Writer: Jane Espenson
Director : James A. Contner

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 : Camden Toy as the Gnarl demon.

Original broadcast date : October 8, 2002

My one-line description: I wonder if the Gnarl demon gets high cholesterol, eating all that skin…

Sunnydale airport. Travellers file out of a plane into the terminal; a kid pushes his sister, and his father tells him to behave. In a corner, Buffy, Dawn and Xander are waiting. Xander is holding up a “Welcome home Willow” sign, written in blinding yellow – in what Xander hopes will remind Willow of his “yellow crayon” speech. The gang is quite nervous about how to greet Willow – especially when Buffy admits that she didn’t fully finish her recovery in England, although Giles thought she had to come back early. Suddenly, Xander notices that all the passengers have gotten off the plane, and Willow is nowhere in sight…

Sunnydale airport. Travellers file out of a plane into the terminal; a kid pushes his sister, and his father tells him to behave. Behind them, Willow looks around for her friends… but sees no one. “Welcome home, me”, she says, disappointed.

Out in an alley, a youngster is tagging a wall. “All alone”, a voice says behind him. “Frightened to be all alone?” it continues. The guy turns around, and shouts for whoever is there to clear out. The attacker hisses, and slashes a claw at him.

Willow knocks on the door at Buffy’s place, but gets no answer. She lets herself in by the back door, passes a clock that reads 10:41 PM, and calls for Buffy. She goes upstairs, enters what is now Buffy’s room – her and Tara’s old room – and has a painful flashback to Tara’s death. She sees a notebook where Buffy has written down her friends’ phone numbers. Her name is conspicuously absent… Suddenly, she hears the front door slam, and runs downstairs. But no one is there… Willow, sad and tired, plops down on the sofa and goes to sleep.

Buffy, Xander and Dawn walk into the house, and pass a clock that reads 10:41PM. They wonder why Willow didn’t show up, and Dawn ventures that maybe she’s gone evil again… Xander slams the door, and all three hear a noise upstairs. They go to investigate – nothing. Later, they come back downstairs, very worried, and sit down on the couch. Buffy says she called Giles, and that he blames himself for letting Willow go when she wasn’t ready. Xander assumes that perhaps Willow may not want to see them, that she may feel unwanted. Dawn asks whether anyone is going to blame Willow. Buffy admits that Dawn has a point – if Willow wants to be helped, she just has to show up.

The three fade away from the couch, revealing Willow, still asleep. She wakes up in the morning, and realizes she’s still alone. She tries to call Giles, but he’s in a Council retreat and can’t be reached. Depressed, the redhead goes out and wanders off to the remains of the Magic Box. Anya comes out, carrying a box of broken stuff. Eyeing Willow suspiciously she tries to guilt-trip her, wondering whether she’s back to kill more people. Willow invites her to blame her all she wants – she deserves it – which spoils Anya’s fun. The girls sit down on the curb, and Willow asks where everyone is. Anya replies that maybe the gang don’t want to see her because they’re still mad. Willow manages to get Anya to tell her the whereabouts of the gang – the new High School, where Buffy and Xander work and Spike lives in the basement, insane.

Willow arrives on the edge of a deserted workpit on the site of Sunnydale High’s future science block. She calls for Xander, but gets no answer. Spotting a ladder, she climbs down into the pit… where she runs into a corpse, its skin gone.

As he and Buffy look at the corpse. Xander explains he found it first thing this morning, and gave the crew the day off before calling Buffy. Suddenly, Xander hears a noise and turns around. As a horrified Willow, unseen, climbs out of the pit, Xander and Buffy reflect on the possibility that Willow IS back…

Inside the school, a dazed Willow walks slowly through the hall. She goes to the basement and she looks around; Spike suddenly appears and rambles insanely, muttering “You went away”. Willow confirms that she did, but she’s back now; she tells him about the skinned body, and asks him who or what could do that. “You did, once”, he replies. Taken aback, Willow asks who else could do that, but Spike’s not paying attention. Facing an empty spot, he says he should hide his face after what he did. Willow tries to get his attention back, but Spike comments that everyone is talking to him, and no one is talking to each other. “Someone isn’t here”, he says. “My money is on the witch”, he concludes, looking at her.

Buffy and Xander enter the basement and overhear Spike rambling to himself. “You went away”, he tells her. They tell him about the corpse and ask for his help, but his attention is on Buffy, as he tells her he should hide his face after what he did. “Everyone is talking to me, but no one is talking to each other”, he notes. Buffy and Xander decide he’s of no use and walk away, but then overhear him saying “My money is on the witch”. They turn around and ask him if he saw Willow, but he just talks to an empty spot, telling it that “they think you did it”.

Willow arrives at Anya’s apartment and tells her about the corpse. “Was it you?” they ask each other at the same time. “No!” they reply in unison. Anya notes that the gang will probably think Willow did it; the redhead pleads with the vengeance demon to help her do good and figure out what did this. Anya agrees to help Willow do a spell. The girls sit cross-legged on the floor, facing one another, surrounded by candles, a map of Sunnydale between them; the spell will cause areas where demons are to light up. The both sprinkle magic powder on the map, and some areas light up. “Look, that’s me!” Anya exclaims with a smile, pointing to a spot. Then, pointing to a large cluster, she asks what it is. It’s the Hellmouth, Willow replies, to which Anya comments that things have been busy there lately. Suddenly, that spot grows brighter, and a fire breaks out. Willow stomps it out with her foot, but Anya laments the burnt hole in her carpet… Peering at the map, Willow notes that one of the spots, in a small group of caves, looks promising. She suggests Anya teleport there to check it out, but Anya reluctantly confesses that her teleporting abilities are now limited to official business – a consequence of her undoing a vengeance wish. Willow offers her sympathies, but Anya admits that she doesn’t get the kick she used to out of vengeance. The girls conclude that they’ve both realized their powers can be more trouble than it’s worth. They apologize to each other for their sadness. Willow gets up to go find the demon that killed the boy, but Anya suggests they try a spell to locate Xander and Buffy. Willow reveals she already tried that – the spell told her they don’t exist.

At Buffy’s house, Dawn is working on a laptop, researching the demons that skin people and enjoying the gory details quite a bit. Xander and Buffy step away for a private talk about Willow – they both think it’s quite possible she did this. Dawn calls to them, saying she’s found a good one – Gnarl demon, has claws that allow it to paralyse its victims before tearing off strips of their skin and eating it. She adds that this demon laps up blood off the victim, leaving very little behind, and notes that the corpse at school had close to no blood around it. Buffy reflects that the demon might leave a trail of blood behind, and it gives her an idea…

Spike rambles incoherently as he leads Buffy, Xander and Dawn through the woods, following the smell of blood. He stops in front of a rock cliff and Xander comments sarcastically that the vampire led them to “a vicious, skin-eating rock cliff”. Nonplussed, Spike replies there’s a cave. “I’m insane”, he tells Buffy; “what’s his excuse?” He takes off into the woods without another word.

Willow has also found the cave opening, and crawls down into it. “All alone”, a voice sneers as she enters a torch-lit cave. Unseen, Buffy, Xander and Dawn also enter the cave. Buffy, hearing a sound, shushes them. “Look at the shorn little lamb”, the voice taunts Willow. “See how it trembles… is it the cold wind? Or is it the flock is nowhere to be seen?” Willow looks around, spooked, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone there…

The gang have also heard the voice, and try to figure out where it’s coming from. Suddenly, a clawed hand slashes at Dawn, carving a gash in her belly. The others ask if she’s OK, but she remembers that the Gnarl’s poison paralyses, and starts to fall. Buffy and Xander grab her and agree they have to get her back home and deal with the demon later. They barricade the entrance with rocks. “NO!” Willow screams, as she sees the entrance being blocked. Behind her, the voice laughs demonically.

Willow tries to perform a spell, but the voice tells her it won’t work. She replies that magic isn’t all she’s got – she can fight. The voice continues to mock her, saying that her friends abandoned her. Suddenly, a claw strikes, opening a gash in her belly. She starts to go limp with the paralysis, and the Gnarl demon finally manifests himself (ugly beastie). He grabs one of Willow’s legs and drags her until she’s flat on her back, then exposes her wound and drinks up the blood.

Xander and Buffy drag Dawn into the house, and set her down on the sofa. Buffy gets on the computer, and reports that the paralysis is permanent until the Gnarl dies – which means they’ll have to go back. Xander says they can’t leave Dawn here – she might vomit. As a now completely paralysed Dawn mumbles and protests through clenched teeth, they decide to call Anya for “vomit watch”.

In the cave, Willow, also paralysed, looks in terror as the Gnarl – still taunting her on the absence of her friends – cuts off a sliver of skin from her belly with his claw and gulps it down in relish. Willow is unable to even cry in pain.

At the house, Anya asks what type of paralysis Dawn is suffering from; taking the teen’s legs, she sticks them up in the air, and they stay that way! “Hey, she’s pose-able!” Anya exclaims. As Dawn mumbles in anger, Anya sits her up and raises her index – making the teen look quite funny – as Buffy and Xander stock up on weapons. Anya comments that there’s no need to thank her – she’s feeling quite benevolent today, she’s helped Willow, she’s helping them… Buffy and Xander stop dead in their tracks and ask her if she’s seen Willow, and Anya reveals that Willow was headed for the same caves Xander and Buffy visited. Buffy enlists Anya’s help to fight the Gnarl, and they leave – but not before Anya places a TV remote in Dawn’s comically raised hand…

In the cave, the Gnarl demon slices off another tasty sliver of Willow skin and slurps it down, as the redhead, unable to move or speak looks at the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Buffy, Xander and Anya run through the forest (no teleporting for Anya) and arrive at the cave. As they enter, Buffy asks where Willow is. Anya replies that Willow is right there, on the floor; she kneels beside her, and Xander feels the spot – Anya tells him his hand is going right through Willow. Realizing why they haven’t seen Willow, Buffy surmises that the disappearance and the skin-eating monster are two separate issues. “Behind you!” Anya suddenly shouts, and Buffy whirls around. She jumps back just in time to avoid the demon’s claw; taking out a sword, she attacks the Gnarl. Anya reminds her to “get him in the eyes”, and then comforts Willow – Buffy is here, she’s fighting the demon. All Willow can see is the demon dodging an invisible foe. “They’re here, they’re here”, she mumbles between clenched teeth. “I’m not alone!”

Meanwhile, the Gnarl avoids Buffy’s sword, but she manages to stab it into his foot, pinning him there. She puts her thumbs into his eyes, and crushes them – much to Xander’s disgust. Willow smiles and reports that she can breathe easier.

At the Summers house, Dawn falls to the floor with a surprised yelp.

Anya asks Xander to back up – he’s in Willow’s feet. She tells them Willow is wounded, and takes off to get help. Buffy and Xander look at the empty spot where Willow is, and offer friendly words to her. Suddenly, there’s a flash, some sparkles, and Willow is back, still wondering why her friends aren’t there. “Oh, there you are”, she says tearfully as she sees them. “Don’t go away!” Buffy softly tells her she’s going to be OK, but Willow knows she will – they’re here.

Sometime later, at the Summers house, Willow, wearing PJ’s and sporting a bandage across her belly, is sitting up in her bed (in Buffy’s old room) meditating. Buffy checks in on her, and Willow explains that she’s healing herself, growing new skin. Buffy offers to leave her to her meditation, but Willow asks her to stay – she’s pretty much exhausted what meditating energy she had, and besides, she missed Buffy so much… Buffy replies she missed her too, and reports that Dawn is researching the invisibility thing. Willow confesses that it was her doing – she feared facing her friends so much that she unconsciously cast a spell that prevented her from seeing them. She comments that it’s nice to be forgiven – especially when she has so much to be forgiven for.

Buffy confesses that she thought Willow was responsible for the skinless body at school. Willow says it’s OK, and painfully lifts herself into a meditating position again – she may not have the strength, but it hurts too much not to try. Buffy sits on the bed, facing Willow and crosses her legs. “I have so much strength, I’m giving it away”, she says softly. Willow asks whether she’s sure, but Buffy just takes her friend’s hands… Both girls close their eyes and meditate.


Summary by OttsFiveByFive

Special thanks to www.leoffonline.com