Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S6/E15 As You Were

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Riley: I've been up 48 hours straight tracking down something bad. Now it's come to Sunnydale.
Buffy: My hat has a cow...

Riley returns to enlist Buffy's aid in tracking down a demon black market dealer.

Dawn: How's the soon-to-be newlyweds? Nervous?
Anya and Xander: NO!

Buffy: You smelled the smell?

Anya: "Planning this marriage is like staging the invasion of Normandy."
Xander: "Without the laughs. We should have eloped."
Anya: "No. I've been through too much planning this wedding, and it is going to happen. It is going to be our perfect, perfect day if I have to kill every one of our guests and half this town to do it."

  • Buffy-Speak: Buffy's not exactly Gun Girl.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Averted; Buffy finally admits out loud that she's sleeping with Spike, and that admission helps her to end their self-destructive relationship.
  • Continuity Nod

Sam: You got a safe house?
Buffy: I have a house. I think it's safe. Sometimes you can't even leave.

  • Did You Die?: Buffy and Riley promise to swap stories if they get a chance and see whose were more exiting/dangerous/crazy etc. She asks if he died, and when he says he didn't, she says, "I'm going to win."
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Both Riley and Sam in their interactions with Buffy.
  • Double Entendre: Spike suggests that as Buffy won't let him come inside her house it's time she came...outside. Cue Spuffy sex on the lawn.
    • Dawn sees the grass stain on the back of Buffy's coat and asks if a vampire got rough with her. Buffy mutters, "He's not getting any gentler."
  • Ear Worm: Buffy finds herself humming the Doublemeat Palace jingle, a definite sign she's been working there too long.
  • The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Riley Perp Sweating Spike. "We can do this the hard way, or the fatal way."
  • Explosive Breeder: The Suvolte demon.
  • Fast Roping: A good opportunity for UST.
  • First-Name Basis: Buffy calls Spike 'William' when breaking up with him, ironically showing him more respect than when they were lovers.
  • Geographic Flexibility: Sunnydale now has a dam.
  • Golden Moment: Though everyone but Buffy hugs Riley.

Riley: You're up, you're down ... it doesn't change what you are. And you are a hell of a woman.

Anya: You know, if you love Riley Finn so much, maybe you should just marry him.
Xander: He's taken. And that's not the point.

  • Humiliation Conga: Buffy's life is in a rut. Her old flame turns up and sees her wearing a silly hat. He turns out to be married. Then he catches her in bed with an evil bloodsucking fiend. Who turns out to be the black marketeer they're looking for.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Willow says she'll be petty and nasty to Sam on Buffy's behalf. She eventually calls Sam a bitch -- after she's left.
  • I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Buffy seems about to tell Riley that she tried to stop him leaving, but then changes it to say she just regrets things didn't work out between them.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun

Buffy: "We need to stop this thing before Sunnydale turns into the Trouble Meat Palace. ... I wish I'd said something different."

  • Let's Split Up, Gang!: Used as an excuse so Buffy can leave Sam to go and shag Spike.
  • Love Martyr: Buffy tells Spike she's just using him for her own selfish needs. Realising that Buffy is serious about breaking up, Spike hastens to say that he's really not complaining about that.
  • Meaningful Echo
    • Spike will unconsciously repeat Riley's "You are a hell of a woman" in "Touched", and in much the same context.
    • "Tell me that you love me." Warren demanded the same from a brainwashed Katrina in "Dead Things".
  • Modesty Bedsheet: Justified for once -- Buffy is embarrassed when Riley bursts in on them, so she cowers behind the sheet while a smirking Spike doesn't hide his naked body.
  • Moment Killer
  • Mundane Solution: Buffy says the Suvolte demon is too fast to chase. Description Cut to them chasing after it in Riley's SUV.
  • Neck Snap: Buffy killing the Suvolte demon.
  • The Nicknamer: Xander refers to Sam/Riley as Nick and Nora Fury. Sam calls her husband Captain Can-Do.
  • "No" Means "Yes": Averted; Spike is initially amused by Buffy's break-up speech, knowing that she still desires him sexually. Buffy admits this, but sticks to her guns.
  • Oblivious Mockery: Sam asks Buffy if she's seeing someone. Buffy waffles on that she doesn't need a guy at this time.

Sam: Yeah, better no guy than the wrong guy, that's for sure.

Buffy: Tell me you love me.
Spike: (eyes widen) I love you. You know I do.

Buffy: Tell me you want me.

Spike: I always want you. (smiling) In point of fact--

Buffy: Shut up. (pulls him down onto the bed)

  • Smug Snake: Spike can't resist gloating to Riley over how he's boffing Buffy.

Well, looky here. I don't usually use the word delicious but I've gotta wager this little tableau must sting a bit, eh? Me and your former? Must kill. What can I say? Girl just needs a little monster in her man.

Spike: Over my dead body.
Riley: I've seen enough of your dead body for one night, thanks.

Buffy: Glad to be back in Sunnydale. The locals all speak English, and I know who to beat for information. It's all brought me here.

Spike: Look, Crew Cut. She's not your bint any more. And if I can speak frankly, she always had a little thing for me, even when she was shagging you.

Riley: Nice. That's very distracting. Now tell me, before I get unprofessional... (pointing his gun at Spike) ...where are the eggs, Spike?

Buffy: Oh, why can't I get this stupid jingle out of my head?

Vampire: (leaping out in front of her) Least of your problems now, little girl.

Buffy: Doublemeat Palace, how can I help-- (realises the 'customer' is Riley) ...you!

Riley: Can't you make him shut up?
Buffy: Not so far.