Despite the return of her beloved former watcher, domestic and financial issues compound the dark depression in which the Slayer has wallowed since her return from the dead. A flooded basement sends Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) scrounging for a loan when she learns that her mother's insurance money has long since been exhausted. Just as she's being turned down by the loan officer, Buffy witnesses a demon attacking the bank. During the confusion, the fiend's unseen accomplice makes off with a wad of cash. Angry about losing out on her loan and letting the demon escape, the exhausted Slayer heads to the training room to let off some steam. Soon Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) appears, fresh off the plane from England and full of reassuring wisdom. Worried that Buffy doesn't seem quite herself, he chastises an unrepentant Willow (Alyson Hannigan) for her foolhardy trafficking in dark magic. Elsewhere, three other former Sunnydale High misfits make use of the black arts: nerdy inventor Warren (Adam Busch, see "I Was Made to Love You"); class dork Jonathan (Danny Strong, see "Superstar"); and Andrew (Tom Lenk), the science fiction-obsessed younger brother of Tucker, the villain of "The Prom." These three hapless self-styled super-villains plan to use their ill-gotten gains from their earlier bank robbery to take over the entire town. The demon who assisted in their larceny tries to take out the Slayer, but Buffy vanquishes it -- without learning a thing about the creature's three very human accomplices. Originally broadcast October 16, 2001, on the UPN network, "Flooded" marked episode 104 of the cult-favorite series. Andrew, Jonathan, and Warren would appear throughout the rest of season six as both comic relief and the year's unlikely "big bad" villains. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
