Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S6/E13 Dead Things

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


A not-so Casual Kink.


The camera pans across Spike's crypt to the sounds of passion, pain and breaking objects, eventually focussing on Spike and Buffy catching their breath post-coitus underneath the carpet. Buffy is more comfortable in Spike's presence now, starting a conversation on décor before Spike calls her on it. "Isn't this the part where you kick me in the head and run out, virtue fluttering?" Buffy isn't in a hurry to do so until Spike starts raving about how she's an animal in the sack. When Buffy starts looking for her clothes, he asks Buffy what their relationship means to her. Buffy continues to deny there's anything between them except sex, so Spike pushes the envelope by offering her a set of handcuffs. "Do you trust me?" Buffy's response is an unconvincing, "Never".

The next day Buffy seems unusually cheerful at the soulless grind that is the Doublemeat Palace, unconsciously rubbing her wrists in a tell-tale manner. She has arranged a meeting with Tara in the lunchroom, asking her to check out the spell the Scoobies used to bring her back from the dead. Buffy wants to find out if she really did 'come back wrong'.

Meanwhile the Trio have built the Cerebral Dampener, a Mind Control device they can use to turn any woman into their obedient Sex Slave. Warren checks out a restaurant for suitable candidates while Andrew and Jonathan watch from the surveillance van and make suggestions. Annoyed over their bickering, Warren dumps his earpiece in a martini glass and approaches someone familiar -- his former girlfriend Katrina, last seen in "I Was Made To Love You". Warren attempts to reconnect with his ex, but when Katrina makes her contempt for him clear he resorts to the Cerebral Dampener, which immediately converts Katrina into an obedient automaton who addresses Warren as "Master."

Buffy tries to make quality time with Dawn, only to discover she's already arranged to spend the night over at a friend's place. The Scoobies try to cheer Buffy up by taking her to the Bronze, but she refuses to join her friends on the dance floor, instead wandering up to the catwalk. As Buffy looks down on Xander, Anya and Willow dancing happily below, Spike appears out of the shadows. Despite Buffy's feeble protests he starts to have sex with her, whispering in Buffy's ear that she doesn't belong with her friends, but in the shadows with him.

Back at the Trio's lair, the nerds drool over Katrina who's dressed in a French maid outfit and pouring them champagne. Warren declares first dibs on the girl, promising to hand her over when he's finished. As they start making out however, Katrina calls Warren by his name instead of "Master". Oops! Turns out the effects of the Cerebral Dampener have faded. She starts yelling that what they're doing is rape, shocking Jonathan and Andrew who clearly haven't put much thought into the ethics of what they're doing. Realising his ex is about to go to the police, Warren knocks her down with a champagne bottle and tells the others to charge up the Dampener again. The problem is, the blow has killed Katrina.

It's their first murder and the would-be supervillains start to panic. They can't afford to dump the body as there's a link between Katrina and Warren, who's determined not to go to prison (or if he does, he's not going to take the rap alone). Warren declares he has an idea to solve both their Katrina problem and their Slayer problem.

That night Buffy makes a listless effort at patrolling the graveyard, only to end up at Spike's crypt. The two sense each other from either side of the crypt door, but when Spike pulls it open Buffy has done a runner. As Buffy walks through the woods muttering that she mustn't think about the evil bloodsucking fiend, a woman's scream provides a welcome distraction. Buffy sees Katrina being chased by cloaked demons, but when she tackles one he vanishes, leaving her alone in the woods as ghostly voices whisper accusingly. Time starts to jump erratically between Spike catching up with her, Spike and Buffy fighting the cloaked demons, and Katrina collapsing in tears before them. In the confusion Buffy hits Spike and later Katrina, who rolls away down the hill. When Buffy follows, she finds Katrina's body and assumes she killed her. Buffy goes into shock and has to be dragged away by Spike. 'Katrina' (actually Jonathan using his shapeshifting device from "Life Serial") returns to the Trio's surveillance van, where Warren and Andrew congratulate themselves on having got away with murder. Jonathan doesn't look as pleased.

Back home Buffy's guilt over what happened spills out in a dream. She sees herself having passionate sex with a handcuffed Spike, raising her stake to kill him, then plunging it into Katrina's chest. She awakens determined to turn herself in to the police. Buffy goes to tell her little sister who isn't impressed, accusing Buffy of running away from her real-life problems, notably Dawn.

As Buffy is walking up to the police station, Spike grabs her and pulls her into an alley. He tells her that he's disposed of Katrina's body, but then overhears two policemen talking of a body found in the river. Regardless Spike is determined to stop Buffy from turning herself in. He vamps out and tries to stop her physically; when Buffy hits back he encourages her to work off her angst on him. "That's it, put it all on me. That's my girl."

His words infuriate Buffy, who knocks Spike to the ground and savagely beats him, shouting that she'll never be his girl and decrying Spike as an evil soulless thing. Spike reverts back to his human face, now swollen and bruised, and says only; "You always hurt the ones you love, pet." Shocked over her actions, Buffy walks in a daze into the police station, but before she has a chance to confess she overhears the desk officer noting down the name of a missing person -- Katrina Silber. Buffy remembers Warren addressing his girlfriend as Katrina the year before, and leaves without turning herself in.

At the Magic Box the Scooby Gang's research reveals that the cloaked demons Buffy encountered are Rwasundi. They come from another dimension, and their appearance in this one causes time to appear to jump erratically. The coroner has ruled that Katrina's death was accidental, but Buffy is convinced the Trio are involved.

Tara has good news for Buffy; she didn't come back wrong. The resurrection has given Buffy the equivalent of a molecular 'sunburn', which is enough to fool Spike's chip but not alter her in any significant way. To Tara's surprise Buffy is aghast at this; if there's nothing wrong with her, how can she excuse her actions with Spike? Tara is surprised but not judgemental about their relationship, saying it's alright if Buffy loves Spike, as she's convinced Spike truly loves Buffy, and if she doesn't that's OK too. This only makes Buffy feel worse; she breaks down crying in Tara's lap, begging her friend not to forgive her.

  • Accidental Murder
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Being exposed to a Rwasundi demon can cause vivid hallucinations and "a slight tingly scalp".
  • Bait and Switch: A Description Cut implies that Warren is going to use the Mind Control device on Buffy, but he's actually after his ex-girlfriend Katrina.
  • Basement Dweller: "Why can't we have a lair with a view?"
  • Bastard Girlfriend
  • BDSM: The sexual control games between Buffy and Spike. However there are no Safe Words or discussions on what is Safe, Sane, and Consensual, largely due to Buffy's reluctance to discuss anything about their relationship -- this will backfire on both of them in "Seeing Red".
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted; Spike hasn't had his handsome face bashed up this badly since "Intervention".
  • Berserk Button: Spike calling Buffy "my girl" triggers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • Big "Shut Up!": Warren when the rest of the Trio start panicking over Katrina's death.
  • Black and White Morality: Buffy can't love Spike as he's an Evil Bloodsucking Fiend, but thinks it's equally wrong to have sex without love, or to enjoy kinky sex that helps her cope with her post-resurrection trauma. She insists it's impossible for Spike to love her as you can't love without a soul. The Slayer is meant to slay vampires and protect the innocent; instead she's killed an innocent and shared her bed with a vampire, therefore Buffy needs to be locked up. And the Scoobies would surely be disgusted with Buffy's Dating Catwoman relationship as she is; when Tara responds with sympathy and understanding, it's the final straw.
  • Blank White Eyes: Katrina in Buffy's dream.
  • Bondage Is Bad: Played straight and subverted -- Buffy is shocked by the things she "lets Spike do to her", yet is also shown to enjoy them.
  • Double Meaning Title: Spike is dead; an "evil twisted thing" ("Smashed"). Buffy fears she's becoming dead inside. Katrina is dead for real.
  • Call Back: To Season 2 "I Only Have Eyes For You". Buffy, depressed and unwilling to join her friends on the dance floor, retreats to the catwalk of the Bronze and rejects a boy who makes advances to her there. The events of that episode enable Buffy to start forgiving herself for her ill-considered actions motivated by her illicit passion for a vampire. In this episode she is unable to do either.
  • Came Back Wrong: Averted -- funneling Buffy's essence back into her body during her resurrection caused some basic molecular changes which were enough to confuse Spike's chip, "but it's all surfacy physical stuff". This is not what Buffy wants to hear, as it means her actions with Spike can't be blamed on some demonic aspect of her.
  • Clothing Reflects Personality: Recovery!Willow wears dark, somber clothes. Especially obvious during her scene with Tara who is wearing bright red -- a noticeable change from Season 4 and Foreshadowing for Dark!Willow.
  • The Confidant: Tara for Buffy re Spuffy.
  • Continuity Nod: Willow has checked that Dawn is actually staying over at Janice's place after the events of "All The Way". Buffy's alarm over finding Dawn dancing with Xander ("Are we singing again?") refers to the Musical Episode "Once More With Feeling" when everyone expressed their emotions through song and dance.
  • Creepy Monotone / French Maid Outfit: Mind Controlled Katrina.
  • Cuffs Off, Rub Wrists: Buffy appears to refuse Spike's offer to handcuff her, but the next day is shown rubbing her wrists and hiding her bruises from Tara.
  • A Darker Me: Buffy refuses to join the Scoobies on the dance floor of the Bronze and retreats to the upper balcony, where she finds Spike waiting.

Spike: You see...you try to be with them, but you always end up in the dark, with me. What would they think of you, if they found out all the things you've done? If they knew...who you really were? (Spike starts to lift Buffy's skirt)
Buffy: (faintly) Don't...
Spike: Stop me. (Spike enters Buffy from behind; Buffy closes her eyes and moans) No, don't close your eyes. Look at them. That's not your world. You belong in the shadows, with me. Look at your friends and tell me you don't love getting away with this, right under their noses.

  • Description Cut: Used for Double Entendre gags -- e.g. Spike bonking Buffy at the Bronze, to Xander limping along the next day rubbing a groin muscle (which he pulled while dancing). Or Buffy (after Dawn rejects her to spend time with Janice) demanding, "Frosty nectar. Now please." to the Trio celebrating with champagne.
  • Destructive Romance: Fully demonstrated in this episode, with Spike trying to dominate Buffy sexually and Buffy seeking to retain control by denying Spike emotionally.
  • Destructo-Nookie: Buffy and Spike's furniture-smashing habits during sex are once more demonstrated.

Buffy: We missed the bed again.
Spike: Lucky for the bed.

Andrew: We can really have anyone we want.
Johnathan: It's like candy.
Andrew: Juicy, pulsating candy.

Spike: Do you even like me?

Buffy: Sometimes...

Spike: But you like what I do to you.

(Buffy's expression says it all)

Spike: (holding up handcuffs) Do you trust me?

Buffy: Never.

Spike: Why are you doing this to yourself?
Buffy: (tearful) A girl is dead because of me.
Spike: And how many people are alive because of you? How many have you saved? One dead girl doesn't tip the scale.
Buffy: That's all it is to you, isn't it? Just another body! You can't understand why this is killing me, can you?

    • This becomes inverted when Spike says that he won't let Buffy turn herself in because he loves her. Buffy responds by savagely beating Spike, implying that she's the evil thing who can't comprehend Spike's selfless actions.
  • Flashback Echo: When Buffy hears Katrina's name mentioned at the police station, she has a flashback to the scene in "I Was Made To Love You" when she saw Katrina with Warren.
  • Fan Disservice: Warren making out with a brainwashed Katrina.
  • Fauxtivational Poster: Tara in the employee lunchroom at the Doublemeat Palace, which has posters urging DEDICATION, PRODUCTION and COOPERATION.

Tara: I have this sudden urge to dedicate my productive cooperation.

  • Fridge Logic: Spike not realising that Katrina has been dead for some time. The coroner not noticing there was no water in Katrina's lungs, even though she'd been found in the river.
  • Game Face / Fang Thpeak: Spike confronting Buffy in the alley.
  • Grievous Bottley Harm: Warren accidentally kills Katrina by hitting her over the head with a champagne bottle.
  • Harmless Freezing: According to Warren anyway, though it's clear his word isn't trustworthy.
  • Heel Realization: Buffy realises she's been using Spike for her own selfish needs while refusing to acknowledge his love.
  • Heroic BSOD: When Buffy thinks she's killed an innocent woman.
  • History Repeats: Buffy likely has the events of "Bad Girls" and "Consequences" very much in mind. Faith accidentally killed a civilian during a melee, tried in vain to dispose of the body by dumping it in water, and argued afterwards that the death of one person didn't matter compared to all the lives she had saved.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Spike dumping Katrina's body in the river.
  • In the Hood: Rwasundi demons
  • Ironic Echo: Warren calls the robotic Katrina "perfect". In "I Was Made To Love You" Warren had built the April-bot, but ended up leaving his "perfect girlfriend" for Katrina, who was more interesting and unpredictable.
    • "Do you trust me?" Dream!Buffy asks a handcuffed Katrina the same question before staking her.
    • "You always hurt the ones you love." Spike tells Buffy this after his beating; Buffy repeats it to the Scoobies when explaining why she thinks Warren may have killed his ex.
  • Ironic Echo Cut

Buffy: We need to find Warren and the others. Whatever they've done, they're not gonna get away with it.
Warren: We're gonna get away with it.

    • Spike disposes of Katrina's body.

Spike: No one will ever find her. (Cut to two officers in front of the police station)
Cop 1: Where'd they find her?
Cop 2: The river. She washed up half a mile from the cemetery.

Voices: What did you do? What did you do?
[[[Smash Cut]] to Spike laying in front of her with a bloody nose]
Spike: Bloody hell, what'd you do that for?

Spike: "What is it to you? This thing we have."
Buffy: "We don't have a 'thing'. We have this."

  • Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Spike and Buffy have sex on the catwalk at the Bronze while their friends dance below.
  • Meaningful Echo: In "Surprise" just before Buffy and Angel first make love (turning him into the evil Angelus) he says, "I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop." Here Spike pays the price of Buffy's unresolved angst from that affair.

Spike: I love you.
Buffy: (upset) No, you don't!
Spike: You think I haven't tried not to?
Buffy: (punches Spike clear across the alley) Try harder!

    • Her Talk to the Fist reaction to "That's my girl" can also be explained as an Angel reference (see "Enemies" -- Angel: "You still my girl?" / Buffy: "Always") as well as echoing Faith's "There's my girl" response to being punched by Buffy (after she taunted B over her dark attraction to vampires)
    • "Dawnie, I have to." Buffy's words to Dawn before her Heroic Sacrifice in "The Gift" are used to justify abandoning her little sister to give herself up to the police.
  • Modesty Bedsheet: Buffy and Spike somehow end up underneath the carpet
  • Moral Myopia: The other members of the Trio discover that Warren has brainwashed his ex-girlfriend.

Jonathan: She's your ex?
Andrew: Dude, that is messed up.
Katrina: Oh, you think? You bunch of little boys, playing at being men. (yelling) Well, this is not some fantasy, it's not a game, you freaks! It's rape!

You don't have a soul! There is nothing good or clean in you. You are dead inside! You can't feel anything real! I can never be your girl!

Are you drowning or waving? Just want you to save me.
Should we try to get along, just try to get along,
So we move, we change our speed of choices that we make
And the barriers are all self-made.

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