Season 7, Episode 3

Written by Jane Espenson

Directed by James A. Contner

Original Airdate: 8 October 2002

"Come in. Enjoy my personal space."

Anyanka

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Emma Caulfield as Anyanka

• Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers

• James Marsters as Spike

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

CO-STARRING

• Camden Toy as Gnarl

• Anthony S. Johnson as Father

• Matt Koruba as Teen Boy

• Nicholette Dixon as Sister

• Marshe Daniel as Brother

SYNOPSIS

• At the airport, Buffy, Dawn and Xander wait for Willow to get off of her plane and talk about how uncomfortable they feel about the situation. The plane clears, but the three don't see Willow. The scene repeats as Willow gets off the plane, but she doesn't see her friends waiting for her. A young guy spray paints a wall of a construction site as a demon taunts him from the shadows and then attacks the frightened man.
  
  Willow lets herself into the Summers house, which appears to be vacant of her friends. Going up to what used to be her room, but now has been claimed by Buffy, Willow remembers the last time she was in the room. A door closes and Willow goes to investigate, but still her friends are nowhere to be seen. Alone, Willow curls up on the couch. Buffy, Xander and Dawn return home and after talking about how Willow did leave England, but she had opportunities to divert to another location other than Sunnydale. They hear a noise upstairs and check it out, but find nothing. In the living room, the three talk about the reason for Willow's disappearance.
  
  The next morning, Willow walks over to the magic shop and finds Anyanka cleaning up the magic shop. Anyanka is very cold to her and Willow feels guilty about everything. They talk a bit and Anyanka fills Willow in on everyone's activities since she's been gone. Willow checks out Xander's construction site and instead of Xander, she finds a skinned body. At the same time, Xander and Buffy are looking at the body and the familiar sight makes them wonder if Willow is back after all. Unbeknownst to them, a disgusted Willow climbs a latter to exit the site.
  
  Willow walks the halls of Sunnydale High and proceeds down to the basement where she finds Spike acting insane. He talks to Willow about the dead body, but also carries on a conversation with something else in the room Willow can't see. Buffy and Xander manoeuvre through the basement and find Spike seemingly talking to himself. Buffy and Xander try to get information from him, but Spike's simultaneously conversing with Willow, so his words make little sense. Spike suspects they can't see each other and that Willow's responsible for it. Buffy and Xander interpret some of Spike's comments to mean that he knows about Willow and they suspect she might have something to do with Spike's
  
  Willow goes to Anyanka for help in finding the demon that skinned the guy at the construction site. Anyanka helps Willow cast a spell to locate demons all over Sunnydale. After the spell is complete, Willow asks Anyanka to teleport to one particular location, but Anyanka reveals that she can't for non-vengeance business as a result of her recently undoing a spell. Instead, Willow takes the long way and walks there herself. Dawn searches demons on the computer and although Buffy thinks it's a waste of time, Dawn finds a demon that meets their specifications named Gnarl. The demon paralyzes its victims with its nails and then eats strips of skin from the body and drinks the blood.
  
  Realizing they need to search for a trail of blood, Buffy decides to recruit Spike to smell the way. He leads them to a cave where the demon can be found. Willow is already there investigating the cave and the Gnarl spots her. The rest of the gang enters the cave as well, but they don't see Willow. The demon scratches Dawn's stomach and paralyzes her. Buffy and Xander take Dawn out of the cave and cover up the entrance, unintentionally leaving Willow with Gnarl. Trapped in the cave, Willow listens to the demon taunt her from the shadows. He slices her abdomen with a nail and then paralyzed, Willow is helpless against him as he sucks at the cut and starts to slice away slivers of her skin to eat.
  
  Buffy and Xander carry a completely paralyzed Dawn into the living room while Buffy researches the Gnarl and the way to save Dawn. Anyanka is called to stay with Dawn while they prepare to return to the cave to kill the demon and save Dawn. Anyanka talks about seeing Willow and reveals that Willow may be at the cave. Panicked that Willow is trapped in the cave, Buffy grabs Anyanka to join them at the cave. Once Anyanka reveals that she knows about Gnarl, Buffy insists she come along. Gnarl continues to eat Willow's skin as he tells her friends have abandoned her and she's all alone for him to eat. Buffy arrives and attacks Gnarl while Anyanka tends to a badly injured Willow who still can't see her friends. While Buffy fights Gnarl, Anyanka informs Willow that her friends didn't leave her alone.
  
  Buffy pokes the demons in the eyes with her thumbs, successfully killing it and ending the paralysis on both Willow and Dawn. Buffy and Xander look where they think Willow is while Anya runs for help and slowly, the spell making them invisible to each other wears off. Willow is relieved to see her friends and glad they didn't abandon her. Willow meditates and uses magic from the earth to re-grow the skin she lost. Buffy stops by and talks with Willow. Willow reveals that her fear of seeing her friends and their judgment of her led to the invisibility problem they all were suffering from. Buffy confesses that she suspected Willow of the grotesque killing, but Willow doesn't blame her for that. Willow struggles to start meditating again, but she's still weak. Buffy offers her Slayer strength to her friend and joins in the meditation.

TRIVIA

• Camden Toy, who plays Gnarl, previously played one of the Gentlemen in Hush. Camden comes back later in this season as the Turok-Han. Camden also played the Prince of Lies in the Angel episode Why We Fight.

• This is the first episode of the series in which there are no guest stars credited at the start of the episode.

• The Gnarl demon suit was used again in the episode Conversations With Dead People. The costume was painted black and used in the scene where a demon is seen over Joyce's body. Jane Espenson also admitted that the creature Gollum from The Lord of the Rings influenced Gnarl.

CONTINUITY

• The website "Demons, Demons, Demons" was used by various people in the Angel episodes The Ring and Dad. Dawn uses it in this episode to locate the Gnarl demon.

• There are many references to Willow flaying Warren alive, which we saw at the conclusion of Villains.

• Spike echoes his former life as William Pratt when he asks what would rhyme with glowing. In Fool for Love, he asked a waiter the same question and also mentions it to his mother later in Lies My Parents Told Me.

• Anyanka and Willow perform the same demon-locating spell that Tara sabotaged back in Goodbye Iowa.

• The Magic Box is officially closed for business, and Anyanka is seen exiting the demolished store, which was destroyed in Grave.

• Anyanka mentions the strained relationship between her the gang following the events of the previous episode. Also, the consequences of her reversing the wish from Beneath You is revealed: she can no longer teleport unless on official demon business. Even more tragic consequences are seen in Selfless.

• Xander mentions Willy's bar when he needs information on what's eviscerating the victims.

• Xander's 'welcome home' sign for Willow is written in yellow crayon, a reference to his story to Willow in Grave.

• When Willow walks into Buffy's room (which was formerly Willow and Tara's) she hears the shot coming through the window and her screaming Tara's name, which is all from Seeing Red.

GOOFS

• When Xander and Buffy put Dawn on the couch, she is clearly face up as they begin to set her down. Yet the following shot shows her face down.

• When Gnarl strips a bit of Willow's skin off, we can see that her stomach has the initial paralysing scratch, and two cuts of missing skin. When the gang arrives, her stomach is still in the exact same condition, though we've seen him peel at least one more strip from her stomach since then.

• There's a big difference in the amount of movement between Willow and Dawn, despite the fact they've been paralysed by the same demon.

• Buffy and Dawn's tops were torn by Gnarl. Later in the episode there are no holes.

Lessons | Beneath You | Same Time, Same Place | Help | Selfless

Him | Conversations With Dead People | Sleeper | Never Leave Me | Bring on the Night | Showtime

Potential | The Killer in Me | First Date | Get It Done | Storyteller | Lies My Parents Told Me

Dirty Girls | Empty Places | Touched | End of Days | Chosen