Buffy Season 8 Recap - Wolves at the Gate - Part 3

We see a close up of Aiko’s eyes and blood splatter on the surrounding areas of her face. Buffy looks up and we see Aiko strung up on a building with her blood used to write a welcome message for Buffy and the Slayers. Buffy, Willow, Satsu and many more Slayers look up at Aiko’s lifeless body in shock, Buffy looks down in a mixture of anger and sadness “help me cut her down” she tells them.




A great monastery is the apparent home of the Tokyo Slayers, Buffy walks towards it alone as many girls (Slayers) watch her approach. Buffy holds in her arms the body of Aiko wrapped in cloth. The Slayers open the gates for Buffy to enter as some begin crying, she walks through their inner town towards a small building, barely the size of a room. She places the body in front of a Buddha statue and some lit candles then sits in the corner in shock. Day turns to night and Buffy is still sat alone with the body of Aiko. Willow enters and tries to comfort Buffy, she asks how long Buffy plans on staying up here alone, Buffy tells her she will stay here until she can figure out how to track and kill these vampires. Dracula and Xander finally arrive and Dracula suggests a spell that would stop the vampires from turning into fog and simply escaping like before. Dracula tells them the ingredients needed and asks to be alerted when they are ready.

Toru is looking out (and up) towards the giant red ring that will remove the Slayers powers, his team mate Raidon tells him that Buffy and the Slayers are here and the spell will be ready in twelve hours. The robotics division are working on the counter measures and they should be prepared for anything as Buffy wont play fair after they have killed one of her Slayers. We see Renee dressed in a schoolgirl uniform running towards a man in a park, she tells him she is lost and he offers to help. They walk through the dark park alone and he tells warns her of the dangers lurking in the dead of night before turning into his vampire face, Renee smiles and tells him that he should be wary of the dangers of the darkness too. Buffy, Willow and Xander drop from the above trees and Willow uses the spell to trap a vampire that can turn into fog. He is now trapped in a mystical box, Willow pours gasoline into the invisible cage and Buffy tells him she will burn him alive because she wants to know where her Scythe is. He quickly cracks and tells her where to find Toru and her Scythe and begs to be let free, Buffy tells him that she never said there was an option where he would survive, lights a match and throws it into the box as the four of them walk away from the screaming vampire.







Buffy and Satsu are now arguing, Buffy wants to leave Satsu at the Tokyo base to look after the grieving Slayers while Buffy and the rest go out to fight the vampires. Satsu doesn’t know if Buffy is saying this to avoid her or to protect her but either way she is not taking orders and she returns inside to prepare for the battle. Xander and Renee’s conversation is going a lot better, Xander explains that it would be easier to count this evening as a first date as first dates are always awkward, if this is the first date, then their second (proper) date will be less awkward. Renee tells him that this would be an awful first date story to tell people in the future, he dressed her up as a schoolgirl and used her as bait, they burned a vampire to death and then went to battle with hundreds of girls… and Dracula. However she will help him feel less nervous on their next date and she kisses him showing him that she has feelings for him and he doesn’t need to be nervous.

Buffy’s Slayers are hidden in alleys and rooftops, Buffy tells them that there is approximately a thousand of those vampires in the area but that they nearly match their numbers, Xander points out that they can still turn into fog etc but Buffy reminds him that the point of this mission is to retrieve the Scythe, as long as they get that back the vampires can't hurt them. Willow reminds them that they need a big distraction to get into the building without being noticed which she will do now. She begins reciting a spell and a flash of white light showers them and the hundreds of vampires in the streets. Suddenly the vampires look up and shout in fear, there stands Giant Dawn “Hi…I mean… ROAR!”. She smashes buildings surrounding them dropping debris on the vampires as they run in fear, Buffy looks down at the building and sees that it is now clear to sneak in.




They walk into the building and then into a room, Buffy can see Toru in front of them, he is holding Buffy’s Scythe over his shoulder while looking out at the destruction Dawn is causing. Buffy, Willow and Xander walk forward while the others protect the door they just entered. Buffy tells Toru that there is still time to surrender and she goes to grab his shoulder but her hand falls through him like a hologram. Willow holds her head and tells Xander that something is wrong, suddenly something happens and blood splatters over the back and side of Xanders head. He turns around to see Toru has stabbed Renee through the chest with the Scythe as Toru confirms that they have just walked into a trap.