The Harvest

"The Harvest" is the second episode of the first season of the American supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by series creator executive producer Joss Whedon and directed by John T. Kretchmer. The episode originally aired on The WB on March 10, 1997, forming a two-hour premiere with the previous episode, "Welcome to the Hellmouth", and attracted 3.4 million viewers. The episode continues directly from the cliffhanger ending of "Welcome to the Hellmouth", as Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) struggles to save Jesse McNally's (Eric Balfour) life with the help of her new friends Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) and Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan), and her Watcher Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). Although the episode originally aired with "Welcome to the Hellmouth", in subsequent reruns and home media releases, the two episodes are typically presented separately. Plot Luke (Brian Thompson) is about to finish off Buffy, who is trapped in a stone coffin, but she repels him with the silver cross that a mysterious stranger (David Boreanaz) had given her earlier that evening. She then escapes the mausoleum and saves her new friends Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) from vampires in the graveyard. However, Darla (Julie Benz) has already taken Jesse McNally (Eric Balfour), and she and Luke now inform the Master (Mark Metcalf) about Buffy's unusual fighting abilities and knowledge of the supernatural, and it is suspected that she may be a new Slayer. The Master decides to use Jesse as bait. In the library, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and Buffy reveal to Xander and Willow the supernatural world of vampires, demons and Slayers, and that Buffy is the latest Slayer to endow powers chosen to fight supernatural threats. Willow accesses the city council's plans for Sunnydale's tunnel system, and Buffy realizes that there must be a means of access to it from the crypt where she fought Luke and Darla. Willow offers to help now that she knows about the supernatural, and so continues assisting Giles with research. Xander, however, is hurt when Buffy declines his help in physically tracking down Luke. The dark stranger appears again just as Buffy is about to enter the tunnel system in the crypt, and tells her his name is Angel. He gives her directions to the Master's lair, but pointedly refrains from wishing her luck until she is out of earshot.