Overall Rating: 9.0 Matt: 9.0 Eric: 9.0 Writer: Marti Noxon Director : David Solomon Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers,James Marsters as Spike, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg. Main guest stars : Amber Benson as Tara, Adam Busch as Warren, Danny Strong as Jonathan, Tom Lenk as Andrew, James C. Leary as Clem, Amelinda Embry as Katrina. Original broadcast date : May 14, 2002 My one-line description: Doppelgänger Willow would be proud. An ambulance speeds through Revello Drive towards the Summers house. On the front lawn, a blood-smeared Xander leads the medics towards Buffy, still lying in the backyard, a bloody wound in her left shoulder, staring – somewhat calmly – at the sky. Upstairs, Willow is still cradling Tara’s lifeless body, sobbing in disbelief. As the room turns dark, she starts reciting the Osiris spell, in an attempt to bring Tara back. The room covers in clouds, and a demonic face appears, denying Willow’s request – Tara’s was a natural death, not a mystical one like Buffy’s. Willow howls in pain and fury. Outside, the paramedics are loading the gurney bearing Buffy in the ambulance. Willow walks outside, still in shock, Tara’s blood on her shirt. She asks Xander how this happened, and he answers that it was Warren, with a gun. "Warren", Willow repeats with hate in her voice. She walks off, suddenly filled with purpose. The paramedics ask Xander if he’s coming along, and after a last glance at Willow, he jumps in the ambulance. Andrew and Jonathan are in a jail cell, panicking about their situation. Andrew can’t believe that Warren would have abandoned him, but Jonathan, more realistic, grumbles that Warren isn’t coming back, and then accuses Andrew of preparing to turn against him with Warren. Andrew denies everything, of course, and says that Warren must be deep in devising a plan to get them out. Wrong. Warren is in a run-down vampire/demon bar, buying a round for the house and boasting that he’s the one who killed the Slayer, and that all it took was a gun. However, the vampires and the bartender demon start laughing at him, and inform him that there was just a report on TV- the Slayer is in the hospital, still alive thanks to her superior healing powers. They suggest that she might be pissed at him and come seeking vengeance… The front door of the Magic Box bursts violently open, and Willow walks in, a grim expression on her face, as sparks and lights flash around her. Anya, sensing something’s wrong, tries to calm the witch down, but Willow just wants to know where the black arts books are. Anya tries to prevent Willow from finding them, but the witch raises a hand and says "stop", which freezes Anya in place. Willow then gazes at some books, and they start flying toward her, piling up on the table. Moving to the edge of the table, she puts her hands on the pages of the top book, and words start moving up her body, slowly turning her hair and eyes pitch black. "That’s better", she says, removing her hands from the book. Dawn comes home to find the front door open and the house empty. Calling for Buffy, Willow and Tara, she goes upstairs… and finds Tara’s body. A look of shock, horror and pain comes across her face. In Rack’s lobby, Warren jumps ahead of two other waiting clients and pleads the warlock for some power and protection… against the Slayer. But Rack answers that the Slayer is the least of his problems – he should be worried about the witch, Willow, whom he feels is the new power in town, the one who’ll "blow this place apart". Surprised, Warren asks why she should come after him – her friend is alive, after all. Rack answers that he detects death, a cold body the witch wants revenge for. He agrees to help Warren, but warns that he can’t guarantee anything – the witch is running on pure fury, unlike anything he’s ever felt. At the hospital, doctors are operating on Buffy, desperately trying to remove the bullet, while Xander paces anxiously. Suddenly the lights flicker, and Willow appears in the operating room. She orders the doctors to leave, and as an alarmed Xander looks on, she levitates the bullet out of Buffy and closes the wound. Then, commenting on how small the bullet is, she makes it disappear in her hand. Buffy comes too, somewhat confused – especially when she sees the all-black Willow before her. The witch promises to explain everything, but tells them they have to get moving. At a bus station, Warren hurriedly buys a ticket and boards a bus. Xander’s car speeds down the highway, and Willow plays the backseat driver, asking him to go faster. He says he can’t, but she magically floors the accelerator. Buffy, in the passenger seat, tells Willow they have to calm down, but the witch senses something and orders Xander to turn the car. He frantically asks where, but Willow turns the car for him, onto the desert ground, which leads them to another road. Willow stops the car and gets out; as Buffy and Xander follow, she walks to the middle of the road and tells them to stay back. The bus comes down the road, and Willow, still standing there in the middle of the lane, makes it screech to a halt right in front of her. She calmly climbs in the bus and orders Warren to get out. He hesitantly obliges, and starts apologizing to Willow once he’s out. But she’s not interested, and she starts squeezing his throat, an expression of hatred on her face; his left eye pops out and some sparks fly, revealing him as a robot. Disappointed, Willow tells Buffy that she’ll find Warren another way, and admits that she intends to kill him. Buffy asks her to calm down, but Willow informs her of Tara’s death. Buffy and Xander are shocked, but still try to dissuade Willow from harming Warren, saying that he’ll get punishment, but that killing is not their way. However, Willow won’t be swayed; she casts a spell that sends them both to the ground, then walks off and disappears into thin air. Buffy and Xander get back home to find the front door still open. Buffy calls for Willow or Dawn, but gets no answer. Upstairs, she finds Tara’s body, now bathed in moonlight. As she stares in horror, Dawn, huddled in a corner, crying, tells her that she didn’t want to leave Tara alone. Xander walks in and looks silently at the body, obviously in pain; Buffy softly tells Dawn that they have to go downstairs… Tara’s corpse is brought down in a body bag, and Xander takes care of the paperwork while Buffy and Dawn sit on the couch. He goes join them, and comments that Warren is a dead man if Willow finds him. "Good", Dawn growls. Buffy is stunned, but Dawn argues that Warren needs to die, and Xander agrees. However, Buffy tells them that "being the Slayer doesn’t mean having a license to kill", and that whatever Warren did, it doesn’t give Willow the right to take a human life. Buffy suggests going to the Magic Box to get some kind of locator spell to find Willow. Before that, however, she wants to get Dawn to safety. The teenager says that she wants to go at Spike’s, which leads to an argument between Buffy and Xander, who thinks Spike is a wrong choice, after what he did to Buffy. She tells him that Spike would never even think of laying a finger on Dawn. Meanwhile, Willow is in Tara’s room on campus, casting a spell using the shirt she was wearing when Tara was murdered. On the garment, the blood stains start painting a map, showing where Warren is hiding – in the woods. Buffy and Dawn enter Spike’s crypt, where the TV is playing. Buffy calls Spike’s name, frightening Clem out of his wits. Buffy, startled, apologizes as Clem explains he’s babysitting the crypt while Spike is out of town. He offers them some snacks, but Buffy politely refuses, asking him where Spike went. He answers he doesn’t know, but that he could be gone for a long time. Resigned, Buffy asks him if Dawn could stay with him, and Clem enthusiastically says yes, asking Dawn if she plays parchesee… The two sisters hug, and Buffy leaves. In Africa, Spike walks through a native village. A man calls to him – probably some kind of warning – in a foreign language. Spike ignores the man, and steps into a cave painted with colourful and somewhat gruesome pictures. A large demon with glowing green eyes appears, and tells Spike he knew the vampire was looking for him. "Something about a woman... the Slayer.", he divines. Spike, annoyed, corrects that it's the chip in his head, and the Demon asks if he wishes to return to his former self. Spike says yes, but the Demon laughs at him, telling him he let himself be castrated, and wouldn’t be able to withstand the trials for his restoration. Spike answers with bravado, asking the demon to throw everything it’s got at him. "The bitch is gonna see a change." At the Magic Box, Xander is helping Anya, who just regained her mobility, to a chair. She explains what happened and admits to knowing that Tara is dead. Xander asks her if there’s something she can do to find Willow, and Anya answers that she doesn’t need a locator spell – she can sense the witch. She reveals to Xander that her vengeance demon powers have returned… "When?", he gasps, stunned. "When do you think?", she bitterly retorts. Buffy walks in, and Xander informs her about Ayan getting her vengeance powers back and being able to find Willow. He then asks Anya why she’s not helping Willow with a vengeance wish, to which she responds that Willow doesn’t want her help. Buffy cuts to the heart of the matter, asking Anya whose side she’s on, and whether she’ll help. Anya agrees, but makes it clear she’s only doing it for Willow. Night time in the woods. Willow is walking calmly, a determined look on her face. Further ahead, Warren is running like a hounded animal. Willow stops in a clearing and starts saying that Warren can run all night, but she’ll still find him. She’s interrupted in mid-sentence by an axe which flies into her back and makes her topple to the ground face first. Warren steps into the clearing and stands over the body, panting. He looks down and smiles, but then Willow rises up – rather unnaturally – and pulls the axe out of her back. Warren runs off again, with Willow in pursuit. He launches a "flying" bomb at her, but she freezes the explosion and steps through it. He keeps on running and looking back, but runs into… Willow, who has shifted through space. He starts apologizing again, but she answers sarcastically that instead of killing her best friend, he killed her girlfriend. He manages to throw some magical blob at her, which envelops her while he runs away, but her eyes glow red, burning holes in the barrier. She finally stops him by magically binding him between two trees with vines and roots. His captive limbs outstretched, he tries bravado, threatening Willow. Looking into his eyes, she realized that Tara wasn’t his first kill. "Reveal!", she shouts. Katrina appears, repeatedly asking Warren how he could do such a thing to her. "Because you deserved it, bitch!", he finally shouts, annoyed… but when he looks at her, she’s gone. Willow tells Warren that he enjoys killing, and that Buffy was to be the "big O." Anya guides Xander and Buffy through the forest, sensing that Warren is still alive. Warren starts screaming for help; Willow takes out the bullet that wounded Buffy and rips open his shirt, intent on showing him just what a bullet feels like going in. She floats it slowly into his chest, as he howls in pain. Willow silences him by magically sewing his lips together, as she delves into a description of the pain he must be feeling, relishing every moment of her vengeance, wondering out loud why a small piece of metal took Tara away, while scum like Warren lives. She then releases Warren’s lips, and he cries in pain, begging for her to stop. Buffy’s voice is heard, calling for Willow. Warren tries to reason with the witch, telling her that she’s not like him, that she’s not bad. "Bored now", Willow mutters, in a blood-curling reminder of her long-lost evil twin. With a wave of her hand, she casts a spell that rips Warren’s skin away, leaving only a bloody, fleshy human form still strung up between the trees. "What did you do?", Buffy asks in shock, as her, Xander and Anya look, horrified. Suddenly, Warren’s remains go up in flames, rapidly burning into nothing. "One down", Willow casually remarks, looking at her friends, before disappearing into thin air once more… Summary by OttsFiveByFive.