Recap / Buffy The Vampire Slayer S 7 E 2 Beneath You

"I think they were dreams. So weak. Did you make me weak, thinking of you, holding myself, and spilling useless buckets of salt over your ... ending? Angel ... he should've warned me. He makes a good show of forgetting, but it's here, in me, all the time. The spark. I wanted to give you what you deserve, and I got it. They put the spark in me and now all it does is burn."

—Spike

"...can we rest?"

Directed by Nick Marck

Written by Douglas Petrie, Rebecca Kirshner, & Drew Z Greenberg

In Frankfurt, Germany, a young girl races down the deserted corridors above a nightclub, pursued by hooded figures. She dashes through an exterior door, proceeding to scale down the building. Unable to escape, she is stabbed by one of the figures. She cries out in pain and the assassins depart. Dead, the girl rolls to the side and says in a deep voice: "From beneath you, it devours."

Dawn awakens Buffy from the nightmare and Buffy questions the meaning of her dream. Elsewhere in Sunnydale, something large tears through the ground. Spike sneaks around in the basement of Sunnydale High, seemingly headed for a rat while he talks to himself. Everything around him begins to shake and he falls to the ground, screaming.

In the next morning, Xander drives Buffy and Dawn to school and they talk about high school and Xander's relationship problems. At Sunnydale High, Principal Wood introduces Buffy to her new job and shows her the cubicle where she'll be working. She sneaks down to the basement in search of Spike but doesn't find him.

In England, Willow struggles with the need to return to Sunnydale where she'll be forced to face her friends and the trouble she caused. A taxi awaits her as Giles listens to her verbalize her fears and he convinces her that even if her friends don't want her back, her presence on the Hellmouth will be important. Back in Sunnydale, a woman walks her small dog along the sidewalk, but while her back is turned, something sucks the dog through the pavement and into the ground. She runs away and right into Xander, who takes her to the safety of Buffy's house.

The remaining Scooby Gang console the woman, Nancy, and promise to deal with the creature. Much to everyone's surprise, a cleaned up version of Spike joins them in the living room and offers his assistance in the battle. Spike wants to talk with Buffy, but Dawn and Xander are not happy to see him or with the fact that Buffy didn't inform them that she saw Spike earlier. Buffy goes to talk with Spike privately and he offers to help deal with this underground monster. Buffy eventually agrees to let him help, then explains the game plan to the rest of the group. As Spike leaves with Buffy for patrol, Dawn leaves him with a parting threat that if he ever again harms or touches Buffy, Dawn will set him on fire while he sleeps.

Outside, Buffy and Spike examining the scene where the dog was eaten. Spike explains that the manifest spirits from the school were the cause of his craziness. Buffy is noticeably uncomfortable around him in the wake of his attempted rape, so he says that he knows he can't apologize for what he did, but admits to changing. Meanwhile, Xander takes Nancy home and she asks if they can go out sometime. The ground rumbles and a giant worm chases them down a hallway and emerges from the ground with a roar. Once the giant worm goes away and the two are safe, Nancy starts to talk about her ex-boyfriend and Xander quickly concludes that she made a wish to a vengeance demon.

Buffy and the gang confront Anya at the Bronze and get her to admit to making Nancy's ex-boyfriend Ronnie into a Sluggoth demon. Anya realizes Spike has a soul, but Spike tries to stop her from spilling the news to the rest of the group. He starts to attack Anya and she turns on him, with her vengeance demon powers of strength. Buffy steps in and beats up on Spike while he instead hits her back with a verbal assault taunting her about their past sexual relationship. The fight sends Nancy on the run alone, but her wormy ex-boyfriend is on her trail. Meanwhile, Xander tries to convince Anya to reverse the curse on Ronnie, but it's not something she can do easily.

Buffy arrives in time to rescue Nancy from the demon, but Spike intervenes, hitting it with a metal pole. He goes to stab the worm only to have it turn back into human form an instant before Spike makes contact, so the chip sets off as he stabs Ronnie in the shoulder, making them both scream in pain. Spike freaks out and talks crazy again, while Buffy calls the paramedics to help Ronnie. She notices when Spike says that "from beneath you, it devours" before running away. Anya and Xander arrive on the scene and Anya knows she will pay a steep price for reversing the spell.

Buffy goes after Spike and finds him in a church. He's confused and speaks in metaphors of what he really is to Buffy; he tried to act like his usual self, but it was a costume and didn't work. He concludes that she's there to use him like she did before, so he unbuckles his belt telling her that it's time to service her. She attempts to stop him and throws him across the room. He tries to explain what he did to get the missing piece that would allow him to become what she wanted. He mutters that Angel should have warned him about "the spark" burning inside him, and with this Buffy understands he's talking about his soul. Spike continues to speak of all the voices that are in his head telling him to go to hell. Buffy, still shocked, asks him why would he do this. Spike explains that he did what he could to be a kind of man, and hopes to be forgiven and loved. Spike turns to a large cross and drapes himself onto it, letting it burn his skin. Buffy tears as she looks on him. Spike asks her if they can rest now.

---

Tropes featured

• Am I Just a Toy to You?
  Spike: Am I flesh? Am I flesh to you? Feed on flesh. My flesh. Nothing else. Not a spark. (nods) Oh, fine. Flesh then. Solid through. (starts unzipping his pants) Get it hard; service the girl.
• Arc Words / Vagueness Is Coming: From beneath you, it devours. The Hellmouth, as Willow knows, has teeth.
• Avengers Assemble: Averted — Dawn suggests they round up the Scoobies to deal with the Monster of the Week. Xander points out that what's left of the Scooby Gang is already there in the room.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Dawn makes it clear that if he hurts Buffy, Spike will wake up on fire.
  Spike: When did your sister become unbelievably scary?
• Big Damn Heroes: Buffy comes swinging in on a rope to snatch Nancy from the jaws of the monster. Errol Flynn would be proud.
• Bilingual Bonus: A Potential in Germany is being chased by assassins near a nightclub. A techno piece by Stillste Stund blares on the score, with the only lyrics being "Von der Tiefe verschlingt es" — German for "From the depth it devours".
• Bored with Insanity: Subverted; Spike appears to have reverted to normal, but Buffy doesn't believe his explanation that the zombie ghosts in "Lessons" were responsible for his ravings. She soon discovers his 'sanity' is only a facade.
• Brick Joke: Wood doesn't eat at the Doublemeat Palace because he's a vegetarian — the Secret Ingredient of their burgers is processed vegetable product. He also warns Buffy not to befriend the students as they'll "eat you alive."
  Buffy: You heard about Principal Flutie, right?
• Buffy Speak: Willow is worried she'll go all veiny again. Xander says the Arc Words sound "monsterific".
• Call-Back: Loads:
  • Buffy's prophetic dreams, last seen in Season 4's "Hush".
  • Spike taunting Buffy with "Working out the personal issues, huh?" and "Ooh, up for another round at the balcony then?" refer to Buffy beating Spike and having sex with him on the Bronze balcony in "Dead Things".
  • Dawn smooching a vampire happened in "All The Way".
  • Principal Flutie was eaten by students possessed by hyena spirits in "The Pack".
  • Anya and Spike bring up their one-time Sex for Solace in "Entropy".
  • Spike assuming that Buffy just wants sex when she touches him refers to their Destructive Romance, when Buffy would use Spike for sex and then walk out whenever things got platonic. Buffy's horrified response is due to his Attempted Rape in "Seeing Red".
  • "Do not start by saying you're sorry." The rape attempt happened after Spike went to Buffy's house to apologise for sleeping with Anya.
  • Spike talks of "spilling useless buckets of salt over your ending" (Buffy's death in "The Gift").
  • It's Spike mentioning Angel that enables Buffy to realise what's going on with him.
  • Spike babbles that one of the voices telling him to go to hell is "the other, the thing beneath [Buffy]" (aka, the soulless version of himself, the demon), in reference to Buffy's line in "Fool For Love" where she told him he was beneath her. Also potentially what the episode is named after.
  • "Can we rest, Buffy?" may be a reference to Spike's "Rest in Peace" song in "Once More With Feeling".
• Crash-Into Hello: Nancy flees from the worm demon and runs into Xander. Unfortunately it doesn't lead to romance despite Xander's hopes, because Nancy finds the Scoobies are even crazier than her ex.
• Create Your Own Villain: Though it wasn't Nancy's fault, as she didn't know she was talking to a vengeance demon with a quota to fill.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Spike, having completely lost it due to the weight of his new soul, drapes himself over a church cross—which, him being a vampire, burns him.
• Did They or Didn't They?: Spike referring to the catwalk sex scene from "Dead Things" confirmed it wasn't an Imagine Spot, as some fans claimed.
• Double-Meaning Title: "Beneath You" refers to both the burrowing Monster of the Week and the Arc Words. It may also refer to "Fool for Love" where Cecily and later Buffy rejected William/Spike's ardor with the flat statement of "You're beneath me."
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Buffy dreams of the murder of a Potential in Frankfurt, and realizes there's more deaths to follow.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Nancy using the word 'wish' makes Xander realise that Anya is responsible for the worm monster. Spike mentioning that Angel should have warned him makes Buffy realise that Spike now has a soul.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Spike's Slicked-Back Hair of Sanity.
• Eyes Never Lie: Anya looks in Spike's eyes and sees he has a soul.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Spike in the church. "I dreamt of killing you."
• Fatal Attractor: Dawn tells Buffy and Xander that they really need to "ease up with the whole dating demons thing."
  Buffy: Uh, hello, I'm sorry. Wasn't that you having the smooch-a-thon with Teen Vampire last Halloween?
  Dawn: See, this is why I don't want you talking to my friends.
• Foreshadowing: Anya warns there will be consequences of her cancelling the spell on Ronnie.
• Flanderization: Deconstructed. Spike pretends he's still his immoral, soulless self by being violent and cracking the kind of mean-spirited snark he did while actually soulless. He admits later, during his insane babbling that "the costume" didn't work.
• Flashback Cut: Spike hands Buffy a flashlight and their fingers touch — the body contact triggers Buffy to flash back to Spike's Attempted Rape.
• Ghost Butler: On her first day as school counsellor, Buffy slips down to the Creepy Basement to check on Spike. She can't find him, but a door slams elsewhere, implying Spike slipped out to avoid her.
• Heroic BSoD: Just as Spike stabs the worm demon it reverts back into Ronnie, firing the chip in Spike's head. The shock shatters Spike's fragile mental control.
• History Repeats:
  • After Buffy finds out Angel is a vampire with a soul, they kiss and we see Buffy's cross necklace searing his chest. Here, after Buffy realizes Spike has a soul, he drapes his body on a large cross as it burns him. Likewise Angel tells her in that episode, "I wanted to kill you" and Spike uses the words "I dreamt of killing you".
  • Spike's Game Face and Evil Gloating in the Bronze harks back to when he was an unambiguous villain in Season 2.
  • Buffy not telling her friends about Spike's return matches her actions re Angel's return in Season 3.
  • Spike is Reduced to Ratburgers as Angel was after getting his soul (depicted in "Becoming, Part One").
• Holy Burns Evil / Macho Masochism: The episode ends with Ensouled!Spike draping himself over the church cross.
• Homoerotic Subtext: The intertwined sexual history of Buffy, Spike, Xander and Anya is explained to Nancy. In exasperation she asks if any of them haven't slept together — Xander and Spike share an awkward look.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Dawn getting unbelievably scary.
  Dawn: Spike. You sleep, right? You. Vampires. You sleep.
  Spike: Yeah. What's your point, niblet?
  Dawn: Well, I can't take you in a fight or anything, even with a chip in your head. But you do sleep. If you hurt my sister at all... touch her... you're gonna wake up on fire.
• I'm Having Soul Pains: "They put the spark in me, and all it does...is burn."
• Improvised Weapon: After Spike says, "I dreamt of killing you", Buffy grabs a broken piece of the church pew as a stake.
• Internal Reveal: Buffy discovers Spike has a soul.
• Leitmotif: The Season 7 Spuffy theme is heard for the first time.
• Literal Genie: Subverted as Anya - feeling the pressure from her fellow demons - is embellishing the wishes. Nancy just wished her ex-boyfriend Ronnie was a worm, not that he'd turn into a giant Sluggoth demon.
• Love Martyr: Buffy is shocked that Spike would damage himself like this by getting a soul.
  Buffy: Why? Why would you do that—
  Spike: Buffy, shame on you. Why does a man do what he mustn't? For her. To be hers.
• The Mad Hatter: Some of Spike's Deadpan Snarker nature breaks through his insanity.
  Buffy: Spike, have you completely lost your mind?
  Spike: Well, yes. Where've you been all night?
• Meaningful Echo: When Buffy hears Spike repeat the Arc Words during his raving.
• Mission Control: Dawn appoints herself this. When Buffy gives her a look, she says she'll actually be doing her homework, "but the other one sounded cooler."
• Monster of the Week: Ronnie, due to being turned into a Sluggoth demon by Anya.
• Moral Myopia: Anya being upset over the dog being eaten.
• Musicalis Interruptus: The techno-beat music stops when the Frankfurt Potential is killed.
• Must Be Invited: Buffy hasn't revoked Spike's yet. While this has Ship Tease implications, a simpler explanation is that Willow and Tara are no longer around to cast a de-invite spell.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Spike moves to stab Ronnie when he's a worm only for Anya to turn him back into a human right before the pole impales him. The attack causes Spike's chip to go off and Spike, realizing that he's just attacked a human again, starts to break down, leading to the church scene between him and Buffy at the end of the episode.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Principal Wood jokes that kids only understand "the boot, the bat and the bastinada." When Buffy just stares, Wood mutters that the joke never works because no-one knows what a bastinada is.
  Buffy: Wooden rod to slap the soles of the feet in Turkish prisons, but if made with the correct wood makes an awesome Billy club?
  Wood: I think you're going to fit in just fine.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: There are times during his crazy rants where James Marsters' normally pretty good English accent slips. Most noticeable during the "From beneath, it devours" speech on words like "Bloodshed." Also works in-universe, as when he's babbling in the basement the upper-class William accent pops out.
• Poor Communication Kills: The Scoobies call Buffy on the fact that she's still holding back important information from them. Averted when Buffy has the patience to sort through all Spike's evasions and mad babbling to find out what's really the problem.
• Red Herring: The Scoobies assume that "From beneath you it devours" refers to the burrowing Monster of the Week.
• Roof Hopping: Buffy and Spike chasing the worm demon.
• Rule of Symbolism: What better way to symbolize self-flagellation than showing a vampire drape himself over a cross?
• She Is Not My Girlfriend
  Nancy: Is your girlfriend always this... commanding?
  Xander: Who? Buffy? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. See, uh, I mean, she's a girl, and she's a friend, but she's not my girlfriend.
  Dawn: Xander... a little drool.
• Shout-Out: The Cold Open to Run Lola Run.
  • Xander's "Not my girlfriend" line, which is spoken in the presence of Dawn. Michelle Tractenberg is also known for being in a show where that line has been used now and then.
• See You in Hell
  Spike: And now everybody's in here, talking. [snip] They all just tell me go... go... to Hell.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Spike's blue shirt. After his breakdown he takes it off, saying, "It didn't work. Costume. Didn't help. Couldn't hide."
  • He's also notably not wearing his trademark Badass Longcoat, a visual cue to the existence of his soul, given where he got it.
• Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: Set in a church, no less.
  Buffy: You got your soul back...
  Spike: It's what you wanted, right? (looks up) It's what you wanted, right?
• Stealth Pun: Dawn (Sun) threatens to set Spike (vampire) on fire.
• Sunnydale Syndrome
  Nancy: You hear things in this town, living here in Sunnydale, but nobody actually believes them.
• Talk to the Fist: Spike punches Anya to stop her blurting out that he has a soul.
• Tender Tears: Buffy weeps at the sight of Spike burning himself on the cross.
• Trauma Button: While she's able to keep it under wraps, inadvertently touching Spike's hand while investigating the worm demon's attack causes Buffy to flashback to Spike's rape attempt in "Seeing Red."
  • Buffy reaches out to touch Spike's chest and he instantly slaps her hands away, warning her not to touch him. He then assumes that she's touching him because she wants to use him for sex, his broken mind unable to conceive of any other reason.
• Umbrella of Togetherness: In a platonic love version, Giles walks Willow to the taxi (so she can catch the plane back to the US) under his umbrella.
• Unusual Euphemism: Again subverted.
  Anya: Oh, penis!
• Walk-In Chime-In: Spike's unexpected appearance.
  Buffy: The only thing that I need is a little—
  Spike: (from the door) What you need is help. Fortunately, you've got me.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Played for Drama — being alone in close proximity to a half-naked vampire who once nearly raped her puts Buffy on edge.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Dawn and Xander both call out Buffy for not telling them she saw Spike in the basement in the previous episode, as well as her tendency to shut them out and resort to Poor Communication Kills.
  Buffy: Okay, yes. I saw Spike. I just didn't—
  Dawn: What? You just forgot to mention it?
  Buffy: Things were insane in the basement! I saved your life! We can discuss this later.
  Dawn: Sure.
  Xander: Whenever you want.
  Dawn: Right. 'Cause that seems to be the only time you let us in, Buffy. Whenever you want.
• Wormsign
• Would Hit a Girl: Spike attacks Anya when she's about to blurt out that he has a soul. He ends up getting Punched Across the Room by Anya in her Game Face Super Mode.
• Why Would Anyone Take Him Back?: Asked by Buffy of Spike In-Universe. "Do you think you could just come back and...be with me?" Spike snarks back that there's a first time for everything.

---