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Recap / Buffy The Vampire Slayer S 7 E 15 Get It Done

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"We cannot give you knowledge. Only power."

"Chloe is...I'm sorry, was a good listener. 'Til she hanged herself. Like when you called her maggot — she really heard that."
The First Evil

Directed by Douglas Petrie

Written by Petrie, Rebecca Kirshner, & Drew Z Greenberg

The First Slayer tells Buffy in a dream that "It is not enough". Anya and Spike take a walk together when Anya is attacked by a demon D'Hoffryn sent to kill her. Spike attacks the demon and the pair then run away.

Principal Wood tells Buffy to go home and concentrate on her "real" job: Killing monsters and getting ready to battle the First Evil. Buffy takes him to the house and introduces him to the rest of the crew, including Spike. The tension between Spike and Wood is tangible. Wood gives Buffy a bag that he got from his mother and should have been passed on to Buffy anyway.

Chloe commits suicide after the First talks to her all night. Buffy delivers a strong lecture, angering many of the others, including Spike by telling him he was a much better warrior before he got his soul back and that since then he has been holding back. She then calls an emergency and opens the slayer's bag. Inside is a set of shadow casters and a book that trigger a portal. Against the advice of her friends, Buffy jumps in, sending back an enormous demon who beats everyone up and flees. After Spike recovers, he gets his leather coat out of a trunk, kills the demon, and drags it back to Buffy's house.

On the other side of the portal, Buffy is back in the desert where she once met the First Slayer. There, three men tell her she is the last Slayer to guard the Hellmouth, and try to infuse her with the essence of the demon that gives all the Slayers their strength. Buffy refuses the power, telling the men that they were wrong to have created the Slayer line in the first place. As a parting gift, they give Buffy a vision: An enormous army of Turok-Han just waiting to be unleashed on the world.

After struggling with the incantation, Willow manages to reopen the portal by sucking energy from Anya and Kennedy. Kennedy is visibly shaken by Willow's power, which causes a brief strain in their relationship. Spike throws the dead demon in, and Buffy returns. Later, she tells Willow about the vision, and admits that the First Slayer was right: What they have will not be enough.


Tropes featured

  • Amazon Brigade: There are now almost twenty Potentials living in Buffy's house, but to Buffy's mind they resemble more a Redshirt Army than a Slayer army.
  • Ancient Tradition: The Watchers Council descend from the Shadow Men.
  • Badass Normal:
    Wood: Buffy, I'm just a guy. Granted, a cool and sexy vampire-fighting guy, but still...
  • Bad Liar: Willow comes out with an armful of weaponry and sees Buffy with Principal Wood, watching the Potentials learn martial arts.
    Willow: Oh, hi. Hey. Well, Buffy, I—I see that our preparation for the school-pep-dance-cheer-drill contest are coming along. (to the Potentials) Bring it on!
    Buffy: It's OK, I filled him in on everything.
    Willow: (lets out a sigh of relief) Oh, thank God! If I had to explain all these weapons, I had nothing.
  • Bait-and-Switch Comment: Buffy returns from burying Chloe.
    Buffy: Does anyone want to say a few words? [silence] Then I will. Chloe was an idiot.
  • The Big Board: Andrew objects to Buffy showing Wood around the place as he might see the Big Board. When Buffy points out they don't have a Big Board, Andrew produces his own whiteboard drawing of Sunnydale and the various evils that face them.
    Buffy: You'll have to forgive Andrew...or maybe not.
  • Bring My Brown Pants:
    Kennedy: Better get started.
    Willow: I think I might pee my pants.
    Kennedy: You can do it — the magics, not the pants thing.
  • Butt-Monkey: Xander says he doesn't like cryptic since someone, usually him, gets hurt. Just as the "exchange" demon comes through the portal, he gets his butt handed to him, again.
    • Later subverted when Willow tries to open up the portal in the presence of Xander, Kennedy, Dawn, and Anya. Xander is the only one of the group who doesn't get knocked down or have his life energy sucked out by Willow.
  • Catapult Nightmare: One of the few played-straight examples; usually Buffy just wakes up normally from a bad dream.
  • Chained to a Rock: Buffy is chained to the ground so she can be merged with demon essence used to create the First Slayer. As she's already got Slayer strength however, she rips free her chains and uses them to kick the Shadow Men's butts.
  • Cigarette of Anxiety: Reversed. Spike, who has just gotten curb stomped by a demon that he needs to kill to help Buffy, goes back to an old hideout of his to retrieve his duster, before going out to fight the demon again. After he dispatches the demon, he lights up a smoke to show that he's back to his old badass self.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Anya tells Spike she likes her sex on top of the table, a not-so-subtle reference to their sex in "Entropy".
    • Robin Wood recognises Spike's black leather duster, which he stripped from the corpse of the New York Slayer in "Fool For Love".
    • The Slayer's bag is the same Buffy saw in her dream in "Restless". Likewise the shot of the First Slayer chained to the ground is finally explained. Both Adam (in her dream in "Restless") and Dracula (in "Buffy vs. Dracula") hinted to Buffy that her power is rooted in darkness and indeed, it's revealed that Sineya, the first Slayer, was imbued with demonic essences which triggered the Slayer powers.
    • Spike says that having a soul makes him "more or less" unique, referring to Angel.
    • (re: You Talk Too Much!) In "Restless" the First Slayer is barely able to speak, unless using a third party (Tara) as an avatar.
    • Buffy tells Willow "Thanks for bringing me back... again."
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Forcibly merging with the shadowy demon that turns her into the Slayer has definite rape aspects.
  • Double Entendre: Spike with "It's my bone. Let it go." and "You don't want to miss a look at her weapons chest."
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: Kennedy, the most senior of the potentials and who has received substantial training from her watcher, has taken up this role with the others, shouting at Chloe and calling her a "maggot" when she does her steps wrong; then as an aside she jokes to Buffy how cool it was that she got to call somebody a "maggot". The First drives Chloe to suicide that night, and then taunts Kennedy by implying that the "maggot" insult led to the suicide.
  • Driven to Suicide: The First Evil convinces Chloe to hang herself.
  • Easily Forgiven: Andrew was "evil" and people got killed, and now he... bakes. It's a thing.
  • Environmental Symbolism: The BEWARE OF THE DOG sign reappears in the alley where Spike fights the demon.
  • Eternal English
    Dawn: Translation's gonna be a bitch. Do you know that ancient Sumerians do not speak English?
    Buffy: They're worse than the French.
  • Evil Gloating: The First materialises as Chloe next to her hanging corpse to give its own "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the Potentials.
  • Evil Makeover: The redheaded Wicca worries about "going brunette".
  • Exact Eavesdropping: The First repeats Buffy's words back to the Potentials.
    "They're not all gonna make it. Some will die, and nothing I can do will stop that."
  • Failed Attempt at Drama: Spike tells the others to stand aside and let him do what he does best. He goes to fight the demon and...
  • Foreshadowing
    • Buffy sees Chloe crying in her dream.
    • Buffy's Cruel to Be Kind approach only succeeds in alienating the Potentials, which sets up the events of "Empty Places".
    • The Shadow Men say Buffy is the last guardian of the Hellmouth.
  • Friendship Denial: During Buffy's "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Xander tells her not to forget they're her friends. Anya cuts in, stating she's not Buffy's friend, which leads to Buffy demanding to know why Anya's even there.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Spike strikes a match on the dead demon and lights up a ciggie.
  • Hell Is That Noise: All the spooky sounds that start up with the magic lantern show freak out the characters.
  • He's Back!: Spike puts on Nikki's leather duster again for the first time after his re-ensoulment and heads out to kill the demon.
  • Humanoid Abomination: The First Slayer became this because she was instilled with the essence of a demon - thus explaining her behavior in "Restless". Buffy refuses to undergo the same procedure to become more powerful.
  • Hypocrite: Kennedy arrogantly shoots down Spike after he says he is going after the demon, claiming that the Potentials would do better because they were trained. Kennedy did even less well against the demon than Spike and she is the best trained of the Potentials. When Buffy bad-mouths Chloe, Kennedy calls her out of line...except it was her actions that indirectly contributed to her suicide.
  • Iconic Item: Spike throws on his Badass Longcoat in a He's Back! moment.
  • Insistent Terminology: When Xander jokes that if the First hates puppets, they should bring Kermit, Fozzie and Miss Piggy to town to scare it off, Willow says quite seriously that those are Muppets.
  • It's What I Do: Willow gets two. First, trying to apologize to Kennedy for sucking the life out of her to get extra powerful...
    Kennedy: I thought it would be... I don't know, cool somehow. It just hurt.
    Willow: I'm really sorry. It's just, you were the most powerful person nearby, and... well, that's... that's how it works. That's how ''I'' work.
    • ...and then, after Buffy thanks her for bringing her back again. "Well, that's what I do."
  • Jump Scare: The end of the episode has a quiet scene of Willow asking Buffy about her vision suddenly switch to a scene with a loud Turok-Han staring directly at the viewer, accompanied by thousands of others.
  • Karma Houdini: Kennedy suffers no consequences for indirectly contributing to Chloe's death. Buffy at least felt terrible about being too hard on the team.
  • Language of Magic: Spoofed.
    Willow: Via concursus tempus spatium audi me ut imperio Screw it! Mighty forces, I suck at Latin, OK? But that's not the issue. I'm the one in charge, and I'm telling you: Open up, portal, now!
  • Life Energy: Willow drains life force from Kennedy (and apparently Anya and Dawn) to increase her power. Kennedy is not happy about it.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Buffy re the Hellmouth "blowing around May" is referencing the fact that the apocalypses usually occur as the season finales (or in this case, the series finale), which tend to air in May.
  • Living Shadow: The shadow casters tell the story of the creation of the First Slayer.
  • The Load: Buffy accuses Anya of being this when the latter states she and Buffy aren't friends.
    Buffy: Then why are you here? Aside from getting rescued, what is it that you do?
    Anya: I provide much-needed... sarcasm.
    Xander: Um, that would kinda be my job, actually.
  • Lotus Position: Willow casting the spell.
  • Magical Negro: The Shadow Men have shades of this. To be fair, though, since this takes place in the beginnings of the modern human race, which originated in Africa, there wasn't any other way. Literally everyone was black. And they are not precisely pure-hearted, what with pretty much creating the First Slayer through a forced, bodily violation.
  • Magic Staff:
    Buffy: I knew it. It's always the staff.
  • Mind Rape: The First pulls it on Chloe. And succeeds.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • Dawn is teasing Buffy about bunking off her school studies when they open a door and find Chloe hanging from the ceiling.
    • Willow tells the others to put on the coffee as the spell might take a while — suddenly she's got Black Eyes of Evil and a banshee shriek.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Buffy confides to Willow that she was too hard on everyone
  • Neck Snap: Spike killing the demon.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Buffy's superiority complex does a better job at breaking apart the team than The First Evil's attempts to do so. The. First. Evil. The consequences for her Everybody sucks but me attitude will bite her on the ass and hold on later in the season.
    • Kennedy's leadership indirectly leads to Chloe killing herself.
  • No Sympathy: After Chloe's suicide, Buffy shows no sympathy for her trauma or struggles, and begins a speech to the others by openly calling her a weak idiot and a quitter.
  • Not a Date: Spike and Anya.
  • Oh, Crap!: Buffy turns down the Shadow Men's offer of greater power. They then give Buffy a vision of what lies in wait for her, an army of thousands of Turok-Han inside the Hellmouth.
  • "Open!" Says Me:
    Anya: (points to the box) What's inside it?
    Wood: Mm, I don't know. It hasn't been opened since— (Buffy breaks off the lock with her bare hands) Well, since now.
  • Percussive Therapy: Spike tracks down the demon and engages in a brutal brawl with the guy (this being the first time we see Spike enjoy himself all season) before snapping its neck. Afterwards, he tells the corpse that a good fight is "good for the soul". Note that, for Spike, as much therapy comes from being percussed as it does from killing his opponent.
  • Portmanteau: Andrew refers to himself as a "guestage".
  • Power Trio: The Shadow Men
  • Pun: Buffy describes Willow as "The Wicca Who Won't-a".
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Buffy gives one to the Potentials and Scoobies. Anya even lampshades it later.
    Anya: You missed her "everyone sucks but me" speech. If she's so superior, let her find her own way back.
    • She later delivers one to the Shadow Men:
    Buffy: You think I came all this way to get knocked up by some demon dust? I can't fight this. I know that now. But you guys? You're just men. Just the men who did this...to her. Whoever that girl was before she was the First Slayer.
    Shadow Man:You don't understand.
    Buffy: No, you don't understand! You violated that girl, made her kill for you because you're weak, you're pathetic, and you obviously have nothing to show me.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: A literal version with the Shadow Men keeping the essence of the demon in a box.
  • Series Continuity Error: Spike left his black leather duster at Buffy's place after his Attempted Rape in "Seeing Red". Having it in a box in the Sunnydale High basement implies he had it with him all the time. Or that he got it back in the course of the past episodes.
  • Sink or Swim Mentor: Buffy jumps into the portal, knowing it will force Spike and Willow to overcome their insecurities to save her.
  • Smart Ball: Dawn can now read Sumerian; presumably because Anthony Stewart Head wasn't available for some reason.
  • Speak Ill of the Dead: After Chloe hangs herself, Buffy wastes no time lambasting her for doing so, summing her up as a weak idiot for quitting when things got tough.
    Buffy: Anyone want to say a few words about Chloe? Let me. Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it's easy. Just...think of Chloe, and do what she did. And I'll find room for you next to her and Annabelle.
  • Squishy Wizard: It doesn't take much for Buffy to knock the Shadow Men on their keisters.
  • Staircase Tumble: Buffy is knocked down the stairs in her dream by the First Slayer.
  • Stock Ninja Weaponry: Wood chucks some shuriken at the demon. They're about as useful as you'd expect.
  • Suicide is Shameful: Buffy expresses this when Chloe, spurred by the First Evil's manipulations, hangs herself. After burying her, Buffy has absolutely No Sympathy for her trauma or struggles, and openly calls her a stupid, weak idiot in front of the Scoobies and other Potential Slayers.
    Anyone want to say a few words about Chloe? Let me. Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it's easy. Just...think of Chloe, and do what she did. And I'll find room for you next to her and Annabelle.
  • Teach Him Anger: Buffy has to do this with both with Spike (after he got a soul) and Willow (after briefly turning evil at the end of the previous season).
    Spike: I did this for you. The soul, the changes — it's what you wanted!
    Buffy: What I want is the Spike that's dangerous. The Spike that tried to kill me when we met.
    Spike: (angrily) Oh, you don't know how close you are to bringing him out.
    Buffy: I'm nowhere near him.
  • Tempting Fate: Buffy says she's in some kind of simulation; one of the Shadow Men knocks her out with his staff. Later Buffy says, "Tell me something I don't know." The Shadow Men show her something she doesn't want to know.
  • Testosterone Poisoning / Terse Talker: Spike vs. Wood
  • That Came Out Wrong:
    Wood: Buffy tells me you have been, um—oh, how shall I put it—experimenting. (Willow's eyes grow wide; she casts a "You said what?" glance at Buffy) With the magicks.
    • Anya is disappointed that Ensouled!Spike didn't fight a demon to the death when Buffy and Robin Wood walk into the conversation.
    Spike: No need to thank me. I'm just the one who beat him off.
    Buffy & Robin: ...
    Spike: Repelled him would perhaps be the better phrase. (Buffy smirks) Demon...
  • Tough Love: Buffy knows that the Potentials aren't ready to fight the First, so she chews them out in an attempt to motivate them to step up their game.
  • Translator Microbes: The Shadow Men's magic allows them to communicate with Buffy.
  • Unholy Holy Sword: The source of the Slayer's power is a demon that was merged with the girl who became the First Slayer.
  • Victim of the Week: Kennedy acting out her Drill Sergeant Nasty fantasy by calling a vulnerable teenage girl a maggot leads to said girl being easy pickings for the First.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Buffy gets called out on the way she's acting towards everyone.
    • Kennedy is shocked when Willow drains her Life Energy.
    • Buffy tells off the Shadow Men over how they physically violated a young girl and then forced her to do their fighting for them.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Kennedy clearly thinks she's in Full Metal Jacket. A little research into the film would reveal it was addressing her approach as the wrong one.
  • You Talk Too Much!: The Shadow Men comment that "The First Slayer did not talk so much."

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