The Girl's Got Bite: The Original Unauthorized Guide to Buffy's World

by Kathleen Tracy

Although Drusilla’s “Evil is good” inspirational pep-talk works for a while, the sight of Buffy being knocked out by Drusilla snaps Spike out of it. Crazed with his unrequited love, Spike ties them both up in a desperate bid to prove his love for Buffy by offering to dust Drusilla—and Harmony, too, for that matter. Having bungled everything, all three women are furious at Spike and he ends up being rejected by all three. Although Buffy does her best to convince Spike to leave town, he’s destined to become a central player in Glory’s efforts to find the Key.

  THE REAL HORROR: Being an unwanted object of desire. Most of us want to be wanted and want to be found attractive, but only by those we want or are attracted to in return. Although Spike has been effectively rendered safe to humans, he’s not exactly harmless and Buffy has witnessed years of his bloody proclivities. Plus, allowing herself to feel any attraction to Spike would be a betrayal of her relationship with Angel, whose dark side was at least tempered by his soul (not to mention Spike and Angel were rivals when it came to Drusilla).

  LITERARY ALLUSION: When Willow mentions Esmeralda, it’s a reference to Victor Hugo’s classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The horribly disfigured bell-ringer Quasimodo falls in love with the beautiful Gypsy girl Esmeralda. The parallel between Quasimodo’s unrequited love for Esmeralda and Spike’s for Buffy is fairly straightforward.

  IT’S A MYSTERY: Why does Buffy let Drusilla get away, to kill again? It’s more understandable in Harmony’s case, because they went to school together and she’s basically inept. But Drusilla has proven herself a deranged killer.

  93. “I Was Made to Love You”

  (FEBRUARY 20, 2001)

  Director: James A. Contner

  Teleplay: Jane Espenson

  Recurring cast: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Clare Kramer (Glory); Charlie Weber (Ben); Amber Benson (Tara)

  Guest cast: Shonda Farr (April); Adam Busch (Warren); Troy T. Blendell (Jinx); Amelinda Embry (Katrina); Paul Darrigo (driver); Gil Christner (resident); Kelly Felix (teenager); Paul Walia (friend)

  Music: “Hidee Ho” (as Buffy and Xander dance), by Mellonova, from Mellonova; “OK Nightmare” (as Buffy sees Ben at the Bronze), by Caviar, from Caviar; “Kawanga!” (from when Spike leaves the Bronze to when he’s tossed through the window), by Los Straitjackets, from The Velvet Touch of Los Straitjackets

  Plot: A jilted girlfriend goes on a rampage.

  THIS WEEK’S MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION: April, a robot created to be the perfect girlfriend, short-circuits when dumped.

  INTRODUCING: Warren Mears, a lonely engineering genius who loses control of his creation.

  ANALYSIS: Spike’s affections make Buffy contemplate the possibility that there is something dark within her that attracted him in the first place so she is still creeped out by his professions of love. Spike tries unsuccessfully to ingratiate himself with Giles and the others as a way of getting on Buffy’s good side, but is soundly rejected. Considering they’ve previously accepted witches, vampires, and demons in their midst, their antipathy toward him is not just because he’s one of the undead. There’s a sense that subconsciously Buffy’s friends worry she does have an attraction to the dark side and want to prevent her from walking down that path.

  The challenges of being alone and not having an active romantic relationship are explored from a couple different angles. Warren represents one of the greatest ironies of human behavior. Often, when we finally get what we think we want—in his case, the perfect girlfriend—we find it’s not what we wanted at all. While predictability can be comforting, it also can be boring.

  THE REAL HORROR: Loneliness. Warren’s way of dealing with it was to make a fantasy partner. Even if she wasn’t real, it was better than being alone. Spike can relate. Besides his Buffy mannequin, he had Harmony dress up as the Slayer for some fantasy role-playing. Buffy deals with her loneliness by delving deeper into her work. Although she’d like to find someone, she doesn’t want to feel like she needs a partner to validate her, which is why she ends up breaking off her coffee date with Ben. When she goes out with someone, she wants it to be because it’s mutually desired, not because she feels under pressure. Before you can completely be with someone else, you have to learn to be alone with yourself—and Buffy will be taking a crash course.

  IT’S A MYSTERY: How did Spike find the address where Warren was staying?

  OF SPECIAL NOTE: Britney Spears was originally offered the role of April but, according to reports, backed out because of scheduling conflicts.

  94. “The Body”

  (FEBRUARY 27, 2001)

  Director: Joss Whedon

  Teleplay: Joss Whedon

  Recurring cast: Amber Benson (Tara); Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)

  Guest cast: Randy Thompson (doctor); Kevin Cristaldi (first paramedic); Stefan Umstead (second paramedic); Loanne Bishop (911 operator); J. Evan Bonifant (Kevin); Kelli Garner (Kirstie); Rae’ven Larrymore Kelly (Lisa); Tia Matza (teacher); John Michael Herndon (vampire)

  Plot: An unexpected tragedy leaves Buffy reeling.

  THIS WEEK’S CRUSHING BLOW: The death of Joyce Summers from an aneurysm.

  INTRODUCING: Willow and Tara’s first onscreen kiss.

  ANALYSIS: The death of a loved one immediately puts everything else in perspective. Parking tickets, material possessions, and even food, lose the importance they might otherwise have. Our focus turns to those we love and we draw them close. At the same time, there’s a sense of isolation because, although grief can be shared, it is still a process that has to be experienced individually.

  Buffy wanders through much of the episode in shock. She is so overwhelmed, her emotions are almost paralyzed. In addition to the grief she feels, she is crushed by the sudden awareness that she really is the grown-up of the family now—just when she needs her mother’s advice and wisdom most. Although everyone wants to be there, only Tara can truly empathize, her own mother having died just a few years earlier when she was seventeen.

  Giles instinctively takes on a more paternal, protective role for both Dawn and Buffy, like when he goes with the girls to speak to the doctor after the autopsy, and volunteering to fill out most of the necessary paperwork that accompanies death. Although Buffy and the others have seen far too much death in their young lives already, including the loss of friends such as Jenny Calendar, Joyce held a special place. Not only was she Buffy’s mother, she was the voice of reason and Buffy’s true emotional anchor.

  THE REAL HORROR: Losing a parent. Although this is the way nature intended it, losing the person who has raised you inevitably leaves an indelible void. It means there is no longer parental comfort to fall back on; it also is a reminder of our own mortality and the fragility of life.

  BLOOPERS: The picture Dawn is drawing in art class seems to change from one shot to the next without benefit of her having worked on it.

  Unless Dr. Kriegel is a pathologist working for the coroner’s office, it’s doubtful he’d be performing the autopsy.

  OF SPECIAL NOTE: This episode contains no background music apart from the opening titles. Nor was there a “Previously on Buffy” montage at the beginning of the episode.

  The episode begins with the flashback of the gang’s Christmas dinner because Joss Whedon didn’t want the cast and crew credits to appear over the main scene of Buffy discovering her mother’s body.

  95. “Forever”

  (APRIL 17, 2001)

  Director: Marti Noxon

  Teleplay: Marti Noxon

  Recurring cast: Clare Kramer (Glory); Charlie Weber (Ben); Amber Benson (Tara)

  Guest cast: David Boreanaz (Angel); Troy T. Blendell (Jinx); Joel Grey (Doc); Todd Duffey (Murk); Andrea Gall (customer); Alan Henry Brown (funeral director); Darius Dudley (minister); Annie Talbot (lady with baby); Noor Shic (lady with rosary)

  Music: “Tomorrow We’ll Awake” (as Anya and Xander talk in bed), by Splendid; “Tales of Brave Ulysses” (song Giles listens to), by Cream

  Plot: Dawn casts a spell to
bring Joyce back to life.

  THIS WEEK’S INNOCENT DEMON: The Ghora, a three-headed demon whose eggs are needed to cast a resurrection spell.

  INTRODUCING: Doc, an unspecified creature well-versed in the darker magics, such as bringing the dead back to life.

  ANALYSIS: Buffy and the others are still coping with Joyce’s death. Now that the initial shock and surprise has worn off, deeper issues are bubbling to the surface. Anya’s revelation that death and life are actually part of the same life experience gives her comfort and helps her understand the synergy and symmetry of the natural human world. Giles seems to ponder, “What if?” as he listens to music that reminds him of Joyce. And Buffy is so afraid she will break down that she refuses to let herself feel at all, which in turn is alienating Dawn, who needs to share her grief with the only other person who can understand the immediate loss. Angel, who shows up after the funeral to comfort Buffy, gently tells her life has to go on. But all Buffy wants to do is go back in time—to when her mother was alive, there was no Glory, and Angel was there to hold her.

  Although it’s understandable that Dawn would want her mother back at any cost, it’s surprising that Willow encourages that line of thought. This sets the stage for some serious philosophical differences down the road between Willow and Tara, over the moral issues and implications surrounding how witchcraft is used.

  THE REAL HORROR: Having to confront loss. Buffy intentionally kept herself so busy arranging the funeral and dealing with the business of death, she was able to effectively shut down her emotions. But sooner or later she has to face her profound sense of loss and isolation. Buffy keeps telling Dawn that Joyce is gone and can’t be brought back. But the hopeful expectation in Buffy’s voice when she thinks her resurrected mother has come home, reveals that Buffy feels just as alone and lost as Dawn, if not more so.

  IT’S A MYSTERY: Why is it that Jack, the zombie from Episode 47, “The Zeppo,” is able to be brought back to life with so few effects that nobody seems to notice he’d ever been dead?

  MUSICAL NOTE: The song Giles listens to after the funeral is the same one he played for Joyce during their night together in Episode 40, “Band Candy.”

  96. “Intervention”

  (APRIL 24, 2001)

  Director: Michael Gershman

  Teleplay: Jane Espenson

  Recurring cast: Clare Kramer (Glory); Amber Benson (Tara)

  Guest cast: Adam Busch (Warren); Troy T. Blendell (Jinx); Sharon Ferguson (Primitive); Todd Duffey (Murk); Kelly Donovan

  Plot: A new robot in town causes confusion. Glory mistakes Spike for the Key while Buffy ponders profound questions about her Slayer existence.

  THIS WEEK’S PROPHETIC ENCOUNTER: Buffy’s spiritual guide tells her “death” will be her gift.

  INTRODUCING: Dawn as budding klepto, when she steals a pair of Anya’s earrings.

  ANALYSIS: Buffy worries that her Slayer strength and power is also making her emotionally distant from those around her. She worries the people she loves don’t know just how much she loves them because she is usually so preoccupied facing evil threats and protecting everyone. Buffy’s afraid that being in the Slayer mode will become the way she feels comfortable—that she will lose her humanity.

  Buffy agrees to a kind of “Slayer retreat” in order to regain her focus as well as to understand how being a Slayer fits in with life. She’s surprised to learn that it’s not a matter of her lacking the capacity for love; rather, she loves so much that she sometimes pulls away because of the intensity. Love and pain are inextricably connected.

  While Buffy is in the desert trying to understand her spiritual guide’s teachings, Spike is enjoying his new toy: a special-order Warren-designed robot that looks just like Buffy, only it lives to please Spike. Their togetherness leads Glory’s minions to mistakenly believe Spike is the Key. Glory knows he’s not, but figures he probably knows who is. But not even the most brutal torture can get Spike to reveal anything, and it’s clear he’s prepared to die to protect Dawn, because he wouldn’t be able to stand the pain Buffy would feel if anything happened to her.

  Although Buffy is grossed-out by the thought of Spike and the ’bot together, it finally hits her that Spike is deadly serious about being in love with her—and it goes far beyond sexual lust. He loves without reciprocation and, when put to the test, selflessly, and in the process teaches Buffy an important lesson about the sacrifices of love.

  THE REAL HORROR: Being proven wrong. Buffy didn’t believe Spike capable of truly loving anyone, but he showed her otherwise with the beating he absorbed at the hands of Glory for refusing to identify the Key.

  OF SPECIAL NOTE: Nicholas Brendon’s twin, Kelly Donovan, was used as a double for a few scenes when Nicholas missed some filming due to illness.

  The desert hilltop Buffy is led to is the same place she visited in her dream in Episode 78, “Restless.”

  Vampires can’t have their brains sucked, nor can they house the Key, because of their impurity.

  97. “Tough Love”

  (MAY 1, 2001)

  Director: David Grossman

  Teleplay: Rebecca Rand Kirshner

  Recurring cast: Clare Kramer (Glory); Charlie Weber (Ben); Amber Benson (Tara)

  Guest cast: Troy T. Blendell (Jinx); Anne Betancourt (Principal Stevens); Leland Crooke (Professor Lillian); Todd Duffey (Murk); Alan Heitz (Slook)

  Plot: Glory targets Tara.

  THIS WEEK’S VENGEFUL WITCH: Willow. Glory mind-sucks Tara, and an enraged Willow recklessly sets up a confrontation using her darkest magic.

  ANALYSIS: Dawn is beginning to crumble under the weight of responsibility, seeing the people around stopping their lives to protect her, and even getting hurt, as Glory continues her hunt. She begins to think that anything that can be the cause of such pain must be evil. Although Spike has no real answers, he’s someone Dawn can talk to and she knows he won’t placate her.

  The latest victim is Tara. Glory thinks she must be the Key since she is the newest member of Buffy’s group. When she realizes her mistake, she takes the opportunity to drain Tara’s brain. Buffy barely saves Willow from a losing confrontation with Glory. As they gather in Tara’s room, Dawn is guilt-ridden as she watches Willow tend to her now-befuddled lover. But because of her mental instability, Tara can now see the Key’s aura. When Glory bursts in to finish what she started with Willow, she can tell by Tara’s ramblings who the Key really is. Unless Buffy acts quickly, Dawn will be at Glory’s mercy.

  THE REAL HORROR: Angry words. When Willow and Tara exchange words because Tara’s concerned about how powerful Willow is getting and how fast it’s happening, Willow leaves in a huff. The last words they exchanged were harsh. It’s a pointed reminder that we never can know for sure when we leave somebody, that we will see them again—especially in a place like Sunnydale—so we should always try to resolve issues and take the time to tell people we love them.

  IT’S A MYSTERY: Glory’s minions eavesdropping outside Buffy’s house couldn’t hear Dawn’s conversation with Buffy that made it clear she was the Key.

  WHAT REBECCA RAND KIRSHNER HAD TO SAY: “Conflict’s good. Willow’s getting really really powerful, and when you have those powers and they’re growing, it’s hard to know when to stop. Their argument was what happens when two people of varying powers are working together or working on a relationship together. At what point do you have to stop being powerful to let the other person feel all right, and at what point is being as powerful as you can be, the optimum thing for your relationship?”

  OF SPECIAL NOTE: A blue-screen technique was used to achieve the brain-sucking effect. Clare Kramer (Glory) was filmed pushing her fingers into a dummy head (Tara) covered in blue material. Then in post-production, the blue head was digitally replaced with Amber Benson’s.

  98. “Spiral”

  (MAY 8, 2001)

  Director: James A. Contner

  Teleplay: Steven S. DeKnight

  Recurring cast: Clare Kramer (Glory
); Charlie Weber (Ben); Amber Benson (Tara)

  Guest cast: Wade Andrew Williams (General Gregor); Karim Prince (knight of Byzantium); Justin Gorence (Orlando); Lily Knight (Gronx); Todd Duffey (Murk); Jack Donner (cleric #1); Bob Morrisey (crazy #1); Paul Bates (crazy #2); Carl J. Johnson (crazy #3); Mary Sheldon (nurse)

  Plot: Buffy and Dawn flee Sunnydale with both Glory and the Knights of Byzantium on their heels.

  THIS WEEK’S REVELATION: The link between Ben and Glory. After Glory was cast out of her Hell dimension, she was trapped inside the body of a newborn human boy. But because she’s so powerful, she is periodically able to break out of her fleshly prison.

  INTRODUCING: The purpose of the Key—to open the portals to all the dimensions. Not only will the portal to Glory’s Hell dimension open so she can go home, but all realities will dissolve into each other, unleashing unimagined horrors.

  ANALYSIS: It’s hard to believe Buffy can continue to hold up under the pressure she has been under. It’s been relentless, and her sudden reliance on Spike as she and the others run from Glory has Xander, for one, thinking she’s cracking up. But once again Spike proves his loyalty—when the Knights of Byzantium attack their Winnebago and he’s injured protecting the others.

  After capturing the Knights’ leader, Buffy finally learns why they are so determined to destroy the Key: because it will initiate the end of the world. Buffy is put in the most impossible position ever. Does she let the world be destroyed, or does she keep the promise she made to Joyce, that she would protect Dawn at all costs?

  THE REAL HORROR: Running out of time. When Glory takes Dawn, Buffy feels she has failed and is so overwhelmed by having lost Dawn that she shuts down, paralyzed into inaction.

  99. “The Weight of the World”

  (MAY 15, 2001)

  Director: David Soloman

  Teleplay: Douglas Petrie

  Recurring cast: Clare Kramer (Glory); Charlie Weber (Ben); Amber Benson (Tara)

  Guest cast: Bob Morrisey (crazy #1); Joel Grey (Doc); Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Dean Butler (Hank Summers)

  Plot: Willows tries to communicate with Buffy through her subconscious to snap her out of her catatonia.