Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S6/E18 Entropy

"Things fall apart; they fall apart so hard. "

Anya is again a vengeance demon and tries to get The Scoobies to wish something bad would happen to Xander. The Scoobies discover the Trio's network of surveillance cameras. Willow and Tara get back together.

"Xander: That's not Proactive Guy. That's Sit-Around-And-Wait-For-The-Rest-of-His-Life-To-Turn-To-Crap Guy."
 * Aesop Amnesia: Averted with Dawn, who remembers the lesson of "Older and Far Away" about making wishes.
 * Action Prologue: An exciting sequence of the Trio running down vampires in ATV's (and Spike and Buffy dusting same vamps) compensates for how things don't start hotting up again until the final act.
 * An Axe to Grind: Xander tries to kill Spike with Buffy's axe, but fortunately he swings it so hard it gets stuck in the wall.
 * A Shared Suffering: Anya and Spike realise they've a lot in common as demons who never really fit in with the Scoobies.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Averted as Anya can't get anyone to wish harm on Xander, especially a Genre Savvy Dawn. Played straight with Buffy telling Spike to "move on" -- then being confronted by the sight of him screwing Anya.
 * Big Damn Kiss: Willow and Tara.
 * Buffy Speak

"Xander: Okay, clearly I'm not handling this well.
 * Spike goes to the Magic Box because he needs a thing (a numbing spell).
 * Captain Obvious

Anya: WELL, DUH!"

"Tara: Things fall apart; they fall apart so hard.
 * Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Spike denies placing the camera in Buffy's garden, and Buffy realises he's telling the truth.
 * Comically Missing the Point: Anya trying to curse Xander directly. "Those are metaphorical intestines. You're not in any real pain!" Plus Anya's first thought on seeing Spike is that she must get someone else to wish he'd become a woman, as her reputation had been built on helping Woman Scorned.
 * Continuity Nod: Xander assuming that Spike is behind the GnomeCam is a reference to Spike's Stalker With a Crush behaviour the year before, when he'd lurk outside Buffy's house. Willow fills in Tara on the Scoobies adventures since she walked out (mentioning "Gone", "Doublemeat Palace" and "As You Were").
 * Corner of Woe: Buffy sits in a lawnchair in the dark after seeing Spike sleeping with Anya.
 * Demon Scorned / Demons Do It On Tables: Anya and Spike.
 * Cutting the Knot: Tara gets her priorities right.

Willow: Tara?

Tara: You can't ever...put them back the way they were.

Willow: Are you okay?

Tara: I'm sorry, it's just... You know, it takes time. You can't just...have coffee and expect--

Willow: I know.

Tara: There's so much to work through. Trust has to be built again, on both sides. You have to learn if we're even the same people we were, if we can fit in each other's lives; it's a long and important process and can we just skip it? Can you just be kissing me now?"

"Tara: Okay, wait, it was under her wig?
 * Death Glare: Spike to Buffy after she tells him to move on from their relationship. Buffy to Spike after the Relationship Reveal.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything: Willow telling Tara about the demon in "Doublemeat Palace".

Willow: Well, it was this thing, it just came out from inside her head.

Tara: That's disgusting. What did it look like?

Willow: Well... let's put it this way. If I wasn't gay before..."

"Buffy: I tried to kill my friends, my sister, last week ... and guess how much they hate me. Zero."
 * The Dog Bites Back: Spike gets his revenge.
 * Distracted By the Sexy: The Trio are shutting down their surveillance network to stop Willow from tracing them when they're distracted by the candid camera view of Anya and Spike having sex.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Anya tries to get Spike drunk so he'll curse Xander, and ends up sharing the bottle with him.
 * Easily Forgiven

"Buffy: (realizing) I'm cramping your teenage style.
 * Failed a Spot Check: Buffy and Spike don't notice the Trio scooping up the disk from under their noses as they're too busy fighting vamps and exchanging Casual Danger Dialogue about their non-love life.
 * Game Face / Evil Sounds Deep: Our cue that Anya has returned to being a vengeance demon.
 * Get Out: When Buffy tells Spike that his love isn't real and he should move on, Spike interrupts her with a "Get out" that sounds exceptionally menacing.
 * Generation Xerox: Buffy fears she's turning into Season 1 Joyce.

Dawn: No--

Buffy: Yes, I am. (alarmed) I'm the embarrassing mom who tries too hard. When did this happen?"

"Buffy: Anya, Xander's my friend. I know what he did was wrong, and ... if it had happened to me, I'd--
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar (done via Twisted Echo Cut)

Anya: (hopefully) Wish his penis would explode?

[Smash Cut to the Magic Box.]

Dawn: I never use that word anymore."

"No, the mature solution is for you to spend your whole life telling stupid, pointless jokes so that no one will notice that you are just a scared, insecure little boy!"
 * Girl On Girl Is Hot: Tara/Willow are bemused by the idea that they should be offended by this.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Anya to Xander.

"He is so cool. (glances at the others, self-consciously) And, I mean, the girl is hot too."
 * Hollywood Hacking: Willow picks up the Trio's wireless camera signals and uses it to find their location. "I'm still me!"
 * Ho Yay: Andrew watching Spike having sex.

"Spike: I've tried to make it clear to you, but you won't see it. Something happened to me. The way I feel ... about you ... it's different. And no matter how hard you try to convince yourself it isn't, it's real.
 * I Believe That You Believe It

Buffy: I think it is. (Spike looks at her hopefully) For you."

"Anya: Wait. Wait. (very soft whisper) What are we doing?
 * Inadvertent Entrance Cue: None of Xander's friends want to wish ill upon him. Anya points out that with her Limited Social Circle she's hardly going to stumble across someone who hates Xander enough, whereupon Spike enters the Magic Box.
 * Ironic Echo

Spike: Moving on."

"Guys!? There's only been 4... 3! Only 3!"
 * Ironic Hell: Halfrek put a spell on a man who didn't pay child support so he'd get paper cuts every time he handled paperwork that wasn't a child support payment.
 * In Vino Veritas: Averted -- Spike is careful not to mention the name of the girl he's griping about to Anya while they're finding the bottom of a bottle of Scotch. He doesn't hesitate to vent about the Scoobies hypocrisy though.
 * Just Friends: Tara and the girl Willow saw her peck on the cheek in the last episode.
 * Lady in Red: Anya getting her vengeance on. She turns out to be wearing a black bra underneath, so it may be a case of Red and Black Keep Back.
 * Last Second Word Swap: Buffy still doesn't want to mention Spuffy.

"Tara: It's not like living with the house full of family, or sharing your room with someone you--
 * Or Willow mention Tillow.

Willow: Are-are friends with?"

"Xander: I may have practiced that a couple times in front of the mirror."
 * Mirror Monologue

"Buffy: Dawn, I work very hard to keep you away from that stuff. I don't want you around dangerous things that can kill you.
 * Never Be a Hero: Dawn expresses her desire to start working with Buffy, a theme which would be carried over into Season 7.

Dawn: Which would be a perfectly reasonable argument, if my sister was chosen to protect the world from tax audits? But, see, my sister is you, and ... dangerous things that want to kill me seem to find me."

"Dawn: You guys went out patrolling every night when you were my age.
 * Operation Jealousy: Albeit an accidental version.
 * Poor Communication Kills: Buffy dares Spike to blow the whistle on their relationship. He does so at the worst possible time.
 * Red Alert: Goes off to tell the Trio that they're being hacked by Willow.
 * Really Fifteen Years Old

Buffy: True ... but technically, you're one-and-a-half."

"Willow: 'Uh', 'um' ... various sounds of hesitation..."
 * Relationship Reveal: Spuffy comes out.
 * Revenge: Subverted when Anya gets her revenge accidentally, and then stops Spike from wishing further harm on Xander.
 * Saying Sound Effects Out Loud

""Oh the great Xander thinks so. Shudder, GASP, it must be true."
 * Also Spike going into Sarcasm Mode.

"Buffy: I want to find these guys!"
 * Sex for Solace
 * She's Back: Buffy is putting some serious effort into making up with Dawn and tracking down the Trio.


 * Shout Out: To Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the disk shining a light beam onto a map (spoofed when the map bursts into flame). Also when the Trio are planning a heist Andrew says, "I still think we need eight more guys" and Warren replies, "I should never have let you see that movie."
 * Songs of Solace: Xander listens to "Sao Paulo Rain" by Tom McRae while Drowning His Sorrows.
 * Tantrum Throwing: Xander kicks a garden gnome in frustration, only to reveal the Trio's camera when it breaks.
 * Technicolor Science: Jonathan in his lab.
 * Travelling Salesman Montage / Twisted Echo Cut: Anya trying to get her friends to wish something horrible on Xander.
 * Trouble Entendre: The 'milk expiry date' conversation between Warren and Andrew; the latter ends up Comically Missing the Point.
 * Vertical Kidnapping: Spike does this to a vampire in the opening scene.
 * Weaponised Car: Cold Opens with the Trio chasing vampires on ATV's fitted with large wooden stakes.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Warren and Andrew are clearly thinking this re Jonathan.