Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 5 Premiere)

Buffy vs. Dracula. It’s one of those forehead-slapping moments when you wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” And maybe some lonely guy, publishing Buffy fan fiction on his Web site, already has. But the fifth-season opener is still ingenious. She’s already thrown down with the biggest otherworldly baddies Sunnydale has to offer—it was only a matter of time before the Prince of Vampires dropped in for a guest spot.

We join our heroine (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in the throes of sophomore slump, returning to campus a bit weary of the whole relentless-march-of-evil thing. The last thing she needs right now is a complicated relationship with some foreign guy. But Dracula blows into town and works that timeless Eurotrash whammy, and soon Buffy is bedazzled. Underachiever Xander (Nicolas Brendon) becomes a kind of hepcat slacker Renfield, doing the Evil One’s bidding and putting the whole Scooby gang in mortal peril.

To complicate matters, Buffy’s Watcher, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), has gotten needy. He suggests that Buffy no longer needs his help, and thinks about returning to England. That could be a great story—just what is up with those creepy British guys in the Council, anyway?—but is he really leaving? This episode drops enough conflicting hints about the upcoming season to keep you up long after sunrise.