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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Episode 7.09 "Never Leave Me"
Written by Drew Goddard
Directed by David Solomon
Original Air Date: November 26, 2002
First off, I'd like to apologize for this review being fairly late. Let's just say that finals suck and the weeks leading up to them suck just as badly. That being said, the latest episode of Buffy titled "Never Leave Me" was simply great. In this hour of television the season's main arc was pushed forward significantly while still keeping plenty of stuff mysterious. We know more but at the same time we still don't have a real clue as to what is really going on.
We might as well start with the big revelation that was made. It's something that I think most avid Buffy fans had already suspected for some time, but at least it was finally confirmed. The big bad is none other than The First. To be more specific, it is the First Evil. If you'll remember way back in season three, Angel was tormented by this same entity in the episode "Amends". That episode also featured the very same harbingers the first has been using this season to kill off the young girls in a handful of episodes. It's in this episode that we finally see a clear view of their faces, and it is here that Buffy makes the connection to the First Evil. Basically, all we know now, though, is that the First Evil has a thing for vampires with souls. I can't really imagine what it would want with one, though. Guess we'll have to wait and see on that point. His true goal is still a mystery.
Outside of the First happenings, there is also the unfolding Spike story. He's tied up in the Summers' home and being spoon-fed pig's blood by Buffy. I have to compliment the way that Goddard handled these scenes. They don't even remotely feel like the trashy romance novel scenes from season six. In fact, they make the Buffy/Spike relationship feel better if not really desirable. I mean, the last thing I really want is for them to get together, but exploring their 'relationship' from last season is territory I don't mind the show treading. This fleshing out of where they stand now both helps to make Spike more sympathetic and actually helps us cope with the horror that was the Buffy/Spike 'relationship.'
Next, Andrew pimps around town this week in a leather trench coat ala Spike. I have to say that I enjoy the way he is being handled so far. Granted, we've only seen him around for a couple of episodes this season, but at least he hasn't been putting together another freeze ray or anything just out and out stupid like that. This week he's trying to rectify the situation with the Jonathon's sacrifice over the sigil we saw in "Conversations With Dead People." It turns out that Jonathan, being the pip-squeak he was, was too small and didn't have enough blood to allow the sigil to be opened. Once Andrew is inevitably caught by the Scoobies, he is given a little good-cop/bad-cop interrogation by Xander and Anya. One of this episode's funniest moments takes place when Anya bitch slaps Andrew for not spilling his guts.
On the Giles front, we are given almost no information outside the fact that the Council of Watchers doesn't have a clue about where he is. Speaking of the Council, they are hit hard by the First. They prepare to strike back when the building they occupy explodes leaving us to assume that the Council of Watchers has been destroyed. Things aren't looking good.
On top of that, another mystery pops up. I'm sure we've all had doubts about whether or not Principal Wood was more than he let on. Well, tonight, we know that there's more to this man. Finding Jonathan's body over the pentagram on the basement floor, Wood takes Jonathan's body and buries it. We're given no other information other than what we see. Whether Wood is working for the First or if he is working for an unseen good, we don't know. It's another layer of the mystery that will be resolved later. This leaves us to assume that there was more to his hiring Buffy than simple compassion. He's keeping her close to him for some reason.
The episode picks up its pace when Spike is switched on by the magic song the First uses to turn him evil (Anya quips, "Maybe it's another musical... a much crappier musical." God she is great). He takes a bite out of Andrew's neck (Andrew lives, though) and shortly thereafter is kidnapped by the First's harbingers. Spike's own blood is used to complete Andrew's ritual and raise a demon from beneath the sigil. When the ritual is carried out, the sigil opens and out comes a 'real vampire.' It's a vaguely Nosferatu looking, though not the scariest thing in the world. Perhaps it will be handled better when the next episode airs.
With all the plot lines building like this, the episode can't be anything but good. We're given globs of continuity and building more and more mystery as each episode goes by. All of this will hopefully lead to a stellar finale for what is likely Buffy's last year of television. This episode gets:
Episode Rating: 9 out of 10.
- Brandon "Pyronics" Delancey still hopes Giles is among the living.
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