Season 7, Episode 17
Written by David Fury & Drew Goddard
Directed by David Fury
Original Airdate: 25 March 2003
"Willow... call for you from L.A. Somebody named
Fred. The guy sounds kind of effeminate."
Andrew
REGULAR CAST
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
GUEST STARRING
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
-
New York, 1977: Spike is fighting Nikki Wood, the
Vampire Slayer, in a park at night in pouring rain while her son watches
from his hiding place behind a bench. Spike has the opportunity to kill
her but the kid distracts him and he lets her go with the promise that
they'll meet again. "Love the coat," he adds with a smile, before he
leaves. When he's gone, a clearly troubled Nikki finds her son and calms
his fears by telling him, "The mission is what matters."
The scene switches to an alley in present-day Sunnydale. Buffy,
Principal Robin Wood and Spike are fighting a bunch of vampires. Buffy
and Spike manage to kill their quarry, but a vampire has knocked Wood to
the ground, and is about to kill him. Spike saves Wood by killing the
vampire from behind, then helps him up. Wood thanks him, but the camera
zooms in on the stake he's holding and we see blood dripping from his
hand. He still seems determined to have his revenge, only not just
now...
Previously, the First Evil had programmed Spike with a post-hypnotic
suggestion in his mind that allows it to turn Spike violent using an old
song, Early One Morning, as a trigger. This way the First was able to
command him to kill again. Buffy wants to find out how to turn it off so
that she can fully trust Spike against the First, but Giles opposes
Buffy. In his opinion, Spike's dangerous and must be contained (aka
disposed of).
With all that happening the Scoobies go to the basement of Buffy's
house, where Willow makes a spell with the Prokaryote stone, a magical
artifact that penetrates Spike's mind and makes him more conscious of
how the trigger works. In this way, we learn about his past, his sick
mother and how he turned her into a vampire only to be cruelly rejected
by her newly vampiric self. The song that his mother used to sing makes
him relive the whole episode and switch into his evil, soulless self. He
unwillingly hurts Dawn in the process and scares them all, except Buffy.
After the scene, Wood privately convinces Giles that Spike must die.
Giles learns that Wood is the son of Nikki, a Slayer now dead, and that
Spike murdered her. After a brief chat they make a plan. Giles is to
distract Buffy while Wood takes care of Spike. Giles takes Buffy on
patrol and begins asking her indirect questions and making obscure
references to her role against the First.
In the meantime, Wood takes Spike to his hideout with the promise to
protect him, but this feeling is clearly undermined as soon as they
enter and it is revealed that the walls are covered with crosses. Wood
reveals to Spike that he knows he murdered his mother and that he's
going to kill the monster inside him. Wood then goes to his computer and
starts "Early One Morning" in iTunes. This triggers Spike's violent,
monstrous self and the two fight. As the fight progresses, Spike
continues to relive the events that transpired between him and his
mother on a more conscious level, due to the Prokaryote Stone. Wood
defeats Spike and prepares to stake him when Spike regains control of
his own mind, having faced his own anger and regret on turning his
mother into a vampire and then being forced to kill her. Spike then
decisively defeats Wood, and demonstrates that the song has no more
power over him as he appears to bite into Wood's neck in revenge.
All the while, Buffy had been fighting a vampire at the cemetery and
talking to Giles, when she suddenly realizes that Giles is trying to
distract her while Wood kills Spike. She kills the vampire, leaves Giles
and rushes to Wood's place. Buffy finds Spike at Wood's place, with Wood
badly beaten, but alive. Spike tells her that he spared Wood out of
respect for his mother, but if Wood tries anything again, he'll kill
Wood. Buffy goes inside, and tells him that she needs Spike alive and
that she has no time for personal vendettas. She promises him that if he
tries anything like this again, she'll let Spike kill him. "The mission
is what matters," she says firmly, and Wood winces to hear his mother's
words repeated all over again, by a different Slayer.
Once at home, Buffy tells Giles that his and Wood's plan failed. In
spite of that, he tries to pick up from where they left off earlier, and
continue the interrupted lesson. But Buffy says icily that she already
knows everything he can teach her. And with that, she closes the door in
his face.
TRIVIA
-
Juliet Landau makes her final appearance
on Buffy as Drusilla, but returns for two episodes of Angel
season five.
-
Buffy fans became increasingly
annoyed with Buffy's constant speech making throughout this season. In
the last episode, Andrew made light of the speeches, indicating that he
felt they were dull, and once Buffy started she'd only stop when she had
to go to work. He also made fun of them saying Willow had a high
threshold for the pep talks, but even she looked bored. In this week's
episode, Buffy says to Giles "Have you heard my speeches?" showing again
that Buffy writers can parody themselves - and that they pay
attention to what the fans think.
CROSSOVER
-
Fred phones Willow from Los Angeles, and Willow
leaves, and appears in Angel's
Orpheus. Unfortunately, the Angel episode was aired before
this episode aired, creating a confusing time difference for the fans in
both the US and the UK.
CONTINUITY
-
Anya mentioned the time she killed
several frat boys as Anyanka in
Selfless.
-
Spike twirls the shovel just like he
twirled the pole in Fool for Love.
-
The warning that the First (in Joyce's
form) gave Dawn in
Conversations With Dead People
is referenced when Buffy mentions that she'd let Dawn die to save the
world. She also mentions the time she wouldn't during
The Gift.
GOOFS
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
|