Season 7, Episode 7

Written by Jane Espenson & Drew Goddard

Directed by Nick Marck

Original Airdate: 12 November 2002

"Yeah, what I really need is emotional therapy from the evil dead."

Buffy

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

GUEST STARRING

• Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson

• Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells

• Adam Busch as Warren Mears

• Jonathan M. Woodward as Holden "Webs" Webster

• Azura Skye as Cassie Newton

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

CO-STARRING

• Stacey Scowley as Young Woman

SYNOPSIS

• Spike mopes at the Bronze, Buffy walks through a cemetery, Willow struggles to stay awake at the library and Dawn returns home from school to an empty house. Buffy finds a fresh grave with a vampire rising and it all begins. Jonathan and Andrew drive back into Sunnydale, returning from Mexico. They've been having nightmares about this something that will devour from beneath. In the cemetery, Buffy fights with the newly risen vampire until he stops, recognizing her from high school. Back at the Summers' house, Dawn enjoys a pizza while checking out Buffy's clothes and damaging the house as she plays with Buffy's weapons. While at the library, the ghostly form of Cassie pays Willow a visit.
  
  Dawn talks to Kit on the phone while watching a scary movie. She hears several loud thumps and then the door blows open with a fierce wind. The previously muted TV suddenly starts to play sound again and frightened, Dawn unplugs it, but it doesn't turn off. Music starts to blare from stereos and Dawn finally takes an axe to the TV and stereo systems. A radio in the kitchen continues to play and the microwave glows and smokes before exploding. Dawn cowers in a corner as the radio continues to play and Joyce's voice is heard calling Dawn's name.
  
  The vampire, Holden Webster, tries to remind Buffy of their time together in high school, but they weren't the closest of friends and it takes her a while. They start to chat about life since high school, putting aside their destiny to try and kill each other for the moment. Holden talks to her about some of their former classmates and their current roles as vampire and Slayer.
  
  Dawn panics and tries to call Buffy, but she doesn't answer the phone. Joyce's dead body appears on the couch behind Dawn and as the lights flash, furniture is rearranged and put back and a message is written in blood on the wall. Dawn asks the ghost questions to be answered by knocking sounds for yes or no. She finds it is her mother, but she's not okay and she's not alone. The house shakes violently and Dawn freaks out some more.
  
  Jonathan and Andrew sneak into the new Sunnydale High School with intent to find something that will help them save Sunnydale and hopefully earn them entrance into the Scooby Gang. They split up and once Andrew is alone, he encounters Warren. Warren reminds Andrew that his death was part of the plan and that they need to stay calm until Jonathan has served his purpose for them.
  
  Cassie tells Willow that she is here as a representative of Willow's deceased lover, Tara. Willow wonders why she can't see Tara personally and finds that because she killed people, she's not allowed to see Tara. Willow talks to Tara through Cassie, professing her love and how much she misses Tara. Cassie relays messages back from Tara, giving Willow a little hope. Holden analyzes Buffy's life and her struggles with romance, but he knows they have to get back to the fighting soon. They continue to talk about Buffy's superiority complex and how it relates to her parents' divorce and her own personal difficulties making a relationship work. She doesn't think she has such a complex, but she starts to open up about her last relationship and Holden uses the opportunity to hit her with a statue. He leans in for the bite, but Buffy regains her composure and the fight is back on.
  
  Dawn tries to talk to the evil spirit haunting the house and supposedly holding her mother captive. She can see a strange figure holding her Mom down on the couch and it swings an axe at Dawn. The figure wants her out of the house, but Dawn refuses to leave. Jonathan and Andrew search through the basement of the school and head into a room after Andrew receives a hint from Warren. Following their blueprints, they start to dig into the ground. Buffy pins Holden down and is about to stake him when he comments on her motivation and she's thrown for a loop. He questions and correctly guesses that her last relationship was with a vampire, earning him the chance to ask more questions as part of a deal.
  
  Meanwhile, Spike walks a woman he met at the Bronze to her home and they stop to talk outside. Willow talks to Cassie about everything that happened after Tara was shot. Willow is warned not to use magic again because of the danger it poses. Willow promises not to use magic again and hurt people like that again, but Tara says she will; she's going to kill everyone. Andrew and Jonathan dig together and Jonathan talks about how much he misses high school and his fellow students. Andrew chimes in, saying that none of Jonathan's fellow students care about him. Dawn tries to perform a spell to cast the spirit out of the house, but it fights her attempts furiously. She's tossed around and cut and all of the windows in the living room shatter.
  
  Buffy continues to confide in Holden about her feelings. She thinks that because she's the Slayer, her friends and family don't understand her and never will. Defeated by the truth, she realizes that she does have a superiority complex. They get ready to fight again when Buffy mentions Spike's name as the vampire she was involved with and it catches Holden's attention. Dawn struggles against the wind and the violent spirit, but she manages to succeed in expelling it from the house. Weakened, Dawn collapses to the ground as a glowing, angelic figure of her mother appears in the room. Cassie tells Willow that she only has two options: never perform magic again, or kill herself. The second option alerts Willow to the fact that Cassie isn't who she says she is and she was never talking to Tara.
  
  Holden tells Buffy that Spike sired him, while across town, Spike viciously bites into the woman's neck. Joyce's spirit warns Dawn about impending danger and how when it happens, Buffy won't be there to protect Dawn; she'll be Dawn's enemy. Jonathan looks up to see Warren standing behind Andrew just before Andrew shoves a knife into Jonathan's stomach. Cassie taunts Willow and it doesn't take long before Willow realizes Cassie is representing the thing that will devour everyone from below. Cassie explains that the end will be monumental before she morphs into a mouthy monster then disappears. Jonathan falls dead onto the symbol, Spike drops the woman's dead body to the ground and Buffy finally stakes Holden.

TRIVIA

• For the first time in the show's history, Nicholas Brendon is absent from an episode he's credited for. Emma Caulfield is also absent again in this episode, the second time this season.

• Jonathan M. Woodward, who plays Holden Webster, played Knox in Angel. He also played Tracey in Firefly's The Message.

• Danny Strong, who plays Jonathan, read this episode's script with Tom Lenk. He apparently skipped the part where his death was described and Tom had to break the news to him. This episode marks the death of Jonathan Levinson. The character has been in Buffy since the second season, and was even in the original unaired pilot. As this is the Buffy universe, Jonathan appears even after his death.

• Drew Goddard revealed that four members of the main Buffy writing team contributed to this episode: Marti Noxon wrote most of the Willow/Cassie story, Joss Whedon wrote most of the Buffy/Holden story, Drew wrote the Andrew/Jonathan/Warren story at the High School, and Jane Espenson wrote the Dawn/Joyce story.

• Cassie tells Willow that Tara cannot be there herself because of Willow's destructive behaviour following her death. The original script had Tara coming to her girlfriend but Amber Benson didn't want to appear. She felt her character was so loved by herself and Buffy fans that it would be a shame to spoil her by making her evil.

• When Dawn's mother appears to her, the circumstances seem to be different to when the First appears to others. She is surrounded by light and Dawn had to fight to make her mother heard as some force seemed to be stopping her. Jane Espenson later revealed that Joyce was supposed to be the First. The script has a line cut during which Dawn says that she can't bring Joyce back from the dead, to which Joyce replies "Well maybe I'm the first."

• James Marsters appears in this episode but has no dialogue.

• Eric Balfour, who played Xander and Willow's best friend Jesse in the first two episodes of Buffy, was rumoured to have been offered the chance to return as Jesse/The First in this episode. Drew Goddard said they wanted Kali Rocha to return as Halfrek/The First but she was too busy to make it.

• This is the only episode with a specific date and time given at the beginning of the episode - November 12, 2002; 8.01pm - the same date as the original airdate of the episode.

• The script mentioned the First Evil by name, even though Buffy doesn't figure the villain's identity out until later this season.

• Joss Whedon and singer Angie Hart wrote the song at the beginning of this episode. The song is called 'Blue' and Angie Hart sings the main vocals. This is singer Angie's third appearance on the show: she was previously in The Freshman and I Only Have Eyes for You, and we heard her song 'Tomorrow We'll Wake' in Forever. She also appeared in an episode of Firefly. Angie's husband is Jesse Tobias, who fronted the band Splendid. He helped Joss to write some of the music for Once More, With Feeling. The lyrics of 'Blue' are:
  
  Night falls. I fall.
  And where were you?
  And where were you?
  Warm skin, wolf grin,
  And where were you?
  I fell into the new
  And it covered you in blue.
  I fell into the new.
  Can I make it right?
  Can I spend the night?
  The air is dew
  And where were you?
  Wild eyed. I died
  And where were you?
  I crawled out of the world
  And you said I shouldn't start.
  I crawled out of the world.
  Can I make it right?
  Can I spend the night?
  Alone.

CONTINUITY

• Cassie references major events from Willow and Tara's relationship, including their Amazon conversation from The Body, and the time they sang on the bridge in Once More, With Feeling.

• Reference is made to Scott Hope from season three, who has since come out of the closet.

• Dawn talks to her friend Kit Holburn, who we met in the season premiere.

• Dawn repeats Buffy's "Mom... mom... mommy?" line from The Body.

• Holden points out that it would be fun if he and Buffy were nemeses, to which Buffy asks if that's how you say it. This is a reference to Warren getting it wrong in Gone.

• Andrew has accidentally translated "From beneath you, it devours" wrong from Mexican until he says "It eats you, starting with your bottom."

• Willow's never actually met Cassie before, but she does say that she recognises her from her picture in Help.

GOOFS

• When Jonathan and Andrew are talking on the walkie-talkies, the light from a torch is shining on Jonathan, yet Andrew never points his torch toward Jonathan.

• When Dawn unplugs the TV, we see two different shots of her. In one, she's holding the plug upwards, in the other it's pointing towards the floor.

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