Season 6, Episode 1
Written by Marti Noxon
Directed by David Grossman
Original Airdate: 1 October 2001
"Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before
your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea?"
Spike
REGULAR CAST
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
-
Geoff Meed as
Mag
-
Mike Grief as
Klyed
-
Paul Greenberg as
Shempy Vampire
-
Joy DeMichelle Moore as
Ms. Lefcourt
-
Bru Muller as
Teacher
-
Robert D. Vito as
Cute Boy
-
Harry Johnson as
Parent #1
-
Kelly Lynn Warren as
Parent #2
-
Hila Levy as
Pretty Girl
SYNOPSIS
-
The Scooby Gang patrol in the absence of the
Slayer. Willow and her growing powers lead the efforts and the gang with
telepathy and other magic from a perch on top of a crypt. She's even
brought back the BuffyBot who helps the group slay several vampires. At
the Summers home, Willow and Tara are living there with Dawn and the
BuffyBot. Willow tried to make the robot more normal, but her tuning
never really goes quite like planned.
The BuffyBot is sent out with Dawn for Parent Day at Dawn's school.
Despite some odd comments and tense moments, the BuffyBot doesn't cause
much of a scene and isn't suspected of not being real. At the magic
shop, Giles is packing up his items in preparation for his return to
England. Anya is torn between the idea of losing Giles and taking over
the shop on her own.
That night, Spike stays with Dawn while the rest of the gang has a
meeting. Dawn suggests that Spike can leave, but he is determined not to
leave her to be hurt ever again and starts a card game. The BuffyBot
hunts vampires, but gets hit with a bottle and her motion skills are
impaired. Anya has found - on E-bay of all places - the Urn of Osiris.
Willow's pleased and announces their plans to bring back Buffy the next
night. She stresses that Giles, Spike and Dawn can't know, and that
because Buffy was killed by mystical energy, they have a chance of
bringing her back.
Willow returns home to find Spike keeping a wounded BuffyBot out of
trouble. Some left-behind Spike-obsessed Warren programming strikes a
nerve with the vampire and he leaves. Without her real sister, Dawn
tries to find comfort from the BuffyBot, but doesn't get much. The next
day, Giles tries to teach the BuffyBot new skills, like breathing, then
they talk about Giles' reason to be in Sunnydale now that Buffy is gone.
The vampire that hit the BuffyBot with a bottle rants to several biker
demons and the news is spilled that a robot has now taken over for the
Slayer. The demons ride out to wreak havoc in Sunnydale. Willow works on
a spell in an open outdoor location and a baby deer approaches her. She
sudden stabs it in the throat and finishes her spell. She returns to the
magic shop claiming she got the blood from the black market.
The gang finds a note from Giles stating that he's already left. Not
about to accept a silent escape, the track him down at the airport and
he gets a proper farewell with presents, signs, balloons and tears.
After Giles departs, Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara return home for final
preparations and then head to the cemetery. They prepare the ritual,
sitting around Buffy's grave and Willow begins the spell. Willow is cut
on her arms and a large snake is produced from her mouth, but Tara
insists that they don't stop.
Meanwhile, Spike watches over Dawn while the bikers are tearing
Sunnydale apart. BuffyBot tries to stop them, but the leader, Razor,
wounds her and she runs away to be repaired. The bikers then hit the
cemetery and interrupt Willow's spell by breaking the Urn of Osiris. One
of the bikers tries to take Anya away, but Tara uses magic to get her
back. Xander tells Willow that the spell didn't work, but in the coffin,
a dead, decaying body reverts back to the live and confused form of
Buffy.
TRIVIA
-
Anthony Stewart Head has left the regular
cast and has been removed from the opening credits. He appears as a
special guest star for the next two seasons. Alyson Hannigan has taken
his slot at the end of the credits and is now credited by her
character's name.
-
Amber Benson remains a guest star,
although she's listed in The Watcher's Guide: Volume Three and
the scripts as a regular.
-
This episode and the next were originally
shown as a two-hour special when it first aired to celebrate Buffy's
relaunch on the UPN Network.
-
Franc Ross, who plays the lead demon
Razor, played Monty Reynolds in the Firefly episode
Trash.
-
Geoff Meed also played Andrew Borba in
Never Kill a Boy on the First Date.
-
Marti Noxon says in her commentary for
the season six DVD that Alyson Hannigan found it extremely difficult to
film the scene where she stabs the deer. She was very upset at the
thought of Willow doing this. Marti says that Alyson cried the whole day
and eventually most of the more gory scenes where cut out.
-
The gruesome scene of Buffy being
resurrected was cut when Sky One and the BBC showed this episode in the
UK. Other edited scenes included Willow killing the deer; Willow choking
up the snake; Tara's comment about the vampire taking prescription
medication; everything at Dawn's school before they are in the classroom
and Xander being unable to give Giles some alcohol because a guy would
not buy it for them. Some of these scenes were also missing from the
video release of the episodes because they separated the two-parter and
lost several scenes.
-
Tara gives Giles a little rubber monster
as a leaving present and says "Grrr Arrgh", which is clearly a reference
to the monster in the Mutant Enemy logo at the end of every episode.
CONTINUITY
-
Willow has successfully repaired the
BuffyBot after it was decapitated by Glory in
The Gift. The robot also mentions
its affections for Spike, a reference to it's original purpose as seen
in Intervention. Spike will not
leave Dawn alone due to his failure to stop Doc in the season five
finale.
-
Buffy's nightmare of being buried alive
was also seen in Nightmares.
-
Hank is said to be calling the Summers
house during the episode. This is the first time we've heard of him
contacting the girls since Joyce's death and funeral in
The Body and
Forever.
GOOFS
-
The idea that the demon bikers wouldn't
raid the town of Sunnydale just because they thought the Slayer was
there is a bit unbelievable. If they banded together, that amount of
demons with motorbikes could easily have killed Buffy.
-
Why do only Anya and the BuffyBot have
stakes when hunting vampires?
-
Who is looking after Dawn when all the
Scoobies are patrolling?
-
Anya's hair changes in different scenes.
-
After Willow gets the last ingredient for
the spell, she goes to the Magic Box, where Tara tells her she's late.
Willow then says to her friends, "I thought we weren't gonna meet till
later." So, what is she late for?
-
Willow wears a brown skirt when quizzing
Dawn about her clogs. She then goes to the kitchen where she's wearing
jeans. She later wears the skirt again in Xander's apartment.
-
When the Scoobies form a circle to do the
spell, they are in different positions in the close up shots than in
those further away.
-
Why did the Scoobies construct an obvious
headstone for Buffy if they wanted everybody to think she was still
alive? Even it's 'hidden' in the woods, someone could walk past and see
it.
Bargaining
(Part 1) |
Bargaining (Part 2) |
Afterlife |
Flooded |
Life
Serial
All the
Way |
Once More, With Feeling |
Tabula Rasa |
Smashed |
Wrecked |
Gone
Doublemeat
Palace |
Dead Things |
Older and Far Away |
As You Were |
Hell's Bells |
Normal Again
Entropy |
Seeing Red |
Villains |
Two to Go |
Grave
|