Writers: Drew Goddard and 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 : Azura Skye as Cassie, Jonathan M. Woodward as Holden, Danny Strong as Jonathan, Tom Lenk as Andrew, Adam Busch as Warren, Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers.

Original broadcast date : November 12, 2002

My one-line description: Buffy gets a psychanalysis, Willow gets her psyche played with and Dawn lives through Psycho.

Somebody turns up an amp as the title “Conversations With Dead People” flashes across a black screen. As somebody tests the drums, the date “November 12, 2002”, and the time, “8:01 PM”, appears in caption. As a female singer starts a song at the Bronze, Buffy walks alone in a cemetery. Back at the Bronze, Spike sits at the bar, staring blankly at his drink. At the UC Sunnydale library, Willow is falling asleep on her books. Dawn arrives home to find a note from Buffy saying she’ll be out late, and some money to buy supper (“No pizza!” the note reads). In the cemetery, Buffy kneels in front of a grave; the earth begins to move, and a hand surges out just as the Bronze singer ends her song…

An old El Camino makes its way down a road. Inside, Jonathan and Andrew are having jitters at the thought of being back – after all, last time 33,3 % of them was flayed alive. Jonathan would’ve liked to stay in Mexico, but Andrew didn’t want the nightmares anymore. “It eats you starting with your bottom” he says. The two of them agree they’re going to make it right.

While Buffy fights a particularly tough vampire, Dawn munches forbidden pizza at home, accidentally spilling some sauce on one of Buffy’s shirt (“She’ll think it’s blood”, the teenager mutters, shrugging it off). Some time later, she plays Slayer with an axe, but accidentally swings it into a shelf… Later still, she manages to fire a crossbow bolt into a wall. When she tries to retrieve the bolt, a piece of wall comes out, and she moves a large plant in front of the wall to cover it. Some time later, she dances in the kitchen on salsa music, puts a marshmallow in the microwave, and watches in amazement as it grows… However, a loud “thud” pulls her out of her fun.

At the library, Willow is joined by… Cassie, the dead girl from “Help”. Willow is confused, but finally recognizes her from the photographs. She thinks it’s weird, since Cassie is kind of dead, and she wonders if she’s dreaming. Cassie assures her she’s really here – well not really, but it’s complicated. She sits across the table from Willow and tells her that “she asked that I come talk to you, it’s important”. Cassie adds that she says she still sings, even though Willow can’t hear it. Willow’s eyes start to fill up as she realizes… “Tara!”

At the house, Dawn is watching an old horror movie and talking to Kit on the phone. Suddenly, she hears that “THUMP” again, and tells Kit about it. She mutes the TV and follows the thumps to the front door. She opens it… and is almost pulled outside by a huge gust of wind. She manages to close the door, but then the TV volume comes back on; hanging up on Kit, a thoroughly spooked Dawn tries to turn off the TV – to no avail. She unplugs it – it keeps on going.

In the cemetery, the fight is now definitely at Buffy’s disadvantage, as the vampire pins her against a tombstone. Suddenly he pauses – “Buffy? Buffy Summers?” He introduces himself as Holden Webster, they went to school together. Buffy doesn’t recognize him, but she decides to pretend she does…

As Dawn look, terrified, at the un-killable TV, the living room sound system turns itself on, as the salsa comes back on via the kitchen ghetto blaster. Dawn picks up an axe and lands it in the TV, shattering it, then does the same job with the sound system. Only the salsa music plays now… Dawn goes in the kitchen, where suddenly the microwave starts glowing red, as if on overload… She kills it too. Then the salsa on the radio is replaced by static… and a voice. “Dawn?” calls Joyce Summer’s voice. Then the music comes back on. “Mom?”

At the cemetery, Holden is still trying to jog Buffy’s memory, and finally she does. She comments that he’s changed – with the demon face and all. She asks what he’s been up to, and he replies that (dying aside) he’s been majoring in psych and interning at Sunnydale Mental Hospital. As the two chat, Holden’s face morphs back to human, and he suddenly gets it – he’s a vampire! Buffy is sorry for him, but he’s not – he’s connected to evil. He asks about her, and she says she’s “not so connected”. He specifies that he wants to know about thewhole stake and cross thing. She tells him she’s the Slayer, and that she’s been doing it since high school. He replies that he’d heard a lot of rumours about her at school – her former boyfriend Scott Hope had even said she was gay. Turns out, he adds, that Scott came out of the closet sometime later… The conversation continues as Buffy reveals that she’s THE Slayer. He asks her what she meant when she said she wasn’t connected, but she grows uncomfortable at his attempt at Psych 101. She stresses that she is connected, to everything. And as they talk, her cell phone, forgotten on the ground, rings unheeded…

On the other end, Dawn is pleading for Buffy to pick up: she doesn’t know what to do. Finally she puts the phone down and tries to get the radio to broadcast Joyce FM again. To no avail. However, there is that THUMP again, and suddenly everything begins to shake and the lights go out. When they come back on, the furniture has been moved – chairs on top of the table, weapons chest upside down. On the wall, a bloody hand has scrawled, “Mother’s milk is red today”. The lights go dim again, then back on – and everything is back to normal. Silence. Then the THUDS start up again, and a terrified Dawn screams for it to stop. Silence. Dawn rises, and calls “Hello?” THUD. “Once for yes, twice for no”, Dawn says, loud. Dawn asks her Mom if it’s her. THUD. Is she OK? THUD THUD. Uh oh… Is she alone? THUD THUD. As Dawn takes this in, the room starts to shake again, and lightbulbs start to explode. “Why are you doing this?” Dawn screams.

Jonathan and Andrew, wearing black action gear, drop into Sunnydale High from the roof. As they move around – acting very stealthy, Jonathan suggests they get Buffy, but Andrew refuses. Jonathan wants to tell her about the Seal of Danzathar, but Andrew argues that they’ll end up in jail again if they go to Buffy empty-handed – they need to get proof so they can save Sunnydale and maybe, maybe, join Buffy’s gang. As they walk down the hallway, Andrew pulls out a map and says they should look for the principal’s office. Jonathan suggests they split up to do that, and they pull out their walkie talkies to check their communications (“Echo 2 to Echo 1, do you really think they’ll let us join their gang?”)

As Jonathan moves out of sight, Warren appears behind Andrew. Andrew is scared, but Warren reassures him –death was part of the plan. “If you strike me down…” he says, “I shall become more powerful than you ever imagined”, Andrew finishes. Warren adds that if “short round” (Jonathan) can pull it off, they’ll both become gods.

At the library, Cassie tells Willow that Tara can’t be seen by her – a consequence of all the deaths Willow caused. However, Tara can hear Willow and talk to her through Cassie. “Tara… Tara, I miss you”, she says. Cassie’s face suddenly grows sober, and she reports that Tara is crying. She adds that Tara misses Willow too, and wishes she could touch her. Tears rolling down her face, Willow says that it’s tough – there’s a great big empty hole, and it’s not getting better. “It will”, Cassie says for Tara. “You’re strong. Strong like an amazon, remember?”

At the Bronze, Spike is still sitting alone with his drink. Suddenly, a tall blonde walks up behind him and puts a pack of cigarettes on the table. She pulls up a chair, obviously intent on hitting on him.

At the cemetery, Buffy is lying down on a sarcophagus as if it were a shrink’s couch, telling Holden about her love life, and how her parents’ separation led her to have trouble finding the right guy. Holden comments that she’s scared to commit, but she argues that she is. He says that she’s too young to commit anyway – just because he really loved his college girlfriend doesn’t mean he’ll want to vampify her. “Sire”, Buffy corrects, explaining that when a vampire makes a human into a vampire, it’s called “siring”. He expresses wonder at all he has to learn, but then realizes they’re going to have to fight to the death. Buffy is also sad, but not because they’re going to fight – because she’s going to win. Holden laughs this off – after all, he’s done two years of Tae Kwon Do, and he’s a vampire; he believes she has a superiority complex. She denies it, but he asks abruptly whose fault she thinks her parents’ divorce was. She’s a bit outraged, but finally she sadly admits that she thinks her dad cheated. Holden asks her whether because her dad failed, she can’t connect with guys because she thinks she’s better than them. “How could anybody do this and not feel superior?” he adds. Her eyes growing vague, Buffy admits she’s done so many things, even to her best friends… and she was a monster to the last guy she dated, and the things she let him do to her… “There’s nothing wrong with you”, he comments as he picks up a statue atop a tombstone. He swings the thing at Buffy, knocking her down. “Everybody’s got issues”, he adds as he grabs her throat.

Buffy angrily throws Holden off her, calling him a son of a bitch for what did. As they fight, he apologizes – the confession made him want to bite her, he’s still new at all this mortal-enemy thing… They keep on fighting, and eventually crash through a window into a mausoleum.

Dawn looks around at the shattered living room as she hears a growling sound. “Are you hurting my mother? Are you keeping her from coming back to me?” she calls defiantly. On the couch, we see brief flashes, ghost images of Joyce, her eyeballs white, something looming over her, keeping her down. Dawn gets to the ground, looking for the axe, and suddenly it’s there, swinging at her. She screams and runs for the front door – it flies open as a voice orders her to get out. Dawn resists, closes the door. “She’s my mother, I’m staying!”

In the school basement, Jonathan and Andrew make enough sense of the map to get to Spike’s old room. As Andrew shines his flashlight at the door, Warren’s form (in a strange two-dimensional way) appears. Jonathan can’t see it, however. Inside the room, Jonathan points at the dirt floor, right where the Seal should be. Andrew takes a pickaxe and starts digging.

In the mausoleum, Buffy finally gets the best of Holden and points a stake at him. “There, you’re dead”, she declares. Holden asks her whether she’s going to kill him because he’s evil, or because she opened up to him. This causes Buffy to take a few steps away in disgust. He adds that it’s no worry to him – he just wonders if Patricia went to his funeral, ‘cause she was hot. Buffy is outraged that vampires only talk about death and sex and love and pain, but Holden thinks it’s more of a guy thing. Buffy counters that it’s different – “believe me, I know”. Holden challenges her to answer a question for him, and if he’s right, she has to talk about it, no hiding. “Your last relationship… was it with a vampire?”

Somewhere else, Spike walks down a darkened street with the blonde girl. Both are seemingly enjoying each other’s company very much.

Willow tells Tara, through Cassie, about what happened after Warren shot her – the way she hurt people. Through Cassie, Tara says she understands – Willow was grieving, and it was the power that did it, not her. She adds that the power is bigger than her – not part of her like Willow thought – and she must stop using it. No more spells, not even a little one. Cassie says that they’ve seen Willow’s path, and she’s not going to be OK – she’s going to kill everyone…

In the school basement, Jonathan and Andrew are still digging. Jonathan wonders if Buffy will know how to stop “it”, then suddenly exclaims “36-19-27! That’s it!” To a befuddled Andrew, he explains he’d been trying to remember his old locker combination. He goes on to say that he misses his high school days, his friends, the people that knew him, the others who didn’t know he existed… As he talks, Andrew spots two-dimensional Warren behind Jonathan, grinning. Jonathan says he’d like to see his old friends, see how they’re doing. Andrew replies that these people don’t even want to talk to him. It doesn’t matter, Jonathan says – he cares about them, and that’s why he’s here. They resume their digging, and from above them we see that they’re digging up a huge, silvery pentacle seal with esoteric symbols on it…

Sitting on the floor, lit candles around her, Dawn is mixing up some ingredients for a spell to cast out the demon. She grabs some of the powder she ground and throws it in the air, saying “I cast you out!”. The demon doesn’t like this, and throws her aside. She bravely keeps on going with the spell, making the demon angry and resulting in pure chaos – the windows shatter, the house shakes…

Buffy tells Holden that Spike cares for her, in his own weird way. She goes on to say that she wanted to be punished for all the power she had, not loved: she feels unworthy of being loved by her friends and lovers, because whatever happens, their opinions don’t matter – she’s the Slayer. At the same time, she feels she’s superior to them, and she’s ashamed… Holden gleefully announces she has a superiority complex, and an inferiority complex about it. He adds that it amounts to her feeling alone – and everybody feels alone, because in fact, they are, until they die. As they get up and prepare to fight again, Buffy says, “Listen, that stuff with Spike…” This gets Holden’s attention – did she says Spike?

Spike accompanies the blonde girl to her door, and she invites him in – but he acts shy, the pure gentleman, hesitating to bother her.

The Summers house is in pure pandemonium as Dawn fights to cast the creature out, as a fierce wind whips furiously at her. She throws the whole bowl of powder at the creature, and it howls in pain. Blood splatters on the walls, and appears around Dawn’s mouth as she screams. Suddenly, it all calms down, and Dawn falls to the side, weeping in sheer exhaustion. In front of her, a bright light appears and takes human form. “Mom?” Dawn asks softly.

At the library, a horrified Willow asks Cassie about what she saw on her path, but Cassie says she doesn’t want to know – it’s too horrible. She repeats that Willow must never, ever do a spell again, but Willow panics and says she isn’t sure she has the strength to stop and control herself. “There is another way”, Cassie says, one that would allow Willow to save her friends, and to see Tara again. It’s obvious she trying to get Willow to commit suicide. The redhead’s expression hardens. “Who are you?” she demands, suddenly wary.

Buffy asks Holden how he knows Spike, and Holden reveals Spike is his sire… And at the same time, Spike’s face goes into vamp mode, and he bites the girl he just walked back to her home.

“Things are coming, Dawn, things are on their way”, says a white-robed, glowing Joyce. “I love you and I love Buffy… but she won’t be there for you. When it’s bad, Buffy won’t choose you. She’ll be against you”. Dawn asks what she means, but Joyce fades away. Terrified and confused, Dawn collapses, crying.

Andrew puts on hand on Jonathan, who turns around to see Warren, grinning behind Andrew… who plunges a sword into Jonathan’s stomach.

Cassie’s tone changes as she makes fun of Willow and her feelings for Tara – she could picture the scene, with music and candles and pictures of her dead girlfriend on her bloody lap. Willow asks her to stop, and demands again to know who she is. After mocking Willow about the big, hurting hole in her heart, Cassie says grows serious and defiant. “You dont' know hurt. This last year is gonna seem like cake after what I put your friends through and i'm not a fan of easy death. Fact is the whole good vs. evil balancing the scales thing, i'm over it. i'm done with the mortal coil. But believe me, i'm going for a big finish…”

“From beneath you, it devours”, Willow says slowly. “Oh, not it”, Cassie says. “Me”. She folds in upon herself and disappears.

A song begins as Dawn sits sad and alone in the ravaged Summers living room. Jonathan falls to the ground, right on the pentacle, arms spread wide as his blood spreads over the talisman. Andrew and Warren look coldly down at him.

Spike lets the dead girl’s body fall to the ground. He shakes his head, drops of blood flying from his mouth.

At the cemetery, Buffy looks blankly as Holden’s dust dissipates. “…alone.” finishes the singer.

Special thanks to www.leoffonline.com