"Beneath You"

Written by Douglas Petrie
Directed by Nick Marck


In which Spike offers his help when something nasty begins stirring under Sunnydale, only it’s not quite what Buffy or anyone else is expecting...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the episode begins, a club girl runs through deserted hallways in Frankfurt, Germany. Chasing her are two of the hooded cultists from last episode’s teaser. She tries to fight them, but eventually they manage to gut her. As she dies, she murmurs, “From beneath you, it devours...”

Cut to Sunnydale, where Dawn shakes Buffy awake from her nightmare. Buffy explains her dream to Dawn, which matches what happened in Frankfurt. More than that, she tells Dawn that she knows there are more girls like that one out there...and they’re all going to die. Meanwhile, something very big and distinctly worm-like begins tunneling about the town.

Down in the basement of Sunnydale High, Spike mutters his insanity as he hunts down a rat. When the ground begins to shake, he becomes highly agitated, screaming that it’s not time. In the world above, Xander drops off Buffy and Dawn at school. Buffy is worried about facing her new job, but Xander assures her that the students are lucky to have her there. The conversation turns to Xander’s recent lack of luck in the love department. It all goes back to his history with Anya. Buffy and Dawn try to reassure him that maybe it’s time to try.

At school, Buffy tries to figure out what her exact job description is. She’s basically there to be a counselor, though she knows she’s not qualified. But she understands the students better than anyone else on staff, and that can be a help. Once she has a moment, she makes her way to the basement to catch up with Spike.

In Westbury, England, Willow prepares to return to Sunnydale. She’s uncertain whether returning is the right thing to do, or even if she’s learned enough to control her power. She doesn’t know if she can face what’s coming, or even if her friends will take her back again. Giles reminds her that even though she may not be wanted, she will be needed.

In Sunnydale, a woman named Nancy is walking her dog when something jumps up and grabs it. A huge worm-like creature comes out of the hole and she runs, straight into Xander’s arms. He takes her to Buffy, and they promise her that they can help. Buffy notes the similarity between what she was told in her dream and the creature.

To no one’s happiness, Spike appears to offer his services. When Nancy asks who Spike is, sensing the feeling in the room, Xander and Dawn both tell her that he’s Buffy’s ex. When Xander offers to toss him out, Spike backs down a bit, not wanting a confrontation. He tells her that when she saw him last, he was a bit out of his head.

Dawn and Xander are more than a little angry to find that Buffy kept that little meeting to herself, but Buffy tells them to back off, and goes to hear what Spike has to say. Buffy expects Spike to try to say something to apologize for his attempted rape of her last season, but instead he simply offers to help her against whatever’s coming...something really big, bigger than anything they’ve ever faced. Buffy wants nothing to do with Spike, but eventually is forced to admit that he can help.

Buffy orders them to split up. Xander is to take Nancy home, something that he is more than happy to do. (He’s also very happy to assure Nancy that Buffy’s not his girlfriend!) Buffy decides to go with Spike, which really doesn’t make anyone else happy, but she assures them that she can handle it. But Dawn leaves Spike with a little warning of her own.

Soon after, Buffy and Spike investigate where Nancy was attacked. Buffy still questions his intentions, but Spike continues to say he’s just there to help. He claims that the craziness was just about the spectres in the school basement last episode. But Buffy feels that she has to make her own feelings clear, and nothing is going to bring them back together. Spike swears that he has changed, and Buffy agrees. She’s just not sure what that change is. In the end, Spike just offers his help again, and tells her that there’s nothing to be learned at the attack site.

At Nancy’s apartment, Xander and Nancy make with the uncomfortable small talk, but it’s clear that she wants to see him again. As she’s about to walk towards the stairs, the building begins to shake, and the creature begins pushing its way into the hallway. It screams at them a few times, and then slips away. Nancy is more a little freaked, but Xander notes that two attacks sounds like less than a coincidence. When she mentions that her abusive ex-boyfriend would love to see this, Xander begins to put the pieces together...especially when Nancy says she wishes her ex would leave her alone.

At the Bronze, Anya is trying to score another vengeance gig when the gang stops by for a little chat. Anya is less than pleased to see them, especially Xander. Anya admits that the creature is, indeed, Nancy’s ex. When Xander and Anya begin quibbling, they all try to explain how everyone’s related. Buffy stops it before it can go on too long, and they try to force Anya to change the man back.

Spike threatens her, but as he speaks, she notices something different inside of him...his soul. When she won’t leave it alone, Spike smacks her down, much to everyone’s shock and disgust. Nancy runs off, as Spike and Anya fight it out. Before long, Buffy is taking Spike, and he taunts her with comments about their past history and how he hasn’t changed. She is ready to pummel him some more, until Xander tells her that Nancy ran off. Buffy goes after her, leaving Xander to convince Anya to reverse the spell.

Outside, Nancy is attacked by her ex again, and she barely makes it onto a rusty fire escape before the worm surfaces. As Buffy races to save her, Anya complains that she can’t change things, because she’s under a lot of pressure. She hasn’t performed well, because she’s still dealing with being left at the altar. But Xander counters that she can only use that excuse for so long. Buffy swings in to save Nancy, and Spike arrives in time to fight the worm head on. But as he drives a long shaft into the worm, it reverts back to Nancy’s ex. The shaft goes right through the man’s shoulder.

As Buffy and Nancy race to save the dying man, Spike begins to lose his mind again. Before he runs off, he taunts Buffy with the knowledge that what’s coming is going to bring everything down...and repeats, “from beneath you, it devours”. Xander and Anya arrive, and Buffy leaves them with the injured man. Xander tries to assure Anya that it could have been worse. Anya simply tells him that it will be.

Buffy searches the usual cemeteries for some sign of Spike, and finds him in an old church. It looks abandoned, but there are candles burning. Spike walks out of nowhere, still rambling. Buffy tells him to quit the mind games, and when he acts like he’s going to attack her, she tosses him away. But he’s just going on in his madness.

Eventually, Buffy realizes that Spike came back to be with her. He tries to explain to her what he did to change, to be what she was looking for. When he says that Angel should have warned him, Buffy realizes that he got his soul back. And now his conscience, his conceptions of God, and the thing “beneath” are all telling him that he needs to go to hell. But all he wanted was to be hers, and to be the kind of man who would never hurt her. In the end, he simply wants to be forgiven...


Analysis

Having started the season by shifting the focus back to Sunnydale High and introducing the apparent villain for the year, this episode delves a bit more deeply into the fallout from the end of last season. Specifically, we get to see more of what has happened within Spike since the restoration of his soul, and the complex love/hate relationship between Xander and Anya. There’s even a short look at Willow’s state of mind, as she prepares to come home.

The heart of this episode can be summed up as the “statute of limitations for really screwing up”. When can you expect forgiveness for the terrible things you’ve done, and how far do you have to go to have the right to ask for forgiveness? It’s a theme that is likely to run through the beginning of the season, as the splintered pieces of the Scooby Gang begin to fall back together.

Spike gets the spotlight here, and it’s not a pretty sight. By the end of the episode, we find out that Spike’s fractured psyche is at least partly due to his restored conscience. From what he says to Buffy, we can assume that he thought he could handle it, if Angel was able to pull it off. Perhaps Spike missed the part about Angel hoarding himself away for nearly 100 years?

Interestingly, Spike also seems to have been retouched by notions of faith. He sees God as passing judgment on him, which is to be expected. But he also imagines that the one “beneath you” is awaiting him in Hell. Take the symbolism for what it is, but it does seem to suggest that my theory from last episode (that Spike’s little friend in the basement is the incarnation of all Evil) is on the right track.

Let’s not forget that this episode is forced to address Spike’s attempted rape. This is going to be at the heart of the matter, because even though he’s tried to kill her before, the attempted rape was an attack on her heart and soul. Now he’s taken an extraordinary step towards changing himself, all to be the kind of man that she deserves to have. Can he ever prove himself, and more importantly, is getting a soul enough to justify forgiveness for something so evil?

Even though it’s given little time here, Willow’s situation touches on this theme as well. The circumstances were certainly different, in that Willow’s actions were the result of extreme emotional trauma, but she also struck out without warning. She might even be responsible for unleashing the current danger to all existence, which tends to isolate one socially. Can she be forgiven for having killed people and trying to destroy the world?

It’s not so simple as it may seem. Even if they want to forgive Willow for her transgressions against them personally, they’ve had to make tough and sometimes lethal choices to eliminate threats to the world in the past. The fact that Giles let her live is a nice start, since he wouldn’t have likely failed in that duty had it been necessary, but who knows what might happen if she is tempted again.

Added to this is the tension between Xander and Anya, which could very well turn out to be the trigger for everything going badly. Anya obviously has some bitterness towards Xander, but her time as a human has left her with a compassion that belies her newly restored demony nature. She’s been warned that this could cause trouble, and now she’s passed that warning on to Xander. When push comes to shove, if Anya is perceived as a pushover when Evil rises, she could be a target…and so would the gang.

But Xander says the one thing that all of the characters are beginning to learn: sooner or later, the ordeals of the past can no longer excuse the shortcomings of the present. It’s something that Buffy had been forced to discover by the end of the season, and now the others are coming along at their own pace. Given the emphasis on returning the series to its earlier energetic state, I don’t think that these issues will be dealt with in any morose or lingering fashion. This episode was a nice mixture of mature themes and the old adventurous spirit.

This season is taking on the lingering questions left after last season without hesitation, and if the writers can resist the urge to have these issues stretch out overly much, this should be a benefit. It’s still too early to tell, but if the pacing stays on course, there’s no reason this season can’t be a classic.


Memorable Quotes

XANDER: “Please, outside of drugs, violence, unwanted pregnancy, and the unleashing of hordes of Armageddon that comes pouring out of the school’s foundation every now and then, what trouble could these kids have?”

BUFFY: “That’s where I go to get my scorn on!”

PRINCIPAL: “Believe me, you open up that door, these students will eat you alive.”
BUFFY: “You’ve heard about Principal Flutie, haven’t you?”

DAWN: “Should we round up the gang?”
XANDER: “Good thinking...except...this is the gang.”

DAWN: “Xander? Little drool...”

DAWN: “Spike? You sleep, right? You vampires, you sleep?”
SPIKE: “Yeah...what’s your point, bit?”
DAWN: “I know I can’t take you in a fight or anything, even with the chip in your head, but you do sleep...if you hurt my sister at all...touch her...you’re going to wake up on fire.”

SPIKE: “And when exactly did your sister get so unbelievably scary?”

XANDER: “Yeah, Sunnydale...come for the good food, stay for the dismemberment.”
NANCY: “There’s good food?”

ANYA: “Oh...puppy!”
XANDER: “Wait...that gets your sad noise. People’s lives are in danger, and you give it up for the Yorkie?”

BUFFY: “Spike, have you completely lost your mind?”
SPIKE: “Well, yes, where have you been all night?”

SPIKE: “Can we rest now? Buffy...can we rest?”


Observations

- Nice “Run Lola Run” vibe in that teaser, but it looked like everyone was running so damn slowly!

- About time they got back to the psychic dream bit!

- Is it me, or was the sound on the England scene a little off?

- OK, really not liking the sheer top Buffy is wearing here. It does nothing for her.

- Gee, Dawn is really getting some backbone! I love it!

- Anya’s still looking pretty bad in this episode...and the wardrobe choice doesn’t exactly win many awards, either...

- I love the look between Xander and Spike when Nancy asks who in the group hasn’t slept together!

Overall, this episode was very nicely layered, but it felt as though the writers weren’t quite sure how to bring it to a close. Thankfully, they leave it open enough that there are plenty of directions for the future. With all of the build-up that is happening here, will it be long before we see the first strike of our unnamed villain?

I give it a 7/10.


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