Season 4, Episode 9

Written by Tracey Forbes

Directed by Nick Marck

Original Airdate: 29 November 1999

"This is the crack team that foils my every plan? I am deeply shamed."
Spike

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

• James Marsters as Spike

• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Marc Blucas as Riley Finn

• Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins

• Elizabeth Anne Allen as Amy Madison

CO-STARRING

• Andy Umberger as D'Hoffryn

SYNOPSIS

• Buffy talks to Riley and he invites her out on a picnic. Willow and Buffy talk about a possible relationship with Riley, and the consequences that may result from any relationship. Spike is chained up and kept in the bathtub at Giles' apartment. Buffy tries to get information from him and feeds him pig's blood, but he doesn't give up much. Willow suggests a truth spell to make Spike talk.
  
  Willow is upset because Oz sent for his stuff and she finally begins to think that he's not going to come back. Annoyed by Spike, Giles calls Willow and arranges for them to perform the truth spell. That night, Willow gets drunk at the Bronze to get over the sadness. After she insults Xander, Buffy takes her back to their dorm. Later, in the bathroom, Willow performs a spell to let her will be granted.
  
  Willow tries to see if her spell worked, but she finds that every command she speaks, doesn't work. Giles drops by to find out why she didn't show to help him perform the spell. She feels like there's too much pressure on her that she can't live up to. Angry, she says that he can't see anything, and then Giles leaves. Giles tries to perform the spell on Spike alone, but is having difficulty reading. After Giles drops the key to the chains keeping Spike captive, Spike is able to break free and run away.
  
  While Willow and Buffy talk, one of Willow's casual comments results in Amy turning into a human for a brief second, before turning back into a rat. After Giles calls, Buffy goes to find Spike and once he's caught, she brings him back to Giles' apartment. While talking to Xander, Willow sarcastically mentions Buffy and Spike getting married, and then at Giles' place, Spike proposes to Buffy and she accepts.
  
  Xander continues to try and console Willow until she states the fact that he is a demon magnet. While Buffy and Spike cuddle and kiss and make plans for the wedding, Giles calls Willow for help and moments later reaches the conclusion that he is totally blind. Buffy visits the magic shop for supplies to undo the spell that caused Giles to become blind. She then runs into Riley outside of a bridal shop and tells him about the wedding.
  
  Xander and Anya's romantic time is interrupted by a bunch of demons of various types that attack them. They rush to Giles's place where Xander realizes that everything Willow has said is coming true. D'Hoffryn, the demon responsible for making Anya a vengeance demon comes forth and takes Willow through a portal into a demon world. He wants to make her a vengeance demon. Willow isn't in the dorm room when the gang goes to look for her, but Anya recognizes the remains of the portal left by D'Hoffryn.
  
  Buffy and the rest of the group go to a crypt where they hope to stop D'Hoffryn from turning Willow into a demon. While a fight ensues between the gang and several demons, Willow turns down D'Hoffryn's offer and he sends her back. Willow breaks the spell and Buffy and Spike find themselves in the middle of a kiss. Willow apologizes and tries to make up for her messed up spell with cookies. Buffy can't seem to get over the fact that she was in love with Spike. The next day, Buffy confronts Riley and manages to convince him that she's not getting married.

TRIVIA

• The band Blink 182 thanked Seth Green in the sleeve notes for their album ‘Enema Of The State’. Their song ‘All the Small Things’ is playing at the Bronze when Willow’s doing her “brave little toaster” dance.

CROSSOVER

• Buffy mentions having seen Angel in L.A. for five minutes, which she did in I Will Remember You, though fans will remember that she actually saw him for much longer.

CONTINUITY

• Amy is seen briefly in this episode. She was last seen in Gingerbread, where she became stuck as a rat after doing a spell on herself. Amy is finally de-ratted in season six. It's interesting that Amy's hair has changed colour and length since her last appearance. It's then different in Smashed when Willow releases the rat spell on her.

• Willow mentions Xander's early entanglements with demon women, referencing Teacher's Pet and Inca Mummy Girl.

• The talisman that D'Hoffryn gives Willow resurfaces in Selfless.

• Buffy reminds Willow that alcohol has strange effects, such as transforming her into a cave Slayer in Beer Bad.

• Spike has been held in Giles's apartment since the previous episode. He stays there until the next episode, during which Giles requests that he stay with Xander due to Olivia's arrival in town.

• Buffy tells her that cars and her don't mix... which we saw when she crashed the car in Band Candy.

• Oz sends for his stuff through Devon, leaving Willow devastated.

GOOFS

• Buffy's hair changes from being straight to wavy several times.

• When Willow and Giles argue in her dorm, she tosses her bag onto her desk, hitting a star hanging from the ceiling. The star has stopped swinging in the next shot.

• Spike's reflection can be seen multiple times in Giles' glass bookcase.

• When the demon throws Xander onto the tool bench, a large piece of paper falls to the floor. Xander rolls onto the floor, and when he gets up, the paper is back on the bench as if it never left.

• The rat which portrays Amy is male.

The Freshman | Living Conditions | The Harsh Light of Day | Fear, Itself | Beer Bad

Wild at Heart | The Initiative | Pangs | Something Blue | Hush | Doomed

A New Man | The I in Team | Goodbye Iowa | This Year's Girl | Who Are You | Superstar

Where the Wild Things Are | New Moon Rising | The Yoko Factor | Primeval | Restless