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Season 4, Episode 22
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon
Original Airdate: 22 May 2000
"You think you know. What's to come. What you are.
You haven't even begun."
Tara
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
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The gang gathers at Buffy's for a movie fest, to
relax after saving the world, but fall asleep before the first movie
begins. Riley has left already to appear in court and plead his case in
regards to the Initiative. Willow dreams of painting on Tara's back
while they talk about finding a name for the kitten. Willow passes Oz
and Xander on her way to drama class where Xander talks about the two
Wicca's doing spells. Willow's first class turns out to be a big
production in which Buffy, Willow, Harmony and Riley are all cast
members, and Giles is the teacher.
Willow goes through a corridor of curtains and talks with Tara about the
play and what is following Willow. She is attacked by something, but
Buffy saves her. In a classroom, Buffy rips off Willow's clothes, which
makes her look and act like she did when she was in her early years of
high school. Her attitude and appearance in college is just a "costume."
The Primitive then attacks her and drains her life away while everyone
watches.
Xander's dream begins at Buffy's house, where everyone is watching
"Apocalypse, Now". Xander goes upstairs and finds Joyce dressed in a
nightgown, offering him a nice bed to lie down on. While Xander is
trying to use the bathroom, he discovers there is a crowd of scientists
watching him and taking notes. He leaves and after opening one door, he
finds himself in his basement. The dream switches to the park where he
finds Giles and Spike wearing identical suits, swinging on a swing set
and talking about making Spike a Watcher. Buffy plays in the sand and
Xander worries about her, but she says there's nothing to be worried
about yet.
Xander gets into the ice cream truck with Anya, finding Willow and Tara
wearing sexy clothing in the back of the truck, kissing and groping. As
Xander goes back to join the girls, he ends up on the school campus
where he finds Giles and Anya, speaking French. Suddenly, Xander is
dressed in fatigues, wearing handcuffs and being brought before a man
who turns out to be Snyder. Xander stands up and runs from the
Primitive. From Giles's apartment he goes to Buffy's dorm, through her
closet and finally into his basement. There is a banging at the door and
finally it opens, revealing Xander's father. Xander is frightened as his
father yells and steps toward him. At the last minute, the man turns
into the Primitive as it rips Xander's heart from his chest.
Giles tries to hypnotize Buffy. Along with a very pregnant Olivia, and a
child-like Buffy, Giles attends a carnival, where the festivities
revolve around vampires and destroying the forces of darkness. Spike has
a job at the carnival as a vampire for people to take pictures of. At
the Bronze, Giles talks with Willow and Xander about stopping whatever
is after them. He suddenly gets up and starts singing a song about what
they have to do. After his microphone goes dead, he follows the cord to
the back room. The Primitive takes a knife and cuts through his skull.
In Buffy's dream, Buffy worries about her friends and her unmade bed.
Tara is there to tell her that the clock that reads 7:30 is wrong, and
that she must return before dawn. On campus, Buffy finds her mother
living in a wall. She goes upstairs and finds Riley along with a
completely human Adam, both now very successful in the government,
planning to dominate the world. As the guys leave to make a fort, Buffy
reaches into a bag and finds it filled with mud that she applies to her
face.
She walks out into the desert, fearful that she'll never find her
friends. Tara is there, the voice of the First Slayer, the
primitive-looking being that is the reason for their dreams. The First
Slayer refuses to give up Buffy's friends and the two fight. The fight
continues in Buffy's living room, but Buffy chooses to ignore her and go
back to sleep. Everyone wakes up together, and they talk about how the
spirit of the First Slayer tried to kill them in their dreams. In
addition to all their fears and the Primitive Slayer, the gang also
encountered the "cheese man" in their dreams, which no one can explain.
As Buffy goes upstairs and stares into an empty room, Tara's voice
speaks out to her, informing the Slayer that she hardly knows anything
yet about who she is, or what her future holds.
TRIVIA
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Armin Shimerman, Seth Green, Mercedes McNab and
Phina Oruche make brief cameos in this episode. This was the final
episode for all these characters, except for McNab who appears for five
episodes in season five. When Giles sings at the Bronze, the piano
player is Christophe Beck (the former Buffy composer); and Four
Star Mary (the real band behind Dingoes Ate My Baby) are the guys
onstage with him. They also recorded the music for this scene with
Anthony Stewart Head on vocals.
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There are rumours that Joss Whedon hoped the
following characters could return for this episode: Cordelia, to laugh
at Willow in her nerdy clothing from
Welcome to the Hellmouth again; Faith for a continuation of the 730
riddle; and Angel to do the scenes in the desert, translating the First
Slayer for Buffy. Robia LaMorte was also considered to appear as Jenny
Calendar in Giles' dream, instead of Olivia.
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Joss Whedon says in his DVD commentary for this
episode that Michelle Trachtenberg actually visited the set on the day
the "Be back before Dawn" scene was filmed. She was there as a friend of
Sarah Michelle Gellar's, and eventually won the part of Dawn.
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Michael Harney plays Tony Harris in this episode,
but Casey Sander takes over the role in
Hell's Bells.
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Sharon Ferguson, who played the Primitive in this
episode, returns for Intervention
and Get It Done later in the show.
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One of the biggest things to come out of this
episode was the desperation of fans to find out about the enigmatic
Cheese Guy. Joss Whedon insists that there is no meaning in his
presence. He had this to say at the old posting board The Bronze: "The
Cheese Man means nothing. He is the only thing in the show that means
nothing. I needed something like that, something that couldn't be
explained, because dreams always have that one element that is just
ridiculous. Thus, man of cheese. Plus funny." The Cheese Man returns in
Storyteller.
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Here are the lyrics of Giles's Exposition Song:
Strange, it's not like anything we
faced before,
But it seems familiar somehow.
Of course. The spell we cast with
Buffy must have released,
Some primal evil that's come back
seeking,
I'm not sure what.
Willow, look through the chronicles
for a reference to a warrior beast.
I've got to warn Buffy. There's every
chance she might be next.
And Xander, help Willow.
And try not to bleed on my couch I've
just had it steam cleaned.
CONTINUITY
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During her dream, Willow hopes that she
doesn't have to sing Madame Butterfly, something she was forced
to do in season one's Nightmares.
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During her dream, Buffy mentions to Tara
that 'Faith and I just made that bed,' which is a reference to Faith's
dream in This Year's Girl. Speaking
of dreams, Faith mentioned in hers in
Graduation Day (Part 2) that 'Little Miss Muffet was counting down
from seven three oh.' This was a reference to Dawn and
The Gift. In this episode, Tara
tells her that the clock (which still reads 7:30) is wrong, meaning time
is moving on. She completes the reference by telling Buffy to be 'back
before Dawn.'
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Xander mentions to Principal Snyder how
glad he was that the principal was eaten by a snake, referring to his
death in Graduation Day (Part 2).
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Spike refers to a shark, but 'on land' in
this episode, and Giles refers to him as a son. These events ultimately
occur in Tabula Rasa. Spike also
wears the same suit that he eventually wears in that episode.
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At one point, Joyce says that she has a
headache, which could be the first sign of her aneurysm.
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Anya says that she's thinking of getting
back into vengeance. She does eventually in
Entropy.
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The empty room that Buffy stares into in
the final scene becomes Dawn's room in season five.
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The bag filled with mud, which Buffy
carries with her through her dream, is a bag that belonged to previous
Slayers and is brought to Buffy's attention by Robin Wood in
Get It Done.
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
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