Overall Rating: 8.6 Matt: 8.7 Eric: 8.5 Writer: Jane Espenson Director: Michael Gershman Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Amber Benson as Tara, Clare Kramer as Glory, Adam Busch as Warren, Troy T. Blendell as Jinx, Sharon Ferguson as The First Slayer, Todd Duffrey as Murk. Original broadcast date : April 24, 2001 My one-line description: Hmm… I wonder what Warren put into those "Make Spike happy" folders… At Buffy’s house, Giles has cooked dinner for the girls and is now helping them wash the dishes. Buffy sends her sister to her room to look for dirty plates, and Giles takes the opportunity to ask Buffy how she and Dawn are faring. She replies that they’ve gotten into something of a routine, and Giles promises that it will get better. He suggests that they start up the training schedule again, but Buffy isn’t too happy with the idea – as they move into the living room, she explains that she fears her slaying is making her emotionally shut down. She’s concerned that being the Slayer may mean not being able to love at all. Giles tells her there’s a quest she could go on to find answers, but Buffy counters that she can’t leave Dawn. However, the teenager, who has just arrived in the living room, declares that she should go. Buffy tells her sister that she loves her, and repeats it to make sure Dawn knows that. The two sisters share a hug. Elsewhere, Warren introduces Spike to his brand-spanking new Buffy-bot – complete with real-world knowledge, profiles on Buffy’s friends, and – ahem – those special abilities Spike wanted. As Warren prepares to leave, Spike notes that the robot seems a bit too shiny. Then, the robot’s eyes fly open, and it smiles at him; Buffy-bot walks over to him and kisses him. "It’ll do", Spike tells Warren. At her apartment, Glory complains to her minions that her plans aren’t going fast enough. The minions remind her she is a God, but she argues that she’s a God in exile, sharing a body with an enemy. Suddenly getting an idea, she reflects that the Slayer must have contact with the Key in human form. She orders her minions to spy on the Slayer and report on anyone new in her life. Giles takes Buffy to the desert in his red BMW convertible. As they get out of the car, he tells her that he has to temporarily transfer his guardianship of her to a guide – the sacred place is a secret, and he can’t take her there himself. He then performs the transference ritual – which looks a lot like hokey pokey, Buffy comments – as Giles jumps in, then out of a circle of twigs. In his crypt, Spike spars with his new toy – as they fight, she admits she can’t hurt him, and their struggle quickly changes into sexual foreplay… In the desert, Giles is sitting in the middle of his circle of twigs, reciting a chant. Buffy, walking alone, spots a wildcat and follows it. It leads her to a spot marked by a dark rock – it’s the place where she met the First Slayer in "Restless". Tara performs a protection spell on Xander and Anya’s place, in case Glory shows up. Sitting on the sofa, Dawn notices a pair of Anya’s earrings, and swiftly makes them disappear in her pocket. As she lightly covers by suggesting they order pizza, one of Glory’s minions peers through the window… At the crypt, Spike and Buffy-bot rest after having sex. The robot wonders if she should start this program over, but Spike, a bit disturbed, tells her to "be Buffy". On campus, Willow is giving instructions to another student on how to take care of the notes she’s lending him. As she leaves, another minion follows her… In the desert, Giles sips coffee in his car while somewhere else, Buffy sits on the big rock, waiting… While Spike sleeps, Buffy-bot gets out of bed, deciding it’s time to patrol. In the graveyard, she runs into Xander and Anya. As Buffy-bot looks at them, the "computer desktop" in her head (containing such lovely folders as "Locate Spike" and "Make Spike happy") scrolls up some info on Xander, indicating that he is a friend, a carpenter, and dates Anya. The computer further indicates that Anya likes money and is an ex-demon. After some small talk, Anya comments that Buffy is back from her quest early; Xander asks how it went. Buffy-bot tells him that she doesn’t understand this question, but she thanks him for asking. Spike arrives, running, and covers for Buffy-bot as best he can. Then four vampires crash the party, and the gang fights them as two minions watch from the bushes, noticing how protective of Spike the Slayer is… After the vampires are done with, Spike and Buffy-bot strongly hint to Xander and Anya that they’d rather be alone. The human couple leaves, and Spike and Buffy-bot kiss. As they walk away, Xander notes that Buffy seemed a bit "spacey"; he and Anya, worried, decide to go back. In the cemetery, they look on, shocked, from the bushes as Buffy-bot atop Spike, having sex with him, telling him how bad he is… Xander and Anya return to their place, where Willow and Tara are watching a movie. After making sure that Dawn is asleep, they tell the two witches that Buffy is "boinking" Spike. The gang is alarmed, and Xander decides to go find her. Still sitting on her big rock in the desert, Buffy seemingly dozes off… and then finds herself in front of a campfire, the First Slayer facing her on the other side. At the crypt, Spike hears Xander coming and quickly sends the bot downstairs. Xander enters and confronts Spike with what he saw in the graveyard. Spike replies that it’s none of his business, but Xander accuses the vampire of taking advantage of Buffy’s grief. The two argue, but suddenly a group of minions bursts in. While Xander is knocked unconscious, Spike is taken away to face Glory… The First Slayer introduces herself as Buffy’s guide, having assumed a familiar form. Buffy asks her questions, and the guide understands that she’s worried about losing her ability to love, her humanity; she states that Buffy is full of love, that she loves with all her soul – and love will bring her to her gift. At Spike’s crypt, Buffy-bot comes out of hiding and, not seeing Xander, who is still unconscious, she sets out to find Spike. At Xander’s apartment, Willow answers a knock on the door, and there is Buffy-bot, worried that Spike is missing. Willow takes her out onto the balcony for a private chat; as she looks at the redhead, the bot’s desktop display says that Willow is gay (1999 – present), a witch, and good with computers. Willow tells Buffy-bot about Xander going to look for her and not coming back, but the bot is only concerned about Spike. Willow asks if she did indeed sleep with the vampire, and Buffy-bot admits that she had sex with him – many times, a lot of different positions, does Willow want sketches? "No!" Willow pleads, insisting that this is all wrong. She says she just wants to help, to which Buffy-bot replies that Willow is her best friend – and recently gay. Before a baffled Willow can say "Huh?" Xander arrives and tells the gang about Spike’s abduction. Xander, Anya, Willow and the bot go to get weapons, while Tara stays with Dawn. In the desert, the guide explains to Buffy that death is her gift. The Slayer is baffled, and a bit outraged – death is not a gift. "Your question has been answered", the guide states, before disappearing along with the campfire. The minions drag Spike into Glory into Glory’s presence, saying that he is the Key, but she isn’t impressed – Spike is a vampire, and therefore cannot be the Key (the Key is pure, it seems). The minions point out that the Slayer "protected this one above all others", and Glory finds this quite interesting. Shoving Spike onto the bed, she plunges her finger straight into his stomach, as he cries in pain. At Buffy’s house, the Scoobies start loading up on weapons, sending Buffy-bot (who has no clue on where to find Glory) upstairs to change clothing. As they discuss what to do to bring Buffy back to her senses, the real Buffy walks in. The gang is startled at how quick that was, and Buffy – thinking they mean the quest – mutters that it didn’t seem that quick to her. Xander tells her they need to talk, and Anya adds that what she’s doing is wrong – finally blurting it out about the having sex with Spike. "The who whating how with huh?" Buffy replies, taken aback. She insists she is not having sex with Spike. Xander tells her that they saw the whole thing in the cemetery, with the "straddling". Buffy doesn’t understand, until the Buffy-bot comes back downstairs, asking who is straddling Spike. Buffy looks shocked, and figures out that it must be a robot, like that girlfriend Warren built for himself. Buffy is outraged that her friends would mistake her for a robot, but Anya comments that she’s very well done… The gang realize this is Spike’s doing, but tries to focus on the more important fact – that is, Glory has Spike. Buffy insists they go get him now, because they have to kill him. At Glory’s place, Spike, badly bruised and chained up, seemingly caves in under torture and promises to tell the hellgod where the Key is. The Scoobies go to the place where Buffy killed Glory’s cobra, deciding to work their way to Glory’s place from there. Buffy explains to the Buffy-bot that they’re not going to save Spike – they’re going to kill him, because he’s evil and he’s going to tell Glory where the Key is. Spike tells Glory that the Key is, what’s him name, the game-show host… A minion figures he’s talking about Bob Barker, and the minions offer to bring Glory the limp, battered body of the Price is Right host. Glory is infuriated by Spike’s lie, and grows even more infuriated as he proceeds to insult her. She finally knocks him in fury, sending him flying free of his chains. Congratulating himself on his plan, he escapes, but the minions catch up with him. Luckily, Xander and Buffy arrive and fight the minions; Buffy-bot and Giles follow, and the robot heads directly for Spike. However, Giles gets in trouble and calls for Buffy – and Buffy-bot saves him, getting her circuits knocked out by a minion in the process. Jinx and Murk report to Glory that they lost the day – the Slayer seemed to be everywhere, with her friends who might have also been demons. Glory is quite angry at having lost Spike, and the two minions pay for it… At the Magic Box, Willow inspects the bot, while Buffy peers at it and denies any serious resemblance (right…). Giles and Xander walk in, reporting that they left Spike at his crypt – he was so badly beaten that they couldn’t find out if he’d told Glory anything. Buffy says they need to know, so her and Dawn can get out of town on time. Willow puts in that she can fix the robot; Buffy doesn’t want that, of course, but Xander, for once, takes pity on Spike. While denying he’s suggesting giving Spike his toy back, he comments that the guy looked so thrashed… No shit. Spike is lying on his sarcophagus, heavily bruised and bleeding. The Buffy-bot enters the crypt and cheerfully comments that he’s "all covered in sexy wounds". She asks him why he let Glory hurt him, and he explains that she wanted to know where the Key is. The bot lightly replies that she can tell Glory that, but Spike stops her – if anything happened to Dawn, it would destroy Buffy, he says, and he’d rather be killed by Glory than see Buffy in so much pain. The bot kisses Spike, and he pulls away from her, startled. Buffy stares back at him, the smile gone from her face, and turns to leave. He asks about his robot, and she replies that the robot was "gross and obscene, and not real". After a pause, she adds that what he did for her and Dawn – that was real, and she won’t forget it. She walks out, Spike staring after her. Summary by OttsFiveByFive.