Writer:

Jane Espenson

Director:

Michael Gershman

Regulars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

Emma Caulfield as Anya

Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn

James Marsters as Spike

Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest Stars:

Amber Benson as Tara

Clare Kramer as Glory

Adam Busch as Warren

Troy T. Blendell as Jinx

Cast:

Sharon Ferguson as Primitive

Todd Duffey as Murk

Kelly Donovan

Credits submitted by Paul Clement.

Anonymous Vampire

Staked by Anya in the Cemetery.

Anonymous Vampire

Staked by the Buffybot in the Cemetery.

Anonymous Vampire

Staked by Spike in the cemetery.

Anonymous Minion

Hit by Buffy's arrow in Glory's condo.

Total: Four (It's unknown if any other minions were actually killed in Glory's condo.)

Body count submitted by Adam.

Buffybot: "Anya! How is your money?"
Anya (with a big smile): "Fine, thank you for asking!"

Buffybot: (referring to sex with Spike): "It wasn't one time. It was lots of times, and lots of different ways. I can make sketches!"
Willow: "No!"

Buffybot: "Angel's lame. His hair goes straight up, and he's bloody stupid!"

Buffybot (in the midst of conversation with Willow): "You're recently gay!"

Glory (about Spike): "What the hell is that, and why is its hair that color?"

Buffybot (seeing Buffy): "Say! look at you! You look just like me! We're very pretty."

Jinx (in response to the Spike's clues about the Key): "Bob Barker!"
Murk: "We will bring you Bob Barker. We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker!"
Glory: "It is not Bob Barker, scabby morons!"

More quotes from this episode...

• Buffy: "A quest? Like finding a grail or something?"

The literary myth of the search for the holy grail began in the Middle Ages and is usually focused on Arthur, King of the Britains, and his search for the holy grail — the cup Christ drank from at the last supper and which caught his blood at the crucifixion. This story is quite popular and has been promoted by movies such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

• Glory: "If you love me, get it for me."

The idea of "If you love me, you'll do so-and-so" originated in the Bible when Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching," in Jophn 14:23. The phrase has become a cliche in America.

• Buffy: "Hey, I think I know this ritual. The ancient shamans were next called upon to do the Hokey Pokey and to turn themselves around."

The Hokey Pokey is a children's novelty song/game, sung while performing the body movements described in the lyrics. Larry LaPrise, Charles Macak and Tafit Baker claimed to have co-written the ditty in 1949 for the après-ski crowd at Idaho's Sun Valley Resort. When the Associated Press ran LaPrise's obituary in 1996, several World War II veterans stated they had danced the Hokey-Pokey in England in 1943, although the song was called the Okey Cokey. (The song goes as follows: "You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put your left foot in, and you shake it all about. You do the hokey-pokey and you turn yourself around, and that's what it's all about." Repeat with other body parts.) More details can be found here or here.


• Buffy (upon encountering the wildcat in the desert): "Hello, kitty."

This is likely a reference to Hello Kitty, the cartoon character created in 1974 by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio is famous for their cute cartoon characters, including others such as Keroppi and Melody.

• Dawn reads Twist magazine at Xander and Anya's apartment.

Twist is a magazine for teenage girls, with information about friends, boys, pop stars and other celebrities, and fashion.

• Tara (to Anya): "Willow wants to see this thing on the History channel tonight. Salem Witch Trial stuff, which is just gonna get her all upset."

The Salem witch hysteria occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Over 160 men and women were accused of witchcraft; 19 were convicted and hanged, at least 5 died in jail, and one man over 80 years old was crushed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial. Two dogs were also executed as suspected accomplices of witches. Dozens of accused people languished in jail for months without trials until the hysteria subsided; all remaining prisoners were released in May 1693. More information can be found here. Or, click here to view books on the topic.

The History Channel is a US cable station that primarily shows history programs.

• Tara: "The Discovery Channel has koala bears."

The Discovery Channel is a US cable station that focuses primarily on science and nature.

Koalas are not actually bears at all; they are arboreal Australian marsupials (as are kangaroos — koalas also have pouches like kangaroos). Gray and furry, they do resemble teddy bears, hence the common misnomer "koala bears." More information can be found here.

• Xander: "The guys that work for Glory, you said they're kind of like hobbits with leprosy?"

Hobbits are characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien, resembling humans, but much smaller — averaging two to four feet (though only the tallest reached the vicinity of four feet). The creatures were made famous by Tolkien's fantasy novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The latter is currently getting the Hollywood treatment — the first part of the book, The Fellowship of the Ring, hit theaters in December 2001; the next two will follow one per year.

• Xander: "And so say all of us."

This phrase is the alternate ending to the song A Jolly Good Fellow. It can be sung in place of the line "which nobody can deny." This is a popular song for celebrations such as birthdays or retirements. (Differing lyrics can be seen here and here.)


• Spike: "It's that guy. On TV. What's his name? On that show, the price show, where they guess what stuff costs."

Spike is describing The Price Is Right, which originated on NBC in 1956 and ran until 1965. In 1972, the show was revamped and moved to CBS, and has been the mainstay of CBS' daytime lineup ever since (it's the longest-running game show in history). No brainiacs need apply; contestants just need to know the prices of everyday items. The contestants whose estimates are the closest win prizes and move on to more difficult games with even bigger prizes. Bob Barker (born in 1923) has hosted the show since it moved to CBS, and has won 9 Daytime Emmy awards for his efforts.

• Willow: "Some of these wires got fried extra crispy."

This could be a KFC reference. KFC now has a style of chicken called Extra Tasty Crispy, but most people refer to it as only Extra Crispy. Interestingly, KFC is now their actual name (not Kentucky Fried Chicken as it was once known), since they have expanded their menu to include other types of chicken besides fried.

• Dawn: "And Spike built a robot Buffy to play Checkers with."

Checkers (known as Draughts in some countries) is a board game, played on a checkerboard by two players, each having twelve pieces (these are the checkers) which are moved diagonally. The game is ended when either of the players has lost all his men, or cannot move them. In its current form, the game has been around since the 16th century, though forms of it have been around for much longer (early forms of Alquerque, its venerable ancestor, have been found in Egypt dating at least as early as 6000 BC).

Some references submitted by Innie, Greg Lamb and Blondie Bear.

• I Was Made To Love You

In "IWMTLY," we were introduced to Warren, who had created a robot to be his perfect girlfriend. Spike learned of this and ordered Warren to build a replica of Buffy for him.

• Forever

Ben stabbed Jinx in the last episode to prevent him from telling Glory that the Key is in human form. Unfortunately for Ben, Jinx survived to tell the tale.

• Restless

During her quest, Buffy recognizes that she has returned same spot in the desert where she met and fought the First Slayer.

• Seasons One through Three

Both Buffy and Willow mention Angel, the vampire with a soul and love of Buffy's life, who's now in Los Angeles. If you're new to the show, you'll want to read up on much of seasons one - three to get the full scoop on their relationship. You may also want to rent or buy The Buffy and Angel Chronicles video set.

• Revelations

When Willow suggests that it's "intervention time again," she's presumably referring to the time that the Scoobies confronted Buffy about taking up with Angel again after he'd returned from Hell.

• The Replacement

  When the Scooby gang see both Buffy and the BuffyBot at the same time, Xander exclaims that they are both Buffy. In the episode "The Replacement," Xander got split into two separate entities, one of which had all his good qualities and the other all the bad, which is what inspires his comment.

• Shadow

Buffy refers to Glory's Key-sniffing snake, which sought out Dawn in "Shadow." It was heading back through the park to Glory when Buffy killed it.

Some continuity submitted by Lilly Rosenburg.

• In the scene in which Spike and the Buffybot are first alone in his crypt, Spike puts the robot in a loose neck hold. The robot's hair is first under his arm, then over, then under, then over again.
        Spotted by C.J. Baggins.

• Presumably as a result of all the cavorting with the Buffy-bot, Spike's hair is sexily-tousled in this episode. It is inexplicably slicked back, however, when we Spike sleeping in bed, and when he runs after the robot in the cemetary. Why would he have combed and gelled his hair before going to bed?
        Spotted by C.J. Baggins.

• Spike spends a lot of time sunbathing in this episode. During his post-shag cuddle on the floor in his crypt, he gets some direct sunlight on his shoulder and back as he moves on top of Buffy. Later, at Glory's place, Glory throws him onto the bed in such a way that his left arm, at least, is in direct sunlight. (Just before that, she drags his head briefly through sunlight, but he winces at that appropriately.) Also, during the last scene, rather a lot of sunlight is on the back of his head.
        Spotted by C.J. Baggins.

• Glory's minions clearly kidnap Spike at night (or at any rate, while it was still quite dark outside). They must have stopped for coffee or some partying at the Bronze, because it's clearly daytime by the time they arrive there with Spike. Similarly, the Scooby gang leaves Xander's apartment while it's still quite dark, but don't get to Buffy's house until it's very bright, sunshiney, broad daylight.

• At Glory's place, while Spike has his hands tied behind his back, Glory punches him. When she does, his hands are untied as he is knocked back (you can clearly see his right arm loose), but in the next shot when he hits the wall, his hands are tied again.
        Spotted by Hayley.

• At Glory's place, as Spike is insulting Glory, his lips don't match his words during the shot of Glory turning to check out her ass.
        Spotted by C.J. Baggins.

• Where did Spike get the badly bruised and swollen left eye we see in the last scene, in Spike's crypt? We see no sign of trauma to it when he's at Glory's place, nor in the elevator. (His right eye was visibly wounded, but not his left.)
        Spotted by C.J. Baggins.

• At Glory's place, when Glory slices Spike's chest, she starts over on the left and stops the knife smack in the middle of his chest. Later (such as when he's in the elevator, and in the last scene in his crypt) the wound doesn't appear long enough to match.

• We learn that Glory can't absorb the sanity of vampires as she can humans.

• Dawn inexplicably steals a pair of Anya's earrings from her and Xander's apartment.

• Kelly Donovan, Nicholas Brendon's twin brother, was credited in the end credits simply as "And Kelly Donovan." According to Nick's official site, Nicholas was ill during the filming of this episode, so Kelly served as a double during a few scenes.

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: DVD — Widescreen VHS — VHS — Posters at AllPosters.com

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail: DVD — VHS — Posters at AllPosters.com

• The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set — Amazon.com's Lord of the Rings Store — The Fellowship of the Ring DVD — The Fellowship of the Ring DVD Boxed Set — Posters at AllPosters.com — Products at eMerchandise

• Hello Kitty: Products at Amazon.com

• The Salem Witch Trials: Related Books
  The Crucible, based on the trials: VHS — A Play in Four Acts (paperback)

• Checkers: Premier Edition Checkers

Soupytwist:

This is one of my favorite episodes, ever. It was sexy, funny, freaky, insightful and touching. The desert retreat with Buffy and Giles was a wonderful bit of Slayerdom, while the preceding scenes in which Buffy proclaims her love for Giles repeatedly (and especially Giles' reaction) is every B/G 'shipper's wet dream. But the real meat of this ep was Spike doing the Buffy-bot. It was great because you knew he would be found out, and his "hair of the dog" rationale was disturbing. His brutal torture at the hands of Glory had me on the edge of my seat (and still does), but in the clutch, he refused to give up Dawn. And he delivered one of the best insults ("lopsided ass") ever! The Buffy-bot was probably the best-ever invention of the writers, and the "Terminator"-style view we were given of the Scoobies was particularly entertaining and guffaw inducing. And the best part? Willow can fix her. We haven't seen the last of dear, naïve, Buffy-bot. (10/10)

Elliot:

After the disappointing "Forever," I was glad to see another great episode. This is totally different from "The Body" in every way, and doesn't have the ambition of that episode. What it is, instead, is a perfect example of everything Buffy is supposed to be — something funny, dramatic and actiony; it is obviously intended to set the tone and mark the beginning of the final run of episodes in this season. The comedy is mostly provided by the Buffybot, which has many great lines, my personal favourites being the dismissal of Angel as "bloody stupid" and her mispronunciation of "Giles." The scene with Spike telling Glory that some US quiz show guy is the key always has me laughing too, as do more and more scenes that keep coming back to me as I'm writing this. The drama is provided by the last half of the episode when Glory has captured Spike and proceeds to torture him. It's a great sequence, and serves to make Glory seem more sadistic and evil as well. Sarah does a great job as the Buffybot, making her really seem like a different character from the real Buffy, and then the writers cover their backs by having Buffy chastising the gang for not realising which was the robot (since it seems rather obvious to us). There aren't many negatives in this episode, the only real one I can think of is Buffy's sequence in the desert being slightly dull, but since it's obviously important and we really don't have to sit through too much of it at all, I can't complain. This is one of my favourite episodes from Season 5. (9/10)

Jamie Marie:

This episode reminded me that Sarah Michelle Gellar is very pretty when she smiles; it's too bad her character isn't smiling much lately. I love the Buffybot! She's adorable, and she makes me laugh. Thus, I laughed a lot during this episode. I loved the Buffybot's interaction with Spike, and with everyone else. Spike's complexity can be seen here quite well — he's not above creating and having sex with a robot version of Buffy, something that most people would consider a rather sick and twisted thing to do, but he's also got a heart that's functional enough to prevent him from giving up Dawn's secret, even in the face of torture and possible death. This is good; multi-faceted characters are good characters. I dug the Buffy-Giles interaction (and I loved Giles' "hokey pokey" ritual), as well as Buffy's reaction to the Buffybot, and her scene with Spike at the end. It's good that she can see past the bad well enough to give Spike credit for the good, and it was sweet of her to allow him one last kiss. (9/10)