Reviewed by Sanguine

Sanguine: Ms. Espenson, may I call you Jane?

Jane: I've heard about you. You mocked David's snake. You were a vocal opponent of Spike getting some Bot lovin'. Why didn't you trust me?

Sanguine: That's why I'm here. I wish to apologise most replendent and munificent one!

Jane: Huh?

Sanguine: I was one of the few people who really liked "I Was Made to Love You." And after the wonderful episode I watched last night most beauteous and wonderful scribe, I wish to become your minion.

Jane: Thanks, I think.

Sanguine: My husband has a brown robe I can borrow. Will that suffice most glorious yet witty one?

Jane: Ummm. I have an appointment. Thanks! Uh. Bye . . . [Jane flees]

Sanguine: I guess my toadying skills just aren't up to snuff. Sigh. Maybe if I looked like a hobbit with leprosy it would help . . .

Although this episode wasn't perfect, it was wonderful for oh-so-many reasons. While light on plot advancement (Glory still doesn't know the identity of the key), it was heavy on character development. Three main events occurred in this episode: Buffy's quest; Spike's, ahem, interaction with his BuffyBot and the Scoobies' reaction to their "relationship"; and Spike's torture by Glory. In spite of the fact that Buffy and Giles were in the desert and the rest of the Scoobies remained in Sunnydale, this was a remarkably cohesive episode, and was one of the best of the season.

At the beginning of the episode Buffy is doing dishes with Giles and Dawn. The mood has lightened a bit since the heavy sadness of "The Body" and "Forever;" however, an underlying tension remains. After a loved one's death one must still accomplish mundane tasks like the dishes and make a pretense at normalcy, but inside Buffy feels empty, devoid of emotion. She shares her concerns with Giles, admitting that she has felt hollow for a long time, even before her mother's death. She has not allowed anyone to get too close. She has coped with being a killer, a slayer, by retreating into herself, emotionally detaching herself from everyone. The fact Buffy realises this and is so astute in her self-analysis is yet another sign that she is growing up. She has begun to lead an examined life.

To further facilitate this self-examination, Giles suggests that she embark on a quest. They will travel to the desert and summon Buffy's guide. Buffy is worried about leaving Dawn, but her sister reassures her and encourages her to go. Dawn and Buffy's relationship has obviously become even closer as a result of their shared grief. Dawn is also growing up.

After arriving in the desert, Giles does a funny pseudo-Native American ritual involving a shaman hokey pokey and gourd shaking. Luckily he doesn't have to turn himself around! Apparently, the task is accomplished, for an animal guide soon appears and takes Buffy to the secret sacred spot. "I know this place," Buffy says. And indeed she does. She knows it from her dream in "Restless." Finally the First Slayer appears. In "Restless" she was angry and silent and needed Tara as an interpreter. In "Intervention" she was remarkably verbal.

Buffy tells her guide that she is afraid that she has lost the ability to love. Slaying has made her hard, inhuman, incapable of the softer emotions. As she told Giles, "Strength, resilience . . . those are words for hardness." A Slayer must kill or be killed. She may not have time to feel. But according to the First Slayer, love will only give her more power. Spike also articulated this truth in "Fool for Love" when he told Buffy that her attachments to her family and the Scoobies were keeping her alive, were making her stronger than her predecessors. He was correct. The First Slayer confirms that Buffy is not devoid of emotion, but rather is "full of love." Buffy must let herself feel this love, even if it is painful, as she can draw power from it. "Give . . . forgive . . . love will bring you to your gift." Later in the episode Buffy takes this advice to heart. She is able to open her mind and forgive her mortal enemy.

Buffy's communion with the First Slayer continues. Not all the revelations are pleasant. "Death is your gift," she is told. Buffy knows first hand that death is not a gift to anyone. She's just lost her mother. She's seen up close what death can do. While she may have begun to enjoy the hunt this year, after the death of her mother she is reticent to begin slaying again. "If I have to kill demons because it makes the world a better place, then I kill demons. But it's not a gift to anybody." The conditional nature of this sentence ("If I have to") reveals Buffy's doubts about her vocation. Is she doing the right thing? Is killing the right thing? Or does it warp the soul? I believe this exchange is very significant as it may foreshadow the events of the final episode in which Buffy must decide whom to sacrifice. I suspect she might be the sacrificial lamb. Her death might be a gift to the world.

Before she leaves for the desert, Buffy tells Dawn that "weird love is better than no love." Immediately the scene changes to Spike procuring his Buffybot from Warren. As I said in the review of "I Was Made to Love You," Spike has reached the end of his rope. He's desperately lonely, has alienated everyone around him, and can't have the real thing. So he intimidates Warren into building the Bot. It's rather pathetic and quite sad. Spike is hurting no one by this action. It's kinky, it's disturbing, it's deviant, but it's not inherently evil. We see the Bot, togged out in a strangely chaste, almost grandmotherish skirt. Either Warren didn't have any other clothes available, or Spike has retained some of his Victorian tastes. He wants his Buffy to look like a chaste (albeit chintzy) angel with her skirt below her knees, but in bed he wants her to be knowledgeable, indefatigable, and enthusiastic. He gets his wish. Much boinking ensues.

These scenes were intriguing, not just because we got to see Shirtless Spike or Bedhead Spike. He programmed the Bot to say all the things he wishes were true. "You are very, very bad." "You're evil." Spike has not behaved in a truly evil manner for quite some time. As a vampire he realises that his actions are unnatural or, as Joss Whedon put it in a recent interview, "contradictory." The Bot says what he needs to hear: He's really evil. Things haven't changed. So much of Spike's identity was formed in opposition to the goodness of William. He perceives William as weak and does not want to feel that way again. Spike's programming of the Bot is a testament to his own insecurities. His carefully constructed edifice of evil, which had cracked when he realised his love for Buffy, is beginning to crumble. He is becoming increasingly vulnerable.

Spike's programming also reveals what he thinks he knows about Buffy's feelings towards him. Some of it is wishful thinking ("I love you Spike"), but some of it is insightful. One scenario involves the Bot trying to stake him, but being unable to do it. "I'm helpless against you, you fiend," she cries as she falls into his arms. While Buffy is certainly not helpless, it is puzzling that after all of the evil things Spike has done in the past (the end of Season 4 and even as recently as "Out of My Mind") she has never been able to stake him. Why? Is it because she knows him? During a post-coital moment more about Spike's conception of Buffy is revealed. She tells Spike that his evil "excites me. It terrifies me." Spike genuinely believes that Buffy is drawn to his darkness. After all, no women could be drawn to the weak lovesick idiot that was William. Cecily certainly wasn't. No, women like him dark and as Xander put it, "strong and mysterious and sort of compact but well muscled." Spike's expression when he hears the Bot's excited reaction to his "evil" is priceless. For a moment he looks sad and says gently, "You know I can't bite you." But the BuffyBot responds enthusiastically that she'd quite like him to nosh and chomp a bit. In response, Spike kisses her tenderly on the neck. He doesn't grant her wish to hurt her, even though she "wants it." The illusion is broken when the Bot cheerily asks, "Should I start this program again?" Spike looks upset. "No programs. Don't use that word. Just be Buffy." With that line what might have been a disgusting farce became poignant and meaningful. Spike doesn't really want the Bot, but that's all he can have.

The Scoobies naturally find out about Spike's Bot boffing. In fact, Xander and Anya catch them in the act in the graveyard. The Scoobies gather and try and decide what to do. They are remarkably restrained in their reaction, and show themselves to be good friends. While they believe Buffy is making a huge mistake, they agree that her behaviour is understandable, considering what she's been through. Surprisingly, Tara takes the hardest line of all. Earlier in the season, she had sometimes been the voice articulating the viewpoint of moral ambiguity (cf. "Checkpoint"); however, since her infamous Quasimodo speech in "Crush" she seems to be taking an increasingly inflexible approach. I guess that she can't get past her family's prejudices. As Mr. McClay said, "Evil is evil."

After much discussion, Xander decides to find Buffy and heads over to Spike's crypt. He arrives just in time to see Spike kidnapped by Glory's crusty, hobbit-like minions. Adding to the complexity of the situation, the BuffyBot, finds that Spike has disappeared and seeks out the Scoobies. Buffy has also arrived back on the scene and is treated to a little "intervention" by her friends who are concerned by her nocturnal Spike-boffing activities. Then, the moment we've all been waiting for: Buffy and the Bot meet face to face. After a vow to kill Spike, Buffy and her gang try to find and perhaps rescue the captured vamp. They finally realise that he has knowledge about the key that could destroy them all, should he choose to use it. But Spike will never use his knowledge against them. And Buffy and the Scoobies learn this in a fairly spectacular way.

Glory tortures Spike but he doesn't succumb. In an interesting parallel with his scenes with the Bot, Glory throws him on the bed and straddles him. She then waves her hand over his head (for a moment I thought she might extract the chip--if it's still there . . .) as she says, "let's see what you have in here." She then digs into his chest. Unlike the Bot, Glory is in control, Glory has her own power, Glory can take what she likes. He is now in the position in which he has placed so many of his victims over the years. He is completely helpless and alone. Still she persists, chaining him up, cutting him, beating him. Nothing works. Finally, Spike does what he does so well. He preys on her insecurities. Having so many of them himself, he has particular insight the insecurities of others. He insults her hair ("the god of cheap home perms") and her style of dress ("cheap, whorish, fashion victim"). Now that really pisses her off and she belts him so hard that he is freed from his restraints. Spike takes this opportunity to escape.

Meanwhile the Scoobies have found Glory's building. Spike is bleeding and beaten in the lobby. The Scoobies and the Buffybot fight Glory's minions and triumph, although the Bot is seriously damaged in the process. Xander and Giles take Spike back to his crypt and leave him there. Buffy is concerned that he may have spilled the beans about Dawn, but Xander is sympathetic to the vampire's plight. Both he and Willow have begun to see that Spike's emotions might be genuine. He might actually care about Buffy. Xander says, "God, I feel kinda bad for the guy. Gets all whupped and his best toy gets taken away . . . the guy was so thrashed." Xander and Willow had also understood why Warren built the Bot in "I Was Made to Love You." People get lonely and react in inappropriate and strange ways. Furthermore, Xander seems to suspect that Spike hasn't betrayed them. Why would he allow himself to be beaten to a pulp if he was intending to give over the information? If he was pure evil he would have just avoided the beating and given Dawn to Glory. But he didn't.

The final scene of this week's episode will undoubtedly spark much controversy. I will simply report what happened. The BuffyBot appears and asks Spike why he let Glory beat him. He responds, "'Cause Buffy, the other not so pleasant Buffy. Anything happen to Dawn it'd destroy her. Couldn't live, her being in that much pain. Let her kill me first. Nearly bloody did." The Buffybot kisses Spike gently on the lips and his face registers his amazement as he realises that it is the real Buffy. Buffy's face is inscrutable as she backs away. After chastising him about the Bot she says, "What you did for me and Dawn . . . that was real. I won't forget it." Buffy has taken the First Slayer's advice to heart and has learned to forgive, even her mortal enemy. Her kiss may give Spike the crumb he needs to pursue his journey out of darkness.

A few final questions about this week's episode: why did Dawn steal the heart earrings from Xander's apartment? What is she planning? What does it mean that Buffy's "gift" is death? How will the new détente between the Scoobies and Spike play out? Why does Spike have an RV in future episodes? These questions and more will be answered next week on "As the Vampire Turns" . . . I mean "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".