Reviewed by Sanguine

Early one morning
Just as the sun was rising
I heard a young maiden sing
In the valley below,
"Oh don't deceive me
Oh never leave me
How could you use a poor maiden so?"

Apparently, if you were attending high school in 1950s England, this old English folk song would have been a part of your daily routine. This week I watched Buffy with my parents. As soon as grave-digging Spike started humming the opening bars my mother joined in, singing all the words. When I asked her how she knew the song, she replied, "We sang it almost everyday at school." She then raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Didn't you tell me that the show's creator went to school in England?" I nodded. "He probably had to sing this song too."

After this conversation I realised two things. 1) I've spent far too much time trying to convince my parents of the wonders of Buffy. 2) Sometimes evil can work in banal ways. I suspect Morphy chose a familiar song from poor William's schooldays.

"Sleeper," brilliantly written by David Fury and Jane Espenson, needed to accomplish three things. First, it had to establish audience sympathy for the character of Spike, making clear that he really had changed, that the soul really did mean something. Second, it had to make clear that Buffy was concerned for Spike's welfare in order for her actions in this episode to be plausible. Third, in order to maintain dramatic momentum, it needed to reveal more information about the nature of the Big Bad. This episode succeeded on counts one and two, but faltered slightly on count three. Nevertheless, it was a thoroughly enjoyable episode with excellent performances, particularly by Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters.

The first goal of the episode--creating sympathy for Spike--was accomplished in several ways. At the beginning of the episode, a blank-faced Spike is burying the body of one of his victims, while humming a jaunty tune. It is clear that he is not fully aware of what he is doing: the song is a trigger of some kind. When he is under the song's influence, he is robbed of free will. Of course, Spike's brainwashing had been foreshadowed in the first episode of the season. Morphy Mayor laughs at Spike and his noble goals, mocking him for thinking that the soul would make him his own man. Then Morphy Dru appears, telling Spike that he will be singing little songs in the dark with her. And now their horrible prophecies come to fruition.

The choice of song is also significant. I already mentioned how common the song was in England. But the text, detailing the anxiety of a spurned and rejected (former) maiden is also significant. Indeed, the "maiden" line has a double meaning. Of course, it refers to Spike's victims as "maidens" collapsing male and female victims together under this rubric (which reveals the distinctly non-feminist ideological position that underpins this show about "female empowerment"). One might be tempted to think the song refers to the very bad thing that Spike did to Buffy in the bathroom last season ("how could you use a poor maiden so?"). This interpretation is easily rejected though, because Buffy has rarely been portrayed as a victim in this series. Even when Spike attacked her, she eventually managed to overpower him. Furthermore, the maiden in the song has been deserted. In contrast, Buffy rejected Spike last season. She was not the forlorn girl, pining for an unattainable beau (that was Seasons 1-3). Instead, Spike wanted Buffy to never leave him (and what's the name of next week's episode??). Therefore, a more plausible reading of this line is that Spike himself is a "maiden," a lovesick individual, a victim of Morphy. In today's world, we've hopefully gotten past marking certain emotional behaviours as "feminine" and can resist snide remarks about the "sensitive male." In William's Victorian world, however, the level of emotional vulnerability he exhibited and continues to exhibit would have significantly transgressed the typical masculine role. He was Dru's caretaker. He cries. He talks about his feelings. When he was engaged in a relationship with Buffy he always wanted to "talk": for her their unhealthy tryst was mostly about sexual release, nihilism, and escape. For Spike it was an expression of his love (albeit a love that had become twisted) for Buffy. And this episode establishes that Spike still wants to talk, still wants that non-sexual connection, that friendship. He is still the maiden, although Buffy is no longer his tormentor. She has been replaced by something, something that (perhaps significantly) can assume her image.

Shortly after the burial scene in the basement, we get some pretty concrete evidence that Spike has changed. Clue-seeking Anya rummages around in Spike's drawers (double entendre intended). Spike wakes up and calmly asks her to "tell a fellow exactly what you're doing here." Anya, thinking on the fly, says she's there for sex. Spilliam is completely flustered and tries to dissuade her, but Anya seems to be warming to the idea. This culminates in a plea for "William" to ravish her. Gently, Spike rejects her. "If things were different, you're a right catch." Anya notices the change in Spike and isn't entirely pleased. "All I'm saying is Soulless Spike would have had me upside down and halfway to Happyland by now." While this scene was extremely funny, it was also extremely significant. Spike had always demonstrated compassion towards Anya, even pre-soul (he listened to her tale of woe in "Entropy"). The difference here is that he doesn't fantasise about killing anyone, nor does he accept what Anya offers him. Ah, that moral compass appears to be in working order.

To show us the kind of relationship that might be possible between a soulful Spike and Buffy, as well as to demonstrate the Slayer's burgeoning compassion for the erstwhile evil thing, Fury and Espenson wrote two extremely touching scenes for these two crazy kids. After following Spike and witnessing him hitting on a girl outside a bar, Buffy jumps to a sordid (and correct) conclusion. Nevertheless, Spike, Manchurian Candidate Spike, is completely unaware of his murderous nocturnal activities. While Spike may not be his own man, he demonstrates that he is the proud owner of a shiny new backbone. He actually stands up to Buffy. When she accuses him of killing, he responds that he can't. "Right, the chip," she responds. "No, not the chip. Not the chip dammit." Spike has a right to be angry here, just as Buffy has a right to be suspicious. It's an essential misunderstanding, but unlike in the past when such issues were never discussed and were instead swept under oriental shagging rugs, now Spike and Buffy are finally able to really speak to each other. Spike continues, "You honestly think I'd go to the end of the underworld and back to get my soul and then---. Buffy, I can barely live with what I did. It haunts me. All of it. If you think that I would add to the body count now, you're crazy." Of course this speech is made more poignant for the audience because we know, even if Spike and Buffy don't, that Spike is adding to the body count.

While Spike may have changed in some respects, one thing remains constant. He is still a fool for love. When Buffy intimates that he may not be telling the truth, we get confirmation of the depth of Spike's feelings for the Slayer. "As daft a notion as soulful Spike the killer is, it is nothing compared to the idea that another girl could mean anything to me. This chip, they did to me. I couldn't help it. The soul I got on my own. For you."

An interesting declaration, and completely on the mark. Ironically, Spike had more free will before the ensoulment. At least he wasn't being controlled by Morphy. Also interesting is the first sentence of the quotation: "As daft a notion as soulful Spike the killer is, it is nothing compared to the idea that another girl could mean anything to me." Hmmmm. We now know that soulful Spike is a killer. The first half of the sentence is not true. So, does that mean that another girl will appear who will actually mean something to Spike? Or perhaps it's not a new girl at all. Maybe it's a certain mentally unstable vamp from his past. We shall see.

Nevertheless, this exchange demonstrates that the cold Buffy we saw in episodes three through six seems to have thawed. I found Buffy to be quite likeable in this episode, showing her concern for her former lover while simultaneously staying true to her calling. I sincerely believe that if Spike had been killing and there weren't extenuating circumstances, she would have done her duty. She would have killed him. And she would have been right to do so. As she tells the fledgling who emerges from the grave in the final basement showdown, "Sorry ma'm. I'm just doing my job."

Speaking of that basement scene, Spike eventually discovers that Buffy is right. He is back on the juice. He has done some very bad things. Old Spike might have tried to cover the evidence but Neo Spike fesses up immediately, taking the Slayer to where the bodies are buried. Morphy begins to sing, and Spike goes all zombie killer, only coming to his senses after sampling the Slayer's blood (something he's wanted for years, but hasn't gotten until now). Did Morphy want him to taste the Slayer and remember? He told Spike to taste Buffy, to make her weak. He never said to kill her. In fact, Morphy indicated that by having the showdown with Buffy, they were going out of order.

This brings us to the problem of Morphy. What order? Who the hell is this thing and what does it want? We've had tantalizing hints, but nothing concrete. I still like the theory that it's the Powers that Be running berserk, but whatever it is, it's certainly fond of basements (from beneath you . . .). We also learn that more Slayers-in-training and watchers are being targeted by the monk guys. Dawn staying mum about Joyce's revelation and Willow's observation that maybe the evil was telling the truth was also intriguing. Beyond these few items the Morphy storyline wasn't forwarded as much as I would have liked. This was really the Spike Show (not that I minded), not the Reveal Lots of Info about the Big Bad Show.

So, after the fight in the basement, after coming face to face with his actions, Spike cowers in the corner, a broken man. He begs Buffy to stake him, but Buffy won't do it. She realises that Spike is being manipulated by something, that he's not a free agent. Spike begs Morphy to make him forget again, that he did what Morphy wanted. This made me a bit nervous. How cognizant was Spike of what he was doing? In the scene with the girl, Morphy appears to him as Buffy and convinces him to kill. Elsewhere Spike's own Big Bad image came back to haunt him, to tempt him. If Spike were truly brainwashed, would he need to be convinced? Colour me confused.

Thankfully, for all the Spike fans in the audience, his behaviour apparently doesn't call for his immediate execution. Buffy tosses her stake to the side. Spike's eyes follow the weapon. Either addressing Buffy or Morphy, he cries, "No, please, I need that." Is he talking about the stake, or about something else? Hmmm. He then turns to Buffy and reveals the extent of his anguish and entreats her to help him. When he asked before, Buffy rejected his cries for help, telling him that she thought her presence made him worse. Apparently, Buffy he had a change of heart in the past few weeks and we're now seeing the softer side of the Slayer. She agrees to help and pisses off the Big Bad. Apparently, helping Spike is the right thing to do.

There were many other enjoyable things about this episode: too many to list here. I loved the continuity, that this episode picked up where "Conversations with Dead People" left off. I loved Marsters relishing the opportunity to play Evil Spike again. I loved Aimee Mann, her deadpan line delivery, and the extremely appropriate song, "Pavlov's Bell." I loved Xander's inaudible teasing of Anya. And finally, I loved Giles. Let's hope he can keep his head under very trying circumstances.