Anne (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Plot

Buffy has left Sunnydale after being expelled from school, the deaths of Angel and Kendra Young, being accused of murder, and being kicked out by her mother Joyce. She now lives in Los Angeles, working as a waitress at a diner under her middle name, "Anne." At the diner, she serves Lily and Rickie, a young homeless couple with matching tattoos. A homeless woman mutters she is "no one."

Lily later approaches Buffy, recalling that she knew her from Sunnydale when she was called "Chanterelle." A man bumps into them, saying he is no one, and nearly walks into traffic; Buffy saves him. Ken, a man who comments on Buffy's lost state, offers friendship. The next day, Lily reports Rickie missing, and Buffy reluctantly agrees to help.

She finds the corpse of an elderly homeless man with Rickie's tattoo. Lily does not believe the body is Rickie's.

Lily then goes with Ken, who claims to know Rickie. Buffy interrogates a blood bank worker who has been giving Ken names of healthy homeless donors. In Sunnydale, Willow, Xander, and Oz struggle to cover for Buffy, using Cordelia as bait.

Giles visits Joyce, who suffers from agoraphobia after learning of Buffy's slayer life and blames Giles for taking her daughter away.

Continuity

Julia Lee, who plays Chanterelle/Lily/Anne, first appeared as a vampire wanna-be in "Lie to Me" and later appears as Anne in Angel episodes "The Thin Dead Line," "Blood Money," and "Not Fade Away." Oz and Larry Bagby's character appear to be repeating their senior year of high school. Cordelia snipes that Xander "probably met up with some hot little Inca Mummy Girl." The episode introduces a demon dimension with variable space-time, which features in future episodes and Angel's spin-off.

Reception

Vox ranked the episode at #56 on their "Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best" list, calling it a functional season premiere that cleans up season two's horror, with well-balanced story beats and an assured tone. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club describes it as "a very clever meditation on adolescent identity." Mike Loschiavo notes that Whedon reminds viewers of fun before focusing on homelessness. Entertainment Weekly calls it "anemic," lacking the show's usual tongue-in-cheek spark. The scene where Anne asserts her identity as Buffy was frequently used as a promotional clip for FX reruns.