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| 104. Flooded Original Air Date: October 16, 2001 Written by: Jane Espenson & Doug Petrie Directed by: David Solomon Guest Cast: Danny Strong (Jonathan) Adam Busch (Warren) Tom Lenk (Andrew) Todd Stashwick (Demon) Michael Merton (Loan Officer) John Jabaley (Tito) Brian Kolb (Bank Guard) Buffy stalks the basement looking for her opponent. She finally finds it, in the form of a dripping overhead pipe. Her sister, Dawn, awaits what appears to be a safe distance away and offers to call for help. Dismissing the need for a plumber, Buffy attacks the drip with a wrench. Slaying the drip, Buffy pauses for a satisfactory moment, before there is a groan and jets of water break out all over the basement, causing a wet Dawn to run in fear. While Willow, Tara and Dawn make clever remarks about the basement disaster, Buffy seems absorbed watching water flow down the drain of the kitchen sink. Buffy's level of concentration on the trivial unsettles the others until Willow walks over and shuts off the water. Xander emerges from the basement with his favorite plumber, Tito. Tito tells them that the house's plumbing needs a major overhaul. After he leaves, Dawn thinks the bill's total looks more like a phone number. Xander explains that he got the best possible price from Tito. Buffy thinks that they should just pay it, but Willow has to explain the realities of Buffy's financial situation. Sitting on the living room couch with a pile of bills on the coffee table, Buffy is faced with a looming financial disaster. Their mother's insurance was wiped out by the medical bills from before she died and payments on the house since. Buffy doesn't seem threatened by the money trouble, but she doesn't yet know how she's going to deal with it. Anya suggests finding a way to charge people for saving their lives. No one else thinks that this is a good idea. Anya argues with Dawn and thinks that Spider-Man charges people. Xander is forced to tell his beloved that she is totally wrong about that. Upset with him, she walks out of the house. Xander follows. Anya accuses him of never supporting her, but finally admits that she's really mad that he hasn't yet told everyone that they are engaged to be married. Xander admits to being reluctant to step over a line that he can never return to. Anya wonders if he is reconsidering marrying her, but he tells her that he has gone through so many changes lately in his personal life, such as his new construction career and moving out of his parent's house, that he wants to be sure that their future goes just right. They kiss passionately and it takes Anya a few seconds to realize that she has fallen for one of Xander's many stalling tactics. She yells at him to grow up and walks away. Xander watches her leave, in stunned silence, and you can't help but think that part of him is just enjoying watching Anya's backside walk away. Buffy practices asking for a loan before the loan officer for the bank arrives at his desk. Buffy has collected a bunch of papers that she thinks are important, but most of them are character references, including school report cards. In his banker way, he explains that the only asset she has is her house, but the real estate prices in Sunnydale are depressed (go figure). He can't help her, especially since Buffy has no income and no job. Just then a fishy demon attacks the bank and Buffy goes to work. Buffy tries to make the first move, but suddenly realizes that she can't fight in the mid-length skirt that she wore to make a good impression. The monster knocks her across the room. She borrows the loan officer's letter opener to slit her skirt and free her legs. While she fights the demon, someone steals the money from the tellers' drawers. A security guard tries to stop the creature, but the beast flings Buffy at him. Getting up, Buffy disarms the guard and tells him that guns never make these situations better. She almost kills them when she throws the gun away, only to have it go off. Before she can face the creature again, it escapes. Buffy tries to get the loan officer to reconsider turning her down. Later at the shop, Willow sympathizes with Buffy, who still didn't get the loan. Buffy practices at the body bag. Willow thinks that Buffy is pounding the bag out of anger and is happy to see Buffy exhibiting her first strong emotion since her return from death. Buffy calms and Willow tries to fan the flames by claiming to have had affairs with Riley and Angel. A confused Buffy wonders what Willow is talking about. Willow tries to explain that Buffy has been pretty emotionless since her resurrection, but she can barely get the words out under Buffy's stare and finally gives up. Anya and Xander sit at the round table watching Tara and Dawn organizing books. Anya continues to goad Xander into announcing their engagement and he continues to resist. Anya complains that even she doesn't like to hear her own "nagging voice". Tara and Dawn join them at the table and Dawn complains that she should be allowed to do research with the team. She compares it to sex education and thinks it's better to learn the truth than to believe rumors on the street, but the first demon she sees in the books has a pretty disturbing anatomy that Dawn at first mistakes for a horn. Dawn quickly spots the demon that robbed the bank, a M'Fashnik. Buffy and Willow join the group. Buffy isn't happy that Dawn is now reading the ancient lore. Buffy starts to give more details about the beast, but her voice trails off. The others follow her gaze and see Giles just inside the front door. He and Buffy approach and they end up hugging in the middle of the store. Giles has to remind her that her hug is much stronger than his body. He is amazed and overjoyed. The M'Fashnik walks the street of Sunnydale. Later, in the training room, Buffy and Giles catch up. He tells her that he had a meeting with the Watcher's Council, got a flat in Bath and has been seeing old friends. He doesn't seem glad to be back and tells Buffy that he thought he had put Sunnydale behind him for good. He tries to get Buffy to open up about what she is feeling, but she is light about things. She does tell him that her dreams are bothering her. Giles is impressed with her ability to cope with such an unearthly situation. Buffy begins to prepare for her warm-up routine and Giles leaves, but reluctantly. In the store, Giles is greeted with a crushing hug, as usual, by Anya, but she makes clear that he can't have the store back. Asking about the demon, Giles quickly recognizes it. M'Fashnik are mercenary killers. He wonders who has the kind of power necessary to control a M'Fashnik. The M'Fashnik demands his employers pay him with Buffy's head. They quickly agree. His employers are Jonathan, the robot-building Warren and Andrew, brother of Tucker, who trained devil dogs to attack the prom. Andrew's claim to fame is that he trained flying monkeys to attack the school play. The demon demands blood and even though the three cretins decide not to surrender Buffy, Warren slips the demon Buffy's address to save them, well mostly to save himself, from the demon's rage. Buffy tries to make a comfortable couch for Giles to sleep on when she begins to tell him about her money troubles and how much she worries about them. Giles plays the supportive, fatherly figure. He gives her an opening and drops some hints, but Buffy doesn't tell him about where she was when she was dead, letting him think she was in a hell. At the end of their talk, Giles reaches for her hand, but she leaves without any sign of affection, which worries Giles. Giles goes into the kitchen and encounters Willow. Willow begins to brag about bringing back Buffy. Giles is incredibly angry with her for crossing a moral line and tampering with natural forces that are best left in place. He is bitterly disappointed that he couldn't trust her to be the levelheaded one. He can comprehend how bad things could have turned out, even bringing about widespread doom. She begins to argue back that she knows best, she was only trying to do good and he should be grateful. She reminds him that he wasn't there, but he knows that she kept him away because he would have stopped it and that makes him even madder. Before he leaves, Willow reminds him that she has become very powerful and he shouldn't be getting her mad. The threat is clear, but she immediately tries to smooth things over. She only wants to celebrate Buffy's return, but Giles reminds her that they know nothing of where she's returned from or in what condition. Outside Buffy meets Spike. They have both overheard the conversation inside. She knows that they all care for her and that makes it harder on her. She worries too much that she might worry them. Spike offers to suffer the pain of the chip if Buffy wants him to kill them all. He succeeds in making her smile. She wonders why he's always there when she's sad and he thinks it's because that's when she's alone. They both decide they have had enough of people for a while. Later, Dawn comes downstairs and talks briefly with Giles in the foyer. Someone tries to get into the house. The demon smashes through the door and knocks Giles aside. He goes for Dawn, but Buffy arrives in time. She fights the demon inside the house, ever mindful of how much the damage is costing her. She and Spike manage to take the demon into the basement, which is under about a foot of water. The demon pulls out a pipe to use as a weapon and drives Buffy mad with anger. She takes the pipe and beats the demon to death. The evil nerds are hatching more criminal plans and decide to capture Buffy when she comes after them and turn her into their hypnotic slave. The Scooby gang tries, but most of the stuff that was damaged in the fight can't be saved. Anya prepares a sobering tally of just how much Buffy owes. Giles reflects that no homecoming to Sunnydale is complete without being knocked out. In order to find out who hired the demon Willow offers to do a spell, but a stern look from Giles discourages her. The others take out the debris leaving Giles, Buffy and Dawn. Buffy is depressed and unsure of herself. Giles again tries to raise her spirits and her confidence in herself. The phone rings and Buffy reflects that everyone she knows is already at the house. A few moments later she returns and tells them that Angel called her and she must meet him. She won't tell them where she is going, but they're meeting somewhere between Sunnydale and LA. Giles reminds her that her bills must be dealt with before she leaves, but she insists that she must go right now. Before she exits, she thanks Giles for taking care of everything for her, leaving Giles and Dawn in awkward silence. Summary by: OBCooke at EpisodeGuides.com |