Season 5, Episode 18

Written by Jane Espenson

Directed by Michael Gershman

Original Airdate: 23 April 2001

"What the hell is that, and why is its hair that colour?"

Glory

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

• Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins

• Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers

• James Marsters as Spike

• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Clare Kramer as Glory

• Adam Busch as Warren Mears

• Troy T. Blendell as Jinx

• Amber Benson as Tara Maclay

CO-STARRING

• Sharon Ferguson as The Primitive

• Todd Duffey as Murk

• Kelly Donavan

SYNOPSIS

• At the Summers home after dinner, Buffy and Giles discuss with Buffy how she's feeling and she goes on to say how she's worried about her ability to love and be the Slayer. She excessively expresses her love to both Giles and Dawn, worried that something may happen and they may never know how much she loves them. Giles suggests he and Buffy go away for a couple of days to a sacred location, which Dawn encourages Buffy to do, if it will help her. Spike receives his BuffyBot from Warren, complete with all the extras he ordered. Warren wants to leave immediately, but it takes a kiss from the robot for Spike to be convinced she's what he wants.
  
  Glory complains to her minions about not having the Key and sends them out to watch over the Slayer and see who is new and special in her life now. Giles and Buffy arrive in the desert for their "retreat." Giles performs a ritual that will create a guide for Buffy. A mountain lion appears and directs Buffy along a path and into an open desert setting which reminds her of her dream of the First Slayer. Spike and his BuffyBot pretend to fight, which inevitably leads to sex. The sex becomes a major theme of their relationship as BuffyBot is always looking to please Spike, and Spike enjoys having Buffy with him, robot or not.
  
  Xander, Anya, Tara, and Dawn gather at Xander's place where Tara places a protection spell on the room. Dawn secretly takes Anya's earrings from a table. One of Glory's minions watches from outside one of the windows. Another minion watches Willow as she heads to Xander's after tutoring a student. At the crypt, the BuffyBot dresses before heading out to patrol and slay vampires.
  
  In the desert at night, Giles awaits Buffy's return while Buffy fends off the impending sleep. BuffyBot runs into Xander and Anya in a graveyard and her programming allows her to fool the two into thinking she's the real thing. Spike arrives and desperately tries to convince Xander and Anya that he's just helping Buffy with a big group of vampires. A few vampires do show up and are all slain by the four. Spike and the BuffyBot end up on the ground, having sex again, but this time Xander and Anya see and hear it.
  
  Later, Xander goes to confront Spike and Buffy at the crypt, but Spike sends the BuffyBot underground first. After a brief discussion, Glory's minions enter, knocking Xander unconscious and taking Spike. Buffy wakes to a large fire and finds the First Slayer on the opposite side of the fire. The First Slayer advises Buffy that love is the centre of Slayers and that it will bring Buffy her Gift. The First Slayer later answers that death is her gift before leaving.
  
  Worried that Spike has left her, the BuffyBot leaves Xander unconscious at the crypt and goes to his place for help. Willow talks to the BuffyBot about her supposed sexual relationship with Spike. Willow discovers that Glory's minions took Spike and worries that he will tell Glory about the Key. Upon receiving Spike, Glory is upset that he is not the Key but chooses to torture him in hopes that he knows where the Key is.
  
  At the Summers house, the gang gathers weapons and while the BuffyBot goes upstairs to change, the real Buffy enters, confusing everyone again. Both Buffys end up in the same room at the same time and the gang straightens out all of the confusion. Everyone heads for Glory's place, which Buffy knows the general location of. Meanwhile, Spike is getting brutally tortured by Glory who is not amused by his jokes and insistence upon not telling her what she wants to know. Spike is able to break free and escape through the elevator. As he reaches the bottom, the Scooby Gang is waiting there and they fight and defeat Glory's minions.
  
  At the Magic Box, the gang talks about the fight while Willow works on the chip from inside the BuffyBot. Xander and Giles reveal that they returned Spike to the crypt, actually feeling sorry for him for his condition. Spike rests in his crypt, his face a mess. The BuffyBot enters, worried about Spike and curious as to why he didn't tell Glory what she wanted. Spike reveals that he couldn't hurt the real Buffy like that, which leads to a kiss between the two. Spike pulls back, realizing that it isn't his robot. The real Buffy tells him that the robot is gone, and she'll never forget what he did for her and Dawn.

TRIVIA

• Kelly Donovan, Nicholas Brendon's twin brother, was credited in the end credits as "And Kelly Donovan". Nicholas was ill during the filming of this episode, so Kelly served as a double during a few scenes.

• Sharon Ferguson makes a brief return as the Primitive, who she played in Restless.

CONTINUITY

• Buffy locates Glory's apartment by retracing her battle with the snake in Shadow.

• Spike has Warren program the BuffyBot to criticise Angel, a jealousy issue that goes back as far as season two.

• When confronted with the BuffyBot and Buffy, Xander suggests that they're both Buffy, a reference to his splitting into two separate entities in The Replacement.

• Warren was given the specifications of the BuffyBot by Spike in I Was Made to Love You.

• Buffy encounters the First Slayer in the same desert where they fought in Restless.

GOOFS

• Glory's minions kidnap Spike at night (or at least when it's still dark) but it's daytime by the time they arrive at Glory's place with the vampire.

• The Scooby gang leave Xander's apartment while it's still dark outside, but don't get to Buffy's house until it's broad daylight.

• When Spike and the BuffyBot are first alone in his crypt, Spike puts the robot in a neck hold. The BuffyBot's hair moves from over to under his arm in different shots.

• When Glory throws Spike on the bed, his left arm is in direct sunlight though he doesn't burn.

• Glory punches Spike while his hands are tied behind his back. You can see his hands are untied when he is knocked back, but in the next shot when he hits the wall, his hands are tied again.

• When Spike insults Glory, his lips are out of synch with the sound of his voice during the shot of Glory turning to check herself out.

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