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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Intervention

Anya: "We're just kinda thrown by you having sex with Spike."
Buffy: "The who whatting how with huh?"

Well, I was expecting all of the BuffyBot sex silliness, but this episode still managed to surprise me – especially the end.

Glory's flock of leprous hobbits saw the BuffyBot protecting Spike, conclusion-leaping took place, and Glory tortured Spike in order to get the name of the key. And Spike never would have told her. He actually tried to get Glory to kill him in order to protect Dawn for Buffy, and Buffy probably never would have known if Glory had done him in. When Spike tries to make points with Buffy, he fails. When he is himself, he succeeds. I think there's a moral in there for all of us. Even Xander seems to be softening toward Spike, and I didn't think that would ever happen.

Spike spent most of this episode with his hair all mussed up and his tee shirt ripped half off, and can you say "cold and muscular body," "compact but well muscled"? Leaving aside the fact that Buffy belongs with Angel, I have to say that Buffy and Spike really do make a cute couple. They sort of fit. He's bigger than she is (hey, almost everyone is bigger than she is) but he's not so big that she has to crane her neck back at a right angle in order to look into his face – or kiss him. (And what about that kiss at the end? Wow.)

Buffy's vision quest out in the desert was interesting but what the hell does "Love will bring you to your gift" and "Death is your gift" mean? Love will bring her death?


Bits and pieces:

— It was nice to have Buffy finally tell Giles that she loves him.

— Sarah Michelle Gellar did a great imitation of the GirlfriendBot from two episodes ago.

— Glory is in exile? And Ben is her enemy? Is she trying to get back to her dimension? Is that what the key does?

— So what's with the incredibly long "previously on"s? I mean, a lot has happened this year, but at some point the network is just going to have to take it on faith that nearly everyone knows what's going on, right?

— Giles did the hokey-pokey. I love this show.

— Why did Dawn steal Anya's earrings? Spell intentions or kleptomania?

— Note from later, with a bit of trivia: Nicholas Brendon was very ill during the filming of this episode, and his twin brother Kelly Donovan played Xander during the rescue sequence in the hotel lobby.

Quotes:

Buffy: "It's just... I mean, I can beat up the demons until the cows come home, and then I can beat up the cows. But I'm not sure I like what it's doing to me."

Buffy: "So it leads me to the sacred place, and then a week later it leads you to my bleached bones?"
Giles: "Buffy, please. It takes more than a week to bleach bones."

Buffy: "So, how's it start?"
Giles: "I jump out of the circle and then jump back in it, and then, um, I shake my gourd."
Buffy: "I know this ritual! The ancient shamans were next called upon to do the hokey-pokey and turn themselves around."
Giles: "Go quest."
(Giles jumps into the circle of twigs, jumps out, and shakes the gourd. Nothing happens. He and Buffy look at each other.)
Buffy: "And that's what it's all about."


Spike: "She's upset about her mum. And if she turns to me for comfort, well, I'm not going to deny it to her. I'm not a monster."
Xander: "Yes, you are a monster. Vampires are monsters. They make monster movies about them."
Spike: "Well, yeah, you got me there."

Willow: "Buffy, there is something seriously wrong here. Okay, yeah, you've been with a vampire before, but Angel had a soul."
BuffyBot: "Angel's lame. His hair grows straight up, and he's bloody stupid."

Glory: "This is a vampire. Lesson number one, vampire equal impure."
Spike: "Yeah, damn right I'm impure. I'm as impure as the driven yellow snow."

Spike: "The key. Here's the thing. It's that guy on TV... what's his name?"
Glory: "On the television?"
Spike: "That show... the price show... where they guess what stuff cost?"
Murk: "The Price Is Right?"
Jinx: "Oh, Bob Barker!"
Murk: "We will bring you Bob Barker! We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker!"

Glory: "I am a god."
Spike: "The god of what? Bad home perms?"

Three out of four stakes,

Billie
---
Billie Doux reviewed all of Buffy and Angel, so she knows the plural of apocalypse.

12 comments:

  1. Fun little episode. Buffy's spirit quest was a little bit of a huh, what? (Of course, it does make a little more sense once you get to the season finale)

    My favorite part was that last scene at the end. I can't believe that Buffy actually kissed Spike. It was such a sweet moment. "What you did for me and Dawn today, that was real." Glad to see Spike finally got some brownie points.

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  2. "We will bring you Bob Barker! We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker!"

    I thought that bore repeating.

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  3. I love this episode, it was a favourite for a long time. Hilarious, sums up my feelings about Angel-on-Buffy (I like him on his own show) and love that ending, and Spike doing good for no reason other than love.

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  4. Spike and the Buffy Bot – wonderfully cringeworthy

    There's no way that the scoobies would not have clocked that Buffy was a robot, its not been THAT long since April, but I'm okay to handwave that silliness as the amusing exchanges their not knowing provides are kind of worth it.

    Giles shaking his gourd always gives me a giggle. I love Spike's insults to Glory, and also love this episode in general.

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  5. Along with "Fool for Love" this episode made me like Spike more than Angel. The ending was just wonderful. I didn't have to suspend my disbelief too hard during the scoobies-Buffybot scenes cause they're just so funny.

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  6. Well the quest and the robot don't do much for me, the final scene is one of my favorites in the entire series. I love the fact that Spike knows instantly that he is kissing Buffy and I love that Buffy, without nastiness or sarcasm, acknowledges and thanks him for what he did.

    Angel who?

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  7. Love, love, love, and love this epi. Love Glory as the big bad, bumpy minions, Spike being tortured and called Precious by Glorificus. One of my favorite Giles scenes when they are in the desert doing the hokey pokey. Did you see SMG smile at him at the end? That looked real, like she couldn't help it. One of my favorite Buffy moments when she says "What?" in that special way of hers after being told death is her gift. Love Buffybot!! Great seeing SMG smiling big and looking so pretty, even if it wasn't really her. Love the curly long hair. Love her line, "you couldn't tell me from a robot?" After the sadness of the previous episodes, this one was a great return to the fun. More sadness next week, but that is what is so great about this show, making us laugh and cry.

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  8. BUFFYBOT :D Now THIS is podracing!
    "Guiles" made me giggle as immoderately as Willow's mom calling Buffy "Bunny" did. Mispronunciations seriously tickle my funny bone and I'm not ashamed of it. All we're missing now is Winnow and Shander to complete the original team.
    Quest stuff is generally lame and this episode's use of it was no different unfortunately (I'm not a fan of hinting at the future unless there's something you could get out of it in the present, which I couldn't). I just wasn't feeling her concern about what her Slayer duties was doing to her at all.. she doesn't seem to be getting colder or harder. It's like a weaker retread of her "I wanna be normal" woes. I mean I just chalk it up to uncertainty from Joy-*voicecrack* sorry, Joyce's death.
    And yeah Buffy finally telling Guyles she loves him was nice, but also kind of perfunctory. I would've preferred nothing of the sort being said to each other... one of those 'power in things left unsaid' things. Maybe if he tried to leave and she knows she's cruel for doing it but she says it to make him stay again. But that kind of manipulation would be uncharacteristic of Buffy, and it's what I love aboot her.
    I know it's played for humor but I couldn't help looking down on the scoobies a little for not recognizing Buffybot lol. Buffy really should've been more disappointed with them when she mentioned it herself. And I was so impressed when they recognized Warren's other girl! But it was still really funny.
    Buffybot should be cringey but she's a cute. A CUTE. I love the way she kept standing too close to Spike in that first scene with Xander and Anya and just smiling at him lovingly.

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  9. This was an episode that convinced me the Trio, especially Warren, was indeed brilliant and dangerous and capable of just about anything. The Buffy-bot was Warren’s second robot that we know of and both were way beyond publicly known technology. If they could build that… Subsequent seasons show us that it wasn’t just Warren, though. Andrew is right up there in robot engineering.

    Nice that this time, for our amusement, they had been so easily bullied by Spike. A talent Spike thankfully continues into season 9. With different reasons, different results.

    I don’t need to comment on the Spike/Buffybot sexnanigans. Except to say it was funny and creepy and a little sad. I agree with Xander. I defiantly feel sorry for him. Take that, real Buffy. Billie, I do not believe that Buffy belongs with Angel. (Although I think maybe you’ve changed your viewpoint now?) I’ve been over Angel forever, and she should be too. I get whiplash from how many times Joss has made me watch (or read) the Angel/Buffy/Spike heartbreaks.

    Onward.

    There was such cringeworthy torture of Spike by Glory. Ugh. Impressive how he could keep his head and plan an escape. Once he’d loosened the chains a bit, he kept aligned between the door and Glory, then taunted her into powerfully kicking him free of his chains, through the door and into the hall beyond. It *was* a “nice plan, Spike,” even though painful. I wonder just how many bones he’s broken now over the course of defending Buffy & Dawn?

    And just saying- I wouldn’t dignify those minions of Glory’s with any comparison to hobbits. I’m offended.

    It was disappointing how sure Buffy and the Scoobies were that Spike would betray Dawn. And that Buffy was hoping he’d met a dusty end. Doesn’t seem quite right even at this early stage in the trust Spike game. I’m glad Xander & Giles didn’t stake him. Universe sized understatement.

    Funny how Buffy didn’t think the robot was a good semblance of her, (“I mean, look at it”) but everyone else did. Isn’t that the way with doppelgängers? I had one in college (not a robot) and we didn’t think we looked like each other, but everyone else always mixed us up.

    Spike knew at the kiss that she wasn’t the Bot. Even through all the pain. It was moving that she kissed him. She didn’t have to, she already had her answer. Maybe this was Buffy’s turning point? What do you think, you guys who can keep the episode progression straight because you don’t just re-watch them in completely random order?

    Queen of the bad perm. I can hear Spike’s voice when I look in the mirror. Only technically, mine’s not a perm. Lol.

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  10. Måge, yes, my opinions definitely changed during the course of the series. I wrote these reviews during the run of the show, so this is what I thought right after I saw the episode.

    FYI, even with 10,000 reviews and over 50,000 comments, we're really careful not to spoil people who haven't seen past this episode, because a lot of our readers will try a show they haven't seen before and read along with the reviews. Sadly, I've had to delete perfectly lovely comments because they have a spoiler for a later episode in it. I don't think a mention of a comic book plot is a spoiler, but fwiw.

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  11. Billie, thanks for the heads up. I’ve actually been thinking of asking for clarification on spoilers. It’s sometimes hard to figure out what’s acceptable. I can definitely stay in the moment.

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  12. Spike has SO much more personality than Angel! Spike feels like a real person to me in a way that Angel never did. I don't know if Marsters is just a better actor than Boreanaz, or if it's the writing, but I'm glad Angel is clearly Buffy's past, not her future.

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