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The Slayers East attend an end-of school dance - but nothing ever goes smoothly. Everyone starts acting strangely, hearts are broken, punches are thrown, and the Slayers have to find out who's pulling the strings before it's too late... Also: Candy's and Zak's mom and dad know about the Slayers East - but how long can they cope with the worry? (Air Date: 4 July, 2000)

Regulars:

• Candy
• Cynth
• Zak
• John

Other Characters:

• Alison Ridgeway - Candy's watcher, John's mother
• Meryll Stevens-Knight - Candy's mother
• Brian Stevens - Zak's father
• Lolly, Stephie and Hettie - mean girls
• Phil - Zak's best friend
• Troy and Alastair - that terrible twosome!
• Euan - a put-upon kid
• Gom - a friendly, if creepy, tree demon
• Christian - the cutest guy in school
• Andrew - Christian's best friend, with a thing for Candy
• Sandy - cheerleader and Christian's girlfriend
• Huck Lang and Corliss - two vampires
• A nightwatchman - not a vampire this time

Episode Synopsis:

Down at the trainyards, Candy the slayer potential and her watcher Alison hunt vampires. But they don't do it alone - Alison's son John, Candy's stepbrother Zak and Candy's best friend Cynth are all along for the ride. The vamps went down, and the nightwatchman and his dog who stumbled across the intruders were pacified with some judicious untruths.

But the real story of the week was the upcoming dance. Candy and Cynth were excited, even though Lolly and her offsiders Stephie and Hettie seemed determined to ruin things for them. Zak was much too cool to worry about a dance, and he and his friends - Phil, as well as perennial troublemakers Troy and Alastair - were getting their fun by hassling fellow pupil Euan. Candy intervened to stop the bullying, and was laughed at for her troubles.

Meanwhile, John and Alison visited the tree demon Gom for information about the vampires. Gom advises that they were headed for the Langborn Estate, where R'Thilliach's influence remains strong despite the defeat of the White Lady... Gom also reveals that he had been visited by a school pupil, who had traded away a spare ticket to the dance...

Candy, Cynth and their friend Max headed to the dance. There, Candy watched as her old crush Christian seemed to fall out with his girlfriend, then (cutting off his friend Andrew's attempt to speak with her) she found herself slow-dancing with him. Meanwhile, Max and Cynth, whose unrealised attraction has been going on seemingly forever, made out on the dance floor, and Zak started viciously hassling Lolly, Stephie and Hettie. Then Zak and Christian found themselves at odds, and as a brawl broke out, it became apparent who was behind all this mad behaviour - Euan!

Euan, intending to see off Zak and save the day in front of his crush Lolly, had instead created mayhem. Alison and John knew from Gom that something supernatural might be afoot, and with their guidance the Slayers East were able to confront him, smashing the magical marionette that he had been using to control people's behaviour.

With Euan brought to account, the madness ended, and the dance continued, although with awkardness a-plenty - quite by accident, Euan's interventions had rubbed a little close to home for some people...

Trivia and Notes:

• This was the first episode of season two. Unlike season one's episodes, this and subsequent episodes did not feature a pre-scripted episode teaser. The season picks up some months after season one, as the end of the school year is looming.
• The Slayers East have solidified as a unit since the end of season one, with Alison managing a group consisting of Candy, Cynth, Zak and John. The group co-operate effectively in the vamp-hunting mission in the pre-credits sequence; note that the nightwatchman and his dog is a subtle reference to the first episode of season one, where the villain was a vampiric nightwatchman and his dog.
• The marionette plot was a comment on what I felt was a weakness of season one, namely that I was 'pulling the strings' too much and not giving the players freedom to really drive the game. Destroying the marionette was intended to symbolise the way the series was going to change.
• "So on Friday - the day of the dance Cynth came and got ready with me and we settled on: [detailed drawing of their outfits with explanatory notes]. Zak said we looked good! MONDO WEIRD. Max came over and he had a nice shirt on and looked very nervous... I asked Christian to dance and he took my arm and then we danced and he kept smiling at me... and I was so happy I didn't even notice but Max and Cynth MADE OUT!" - from Candy's journal