Season 7, Episode 13
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by David Solomon
Original Airdate: 4 February 2003
"Now wait a minute, you think I'm evil if I
bring a group of girls on a camping trip and don't touch them?"
Giles
REGULAR CAST
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
GUEST STARRING
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
-
Giles prepares to take the Slayers in Training on
a trip to the desert to meet the First Slayer. Kennedy, who's sick with
the flu, stays home and after hearing about all the bickering and
problems with the potentials and their driving trip, Giles wishes he was
staying home too. Buffy goes to check on Spike, who's chained in the
basement. They chat about the girls being gone and Spike's decision to
stay chained up until they know the First Evil is through with him.
While they talk about dealing with that problem, Spike's starts to
writhe in pain as unexpectedly, the chip starts frying his brain.
Buffy talks with Willow in the kitchen about Spike's chip and what
little they actually know about it. Willow goes upstairs and finds
Kennedy is not sick and she's getting dressed for a "mission" which
requires Willow's assistance. The mission turns out to be drinks at The
Bronze and the sneakiness of it doesn't impress Willow much. Kennedy
does manage to get Willow to stay long enough to finish her drink and
she starts up conversation about Willow's sexuality. Eventually, Willow
opens up and talks about being gay and her relationship with Tara. Back
in the basement, Buffy checks on Spike again and after they talk about
the potential causes of the chip's glitches, Buffy realizes she's going
to have to contact the people who helped put the chip in his head in the
first place. Buffy tries to reach Riley on the phone while Spike's chip
continues to cause him terrible pain.
Willow and Kennedy finish their drinks as they continue to chat about
why Kennedy is interested in Willow. Back at the house, Willow returns
to her room and Kennedy follows. Kennedy moves in and kisses Willow, but
the kiss has a surprising effect: it makes Willow take on the appearance
of Warren. Willow panics and rushes downstairs and scares the rest of
the gang with her appearance and potential First Evil quality. It takes
some convincing, but once Buffy actually hits Warren and Willow reminds
Xander of some other kindergarten stories she knows, they realize it's
not the First. Willow goes off to handle her glamour problem, but she
finds unwanted company in Kennedy tagging along. After yet another
attack of Spike's chip, Buffy and Spike return to the site of the
Initiative in hopes of getting some of the drugs Spike was supposedly
given to subdue him whenever his chip went crazy. They climb back inside
the buried building through a trap door in the ground.
The Watcher Robson from England calls the Summers residence and informs
the gang about Giles's seemingly fatal encounter with the Bringers and
an axe. The gang start to question whether Giles survived that encounter
or not and worry when none of them can remember a time when Giles
actually touched someone. Xander, Anya, Dawn and Andrew all go to the
desert to find Giles and in the case of danger, hopefully stop him from
hurting the Potentials. Willow takes Kennedy to meet with the Wiccan
group at the University of California-Sunnydale. She's surprised to see
that Amy is a part of the group and claims to have changed her magical
ways. Amy attempts to help Willow rid herself of the glamour, but the
spell Amy tries brings forth another surprise: a burst of Warren from
inside of Willow. Willow tries to run away as she realizes she's not
just looking like Warren, she's becoming him. Kennedy tries to follow,
but Willow puts up a magical barrier to keep her away.
Buffy and Spike wander through the remains of the Initiative and pass by
the many dead bodies of the human and demon sort that were sealed
inside. Meanwhile, Willow runs outside in tears but Warren begins to
take more control and he heads off on a mission. Inside the Initiative,
Spike and Buffy hear noises and then are attacked by a demon. Buffy is
knocked down by the demon while Spike's chip misfires again. The demon
grabs Spike and drags him off into the darkness. Kennedy returns to the
school and finds Amy packing up supplies and the rest of the group gone.
Amy comments on Kennedy's concern for Willow, but Kennedy gets
suspicious when she realizes Amy knows she's a potential and that fact
was never mentioned to her.
Guided by Warren, Willow goes to the gun shop where he bought his last
deadly weapon and Willow buys the same one. Giles is tackled to the
ground by Xander and the others and they're all pleased to find that he
has a solid form and is not the First Evil. Buffy battles with and
finally kills the demon from inside the Initiative. As she crouches down
by Spike, lights turn on and a flood of military men reveal themselves.
The commanding officer explains that Buffy's attempted contact with
Riley was successful and that they're there to help her and Spike. Buffy
talks with the commanding officer and he reveals that Spike's chip is a
danger to him now. She is given the choice to decide whether the chip is
fixed or removed.
Kennedy confronts Amy about the fact that Amy is responsible for
Willow's current "Warren" problem. Amy reveals that she put a hex on
Willow for fun because Willow was able to do so much evil and still get
the love of her friends back. Kennedy is determined to save Willow and
stop Amy, but Amy's not threatened. Armed with a gun, Willow charges
into Buffy's backyard where Kennedy is waiting after being transported
by Amy. Willow starts to relive the moment of Tara's death from Warren's
perspective, but Kennedy talks her down. Willow feels that, by kissing
Kennedy, she truly let Tara die, and worries that she's going to lose
the battle with Warren for her body. Kennedy convinces her otherwise and
brings Willow back by kissing her.
TRIVIA
-
Each scene with Willow/Warren was filmed
twice - once with Alyson Hannigan playing Willow and again with Adam
Busch as Willow. Which actor performed the scene first depended upon how
"Willow" Warren was supposed to be. That is, when Willow first changes
into Warren she acts more or less like Willow; in these early scenes
Hannigan would act first so that Busch could somewhat mimic her
performance. In later scenes when Warren's personality is more prominent
Busch would act first. Because of this decision to use both actors,
filming the Willow scenes took much longer than usual. In an interview
with the BBC, Elizabeth Anne Allen says, "everything had to be so
exact." She explains that if Alyson or Adam "gestured or moved their
head differently from the other person, they had to do the take over
again. So that one scene took us a day and a half to shoot."
-
Anthony Stewart Head was not allowed to
touch anything while onscreen for several episodes prior to this one, in
order to set up the suspicion that Giles might actually be the First.
According to the DVD commentary for this episode, this was apparently
quite a pain for all involved. When asked why he set up this
misdirection, Joss Whedon says it was "to make people wonder. Just to
have a little fun in the sense of pulling a mystery... an exercise,
something to spice things up." Whedon wanted to play off the "creepy"
idea that "we don't know where the bad guy is, we don't know where he's
coming from. Our trusted mentor could be the bad guy."
CONTINUITY
-
At some point during the episode, Dawn
receives a phone call from Angelus that was made in the Angel
episode
Salvage (when he wants to find out if Buffy is after him in LA -
she's not but Faith is). This event is never mentioned in Buffy,
but is referenced in Nancy Holder's novelisation of the season.
-
The Behaviour-Modification Chip that
Spike has had since The Initiative
in season four, is finally removed at some point between this episode
and the next.
-
The college Wiccan group were first seen
in Hush. More importantly, it's also
how Willow met Tara.
-
Amy has not been seen since last season's
Doublemeat Palace. This episode is
her final appearance on the series.
-
Buffy uses her pull with Riley Finn to
get Spike's chip looked at. Riley was last seen in
As You Were.
-
Willow and Xander once again mention the
yellow crayon event that occurred in
Grave.
-
Giles takes the Potentials on the same
vision quest that he took Buffy on in
Intervention.
-
Willow and Kennedy re-enact the scene
from Seeing Red that resulted in
Tara's death.
-
Willow mentions the spell that was
preventing everyone from seeing her in
Same Time, Same Place.
GOOFS
-
In one shot, Andrew reaches out and puts
his hand on Willow/Warren, but in the next shot, they show him just
reaching out.
-
The Initiative site was filled with
concrete and salted over in season four, so how do Buffy and Spike get
to the caverns?
-
Amy's necklace changes lengths and back
in various scenes.
![](index_buffy_06_22_04.jpg)
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
|