Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S4/E21 Primeval
The Scoobies patch things up and stop Adam's plan to build an army of cyborg human/demon hybrids.
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Soldier: Containment has been breached. Hostiles are loose. |
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- All Your Powers Combined
- An Axe to Grind: Buffy's Bigger Stick when searching the caves -- fortunately she doesn't run into Adam.
- ...And Show It to You: Enjoined!Buffy rips out Adam's Uranium-235 core and holds it up in front of him. Adam promptly keels over dead.
- Asshole Victim: Colonel McNamara is the last person we see getting killed.
- Badass Boast
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Colonel: You telling me my business? |
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- Body Horror
- Bullet Dodges You: Enjoined!Buffy disintegrates machine-gun bullets in mid-air and turns a missile into several white doves.
- Came Back Strong: Forrest sees himself this way.
- Came Back Wrong: Forrest is made like Adam, sans the uranium power core. Likewise, Walsh and Angleman as "walking corpses", worker drones for Adam.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Remember the feral, hairy demon from "New Moon Rising"? It shows up again.
- Click. "Hello.": The Scoobies slide open a door to find five Initiative soldiers readying their weapons.
- Combat Tentacles: A scientist gets Railing Killed by some.
- Determinator: Riley cuts out his Mind Control chip with a shard of glass.
- Didn't Think This Through: Spike has ensured that Buffy and Willow are no longer on speaking terms. The next step in the plan involves luring Buffy to the Initiative with encrypted disks that only Willow can crack.
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Spike: Hang on. I think I might've detected a small flaw. |
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- Word of God is that the writers hadn't thought of that either, but didn't want to rewrite the entire previous episode. Though the Author's Saving Throw actually makes it better than if they had scrapped the bad plan, showing that Spike isn't TheChessmaster he thinks he is
- Dude in Distress
- The Dragon: Forrest becomes this to Adam.
- Eureka Moment: Xander suggests that with Willow's Wicca knowledge, Giles skill in Summerian and Buffy's Slayerness to finish the job, a paralysing spell might work on Adam. This gives Giles the idea of the Enjoining Spell.
- Evil Plan
- Eye Scream: Spike escapes Forrest by sticking a lit cigarette in his eye.
- Fast Roping: Well, more like a slow descent while discussing how you've grown apart recently.
- Foreshadowing: Giles warns that the Enjoining Spell might be dangerous. This turns out to be true in the next episode.
- Fridge Brilliance: While Adam was built from several demon parts and powered by a uranium power core, Forrest had his nearly his entire body (except the face) replaced with that of a single demon. Consider that Adam pretty much remade Forrest in his image in pretty much hours and probably had no access to uranium.
- Friendship Moment
- Gatling Good/BFG/More Dakka: Adam is not only armed with the Polgara Blade Below the Shoulder, but also a collapsible machine gun/grenade launcher.
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Adam: I've been upgrading. |
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- Genre Savvy: Buffy and Willow hug Xander and say they love him.
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Xander: Oh God, we're gonna die, aren't we? |
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- Gone Horribly Right: Spike's plan for separating Buffy from her friends worked so well that they're not even talking, which... means the plan won't work since it hinged on her friends sharing information with her. On the DVD commentary, the writers admit that this is an Author's Saving Throw since they didn't figure that out until writing this episode either.
- Gory Discretion Shot. Blood gets splattered over the Clipboard of Authority.
- Grand Theft Me: The Enjoining spell works like this, where a super powerful Buffy is controlled by the power the Scoobies give her.
- Group Hug
- The Heart: Xander takes the role of "Animus" in the Enjoining Spell.
- Heel Face Revolving Door
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Xander: Spike's working for Adam!? After all we've done -- nah, I can't even act surprised. |
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- After Adam turns on Spike, he fights on the side of the Scoobies, admitting frankly that he's doing it so they won't stake him for his previous betrayal.
- I Am Legion/Combined Energy Attack: The Enjoining Spell that temporarily mergers the Scoobies minds and talents (Willow's magic power, Giles' knowledge, Xander's Spirit, and Buffy's strength and skill). Complete with Voice of the Legion and Golden Eyes of Doom
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Averted -- Riley tries talking to Walsh, but Adam informs him he's wasting his time.
- Insult Backfire
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Adam: So you failed. |
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- Ironic Echo: Walsh's "Be a good boy, Riley." (from "Hush")
- Is That the Best You Can Do?: After a struggle Forrest, Walsh and Engleman have Buffy pinned down on a table.
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Forrest: Is that it? Is that all you got? |
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- Laser-Guided Karma: Professor Walsh falls victim to her own Evil Plan.
- Oh Crap: Buffy sees Adam's hand morph into a gatling gun/rocket launcher. Then it's Adam's turn when his bullets are destroyed in mid-air.
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Adam: Interesting, very...interesting. |
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- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Orders the end of the Initiative project.
- Ominous Sumerian Chanting: To invoque the power of the First Slayer. The defensive spells are also Sumerian.
- People Puppets: Walsh had implanted Riley with a chip that controls his physical actions. Adam activates it to prevent him from aiding Buffy. Riley manages to regain enough self-control to cut it out through sheer Heroic Willpower.
- Plot Tailored to the Party
- The Power of Friendship: Even before Buffy calls her, Willow is shown trying to decrypt the files.
- Redshirt Army / Unwitting Pawn: The purpose for the Initiative soldiers is revealed: to kill the imprisoned demons and also to die and serve as spare parts for the 314 Project.
- Salt the Earth: The final line of the episode.
- Saying Too Much: Buffy realises what Spike has done when he mentions her fight with Willow, which he wasn't present at.
- Scary Black Demon Man: Forrest
- Slave Mooks / Our Zombies Are Different: Angleman and Walsh of course.
- Tarot Motifs
- Tempting Fate
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McNamara: Down here I'm the one in control! (lights go out) |
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- Trojan Horse: The captured demons.
- Two Part Episode
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Forrest is tossing Riley about the room.
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What're you making me do this for? Not that I'm not enjoying myself. |
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- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness / You Have Failed Me...: Spike succeeds in bringing Buffy to the Initiative, but she has reconciled with the Scoobies. To honor their deal, Adam orders Forrest to behead Spike.