AllMovie

Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) again faces off with Caleb (Nathan Fillion), this time armed with a powerful new weapon: the Scythe, which she slides effortlessly from its rocky resting place, Excalibur-style. But before Buffy can deploy her new toy, Caleb reveals that Faith (Eliza Dushku) and the potentials have fallen victim to his latest experiment in demolitions. Buffy rushes off the find Faith grievously injured, several slayerettes dead, and three über-vamps on the loose. Using the Scythe to make quick work of the once seemingly unstoppable fiends, the Slayer rejoins her estranged allies and leads them home. As Faith recovers from her injuries, she and Buffy chew over their tangled past. Elsewhere, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) tries unsuccessfully to spirit Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) away to safety, while Anya (Emma Caulfield) and Andrew (Tom Lenk) ponder the foolish grandeur of their mutual decision to stay and fight. Meanwhile, a weary Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and a magic-shy Willow (Alyson Hannigan) try to ferret out the origins of Buffy's mysterious new weapon. Their research leads the Slayer -- after a tender interlude with Spike (James Marsters) -- to a mysterious crypt where she meets the last of the Guardians, an ancient order of women sworn to protect the Slayer line not only from the forces of evil, but also from the Shadow Men who created the First Slayer and eventually became the Watchers' Council. The Guardian reveals that the Scythe was forged to destroy the last pure demon who walked the earth, then hidden away for the day when a slayer would need it. Caleb, fresh from an infusion of The First's power, arrives to smite the Guardian and do battle with Buffy. But the Slayer has an unexpected ally: Angel (David Boreanaz), fresh from his assumption of power at Wolfram & Hart (see Angel, "Home").