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| 102. Bargaining, Part II Original Air Date: October 02, 2001 Written by: David Fury Directed by: David Grossman Guest Cast: Franc Ross (Razor) Continued from #101 Bargaining, Part I The Buffy-bot, meanwhile, is on the verge of total failure. The gang closes in on her to finish the job. Anya and Tara find Xander and the unconscious Willow. Xander insists that their chances, of escaping through the woods undetected, will be better if they split up. He will carry Willow and meet them at the Magic Box. When Anya asks, Xander decides that they can do nothing to recover the Buffy robot. The demon gang is having a good time kicking the Buffy-amatic senseless. A few feet under their feet, Buffy slaps at the sides of her coffin and begins to claw and rip at the lining. Willow begins to waken and Xander pauses to rest. Xander brings her up to date. Willow wants to go back to re-try the ritual. Willow is distressed almost to the point of obsession that she is Buffy's only hope and she won't fail her friend no matter what it takes. Xander reminds her that the urn is destroyed. Willow must face the truth for the first time that Buffy is gone and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Meanwhile, Buffy reaches the wooden top of her coffin and smashes it with her fists. As dirt pours in, she continues to struggle upward. Anya and Tara hide from some searchers. They can overhear the demon's talk about missing the carnage back in town. They decide to quit looking and go looting. Anya is distracted by the parting comments about looting shops, but Tara leads them to a safe route out of the woods. Despite Spike's instructions, Dawn sits in the big picture window of the Summers' house watching the rampage. Spike is upset that Buffy's weapons are mostly good only on vampires and that Dawn won't follow his instructions. He tells her that the demons are Hellions. They are a gang of scavengers and raiders more than predators; opportunists more than fighters. Dawn and Spike realize that the demons must know Buffy is gone and Sunnydale is defenseless. Spike wants to retreat, but Dawn is scared and wants to hide until help comes. Spike reminds her that he is in charge and that no one and nothing is going to hurt her while she's with him. Besides, no one is coming to save them. A woman's hand explodes from the ground. Buffy bursts from her grave, gasping for air and falls on all fours. She gazes in amazement and fear at the world around her. She rises and reads her own gravestone, at first confused and then awe-struck at its meaning. She walks the streets of Sunnydale, seeing the fire and destruction as if through a haze. A demon rides by, shattering a bottle at her feet. Anya and Tara arrive at the Magic Box. They quickly check for their loved ones and in Anya's case that also means checking the store for damage. The shop is unharmed but they can see demons looting a store across the street. Anya begins to panic over the lost Xander, but Tara assures her that if Willow were dead, Tara would sense it and surely Anya would know instinctively if something had happened to Xander. The two women hug and try to embrace this belief. Tara realizes that she can send a mystic signal light for Willow and Xander to follow. Willow and Xander are deeply lost. Willow must rest and try to recover from the spell. Xander mentions how disturbing it was to watch and wonders what kinds of forces were involved. Willow tries to avoid discussing it further and sees a small bright light, like a super-charged firefly or Tinkerbell. Willow and Xander begin to follow the light. Buffy tries to rest by leaning against a car in a quiet driveway. The car alarm goes off, bringing a frightened elderly man to the door with a shotgun. He drives Buffy off, although she can barely see or hear him through the haze. Spike and Dawn continue to avoid the rampaging demons and Spike is reminded of how fun rampaging used to be. Spike makes a decision and enters the street. The next motorcycle that comes by tries to buzz him, but Spike kicks the driver off of the bike and, with Dawn, in a football helmet for protection, they take off down the street. Willow and Xander reach the Magic Box and their loved ones. As soon as Willow hears that Spike and, especially Dawn, are unaccounted for, she wants to go looking for them. Anya objects that with Willow weakened, the others don't really stand a chance out in the open. They are again reminded of how badly they need the real Slayer. Willow tells them that Buffy is lost to them and they are the only ones they can depend on. She instructs Xander to collect weapons and painfully rises to her feet. The sounds of destruction get louder and Xander hopes that they will soon tire of destroying Sunnydale. Down the street, the demon leader is announcing that the gang is here to stay. Buffy sees the gathering and approaches to hear the leader announce that they will stay and take a break from the road for a while. To celebrate they use motorcycle chains to rip the Slayer-bot into pieces. Buffy screams and the leader tells his gang to enjoy destroying this new imitation Slayer. Buffy runs. Willow and her team walk through the alleys. Tara wonders if the arrival of the demons was a way for fate or some higher power to prevent them from completing Buffy's resurrection. Willow thinks that means that their arrival is her fault. Buffy manages to allude her demon pursuers. Anya tries to convince Xander to tell the others right now about their engagement. Buffy leaps a fence and lands in front of them. The others are convinced that it's the missing Buffy-bot, but Willow seems to know right away that she's real. Buffy runs from them. They find her cowering in an alley. She's severely traumatized, but Willow insists that she's fine, just in shock. They notice her bleeding hands and Xander is the first to realize what happened. He explains that their spell worked, but they were stupid enough to leave Buffy in her grave and force her to claw her way out. Willow weeps at the idea. Xander cautiously approaches Buffy and tries to talk to her. Anya tries to slip in the news of their engagement, but Xander stops her. He talks quietly and reassuringly to the recovering Slayer. He explains that they restored her and she has returned home. The demon leader interrupts, pleased to have found the real Slayer so vulnerable. Xander tries to strike a strong defense and they suggest that the demons leave. The demon leader is unconvinced that they have the power to stop his entire gang. Willow tries to challenge him into backing down, but he slaps Willow and Xander aside. He threatens the horrors of being raped by a demon gang. Buffy rises and comes closer. The demon leader slaps her, but in a few seconds he is flat on his back. Other members of the gang attack, but Buffy is in her old form and with her friends helping, they fight the gang. At one point, Buffy is surrounded by four demons pounding on her with pipes and bats, but after a few seconds of covering, she shrugs the mob aside and beats each one of them. Spike and Dawn find the Buffy-bot's head and trunk still attached. The robot tells them that she saw the other Buffy and then stops dead. Dawn runs off on foot before Spike can notice. He yells after her. The demon gang is defeated and Buffy's friends are convinced by her fighting that she is going to be all right. But she seems scared of them and confused. She runs from her friends and they decide not to follow. Behind them, the demon leader awakes and bares his metal claws. The leader attacks Xander. Down the alley, Buffy kills another demon and then sees the tower that Glory had built, where Buffy died. Buffy runs toward it. The women with Xander attack the demon with bats and pipes, but he shrugs them off. Willow magically forms a clay-like ball and throws it at the demon's face where it clings, cutting off his breath. Dawn finds the demon in the alley that Buffy killed and Glory's tower. Buffy stops under the construct and looks at the upper platform from which she jumped. The demon leader is not seriously threatened by any of his opponents. Willow uses magic to protect Tara from his finger blades and he turns his attention to Willow. Which gives Tara a chance to drive an ax into his back. Buffy is at the top of the tower remembering the last moments of her life. Dawn finds Buffy there. They stand in almost the exact same spots they did three months ago when Buffy died so the world could live (#100 The Gift). Dawn is amazed and unsure of what she sees. Suddenly the tower shudders. Buffy looks down at the ground below. Dawn screams for her to stop and begins to beg her to come back from the edge, to come to her. Dawn recounts for Buffy their last moments together and reminds her that the tower was built by lunatics for Glory and wasn't meant to stand for long. Buffy wonders if she is in hell. When Dawn tells her that they must leave the tower, Buffy again looks over the edge. Dawn reminds Buffy that her last words were for Dawn to be strong, but she is finding it hard to live on without Buffy. She begs for Buffy to live for Dawn's sake. The tower again lurches and Dawn is knocked from her feet. She hollers for Buffy's help and the Slayer instantly runs to her sister's side and helps her down the shaking stairs. They reach a rope and pulley. Buffy grabs Dawn and leaps for the rope, catching it with one hand. The pulley jars loose and the two women free-fall some distance. The pulley overheats and freezes, the cable coming to a stop. The frame holding the pulley breaks free and the women fall to the ground. Buffy sees the platform falling and about to crush them. She pulls herself and Dawn out of the way of the collapsing tower as it is reduced to rubble. Dawn starts crying from joy and hugs her sister. Buffy seems unsure of how to react. Summary by: OBCooke at EpisodeGuides.com |