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Season 7 Episode 9 "Never Leave Me"

The Scoobies start making preparations to defend the Summers' house. Xander is making repairs from the damages of Conversations With Dead People. The rest of the gang discuss how dangerous it is keeping Spike so close. Anya thinks they should just stake him.

Andrew and Warren are talking. By now we know that all dead people are the Morphy character. We'll have a name for him by the end of the episode. Andrew's spirits are flagging after killing Jonathan. Warren morphs into the recently departed Jonathan. He informs Andrew that his ritualistic death failed to bring about the event it was supposed to trigger. Turns out Jonathan was anemic. His blood just wasn't thick enough to do the trick. Andrew despairs of killing anyone else but Jonathan doesn't seem that worried about it.

Buffy ties up a willing Spike, preventing him from committing any more crimes. Spikes tells her to make the ropes tighter.

Principal Wood is talking to two typical indifferent apathetic trouble-makers in his office. Nothing he says gets through to them until he threatens police action against them. Not sure what this scene was supposed to convey. Dawn interrupts and informs him that Buffy is home sick and is doing a great deal of vomiting. Funny. This is two out of the last three episodes that Dawn has made me laugh. There may be some hope for this character after all.

Buffy makes a long distance call to London to the Head of the Watcher's Council, Quentin Travers. She questions him about the whereabouts of Giles. He does not know either. Travers hangs up and informs his colleagues that the Slayer knows nothing, and it is in their best interest to find Giles as soon as possible.

Buffy checks up on Spike. He's going through violent withdrawals from lack of blood. He starts vamping out, thrashing against his bonds. Willow asks Buffy how she's holding up? Willow offers to kill Anya to supply Spike's need for blood. Oh Willow, how could you? Buffy sends Willow to get some animal blood for Spike.

Warren tries to get Andrew to kill a pig, but Andrew fails miserably. So Andrew is also in need of blood, but he needs it for the failed ritual. Andrew goes to the local butcher buys an absurd amount of meat, then nonchalantly adds his order of pig blood. Now, I'm revealing my ignorance of the world of butchers here, but can you actually buy pig's blood? Is there a market for such things? As Andrew walks away from the counter he bumps into Willow. The contents of Andrew's bag go sprawling across the floor. As Willow realizes who it is, a very angry look enters her eye. Will Willow go Dark Willow and remove Andy's skin? No. What they do have is a hilarious scene together. Willow drags Andrew outside and demands an explanation. Andrew pleads innocence. When that fails he tries intimidation. When that fails Willow tries intimidation. That works. Willow takes Andrew back to Buffy's. Easily the funniest scene Willow has had in a long time.

Xander & Anya play 'good cop/bad cop' on Andrew. He is petrified of Anya, who enjoys the role of bad cop perhaps a bit too much. Meanwhile Buffy feeds Spike the pigs blood that Andrew purchased. His withdrawals have subsided. Spike explains he doesn't  remember his crimes. He talks about how he got his soul back. The pain and torture he endured for it. Now that he has a soul, he understands self-loathing, hating oneself. He understands Buffy now.

Andrew and Xander talk. In a very moving monologue, Xander describes how Anya deals with men who've wronged her. How she leaves them a nothingness where their hearts were. How there's nothing to look forward to life after she's done. This speech more than anything shows how distraught Xander is over Anya. The fact that it also works as a cautionary tale to scare Andrew straight is part of it's brilliance. Anya enters and attacks Andrew. Now horrified, Andrew squeaks that he'll talk.

Morphy is now in the room with Spike. Outside the door, Buffy can hear Spike talking to someone. She enters the room. Spike claims he was merely talking to himself. He asks her for more pig blood and she relents. After feeding him Spike vamps out and easily breaks his bonds. He attacks Buffy. He then breaks down the wall separating his room and where Andrew is being held. He pulls Andrew through the wall and attempts to bite him. Buffy is able to knock Spike out and end the threat. Xander using his knowledge of military movies deduces that Spike is being fed a trigger word (or in this case a song) which causes him to be evil, and is responsible for his messed up memories. As we determined last episode, Spike is a sleeper agent for Morphy. Buffy calls forth the Scoobies to investigate this.

Principal Wood goes to the basement of the school and finds Jonathan's corpse laying prostrate on the pentacle. Another odd scene for the principal.

Buffy starts cleaning up Spike, who's body is awash in blood. She explains Xander's theory to him. Spike asks Buffy to kill him. Spike explains the depths of his evil, trying to sway Buffy's mind. Spike questions why Buffy cannot kill him. He knows it's not love. Spike reasons that it must be that Buffy needs pain to be effective as the Slayer. Buffy rejects this. Buffy says she believes in Spike's redemption and that she believes in him.

The Summer's house is then invaded by...the Goons In Cloaks. Uh-oh.

Principal Wood is digging a grave for Jonathan. Yet another weird scene. I have no clue where they are going with this.

The Scooby Gang versus the Goons In Cloaks. Well, the Summer's house gets busted up again but the Scoobies suffer no casualties. The Goons cannot say the same. Dawn shows off some of her training here. The Goons go after Andrew but Buffy saves him yet again. When the fight is over and the commotion dies down, they realize that Spike has been taken. That was the real reason for the invasion. Buffy investigates the bodies of the Goon's. She recognizes them. She knows who the Big Bad is. Everything is connected to it. The Big Bad is the First Evil. Buffy fought the First back in Season 3, in an episode called, "Amends". In that episode the First was messing with Angel, haunting him with Jenny's ghost, then with the ghosts of many of his past victims. To read a full description of that episode, click here and be taken to the Buffy Cross & Stake site.

The Watcher's Council is in full battle alert. They are preparing for all out war. As they make their preparations to storm Sunnydale and the Hellmouth, their entire building explodes. Damnit, I was envisioning some epic battles between the Watcher's Council and the forces of the Hellmouth. Oh well. Looks like Buffy is the only one left who can stop this threat.

The First has Spike suspended over the pentacle in the school basement. Ritualistic cuts in Spike's chest bleed onto the pentacle. It falls away. The First morphs into Buffy, and informs Spike this is what a real vampire looks like, as one of the ugliest fiends I've ever seen emerges. This guy is Nosferatu ugly. Oddly enough the guy who plays this Supreme Ugly Vampire, is also the guy who played the very creepy Gnarl in episode three of this year, and he was also one of the Gentlemen in the season four masterpiece, "Hush".

What I liked:  The epic feel of this episode. The mobilization of the Watcher's Council, short lived as it was. Willow and Andrews's scene. Anya & Xander's good cop/bad cop. Xander's heartfelt decree of what it's like to be an Anya victim. The Goons in Cloaks finally arrive in Sunnydale. Spike and Buffy yet again steal the show with their powerful scenes.

What I didn't like: The weird principal scenes. More Anya & Willow please. No resolution to the Giles cliffhanger. Having the Big Bad be a relatively obscure villain from season three, that was never heard from again. In that episode it's established the First cannot be killed, but Buffy banishes it by killing it's three priests. I hope it's not that simple this time round. And what's the deal with Supreme Ugly Vampire? Is he a henchmen of the First? Something even worse than the First? Is the First the Supreme Ugly Vampire given corporeal form. I'm confused.

Rating: (out of 6) 5

Comments, questions, answers? Happily agree, or violently disagree? Email me and let me know.

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