Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S5/E03 The Replacement

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Xander: I'd like to see you handle having an evil twin!
Willow: I handled it just fine.

A demon accidentally fires something into Xander which creates a Xander clone.

Buffy: He ran away, huh?
Giles: Um, sort of more ... uh ... turned and swept out majestically.

Willow: Xander. You already knew that he was taking over your life, and you didn't think of Anya until just now?
Xander: Hey, you wait until you have an evil twin. Let's see how you handle it. (Exits)
Willow: (Bemused, to herself) I think I handled it just fine.

Buffy: If Xander kills himself, he's dead. (frowns) You know what I mean.

Riley: Getting nostalgic?
Xander: I don't know. At first it's just a place, then you start to make memories, and ... then you're like, (pointing) that's where Spike slept, and (pointing) there, that's where Anya and I drowned the Separvo demon. Oh! (points) and, and right there, that's where I got my heart all ripped out. (shakes head) I really hate this place.

Xander: But I never help. I get in trouble and Buffy saves me.
Willow: That's not true! Sometimes we all helped save you. (realizes that was unhelpful) And sometimes you're not in trouble.

Dawn: Mom, I can stand in the hallway, right?
Buffy: She's watching us [Buffy/Riley smooching] like a big freak!
Joyce: (sighs, puts hand to her forehead) This must be my "two teenage girls in the house" headache. I thought it felt familiar.
Buffy: Good work, Dawn. You gave her a headache.
Dawn: I did not! (to Joyce) Did I give you a headache, Mom? I'm sure part of it is Buffy's.
Buffy: But part of it is Dawn's.
Joyce: It's so nice you've learned to share.

  • Description Cut: Willow re witch cliches. "Who uses a cauldron any more?" Cut to the demon using a bubbling cauldron for his incantation.
  • Did Not Do the Bloody Research: In-Universe -- Buffy assumes that "Toth" is British for "moron".
  • Empathic Environment: It rains on Xander when he goes to get Buffy's help, only to find his other self has got their first and Buffy is fixing to kill him.
  • Evil Twin: Subverted
  • Eyes Never Lie: Averted; Anya can't tell the difference between the two Xanders, despite Scruffy!Xander's plea.
  • Get a Room: Xander opens a door in his new apartment to find Buffy and Riley making out. He tells them to go find a bedroom, then realises they're already in one.
  • Hollywood Healing: Averted; Anya is still recovering from a dislocated shoulder, after being knocked down by Mort in the previous episode.
  • Hypno Trinket: Xander notices his Evil Twin carries a shiny coin that appears to change everyone's attitude towards him.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Toth is very strong, very durable, and the weapon he uses (a "ferula-gemina") is potentially very deadly. Fortunately for Buffy, he has very bad aim.
  • Improvised Weapon: Giles rummages in a box for something to ward off Toth. He finds a rabbit's foot, then a wooden statue.

Toth: That is a fertility god. (Giles looks at it in dismay) Feeble man, you are not going to distract me-- (Giles hits him with the statue)

  • Literal Split Personality: Toth's weapon was meant to split Buffy into her human and Slayer sides -- he would then kill the weaker human version, causing the other to die. Instead it seperates Xander into an "aggressive" Xander (charming, well-groomed, and confident; but hot-headed and impetuous) and a "passive" Xander (awkward, paranoid, and insecure; but with Xander's trademark sense of humor).
  • Martial Arts Do Not Work That Way: Buffy complains about the unrealistic fight scenes in the chop-socky movie.
  • Moment Killer: Dawn on the Buffy/Riley snog.

My friend Sharon's older brother knows a girl who died because she choked on her boyfriend's tongue.

Giles: Oh dear Lord. (Scoobies keep talking among themselves) I said, "Oh, dear lord."
Buffy: You always say that.
Giles: Well, it's always important!

Buffy: What if it doesn't work?
Xanders: Kill us both, Spock!
Willow: They seem more normal now.
Giles: Yes, I think he's a bad influence on himself.

  • Red Herring: The shiny coin the other Xander carries isn't used to hypnotize people, it's just a trinket. Also Spike's dummy appears to be about him plotting to kill Buffy, but it's actually Foreshadowing his obsession with her.
  • Shaped Like Itself: "It's an evil robot, constructed from evil parts that look like me designed to do evil!"
  • Shirtless Scene: Our first sight of Suave!Xander.
  • Shout-Out: When they try to put the two Xanders back together.

Anya: What do we do if this doesn't work?
Both Xanders: Kill us both, Spock!

Anya: So... you Xanders really do have all the same memories, all the same... (looking downward) physical attributes?
Suave Xander: We're completely identical.
Scruffy Xander: Yeah, we checked out some stuff in the car on the way over... (off Anya's look) Fingerprints!
Anya: Well, maybe we shouldn't do this reintegration thing right away. See, I can take the boys home, and... we can all have sex together, and... you know, just slap 'em back together in the morning.
Suave Xander: She's joking.
Scruffy Xander: No she's not! She entirely wants to have sex with us together. Which is... wrong , and, and it would be very confusing.
Anya: It's not like it'd be cheating. They're both Xander.

Riley: People say they're recycling. They're not recycling.

Giles: I swear, this time I know I had that locked.

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