Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S7/E13 The Killer in Me

Spike's chip begins malfunctioning. Willow is transformed into Warren.

"Willow: For someone who's sick, you look surprisingly robust and casual dressy."
 * Call Back: Riley Finn leaves the decision-making re Spike to Buffy, as he did in "As You Were" when he'd been given permission to kill Spike for selling demon eggs but (realising Buffy was now in a relationship with Spike) refused to unless she agreed.
 * Chained to a Bed: For once not done for robbery or kinky sex. Spike is chained to his bunk in the basement in case the First activates him again.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The pistol Willow/Warren buys becomes a plot point in the next episode.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Amy returns and still a rat.
 * Continuity Nod
 * Buffy's description of the Vision Quest as involving the "hokey pokey" was from a quip she made in "Intervention".
 * Willow assumes she's put a spell on herself due to subconscious guilt, as happened in "Same Time, Same Place".
 * Willow threatens to tell some "Non-yellow crayon stories" about Xander, referring to Xander talking Dark!Willow down from destroying the world with his story about Willow in kindergarten crying over a broken yellow crayon.
 * The Wiccan group in UC Sunnydale last seen in "Hush", where Willow and Tara dismissed them as mere pretend witches. It appears they now have some genuine talent, though the practice of serious magic scares them off. And they still do bake sales.
 * Willow/Warren recreates the shooting of Buffy and Tara in the garden of Buffy's home ("Seeing Red").
 * Beautiful All Along: Willow asks why Kennedy would be interested in her. She replies, "Have you seen yourself?"
 * Buffy-Speak

"Willow: What you think you have some special lesbidar or something? Kennedy: OK, you know there's a better word for that, right?"
 * Dramatic Gun Cock: The Initiative making their entrance.
 * Drop What You Are Doing: Andrew drops his plate on seeing Warren.
 * Gaydar

"Kennedy: What did you do to her? Amy: Oh, just your standard penance malediction is all. Kennedy: OK, and that's magic crazy talk for what? Amy: I put a hex on her."
 * Gender Bender: Lampshaded in the scene where Willow (a lesbian in the body of a man) complains when Andrew (an Ambiguously Gay male with a Ho Yay attraction to Warren) keeps touching her/him.
 * Genre Savvy: Andrew doesn't want to be left alone in the house as something bad will happen to him.
 * The Glomp: Andrew hugs 'Warren', much to Willow's annoyance as he's inadvertently groping her breast region. Xander, Anya, Dawn and Andrew establish Giles' corporeal state by tackling him to the ground.
 * Held Gaze: Willow and Kennedy at the Bronze.
 * I Never Said I Was A Potential: Tips off Kennedy that Amy knows more about what Willow has been up to than she claimed.
 * Karma Houdini: Last appearance of Amy, though she returns as a villain in the Season 8 comics.
 * Layman's Terms

"Willow/Warren: I'm being punished. I k—I kissed you just-just for a second, but it was enough. I let her go. I didn't mean to. Kennedy: Kissing me didn't mean th-- Willow/Warren: No, she was never gone. She was with me. We should have been forever, and I-- (cries) I let her be dead. She's really dead. (breaks down into tears) And I killed her."
 * The Lost Lenore / Tear Jerker: The hex is triggered not by Willow's guilt over killing Warren, but her guilt over forgetting Tara in the moment she kissed Kennedy.

"Giles: Now wait a minute. You think I'm evil... if I bring a group of girls on a camping trip and don't touch them?"
 * Love Redeems
 * Magic Kiss: Lampshaded by Kennedy when she says she has the whole magic thing figured out. "It's like fairy tales." She then kisses Willow a second time to reverse the spell.
 * Meaningful Background Event: Spike passing out in pain as the Scoobies are distracted with Willow/Warren.
 * The Mind Is the Plaything of The Body: Willow takes on Warren's personality the longer she stays in his body.
 * Memetic Molester: Lampshaded In-Universe

"Buffy: Remember when things used to be nice and boring? Willow: No."
 * Noodle Incident / Spot the Imposter: Willow-in-Warren's-body convinces Xander that she's Willow by mentioning that there are other kindergarten stories where he doesn't look very heroic, such as the one about Aquaman underoos.
 * Nostalgia Filter: Averted

"Amy: This is not about hate. It's about power. Willow always had all the power, long before she even knew what to do with it. Just came so easy for her. The rest of us...we had to work twice as hard to be half as good. But no-one cares about how hard you work. They just care about cute, sweet Willow. They don't know how weak she is. She gave in to evil...stuff worse than I can even imagine. She almost destroyed the world! And yet everyone keeps on loving her? So what's wrong with having a little fun, huh? Taking her down a peg or two?"
 * Not Quite Dead: Robson
 * Orbital Kiss: Used when Willow turns into Warren while kissing Kennedy, and when she changes back.
 * Punched Across the Room: Amy does this to Kennedy with magic.
 * Red Herring Mole: Giles was never the First.
 * Remonstrating with a Gun / Gangsta Style
 * The Resenter

"Kennedy: OK. Safe to say no one will ever accuse you of being too butch."
 * Series Continuity Error: The Initiative was supposed to have been closed down after the events of "Primeval" and their Elaborate Underground Base filled with concrete, yet bodies and even an experimental subject are still there. Likewise Spike tells of being drugged, but in "The Initiative" was able to escape because he didn't drink the doped blood he was given.
 * Screams Like a Little Girl: Willow/Warren gives a loud squeal when she suddenly bumps into Kennedy.

"Soldier: We're to provide you anything you need to help assface here. (Buffy and Spike stare at him) Those were [Riley Finn's] exact words, ma'am."
 * Shout-Out: When Kennedy is teleported into Buffy's backyard she says to herself "That was a hell of a thing," a reference to Galaxy Quest, mimicking Tony Shalhoub's understated attitude to being teleported for the first time.
 * Slasher Smile: Willow/Warren buying the gun.
 * Some Kind of Force Field: Willow blocking Kennedy from following her.
 * Spot of Tea / Book Ends: Willow brings tea for a 'sick' Kennedy, despite Buffy's teasing. The episode ends with Kennedy offering to make tea for weary Willow.
 * Spy From Weights and Measures: The phone number Buffy calls in an attempt to contact the Initiative turns out to be a flower shop. This is likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to The Man from U.N.C.L.E., whose New York Headquarters could be entered via Del Floria's tailor shop. It's later revealed that Agent Finn did in fact get the message.
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork / Green-Eyed Monster

"Spike: This one seemed easier than the others. See? Probably just gonna fade-- (starts screaming in agony)"
 * Tempting Fate

"Willow: (as Warren) You were there, bitch! You saw it!"
 * This Is for Emphasis, Bitch

"Buffy: No, it's not a book thing. It's a phone thing.
 * The Un-Reveal: The soldiers tell Buffy they can either repair Spike's chip or take it out. We don't discover Buffy's decision until the next episode.
 * Vision Quest
 * Who You Gonna Call?: Spike points out that the Scoobies can't just hit the Tome of Eldritch Lore for information on behaviour modification technology.

Spike: Who ya gonna call? (beat) God, that phrase is never going to be usable again, is it?

Buffy: Doubt it."


 * Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Kennedy pretends to be sick so she can stay back and have some private time with Willow.