Season 6, Episode 5

Written by David Fury and Jane Espenson

Directed by Nick Marck

Original Airdate: 22 October 2001

"I am well struck! I call on the misty portal to my demon dimension, where I will lay my head and gently die."

Jonathan

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins

• Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers

• James Marsters as Spike

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

SPECIAL GUEST STAR

• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson

• Adam Busch as Warren Mears

• Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells

• Amber Benson as Tara Maclay

CO-STARRING

• Paul Gutrecht as Tony

• Noel Albert Guglielmi as Vince

• Enrique Almeida as Marco

• Jonathan Goldstein as Mike

• Winsome Brown as Woman Customer

• Christopher May as Male Customer

• David J. Miller as Rat-Faced Demon

• Andrew Cooper Wasser as Slime-Covered Demon

• Richard Beatty as Small Demon

• James C. Leary as Clem

• Jennifer Shon as Rachel

• Jabari Hearn as Steve

• Derrick McMillon as Ron

• Clint Culp as Bartender

• Mark Ginther as Horned Demon

• Alice Dinnean Vernon as Mummy Hand

SYNOPSIS

• Buffy returns with fried chicken for dinner and although the gang already had dinner, they all take some of the chicken. Buffy doesn't want to talk about the meeting with Angel so that subject is changed to Buffy's future plans. Not knowing what she wants to do in life, Buffy agrees to audit the classes Willow and Tara are taking until the next semester starts. The super villain guys prepare their van with high-tech equipment and prepare for their attack on Buffy.
  
  At school, Buffy finds herself lost and confused by a class she takes with Willow. Buffy later meets up with Tara for another class, but before class begins Warren tags her with a diamond-like object. Suddenly, time begins to fast forward and races through various intervals leaving Buffy dazed, confused and with several hours of time she doesn't remember ever occurring. Buffy removes her jacket and finds the small diamond that was planted on her. Realizing she's on to them from the small camera in the diamond, the guys make the object disappear and time is no longer racing.
  
  Buffy works with Xander at his construction job, talking with him about the time situation at school before she's introduced to Tony, the boss. Andrew gets his turn to terrorize the Slayer and begins working some magic in the van. Demons attack Buffy at the construction site but are destroyed and disappear from sight. Xander gets mad at Buffy for bringing slaying to his work place and then Buffy is promptly fired.
  
  Buffy learns about working at the Magic Box from Giles and Anya while the gang is unknowingly watched by a camera hidden in a skull on a shelf. Jonathan is finally ready for his chance and begins a spell in Latin. Buffy assists a man with a candle sale and then goes downstairs for a live mummy hand that a female customer wants. The hand attacks her and she is forced to kill it, which also kills the sale. Events start to repeat themselves, as Buffy must help the customers and fight the mummy hand over and over again. She's stuck in an unsolved dilemma, but soon Buffy is able to end the spell by telling the woman she'll order the hand instead of going downstairs to fight with the one they already have. All the while, the three villains keep scores on their Buffy attacks.
  
  Stressed out by the repeating time and the job itself, Buffy walks out, silently quitting the sales job. Later that night, Buffy gets drunk with Spike at his crypt. Despite being completely hammered, Buffy goes to a bar with Spike and drinks more while Spike plays poker with kittens as money as he searches for information. After the poker game ends badly, Buffy rants to Spike about the new low her life has reached with her inability to understand school or get a decent job or hang out with decent friends. Buffy and Spike notice a black van out back and the three villains stop fighting long enough to notice Buffy's approach.
  
  A fake demon appears from behind the van and threatens Buffy, but it's beaten down while the van drives away. With the use of smoke to confuse the Slayer and vampire, the demon, who just happens to be Jonathan in disguise runs away. Buffy begins to recover from her drunken state and complains to Giles about her life. He consoles her and offers her a check to help pay for all the expenses. Buffy's happy that Giles will always be there, but the look on Giles' face suggests that he might not always be.

TRIVIA

• James C. Leary was credited as 'Loose Skinned Demon' in this episode, but his character returned in several episodes and was named Clem. He appears in eight episodes of the show.

CONTINUITY

• In No Place Like Home, Giles begs someone to rip the bell from the shop's door. Buffy does it in this episode.

• Buffy gets drunk again, and this time thankfully, does not transform into a cave man, as seen in Beer Bad.

GOOFS

• When Andrew blows on his pan pipes, the pitch incorrectly goes from low to high, though he’s blowing from high to low.

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