Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S4/E20 The Yoko Factor

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


They were once a real powerful group. It's not a stretch to say they ruled the world. And when they broke up everyone blamed Yoko, but the fact is the group split itself apart, she just happened to be there.

Spike sides with Adam and uses a "Divide & Conquer" strategy on the Scoobies. Angel drops by to apologise to Buffy, only to get into a fight with Riley.

Riley: Even when he's good he's all Mister...Billowy Coat, King of Pain and girls really--

Angel: Oh, and...Riley.
Buffy: Yeah?
Angel: I don't like him.

  • Batman Gambit / Bond Breaker
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted with a noticeable cut and bruise on Buffy's forehead from when she rolled down the hill when escaping Adam.
  • Brick Joke: When Angel punched Buffy in "Sanctuary" he said "Not to go all schoolyard on you, but you hit me first." When Buffy gets pissed about him beating up Riley, Angel begins to whine "He started it!" before Buffy's Death Glare shuts him up.
  • Cute Kitten: Miss Kitty Fantastico

Willow: I keep thinking, okay, that's the cutest thing ever, and then she does something cuter and completely resets the whole scale.

  • Ceiling Cling: One of the demons in an Initiative cell; his equivalent of "climbing the walls".
  • Conflict Ball: Spike deliberately passes it around by casually making insinuating and subversive comments to make the Scoobies turn on each other and vent repressed feelings of anger and resentment that had been bottled up. He even lampshades the trope, pointing out that people latch onto one specific event or situation as a cause of strife, but that what really happens is that the event or situation is just an excuse to bring to the forefront issues that were there all along.
  • Department of Redundancy Department

Willow: And besides, when is there any "us two?" You two are the two who are the two!

  • Description Cut: Buffy storms out on her friends, declaring that she's going to get the help of someone she trusts. Cut to Riley meeting with Adam.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: The 'kids' (Tara and Anya) hide in the bathroom while the 'family' argues.
    • Also done In-Universe when Spike figures out Willow and Tara's relationship and decides to hang a lampshade on the whole magic = lesbianism metaphor.

Spike: Your mates said you weren't playing with computers so much. Into the new thing.
Willow: What new thing?
Spike: You know, you two. The whole wicca thing.

Willow: They-they were talking about that?

Spike: Can we get back to business here? I've got a deal at stake.

Willow: What did they say?

Spike: Talking about, you know, it's a phase. You'll get over it.

Willow: What? Who said that? Was it Buffy? (to Tara) 'Cause . . . you know what she means by that.

Spike: No, she was defending you, cause Xander said you were just being trendy.

Willow: "Trendy"?

Spike: I didn't see what they were going on about. Person wants to be a witch, that's there business.

  • Dressing as the Enemy: Spike borrows Xander's army greens again so he can pretend to infiltrate the Initiative (actually Adam has just given him the files).
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Giles
  • Evil Is Petty: Spike's plan will also make Buffy miserable, which he never gets tired of doing.
  • Extreme Graphical Representation: The encrypted files on Willow's laptop.
  • Failed Attempt At Drama: Buffy asks Riley to leave the room so she can have a heart-to-heart with Angel. Riley folds his arms and declares he's not budging. Buffy just looks at Angel and the two walk out the door.

Riley: (alone in the room) Not moving a muscle.

Xander: Maybe that all changes when I'm off doin' sit-ups in Fort Dix!
Giles: (quite drunk) Fort Dix? [begins to giggle hysterically]

Spike: You're not exactly the wiz these days either.
Willow: I am a wiz.
Tara: She is a wiz.
Willow: If ever a wiz there was!

Buffy: I guess I'm starting to understand why there's no ancient prophecy about a Chosen One...and her friends.

Buffy: (angry) Okay. I come to see you, to help you, and you treat me like I'm just...your ex.

Angel: Well, technically--

Buffy: Shut up! And then you order me out of your city and then you come here and start pounding on my boyfriend?! I would really like to know what the HELL are you trying to do?!

Angel: I was trying to make things better.

(Buffy stares at him; then bursts out laughing)

  • Love Triangle: Buffy/Riley/Angel.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: Angel suspects Riley of trying to do this when Initiative soldiers jump him.
  • Mauve Shirt / Jerkass Victim: Forrest
  • Not Helping Your Case
    • Angel travels all the way to Sunnydale to apologise to Buffy, only to get into a fight with her new boyfriend.
    • Buffy says she doesn't think Xander is stupid, then immediately tells him to stop acting like an idiot.
  • Not Himself: Masked by the fact that Buffy has just told Riley about the death of his friend, so she assumes he's in shock when he walks out of the room with a blank look on his face.
  • Relationship Reveal: Buffy clearly hasn't passed on the news to the rest of the Scoobies.

Willow: We have to face it, you can't handle Tara being my girlfriend...
Xander: No, it was back before that, since you two went off to college and forgot about me. Just left me in the basement to-- Tara's your girlfriend?!
Giles: [from upstairs, still drunk] Bloody hell!

Adam: You feel smothered. Trapped like an animal. Pure in its ferocity, unable to actualize the urges within. Clinging to one truth. Like a flame struggling to burn within an enclosed glass. That a beast this powerful cannot be contained. Inevitably it will break free and savage the land again. I will make you whole again. Make you savage.
Spike: Wow. I mean, yeah. I get why the demons all fall in line with you. You're like Tony Robbins. If he was a big scary, Frankenstein-looking...you're exactly like Tony Robbins.

Buffy: Running a car into a tree is an accident! Running your fist into somebody's face is a plan!

Buffy: Okay, that's enough! I see one more display of testosterone poisoning and I will personally put you both in the hospital!