Storyteller (Buffy episode)
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"Storyteller" is the sixteenth episode of season 7 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Storyteller" refers to Andrew Wells, who became a pseudo-member of the Scooby Gang after being one of the Big Bad guys in Season 6, and has been held hostage at Buffy's home since early in the season. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Plot synopsis
Summary
Andrew begins a video documentary about the life of "Buffy, Slayer of the Vampyres" and her sidekicks, the Scooby Gang. He wants to show for posterity proof that without Buffy there would have been no future. Everyone is annoyed by Andrew, but they let him do it.
In the meantime, the seal underneath Sunnydale High begins exerting an evil influx upon the students. At night, some of them totally vandalize it. Principal Robin Wood and Buffy must try and deactivate the seal before the school is destroyed. This leads them to Andrew. They discover that he used a special knife he acquired in Mexico under the orders of The First to kill Jonathan over the seal and so activate it. Andrew tells them the details of Jonathan's murder and Buffy hatches a plan.
Buffy, Wood, and Spike take Andrew to the school having convinced him that he perhaps can give orders to the seal. In the school basement Andrew keeps telling the same story about Jonathan's death but with different biases, changing it every time because he cannot face the truth: that he killed Jonathan willingly.
In the end Buffy tells Andrew he must atone and die if he wants to close the seal, that he is a cold-blooded murderer, that only his blood will do it because he activated the seal. When Buffy holds Andrew over the seal he realises what he has done, he tells her that he's to blame for Jonathan's death, his only friend, and that nothing he can do will ever make up for it. Ultimately Andrew's tears of guilt fall on the seal and deactivate it.
Elsewhere, Willow's relationship with Kennedy continues; Anya and Xander have sex on the anniversary of their failed wedding, leaving them even more confused; Buffy informs Principal Wood of her vision of hundreds of Über-vamps; and Wood learns for sure that Spike is the vampire who killed his mother.
Expanded overview
In an old library with a roaring fire, dressed in a smoking jacket and holding a pipe, Andrew introduces the camera's audience to Buffy, Vampire Slayer. Andrew narrates the play by play as Buffy battles with vampires in the graveyard. However, the dramatic show is cut short as Anya knocks on the bathroom door and wonders what he's doing as he sits in plain clothes in front of a video camera. Buffy finishes off the vampires in the graveyard as a video camera totting Andrew emerges from the darkness. He raves about the great footage he just got, but Buffy hardly excited that he's tagging along with her. In the present, Anya again questions Andrew's actions and he explains that he's trying to document the gang and their battles to help inform those of the future.
Later, Andrew talks to the video camera and uses his big white board to explain Sunnydale and some of the bigger mystical elements it houses and the major Big Bads they're dealing with. In the kitchen, Andrew introduces the Slayers in Training to the camera, saving Xander and the other Scooby gang for later interviews. Buffy and Spike arrive at the house as Dawn and the potentials enjoy a variety of cereal and Andrew begins to introduce Buffy and the Scooby gang to the camera. In a video fantasy, Andrew imagines Buffy seductively pouring cereal, Spike entering the kitchen shirtless, Anya eating from a bunch of grapes, and some random blond woman.
His fantasy is interrupted as reality Buffy notices that Andrew is still filming the gang. Buffy begins to inform the gang about her vision and Andrew takes the opportunity to sneak out of the room. Another video fantasy begins as Andrew imagines himself as the leader of the Trio. Returning to the real world, Andrew begins filming the gang again and as Buffy continues to talk, Andrew observes Willow and Kennedy then recounts his encounter with Dark Willow. Altering the past, Andrew imagines himself standing up to Evil Willow and deflecting her power while Jonathan meekly hides behind him.
Buffy arrives at the school to find two boys fighting, a shy girl turning invisible from not being noticed and various other disturbances. Buffy finds Robin and as she explains the strange yet familiar craziness filling the school, she bandages a cut on his forehead he received from a thrown rock. Andrew films Dawn, then catches Willow and Kennedy kissing in the living room. Buffy explains to Robin her suspicions about the Seal of Danthzar and how she thinks they need to deal with it. Andrew interviews Xander and Anya again and questions their ruined wedding, causing the two to talk to each other about what happened and what feelings still exists between them.
Buffy and Robin check out the uncovered seal in the school basement and as Robin gets too close to the seal, a dark evil comes over him as he accuses Buffy of her involvement with Spike in a demonic voice. Buffy pushes him away from the seal, breaking the evil hold over Robin and he doesn't remember anything that happened. Down in the basement, Spike tells a camera-carrying Andrew to get lost, but after a lighting correction from Andrew, Spike repeats his verbal assault, performing for the camera. Upstairs, Xander and Anya talk about their love for each other, watched by a hidden camera, which is reviewed later by Andrew. Buffy and Robin arrive at her house and inform Andrew that they have to deal with the Seal and he's the key person to help.
Meanwhile, in the school basement, five students surround the seal and place their hands over it, making a white light emerge from it. In Mexico, 2002, Andrew and Jonathan wake up from the same nightmare of their pasts and the evil haunts them. In the present, the gang drill Andrew for information about the seal as they try to force memories from him by using a special charm. The recount of the past continues and when Andrew is alone, the First in Warren's form questions Andrew's progress and a knife he was told to get. Willow asks where the knife is now and finds that Andrew hid it in Buffy's kitchen. The writing on the knife is in a language that speaks to the seal and Willow takes the opportunity to research the knife and find a solution to their seal problem.
Buffy, Spike, Robin and Andrew arrive at the school and find it destroyed by student riots. Andrew tries to film their walk through the halls as the surprisingly strong students attack. After they finally subdue enough students and get to the basement access, Spike and Robin staying in the halls to guard the entrance while Buffy takes an unwilling Andrew downstairs. Andrew revisits his memory of killing Jonathan, but he remembers being forced a lot harder than he actually was to kill. Listening to his explanation, Buffy comments on how she saw Robin get affected by the seal and Andrew suddenly changes his memory explanation to fit with Robin's actions. Buffy and Andrew enter the basement room carefully and find the five students standing around the seal, their eyes freshly cut and sealed like the Bringers. In the Summers' basement, Xander and Anya revel in the aftermath of having sex again. They start to talk about moving on with their lives and then fade into an awkward silence.
At the school, Spike and Robin are attacked by more students and Robin makes a failed attempt to stake Spike. Buffy battles with the new Bringers while Andrew picks up the camera and begins to record again. Once she's through with them, Buffy pulls out the knife and advances on Andrew as she reveals that in order to close the seal, they need to spill the blood of the one who opened it in the first place. Buffy lays down the reality of their probably fatal future and scares him into tears. Buffy holds Andrew over the seal and he cries, spilling his tears onto the seal. The seal closes and Buffy reveals it was tears the seal needed to close, not blood and she was just forcing the tears from him. The students in the halls finally relax from their evil possession and the fighting stops. Later, a sad Andrew talks to the camera in the bathroom again, confessing that he probably will die and he deserves to. Without another word, the camera is shut off.
Writing and acting
Production details
Music
- Robert Duncan - "HellSchool&TheProkaryoteStone"
Quotes and trivia
Andrew: "This Potion will make Buffy super-magnetic!"
Jonathan: "Brilliant! That means she won't be able to get out of her car!"
Warren: "And all knives and sharp things will come hurtling at her."
Jonathan: "But, if we're wearing metal belt buckles, we'll stick to her."
Andrew: "In my plan..."(dramatic pause) "...we are beltless!!!!!!!"
- The opening scene is done in parody of the PBS series Masterpiece Theatre.
- The unnoticed shy girl turning invisible is a reference to the first season episode "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", in which a girl becomes dangerous after disappearing in a similar manner.
- The monster of the Mutant Enemy Productions logo, instead of saying his famous "Grr, Argh!", dons a laurel wreath and sings "We are as gooooooods!!!"
Continuity
Arc significance
Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) | Buffyverse: January 2003 - Spring 2003 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.11 Showtime (Buffy episode)>Showtime |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.12 Potential (Buffy episode)>Potential |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.11 Soulless (Angel episode)>Soulless |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.13 The Killer in Me (Buffy episode)>The Killer in Me |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.14 First Date (Buffy episode)>First Date |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.12 Calvary (Angel episode)>Calvary |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.15 Get It Done (Buffy episode)>Get It Done |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.13 Salvage (Angel episode)>Salvage |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.16 Storyteller (Buffy episode)>Storyteller |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.14 Release (Angel episode)>Release |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.17 Lies My Parents Told Me (Buffy episode)>Lies My Parents Told Me |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.15 Orpheus (Angel episode)>Orpheus |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.18 Dirty Girls (Buffy episode)>Dirty Girls |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.16 Players (Angel episode)>Players |
| L.A., 2003 | Angel book: Nemesis (Angel novel)>Nemesis |
| L.A., 2003 | Angel book: Book of the Dead (Angel novel)>Book of the Dead |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.17 Inside Out (Angel episode)>Inside Out |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.18 Shiny Happy People (Angel episode)>Shiny Happy People |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.19 Empty Places (Buffy episode)>Empty Places |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.19 The Magic Bullet (Angel episode)>The Magic Bullet |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.20 Sacrifice (Angel episode)>Sacrifice |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.20 Touched (Buffy episode)>Touched |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.21 Peace Out (Angel episode)>Peace Out |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.22 Home (Angel episode)>Home |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.21 End of Days (Buffy episode)>End of Days |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.22 Chosen (Buffy episode)>Chosen |
External links
| Buffyverse | ||
| Main | Canon | Index Chronology: Ancient | Modern | BS1 | BS2 | BS3 | BS4/AS1 | BS5/AS2 | BS6/AS3 | BS7/AS4 | AS5 | Future | Flashbacks | |
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| Spin-offs | Comics | Fan made productions | Fray | Novels | Spike movie | Undeveloped productions Buffy Animated | Card Game | RPGs | Tales of Slayer (prose) | Tales of Slayers | Tales of Vampires | Toys | Video Games Upcoming: Blackout | | | | | | Portal Through Time | Spike vs Dracula | | |
| Powers | Angel Investigations | Circle of the Black Thorn | Order of Aurelius | The First Evil | The Initiative | Monsters | Old Ones | The Powers That Be | Ra-Tet | Scooby Gang | Senior Partners | Watchers' Council | Wolfram & Hart | |
| People | Adam | Amy | Andrew | Angel | Anya | Buffy | Caleb | Connor | Cordelia | Dawn | Darla | Doyle | Dru | Eve | Faith | Fred | Giles | Glory | Gunn | Harmony | Holtz | Illyria | Jasmine | Jenny | Joyce | Jonathan | Kate | Kennedy | Lilah | Lindsey | Lorne | The Master | Mayor Wilkins | Oz | Professor Walsh | Riley | Spike | Tara | Warren | Wesley | Willow | Xander | |
| Places | L.A. | Sunnydale Bronze | Caritas | Hellmouth | Hyperion | Library | Magic Box | Pylea | Sunnydale High | |
| Music | Complete Tracklist | Use of Music in Buffy & Angel | Dingoes Ate My Baby | Film | | | Once More, With Feeling | |
| Key Terminology | "Demon" | "Slayer" | "Vampire" | "Watcher" | "Werewolf" | "Witch" "Child of Senior Partners" | Shanshu | Sunnydale Syndrome | Tro-Clon | |
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