Buffy's best friend Willow is a computer nerd who is also an aspiring good witch, like Glenda in the Wizard of Oz. Willow's boyfriend is a rock guitarist and werewolf. Zander and Cordelia, who are completely normal and "going steady" (is that what they call it nowadays?), round out the group of five, who under Buffy's leadership, patrol graveyards late at night in search of vampires.

Lately Willow and Zander have had the hots for each other and whenever they find themselves alone together, can't keep their hands off each other. Willow does not want to destroy her relationship with her werewolf boyfriend, so begins work on a potion to counteract the physical attraction she shares with Zander.

Meanwhile, the vampire Spike, a punked-out youth with dyed platinum hair and a Cockney accent, is in a bad way because his lover Drusilla has abandoned him. When Spike discovers that Willow is working on an anti-love potion, he abducts her with the goal of forcing her to come up with a love potion that will bring Drusilla back.

When Buffy discovers that Willow has been abducted, she puts a rescue plan together with the aid of her ex-lover, the vampire Angel. Angel has gone through a bad period recently. Last season Buffy and Angel had sex for the first time and this turned him into a monster. It seems that it is his curse that when he encounters true happiness, his evil side comes out. To prevent this from happening again, Buffy and Angel must keep their clothes on. But like all the other characters in the show, they face an uphill battle. Everybody's hormones are raging and this is what makes the show fun. The cockeyed blend of monsters and adolescent desire served up each week in a witty script with first-rate performances makes for sublime entertainment.

Last night the cop Simone died. Jimmy Smits, the fortyish actor who played him, had decided to leave the show and as often happens in weekly series, characters are written out through their death. Simone's partner is Sipowitz, played by Dennis Frantz, who got his start in another Stephen Bochco vehicle, Hill Street Blues. Simone and Sipowitz constituted a good cop/bad cop partnership on the show. Simone, who was tall and good-looking, always tried to persuade "perps" to come clean in the interrogation room at police headquarters. Meanwhile, Sipowitz, who is overweight and homely, would more often than not grab somebody by the collar and threaten to beat the shit out of them.

Sipowitz is impossible to like as a cop, but sympathetic as a human being. He is, like many cops, an alcoholic who can't keep a marriage going. In last night's episode, his first wife shows up and she has become an alcoholic herself. After getting her to sober up, he promises her that he will go to AA meetings with her. He is also deeply loyal to Simone, whose impending death has shaken him to his foundations.

On last night's episode we finally see Simone die in the hospital bed that he has occupied for the last 3 episodes. He was brought to the hospital after complaining about shortness of breath. It was discovered that his heart had been damaged through an infection of an undetermined cause. After giving him a heart transplant, he succumbs to complications.

I am not really a fan of the show, but I have found the death of Simone completely riveting. As critics have pointed out, this has been the central drama of the show for the past month or so as crime chasing has taken a back seat. Simply put, the illness and passing of Simone has been affecting in a way that most hospital shows can not hope to achieve. The reason for this is obvious. Shows like ER use sickness in the same way that NYPD uses crime chasing. It is just a device to keep the show going between commercial breaks. But when Simone became ill and died, it was a break from the routine just the way that illness and death are in real life. Indeed, the ultimate break.