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Season 6, Episode 15
Written by Douglas Petrie
Directed by Douglas Petrie
Original Airdate: 25 February 2002
"Husband? Wife? Those aren't code names like
Big Dog or Falcon?"
Buffy
REGULAR CAST
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
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Buffy cleans the grill with a fellow worker, Todd,
who talks non-stop and then leaves Buffy to finish cleaning alone. On
the way home from work, Buffy runs into a vampire, but once the vampire
finds out that Buffy was working at Doublemeat Palace and smells like
it, he tries to escape and instead is staked by an offended Slayer.
Finally home, Buffy finds Spike waiting in front of her house and she
knows what he's there for, but with Dawn waiting inside, she refuses to
let him follow her into the house. Instead, he persuades her to stay
outside with him and they drop to the grass together.
Later, Buffy apologetically presents the not-so-appealing bag of
Doublemeat Palace food to Dawn for their dinner. Dawn can't stand
another meal from the fast food place and is saved from having to eat
the burgers when Willow arrives to take Dawn to the Bronze. Willow
notices Buffy's rough appearance and grass stains on the back of her
outfit, but Buffy blames it on work and a battle with a vampire. Tired
and a bit depressed, Buffy allows her sister to go, but doesn't join
them. At the Bronze, Anya and Xander snack on chips while agonizing over
the seating arrangements for the wedding reception and other jobs that
need completing before the big event.
Dawn and Willow sit and have drinks while discussing Xander and Anya's
wedding and Willow's newly changed relationship with Tara. Although the
two are far from getting back together, there's an open door on
communication. Meanwhile, at home, Buffy works to remove the grass
stains from her coat. The next morning, Buffy wakes up amidst her
unfolded laundry to the sound of the garbage truck. She rushes to get
the garbage outside in time, but the truck drives away.
The next day, Dawn prepares to leave for school as Buffy returns inside
and finds a letter from U.C. Sunnydale waiting for her. As her sister
leaves, Buffy reads the letter and finds that her application has been
rejected. At work, Buffy tends to the grill like a depressed robot with
life offering her little more than her fast food job. Todd sends Buffy
up to the front counter while he takes to preparing the food. Her first
customer though is not someone she expected to see: Riley.
In a hurry, Riley requests her help with a mission he's on and Buffy
willingly steps away from her paying job to help him. Still clad in
military-like clothes and armed with state of the art weapons, Riley
briefly explains the demon he's after and how close it is. The demon
appears on the streets and people run for cover, except for Buffy and
Riley who immediately start a fight with the large demon. The demon
wounds Riley and Buffy is smashed into a wall before it escapes. The
battle continues in an alley and Riley manages to tag the demon with a
dart before it gets away yet again. This time though, the Slayer and her
ex follow it in a car and talk about all the catching up they need to do
when time permits while Buffy changes into some more fight-appropriate
clothing courtesy of Riley.
Elsewhere, Anya and Xander continue their chip-eating fest as they sit
in traffic, needing to pick up some of Xander's family from the airport
and Anya's friends from a demon portal. They are both incredibly
stressed out and take it out on each other. Riley and Buffy come to a
stop at a dam where it seems the demon has gone down to the bottom.
Riley attaches a grappling cord to the dam and with no weapons or other
gear, grapples down the side of the dam with Buffy clinging to him.
Quickly after they reach the bottom, the demon attacks them and a fight
ensues. When the demon gets ready to attack Riley alone, Buffy gets
Riley out of the way. As the two recover and hold onto each other, a
woman enters the scene, curious as to what Buffy's doing with her
husband.
Sam, as Riley later introduces his wife, quickly jumps into a fight with
the Suvolte demon. Buffy recovers from the shock of Riley being married
and Riley starts to catch her up on his life since he left as they watch
Sam deliver quite a beating to the demon. The demon strikes Sam and
Riley rushes to help her as Buffy approaches the demon from behind and
snaps its neck. Riley's shocked that she killed it and Buffy soon finds
out from Sam that they weren't trying to kill it. Improvising, Sam takes
a knife from Riley and cuts into the demon's gut as Buffy watches on,
still confused. Sam observes that they're too late and the three head
for Buffy's home where it should be safe. Riley mentions that Sam's good
cutting skills are because she's a doctor and promises Buffy that he'll
take the time to fill her in on everything.
At the house, almost everyone greets Riley with open arms - Dawn is
upset with him because of the way he left the last time. Privately,
Willow offers to hate the new wife for Buffy and, unable to really hate
her herself, Buffy agrees. Sam and Riley begin to describe the gory
details of the demon and the mission and although Riley's concerned
about Dawn hearing about it, Sam sticks up for the teen and she gets to
stay with the "grown-up's." Sam explains that the deadly Suvolte Demon
multiplies quickly and can destroy towns full of people in no time at
all and has come to Sunnydale to lay a nest full of it's offspring. A
demonic dealer in Sunnydale by the name of "The Doctor" is suspected of
holding the eggs in exchange for money. The topic of Willow doing magic
to help is raised, but Willow explains that she cannot.
Riley directs Sam and Buffy to search for the nest while he investigates
the dealer. In the kitchen, Sam tells Willow about a couple of shamans
she knew that got addicted to magic and literally didn't survive it.
She's amazed that Willow is strong enough to beat the addiction and
Willow says nothing, but really takes the words in. Buffy and Sam patrol
and talk about Buffy's honourable reputation as the Slayer and of
course, Riley. Sam explains how she met Riley for the first time and how
much Buffy mattered to him for so long. Sam questions whether Buffy
regrets losing Riley and although Buffy does a little, she certainly
wouldn't try to change things now. After Sam tells Buffy that Riley did
get over her, after a year, she brings up the subject of Buffy's current
love life and the Slayer dodges that subject.
Buffy suggests they split up and as Sam heads off to find Riley, Buffy
aims directly for Spike's crypt. Upon arrival, she questions his
knowledge about "The Doctor," but when he has no immediate answers, she
changes the subject to his feelings for her and eventually pulls him to
her for some physical comfort. Later that evening, Buffy and Spike sleep
under a blanket together and Spike wakes to find Riley has walked in on
them. The vampire takes the opportunity to emphasize his having Buffy
with him, but Riley has no interest in that; he identifies Spike as "The
Doctor" and demands to know where the eggs are.
Spike denies knowing anything about the title or the whereabouts of the
eggs, but Riley's confident with his information and starts to tear the
place apart. Buffy is unable to believe that Spike could be involved,
but as she and Riley go to the bottom level of the crypt and find the
eggs everywhere, Spike's cover is blown. Spike and Buffy exchange harsh
words and as Spike leaves, the eggs begin to hatch. Little demons crawl
out and begin to attack Buffy and Riley. The two escape and Buffy throws
a live grenade down to where the demons are, effectively destroying them
and much of Spike's underground lair.
With family and friends causing mayhem in the apartment, Anya and Xander
huddle together in the bathroom. Anya's bugged by the fact that Xander's
so interested in Riley and Sam's marriage. Xander reassures her that
while he's scared of the wedding, he's confident that the marriage will
be great and last forever. Buffy and Riley talk privately and Riley asks
her if she wants "The Doctor" to be taken out. Verbally admitting to her
involvement with the vampire, Buffy denies his offer and accepts the
fact that her life sucks and her ex-boyfriend is there to see it. Riley
though tells her that struggling with life like a human being doesn't
make her any less of a woman. Buffy tries to apologize for what happened
when he left, but Riley's not interested in dwelling on the past.
The whole gang gathers to say goodbye to Sam and Riley. While Riley
explains to Xander where and how his wedding took place, Sam and Willow
confirm they have each other's e-mail addresses for future contact. A
helicopter arrives and carries the married couple off into the night.
The next day, Buffy finds Spike at his crypt and although she doesn't
care about his being "The Doctor," she brings with her news he does not
want to hear. Buffy tells him that although she has feelings for him,
she can never love him and it would be wrong to keep using him the way
she is, so it's over. Spike thinks it's her usual routine of playing
hard to get, but Buffy's serious and walks out with a final goodbye.
TRIVIA
CONTINUITY
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Riley actually doesn't seem that phased
by the events in Sunnydale: he makes no mention of Giles' absence,
Tara's break-up or Willow, or Joyce's death. Since he returns, several
previous episodes are mentioned:. He says that he likes Buffy’s hair,
which she had cut in the episode
Gone.
Buffy mentions the time when the gang couldn’t leave the house (Older and Far Away).
Buffy talks about the trio of geeks and Riley says he’s going to check
out Willy’s Bar. He was there previously in
Goodbye, Iowa,
Family and
Shadow. Riley’s departure in
Into the Woods is also mentioned a
few times.
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Buffy sings the Doublemeat Palace medley,
heard in
Smashed
and
Doublemeat
Palace.
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Spike promised Buffy he could get money
to stop her working at the restaurant in
Doublemeat
Palace. Selling the demon eggs may
have been how he intended to do that.
GOOFS
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Xander was supposed to be at Buffy's house
watching Dawn while Buffy, Sam and Riley were out. Instead we see him at
his house hiding from his relatives in the bathroom.
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Buffy's rejection letter is addressed to
1630 Crestview instead of 1630 Revello Drive.
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Riley says that he and Sam have been
married for 4 months. Sam says that it took Riley "a year" to get over
Buffy. But, Riley has only been gone for a year and 2 months so he
probably wasn't over Buffy until after he married Sam.
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
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