Everyone returns from summer vacation with unresolved issues that they're just itching to uncover. Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) flirtatiously eat ice cream together, and after Xander licks ice cream off Willow's nose -- perhaps about to kiss her -- they are rudely interrupted by a vampire who wants something other than sweet treats. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who spent the summer with her father, saves them from the attack, the first such attempted biting since the Master's death. The trio's happy reunion is short-lived though, as Buffy is clearly distant, irritable, and wanting to get on with her Slayer training. She is overly mean to Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), blows off Angel (David Boreanaz), and seductively slow dances with Xander at The Bronze, making everybody uncomfortable. Her bad attitude is exacerbated after having a nightmare in which Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) attacks her while Willow and Xander idly watch. This all karmically leads up to the disappearance of the Master's bones. Giles researches a revivification rite, suspecting that someone might be trying to resurrect the Master. Giles accidentally mistranslates the text and he, Willow, Cordelia, and Jenny (Robia La Morte) are taken by the Anointed One (Andrew J. Ferchland) and his new minion Absalom (Brent Jennings) to complete the ceremony. Buffy comes to save them, and in doing so, cathartically takes a sledgehammer to the Master's bones. This episode is the first in which Angel was listed as an official cast member.

After staking a vampire in the Sunnydale cemetery, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel (David Boreanaz) discover that someone has dug up a grave and taken its inhabitant. An icked-out Buffy soon discovers that the corpse was a cheerleader from another school who was killed in a car crash along with two other cheermates. Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) dig up one of the other girls' graves to do a little research, and as they suspect, the body is missing. Angel and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) then happen upon the dismembered bodies of all three of the missing pom-pom corpses. Apparently, Chris Epps (Angelo Spizzirri) -- the Science Club's default Dr. Frankenstein -- is attempting to fashion a Cheer-stein of sorts for Daryl (Ingo Neuhaus), his football jock brother. Very sweet, except that his brother is also a monster brought back to life! The gruesome twosome just need one freshly hacked off head to complete Daryl's new patchwork girlfriend -- and who better than Cordelia? Xander assists in saving Cordelia, thereby sowing the seeds for a future romantic entanglement, but misses his chance in this episode by ignoring her gratitude. Giles is also caught trying to compose a pick-up line for Jenny (Robia La Morte). Finally, as a continuing complication from Buffy's dance with Xander in the season opener, Angel admits to being jealous.

Crashing his DeSoto Sportsman into the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign and proclaiming, "Home, sweet home," viewers meet the vampire named Spike (James Marsters), along with his equally sardonic vamp girlfriend, Drusilla (Juliet Landau) -- a fitting introduction for two vampires who will become among the show's most memorable and reliable villains. Apparently a vampire couple -- a first for the show -- these love bats have a history with Angel (David Boreanaz). The audience learns that Spike (aka "William the Bloody") is a 200-year-old vampire sired by Angel, who earned his name by killing his victims with railroad spikes. He is utterly devoted to "Dru," who is sickly, possibly insane, and subject to psychic visions. At a meeting of vampires with the Anointed One (Andrew J. Ferchland), Spike brags about having killed two slayers in his "life," and manages to slide in some of his soon to-be-characteristic humorous asides. Unable to contain himself until the Festival of St. Vigeous, Spike and some vampires attack Sunnydale High on Parent-Teacher Night; Buffy fights them off with some help from her mom, who repels Spike with an ax. In the aftermath, Principal Snyder (Armin Shimerman) discusses the need to hide the real story from the press -- a hint that he might know something about the supernatural occurrences in Sunnydale.

Xander (Nicholas Brendon) becomes a real mummy's boy in this second season episode. Sunnydale High is sponsoring a foreign exchange student program and Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) mom has signed up to host a student, Ampata Gutierrez, from South America. Meanwhile, during a field trip to a museum, a student attempts to steal a seal on the mummified remains of an Incan princess, and the seal is accidentally broken in the process. In classic mummy style, the mummy girl awakens and sucks the life out of the student, leaving him in her place. The mummy -- actually a princess sacrificed 500 hundred years earlier -- also happens upon Ampata waiting for Buffy at the bus station and drains his life as well. Buffy, expecting to pick up a boy, is surprised to find a beautiful teenage girl waiting for her. Nobody is more surprised though than Xander, who immediately falls for Ampata -- the mummy. Ampata, also smitten with Xander, must keep draining the life out of people to live. It is interesting to note that Oz's (Seth Green) rock band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, make its first appearance in this episode at a school dance. It is at this dance that Oz first expresses his attraction to Willow (Alyson Hannigan), but still does not talk to her.

As if it weren't enough that frat guys drink too much, this episode of Buffy proves that they also worship the demon Machida. It begins when Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel (David Boreanaz) have an argument about where their relationship is going. Meanwhile, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) gets invited to a frat party at the local college. Hoping to blow off some steam, Buffy decides to go along. Apparently, the frat guys have to sacrifice three teenage girls once a year to their demon lord. (The third girl is a student gone missing from another school earlier in the episode.) After being drugged and chained to a pool table in a musty, fake-wood-paneled basement -- in actuality, a dungeon -- all the girls can do is wait to be rescued. Luckily, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) is jealous over Cordelia's attraction to the frat guy and sneaks after them to keep an eye out. After the girls get loose and revoke Machida's fraternity charter, Buffy and Angel decide to give their love another try and go for coffee.

Everyone is preparing for the night by buying their costumes at Ethan's (Robin Sachs) Costume Shop. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) wants to dress like an 18th century noblewoman -- the kind Angel (David Boreanaz) had the hots for back in the day. Willow (Alyson Hannigan), meanwhile, covers up as a ghost and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) plays against type as a macho military soldier. The night starts out great until Ethan, a mystic, casts a spell causing everyone to take on the characteristics of their costume. Buffy becomes a helpless weakling, Xander goes all Rambo, and Willow can run through doors -- closed doors. The spell is discovered as Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), dressed in a cat outfit from another store, does not act like a cat -- at least not any more than usual. Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), an old acquaintance of Ethan's, uncharacteristically beats the spell reversal out of him. This encounter is the first glimpse of Giles' sketchy past with the occult.

A new love and an old friendship are tested in this soap-operatic second-season episode. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) spies Angel (David Boreanaz) speaking with a mysterious and alluring woman. Unaware that the woman is Drusilla (Juliet Landau) -- Buffy did not meet her in the earlier "School Hard" episode of the series -- Buffy becomes jealous and depressed. But when her old best friend and former crush Ford (Jason Behr) transfers to Sunnydale High, she immediately brightens up and begins hanging out with him, ignoring Angel. Ford soon reveals that he knows that Buffy is the Slayer. Angel, suspicious of Ford's intentions and equally jealous, teams up with Willow (Alyson Hannigan) to check him out. They discover that, instead of transferring schools, Ford is actually a member of a vampire-worshipping club. Ford plans to deliver Buffy to Spike (James Marsters) and become a vampire in return -- a preferred outcome to dying of his brain tumor.

After a tweedy British gentleman gets his neck broken by a demon, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) reveals that he knows the man as Philip Henry (Stuart McLean), an old friend who has a tattoo oddly identical to one on Giles' arm. Soon after, Philip awakens from death, possessed by the demon that killed him, and leaves the morgue. Meanwhile, Giles descends into a state of brooding drunkenness and misses a meeting with Buffy. She discovers Ethan Rayne (Robin Sachs) sneaking about the library, and he informs her about the Mark of Eyghon -- the tattoo on Giles' arm. A reluctant Giles soon reveals that as a young man he rebelled against his Watcher duties and formed a circle with five friends, including Ethan, to dabble in the occult. They summoned the demon Eyghon, who then killed one of them. Moving from victim to victim to stay alive, Eyghon is now attempting to kill everyone bearing his mark. Giles' relationship with Jenny (Robia La Morte) is also endangered as she becomes possessed by Eyghon.

Horror of horrors -- it's career week at Sunnydale High! While everyone else is excited about planning their future, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is simply reminded that, as a Slayer, her future is predetermined. Angel (David Boreanaz) tries to cheer her up by taking her to a skating rink. They barely get in some cheer-up necking when Buffy is attacked by a rough Hell's Angels type of guy. A member of the Order of Taraka -- supernatural assassins -- he was apparently sent to kill Buffy by Spike (James Marsters). Meanwhile, Spike is attempting to cure Drusilla (Juliet Landau) of her sickness with the du Lac manuscript, an ancient text he stole from Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). Angel is attempting to find out what is going on with Spike, when a mysterious woman attacks him and locks him up in a cage. Buffy, hidden from the Order of Taraka in Angel's apartment, is also attacked by the woman, who introduces herself as Kendra, the Vampire Slayer, (Bianca Lawson). Also, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Oz (Seth Green) finally meet, but in a less romantic fashion than hoped, as they are both being wooed by a computer mega-corporation out of Seattle.

Confused about how there could be another Slayer, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) figures out that when she briefly died (see "Prophecy Girl") -- Kendra was activated as Slayer. Buffy is jealous at first of Kendra's dedication to her duties, but soon discovers that Kendra really doesn't care about helping people as much as she does. Meanwhile, Angel (David Boreanaz) is rescued from his cage by Willy the Bartender (Saverio Guerra) only to be handed over to Spike (James Marsters). Apparently, Spike needs Drusilla's (Juliet Landau) sire -- Angel -- to complete the ritual to restore Drusilla's health. Realizing this, Kendra and Buffy beat the location of the ritual out of Willy. They manage to end the ceremony before Angel is dead, but not before all of Drusilla's powers have been restored. Spike is injured in the fight, and subsequently the couple switches roles, with Drusilla having to care for Spike. This episode marks the actual beginning of Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Cordelia's (Charisma Carpenter) relationship, as they argue, and then kiss, while trapped in a basement.