Revelations
After Dingoes Ate My Baby finishes its set during a particularly crowded
night at the Bronze, Oz joins Willow, Xander, and Cordelia at their table.
Hoping to divert attention away from her and Xander's uneasiness around each
other, Willow brings up the topic of Buffy acting differently as of late.
Cordy suggests that Buffy might have found a new man. Buffy stops by briefly
before heading off with Faith towards the cemetery for a rendezvous with
Giles. In no time, Buffy and Faith are battling two newly-risen vampires
while their Watcher observes. After successfully vanquishing the vampires, a
woman arrives on the scene. She criticizes Buffy and Faith's performance,
then identifies herself as Mrs. Gwendolyn Post -- Faith's new Watcher.
Upon returning to the library, Gwendolyn Post informs Giles, Buffy, and
Faith that she has been sent by the Watchers' Council to serve as Faith's
Watcher, as well as report back to the Council about the situation in
Sunnydale with Giles and Buffy. In addition, Gwendolyn has information
regarding a demon named Lagos, who has come to Sunnydale in search of a
deadly weapon called the Glove of Myhnegon. It's apparent from the start
that Gwendolyn doesn't have a great deal of respect for Giles' abilities, as
she mocks both his resources and his efficiency. After Faith leaves with her
newly appointed Watcher, Buffy goes to the mansion for her own training
session with Angel. In the heat of the moment, they nearly kiss before Buffy
pulls back at the last second. As she leaves, Buffy casually mentions Lagos'
name, which brings a look of concern to Angel's face.
Back at the library, Giles' frustration steadily grows due to his difficulty
in finding any relevant information on Lagos. He vents that frustration on
Xander, demanding that he either help with the research or leave. Xander
joins an exhausted Willow in the search through the books, and they settle
down behind one of the stacks. One thing leads to another, and Willow is
soon madly kissing Xander. Completely lost in their passion, neither of them
realizes that Giles is merely a few feet away. His voice breaks them out of
their spell and brings them to their feet. Luckily, the librarian is too
focused on the book in his hands to notice what Willow and Xander were
doing. Giles tells them that he discovered the possible location of the
Glove of Myhnegon: inside the Von Hauptman family crypt in Restfield
Cemetery. Xander immediately volunteers to go to the cemetery and check out
the crypt. Meanwhile, Buffy and Faith decide to call it a night and postpone
the rest of their patrol through the numerous cemeteries of Sunnydale. While
Buffy heads home to sleep, Faith passes through Shady Hill Cemetery, where
she finds the demon Lagos rummaging through a tomb. Faith engages the demon,
but she quickly ends up on her back with the wind knocked out of her. She
can only watch as Lagos gives up his search through the tomb and walks away.
Finding the glove is the only thing on Lagos' mind. Over at Restfield
Cemetery, Xander arrives at the Von Hauptman crypt just in time to see
somebody walking out of the entrance. To his surprise, Xander recognizes the
person as Angel, who is carrying a wrapped object in his hands. Without
being noticed, Xander follows Angel back to the Crawford Street mansion and
witnesses yet another surprise through the window: Buffy, with her arms
wrapped around Angel... kissing him. After Xander leaves, Buffy and Angel
break their kiss and regain control of themselves. Angel brings Buffy over
to the object which he took from the crypt, then unwraps it to reveal the
Glove of Myhnegon. Angel stops Buffy from touching it, warning her that the
glove cannot be removed once you put it on. At Giles' apartment, Gwendolyn
Post relaxes while Giles locates an illustration of the Glove of Myhnegon in
one of his books. As they take a tea break, Xander bursts in with an urgent
announcement concerning Buffy for Giles' ears only.
Buffy enters the library the next morning with good news about the glove,
only to find Giles and all of her friends sitting around the table with
serious looks on their faces. After she sits down, Giles tells her that her
secret about Angel is officially out in the open. Buffy tries to defend her
stance, emphasizing the fact that Angel is no longer the uncontrollable
murderer that he became after his fateful "moment of happiness". However,
her friends refuse to accept Buffy's excuses, especially Xander. Fed up with
his accusations, Buffy grabs Xander by the arm and questions his motives for
wanting Angel dead. Giles stops the debate and sends everybody back to class
before things get out of hand. Buffy follows her Watcher into his office and
reassures him that Angel got the glove before Lagos could find it. Giles,
however, doesn't want to hear any more of Buffy's excuses. He reminds her of
how Angel tortured him months ago. Giles then acknowledges the fact that
Buffy was wrong to keep Angel's return a secret from her Watcher, and she
has gravely disrespected him by doing so. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn pays a visit
to Faith's place. While assuring Faith that her intentions are pure,
Gwendolyn alludes to Giles' secret meeting with Buffy and her friends. Faith
is not pleased to be left out of that equation. Back at Sunnydale High,
Buffy finds Willow at her locker and asks if everything's all right between
them. Preoccupied with her own secret, Willow does not hesitate to pardon
Buffy for keeping Angel's return under wraps. Buffy then tells her friend
that she plans to wait in front of the Von Hauptman crypt and kill Lagos
when he arrives.
Later that night, Faith finds Xander at the Bronze, shooting pool by
himself. Xander fills Faith in on the news that Angel's back in town, the
Glove of Myhnegon is in his possession, and Buffy has no problems with any
of this. Faith decides to kill Angel, and Xander is eager to tag along. As
they head towards the library, Gwendolyn enters Giles' office and finds out
that the Glove of Myhnegon has been found and is currently in the mansion on
Crawford Street. Giles then surprises her with a spell he discovered that
can destroy the glove. The spell creates a living flame, which can
incinerate the Glove of Myhnegon. After Giles turns around, Gwendolyn picks
up a statue and bashes him in the head twice, sending him to the floor,
unconscious and bleeding. At Restfield Cemetery, Willow is about to divulge
her secret to Buffy about her new relationship with Xander when Lagos
suddenly appears. After a rough fight, Buffy grabs the axe from Lagos' back
and uses it to chop his head off. As they head back to the library, Faith
and Xander arrive to collect a few weapons from the armory in the bookcage.
On their way out, Xander hears a moan coming from Giles' office. He finds
Giles on the floor, quickly losing a lot of blood. Faith believes Angel did
this, but Xander points out the lack of bite marks. Faith doesn't care about
that detail, and she leaves for the mansion while Xander calls for an
ambulance.
Aware of the method for destroying the glove, Angel completes the spell for
the living flame. He then turns around to see that Gwendolyn Post has
entered the room. She concocts a lie to convince Angel that the living flame
can strengthen the glove if the spell was miscast. As Angel turns his back
to her, Gwendolyn picks up a shovel and strikes the back of the vampire's
head, knocking him to the floor. Meanwhile, Buffy and Willow arrive at the
library, where paramedics are in the process of bringing Giles out to the
ambulance. Before he is taken away, Giles tells Buffy that she must destroy
the glove with living flame. Xander tells Buffy that Faith is already on her
way to the mansion, convinced that Angel needs to die. Buffy tells Willow to
find the spell for the living flame, then dashes towards the mansion, where
Gwendolyn is trying to open the locked chest which contains the glove. Back
at the library, Xander and Willow finish the preparations for the spell and
head to the mansion. Before Gwendolyn can open the chest, Angel hops to his
feet, his face morphed to its vampire state. Gwendolyn breaks the shovel
handle in half and tries to stake Angel, but he easily knocks the weapon
away and throws Gwendolyn into the wall. As he moves in to grab her, Faith
arrives and sees her new Watcher about to be murdered by a vampire. Faith
overwhelms Angel and is about to finish the job when Buffy arrives and stops
the stake's descent. Buffy tries to convince Faith that Angel is not the
enemy, but Gwendolyn urges her Slayer to do her job. Faith and Buffy begin
to fight each other. Their battle takes them crashing through a window and
into one of the outside courtyards. Xander and Willow arrive in the midst of
the fight. Xander tries to stop them, but Faith tosses him aside and
continues the fight. Using the Slayers' distraction to her advantage,
Gwendolyn opens the chest and pulls out the glove and knocks Willow to the
floor with it, then puts on the Glove of Myhnegon, which latches itself to
her arm. As she raises the glove above her head and chants in Gaelic,
thunder begins to rumble over the mansion. The loud thunder stops Buffy and
Faith, and they turn their attention towards Gwendolyn. As they watch on,
Gwendolyn screams a command which causes lightning to strike the glove from
the sky, then fly out from the glove towards its target. Buffy and Faith
dodge the blast, but just barely. As Willow gets up from the floor,
Gwendolyn turns and fires a lightning bolt in her direction. Angel runs in
and pushes Willow out of the way of the bolt. Faith runs around the room to
draw her fire away from Buffy, who picks up a shard of the broken window and
throws it at Gwendolyn's gloved arm. The glass cuts right through her arm,
causing it to fall to the floor by Gwendolyn's feet. The dismemberment
causes the glove to fire again, but since it is now beneath her, the
lightning flies down from the sky and strikes Gwendolyn, burning her into
oblivion.
The next morning, Oz, Willow, Xander, and Cordy talk in the lounge about
Buffy and Angel, as well as destroying the Glove of Myhnegon with the living
flame. Xander concedes that having Angel around again will be fine as long
as Buffy doesn't repeat the same mistakes that led to the lifting of the
curse. Buffy arrives and makes peace with Xander. Giles then walks into the
lounge and tells the group that Gwendolyn Post was kicked out by the
Watchers' Council a couple years ago. After school, Buffy visits Faith's
place. She tells Faith to not worry about trusting her, but Faith still
feels betrayed and is not in the mood for conversation. As Buffy turns to
leave, Faith begins to tell her something, but decides to keep it to herself
for now.
