Gone or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fury - Spoilers

Episode 6:11 - Gone
Airdate: 01-08-2002

Re-run hell is over kiddies. If that means sitting back and watching some nice, wholesome family-type entertainment to you, run on over to PAX-TV or hide your blushing eyes. It's time to talk sex, invisibility, sex, addiction, sex, daily workouts, oh, and did I mention, sex?

Redemption!Anvils, Body by Spike, and Scoobie action of all types. Despite all expectations, Gone hath come and gone, and I.Will.Fear.No.Fury!

***

The Summers' residence is having a Blue Light Special on magic items as Buffy and Dawn clean house while Willow sits with her Miserable!Face and practices looking all fluffy puppy harmless. It's all about Willow.Has.A.Problem and helping her stay clean, and as the Buffster and everyone knows, candles are bongs to Wiccans. It's nice to see that the subtle references to addiction are still part of the Willow arc. Oh, and Dawn is whiney. Buffy finds Spike's lighter in the couch and flashbacks to tearing down the house with him. She's floored by the memories and goes into Denial!Buffy mode, defiantly tossing it in the box with the other forbidden fruit. I'm gonna box that man right outta my head, and send him on his way...

Cut to Geeks on Parade. Warren, cue Ominous Music of Potential Evil, is putting the finishing touches on the Ronco Invis-O-Matic, and proves again that he is Boss Hogg to Jonathan and Andrew's Roscoe and Enos. Which rhymes with penis. Which *is* what Warren is. Cheer up Frodo, you guys are un:::coughcough:::stoppable.

***

Mr. Fury, I put those 'I want to have your baby' email printouts on the top of the stack, you're American Drycleaners Association meeting has been pushed back to 4:30, and Mr. Lucifer called back - apparently the skates are working out quite nicely.

TOP

***

Back to the Summers' house for a nice brekkie. Who knew Willow could cook? This episode features Dawn!Lite - sounds more bitchy and takes less screen time. Buffy's in Guilt!Mom mode for not being there for her. She's starting to wake up and smell the domestic crisis that is Dawn. "Will, I'm worried about the Dawnster."

Hey, it's BrownClothes!Spike with optional Jewelry Kit out in broad daylight. Somebody tell that guy he's a vampire. Wait. Chest of Spike. Breathe, in and out, you'll get the hang of it. Slam into the house on fire, stomp out the blanket, smooth your hair back - hey, it's kools. Curly hair, soft longing looks. Perfect!Boyfriend meets LoveGod!Spike. Buffy and Willow aren't too surprised to see him, in fact, Buffy looks happy until she remembers that Willow's still there. Red proves she can understand nuance and clears the field.

The looks, the walk, the shy-downcast eyes, love talk in the kitchen. No, it's not a Taster's Choice commercial; it's the Post-Morning After Talk. Buffy is, yes, flirting. Spike is chatting her up and she's liking it. Across the country, SO's are having to revive swooned S/B shippers in time to see Spike caress the Slayer's bouncy tresses. "So, um...what should I call you, then? Pet? Sweetheart? My...little Goldilocks? *Thud* "Honey, are you all right?"

The bit with the spatula is a hoot, and Spike's comeback about not being ready to be flipped is very sexy. Oddly enough, it also plays Redemptionistic due to the fact that he's reacting to her angry petulance by gently correcting her. Patience and understanding of her fears, with an added dose of a nice caress to remind her of what she's missing. Precious is the look when he finds that it's a lighter in her pocket *and* she's glad to feel him. The vibes are strong between them; these folks are drawn to each other. Spike and Buffy exude sensuality and at the same time affection. It's a powerful scene, and just as we think, wow, this is it...Xander gets the bad-timing of the year award. Catch the Spike/Dru-type head turn to face Xander that S&B do - shiver me timbers.

See Xander. See Xander Interruptus. See Xander not see S/B having a moment. See Xander make an arcane cinema references to an actor's character whose external transformation triggers an internal one. "Good Godfrey Cambridge, Spike." See Xander prove he's still young and hip to the lingo. "You still trying to mack on Buffy?" See Xander insult Spike's love life. See Buffy defend said love life. See Spike not say a thing. Go, Spike, go. "You can let yourself out, right Spike?" What's of more than passing interest is that Xander doesn't seemed wigged by the idea of Spike hitting on Buffy, just convinced that he hasn't got a snowball's chance of succeeding.

A short recess is declared. Ponder this: Eleven short months ago, a little ep called Crush was penned by a guy name David Fury. We ended the ep with the 'dis-invite', there was that nifty 'only chance/unconscious' line, and the totally downtrodden, pathetic, lovesick mess of a vampire that was our Spike. Now, he's able to let himself out, no big whoop. Let us commence the Snoopy dance of joy at how far he has journeyed in so short a time. We now return to our regularly scheduled review.

Bitca!Dawn is sniping at Buffy while she's trying to make nice with the mothering. The doorbell rings, and you just *know* it's not something of the good. The Social Worker has come to call, apparently keeping a previously made appointment that Buffy has spaced. Note that Buffy is not wearing appropriate Interview garb. (See **Pet's Theory of Clothing Colors below.) Good folks in Social Services everywhere are cringing as the points are pounded home: 1) Buffy never stood a chance of being approved of by old Doris, 2) All social workers are bitcas and shop at Wal-Mart for their outfits, and 3) Home inspections take only five minutes and consist of looking at the living room and quizzing the boy-, uh, whatever of the guardian. Magic weed, indeed.

Spike, who gets the traditional girlfriend role, wants to 'chat things out', while Buffy's having a cow that he's still there. It's fun to see that he's so comfortable with her that he tells her to see to her 'company' and he'll wait. When she mentions it's the lady from Social Services, you actually see a nice Sylvania Energy Efficient Compact Fluorescent bulb go off over his head. Redemption!Anvil #1 to Spike for supporting Buffy with the social worker, when he finally got what was going on. Wasn't asked to and thought of it himself. Buffy was loving it, got a genuine smile and everything out of her. I don't even think she really minded him inserting his foot in his mouth, 'cause he *was* telling the truth. The Big Bad can't fib worth beans. Grins for the boyfriend reference and points for Spike keeping any remarks to himself re Buffy's flustered response as she asks him to go, again. *Significant* looks between those crazy kids, while Doris frowns. The Linus reference started speeding up the descent down the slippery slope of Doris Disapproval and the Gay thing, but she doesn't Gay, appears to seal her fate. But, I agree that Spike has issues. I just happen to think Buffy has more. Doris threatens Buffy with loss of Dawn's guardianship, saying that she'll do what's best for Dawn. In drops an ominous future Plot!Anvil of Dawn's Tuesday tendencies.

Out the door with Doris, and there is Spike, looking all concerned perfect boyfriendy. Buffy wants to know why he won't go, and we see Spike try to tell her that he thought she'd want to *talk* about it, but he never gets to finish his sentence, 'cause Buffy's had enough and she blows up at the one person she *can* to and tells him to get out. In a flash, he changes to Angry!Spike with Clenched Cheekbone action, thumping the door next to her head. All he wanted was to help and she's taking it out on him. His hand makes that swoop down, but he only pulls out the lighter from her pocket, where he knows it was. "Just getting what I came for, luv." and walks out saying, "So long, Goldilocks." I give Redemption!Anvil #2 for him not taking out *his* anger on her. He's tried three separate times to help; now he leaves before doing anything he might regret. Alone at last, a crying Buffy decides she's going to take out her frustration on the thing that Spike likes so much, her long shining locks. This has therapy written all over it. She wants to make herself different, but won't admit why she wants it. The loss of control of her life has her running yet again. She heads over to the local hair shop for remedial trimming and afterwards get zapped by the Legion of Dim. Oopsie. For those of you playing the Echoes of Episodes home game, re The List from Flooded, the LoD have managed to cross off Freeze Ray, Invisibility Ray, and attempted Girls, Girls, Girls.

TOP

***

To: Mutant Enemy c/o David Fury
From: Warner Bros.
Re: Your order invoice # 6ABB11
Contents: (12) Acme Redemption!Anvils, (12) Acme PlotPoint!Anvils
Backordered: (1) Xander!Anvil - Est. delivery date: Unknown

That's all folks.

***

Open on Magic Box and Xander asking, "What happened to Buffy?" Anya replies that she right here, pointing to the wedding dinner diagram. Scaldingly funny, and of course, we all know that this is really a *begin air quotes* Metaphor *end air quotes* for what's really happened to Buffy. Subtlety; it's all about subtlety this week. Invisi!Buffy enters and does some pretty cute stuff with the floating FX and Xander accidentally cops a feel. Props to NB for getting that embarrassed yet satisfied look. The Echoes of Episodes home game gets a hit with references to Marcie in Invisible Girl. Invisibility is great, but hey, how 'bout that haircut? Anya and Buffy break out the nail polish and the Cosmo and gab on about 'do's while, wait for it, Sensible!Xander brings them back on track about no-show Buffy. He wants "Less with they why, more with the how". It's great to see Xander switched to full-on Scoobie mode and wants to get the job done. Buffy decides she needs a walk to clear her head and bails, sure that Xander and Anya will find out what's happened. Buffy shirking responsibility; who'd uh thunk it. Xander thinks Willow might have fallen off the wagon and caused Invisi!Buffy, and he's very concerned, also frightened. Plot!Anvil on Willow as Big Bad. Double helping of Plot!Anvil at the mention of D'Hoffryn invited to the wedding.

Cut to Willow and her water bottles. Apparently, fighting magic addiction is thirsty work. Xand-man confronts her in his awkward, yet sincere manner and she freaks. Truth is, she's just fought off using magic seconds before he got there. Word of the day - "Blinvisible". Usage - Willow thinks Invisi!Buffy is strange, but more important, Buffy got her haircut! Xander replies, "Yeah! Adorable, apparently. I personally couldn't tell since she's all blinvisible!" Also, Willow gets to spout Techno babble like she has a guest role on Star Trek re the properties of the stolen diamond. Then, she stomps out to take a walk. Everyone is getting exercise today.

In their lair, the LoD whine about missing out on the naked chicks, try to fix their ray gun, and worry about the Slayer being invisible. Jonathan says that Invisi!Buffy is a whole world of trouble. He's right.

Invisible wackiness ensues. Some fun stuff, some obvious stuff. It's clear that SMG needed a filming break anyway. Invisi!Buffy drops in for a nice haunting of Doris the Social Worker. Manages to convince her co-workers and her boss that she's just one caseload short of going all Shining on them, which doesn't solve her Dawn problem, but gets the big red reset button on the home visit. Here's a case of Bitca!Buffy coming out, as she's downright mean to Doris, who is just trying to do her job. It's all about choices, and sometimes Buffy makes bad ones. Bonus points for the Echo of Episodes Past home game with a Plot!Anvil thrown in as she whistles the last line of 'Going Through the Motions' from Once More With Feeling. "I can't even see, if this is really me, and I just want to be aliiiiive."

Off to Xander and Willow making like classic Scoobies, gumshoeing their way through the clues. They make up - awww. The question remains: Where, oh, where has our little Buffy gone?

Cut to the Crypt, Spike in full sprawl mode. The sound you hear is the endless rewinding of VCR tapes to get the perfect screen cap for, uh, Redemptive purposes, yeah. Blood and screams on the telly and Spike's so engrossed, his stomach has to rumble for him to notice that he's hungry. The guy sure seems to forget he's Hello. Vampire. He ambles to the fridge for a nip and the door to his crypt slams open. Fanfic writers, start your Word programs. Some little beastie has invaded his space, and he hurts beasties. However, he sure sounds awfully fluffy puppy rather than BigBad. He dances a bit with the beastie, and then gets slammed up against the wall. Invisi!Buffy is looking for some Spike!Abs. Plot!Anvil for the arms in the classic crucifixion pose - Spike gives all that he is for love. He realizes it's Buffy and is shocked then surprised then...you know. She rips open his shirt, causing shortness of breath all over the world. That was just, well, neat. "I told you to stop trying to see me!" Invisi!Buffy teases her guy.

Back to the Magic Box for more wedding filler. Anya makes the discovery of Death by a Surfeit of Pudding. Isn't a pylon a big ole marker of danger? Now Xander and her have to find her Before.It's.To.Late. *gasp*

TOP

***

Mr. Fury, I found a copy of that Redemptionista to Evilista dictionary you wanted on e-Bay, I re-scheduled your Real Men Don't Answer Questions seminar for next month, and here's your roast beef hold the mustard.

***

To the Batcave, uh, Geeklair! Let's talk not so superfriends. EvilLike!Warren knows Buffy will bite it if she's not re-visibled, while Jonathan and Andrew have a real problem with killing her. Comes the Lex Luthor/Superman references, aka the Loyal Opposition never actually killing the hero. Hey, it works for Krypton Kreek on that other network. Warren is sure that they are Villains and can kill people. The dithering duo don't want to kill her and Jonathan actually stands up to Warren who, barely, backs down. Plot!Anvil of future problems between the trio as Warren consolidates his head of the pack position.

Here we see Xander entering Spike's crypt. Land sakes, he's actually going to Spike for help! The place looks like a cyclone hit it. Getting down with Invisi!Buffy takes a toll on a man's possessions, it does. Xander wanders a bit, and then makes his way downstairs. Here all S/B'ers rejoice in the lack of a Standards and Practices department at UPN, as there is Nekkie!Spike in a very interesting position on the bed making decidedly regular and undulating movements. Nice to see that JM's recovered from his bout with the 'flu and all those back muscles are in perfect working order. Xander decides that he wants to be blind (more bonus points for the Echoes of Episodes home game - Something Blue) and asks Spike what's he doing? Spike responds that he exercising and does a few pushups to bring the point, uh, home. His vampire hearing must be going, as he didn't hear the LoD in Smashed when he was right next to them, and he sure didn't hear Xander coming into his crypt. Spike in a sheet with Xander looking on - the S/X ship just got a free two level upgrade. Xander tells Spike about Invisi!Buffy, and old smoothy responds very quickly that he hasn't seen her. The lad looks so guilty , honorable mention Redemption!Anvil for not really wanting to lie to Xander. Invisi!Buffy nibbles on Spike's ear as he offers to have a look around when he has the chance and will let Buffy know Xander's looking for her, while Xander thinks he's got an entry for the Wanking Spike January challenge fic. Oh, to be on the set when they were filming this one - bwahahaha. Xander seems genuinely concerned for Spike, tells him he really needs to get a girlfriend, and leaves. Plot!Anvil for Spike and Xander becoming semi-friends. The playful interaction between Spike and Buffy is a delight to see, proving even beyond the Cement Block theory that JM can have chemistry with Air.

Here we come to ticks and tocks, sir. Spike tells Invisi!Buffy that she's bloody stupid to mess with him while Xander's there, knowing that she doesn't want to clue him in to their relationship. Invisi!Buffy just thinks it's the perfect thing, no responsibilities, no repercussions, no holding back doing what she really wants to do, which is be with Spike, and not just for sex. They were having *fun*, and the last time I checked, the words Spike and fun were not to be used together in her vocabulary, even in pronoun form. Spike says, "Perfect for you." and gets up and pours himself a generous helping of scotch. At this point, I have to say the first few times I viewed this part of the scene, I had a hard time analyzing it. I was just rooting for Invisi!Buffy to move her darn knee. Spike without clothes, Spike sans vêtements, Spike ohne Kleidung, oh, geez, Nekkie!Spike! Not only is he nekkie, he pissed off. Buffy wants the nookie without the responsibility. It's Responsible!Spike speaking here. She says she thought that this was what Spike wanted.

This scene marks Spike reaching an all time Redemption high point for me. He says, "The only reason you're here is that you're not here." He knows she's hiding behind her invisibility as an excuse to *misbehave* with him. But, he wants more, knows that this is not what should be going on in a relationship. Buffy says that she finally feels free, and that she's not felt that way since she got back. "I'm free. Free of rules and reports. Free of this life." Spike shoots back, "Free of life? Got another name for that - dead." Buffy whines, "Why do you always have to -- I thought we were having fun." Spike says, "Yeah, now. But sooner or later, your chums are gonna work out a way to bring you back to living color. You need to go. Get dressed, if you can find your clothes, and push off, 'cause if I can't have all of you, I'd rather -- OK, that's cheating." <head down, looking at Buffy, uh, you know, giving him great pleasure... >

Funny ending, yes, but very serious move for Spike. He's RocksBack!Spike, and he's not gonna be her bitch any more. He wants all of her or none of her. Echoes of Episodes past awards points for the Riley/Spike talk of Into the Woods. It's risky, but he's grown stronger and more sure of himself than he's ever been in his un/life. This whole scene is worth Redemption!Anvil #3 for being true to himself and having self-esteem, showing Buffy that she should respect herself, and being actually quite the gentleman about it. He stays the course and did what I thought was an impossible thing: he made hardcore S/B shippers yell with joy at his kicking Buffy out of his crypt for not treating him right. You go, girl! Plot!Anvil for the future relationship crisis for the ship that is inevitable, but necessary to sail into the long haul cruise.

Cut to shot of a shirt back with a patch depicting "Espresso PUMP Dealer". Triple entendre points for the Echoes of Episodes past, Once More With Feeling crypt scene. "What else would I want to pump you for?" At the coffeehouse Internet station, which no one monitors for illegal activity, Willow is hacking the California DMV database. She's almost there, but just can't wait those extra 12 seconds. She reaches to give the processor a little boost, but, ta-da, she's in. Saved by the hack. She's closer to the edge than she lets on to anyone. More water bottles around. Geez, doesn't anybody drink caffeinated beverages any more?

Focus on a can being invisi-kicked down the street and the voice-over of Buffy fuming at Spike kicking her out of his crypt. Yes, gentle readers, you read right, you viewed right. He kicked her out after the, uh, great pleasuring. Again with the Superman reference as Invisi!Buffy questions whether this is Bizarro world. Echoes of Episodes rides again with the superhero reference from Tabula Rasa. [Side note: I've been told that the Death of Superman back in '93 storyline parallels the Death of Buffy in '01. Maybe significant, maybe ME's been smoking some nice red herring in their L'il Chief Smoker.] Invisi!Buffy is incredulous, "And after he's always going on and on about being the only one that understand me. We're alike, you and me. Birds of a bloody feather. Oh, he's just so---" "Hey, I'm walking here! Insensitive. That's what he is." The girl doesn't even talk a good game. She *knows* he's very sensitive, and more often than not, he's right, about her anyway. A lot of times, he's on target for everyone else, too. She's gotten a taste of what RocksBack!Spike is about and she's squirming 'cause she knows she's on the wrong side of righteous here.

Invisi!Buffy heads home, but no one's there. She's tooling around when Dawn come in, looking like a model for Teenager Sneaking In After Curfew. Buffy is back on her high of invisi-freedom, and doesn't even clue into the fact that it's awfully late for Dawnie to be rolling in, especially since she was supposed to be home right after school. Buffy does the UFP spiel and gives Dawn the wiggins. Dawn can see that being invisible is not good for Buffy and certainly not good for the prospects of her sister *really* seeing her anytime soon. Buffy states that Xander and Anya are 'Muldering' it out. You know you watch too much genre television when a character's use of the name/traits of another character on another show as a verb makes perfect sense. Dawn freaks and wants to know why Buffy isn't trying to come up with a solution to her invisibility, and leaves, stating she can't talk to her if she can't see her. Then, Buffy notices the flashing message on the answering machine. Death by a Surfeit of Pudding looms unless they can find who zapped her. Wow.

TOP

***

Dear Mr. Fury,

I am writing this to you
and I hope that you will read it so you'll know
My heart beats like a hammer
and I stutter and I stammer
every time I see your name on a Buffy t.v. show.
I guess I'm just another fan of yours
and I thought I'd write and tell you so.

You made me love you
I didn't wanna do it, I didn't wanna do it.
You made me love you
and all the time you knew it, I guess you always knew it.
You made me happy, sometimes you made me glad.
But there were times, sir, you made me feel so sad.
You made me sigh 'cause
I didn't wanna tell you, I didn't wanna tell you
I think you're grand, that's true
Yes I do, 'deed I do, you know I do.
I must tell you what I'm feeling
The very mention of your name
sends my heart reeling.
You know you made me love you!
I don't care what happens, let the whole world stop.
As far as I'm concerned, you'll always be the top,
'cause you know you made me love you.

Sincerely Yours,
A Fan

(Nods to Judy Garland and Clark Gable)

***

Willow is hunting for the address of the stalking van. She's on foot 'cause none of the good guys ever drive any more. She locates the Lair and steps down. Going over to the chalkboard with the rendering of the Invisi-Ray, she gazes at it and the blueprints for, say, all of 18 seconds (yes, I timed it!). She then looks at the raygun itself, when she suddenly MacGuyver'd into ducktape. Warren congratulates her on being their first hostage. Plot!Anvil here for future hostage taking potential. Call to Buffy to bring the money in small, unmarked bills to the arcade if she ever wants to see Willow alive again. This part gets a little hard to follow, because not only is there Invisi!Buffy, there's Invisi!Warren, Andrew, and Jonathan to not see. Mostly, there's some nice shots of arcade games, the ball pit, and Willow looking confuzzled. It's the low point of the invisible plot, which is a hard one to maintain IMO. We find that Warren was just laying low and really wants to kill Buffy, but StarTrek!Willow looks at the invisi-gun and yells, "She's not set for reversing the particle ionization, Captain. It'll accelerate her molecular dissolution. I saw the plans. She'll blow, I tell ye. I canna hold her tagether!" Pretty good for 18 seconds of analysis, but I digress <g>.

Fight as follows: Buffy kicks butt. The Geeks are lame. Invisible fights are boring. Willow zaps everyone back to visibility. At the end, a comic book-type confrontation where Warren says that it's not over, and that the three of them are her Arch Nemesises, or is that Nemeses. They try to use the old disappear in the cloud of smoke trick, but forget to check if the door is locked. Saved by Rusty's brother Moldy the Security Guard, the Geeks break the lock and are gone. "Oh, my God, Buffy." "I know. They're gone." "No, your hair. It *is* adorable." Buffy and Willow can't summon up the energy to chase them and make their way to the curb and sit down.

Buffy gently questions Willow about how she found the LoD's van, and Willow admits doing it the hard way is, well, hard, but she's doing OK. Buffy admits she needs to do damage control for her 'giddy-fest' of invisibility, especially with Dawn. Here's the part I found very significant. She says that, "The whole 'taking a vacation from me' thing didn't work out too well." On all fronts baby, and Willow agrees. We have moved past the clunky addiction metaphor for both of them and they are admitting, out loud no less, that it was them running away from who they were, wanting to be something other that who they were that was causing most of their problems. Big step for our two Ladies of DeNile.

Buffy then talks about being afraid to die now, but that not too long ago, she would have welcomed death. Spike has helped her to be alive, to go on living, so one of them is living. They guess that they've both made good first steps. Yay for them.

TOP

***

Re-cap:

S/B lovin' - Good Godfrey Cambridge
S/B fightin' - Mostly good
S behavior - Good bordering on Great
B behavior - Mostly Bad but Getting Better
S Redemption - Soaring
B fear factor - Improving
S/B ship - Sailing in rougher waters, but with a good hull and some nice sails
S/B hope - Good

***

So, did you love it, hate it, wanted to wrap last week's fish in it? Let me know.

Pet with her Reviewer's hat on

**Pet's Theory of Clothing Color: The color of the clothing each character is wearing is very indicative to their mood and development. Buffy wears a black see through tank with black bra underneath. Sexy, unsubtle, and implacable - making a statement our girl is. Spike has progressed from his all black wardrobe to the purple shirt of Smashed/Wrecked and now the brown pants and shirt. Redemption thy name is fashion. Honorable mention Redemption!Anvil for taking this sartorial risk. Willow, who has always had, uh, an interesting wardrobe, now sports browns and muddy greens. She's going down, but I'd take the jammies against the Elmo sweater any day. Dawn is wearing red over black, which tells me that she's going to be getting some power soon. Xander sports a nice grey shirt over a white t-shirt and a brown coat, which are a step down from the yellows and blues he's been wearing. Hmmm, could Xander be heading somewhere not so nice? Doris the social worker sports a light brown sweater and dashing brown/yellow plaid blouse - we all know she's not so good . Anya's sporting light colors, so I think she's safe for now. Warren wears black and white, striped and loud, mostly black - dum, du, dum, dum. Andrew has grey over a black/purple plaid shirt, so I think there's more to him than meets the eye. Jonathan wears a great shirt over a white t-shirt. That makes me think he's the most redeemable of the three, in that he's only got a layer of semi-badness over what's basically a good guy.

TOP

 

Home ... Episodes ... Essays ... FAQ ... Thoughts ... Wendy's Spoiler Zone ... The list itself!