vampire. A century earlier, a gypsy curse gave him his soul back, which forces him to live forever with the knowledge of all his years of evil. He and Buffy fall in love, and a few episodes before Split Decision, they sleep together, which causes the gypsy curse to be broken. He loses his soul, becoming evil once again, and bent on destroying all that reminds him of when he had a soul—mostly personified by Buffy herself. His soulless evil side is known as “Angelus” rather than “Angel.”

Spike and Drusilla. Vampire compatriots of Angel when he was originally evil. Over a century ago, Drusilla was slowly driven insane by Angel, who then turned her into a vampire. Twenty years later, Drusilla turned Spike, and they became lovers. The three of them (along with Darla, who originally turned Angel) terrorized different areas of the world before Angel regained his soul. Spike brings Drusilla to Sunnydale during the second season of the series, with the hope of restoring her after her near death at the hands of a mob in Prague. His plan succeeds, but a battle with Buffy results in him being wheelchair bound. Now that Angel is evil again, he has joined his former partners, and with Spike incapacitated, he frequently flirts with Drusilla.

Jenny Calendar. The computer teacher at Sunnydale High School, though this is mainly a cover so she can keep an eye on Angel. She is, in fact, a descendant of the gypsies who originally cursed him. When the curse is broken and he loses his soul, she attempts to recreate the original curse to restore it. Angel learns of these attempts and kills her. In retribution, Giles goes to the factory where Angel, Spike, and Drusilla are staying, and he tries to kill Angel with fire. The attempt fails, but causes a fire to break out in the factory, from which Buffy must rescue Giles. This happens just prior to Split Decision.

The Master. An ancient vampire, who very nearly defeats Buffy in the first season of the series (he “kills” her, but she’s restored quickly through Xander’s CPR efforts), but she triumphs over him in the end. Originally turns Darla into a vampire (so, for those of you keeping score, the “blood line” goes the Master >> Darla >> Angel >> Drusilla >> Spike).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Split Decision copyright