Lovers Walk (Buffy episode)
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
|---|---|
| “Lovers Walk” | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 8 |
| Guest star(s) | Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers) Harry Groener (Mayor Richard Wilkins III) James Marsters (Spike) |
| Writer(s) | Dan Vebber |
| Director | David Semel |
| Production no. | 3ABB08 |
| Original airdate | November 24th 1998 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Revelations" | "The Wish" |
"Lovers Walk" is episode 8 of season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
A lovelorn Spike returns and kidnaps Willow and Xander.
[edit] Expanded overview
Willow complains about receiving a 740 on Verbal for her SAT's, while Xander notes that her Verbal score closely resembles his combined score. She and Xander offer the idea of a double date to Cordy and Oz, although the issue is not immediately settled. Buffy shows up looking shaken; her high score (1430) on her SAT's has opened up a world of possibilities and pressure for her to deal with, on top of her regular Slayer duties. While the test scores may allow her to have more control of her future, possibly even to the point that she could have a somewhat normal life, Buffy is unsure of how to proceed.
That night, Spike drives through the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign again, but this time he is extremely drunk; he falls out of the car and reprises his first lines in the series, "Home sweet home", before passing out. He returns to the old burned down factory (despondently singing Frank Sinatra's "My Way") and surveys the damage in a drunken state. He begins to shout and cry, destroying Drusilla's charred dolls and drunkenly wondering why she left him.
Back at school the next day, Xander tries to persuade Cordelia to go on a double bowling date with Willow and Oz--she eventually agrees. Oz presents Willow with a cute Pez Witch as a theme gift. She is delighted by the thoughtful gift but feels guilty, partly because she has no gift for him (neither of them think that Pez have a werewolf themed dispenser), and partly because of the ongoing sparks between herself and Xander.
Giles packs for a Watchers' retreat, apparently taking everything he owns with him. When presented with Buffy's SAT scores and her opportunity to have a first-rate educational experience, Giles suggests that she consider leaving Sunnydale, noting that Faith could carry the weight of the Slayer duties for awhile. He warns her about seeing Angel and she promises that nothing will happen between them because they are just friends now. Meanwhile, Xander and Willow are second-guessing the bowling date with Oz and Cordelia. Willow is concerned that Oz and Cordelia will be able to tell that things are not right, and resists Xander's attempt to kiss her earlobe. She and Xander restate their commitment to avoid physical intimacy with each other. Xander tells her that he wishes that they could just get rid of their feelings of lust.
That night, Spike stands outside Angel's mansion and drunkenly rails at Angel for turning Dru against him, but Angel has left the room and cannot hear Spike's drunken rants. Spike ends up falling over a planter and passing out in the garden. The next morning, he wakes to find his hand aflame after being exposed to sunlight. He runs around frantically trying to douse his hand and avoid the ever rising sun, eventually diving into his car to tend to his wound, first pouring alcohol on his hand, then pouring some more down his throat to ease the pain. Surveying his current state, he notes: "This is just too much."
Back at home, Buffy's mom continues to push the idea of college, although Buffy is still resistant to the pressure. Her mother asks her what could possibly be keeping her in Sunnydale. Buffy avoids telling her mother that she is reluctant to leave Angel. She visits him and asks his opinion on her future options, in the process trying to determine where the two of them stand with each other. Angel, visibly torn, suggests as a friend that she go, reasoning that it is a good opportunity for her to live a life outside of her calling. Unhappy with his answer, Buffy leaves.
Spike goes to a local magic shop during the day, (sneaking in through the back,) in search for a curse for Angel. He wants something really nasty, suggesting either boils or leprosy, something that would "make his parts fall off". The shopkeeper is distracted by Willow, who is looking for ingredients for a "de-lusting" spell. As she and the shop keeper discuss ingredients, Spike, out of sight, pays close attention and abandons his search for a curse; when Willow leaves, Spike kills the shopkeeper, having decided that a "love" spell for Drusilla would be "an even better idea."
Later that day, the Mayor is playing golf in his office when his deputy alerts him to their "Spike problem". When the deputy suggests that Mr. Trick organize and send a 'commitee' to deal with the problem, the Mayor, after a few asides ranging from offering the deputy's soul for "one good short game" to whether "allowing a loose cannon to rock the boat" is a mixed methaphor, good-humouredly agrees.
At school, the night of the double date, Willow is in the chemistry lab, working on the ingredients for her anti-love spell. Xander shows up, since he had to be present and they begin arguing when he figures out what Willow is doing. Spike comes in, still very drunk, and attacks Xander, announcing that he needs to borrow Willow for a while. Spike takes Xander, unconscious from a head wound, and Willow back to the factory, where he locks them up. Spike explains his situation and goals to Willow, first threatening her life if she fails to cast an effective spell, then sitting next to her and relating the painful details of his breakup with Dru. He tells Willow that Dru had thought he had gone soft after his alliance with Buffy, and that Dru had told him that he was not "demon enough" for her anymore, despite his protestations that he had done it all for her. The final blow had come when Dru told him that they could still be friends. An uncomfortable Willow tries to half-heartedly comfort the distraught Spike.
When Willow tells Spike that she does not have enough ingredients, he takes her list and goes to collect what she needs. At the library, Buffy is working out when Cordelia and Oz show up, worried because the lab is torn up and Willow and Xander are gone. Buffy's mom calls her, and then Buffy hears Spike enter the house and say "Hello Joyce" over the line. Joyce offers him some hot chocolate and he tells her his sob story, and she offers him advice and he asks if she has any of "those little marshmallows". Angel spots them talking in the kitchen as he's walking through the garden, but cannot enter the house because he is not invited. Joyce, thinking he is still evil, backs away, and Spike taunts him behind Joyce's back. Buffy arrives, pins Spike to the table and invites Angel in. Spike tells them he's got her friends and the three of them leave to get the supplies so that he can do the love spell and set Buffy's friends free. On the way to the shop, Spike is afflicted with pain from finally starting to sober up, and reminisces on past hi-jinks with Drusilla, much to the chagrin of Buffy and Angel. Buffy offers to stake Spike to put him out of his misery, but Angel tells her that they still need him to find her friends; Buffy counters that he probably just locked them in the factory, despite Spike's protests that he is not that "thick".
Oz and Cordelia, who are on their way to find Giles, decide to back track to the factory when Oz catches Willow's scent and can tell that she is afraid ("a residual werewolf thing"). Cordelia declares it to be creepy, and Oz admits that he agrees.
Spike, Buffy and Angel are getting the supplies they need when, prompted by Angel's comment that he's going to a lot of trouble for the sake of the fickle Drusilla, Spike takes a swing at him before blaming the two of them for their break-up; visibly broken up, he says that he is "nothing without her". Buffy agrees; he truly has become pathetic. Spike retorts by saying that they sicken him; the last time he had seen them, they were fighting to the death, and now they were acting like nothing had happened. They insist that they are just friends now, but Spike knows better. He tells them that they can never be just friends; they can fight and shag and hate each other until it kills them, but they will never be just friends. He may be "love's bitch", but at least he is "man enough to admit it".
Xander wakes up to find that he and Willow are locked in the basement of the factory. They discuss what will happen to them: Willow explains that either she casts the spell and Spike kills them, or she refuses to cast the spell, and Spike kills them. Xander demands a third option, so Willow suggests that Spike might have gotten so drunk that he will pass out and forget about them, leaving them to starve to death; she notes that this last possibility is their best option. Xander reassures her that they will not die, suggesting that Spike will probably get sloppy, leaving Xander an opening to make his move. However, upon finding he does not have the strength to move, he decides to stay put. Deciding that the high probability of death is a mitigating factor, Willow and Xander kiss just in time for Oz and Cordelia to find them. Cordelia is horrified and runs up the stairs, but they collapse and she falls through, impaling herself on a piece of metal rebar sticking out of the rubble-covered floor below.
As they leave with the supplies, Buffy, Angel and Spike are surrounded by a group of Trick's vampires, led by one of Spike's former lackeys, Lenny. Buffy warns Spike not to start any trouble, but it becomes apparent that it's too late for that. Lenny gives Buffy and Angel the chance to stay out of it, but Spike counters that if they leave him to die, then Willow and Xander die too. Buffy reluctantly decides they have to stay. A huge brawl ensues in the streets of Sunnydale as Spike fights against the gang of vampires with the help of Buffy and Angel. After killing a few, they retreat back into the shop and barricade themselves in, fending off the vampires as long as possible, and fighting the ones who get inside. Lenny makes the mistake of insulting Spike, who, incensed, brutally beats and stakes him. Eventually, with the help of some bottled holy water, Angel and Buffy scare off all the remaining vampires. Spike, inspired and refreshed by the thrill of the fight, realizes that the only way he is going to get Dru back is if he becomes the man he once was, the man she loved. He tells Angel and Buffy that their friends are at the factory, and that he is going to find Dru, tie her up, and torture her until she likes him again. As he leaves the shop, he sticks his head back in to note to the bemused pair that "Love's a funny thing."
Cordelia is in pretty bad shape, but she survives the fall; none of her vital organs are hurt. Buffy and Willow discuss the status of Willow's relationship; Oz apparently isn't even talking to her anymore. Buffy suggests time, patience, and groveling. Xander visits Cordelia in the hospital, bringing flowers and wanting to talk, but she tells him to stay away from her. Buffy visits Angel, and tells him that they are not friends; she explains that she is not coming back, because he does not need her help anymore, and she cannot maintain the lie about their friendship to herself ("or Spike, for some reason"). Angel protests, and Buffy tells him that the only way they can see each other is if he tells her that he does not love her, something he cannot do. While each character broods in their own way, mourning for their broken relationships, Spike is back on the road, on his way to find Drusilla, smoking and singing along with the lyrics of the Sex Pistols' punk version of "My Way" as his car travels along the desert highway.
[edit] Christmas Buffy promo
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- The promo can be downloaded from an external link below
Immediately after the first airing of "Lovers Walk", was the first airing of an advert which featured Gellar and Boreanaz as their characters, Buffy and Angel.
[edit] Promo synopsis
Buffy is standing outside at a phone booth. Strangely Sunnydale appears to be snowing. Buffy says "This season with 1800 Collect, you don't have to be alone for the holidays". She then begins dialing the phone. Buffy hears footsteps behins her. She turns grabs a stake-shaped icicle, and makes a staking motion before Angel grabs her hand. Buffy: "You should have called", Angel replies "Sorry I'm Late. The two smile, look into the snowing sky then walk off together.
[edit] Promo offer
The promo was offering fans the chance to enter a sweeps stake every time they made a call using the 1-800-COLLECT communidations system.
The prize was a walk-on part on Buffy. Jessica Johnson of Maryland, won a three day trip for two to participate in the episode "The Prom".
[edit] Promo continuity
The advert would have to take place on the next evening after "Amends". The advert is clearly not part of Buffyverse canon; both the narrator and Buffy actively break the Fourth wall.
[edit] Writing and acting
Dan Vebber's Buffy credits are limited to this episode and "The Zeppo".
[edit] Production details
[edit] Music
- Sex Pistols/Gary Oldman/Sid Vicious - "My Way" Sung by Spike as he leaves Sunnydale. Spike's embrace of punk music, as opposed to quieter, more emotive music (Angel later shows an affinity for Barry Manilow as well as the "Ratpack" itself) is indicative of his personality as the rough-and-tumble foil to brooding intellectuals like Angel, as well as his former human self.
[edit] Quotes and trivia
Buffy's last words to Angel ("Tell me you don't love me") are identical to the script she and Angel were forced to re-enact when possessed by the ghosts of a murder-suicide couple in the episode "I Only Have Eyes for You".
Spike gloomily sings My Way, originally performed by Frank Sinatra as he wanders around his old haunts. When he is "back to his old self," he sings the wild Sid Vicious version. This recalls the end of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, where Joe Pesci's murderous character is seen unloading with his rifle, as well as the Alex Cox film Sid and Nancy. In Season Five of Angel, eye witnesses of an ensouled Spike's bravery will report that he asked them if they want to listen to Sex Pistols records after saving them.
The book Angel is seen reading is La Nausée by Jean-Paul Sartre; its main theme is the nature of existential angst, a quality often associated with Angel. The fact that the cover features the original French title suggests Angel is proficient enough with French to read the book in its original language.
The spells Willow intended to perform in this episode (her 'delusting' spell for herself and Xander as well as the love spell Spike kidnapped her to perform) can be considered both a MacGuffin and a nod to the immorality of using magic for personal gain. When Xander and Willow argue over whether they need to use magic to control their impulses, she comments (after becoming quite angry at him) that they probably don't; after getting his pent-up aggression out of his system, Spike also decides that magic is not the answer to his problems, and sets out to find and win back Drusilla himself.
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
- Faith, having recently arrived in Sunnydale, does not appear in this episode and the Mayor (the major villain of the season) is limited to one scene.
- Giles's absence makes possible some of the chaos that follows. Giles is generally a stabling force in the lives of Buffy and the Scooby Gang; he eventually moves back to England (Season 6), and the personal lives of Buffy and her friends disintegrate in his absence.
- Spike makes his sole appearance this season before returning as a permanent regular in Season 4. He is still trying to recapture Drusilla's heart and resists the temptation to kill Willow in order to achieve it; he later reveals to Willow the extent of the bloodlust that he felt for her at this point. Even in his drunken rage, he sees Buffy's heart. He also makes a humorous guest for Joyce; although they have met only briefly before (initially at Parent-Teacher night and later at her home) he seeks out her company in this episode. In Season 5, he protects her and watches soap operas with her, and brings flowers to honor her after her sudden death, noting to Xander that Joyce was the only one of the group that ever treated him decently. As more is revealed about Spike in later seasons, a parallel to his relationship with his own mother (up to the point where he turned her) emerges.
- Buffy recognizes for the first time that her relationship with Angel is doomed.
- Xander and Willow's indiscretion has a major impact on their respective relationships. Cordelia and Xander, while occasional allies, are no longer a couple, and Cordelia's subsequent wish to the vengeance demon Anyanka not only threatens to permanently alter reality, but it results in Anyanka being forced into human form and stripped of her powers, eventually forming a long-term bond with Xander. Willow and Oz soon reunite, but when Oz later cheats on Willow with a female werewolf (Season 4) he will try (unsuccessfully) to use this incident to justify his actions to Willow.
- This episode marks an early example of Willow automatically turning to magic to solve human problems and make her own life easier; as her powers grow stronger, so does her impulse to use magic as a catch-all problem solver and to manipulate human emotions. Eventually (Season 6), it becomes an addiction and has drastic implications for her life.
- This episode marks the first time that Willow uncomfortably tries to comfort a highly distraught Spike. This dynamic will return in Season 4, when Spike tries to attack Willow in her dorm room but is painfully hindered by his newly-implanted chip. They sit together on the bed and discuss the possible causes of Spike's problem (with parallels to male impotence). Willow comforts him, first trying to normalize his condition ("Doesn't this happen to every vampire?"), then tries to take the blame for his condition ("I know I am not the kind of girl vamps like to sink their teeth into"). She offers to let Spike rest for half an hour before trying to bite her again, then realizes that hitting him on the head and running is a more reasonable plan.
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse chronology: Fall 1998 - Christmas 1998 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.01 Anne |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.02 Dead Man's Party |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.03 Faith, Hope & Trick |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.04 Beauty and the Beasts |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.05 Homecoming |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.06 Band Candy |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: Sins of the Father |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy graphic novel: Play With Fire |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.07 Revelations |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: Child of the Hunt |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy video game: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Xbox) |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.08 Lovers Walk |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy graphic novel: Spike & Dru: Who Made Who |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy graphic novel: Remaining Sunlight |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: Ghoul Trouble |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: Paleo |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.09 The Wish |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: The Evil That Men Do |
| Sunnydale, Christmas, 1998 | B3.10 Amends |
| Sunnydale, Christmas, 1998 | Tales of the Vampires: Numb, (During Amends) |
| Sunnydale, Christmas, 1998 | Christmas Buffy promo, (After Amends) |
[edit] External links
[edit] Reviews
- Soulful Spike Society analysis of Lovers Walk
- Peripheral Visions Review
- Section 31 Review
- Swing the Sickle Review
[edit] Christmas Buffy/Angel promo
