OTH: Buffy the Vampire Slayer- "Get it Done" / "Storyteller"
The First's most evil trick yet- trying to get us to sympathize with Andrew.
Season 7, Episode 15
Aired February 18, 2003
Written & Directed by Doug Petrie
Synopsis: Buffy strolls through her house at night and sees one of the Potentials, Chloe, sobbing in what looks like Dawn’s room. Buffy asks what’s going on, when she lounges at her and changes her appearance into the First Slayer that she saw in “Restless'“, saying that it’s too late. She wakes up to find this was a nightmare, and goes back to sleep. Meanwhile, Spike and Anya are walking to a bar (possibly the Bronze) to get their drink on, when they’re stopped by one of D’Hoffryn’s cohorts, who’s hungry for a taste of Anyanka. Spike fends it off without killing them, which leaves Anya annoyed. The next day at work, Principal Wood continues his conversation with Buffy from the other night, asking to see the arsenal she has planned for the First. Buffy gives Robin the grand tour of the Summers house, showing off the Potentials (with Kennedy leading them into training), their magic expert Willow, Andrew for whatever reason, and by his request, Spike, who’s arguing with Anya over what happened last night. Robin doesn’t let Buffy in on the conversation he had with his mother the other night, but he does become visibly tense when he starts talking to the vampire who killed her. After Robin excuses himself, Buffy and Dawn go through a bag of Nikki Wood’s Slayer hand-me-downs that Robin has preserved for decades, but they’re interrupted when they hear a startling sound from the girls. It turns out that Chloe, the one that Buffy had a dream about the previous night, hanged herself, only now they’re seeing double, as she shows up right next to her lifeless body. Clearly, this is the First, who says that they had a lovely conversation with Chloe before meeting her end. Buffy says that she and the Potentials will bring them down, but the First relays a line that she said earlier, that not everyone will make it. She disappears right after, and while Dawn takes the Potentials downstairs to grieve, Buffy buries Chloe’s body before meeting up with them. When she returns, Buffy offers some choice words about their departed sister, that she was weak and stupid, and if anyone is going to go out the same way they did, they can leave right then and there. Her speech continues as it starts to cut right at some people’s nerves- not just the Potentials, but even some of her friends start calling Buffy out of line. Spike attempts to leave, which upsets Buffy, calling him a weaker fighter than he was before regaining his soul. Rather than starting something, he storms out, and Buffy calls an emergency, inviting Robin over so they can investigate his mother’s belongings. They find some of her weapons, a book in Sumerian, and an unopened box, which Buffy slides open. Inside, they find shadow puppets and a platform to put them on, and Dawn’s book opens to a particular page, which she’s able to translate. They light a candle and have Xander act out the shadow puppets as Dawn reads from the book. After Xander puts each puppet into their exact place, the platform starts spinning and the page Dawn is reading from translates into perfect English. As she finishes reading, a portal opens, which she sees offers an exchange. Despite not knowing where the portal goes or what will be exchanged, Buffy jumps through, as a demon comes out. Spike tries to fight it, but gets his ass handed to him, while we see Buffy return to the same desert she met the First Slayer in back in “Restless”. This time, she meets three men who speak Swahili, yet Buffy is able to perfectly understand them as they can understand her. They call her the last protector from the Hellmouth, and when Buffy asks if they need to correct themselves, the men say no. Buffy asks some questions, and they knock her out. Back in our dimension, the Scoobies decide that they need Willow to conjure up a spell to bring Buffy back, and suggest a kind of exchange, ie the demon from earlier for her return. While Willow still isn’t ready to produce such a big spell, she recognizes that this is necessary to bring back Buffy and works on something while Spike prepares for a haphazard rematch against the demon from earlier. When Buffy wakes up, tied up under a cave, she realizes that she’s dealing with the men responsible for the Slayer, recalling the shadow puppet story from earlier, how three men took an innocent girl and forced with this great, divine power to protect the world from evils humans can’t imagine, all because these men wouldn’t stand up and fight. These men plan to give Buffy the remaining power of the Slayer, making her the ultimate warrior, which she refuses and breaks out of her chains to fight them instead. As she handily takes them out, we see Willow’s incantation not work the way she’s planned, leading her to need to borrow energy from Anya and Kennedy. Meanwhile, Spike returns to the school to get his duster back as he takes on a rematch with the demon from earlier, this time successfully knocking the life out of it, as he drags it back into the Summers house. Right as both of these happen, one of the men responsible for the Slayer, who have accepted defeat, touches Buffy’s head and offers her a vision before returning her to her world. Willow sees Kennedy afterword, who is shocked by seeing her girlfriend’s incredible magic power and wants the night to herself. So instead she checks up on Buffy, who tells Willow of what happened, and hints at the vision she saw, accepting that they alone cannot handle the First. When Willow asks what she saw, all we see are an army of Turok-Han vampires preparing their fight.
Alright, big week, we finally discover the origin of the Slayer and why she is predominantly female. Taking us back to the long-standing tradition of cowardly men who refuse to face consequences, the few who have the power to call upon the strength needed to protect the world would rather put the burden on someone lesser, ie a young girl. And this has worked for millennia, even if these girls are expected to live short lives.
Or does it work? The fact that the Slayer’s lifespan seldom surpasses their 20’s would ideally suggest that maybe putting all of our eggs in the basket of one person at a time, giving them a small window to learn and retain their power, and only a few years to fulfill their place in society and protect the world is problematic, to say the least. Especially if there are multiple Hellmouths across the world. Watchers make a decent living (Giles seems pretty comfortable masquerading as a school librarian), but Slayers don’t receive any financial benefit and are supposedly expected to travel for world-saving duties on their own dime. It’s a frustrating system, and not one that I think totally works.
But that may be the point, and why Slayers only last for such a short period of time. Like when Buffy was supposed to die at the end of season 1, Kendra was likely needed in Africa, and after her passing at the end of season 2, Faith clearly had some action in Boston before the need to follow Buffy in Sunnydale. And surely, these aren’t the only Hellmouths out there. We’ve met Slayers from the south, England, and even China since. Who’s to say that these parts of the world won’t need attention after Faith’s time?
What I’m saying is that it may have made sense to have just one Slayer at the dawn of time, but with the rise of society on a global, we might need multiple, right? You can’t just have one Slayer fly all over the world at the drop of a hat, especially if their power is meant to be a secret.
“Get It Done” answers some questions that fans had always been wondering, but it doesn’t have answers for others, and while that’s frustrating on one level, it’s fair to admit that we’re not always guarantied an answer. Some things we don’t need to know, some things we’re better off not knowing the answer, and some things just may not have an answer. It is what it is.
What works for me with the origin of the Slayers is the horror aspect of it, how to achieve this ultimate power, a young woman needs to be violated first. And it’s important to note that while Buffy is desperate for some way, any way, to defeat this unspeakable evil that is making its way to her, she draws a line here and refuses to accept this long-standing misuse of women. Not for her or any of the young women she has to guard. Considering the stances Buffy has had to make this season, hell, this episode alone, that’s pretty heroic and worth celebrating.
More and more, Buffy has had to play commander as the First continues to find their way through their base. The suicide of Chloe is the latest in a long standing of attacks, and possibly their most deadly to date, proving that the First doesn’t need followers or even someone to possess to do serious damage. Just the right (or rather, wrong) words can help weed out the weak, one by one. Lalaine does her best when she channels the First as Chloe, but the image of her body hanging lifelessly by this mirage is what stands out.
So what good is Buffy’s take on commander as the First is killing her group’s moral and if she can’t even properly fight them head on? It’s not looking good, and things are not helped as she has no way of physically fighting them. Buffy may be good at motivational speeches and kicking ass, but words mean nothing when you can’t back them up, especially when you can’t kick non-tangible ass.
“Get It Done” is a heavy episode, but it’s not without some form of hope. At least, initially. When we see the Turok-Han army at the end, hope is looking difficult, but recall “Once More, with Feeling”- they’ll see it through, it’s what they’re always here to do. Also, I know how it ends.
Season 7, Episode 16
Aired February 23, 2003
Directed by Marita Grabiak
Written by Jane Espenson
Synopsis: Andrew has started recording his time in the Summers house, including his trips patrolling with Buffy and the Potentials training. Buffy resents this, finding his videotaping a burden, but everyone else is at least somewhat on board with it. This gives Andrew something to do while still being confined to the house, his recordings give the Potentials tapes to study their practices, and frankly some people agree that this is worth preserving. Buffy, however, is worried about the impending apocalypse and notices that things are going down at the school. She asks Dawn and Amanda to stay home so she can get to the bottom of things, and when she arrives, Buffy has to stop a fight, console an invisible girl before she disappears, catches a girl who was called fat by a bathroom mirror, and tries to alleviate the stress of an overwhelmed student all in the span of two minutes. Buffy then meets with Principal Wood, who got hit with a rock on his way to class as they discuss what’s going on, and before they can find a resolution, the stressed boy from earlier explodes. Things are getting bad, and Buffy’s never seen them this bad- there’s at least three episodes worth of stories going on before first period alone. The two go down to the basement to check out the Seal of Danzalthar to see if this is causing the increasing disturbances, and they find the Deal reopened. Robin goes down to shut it, when he becomes briefly possessed by evil and chastises Buffy for her involvement with Spike. Just as she questions Robin, he returns to normal and has no memory of this occurrence. But they know that something is up with the Seal, and they go to the person who first opened it, as Andrew is in the process of making Xander and Anya reopen old wounds. Buffy demands to know how Andrew opened the Seal up, and he takes his time recalling the encounter, how “Warren” returned from the dead and told him to use the special knife he has to cut Jonathan and use his blood. The knife has a prophetic phrase carved into it, using an ancient language that Andrew is somewhat fluent in, and all of this means that he is ripe to go close the Seal back at the school. Willow searches for a way to close the Seal, while Andrew follows Buffy, Robin and Spike to Sunnydale High, where they see a riot has started by the students, and Buffy leaves her best fighters to stay and keep the students in line (safely- they’re possessed, not evil), while she and Andrew go down to the basement. As the two go down to find the Seal, Buffy has Andrew tell her what happened with Jonathan, and he recalls how the First, in Warren’s body, convinced Andrew to kill his friend, which Buffy believes, recalling how she saw Robin become possessed earlier today. Andrew then changes his story to make it sound like he was possessed by the same evil Principal Wood was when he killed Jonathan, and before Buffy can correct him, they find a group of five students standing by the Seal, missing their eyeballs. But whatever, they’re no match for the Slayer, and Andrew gets some good footage of her in action. But Buffy has no patience for this and tells Andrew that his blood is needed to close the Seal- while anyone’s blood is able to open it, the blood of whoever caused the Seal to be opened can close it. And while he begs for his life, Buffy stops Andrew, reminding him of the catastrophic damage that is going to occur and how many lives will be lost by the First, which will likely include him whether or not she cuts him open. Buffy holds Andrew close before she cuts him and points out how he refuses to take responsibility for his actions. And it’s here that Andrew stops, confessing that he knew that it wasn’t really Warren talking to him, that he killed Jonathan on his own accord, which he now regrets. Tears roll down his face and hit the Seal, which then closes down, and Buffy reveals that this is what was really needed to close it. While Buffy says that she wasn’t going to kill him, Andrew asks what if the tears weren’t enough, but she doesn’t answer as we see the students Spike and Robin fight return to normal. The episode ends with Andrew confessing to killing his friend, how he thinks he won’t survive the fight, and that he probably doesn’t deserve to, before shutting off the camera.
Worth noting- this is the first episode to be written and directed by different women. While Marti Noxon handled double-duty on a couple of season 5 episodes, this time Espenson is joined by veteran Marita Grabiak in her first of two episodes (although she’s already done work for Angel). Why the show waited until the very end to achieve such an accomplishment is beyond me.
Of the Trio, did Andrew have to be the one to survive? Warren’s fate was welcome and he played the villain role quite well, but Jonathan was a genuinely fun and balanced character, surely he deserved to make it through instead, right?
From what I understand, the crew enjoyed writing for Andrew, letting their nerdy references out. Instead of talking about comics, Star Wars, or Dragon Ball Z in the writer’s room, they can have Andrew namedrop Goku for them! It’s charming to see before nerd culture took over the world, and there were less outlets for geeks to feel vindicated than with cult TV. But a little of him goes a long way, and while I’m pretty nerdy, Andrew reflects the kind of nerd that you tend to avoid, the one who’s incapable of real conversations beyond his favorite books or movies.
The thing is, I’ve been there. I know what it’s like to be the nerd who shelters themselves with stories and hardly faces the real world, and I know many people who are like that. There’s usually something heavy in that core that the person prefers to keep bottled up, be it trauma, repressed feelings, or some neurodivergent tendencies (often a combination of any of these). People like Andrew act the way they do because something has scarred them and keeps them sheltered from the real world.
Killing one of your best friends in an attempt to prove your mark in society is something pretty dark, but from what we’ve seen, Andrew has always been this way. He’s likely on the spectrum, and has clear repressed homoerotic tendencies, which probably explains some of it, but doesn’t necessarily excuse his actions, and the show thankfully doesn’t want to excuse them, either. His confession at the end is dark, but honest. Andrew knows what he did was wrong and is hopefully going to change from it. Key word, hopefully.
While the character grates on me, I do enjoy “Storyteller” as one last “flavored” episode, something a little more experimental and silly than a standard story episode of the show. Of course, like many “flavored” episodes, there’s still meat in these bones and they still relate to the story. Andrew coming to grips with his actions and realizing that he needs to pay for his crimes is important, and will hopefully allow him to grow as a character for this last stretch of episodes. If he’s going to be stuck with the Scoobies and Potentials, he can hopefully contribute to the fight. Hopefully.
And his storytelling is at least entertaining. For one thing, Tom Lenk’s got pipes. Additionally, it’s fun to see how he views the Scoobies in relation to how they interact, almost deifying the people who are holding him hostage. I just don’t think that he knows better, like how he gets Xander and Anya to redefine their relationship by accident.
Considering how heavy this last story is, it’s nice to have some levity again before we wrap things up and take the show back to its classic form-breaking content. Buffy’s storyarcs and foreshadowing remain influential, but for many, episodes like “The Zeppo”, “Superstar”, and yes, “Storyteller” are what fans remember and tend to go back to. But Andrew really needs to shut up.
Watcher’s Guidebook:
If I recall right, this arc of Buffy is why Lalaine skipped the last few episodes of Lizzie McGuire and the movie, only for her to die after two appearances. And it’s funny, as I’m writing this, Lizzie McGuire is in the news.
Credit to the show for making Tigger scary.
As a refresher, Spike got his jacket from Nikki, Robin’s mother.
“Well, why can’t you just masturbate like the rest of us?”
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles: Oops, so Angel started a couple of weeks later than Buffy this season, so “Orpheus” will take place in the following week’s episodes. In it, Willow is called over to LA to return Angel’s soul, having done it once before, and as she works on that, Angelus and Faith, who are both in hallucinate states after the former feasted on the latter, go through Angel’s timeline to see some of the various good deeds he has enacted since his soul returned a century ago. This results in Angelus and Angel confronting each other in this state, with Willow putting the touches on her spell as combining them once again. Angel is back to his normal self and Faith regains consciousness and decides to go with Willow to Sunnydale, learning that Buffy needs the help. I’m not a big fan of this season, but this arc was largely good when it doesn’t focus on Cordy and Connor’s bullshit, and this was probably the best episode. Back to the pregnancy, in “Players”, Team Angel learns and tries to figure out how this occurred and why she’s so far along, as Cordelia stays mum. Meanwhile, our friend (maybe?) Gwen Raiden comes and asks for Gunn’s help to raid a party and save a missing girl. I recall liking Gunn’s material, allowing the character a little shading, but boy is this getting kind of stupid.
Next Week: Robin makes a move against Spike, and Faith joins the fight! Exciting.