Episode
One: Pilot
This episode introduced the main players of the early part of the series. The Slayer and her gang, the Vampire Drug Lord and his crime family, Jack’s pack of werewolves, and the Initiative squad commanded by Jaeger.
The plot centered around the prevention of Ascension by a powerful Sorceress and the impending coup attempt by the werewolves of the vampires’ business, with other subplots occurring between the various factions.
Secrets and Surprise Developments:
Darien, a vampire lieutenant who had been the Slayer’s boyfriend before he was vamped, was working behind his boss’s back to keep the Slayer alive until he had a can’t-fail chance to make her a vampire. When all else failed, he chose to save her life (for his own twisted purposes), but ended up revealing his treachery to the other vampires. Now with the vampires out for his blood, and the Slayer unwilling to trust him, he left town on a quest to get the one thing he knew would make her trust him: his soul.
The Master Vampire surprised everyone by forestalling the werewolves’ attempted coup with a deal: the wolves conduct business during the day only, while the vampires own the streets at night, each providing what assistance they were able to the other in a mutually beneficial exchange of manpower.
The Slayer’s Watcher, Jack, appalled at her even entertaining the thought of working with Darien, managed to remand the Slayer to London to face disciplinary action by the Council. He found to his chagrin that the New Council is much more Slayer-friendly and generally open-minded than the Old, and he was sacked by the Council for forcibly removing the Slayer from a city in desperate need of her presence.
Victor, one of the Slayer’s loyal “Scoobies,” was captured and turned by the vampires.
Her plan to Ascend stymied, the Sorceress nonetheless survived and was preparing to flee the city, when she was confronted by Daisy alone. Impressed with Daisy’s boldness and aptitude for magic, the Sorceress sweet-talked her way out of the confrontation and in exchange gave Daisy a book of black-magic spells and a pair of enchanted earrings she claimed would make Daisy irresistibly attractive to men.
