|
Season 5, Episode 3
Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by James A. Contner
Original Airdate: 9 October 2000
"Buffy has super-strength. Why don't we just
load her up, like one of those little horses?"
Anya
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
-
Kelly Donovan as
Xander Double
-
Cathy Cohen as
Building Manager
-
David Reivers as
Foreman
-
Fritz Greve as
Construction Worker
SYNOPSIS
-
Xander and Anya watch a movie with Buffy and Riley
while listening to the background noise of Xander's drunk parents
fighting and yelling upstairs. The next day, the gang looks at a
prospective apartment for Xander. He doesn't think he can afford it and
this upsets Anya. Giles receives a visit from a demon searching for the
Slayer. He later identifies the demon as Toth, only survivor of the
Tothric Clan.
The gang checks out the city dump in search of the demon and find Spike
collecting. The demon hits Xander with light from a rod and knocks him
to the ground. He gets to his feet and walks off with the rest of the
gang, but then we see that there is another Xander still lying in a pile
of trash. The next morning, one Xander awakens at the city dump and then
discovers his double upon returning to his house. Spike has put together
a Buffy doll from mannequin parts which he uses to practice beating up
on.
One of the Xander's is very ambitious and gets a promotion at work,
signs a lease for the apartment, and sets up a date with Anya. The
unconfident Xander watches as all this happens and finally confronts his
double. After the two Xander's see each other, the confident Xander
talks to Buffy and she makes this a matter of Slayer business. Soaked by
the rain, weak Xander goes to Willow and tries to explain that this
double is taking over his life. He tells Willow that the double is doing
a better job of living his life but then suddenly realizes that his
double is going after Anya and that is one thing he won't allow.
Anya and the Xander double discuss their future and Anya expresses her
fears about not living forever. Giles discovers that the rod Toth used
split Xander into two real Xander's, one with weak qualities and the
other with strong qualities. The weak Xander crashes the date between
strong Xander and Anya. Both think that the other is a demon and the
weak Xander pulls out a handgun he got from Anya's apartment.
Buffy tells the doubles the truth about their situation and tries to
convince them not to kill each other. Toth appears at the apartment then
Buffy and Riley fight and kill him. Willow ends the spell on the
Xander's and makes them one again. While moving Xander into his new
apartment, Xander and Riley talk. Riley confesses that despite how much
he loves Buffy, he realizes that she doesn't.
TRIVIA
-
Xander's double is played by his real-life
identical twin Kelly Donovan. The boys' real surname is Schultz but they
both use their middle names as surnames when working. Nicholas mostly
played both but Kelly was used as a double, and had a bit of dialogue
when the two were in the same frame. Here's what Nick said on the
message boards at his official site: "Truth be told, I played both
characters. It was very challenging and rewarding and I must've done an
OK job if you couldn't tell it was me. I had a blast working with Kelly
and he really deserves kudos for his work. He was never promised
on-screen dialogue but they did end up using some and I think he did a
stand-up job. In fact there was even one point where Kelly, Tressa and I
had to rewind and freeze the tape to decipher who was who, (standing
side by side, Kelly as "Cool Xander" did a stellar job of imitating my
signature blinky eyes)."
CONTINUITY
-
During Xander's conversation about how
he's handling his evil twin, he challenges Willow to see how she would
cope with it. She reminds him that she handled it just fine. She's
referring to her vampire double in
Doppelgangland.
-
Riley tells Buffy that he even loves her
'bad ice-skating movie obsession,' a reference to her being a fan, as
seen in What's My Line? (Part 1) as
well as Helpless.
-
Xander finally performs the Snoopy Dance,
which was first reference in Passion.
-
Joyce suffers from a headache in this
episode, calling her daughters the cause. She's half right - it's hinted
that the new memories made a situation worse, and caused Joyce's
aneurysm, which later kills her in I Was
Made to Love You.
-
Willow burst through Giles's door in this
episode, and he swears that the door was locked. Spike did the same in
The Yoko Factor.
GOOFS
-
Xander mentions his Babylon 5
commemorative plates. They don't exist - they were planned, but never
released.
-
In the scene with Spike and the mannequin,
Spike has a tan line on his arms.
-
Xander's boss says the construction job is
winding down, but the site looks nowhere near finished.
-
Anya says that she has never been hurt
really bad before since she became human, but she was stabbed through
the hand in Where The Wild Things Are.
-
The answering machine only plays back the
middle part of Xander's message.
-
Buffy wears a bizarre combination of brown
tie-dyed trousers, glittery stripy halterneck and long pink cardigan.
This is clearly a goof on her part.
Buffy Vs.
Dracula | Real Me |
The Replacement |
Out of My Mind |
No Place Like
Home
Family |
Fool for Love |
Shadow | Listening to Fear |
Into the Woods | Triangle
Checkpoint
| Blood Ties |
Crush | I Was Made to Love You |
The Body |
Forever
Intervention
| Tough Love |
Spiral | The Weight of the World |
The Gift
|
