what happened?

[tokyogirl]

somebody please tell me what happened last week. i missed the ep because my VCR broke. please help me!

[obcooke]

I take it you mean #104 Smashed. I haven't had time to proof-read this as much as I normally do, but here's a rushed off draft of my upcoming episode summary.

-----------------------------------------------------

Buffy is surprised to find that the villains cornering the nice couple are actually human. She rescues the couple anyway and teases the goons to attack her. Spike jumps in without announcing himself, as he has done in the past, but this time his head explodes in pain, because the scum are human. In the resultant confusion, the evildoers run away.

Spike complains that the chip should at least let him attack evil humans, but Buffy doesn't think that even muggers deserve vampire attacks. Spike quickly makes a pass and Buffy rejects the idea, despite their recent kiss. Spike teases her about being a tease. As Buffy walks off, Spike calls after her that he is the only one left for her to have a relationship with.

Willow mopes around her room. She talks to Amy the rat and thinks about getting Amy a companion, but she's really thinking about Tara. Willow promises to restore Amy to her life as a young woman, one day. Suddenly, Willow has an idea. With a word, a parchment appears. Willow reads the spell on the page and Amy the rat grows into Amy the terrified human.

Andrew, the evil nerd, is doing a cat burglar number on a large diamond at the Sunnydale Museum. His allies, Warren and Jonathan, walk up to remind him that in Sunnydale you don't have to do a "Mission: Impossible" to rob the place. Warren uses a torch to cut through the clear case around the diamond. On their way out, the lone security guard confronts them. They use a freeze ray to encase the man in ice. They also end up encasing Jonathan's hand in ice. Warren assures Andrew that Rusty the guard will recover.

Meanwhile, Amy is trying to recover. Startled by a siren outside, Amy closes the windows and curtains in Willow's room with a few magic gestures. She has no concept of how long she has been a rat. Willow has to tell her that Amy's big prom date isn't going to happen because the school has been destroyed and Amy's date, Larry, is gay and dead. Amy demands to know exactly how long she has been a rat.

Buffy returns home. She goes to talk to Willow about Spike, but is surprised to see Amy. She offers to let Amy sleep on the couch and then privately talks to Willow. Willow hopes Amy will be able to adjust to being back and feels Amy can in some ways make up for losing Tara, although she doesn't mention Tara's name. Buffy decides to postpone a heart-to-heart about her affairs of the heart.

Buffy finds Amy downstairs catching up on current events by watching television. She mentions the frozen guard and this catches Buffy's attention. Seeing the news report, Buffy goes to the scene, but at 5' 3" has trouble seeing over the crowd. She does see the frozen man being taken out and while looking for a back way into the museum, she discovers Spike lurking about. It seems clear that he was expecting Buffy to show up.

She continues to dismiss their smooching and he continues to tease her about it. Buffy blames her emotional display on having Giles on her mind. At first Spike thinks that she was romantically involved with her Watcher, but she quickly tells him that she was just depressed about Giles leaving and that he, Spike, is gross. She almost begs him to forget the kiss... kisses.

He won't stop trying to make her doubt her resolve and crack her resistance. She finally hits him. He instinctively punches her back. As Buffy recovers, Spike realizes that his chip didn't hurt him. He quickly fakes a screaming pain, to hide the truth from Buffy. She dismisses him as an evil, disgusting thing. As she walks away, Spike slowly shows an evil smile.

Spike goes downtown and quickly picks out a young woman alone to attack. He is angry at Buffy and despite the woman's frightened protests he makes plain that he is going to make an example of her, showing how evil he really is. After a few moments of hesitation and build-up, he changes into his vampire face and goes for her throat - only to be racked by blinding pain. The woman escapes, leaving a very confused Spike behind.

Tara marvels over the amount of milkshake that Dawn can consume in one sitting, as they enjoy a day together. She urges Dawn to eat a vegetable some time today. In the middle of their conversation, a nervous Tara suddenly tells Dawn that she loves her and always wants to be a part of her life, no matter what the situation between Tara and Willow. Dawn tells her that Willow seems to be better lately, obviously referring to Willow's recent obsession with magic.

Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya research the frozen guard incident at the Magic Box. Anya obsesses over the amount of research books that Giles took from the store as a part of his personal library. Willow offers to find the information through other sources. Everyone is nervous as they assume Willow is going for a magical solution. Willow pulls out her laptop and everyone else seems to relax. They blatantly try to encourage her to rely more on her non-supernatural skills. But Willow uses magic to access the Internet directly, seeing the information and graphics in her head.

Willow taps the police report and finds out that the huge diamond is from England on tour in the U.S. Willow continues to search for any mystical background on the gem. She notices how everyone seems concerned. In typical fashion, Anya suddenly blurts out that everyone is walking on eggshells around Willow because Tara left her. Willow dismisses the breakup as a misunderstanding that will eventually work out fine.

The three nerds marvel over the size of the diamond they have stolen. They are preparing for "phase two" when Spike bursts through the door to their basement. He corners Warren and demands that he check out Spike's chip. To emphasize his control over the situation, Spike takes a hostage - a Bobba Fett figurine. Warren confers with his accomplices and convinces them that they might be able to use this favor to Spike to their advantage later.

Willow arrives home and finds a distraught Amy that only wants to go out for a while. She puts off going home because of too many questions from her dad. She wishes for a way to make him forget that she's been gone for three years and Willow offers to help. She does advise Amy to leave some clues to who she is on her person before attempting a forgetting spell. Amy has been shut in for too long and wants to bust out for an evening. She convinces Willow by slyly reminding Willow about her "nerd" High School image.

Warren's tests, while not revealing what the chip does, prove that it is working fine. After a moment's thought, Spike warns Warren not to talk to anyone and leaves, mumbling that if his chip is okay then the fault lies in Buffy.

Dawn and Tara arrive home late and Dawn slyly convinces Tara to stay until someone comes home to be with Dawn. Dawn lays her head on Tara's shoulder and they sit together watching TV.

A band is playing at the Bronze, as usual, as Willow and Amy play pool by magically making the cue ball move. Two guys approach them and Amy quickly agrees to dance. Willow is hesitant and, despite her protests, Amy enchants a nearby woman to make a pass at Willow. Finally convinced, Amy releases her from the spell and the confused woman tries to explain her actions to her female companion.

Amy goes to dance and Willow stands on the sidelines, reminiscent of her High School days. When Amy returns, Willow is talking to the olive in her martini. The guys follow Amy over and invite her to continue dancing. She wants to sit with Willow for a while and the guys want to force her back on the floor and try to insult Willow with a gay reference. As if of one mind, the women transform the two jerks into caged go-go dancers in fringed bikini pants, suspended above the dance floor.

Back at the magic shop, Buffy, Xander and Anya continue hitting the books. Xander thinks he has found a reference to a frost demon, but Anya points out that he's reading a Dungeons & Dragons' book. They finish the evening without finding anything helpful. The subject quickly turns to Willow. Buffy tries to be optimistic but Xander is gloomy and Anya is scary in her prediction of what happens when sober responsible people get a taste of power. Xander agrees that Willow is in danger of being seduced by the darker side of magic. They agree to keep a watchful eye on their friend.

The phone rings and Spike calls the Slayer out for a meeting with menace in his voice. He begins to paint a picture of the two of them together and Buffy hangs up.

{Xander's line deserves quoting: "What did Captain Peroxide want?"}

Buffy claims Spike wanted to patrol together but she declined.

They finally leave the shop, but they are concerned about the strange {and lame} occurrences lately. They split up and Spike confronts Buffy in an alley. Spike tries to warn her not to make him mad, but Buffy is unconcerned about his feelings. He blocks her way and, when he won't move, Buffy punches him. Spike builds up his hate and punches her. She is shocked to see that Spike is unaffected by the chip. He tells her that there is something wrong with her.

Buffy thinks that it's a trick and refuses to believe what Spike is telling her. As they debate the matter, they trade punches. Buffy pushes Spike through a boarded up door and into an abandoned building.

At the Bronze, Willow begins a night of magical vandalism as she transforms the band on-stage into an all-girl group. She and Amy hurl spells around the room, toying with the people there, making them shrink or grow or fly as they please. They're having a great time.

Buffy and Spike continue to fight from room-to-room in the run-down building. Buffy thinks that Spike is the troubled one, since he's a toothless vampire mooning over a Slayer. He's only interested in Buffy because she's the only one who can abuse him physically, which is his secret desire. He reminds her that vampires aren't exactly choir boys, but Slayers aren't supposed to be consorting with dark types either.

Willow and Amy run out of ideas and get bored with the scene. With a gesture and word, Willow restores everything to the way it was before they began to use magic. Amy has an idea for how to end the evening.

As the fight intensifies, Spike tells Buffy that he never intended to hurt her.... much. In mid-sentence, Buffy suddenly kisses him passionately. They embrace and as they literally bounce off the walls, the old building begins to collapse from the fight-induced damage. Spike picks her up. Buffy reaches down and zippers can be heard. Then she obviously mounts him. After a moment, Buffy begins to move up and down. As their passion builds, the building symbolically begins to crash down around them. They fall away from the wall and break through the floor, landing in the basement in a cloud of dust and debris.

[tokyogirl]

thank you so much! i actually read this a while ago, but just haven't had a chance to thank you for it. it really helped a lot! thanks!

[obcooke]

You're very welcome, tokyogirl. Actually I enjoy it. It's silly, but I love writing lines like, "Spike teases her about being a tease." It's a dumb joke, but it also sums up the scene perfectly.

I just wish I could find the time to update my episode guide. Maybe this weekend. If you get bored come by and read some of the old episodes from Seasons 4 & 5. Please forgive the few typos and grammatical faux pas, every time I read them I find another one it seems.

Sorry, you had to find out the big Buffy-Spike news this way. You really should have seen this one. But if you got to see Spike the next week all naked you probably aren't complaining.