We pick up where part 1 ended.....Buffy's out on that rooftop after having stabbed Faith and watched as she fell onto the truck that drove away.  Buffy climbs down a ladder on the side of the building moments before the Mayor and his lackey's come in.  They realize there's no one there, and the Mayor orders a lackey to "put everyone on it"  The lackey rushes off and Wilkins looks worried about Faith. In the library, Xander and Giles are still researching when Cordelia comes in and says that Wesley called her to say he's leaving the country, and he mentioned a big fight. Giles tells her that Buffy quit the council, and that they won't be working with Wesley anymore.  Xander mentions the Ascension and asks if Cordelia wants to help, and surprisingly, she does. Cut to Angel's, where Willow's dabbing at his forehead with a cool rag.  Angel wakes, and kisses Willow's hand, obviously mistaking her for Buffy in his delusion.  He tells her he can't leave her; he was wrong.  He needs her.  Willow gets him to recognize her for who she really is, and he asks where Buffy is.  Out in the main room, Willow expresses her worry to Oz about Angel's worsening condition.  She also feels guilty because everything's so awful right now, but in some ways this night is still the best night of her life.  She and Oz share a tender moment before Buffy enters.  They realize she didn't bring Faith, and they tell her that Angel's pain is less now that his condition is so bad.  Buffy asks them to leave so she can be alone with him, and they do.  She goes in to Angel, and he says he "didn't want to go until he saw her again."  She tells him about the cure, and Angel says "Faith," but Buffy reveals that she tried already.  She orders him to drink her, but he runs out into the main room to get away from her.  Buffy says she won't let him die, and punches him, once, twice, three times....until finally he gets his game face on.  He still tries to stay away, but she yanks his head down to her neck.  Still, he hesitates before sinking his fangs into her.  They fall to the floor and Buffy grimaces in pain as Angel drains her.  Finally Buffy can't seem to take it anymore, and Angel throws himself away from her.  He goes back to his normal face and crawls over to her now-unconscious form. Cut to the Hospital emergency room, where Angel carries her in at a run and tells the nurse that she's lost a lot of blood; she needs blood.  Angel's obviously worried about Buffy, to the point where he appears anxious and nervous, and the doctor wonders if they've been doing drugs.  Angel says "she's clean", and says that something bit her.  Just help her.  The doctor goes to his work, and Angel rounds the corner to a pay phone to call Giles and the others.  The camera continues to pan around into the next room, where Faith is lying on a bed, in a coma.  Another doctor recounts her injuries to Mayor Wilkins.  He tells him that there's almost no chance that she'll ever regain consciousness.  The Mayor is sad.  He brushes her hair away from her face and talks to her for a moment, before he hears a nurse come in and tell the doctor that they just had another girl come in with severe blood-loss.  He straightens and walks into Buffy's room, where he places his hand over her nose and mouth and starts to suffocate her.  Buffy fights unconsciously for air, but can't shake his hand.  A nurse comes in and tries to stop him, but can't.  Angel comes in and grabs the Mayor, throwing him off of Buffy.  The mayor calls Buffy a "murderous little fiend", and Angel throws him across the room after he calls her a whore.  The mayor threatens death and pain for all of them the next day at his Ascension, and leaves. Later, the gang shows up at the hospital, asking how Buffy is.  Angel says she's okay; she's sleeping.  Oz notes that Angel seems okay too.  Angel tells them that Buffy put Faith in a coma, and cured him.  Giles realizes that Angel fed off her, and Xander lays a low blow on Angel, making him feel guilty about feeding off of the girl who loves him to save his own ass.  Angel doesn't feel any better when Giles tells him to go, even if it's because the sun will be up soon.  He leaves.  Inside Buffy's dream:  she's at Faith's place, and there are boxes and packing materials all over.  Buffy says to Faith that there's something she's supposed to be doing.  Faith says "Oh yeah....miles to go.  Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0."  Faith tells Buffy that human weakness never goes away; "even his".  Buffy asks if they're in her mind, or Faith's.  Faith says she doesn't know.  Buffy asks how she's going to take all of this stuff (indicating the packing materials).  Faith says she won't; it's Buffy's.  She tells her to take what she needs, then asks "are you ready?"  Buffy wakes up in her hospital bed a moment later, and gets up to see Faith in another bed, looking pretty bruised and battered.  She leans down and kisses her on the forehead.  Cut to the waiting room; Buffy walks out and tells the gang she's ready for war, and to gather at the library after getting everyone. At the library, we cut in after Buffy's told everyone the plan.  Everyone seems to think it's kinda suicide.  Buffy says she needs them all on board for this if it's gonna work; especially Xander.  Xander's like.."whoa, really?  me?"  Buffy reveals she's gonna need his military expertise that he's retained from "Halloween".  Giles wonders how Buffy is going to keep the Mayor busy while everything else is going down, and Buffy reveals that Faith told her about his "human weakness".  They brainstorm about what might affect him, and realize that Faith is what he cared about.  Just then Wesley comes in.  Buffy tells him the Council isn't wanted there, and Wesley says he's not there for the council..he just wants to know how he can help.  Montage:  The scene interchanges between Buffy and the Mayor, as they each lay out the plan to their respective crews.  The Mayor gives orders to his vampire lackeys, and Buffy makes battle plans with her gang after they figure out that there will be an eclipse during the ceremony.  The mayor tells his vampires "no snacking" on the humans who will be running in fear during the ceremony.  Buffy ominously asks Giles if he's "up to it", and Giles says that it should be him; it's fitting.  Cut to Xander tracking down Harmony; he wants to talk to her.  Likewise, Willow finds Percy and asks to talk to him.  In the library, Cordelia and Wesley are packing up all of the books in the library into boxes.  Wesley mentions that he'll be going back to England once this is all over, if they survive.  Wesley says there'll be no place for him there, now that Buffy's no longer working for the council; there would be no reason for him to stay.  As he speaks, he and Cordelia move closer and closer until they finally kiss.  It looks pretty awkward, and they both realize it as they  break apart.  They go back to packing books. Willow and Oz hand out packages from the van to Jonathan and Larry, who place them in a shopping cart.  Oz tells them to put them "with the others", and Jonathan and Larry take off.  Oz shuts the door to the van and comforts Willow when she confesses that she's pretty much terrified about what's going to happen.  They kiss, and then realize they've got a little while until they have to be at graduation. Int:  Library.  Angel asks Buffy how she is, and she says she heals fast; like him.  Angel says he won't be saying goodbye after they stop the Ascension; he's just gonna go.  It's a sad moment between them, and then Angel walks out of the room as Buffy tries to hold together.  She unfolds a piece of cloth to reveal the knife she stabbed Faith with.....still stained with blood. Ceremony:  Buffy and her classmates, in caps and gowns, are seated in the courtyard.  Snyder welcomes everyone to the graduation, and introduces the guest speaker (The Mayor) as Willow and Oz run up, late, and take their individual places.  Willow and Buffy are sitting next to each other, Oz is in the very last row in the back, and Xander's off kind of to the sidelines.  The Mayor takes the podium, and begins to do the entire speech, much to Buffy's horror.  "Just ascend already!"  The mayor continues his speech, and seems to be speaking directly to Buffy when he says "There's been loss.  Some people who should be here today.....aren't."  He continues the speech, until he starts flinching from some internal pain, as the moon covers the sun and the eclipse starts.  The mayor regrets that he couldn't do his whole speech, but says they'll just have to skip to the big finish.  Right then and there, he starts changing.  Shots of Snyder, teachers, parents, students, as he changes into a big computer generated serpent thing with really big teeth.  The parents all start running.  The students are all standing.  Behind them, the vampires have come out of the tunnel access and are approaching.  As the tension mounts, Buffy shouts "Now!" At her command, every single student pulls off their gown to reveal that they're all armed to the teeth.  Off to the sidelines Larry and another student shoot flames at the Wilkins demon with flame-throwers.  Xander commands "First wave!" and the front row of the graduating class uses crossbows to shoot at Wilkins.  Oz turns around and sees the vamps approaching from behind them, and shouts to Xander.  Xander shouts "Bowmen!", and the whole back row picks up their bows and arrows, which they quickly alight and send to the approaching vamps.  Each flaming arrow that hits bursts a vampire into flames.  As the vampires retreat, they run into more students, led by Angel, Percy and Wesley.  A fight ensues down on that level, too, and Wesley is dropped pretty quickly, without even getting a punch in.  Back up front, Larry and the other student continue to fight with the flame throwers.  Larry's suddenly runs out of fuel, or jams or something, and he throws it aside to take up a spear.  Suddenly, however, he's knocked aside by Wilkins' tail, and he's thrown to the ground, dead.  Snyder is freaking out over the disorder, and the demon Wilkins eats him.  Buffy orders everyone to fall back, and tells Xander to take them down.  Xander takes command of the students, and orders everyone to go to hand-to-hand.  Fight fight, fighty fight.  Students fighting, Angel's fighting, more students fighting the vampires now.  Harmony gets attacked by a vampire; Jonathan throws himself down the stairs at another one.  Cordelia stakes one.  Wesley cries for help from his place on the pavement. Back in the courtyard, Buffy taunts the Mayor with the knife she used to gut Faith.  Angered, the Mayor-demon gives chase to Buffy when she runs into the school.  We're treated to one last shot of all the interior school settings (lounge, hallway, library, the stacks) as he chases her through the school (well, as he slithers through the school at speed).  He stops in the library when he sees all of the explosives that Giles rigged earlier, and Buffy continues out through the stacks to meet up with Giles outside, who is poised with the detonation device.  He drops the lever, and the school blows up.  Outside, Xander and the others all watch as each bit of the school blows up......the belltower, the front entrance, the courtyard.  Buffy and Giles watch the flames from safety. Later, the fire and emergency rescue units have arrived and are treating the injured.  They load Wesley, on a stretcher, into an ambulance.  Buffy and Xander wander amid the rescue personel hurrying to and fro, and Xander can tell she's worried because she hasn't seen Angel.  He assures her that Angel made it through the fight, and guesses that Angel took off.  Xander leaves, and Giles comes up to congratulate Buffy on a job well done.  He pulls her diploma out of his inner jacket pocket and says he fished it out of the wreckage for her.  He wanders off to help Wesley.  Buffy stands alone for a moment, before turning around and looking through the smoke and passing people to see Angel standing in the distance.  Saying nothing, they share a longing, tearfelt look before he turns around and walks away; leaving Sunndydale. The gang reconvenes later on the edge of the ruin, and they all take a moment to realize that they not only survived the battle....but they also got through high school.  They all decide to get out of there, and as they walk off the camera pans down to an announcement for the graduation that says "The future is ours!"    FLAWS:   On this whole blood-draining thing.  How many times have we seen a vampire...nay, even Angel / Angelus himself, grab a victim, sink his teeth into him / her, and drop him / her after like, five seconds?  And the person's supposed to be dead.  That quickly.  That in and of itself I almost think is bullcrap.but if we're to accept it for the sake of the show, then how was he sucking on Buffy (heh) for so long in this episode to get what he needed?  And how did it not kill her?  Eh.  Also.when Wilkins ascends, all of the parents start running away.  Are we really supposed to believe that not ONE of them would turn around and go find their kid first? THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE:  Excellent episode.  Great points were the final battle, as the entire class was finally brought in on the slayer secret, and each member of the gang got to shine in their own particular role in the battle.  In particular Xander in quite possibly his last really useful moment in Btvs history.  There are echoes of the dynamic we had in Becoming pt.2, and we're left wondering what's next.  Downsides.....Angel left, and Larry died.   BEST LINE:   Xander:  (upon being told he would be key in the fight on Grad Day) "Me?  Okay .pride.  Humility.  And here's the mind-numbing fear." Cordelia:  "No, no....we'll get a container of Ebola virus.....or, it doesn't even have to be real.  We can just get a box that says Ebola on it, and uh......chase him.  With the box." Snyder:  "Congratulations to the class of '99.  You all proved to be more or less adequate.  This is a time of celebration, so sit still and be quiet.  (glare)  Spit out that gum."

"Graduation Day pt.2"