Willow expresses joy and then fear at being able to leave the campus now that they're seniors.  She, Oz, Xander and Cordelia go to the little courtyard across the way where Buffy is waiting with lunch.  Willow points a guy named Scott Hope out to Buffy, saying he likes her.  Buffy says she's not ready for that stuff right now, just wants to get her life back.  Cut to a local restaurant where a limo's going through the drive-thru.  A man leans out, ordering a diet soda, then reflects upon the fuzziness of Sunnydale inside, as the limo pulls around to the window.  There's someone else in the limo, but he's hidden in shadows.  He tells the first man that they're in Sunnydale for one purpose..to kill the slayer.  He describes how he wants to do it, and the first man says "Man, now I'M hungry!" and he yanks the drive thru guy out of his window.  The first guy is a vampire.  In Buffy's dream, she's dancing with Angel at the Bronze when the ring he gave her slips from her finger.  Angel picks it up, looking at her with a hurt expression on his face.  We see a flash back of Buffy running him through with the sword, and then they're back in the Bronze.  She starts crying, telling him she had to.  His chest starts bleeding and when she reaches out to him he tells her to go to Hell...because he did.  Buffy wakes up, and she and Joyce go to her meeting with Snyder.  He lets her back into school on several conditions, including the requirement that she meet with the school psychiatrist.  Buffy and Willow head to the library, where Giles wants Buffy to give him details on her fight with Angel, and how she defeated Acathla the demon.  Buffy answers all of his questions shortly, without telling him that Angel had his soul when she killed him.  Buffy leaves to go take a make-up test, and Giles expresses concern that Willow's trying too much too soon in the witchcraft department.  At the Bronze that night, Scott comes up to ask if Buffy wants to dance, but she's indecisive, so he goes over to the dance floor to wait if she changes her mind.  Meanwhile, Cordelia and Xander show up, and Cordy's talking about a couple on the dance floor, how the girl looks like a slut, and the guy's dancing in a rather retroactive fashion.  Buffy watches the couple with a growing sense of unease, as they leave the floor.  She and the gang follow them outside to find the chick beating the crap out of what is now revealed as a vampire.  She introduces herself to Buffy as Faith, then borrows Buffy's stake to kill the vamp.  Inside, the new Slayer regales the group with tales of her slaying.  She tells Buffy that her Watcher is at a watcher's convention in England.  The next day Giles confirms that there IS a Watcher's convention, and Buffy asks Faith to dinner that night with her and her mother.  Faith, Willow and Xander leave, and Giles tries to question Buffy again about Angel's death, and the specifics of it, after telling her about two missing people in town.  Buffy dodges the questions, and leaves.  Later, Cordelia expresses jealousy over Xander's obsession with Slayers, while Faith talks to Scott.  Buffy gets a little jealous, and drags Faith away.  We cut to Mr. Trick (the guy who munched on the drive-thru guy), who's talking to a big vamp with a scar running down his eye.  Apparently, they're here to kill Faith, not Buffy.  In fact they didn't even know Buffy existed.  Apparently Faith caused the scar on the big vamp, and he wants revenge.  That night at Buffy's house, Joyce makes nice with the new Slayer.  Buffy gets a little jealous over Faith's camaraderie with everything in Buffy's life, including her mom.  Joyce and Buffy talk in the kitchen, and Joyce mentions to Buffy wouldn't it be neat if Faith could just take over for her? Buffy tells her that the only way you get a new slayer is if the old one dies, and Joyce realizes that it means Buffy died at some point.  She says she hates Buffy's life.  Later, Buffy and Faith are patrolling together when Faith mentions Angel, wondering if that's why Buffy seems so uptight.  They have 'words', and get close to a confrontation, but are interrupted by some vamps.  While Faith is concentrating on one vampire who pissed her off, Buffy almost gets killed by the rest of the gang.  She yells at Faith for it, but Faith doesn't seem to care. At school the next day, Buffy tells Giles her concerns about Faith, thinking she's a little 'off'.  Giles says he'll try to contact Faith's Watcher at the retreat.  Buffy tells him what one of the vamps the night before said to her..something about 'Kakistos", who is a vampire so old that his hands and feet are cloven.  Buffy thinks that it's odd how Faith and this Kakistos guy came into town at the same time.  She decides to go talk to Faith about it, and runs into Scott.  She finally decides to give it a chance with him, but freaks out when he gives her a clauddagh ring as a token of friendship.  She drops it, crying, and says "I can't do this."  He takes the ring and leaves, having "gotten the message" that she doesn't want to see him.  Giles comes up and asks her if she's okay, then tells her that he contracted the retreat, and found that Faith's Watcher is dead.  At Faith's motel room, Buffy confronts Faith about Kakistos.  Faith refuses to talk about it until Buffy tells her that she knows Faith's Watcher is dead.  Suddenly Kakistos and Mr. Trick are at the door, barging their way in.  Buffy and Faith escape out the back, and end up in abandoned building where Faith finally spills the story.  Faith says she was there when they killed her Watcher, and she saw the whole thing.  They realize that the building they're in is actually Kakistos's, that he drove them there.  The demon's vamps attack Buffy, while Kakistos goes after Faith.  Beating her down, he's about to kill Faith when Buffy intercedes and saves her.  Faith ends up killing Kakistos, while Mr. Trick runs.  The next day, Buffy tells Giles and Willow how Faith came through the night before.  How she had a lot to deal with, but managed to beat it in the end.  Realizing that she herself needs to do this, she tells them how Angel was cured when she killed him.  She tells Giles she hopes it helps him with the binding spell he needed to do on the Acathla demon, then leaves.  Willow tells Giles she wants to help him with the spell, but he tells her "there is no spell."  He'd only been asking Buffy questions so she would talk about what happened to her, and be able to let it go and move on.  Outside Scott's class, Buffy patches things up with Scott, who seems happy that she's interested.  They make plans for that weekend.  That night, Buffy goes to the mansion where she killed Angel, and leaves her ring there.  Saying goodbye, and letting go of her attachment and loss of him.  She walks away, and the camera focuses on the ring.  It disappears from view as the screen grows dark, then it lights up again in a blinding brilliance as a light shines out of the air in the mansion.  Suddenly a form drops out of nowhere, and lands on the ground.  Shivering and naked (aaaagggghhhh!), Angel lies on the floor....staring around in pained bewilderment. FLAWS:       None found. THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE:        Well, it's a season 3, so it's not great...but it's definitely better than the LAST two episodes.  We meet Faith, who I don't really like, and Buffy finally starts to move on after all of the pain caught up in the Angel thing.  Unfortunately, this means moving on to Scott, who I also don't like.  Of course, I realize that this is pretty much just because he's not Angel, but hey.  Oh, this is also the first time we hear anything about a Watcher's council.  See my thoughts under "What's my Line" (season 2).  I think that they were trying to be all cute, bringing in a Watcher's Council out of nowhere when we weren't looking, but I find myself feeling betrayed.  Because we, as viewers, have been fed this whole song and dance for years about One Slayer....One girl in all the world, and all that crap.  And with one slayer, you get one watcher.  Now, I understand that now there are TWO slayers, but why is there suddenly now a whole council of Watchers? I don't get it.  I think it's cheap, and they just threw it in there for the hell of it.  And also, if they're there to like, regulate the slayers and stuff, shouldn't they have A) informed Giles that a new slayer had been called when Buffy died?  B) informed Giles that a new slayer had been called when Kendra died?  And C) informed Giles that Faith's Watcher had been killed?  You'd think that this would be stuff Giles should know, as the Watcher of the only other active slayer.  BEST LINE:  A bit of a long one from Willow.  In the beginning Willow points Scott Hope out to Buffy, and tells her she might be ready for him to ask her out.  She tells her "You could do that cute thing with your mouth that boys like."  (at a look from Buffy, continues on to say ) "oh, I didn't mean that bad thing with your mouth..I meant that little half smile thing." (looks at Oz)  "you're supposed to stop me when I do that." Oz, shaking his head and smiling, says : "I like when you do that."

"Faith, Hope and Trick"