OTH: Buffy the Vampire Slayer- "Never Leave Me" / "Bring on the Night"
And now it's time for The First.
Season 7, Episode 9
Aired November 26, 2002
Directed by David Solomon
Written by Drew Goddard
Synopsis: The others still aren’t happy with Buffy’s plan to keep Spike in the house, but she still insists on keeping him nearby, tying him up into the guest room. She calls the Watcher’s Council up looking for Giles, but Quentin Travers doesn’t have an answer, calling off their tabs on him when he defected back to England and stopped actively guiding Buffy. While he agrees to search out for Giles, Travers tells the rest of the council to go back to work, worrying that Buffy may be in on the big secret. While Buffy’s taking the day off of work to keep tabs on Spike, an antsy Willow agrees to go to the butcher for her to get some pig’s blood for the vampire, when she runs into a familiar face- Andrew, who’s going for the same thing after he failed “Warren’s” request to off a pig and regrets his murder of Jonathan. The last time he saw Willow, she was out to kill him and Jonathan for Warren’s crimes, so he tries to run away but fails. While Willow tries to assure Andrew that she’s no longer out for vengeance, she notices the pig’s blood and plays up the scary witch angle, leading him to the Summers house. Xander and Anya begin to investigate Andrew, playing the classic good cop/bad cop routine, but it isn’t working yet. At the same time, Buffy is feeding Spike, who is gaining sanity a little, but cannot remember his actions. Buffy leaves his sights soon after hearing Andrew cry out from Anya’s threats of action, and as she leaves, Spike returns to his vamp form and crashes through the wall, grabbing Andrew in the process. As Spike starts feasting on him, Buffy knocks him out while calling an emergency Scooby meeting. Xander suggests that Spike may be manipulated by a posthypnotic trigger, referring to his military knowledge. The gang begin to research as we cut to the school, and see Principal Wood, after a long day, discover Jonathan’s lifeless body in the basement and buries him, no questions asked. Huh. Back at the house, Spike is now inside the basement and has no memory of what just happened, and is begging Buffy to off him. She refuses, noting that he needs the help, when Spike suggests that the reason she’s never been able to kill him is because she’s attracted to men who can hurt her, like him or Angel. Buffy doesn’t confirm or deny the theory, but says that it’s moot, since she knows Spike is good, that something is controlling him, and that she is going to stick around for him. Soon, a group of robed men break into the house and attack. As the Scoobies try to fend for themselves, one of them heads into the basement and captures Spike. Buffy and the others beat the other three, but fail to protect him, meaning that they’re here for Spike and not them. She looks at one lying on the ground and recognizes him as one of the Bringers, realizing that they must be dealing with the First. Sure enough, we return to the Watcher’s Council in London as they continue their search, which proves to be fruitless when the building blows up. And we end the episode with Spike returning to the Sunnydale High basement, as the First takes his form and whips Spike, allowing his blood to fill up the seal. The First then changes into Buffy as it tells Spike that a real vampire is coming, and sure enough one comes out.
I think part of what turns some viewers off from the seventh season is the concept of the First, this all-encompassing evil that predates mankind, which just sounds a little too vague to really pull off, doesn’t it?
Well, keep in mind that a lot of this comes from H.P. Lovecraft’s (another problematic figure) mythology, delving into the works of Cthulhu and beyond. It’s a popular subject in heavy metal music, with Morbid Angel in particular taking a lot of inspiration from these myths, and I think there’s something worth exploring about an eternity of demonic behavior. And if anyone seems poised to tackle that kind of threat, it’s the Slayer, right?
“Never Leave Me” is a solid story episode, letting us know just what’s going on while leaving enough of the story open to be expanded on as needed. These don’t tend to be my favorites to write about, as it’s harder to talk about a story one chapter at a time as opposed to when we get the full picture, and they don’t stand out as well as the more experimental episodes tend to, but they’re a necessary evil to make the series what it is. If every episode was closer to “Conversations with Dead People” or “The Body”, it would be harder to get a feel for what Buffy is, and would make these (not remotely filler) diversions less impressive.
Still, there are things worth talking about and remembering, like Andrew being taken hostage by the Scoobies. Xander and Anya’s good cop/bad cop routine is highly enjoyable, almost taking us back to their days as a couple, which alone offers us some of the most fun we’ve seen of the two in a couple of episodes. Despite being our comic relief characters, this has been a somewhat dour season, give or take moments like “Him”, and the fact that we can see Nicholas Brendon and Emma Caulfield have a little fun while sticking to the story is welcome.
Any bit of relief is welcome after how intense Buffy and Spike’s scenes become in the moment. James Marsters goes for a different energy than David Boreanaz, making Spike less suffocating than Angel while ensuring that his love and sincerity to Buffy is genuine, and I appreciate that while also growing tired of returning to the same well. Still, the attack at the end suggests that we’ll have a bit of a break from the show’s iffy romantic storywriting, and hopefully that will make the next episode kick things into gear. If not that, then blowing up the Watcher’s Council surely should, right?
Season 7, Episode 10
Aired December 17, 2002
Directed by David Grossman
Written by Marti Noxon and Doug Petrie
Synopsis: The Scoobies try their hand on researching the First, but are coming up empty. Buffy seems ready to conk out, but a surprise appearance from her mother keeps her awake, although Xander insists that she must be dreaming. This isn’t the last we’ll see of the First today, as we see Spike being dragged to his place of torment, at first with his double, but they soon switch into Drusilla, to make sure he remembers the pain. But back at the Summers house, Andrew wakes up and Buffy asks about the seal he tried to open, so he takes them into the school’s basement, where they see a splattering of blood that he swears is new. While they inspect the site, Principal Wood shows up and surprises everyone, as he’s similarly shocked to see that Buffy is looking okay. Wood asks if Buffy will be able to return to work the next day, which she happily agrees to as they head out, as they happen to avoid the shovel he has in his hand. Back home, Willow tries her hand at a locator spell to find the First, which doesn’t go very well. Sparks release and send Buffy and Anya flying, as Willow recalls the voice of the First. Not the best look, but Buffy promises that they won’t rely on magic if Willow isn’t ready for it. That unfortunate moment is soon swapped out for a happy one- the return of Giles! With three confused teenage girls, who happen to be Potentials- young women who have the ability to take Buffy (or I guess Faith’s) place as the Slayer after she dies. Giles fills the Scoobies in on what’s happening, that the First predates all written history, and the only information about it was in the Council’s headquarters, which was recently destroyed. The First intends to destroy the Slayer bloodline, which means that when Buffy and Faith die, that’s it, and they’re already targeting some of the Potentials across the world, recalling the dreams Buffy had at the beginning of the season. While Dawn and Willow set the house up for their new roommates and Xander boards it up after their previous attack, Buffy and Giles go patrolling, just like old times. They’re searching for the Bringers, hoping to find Spike, but Buffy finds a vampire instead after she falls in a hole, one who doesn’t turn to dust after being staked. It turns out that this is a Turok-Han, an earlier, more ruthless strain of vampires who don’t react to pain the same way the other vamps they usually face do. At work the next day, Buffy shakes off another interesting encounter with Principal Wood to check out her scar in the women’s room, where she runs into Joyce once again, who gives Buffy a familiar-sounding lecture about the kinds of evil she has to face. Buffy knows what’s going on, but she was too entranced by the return of her mother, real or not, to care. When she gets off and heads home, one of the Potentials, Kennedy, is growing restless and demands that they receive weapons to help fight the Turok-Han and anything else coming their way. Buffy initially tries to shoo Kennedy off before giving up and digging through her weapons’ chest to find appropriate items for each of them. A still-bound Andrew asks for a weapon as well, so he can help, but Buffy and Xander don’t dignify this. As Buffy and Giles wait for the sun to set, another Potential, Molly, informs them that the third, Annabelle, has run off. We see Annabelle run away, only to find the Turok-Han and quickly meets her fate. Buffy runs to it and begins another fight, which proves fruitless on her end as she gets trapped in rubble after their match. Buffy’s 0 for 2, but she’s not beat yet, as the episode ends with her giving another epic speech, saying that no matter what powerful evil they’re facing, there’s one thing on earth more powerful- all of them, combined.
We’re at the Potentials phase of the season, which means that we’ve officially hit the show’s final stretch. There was almost an attempt to make a spin-off exploring some of the girls we’ll encounter after whatever happens with the upcoming finale, but for various reasons, that fell through along with every other idea for a another live-action addition to the Buffyverse.
On the one hand, I like the idea of seeing some of the Potentials in person. We’ve learned that many young women have the ability to take the Slayer throne from Buffy and Faith when they meet their fate, so how many learn of this and train until their time comes, like Kendra did? On the other, while I don’t want to spoil too much, we will see a lot of Potentials later on, and they will ultimately strip some attention away from the gang when we need them the most, so I understand why they’re divisive to so many. Especially when so few of these girls have especially strong personalities, and the ones we do see leave a little to be desired.
But who cares when Giles is back! His tease two episodes again proves to be a welcome return to one of the show’s most beloved characters, as he’ll be an essential part in taking down this nameless evil. His strength will be useful especially as Willow remains reluctant towards using her magic, and Spike is still MIA. Although Giles’ greatest asset currently appears to be his role as the Scooby’s moral support, which he returns to aptly, while also starting his new job as curator of the Potentials.
While Giles’ return is welcome, what sticks out more to me in “Bring on the Night” are two things, one of which is another return appearance. Kristine Sutherland had a memorable cameo in “Conversations with Dead People”, playing Joyce as portrayed by the First, but she only interacted with Dawn, as Buffy had another meeting going on. So it’s only fair that she gets one last chance to see her mother, regardless if it’s really her or not. What works for me is that Buffy is so clearly engrossed by her mother’s appearance that even though she’s by all rights aware that this isn’t really Joyce, she doesn’t care. The moment is worth living in enough to distort reality.
What’s also interesting is the appearance of the ubervampire, which gives Buffy something she hasn’t had in a while- a fight she can’t easily win. As strong as Buffy is, there has to be something stronger to go up against to make watching her battle worth engaging with, which made Glory one of the show’s most memorable antagonists. Enough so that the next season had to switch gears with the Trio, a group so pathetic that Buffy had to stop herself from giving each incel a wedgie, but that was balanced by allowing them to strike a personal core that your average villain doesn’t quite reach (ie Tara). This time, the Turok-Han is pure strength and readily hands Buffy’s ass to her, and it makes for a memorable pair of fights, especially as she has to prove to the Potentials what they’re up against.
We’re not quite done yet, but we finally hit an important piece of the puzzle. Like Robin, I want to see how it all comes together.
Watcher’s Guidebook:
It’s such a little sister thing to say that it’s “coming out of both ends” from Buffy.
I’m more of a Marvel guy, so I looked up the Wonder Woman issues Andrew and Xander talked about. They sound cool, and Frank Miller even did the cover for #298. It’s pretty badass.
I know Dawn is joking, but I do think that a can of Red Bull and Jackass DVD sounds like perfect time capsule material for a high school in 2002.
Ah, Kennedy. I’m not a fan of the character (not many seem to be), but I appreciate how quickly she reads Willow and hones in.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles: We’re not done with the beast from last week yet, as we see in “Long Day’s Journey.” Supposedly, the only way to stop it is from among the group, which leads Angel and co to believe means Connor, but that’s not it- the only way is to call out Angelus. But how do you bring Angelus back? In “Awakening”, he tries to forgo his deadly side, calling upon a lethal sword that can hopefully do the job, and while it ultimately works, the happy moment doesn’t last forever. Angel and Cordelia finally confess their love for each other, which results in them having sex, and well… see ya next week!
Next Week: Buffy starts training the Potentials, which, if the second episode is any indication, Dawn may be one.