Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S4/E11 Doomed

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Giles: It's the end of the world.
Buffy, Willow, Xander: Again?

An earthquake hits Sunnydale, signifying yet another Apocalypse. The gang must return to the remains of Sunnydale High to stop it. Buffy and Riley struggle with each other's secrets.

Willow: There was so much blood. And there was a symbol (carved into his chest). And Percy said I was a nerd!

Buffy: Percy said you were a nerd!?

  • Bedmate Reveal: Willow turns on the lights in her dorm to find a corpse in bed next to her.
  • Blood Knight / "Join the Army," They Said: Riley Finn (apparently a Special Forces soldier) says, referring to demon-hunting, "It's not just a job--" Buffy interrupted: "Right, it's an adventure." (That's actually the Navy's slogan, but I doubt Buffy bothers to discriminate.) Riley doesn't deny that he thinks that way.
  • Broken Bird

Riley: I don’t know what’s happened in your past...
Buffy: Pain. Death. Apocalypse. None of it fun.

  • Buffy-Speak: Even covert ops soldiers use it, with Riley impressed with the "flippy-thing" Buffy did.
  • Call Back: Angel and Faith are both referred to -- though not by name -- when Buffy is trying to explain why she doesn't want a relationship with someone in the demon-hunting business. Percy mentions how Willow used to tutor him in Sunnydale High. The Scoobies visit the ruins of Sunnydale High library and find themselves stepping on "Mayor meat" -- the remains of last year's Ascended Big Bad.
  • Classified Information: Riley says he can't tell Buffy anything more than she already knows about him. Buffy then lists all the information she's found out about the Initiative so far, leaving a rather disturbed Riley.
  • Crush! Kill! Destroy!: Not recognizing the Signs of the End Times, Riley briefs his team that the demon appears to be "on a basic crush-kill-destroy" pattern.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Spike's Badass clothes shrink from a leaky pipe and he can't threaten anyone, even Xander.

I mean, am I even remotely scary any more?

Spike: I don't want pity from geeks even more useless than I am.

Good bye, Dru. See You in Hell.

Willow: We help people. We fight the forces of evil.
Spike: Buffy fights the forces of evil. You're her groupies. She'd do just as well without you -- better, I'd wager, since she wouldn't have to go around saving your hides all the time.

Xander: That is so not true! We're part of the team. She needs us.

Spike: Or you're the same tenth-grade losers you've always been, and she's too soft to cut you loose. (smirks evilly the moment his back is turned)

    • No doubt revenge for an earlier one Xander gave to Spike

I hate to break it to you, oh Impotent One, but you’re not the Big Bad anymore. You're not even kinda naughty. You're nothing but a big waste of space.

  • He's Back: Spike's sudden outburst of enthusiasm for "fighting the good fight" after he realized that the implanted behavioral modification chip didn't punish him for killing demons.

Spike: That's right! I'm back, and I'm a BLOODY ANIMAL!

Buffy: (reading) Limbs with talons, eyes like knives, bane to the blameless, thief of lives.
Cut to Riley debriefing his patrol team: Three meters tall, approximately 100–120 kilograms, based on my visual analysis.

Buffy: I told you. I-I said end of the world and you’re like ‘poo-poo southern California, poo-poo!
Giles: I am so sorry. My contrition completely dwarfs the impending apocalypse.

Spike: Don't turn around. (Scare Chord)
Xander: Spike, what is it? What happened?
Spike: Don't look at me.
Xander turns around to see Spike dressed like a Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist.

Giles: Oh (as usual) dear.

  • Oh, No, Not Again
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Riley trying to excuse his combat greens as a paintball outfit. He moans about how stupid that was later on.
  • Rock Bottom: William the Waste of Space.
  • Rousing Speech For Great Justice: Spoofed with helpless silent protestation from Xander and Willow that, and after a long exhausting night of monster-slaying, Spike was blocking their view of the TV box. The irony of course lies in the fact that Spike is a vampire, and used to be Buffy's enemy until that point.

What's this? Sittin' around watching the telly while there's evil still afoot? It's not very industrious of you. I say we go out there and kick a little demon ass! What? Can't go without your Buffy, is that it? Too chicken? Let's find her. She is the Chosen One, after all. Come on! Vampires! Grrr! Nasty! Let's annihilate them, for justice, and for... the safety of puppies... and Christmas, right? Let's fight that evil! Let's kill something! [Credits start running.] Oh, come on!

Riley: I should have just given them my security code and rank!
Buffy: You have a security code and rank?
Riley: No. Did I just say...? (Sinks down on the end of his bed) This is so not good. Everybody knows about me. I’m finished. It’s the end of the world.

It's just doomed. And I can't do doomed again just now.

Buffy: I’m the Slayer. (Riley just looks at her) Slay-er? - Chosen One. (Riley is still lost) She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries? - You’re kidding. Ask around. Look it up: Slayer comma The.”

Forrest: They’re just animals, man, plain and simple. Granted they’re a little rarer than the ones you grew up with on that little farm in Smallville...

  • Variable Terminal Velocity: A particularly egregious example where Buffy jumps into the Hellmouth after a demon and catches up to it while falling, even though she took the time to run over to Riley, grab a rope from his Utility Belt, and run back before jumping in.