Seeing Red

by Jerry

Seeing Red, written by Steve DeKnight, is the pivotal crossroads episode that crystallizes most of the plotlines that have been brewing since midseason, and sends several of the characters careening off in new and potentially unsettling directions. From here on out, things are going to get pretty rocky.

We open in Willow's room, in the aftermath of some intense making up with Tara. They have successfully (for now, at least) decided to put aside the issues that split them up, and are two very happy naked lesbians. Willow is for the moment untroubled by her nasty addiction issues, and is just back to being Willow. They talk about Buffy. Willow suspects that Buffy has something going on with Spike, and Tara confirms that Buffy had told her about it. Willow is predictably confused and hurt about Buffy not confiding in her, but Tara does her best to reassure her. They decide to be supportive and go out to check if Buffy has come home, but they find Buffy gone, and Willow runs into Dawn. Dawn expresses concern about Buffy and Spike (which she was quicker to figure out than Willow was), and is then surprised and overjoyed to see that Willow and Tara are back together. She's their biggest fan, and seeing them reunited gives her some hope that things aren't just going all to hell.

Buffy is at the lair of the nerds. She is surprised by a note that just says 'too late'. There is mayhem and carnage and huge buzz saws. Indiana Jones would be proud. Buffy is irate about her coat getting cut up, but she would have only worn it once anyway.

At the house, Buffy and a pleased-as-punch Dawn are reviewing the state of the nerds with Willow and Tara. Buffy rejects Dawn's suggestion that they consult Spike - he's off the team for now. Xander and Anya are also deemed to be not in a helpful mood after the events of the prior night.

Although it seems to be around noon, Anya's in a bar (with an entirely different hairstyle than she had the night before), engaging a potential vengeance client. She's a good candidate, with a boyfriend who cheated on her with her 'fat, ugly sister', and a strong desire to wish horrible things on him. Anya, however, is preoccupied with her own problems, repeatedly cutting off the woman's vengeance wishes to rant about Xander. It doesn't look like Anya's return to the vengeance circuit is going to work out too well, but it's quite funny to watch. It's interesting that being transformed from a regular mortal woman into a powerful, immortal demon hasn't actually changed Anya at all.

Andrew is groveling in fear before a nasty-looking demon in an underground tunnel until Warren subdues it with a cattle prod. Andrew is tired of always being the bait. Warren says not to worry, as once this plan succeeds, they'll be the thing everyone is afraid of. He tosses Jonathan a knife and tells him to get to work.

In the crypt, Spike is drinking, which seems like a reasonable course of action for where things are with him at the moment. He's looking kind of broken. Dawn drops in - Spike isn't all that surprised, so I guess they've spent a bit of time together off camera this year. He smiles at hearing that Willow and Tara are back together, but then it just reminds him of his own loneliness and frustration. Dawn tells Spike about the cameras in the Magic Box, and asks 'Do you love her?' Spike says no, thinking she means Anya, but doesn't answer when Dawn asks about Buffy, whom she says is really hurt. "Must still be a bit of the evil in me after all", Spike responds, sounding a lot more sad than evil.

Down in the caverns, the nerds have found a cave with a mystical barrier in front of it, the lair of some Nezzlar demons (spelling approximate - it's not like there's a right way to spell 'Nezzlar demon').The barrier, in Warren's words, 'curly-fries' anything but the demons. A very amusing-looking but unhappy Jonathan turns up, dressed in the still-wet skin of the demon they just killed, which he's supposed to use to infiltrate the lair. Warren shoves the reluctant Jonathan through the barrier, even though he admits he doesn't know if Jonathan will get curly-fried. He doesn't. While he's inside, we get a sense of the fact that Andrew and Warren both distrust Jonathan, and that Warren is manipulating the weak-willed Andrew. Jonathan emerges with a box containing two magical spheres, the Orbs of Nezzlicon (again, sue me if I spelled it wrong). They confer strength and invulnerability. According to Andrew, "those orbs are all I've ever dreamed of". Warren grabs them, is quite pleased with the result, as he gets all glowy and, well, pleased-looking.

After the commercial, Warren is putting away his demon-orbs in a case on his belt. Andrew doesn't know if they work - he thinks the orbs are supposed to make them "huge and veiny". They encounter another demon, and Warren kills it with his new superpowers. Jonathan wants to test drive the orbs, but Warren's not in a sharing mood where his magical balls are concerned. There are in fact other parts of this episode that DeKnight probably wrote without snickering at his computer like Beavis and Butthead.

Buffy shows up at Xander's apartment, which has turned into a vast collection of empty beer bottles. She tries to reassure him that Anya still loves him, and that what Anya did with Spike isn't so bad. Xander is somewhat willing to forgive Anya, knowing that he's not on the moral high ground. He's less understanding of Buffy, who he holds to a higher standard than the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Buffy explains to Xander how hard it was for her to be brought back to life. It would have been nice to hear her acknowledge that Spike helped her deal with that, but no such luck. Instead, we get Xander saying 'you went to him instead'. Buffy informs Xander that her personal life is none of his business. 'It used to be', he responds. I missed the seasons where Buffy's personal life was Xander's business, I guess. Buffy, for a change, defends Spike, noting that Xander had no problem with him when she was gone, and that he's treated Dawn well. When Buffy knocks his judgment, Xander replies that he's made mistakes, but slaughtering half of Europe wasn't one of them. He may have a bit of a blind spot about the woman he was planning to marry, I think. Xander leaves to wander the streets of Sunnydale to music, looking in sadly as Anya aimlessly tends to the Magic Box alone.

Now we are at the never-before-seen 'Tara's room' set, where Willow has pried herself away (just barely) from the make-up sex for a little computer action. They learn a bit about what Warren and company are up to, but they're too much into each other at the moment to work too hard. They should probably be taking the search more seriously, but as Giles pointed out a long time ago ('Surprise', I think) on the Hellmouth you need to enjoy life when you have the chance.

Xander is at the Bronze, getting drunk. A cute-looking woman is hitting on him, but he echoes Anya's earlier behavior by ignoring her flirtation to babble about his own problems. Enter the nerds. Jonathan is impatient and squirmy, Warren's in lounge lizard mode, and Andrew's sniping at Jonathan. Meanwhile, we get a scene of Buffy killing a vampire and being injured in the process, a contrivance to set up the next scene.

Buffy's in a robe and kind of limpy as she enters a bathroom the size of Yankee Stadium. As she turns on the water, Spike enters. He's there to apologize for hurting her by sleeping with Anya, but things quickly change. "I care about you", Spike says. "Then you might want to try not sleeping with my friends", she answers, which I think stretches her friendship with Anya a bit to suit her purposes. Spike explains he was seeking a spell, which she misinterprets. Spike confesses that he wishes Xander had killed him, but Buffy admits she couldn't allow that. Buffy makes the distinction that she doesn't love Spike because she can't trust him. I think that isn't quite right - I think she does love him but doesn't trust him, It doesn't matter, though - she's allowed to say no even if she does love him. Spike scoffs at the importance of trust - he thinks love is all about fire (echoing Buffy's thoughts in 'Something Blue'). He's convinced she just needs to let herself love him, and he tries to force her to do just that. Given the lack of boundaries in their relationship, Spike's behavior here can initially be excused, but it goes way beyond that. Spike loses control to the point where he can't even see her frantic pleading for him to stop. He doesn't specifically have evil intent, but I'm not looking to excuse real-world guys who do similar things without evil intent, so I'll say it's an evil act. The scene is brutal and goes on forever. Given her superpowers, Buffy should have been able, even with her injuries, to stop Spike whenever she wanted, which she ultimately does by kicking him across the room. This brings Spike back to his senses - he's shaken and tries to apologize, but Buffy is understandably not in a listening mood. "Ask me again why I can't love you" she yells.

Back at the Bronze, Andrew is nursing a fruity-looking drink with umbrellas in it as he watches Warren on the prowl. A nervous Jonathan tries to persuade Andrew to turn on Warren, but Andrew's still kind of star-struck. Warren sees a couple together and prowls over to hit on the woman when the guy turns away. It turns out that the guy bullied Warren in high school, and now Warren wants to get even by stealing his girl. Warren has the sort of 15-year-old's mindset that once he shows off how strong he is, obviously the woman will fall all over him. The guy challenges Warren and gets thrown across the room for it, as do a few of his buddies. As Warren is holding court, Xander emerges from the bathroom to confront him Warren taunts Xander about Anya sleeping with Spike, and clobbers him when Xander takes a swing. A nervous Jonathan intervenes to keep Warren from killing Xander, and the nerds head out to pursue their plan.

A bloodied Xander arrives at Casa Summers to tell Buffy about Warren. Seeing Spike's duster on the banister (SPIKE ABANDONS COAT OF SLAYER-KILLAGE! FILM AT ELEVEN!), he storms upstairs and barges into the bathroom, which I really wouldn't recommend in a house full of women. But in this case he finds a distraught Buffy on the floor in her robe, and she lets him know what happened. Buffy doesn't want him going after Spike - although she's upset, she doesn't seem to be 'attempted rape victim' upset. When Willow shows up, Buffy downplays the situation.

After Buffy's cleaned up, the Scoobies (in this case, Buffy, Xander, Willow and Tara) review what they know. Willow has some untranslatable documents which Xander identifies as Klingon love poems (I'd rather not dwell on the concept of Andrew writing sonnets to Warren in Klingon, but that does seem to be the implication). Willow does the Basil Exposition thing, alerting Buffy to the Nerds next move.

In the crypt, Spike is haunted by flashbacks to his actions in the bathroom. Clem shows up bearing hot wings, hoping to watch 'Knight Rider', but Spike is preoccupied with his soulless soul-searching. He's horrified by his actions, but also horrified that he's horrified. Clem, not knowing the details and being the loyal guy friend that he is, is more than willing to blame Buffy ("She's a swell girl, Spike, but ….issues !"). Spike wants to blame it on the chip - that's what he thinks led him away from wanting Buffy dead. "Things change", Clem suggests. "If you make them", Spike answers. He seems determined to get the chip out and return to his old ways, although I doubt it will be that simple. As long as the chip is working, Spike can hide behind it to avoid admitting to himself how much he's changed. If it comes out, he'll be at a real crossroads.

At Sunnydale's previously unseen amusement park, Warren is knocking over an armored car containing the opening-weekend's receipts. "I can't wait to get my hands on his orbs", Andrew observes admiringly. Buffy shows up and she and Warren go at it. Warren is winning, barely, and gloating in true Bond Villain manner. Everything Warren does is about ego - proving his worth by being a badass. Jonathan jumps Buffy as a ploy to whisper in her ear about the orbs. Seizing the moment, Buffy, um, busts Warren's balls to destroy his power. He doesn't take defeat well, vowing revenge as he breaks out a jet pack to make his escape. Andrew tries to follow, but crashes into a roof, negating his grandiose 'you may have won' talk before takeoff. He and the jet-pack-less Jonathan, who was set up to take the fall, get busted by the cops.

At the police station, Andrew bemoans Warren's abandonment. "He never really loved … hanging out with us." While making one of the villains gay might be politically treacherous at this moment in the story, I think that Andrew's crush, and Warren's willingness to manipulate it, adds some depth to both characters.

Spike is on his motorcycle, headed out of town. "Get nice and comfy, slayer", he says, in a determined but not all that menacing tone. "I'll be back. And when I do, things are gonna change." And so he embarks on the next stage of his journey. Exactly where he'll wind up is uncertain, but I would bet it won't be where he expects.

At the house, Willow and Tara are snuggly (though clothed) upstairs in the bedroom. They see Xander and Buffy in the yard. Xander shows some signs that he's starting to emerge from his darkness, admitting that he was hurt Buffy didn't tell him about Spike, but also that he gave her good reason not to. As they are making up, a deranged Warren appears. "You think you can do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that?" he rants, pulling a gun and starting to fire. Xander goes down, but isn't hit. Upstairs (Warren must be using 'JFK' style Magic Bullets that can make right turns in midair - which is actually a possibility), Willow is splattered in blood. "Your shirt", Tara exclaims, as it becomes clear that the blood is hers, shot through the heart. Buffy's hit as well, and it doesn't look good. The scene is one of the most horrific ever on the show. Buffy will live, of course (and even if she dies, that's never stopped her for long). But Tara is wise, sweet, loving - everything about her is good. And in an instant, for no good reason (not even really for any evil reason), she's just gone, apparently forever.

The title 'Seeing Red' refers to being overcome with rage to the point that it overwhelms all judgment, and we see three characters seeing red in Seeing Red. Spike is so consumed by romantic rejection that it overflows his limited morality and restraint, causing him to do something even he knows is wrong. Warren is driven over the edge by ego. I don't think he's got any morals to disregard, but the shooting is uncharacteristically rash for him, and is more a matter of childish spite than a stage of an evil master plan. And we end with Willow, her fragile equilibrium destroyed and the life she had struggled to recover in ruin, literally seeing red, eyes glowing with rage, suggesting hell to pay. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

-- Jerry

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