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| 73. Superstar Original Air Date: February 04, 2000 Written by: Jane Espenson Directed by: David Grossman Guest Cast: Danny Strong (Jonathan Levinson) Marc Blucas (Riley Finn) Amber Benson (Tara) Bailey Chase (Graham) George Hertzberg (Adam) Erica Luttrell (Karen) John Saint Ryan (Col. Haviland) The fight is raging when we join Buffy, Xander, illow and Anya in a cemetery. A bald vampire is giving Buffy a hard time. She kicks him in the direction of her friends, just as a second vampire jumps her. A quick kick to the face sends him running. As the bald vampire breaks free from Xander and Anya, Willow throws Buffy a stake, which she uses to stab the vampire, as he charges her. The team goes in pursuit of the one that got away. In a crypt, they find five vampires gorging on of one dead victim. Buffy feels that she can only be sure of killing two of them, so they will need help to tackle this nest of villains. Inside a large mansion, they enter an expensively decorated study. They approach a large desk. Buffy says they have a problem and, sitting behind the desk, Jonathan smiles, as he offers his help. The team is gathered at Giles' house, trying out weapons. Buffy apologizes for drawing Jonathan into the situation, but he agrees with her decision to call him. They briefly spar and he beats her, with a warning to beware left-handed opponents. Giles finds no reference to a ritual that might be involved in the mass vampire feeding and Jonathan thanks Rupert for checking out the possibility. Willow has hacked into the crypt diagram, but can find no other ways into the mausoleum, other than the front door. Jonathan hits a few keys on Willow's laptop and another entryway is revealed. Jonathan begins to give them instructions for assaulting the vampires. Suddenly, he notices the chess game already in progress on a table and instantly makes the right move to defeat Giles, again. He finishes giving orders and leads them out. Buffy startles the evil gang when she dusts the first vamp with a crossbow bolt. Jonathan crashes through a skylight and starts firing his crossbow. The last monster slashes at Buffy and disarms her, as he runs up the steps. Only Jonathan's last-second shot keeps the bloodsucker from escaping. Buffy apologizes for letting the ghoul get past her; she didn't feel like she did her best in the fight. Jonathan compliments her attempt. As they leave the burial vault, photographers gather outside to snap Jonathan's picture, until he shoos them off. Anya reflects on the disorganized fighting style of vampires. Jonathan begins to lecture them that vamps prefer to lurk in the bushes, instead of fight in the open or to form groups. He then calls to Spike, lurking in the bushes, to ask if he agrees. Jonathan and Spike circle each other. Spike tells them that he is sorry to see Jonathan and Betty in his neighborhood. Buffy has to tell him her correct name. Jonathan makes clear that if Spike becomes a threat again, he will be dealt with. Willow is at Tara's, telling her about the battle, while they work on a wall project. Tara asks about Buffy's reaction to the fact that Riley slept with Faith, when Faith switched bodies with Buffy. Tara hopes for the best, but Willow thinks the worst is over. The women are working on a large collage of Jonathan pictures. At Riley's, he and Buffy talk, as he shoots sponge basketballs at his toy hoop, on the door, over his Jonathan basketball poster. Riley's wound is better. Buffy worries that he might be doped again by the Initiative, but he tells her that he no longer trusts their food. He does wonder what will be the eventual effect of full withdrawal from the mysterious drugs they used on him. He also is upset that the Initiative has not given them full access to the information on Adam, the powerful Frankenstein monster that the Initiative created, and that they don't seem to trust him as much as they used to. When he sits on the bed next to her, she quickly gets up to shoot baskets. She's not successful and, under the guise of helping her, Riley comes up close behind her to coach. She keeps up a nervous patter, until finally she becomes so uncomfortable that she turns to him and accidentally hits his still tender wound. She instantly apologizes and hurries out. Later she sits with Jonathan, in the sidewalk coffee shop, talking about her problems due to Faith's interference in her relationship with Riley. Between signing autographs, Jonathan says that he thinks her problem is with Riley for not realizing sooner than Faith was an imposter. Even though no one could have been reasonably expected to detect the deception, Jonathan suggests that some part of her still holds Riley responsible. He tells Buffy that her relationship with Riley is obviously special and worth an effort to salvage. The Acting-Commanding Officer, Col. Haviland is briefing the Initiative teams. He tells them that capturing Adam is their first priority and then introduces Jonathan as an expert there to brief them further. Jonathan explains that he has discovered, from Walsh's schematics, that Adam's power is derived from a small nuclear power source in his chest. The design also indicates that they will have to totally destroy him, because he can survive grave injuries, including decapitation. Outside Jonathan's house, one of his autograph-seeking fans, Karen, is standing in the rain, spying with binoculars. Suddenly, a monster attacks her. The creature is humanoid with long, misshapen arms. He has a hump-like growth high on his back, almost on his neck. He has large, yellow, pointed teeth and drooping, pointed ears. He is bald, with a long, gray beard and furry back. There is a raised pattern on his forehead. Karen begins to run. Back at the Initiative, Riley is discussing with Jonathan his problems with Buffy. Riley is shocked when Jonathan suggests that Buffy might be afraid of Riley comparing Faith as Buffy to Buffy. Jonathan advises Riley to make sure that Buffy knows Riley cares for her alone. Then, Jonathan raises a pistol to shoot apples off the heads of three Initiative soldiers, while he is blindfolded. At the Bronze, Royal Crown Revue has got the crowd hopping to swing music. Xander is mad at Anya, because he contends that she said Jonathan's name while they were having sex, but she denies it. Riley is amused and Buffy bets on Anya if things get physical. Jonathan takes the stage, in a white coat and black tie, to croon a romantic melody, Serenade in Blue. He dedicates the song to a special couple having a tough time. Riley and Buffy take to the dance floor. Listening to the smooth strong vocals of Jonathan, the couple seem to draw closer together. Riley tries to apologize and despite Buffy's attempt to prevent talking from breaking the mood, he gets it out. She tells him that she knew everything was all right as soon as he took her into his arms. Taking up the trumpet, Jonathan begins to wail a tune from his new album. Anya invites Xander to have sex and they both leave without taking their unblinking eyes off of the smokin' Jonathan. Karen, with scratches on her face and chest, comes running in and is intercepted by Buffy. Jonathan stops the band and comes down from the stage to talk to her. He recognizes her from signing her copy of his book earlier and ffers to help her. He holds her as they enter his study with Buffy and Riley following. Karen describes the monster and draws for them the pattern on the monster's forehead. It is a triangle with three crossed lines in the center touching the sides, similar to an asterisk. Jonathan at first seems concerned by the drawing and then dismisses it as a relatively harmless creature, which will avoid further contact with people. In any event, he will take care of it. Only Buffy seems to give it further consideration. The bloody corpse of a woman lies on the library floor, as Adam does research on several computer and television screens. When his vampire companion tells Adam that he is hungry, Adam warns him that the Librarian had a blood disease that was killing her. The vampire tells Adam of rumors of a new monster in town. Adam is watching Jonathan on the various screens. The vampire is surprised when Adam doesn't seem to know who Jonathan is. Adam realizes that reality has been magically altered. He says that he is self-aware of his body and surroundings to the molecular-level, so his perception is not easily manipulated - only he has avoided the effects of the spell. This also feeds into his feeling of superiority over other beings. Adam decides that the spell will eventually collapse on its own, creating chaos, which Adam is in favor of. Jonathan stands in front of his massive fireplace, thinking for a long time. A pretty, buxom blonde in bikini pajamas asks him to come to bed, with a Scandinavian accent. Her twin sister joins in with the same request. As he removes his robe, he reveals a triangle pattern with crossed lines, raised on his back behind his left shoulder. Buffy, Willow and Tara walk along the campus in the dark. Buffy tells them that Jonathan volunteered to take care of the new monster. Willow scoffs at Buffy's suggestion that Jonathan was scared at the sight of the diagram that Karen drew. Willow reminds her that she complimented Jonathan's courage, when she gave him the "Class Protector" award at their Senior Prom. Tara leaves, after Willow promises to meet her again, tomorrow. Buffy tells Willow that she and Riley seem to have gotten Faith behind them. Tara enters a dormitory hallway and is spooked by a growling noise. She walks quickly down the hall, but before she can reach the next set of doors, the monster bursts through them. The creature knocks her down and knocks her around. Tara begins to slowly slide along the floor, away from the beast, while saying the words of a spell. When the fiend charges her again, she raises her hands and they emit a thick smoke. With the thing momentarily blinded, she runs to a cleaning closet and locks herself inside. The beast pounds on the door. The next day, Buffy arrives at Tara's to find Tara curled up and shivering in bed, as Willow dabs at her forehead with a damp cloth. WIllow explains to Buffy that Tara stayed in the closet until she was found in the early morning. Tara manages to tell Buffy about the monster that attacked her, including the triangle design. Buffy walks down the street thinking. On the wall behind her is a continuous row of Jonathan.com posters. Anya tells Buffy that Xander is not home, but Buffy asks for permission to come in and look around anyway. An unhappy Anya invites Buffy in and goes back to reading the autobiography of Jonathan. Buffy looks over Xander's collection of Jonathan comic books and collector cards. Buffy interrupts Anya's reading to ask if it doesn't seem strange that Jonathan is perfect at everything, but Anya doesn't seem disturbed at all by that. Buffy wonders how a regular person can fight demons better than The Slayer. Buffy asks about Anya's past as a Vengeance Demon. For ages Anya used magic to fulfill the wishes of wronged women and visit horrible plagues on their men. Buffy wonders if someone could use magic to alter the entire world. Anya agrees that alternate realities are entirely possible. Buffy tries to explain her theory to the gang, minus Jonathan and Tara, at Giles' house. She uses examples, like how Jonathan starred in "The Matrix", but didn't have to leave Sunnydale for the filming. The others don't seem to understand what she's saying. They can't even understand how they can hold a meeting without Jonathan. Xander reminds Buffy that only Jonathan could have destroyed both The Master and the Mayor, and then coach the US Women's Soccer team to their World Cup win. Buffy thinks that Jonathan has deceived the entire world. Riley seems to disagree with her, but suggests that the Slayer may have a perception that others lack. He thinks they should follow her instincts - for once. Suddenly, Buffy's memory is jogged and she asks Giles for his copy of Jonathan's swimsuit calendar. Giles denies having one, but relents when Buffy seems unconvinced, telling them that it was a gift. Inside they find a picture of Jonathan that shows the triangle mark. Jonathan surprises them and Anya instantly lets slip that Buffy is suspicious of his story about the monster. Jonathan admits to having faced the monster before. He tells them that it exerts a mental influence over him that causes him to be confused about how to deal with it. He explains that the mark is a self-inflicted reminder of how the creature affects him. Everyone, but Buffy, seems pleased with his story. He tells them that the monster has probably left town, but Buffy insists that they take a look around. In the evening darkness, at a cemetery, they run into Spike, who still can't get Buffy's name right. He does threaten to fight Buffy one-on-one, one day. Jonathan literally leans on Spike and presses him against a stone crypt. He thinks that since Spike is in trouble with Sunnydale's demons that he is probably staying on top of current demon news. Spike denies knowing anything or even that he is telling the truth. Jonathan gives up, but Buffy suddenly begins to literally lean on Spike herself. She tells a surprised Spike that since he can no longer feed on people, he must rely on butchers; Jonathan could use his influence to cut off Spike's supply of blood. All Spike knows is that some vampires have recently been evicted from their cave lair near Brookside Park, by an unknown creature. As they leave, Jonathan is genuinely impressed with Buffy's effectiveness. She is pleased. The rest of the gang is researching spells. Riley is amazed to find that magic is real, even if it does require a high level of concentration to make it work. Xander tries to demonstrate how safe it is, by casually reading two Latin words, which roughly translate into "book burn", causing the book's pages to burst into flame. Giles scolds him to be more careful. Willow finds the triangle diagram in one of the books and explains that Jonathan used an Augmentation Spell to augment himself in everyone's eyes. The monster is created by the spell - to balance the good energy showered on Jonathan, an equal measure of negative energy was used to create the monster. They realize that Jonathan has a motive to protect the monster from Buffy. Buffy and Jonathan explore the cave and find a yawning hole over a deep crevice. As they stand on the edge, Buffy remarks how dead someone would be if they fell that far. Jonathan agrees and reaches for Buffy. He takes her hand and suggests that they leave the cave. As they turn, the monster surprises them and hits Jonathan with an uppercut that knocks him across the cave. The gang at Giles is contemplating a world where Buffy is sometimes right and Jonathan is just a normal man. Xander is happy with things the way they are, if Buffy doesn't get killed by the monster or Jonathan. Giles is concerned because he thinks Buffy has never faced such a creature alone before. The monster knocks Buffy down and Jonathan snaps a thick stalactite from the cave ceiling to use as a club. After hitting the beast a few times, he manages to hold on to it while he explains to Buffy that she will have to fight the monster alone. He tells her that she can defeat it and that she will remember how, as she fights. He also tells her that the more she hurts the monster, the more he will lose... but he doesn't get to explain what he will lose before the monster breaks free of his grip. The monster moves towards the prone Buffy, but she rolls and trips the creature. When it falls, Jonathan seems to lose his confidence and he finds a place to hide. Buffy delivers several kicks to the creature. As she fights, she remembers more and begins to gain confidence. The beast gains a temporary advantage and Jonathan emerges to help, but Buffy quickly recovers and as she hits the creature, Jonathan returns to his hiding place. The monster is near the gaping hole and Buffy charges him, but he avoidsher and she falls very near the edge. As the monster looms over her, Jonathan tackles the beast and they both fall through the hole. Buffy manages to grab Jonathan by one ankle and save him. All over Sunnydale a bright blue light plays over the town, erasing all traces of Jonathan's fame. On another bright day, Buffy, Riley, Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara sit under a large shade tree on campus and express their disbelief over how they were fooled. Xander is depressed, because he actually felt better about himself in the other world. Riley felt taller. Buffy notices Jonathan, looking sheepish, while he watches them. Buffy goes to talk to him, while the others try to remember who really starred in "The Matrix". Jonathan tells her that most people are losing their memory of the altered reality, but a lot remember enough to be mad at him. Jonathan reveals that while he was in therapy because of his suicide attempt, he met another unhappy youth that told him about the spell, but didn't tell him about the monster that came with it. He never intended to hurt anyone and he is sorry. Buffy tells him that what people are angry about is how he manipulated them, as if they were his toys. He insists that he saw them as friends. She tells him that real friendships and real accomplishments are the result of investing real time and real effort; there are no magic shortcuts to success and happiness. Before he leaves, he tells her that even though he can't quite remember it all, the advice he gave Buffy about Riley in the altered world is similar. Their relationship is worth whatever time and effort it takes to make it work. Buffy and Riley are kissing in his room with the lights low, when she quietly whispers, "Jonathan." Summary by: OBCooke at EpisodeGuides.com |
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