Overall Rating: 5.0 Matt: 4.0 Eric: 6.0 Written by: Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali Directed by: Deran Serafian Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, David Boreanaz as Angel, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers, Richard Herd as Dr. Backer, Andrew Ducote as Ryan, Juanita Jennings as Dr. Wilkinson, Mimi Paley as eight-year-old Buffy, Denise Johnson as Celia, James Jude Courtney as The Kindestod. Original broadcast date : March 3, 1998 My one-line description: Beware of old bald guys with crooked noses and eyes that attach to your forehead. In the graveyard, Buffy is not in her best shape as she patrols with Willow, Xander and Cordelia’s help – she’s sick as a puppy with the flu. Angelus shows up, and quickly gains the upper hand on a weak Buffy. The others manage to stick crosses in his face, and he runs away. Buffy collapses. The gang rush Buffy into the hospital, where the doctors manage to stabilize her. Joyce comes in and is reassured to see all of Buffy’s friends there; Dr. Wilkinson comes out and tells Buffy’s mom her daughter is very feverish. Buffy is wheeled out into the hallway on a gurney, and the gang go to her; the delirious Slayer, however, wants them to take her home – she doesn’t want to stay at the hospital. Buffy begins to struggle, asking the doctor to let her go – she has to kill the vampires. Giles plays the condescending adult, indulging a delirious child’s fantasy – "That’s okay, Buffy. We’ll get those vampires some other time!" A nurse comes over and sedates Buffy, and Joyce explains that her daughter has always been terrified of hospitals since her cousin Celia died in one when Buffy was 8 – and Buffy was there to witness it when it happened. She then thanks Giles for looking after Buffy, and expresses her condolences for Jenny Calendar’s death. Meanwhile, Xander and Willow discuss the fact that Angelus can come into the hospital any time he wants – it’s a public place… That night, Buffy – still delirious with fever – wakes up to see a young boy perhaps 10 years old, looking at her. The boy stares and finally moves off, and another figure steps into Buffy’s sight – a tall man-monster, with long white hair and a crooked nose, all dressed in black. He looks at Buffy, and then moves away. Intrigued, Buffy gets out of bed and walks out of her room. She winds up in the children’s ward, where a dead child is being wheeled away. Dr. Wilkinson is arguing with a colleague, Dr. Backer, about the latter’s controversial methods. As Buffy eavesdrops, the young boy from her doorway – Ryan – walks up behind her and tells her that "he" comes at night; the grownups don’t see "him", but "he" was with Tina – we’re assuming he means the dead child. Ryan adds that "he" will be coming back for them Buffy asks who "he" is; "Death", Ryan replies. Xander is waiting outside Buffy’s room when he spots Angelus coming over with some flowers. Xander tells him visiting hours are over, but Angelus wonders if Xander thinks he or anyone else could stop him if he decides to walk into Buffy’s room. "You still love her", he taunts Xander; "It must just eat you up that I got there first." He gives Xander the flowers and asks him to tell Buffy he said hi. The next morning, Dr. Wilkinson examines Buffy and notes that her fever’s gone down. Buffy sits up, eager to leave, but Wilkinson isn’t ready to let her go just yet, even though she’s impressed with how fast she heals. It seems Buffy is condemned to stay… A few minutes later, the Scoobies arrive, bearing gifts. Xander has brought balloons (although he calls them flowers), and Willow has done Buffy’s homework. Buffy tells them about the girl who died the previous night, and the monster she saw – "Death". Cordelia – always as full of tact as ever – asks whether this isn’t about Buffy being afraid of hospitals because her cousin died, and inventing a monster she can fight so she doesn’t feel helpless. Buffy replies that Ryan is afraid of something real, and as long as she’s stuck at the hospital, she’s going to find out what it is. Giles and Willow go to research the history of the hospital – bizarre incidents et al. – while Xander and Cordelia, at night, sneak into the archive room to look through the files and determine what Tina died of. A security guard interrupts them, and Cordelia deploys her charms to distract him, flirting with him while Xander searches for Tina’s file. Back in the hallway, Xander berates Cordy for her flirtatious behaviour, but she counters with his obsession of protecting Buffy. She comments that Xander is watching Buffy’s back alright – her butt, more precisely. She wishes he would watch her back for a change; as she walks away, nicely filling her skirt, Xander does just that. Meanwhile, Buffy goes to visit Ryan in the children’s ward; he’s drawing a picture of "Death". She tries to reassure him, but he’s convinced no one can fight Death. Willow and Giles have found the profile of a Dr. Backer, who works in the children’s ward at the hospital. It would seem that Dr. Backer has a controversial record of unauthorized experimentations and mysteriously dropped malpractice lawsuits. They decide he could be the monster the children are afraid of. In his office, Dr. Backer is mixing up a cure for the fever the children have. He goes to the children’s ward with a syringe to test the cure; however, as he prepares to inoculate a child, "Death" creeps up behind him and attacks him. Dr. Backer can’t see his attacker, since he’s a grownup – "Death" slices him open, as Buffy watches in horror from the door. An invisible hand drags the body away. The next day, Buffy tells Giles about Dr. Backer’s demise, which eliminates him as a suspect (duh!). She shows her Watcher Ryan’s picture of "Death", but they have to interrupt their discussion when Joyce shows up. She’s here to take Buffy home, but suddenly Buffy wants to stay – her symptoms are flaring up again, she says; she feels "all oogy". After Joyce is gone, the gang sets down to work. While Giles and Cordelia go back to the library to look up the monster, while Xander searches the hospital for "Death" and Willow and Buffy sneak into Dr. Backer’s. There, they find that Dr. Backer was really trying to help the children – he thought injecting them with the virus would raise their temperature just enough to flush out the flu. At the library, Giles and Cordelia look through books, trying to identify "Death". Cordelia, however, is more interested in asking what this demon or that demon does… "Ouch, wait, what does this one do?" she asks Giles for the umpteenth time. "It asks endless questions of those with whom it’s supposed to be working so that nothing is getting done", Giles snaps impatiently. "Boy", comments a clueless Cordelia, "There’s a demon for everything!" Tired of researching, she closes a book, revealing a profile with a crooked nose on the cover… Buffy receives a call from Cordelia, who tells her they’ve identified the monster as the Kindestod, a mythical creature which kills children by sitting atop them and sucking the life out of them. This strikes a bell in Buffy’s brain – flashback to another hospital room, where child Buffy is sitting by her cousin Celia’s bed. Suddenly, Celia starts screaming in horror and warding something invisible away from her. Back in the present, Buffy realizes Celia was killed by the Kindestod… Realizing that her fever allowed her to see the Kindestod, Buffy goes back to Dr. Backer’s office with Willow. She retrieves a viral sample from a fridge and goes to drink it, but Willow stops her – the sample is 100 % pure, and it would kill her in an instant. She puts two drops of viral sample in a glass of water, and Buffy drinks it. Moments later, they make their way down the corridor to the children’s ward, Buffy swaying slightly. They discover the children’s ward is empty… The children, led by Ryan, have gone down to the basement to hide. Buffy watches as the Kindestod appears in the empty ward and starts after the kids; but suddenly, our Slayer has other problems, as a nurse appears and asks her what she’s doing here. Willow creates a distraction for the nurse and the security guards, while Buffy gets away. Xander helps her down to the basement. Ryan is trying to convince the other kids they’re safe in the basement, but they’re not. The Kindestod appears, and goes for Ryan. He sits atop the kid, takes off his hat, and his eyes writhe out of his head and onto the screaming boy’s forehead. Suddenly Buffy appears and attacks, allowing Xander to take the children out to safety. However, she quickly weakens – because of the flu – and the Kindestod sits atop her. Again, its eyes writhe out, towards her forehead… but she reaches up and snaps its neck. The demon dead, the flu kicks in and Buffy grows faint… At the Summers home, Joyce is catering to Buffy (in bed) and Xander and Willow (on the floor beside her) as they watch TV. Joyce hands Buffy an envelope for her, and Buffy opens it. It’s a picture from Ryan – her killing the Kindestod… Summary by OttsFiveByFive.