Lovers Walk (Buffy episode)
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"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.
Plot synopsis
Summary
Spike's return causes Buffy and her friends to re-evaluate their relationships. Recently dumped by Drusilla, Spike returns to Sunnydale seeking revenge on Buffy and Angel. However, after encountering Willow in the magic shop, Spike decides that he would rather use witchcraft to win Dru back. He then kidnaps Willow and Xander and enlists Buffy and Angel's help in obtaining the ingredients necessary for Willow to perform a spell that will make Dru love him again. In witnessing their behavior towards each other, Spike realizes that Buffy and Angel are still in love and calls their attention to it. At the same time, Oz and Cordelia find the captive Willow and Xander in a compromising situation, and Cordelia sustains injuries when running from the scene. Oz dumps Willow, Buffy decides not to see Angel anymore, and Spike heads after Drusilla, to torture her until she wants him again.
Expanded overview
Willow complains about receiving a 740 on Verbal for her SAT's. She and Xander offer the idea of a double date to Cordy and Oz. Buffy shows up, fearing her high score--a 1430--on her SAT's since it means she may have an actual future. That night, Spike drives through the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign again, but this time he's dead drunk, falls out of the car and passes out.
Spike returns to the old burned down factory (singing Frank Sinatra's "My Way") and surveys the damage through his drunken state. He vamps out and starts yelling and crying while destroying some of Drusilla's dolls. He's determined to win her back somehow. Back at school the next day, Xander manages to persuade Cordelia to go on a double bowling date with Willow and Oz--she agrees. Oz presents Willow with a cute Pez Witch as a theme gift. She feels guilty partly because she has nothing to give him, and her relationship with Xander.
Giles is packing for a retreat and seems to be taking everything he owns with him. When presented with Buffy's SAT scores and her option of college, Giles suggests that she should consider it. He warns her about seeing Angel and she promises that nothing will happen between them--they're just friends. Meanwhile, Xander and Willow are discussing the bowling date that they made with Cordelia and Oz. They try to avoid falling victim to their lust while on campus but find it hard.
Spike stands outside the mansion where Angel lives and yells at him for "taking Dru away and making her insane". But Angel has left the room and can't hear Spike's drunken rants. Spike ends up falling down and passing out in the garden. The next morning, he wakes up when his hand catches on fire as the sun hits him. He runs to his car to tend to his wound and get even more drunk.
Back at home, Buffy's mom is still strongly pushing the idea of college although Buffy doesn't want to go. Even though Faith could take over the slaying for a while, she's not sure if her reasons to stay are strong enough to keep her there. Buffy visits Angel who, as a friend, suggests that she go. Unhappy with his answer, Buffy leaves. Spike goes to a Magic Shop (during the day) in search for a curse for Angel. Willow walks in, looking for ingredients for a "de-lusting" spell. When she leaves, Spike kills the shop keeper, having gotten the idea of a "love" spell for Drusilla.
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 then they argue. Spike comes in, still very drunk and attacks Xander, wanting to borrow Willow for a while. Xander's knocked out with a nasty head wound and both are taken back to the factory. Spike threatens Willow's life if she doesn't do the spell and then tells her all about his breakup with Dru. Apparently, she thought he'd gone soft and told him they could still be friends.
When Willow tells Spike that she doesn't have enough ingredients, he goes to get some. At the library, Buffy is working out when Cordelia and Oz show up, worried since 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 tea and he tells her his sob tale. Angel spots them talking in the kitchen as he's walking around, and tries to get in, but he's not invited. Buffy arrives, invites Angel in and they threaten Spike. He tells them he's got her friends and the three of them leave to get the supplies so that he can do the spell and set Buffy's friends free.
On the way to the shop, Spike revels in the pain of his hangover and reminisces on the past he had with Drusilla. Oz and Cordelia, having been on their way to get Giles, back track to the factory when Oz smell's Willow (a werewolf thing). Xander wakes up with a bad head wound where he and Willow are locked in the basement of the warehouse. Spike, Buffy and Angel are getting the supplies they need when Spike tells them that they can never be *just* friends. They'll love each other until it kills them. As they leave, with the supplies, a group of Trick's vampires, sent by the Mayor attack them. Meanwhile, back at the factory, Willow and Xander kiss just in time for Oz and Cordelia to come down and find them. Cordelia's disgusted and runs up the stairs, but she falls through and is impaled on a metal pipe in the floor.
A huge fight ensues out 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. When vampires start to get inside, they fend them off. A particularly verbal one makes the mistake of going after Spike and ends up getting himself beat up and staked. Eventually, with the help of some holy water and a broken chair, they scare off, if not kill, all the vampires. Spike then comes to his senses realizing that the only way he's going to get Dru back is if he reverts back to his old self and he leaves to find Dru and torture her until she likes him again.
Cordelia's in pretty bad shape, but she survives the fall, not having any vital organs hurt. Buffy and Willow recap on the relationship thing. Oz apparently isn't even talking to her anymore. Xander goes to visit Cordelia in the hospital but she tells him to just stay away from her. Buffy visits Angel, and tells him that they aren't friends and because he doesn't need her help anymore, she's not coming back. Spike's words were very effective on her and she's come to the conclusion that she can't see Angel unless he tells her he doesn't love her. He can't. Now, everyone's broken up, and moping in their own ways, while Spike is on his way to find Drusilla, smoking and singing along with the lyrics of a punk version of "My Way."
Christmas Buffy promo
- :The promo can be downloaded from an external link below
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.
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.
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.
Writing and acting
Dan Vebber's Buffy credits are limited to this episode and "The Zeppo".Production details
Music
- Sex Pistols/Gary Oldman/Sid Vicious - "My Way" Sung by Spike as he leaves Sunnydale. Spike's embrace of rock 'n roll, 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 and his human self that he rebels against.
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, eyewitnesses of an ensouled Spike's bravery will report that he asked them if they want to listen to Sex Pistols records after saving them.
Continuity
Arc significance
- Faith does not appear and the Mayor, while amusing, is barely related to the plot. Giles's absence, however, makes possible some of the chaos that follows.
- Spike makes his sole appearance this season before returning as a regular from season four onward. He is still trying to recapture Drusilla's heart and resists the temptation to kill Willow in order to achieve it. Even in his drunken rage, he sees Buffy's heart. He also makes a humorous guest for Joyce, will bring flowers to honor Joyce in Season Five. As more is revealed about Spike in later seasons, we can see a parallel to his relationship to his mother up to the point where he turned her.
- Buffy recognizes for the first time that her relationship with Angel is doomed. Xander and Willow's indiscretion also have a major impact in the rest of the season.
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 (Buffy episode)>Anne |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.02 Dead Man's Party (Buffy episode)>Dead Man's Party |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.03 Faith, Hope, & Trick (Buffy episode)>Faith, Hope, & Trick |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.04 Beauty and the Beasts (Buffy episode)>Beauty and the Beasts |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.05 Homecoming (Buffy episode)>Homecoming |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.06 Band Candy (Buffy episode)>Band Candy |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: Sins of the Father (Buffy novel)>Sins of the Father |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy graphic novel: Play With Fire (Buffy comic)>Play With Fire |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.07 Revelations (Buffy episode)>Revelations |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: Child of the Hunt (Buffy novel)>Child of the Hunt |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy video game: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Xbox) |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.08 Lovers' Walk (Buffy episode)>Lovers' Walk |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy graphic novel: |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy graphic novel: Remaining Sunlight (Buffy comic)>Remaining Sunlight |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: Ghoul Trouble (Buffy novel)>Ghoul Trouble |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: Paleo (Buffy novel)>Paleo |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | B3.09 The Wish (Buffy episode)>The Wish |
| Sunnydale, 1998 | Buffy book: The Evil That Men Do (Buffy novel)>The Evil That Men Do |
| Sunnydale, Christmas, 1998 | B3.10 Amends (Buffy episode)>Amends |
| Sunnydale, Christmas, 1998 | , (During Amends) |
| Sunnydale, Christmas, 1998 | Amends (Buffy episode)#Christmas Buffy promo>Christmas Buffy promo, (After Amends) |
External links
Reviews
- [Soulful Spike Society analysis of Lovers Walk]
- [Peripheral Visions Review]
- [Section 31 Review]
- [Swing the Sickle Review]
Christmas Buffy/Angel promo
Other
| Buffyverse | ||
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