atheneum

In the kitchen, Giles helps Buffy and Dawn clean up after the dinner he cooked for them. He asks how Dawn is doing, and she says they're both coping. Giles says that's good, and wonders if Buffy's ready to get back to their training schedule. Buffy seems hesitant to get back into it, and Giles says she was doing so well. Buffy says she was just starting to feel cut off from everything. That being the slayer had begun to turn her to stone. She points out that Riley left because she was shut down. And now her mom is gone, and she's worried that Joyce didn't even really know that she loved her. Buffy worries that being the slayer is making her less human. She says it's hard for her to even say the words anymore, and tells Giles that she loves him. Giles wonders how serious she is about this, and she says very. He mentions a quest she could go on, to find the answers she needs, but Buffy says she doesn't want to leave Dawn there alone, with Glory looking for her. Dawn comes in and says sure she can; she'll be okay. She tells Buffy to go off and do her learning thing, and Buffy tells her she loves her a few times.

Cut to Spike at Warren's house, looking at the Buffy-bot Warren's made for him. Spike says she looks perfect; just like Buffy, but he wants to know if all of her uhprograms.are in working order. Warren assures him, and just then Buffy-bot's eyes pop open and she gasps "Spike!", and runs up and kisses him full on the lips. Spike, breathless, says she'll do.

At Glory's apartment, the resurrected Jinx assures Glory that they will find the key now, based upon the knowledge he gleaned from Ben (that the Key is a human being). Glory orders the minions to go watch the Slayer and find out who's new in her life; who's special, who's different. Whoever is, must be the Key.

Cut to the desert. Giles drives Buffy out to the middle of nowhere. He pulls a gourd and some twigs and a book out of the trunk, and tells Buffy that the location of the sacred place is a guarded secret, and he can't take her there himself. He has to perform a ritual to temporarily transfer his guardianship of her to a guide. Buffy's supposed to wander off into the desert and wait for her guide.

Cut to Spike and the Buffybot mock-fighting in his crypt. It's mock because she's not really trying to kill him, and he's not really fighting her. It's an elaborate foreplay scenario he's had programmed into her. After much "I can't kill you, I want you," vibes, Spike tackles Buffybot and they...well...you know.

Back in the desert, Giles performs his guardianship transference ritual, and Buffy wanders through the sand dunes and tumbleweeds. Suddenly she sees a cougar, which she takes to be her guide and follows it. It takes her to a place that looks a
lot like the desert scene in "Restless" when Buffy was talking to the First Slayer. Indeed, Buffy says "I know this place."

Cut to Xander's apartment, where Tara has just finished casting that early warning incantation thingy. Xander and Anya talk about patrolling that night in Buffy's absence. Anya takes off her pair of earrings and sets them on the table, and Dawn eyes them. When Anya gets up, Dawn furtively pockets the earrings. As she moves away from the table, we see one of Glory's minions looking in the window at her.

At the crypt, Spike and Buffybot lie on the floor together, post coital. Buffybot rambles on about how he's evil, and she should hate him, but she can't help herself; she loves him. Spike is turned on, and starts to go at her again, and Buffybot asks if she should start that program over again. Spike's brow furrows, and he tells her not to use that word (program); just be Buffy. Buffybot smiles.

Quick cut to Willow walking home after a night class. She looks kinda nervous, and we see one of Glory's minions is following her. Back to the crypt. Spike sleeps while Buffybot gets dressed, saying "Time to slay." She walks out of the crypt.

In the cemetery, Xander and Anya on patrol duty run into the Buffybot. They think it's Buffy back early from the desert. Spike suddenly runs up and tries to keep them from finding out the truth. Buffybot keeps trying to hold his hand and stuff, and Spike tries to hide it from Xander and Anya. He tells them there's lots of vamp activity in the cemetery that night, and he thinks they should split up. Suddenly, as if to prove his words true, three vampires approach, and the gang deals with them. Anya stakes one, Buffybot gets one, and Spike gets the last one. From the bushes, a couple minions watch the way Buffybot is worried about Spike getting hurt. After the vamps are all dusted, Spike says that should be all the action for that night, and says Xander and Anya can go home. They look to Buffy for confirmation, and she cheerily says yes, they can go home now. As soon as they leave, Buffybot and Spike start kissing.

Cut to Xander and Anya walking away, and Xander says he wishes Giles would have told them they were back from the desert. He thinks something weird is going on. They then remember that "Buffy" didn't ask about Dawn, and they turn back, Xander definitely thinking something's up, now. They go back to the cemetery and see Spike and Buffy on the ground having sex. Xander's jaw about hits the ground; Anya looks intrigued.

Back at Willow and Tara's, the witches are watching tv when Xander and Anya burst in and spill about what they saw. Everyone's stunned, but just figures she's acting out of grief over Joyce's death. Xander says he's gonna go find her and talk to her, saying that if she's gone nuts she's gonna need help.

Back to Buffy in the desert. She apparently fell asleep, or into a trance at some point, because she "wakes up" before a roaring fire. On the other side of the flames is the First Slayer. We cut back to the crypt, where Spike is leaning against the wall and smoking. Suddenly there's a knock at the door, and Buffybot's head pops up. Spike zips up and tells her to go wait below, and not come out until he comes to get her. Xander comes in and tells Spike he saw him in the cemetery with Buffy. Spike says it's none of his business, but Xander says it is because Buffy's his friend. He threatens Spike, telling him to leave Buffy alone and stop taking advantage of her in her moment of pain, and just then Glory's minions come in. They all fight, and Xander gets knocked out. The minions subdue Spike after a scuffle, and Jinx tells them not to harm him; Glory will want the key alive. Spike realizes they think he's the key, but before he can really protest they gag him and drag him out.

Back in the desert, Buffy says she knows who the First Slayer is. The F.S. says this is just a form, she's really just a guide. She scampers back and forth behind the flames in a mysterious way. She tells Buffy that she's afraid she's losing her ability to love; that being the slayer is making her lose her humanity. Buffy asks if it is, and the guide says no; that Buffy is full of love, and she won't lose it if she accepts it; embraces it. Love is pain and the slayer derives her strength from pain. She says that love will lead her to her gift.

Buffybot gets tired of waiting in the crypt and comes up looking for Spike. She walks right past Xander's unconscious form, and goes to Willow's. Willow takes her out on the back porch (what kind of dorm room has a back porch?! I got jipped, I tell you!) where they can talk, and Buffybot just says that Spike is missing. Willow wants to know what the hell is wrong with Buffy, and why she's sleeping with Spike. Buffybot just keeps acting oblivious until Xander shows up and wakes up Tara and Anya. Willow and Buffybot go back inside and Xander tells them how the minions took Spike. Willow worries that Spike knows about Dawn, but Buffybot's only worried about Spike. The gang doesn't fully realize what's going on yet, and when she blurts out that she fights with weapons, they take that to mean they should go to her house and get some weapons. They all leave except for Tara, who stays to keep an eye on Dawn.

Out in the desert, Buffy's confused. She asks the guide what she means about her gift, and she tells Buffy that Death is her Gift. Buffy thinks that's wrong, and doesn't understand, but the guide says her question has been answered, and disappears. Cut to Glory's apartment, where the minions drag Spike in. They tell Glory he's the key, but she says that's not possible because the key is pure, and Spike's a vampire, and therefore not pure. Spike tries to weasel out, but the minions tell Glory that the slayer (the buffybot) was protecting him above all others, and this intrigues Glory, and she decides to try and get some information from Spike. She sets to torturing him.

The gang plus the Buffybot enter the Summers house, and dig out the weapons from the chest in the living room. Buffybot continues to have no idea how to really be Buffy, and still thinks they're going to rescue Spike. The rest of the gang's pretty much just concerned with keeping him from blabbing about Dawn. Sensing that something is seriously off with her, they tell her she should go get some more weapons from upstairs, and she wanders off. Xander says they've got to talk to her, and suddenly the real Buffy comes in. They all think it's the Buffybot, just having changed really quickly. Xander says they have to talk, and they proceed to confront her about sleeping with Spike. Buffy is flabbergasted, and totally denies it. Xander says they saw her. Suddenly Buffybot comes back into the room and they all realize, finally, that she's a robot. Buffy is disgusted that Spike had a duplicate of her made to have sex with. Buffybot reminds everyone that they have to go save Spike from Glory, and Buffy finds out that Glory even has Spike. She tells the gang to grab the weapons, but they say they don't even know where to look. Buffy says she knows where to start.

Cut to Glory's apartment, where Spike is now hanging from the ceiling, beaten and bruised and bloody. Glory approaches him with a knife, but he says enough, he'll tell her who the key is. Outside, Buffy and the gang are at the spot where Buffy killed the big CGI snake in "Shadow", and Buffy remembers that it was going back to her when she killed it. They split out to cover a bigger area. Back inside, Glory holds a glass of water to Spike's mouth and lets him drink. After he's finished, she shoves the glass into his face, breaking it and gouging the broken glass into his flesh. She wants to know right now who the key is. Spike pretends to get serious, but tells them that Bob Barker is the key. The minions think he's serious, but Glory says they're stupid, Bob Barker's been around forever, and Spike is lying.

Spike laughs at her, and tells her he's not gonna tell her anything, and she'll never get her key. He goads her until she's mad enough to kick him violently, which is a powerful enough kick to free him from the chains he was shackled to, and he goes flying out into the hallway. He shuffles as fast as he can go to the elevator, but misses the doors shutting. Before the minions can get to him he throws himself down on top of the elevator, and then falls down into the elevator itself through the hatch it its roof. The minions rush down the stairs toward the first floor.

Down on the first floor, the minions are about to recapture Spike, who has stood in the elevator despite his injuries, when Buffy and Xander (a HA! Lookit! It's Kelly!) burst in and start fighting the minions. Spike sees that the slayer's there and collapses again. Buffy and Xander fight the minions, and then Giles and the Buffybot come in and start fighting too. Well, Giles fights, the Buffybot's preoccupied with Spike until Giles starts getting strangled and calls for Buffy to help him. Buffybot whirls around and pulls the minion off Giles, and it reacts by throwing her up against a wall, which shorts her out and she collapses. Buffy does this kind of front-facing, standing cartwheel kick that knocks the minion out, and the others run upstairs and report to Glory that they lost the vampire. We hear them both screaming from the hallway.

At the Magic Box later, Willow works on fixing the Buffybot as Xander and Giles come back from dumping Spike in his crypt. They say they tried to question him about anything he may have told Glory, but he was too badly beaten to be coherent. Buffy worries that he told, and Anya says even if he did, he'd just lie about it to them. Willow finds out where the Buffybot is broken, and says it's an easy fix. Xander feels kinda bad for Spike. He says what he did was wrong, but Buffy shoulda seen how thrashed he was.

Cut to the crypt. Spike lies beaten and broken on the tomb thingy. Buffybot comes marching in and notes that he's all beat up. He asks were she's been, and she tells him that Willow fixed her. Spike is surprised. Buffybot asks if he wants to ravage her now, but Spike says he's got to let the cuts and burns mend a little first. Buffybot asks why he let "that Glory" hurt him, and Spike says she wanted to know who the key was. Buffybot starts to turn and leave, saying she can tell her, but Spike chokes and says she can't ever find out. When Buffybot asks why, Spike explains that if anything happened to Dawn it would tear the real Buffy apart, and he couldn't live seeing her in that much pain (awwwww!) Buffybot just looks at him for a minute, and then leans forward to kiss him softly. Spike closes his eyes and kisses back just as softly, before furrowing his brow and pulling back in confusion. He looks at her, and realizes she's the real Buffy. She turns to leave, and he asks what happened to the robot. She says it's gone; it was gross and obscene, and it wasn't real. She turns to leave again, but stops and says over her shoulder "What you did for me, and Dawn. That was real. I won't forget it."

FLAWS: In just about every Buffybot / Spike scene in this episode (but most notably the opening scene where he sees her for the first time), the Buffybot is wearing lots and lots of lip gloss, yet never manages to get any on Spike's face when she kisses him passionately. Seriously, watch this opening scene. We cut from Buffybot and her lips 'o shine, to Spike, who has not a speck of gloss on him.

Also, umwhen Xander comes to talk to Buffy at Spike's crypt, the Buffybot is in there giving Spike oral sex. I feel kinda bad talking about it on a site I rated PG13, but hey, they were showing it on the show, so I can discuss it, I guess. Anyways. Xander knocks on the door and Spike zips up, telling Buffybot to go hide. My problem with this scene, other than how distasteful it is, is that erections don't very easily just stuff back into someone's pants, you know? It's just not very realistic.

THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE: I love this episode. Not because it's particularly well done, or anythingwithout a doubt there are far better episodes. But I just thoroughly loved Spike by this point, and to have him totally come through like that in the end was awesome. What was even more awesome was that Buffy finally realized it too, and stopped treating him like nothing for five seconds. Yay! This was the last episode before the big final four; before everything changes.

BEST LINE:

Buffy: "So how's it start?"

Giles: "I uh, jump out of the circle; then I jump back in it...and then I uh...shake my gourd."

and:

Tara: "You're not really gonna slap her, are you?"

Xander: "No, but if I have to see her straddling Spike again, I will definitely knock myself unconscious."

and:

Glory (to her minions, about Spike): "What the hell is that, and why is its hair that colour?"

and.....this one really kills me.:

Spike: "It's that guy, on the television. The Price show. You know, the one where they try to guess how much stuff costs?"

Dreg: "The Price is Right?"

Jinx: "Bob Barker!"

Dreg: "We will bring you Bob Barker, We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker!"

"Intervention"