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Sleeper (Ep. 7.8)"Head Full of Ghosts" Well, so much for psychoanalysis. Buffy's got bigger problems now. Having spent the last four episodes diagnosing Buffy's issues - literally, in "Conversations with Dead People" - we now have a working philosophy on nearly everything that affects her life, from Slayage ("I am the law") to her counseling role to her take on love and relationships. Now she has to face a test that calls every single one of those factors into play: the possibility that her vampire ex-lover is once again a stone killer. What's a self-loathing girl with abandonment issues, an inferiority complex, and a superiority complex to do? Actually, that's not really the primary question in this episode. "Sleeper," following up on last week's pivotal "Conversations with Dead People," kicks off a two-part arc I've unofficially dubbed "Spike's Crisis," and it's really all about Spike. In this episode, we get our first real look at Soulful Spike and the "kind of man" he wants to be by way of a situation that echoes "Same Time, Same Place." Here, Spike is, as Willow was, suspected of being a murderer. The difference being, Spike actually did commit the murders... but he doesn't know. . . . The establishing scenes pick up not too long after we left off in "CWDP." Spike is industriously digging a grave for the body of the girl we saw him bite and kill, humming a tune to himself while he works. Hole dug, he hauls the body upright, studies the slack face dispassionately, then chucks it into the grave and begins to layer dirt over it. Still humming. There would seem little room for doubt that the Big Bad is back. And yet, it's hard not to be skeptical about what we see here. Has the point not been made at some length that Spike feels genuine guilt and remorse? How does this image of a remorseless killer gibe with the ruined man of "Help," sobbing about how he "hurt the girl"? What are we missing? I'll save us all time on the suspense because the device being used here is not hard to guess: there's an outside force controlling him, a hypnotic "trigger," of the type seen in the Charles Bronson movie Telefon. In that film, Soviet sleeper agents are activated by the recitation of a poem by Robert Frost: "the woods are lovely, dark and deep/but I have promises to keep/and miles to go before I sleep," the verse being nicely symbolic for the tasks the hypnotized agents have to carry out. For Spike, the trigger is an an English folk tone, the closing line of which is "how could you use a poor maid so," a sentiment simply fraught with shivery connotations. The Big Evil's plans for Spike certainly involve more than one "poor maid." No symbolism here other than the obvious. He's right. Unlike the recent incident with Anya, where Buffy could barely wait to skip to execution mode, Buffy soberly insists that "Spike can't be the one doing this," and cites the chip. "Didn't stop him from hurting you," Xander observes. Buffy remains silent on this point. (Is she ever going to fess up to that little piece of info, that the chip stopped working on her a long time ago, or is that plot point being saved up?) Buffy's hesitancy is one thing - and understandable, given her history - but it's Xander's restraint I think we're meant to take special notice of here. Roommate or no, his hatred of Spike is well established - why would he miss the opportunity to condemn the vampire now? Why wouldn't he rush to urge Buffy to eliminate this persistent problem in their lives once and for all whether he's guilty or not? The answer, I think, is in Buffy's admission from "Selfless," that she'd never forgotten his animosity toward Angel from five years back. At that time, Xander had put his own desire to see Angel punished for his crimes over the emotional well-being of his friend, who would actually have to carry out the execution... and he's only now begun to realize just how much he hurt her by that action. "Do you remember cheering me on?" Buffy had asked him bitterly. With that in mind, Xander's detective-like detachment ("hey, objective here," he says at one point) seems part and parcel of a deliberate decision to bite his tongue rather than repeat this mistake of treating Buffy's feelings as unimportant to the equation. This speaks amazingly well of Xander, who could easily have chosen to throw the recent situation with Anya in her face and tell her that turnabout is fair play. Having weighed the available options, he seems to have decided he'd rather support a Buffy who follows her heart instead of the Slayer rulebook, even if he's not entirely happy with the result. Theorizing halts when Spike himself appears in the door and takes in the tableau. Faux casual, Buffy greets her ex with, "how was your night?" and drops leading clues about her encounter with Holden into her own reply, watching intently for a reaction. Spike shows no more than polite interest and/or concern, and retreats to his closet. Meanwhile, Xander has been charged with keeping an eye on his roommate. But, unwilling to skip a paycheck on behalf of the evil undead, he coaxes the newly unemployed Anya into doing the daytime watch instead. The ex-demoness is less than thrilled to discover the reason for the stakeout, and wonders aloud if she should have a "crossbow or a flamethrower" for protection. Methodically opening all the window shades to flood the room with sunlight, Xander jokes, "You didn't mind being alone with him before" - his good humor does seem to be returning, doesn't it? - and tells her to just let Buffy know if Spike leaves. You guessed it - in typical Anya fashion, she seizes on the most obvious diversion she can think of: sex. "You and me. Here and now. Let's go," she fakes, inching closer until she's actually straddling his sheet-clad form, babbling all the while. "Why else would I be here? I mean, it's not like I'm snooping around looking for proof that you're some sort of whacked-out serial killer," she laughs. Then, getting more into the scenario, she clutches at him with the panting entreaty, "Oh, just shut up, William, and take me. Take me now!" And thus we arrive at our first checklist item as to What Kind of Person Is Soulful Spike. Given that he and Anya have what could be called romantic chemistry, resulting in one "brief but unforgettable time together" ("Entropy"), and given that he and Buffy are unlikely to resume relations anytime soon, does he take the ex-demon up on her generous offer? No, his reaction is a close cousin to bug-eyed panic, with stammered-out variations on "wait... what?" then the flattering letdown, "It's not that I'm not tempted. Obviously, if things were different, you're a ripe catch." Check. Soulful Spike isn't the type to sleep around, something Anya realizes with some chagrin: "You think I'm fat!" she wails, then complains that he was "a lot more fun" before the soul. "Soulless Spike would have had me upside down and halfway to happyland by now," she pouts. To make the wrongness obvious, we then get a direct contrast to the previous Anya scene. As Buffy observes from a distance, he approaches a young woman waiting in line, and within seconds, coaxes her to accompany him into a dark alley. "I'll guess you're a little bit bad, huh? Am I right? Are you a bad boy?" the girl breathes seductively, wrapping herself around him. Anya had said almost the exact same thing ("Let's get it on, you big bad boy!"), and gotten only resistance; now Spike responds, embracing the girl and kissing her neck, until he sees Buffy step into the alley and stares up at her in shock. Busted. The Slayer moves closer, speaking over the girl's shoulder. Weirdly, she urges him on. "You know you want it. You know I want you to," she tells him. Spike stares at her for a moment, then vamps out, savagely biting down on the girl in his arms. "There's my guy," Buffy breathes, her voice sinister, an evil smile on her face. Uh-oh. It looks like the invisible people have not been left behind in the school basement. They're still with him. Kill accomplished, Spike now looks confused, almost sick. "Now doesn't that feel better?" the Buffy apparition asks. He looks back at her dazed, his mouth smeared with blood, then pushes past her and runs while "Buffy" morphs into Spike's own likeness. "How could you use a poor maiden so?" the apparition gloats. Now this is where the episode gets really interesting. Clearly, Spike is not completely responsible for what he's doing. He's being manipulated by the morphing Big Evil force. But putting fresh blood on his hands now, after gaining the soul, gives us the opportunity to play compare-and-contrast, and answer some nagging questions about Spike's motivations in getting the soul in the first place while we're at it. Does he have the conscience of a "good man" now, or is pleasing Buffy his only goal, to the point where he's happy to commit murder if she asks him to? The Buffy image egging him on in the killing scene would seem to confirm the latter... but then, why his panicked reaction after? Is he even aware of what's happening? And now we get to the second bullet point in the who-is-Soulful-Spike checklist. As he seems to genuinely not remember what happened, Buffy's accusations that he's killing again goad him into standing up to her and defending himself like he never has before. He insists that he's different now, that he can "barely live with" what he did in the past, that it "haunts" him. He tells her that it isn't the chip that's holding him back anymore: "This chip, they did to me. I couldn't help it. But the soul, I got on my own... for you," he protests, and tells her, "if you think I would add to the body count now, you're crazy." Buffy isn't convinced. She wonders aloud why he would go "looking for drunk coeds," and in return gets the cocky observation that she's jealous. "Saw me chatting up another bird, giving the eye to somebody else. Touched a nerve, didn't it? ...But you can't admit it, so you trump up some charge about me being back on the juice," he snaps. Okay, so Soulful Spike definitely does not have ego issues. But, as he finally tells her, he only talks to other women because he can't talk to her. "As daft a notion as Soulful Spike the Killer is, it's nothing compared to the idea that another girl could mean anything to me," he pleads. Resolve wavering, Buffy tries again, citing Vampire Holden's accusation and his recent insanity. "You're wrong," he grates, rebutting that he's sure he'd at least remember tasting human blood and that she doesn't have "a shred of proof." Realizing that she's lost the debate, Buffy stalks out, claiming that she'll "get some." ...and hurries to mobilize the Scooby gang to do just that. "Are you sure that's what you want?" Anya asks. Buffy shrugs, "Then find me proof that he didn't... We can't assume anything. We need hard facts." And hard facts they get: Willow's computer search soon turns up missing persons, about ten, mostly girls. "So it's true?" Dawn asks, looking queasy, wondering what that means about her own visitation from Joyce. "It still doesn't prove that it was Spike," Buffy sighs, her poker face giving no hint if she's disappointed, or relieved. But redemption's not easy! Xander blocks his way and refuses to budge, having been charged by Buffy to make sure his roommate stays put. Spike's response is to punch Xander hard enough to knock him out, step over his unconscious body, and head out into the night. The question had come up earlier of how Spike could possibly kill people, considering the chip. Xander had suggested that it could be out of commission, and that Spike might be acting, letting Buffy think it was still working. She'd initially rejected the idea on the grounds that she could "feel" that he had "changed," but as their confrontation proved, she still has doubts. Now we have to wonder too: is Spike's chip working? It seemed to fire briefly after hitting Xander, but not at all when he attacked the girls. What's triggering it? Or alternately, what's stopping it? Here's a theory: in "Help," we saw that the chip was no deterrent if Spike was willing to work through the pain - in fact, he's even invited chip feedback if the payoff were worth it (proving Tara to be human, smacking Xander upside the head, etc.). Has Spike just become immune to this particular pain? After all, what were the soul-trials if not an example of how much pain he's willing to put up with to gain something he really wants? Shaken, Spike stakes the fledgling vamp, then makes a phonecall - to Buffy. "I think I'm remembering. I think I've done some very bad things," he confesses. And now we come to the third checklist point. Souled Spike, apparently, is someone who takes responsibility for his actions.... even ones he wasn't fully responsible for. Even ones he doesn't actually remember doing. That is different. Buffy agrees to meet him at an address he names. In a ripped-from-the-headlines serial-killer nightmare, he leads her into the basement of a deserted house, explaining in a trembling voice that he thinks he might have buried people there. In a thoroughly creepy effect, his lookalike apparition hangs over his shoulder the entire time, dripping poison into his ear, complaining that he's "going against the plan... the Slayer's not in order." Spike ignores his sinister shadow... until it begins to sing.... The change is instantaneous. Spike turns to attack a horrified Buffy, who suddenly has to defend herself against her feral former lover, as well as a host of fresh vamps who begin erupting from their gravesites, clutching at her like something out of an Italian zombie flick. "You know what I want you to do," the mirror image Spike tells the original, ordering him to "Take her, taste her, make her weak." I'll skip over this point for now with the small note that this is an echo of "Amends," in which The First Evil told Angel through dreams that making Buffy "weak" was only the prelude, a necessary step before actually killing her (is The Big Evil actually The First Evil?) It obviously doesn't want Buffy dead yet; she's not "in order." Spike's purpose, according to his own attendant ghost, is to weaken her, not kill her... yet. What might its final plan for the Slayer be? Still in vamp face, Spike approaches Buffy as told... but instead of biting her, he bends to lap the fresh blood from her shoulder... and at first taste, images of all his recent murders flash through his head. "I remember," he whispers, and recoils in horror, scuttling away to cower in the corner, all his danger and flash promptly gone. (This is a nice parallel, by the way, to Buffy's wide-eyed awakening after tasting Dracula's blood in "Buffy vs. Dracula," an act that the famous vampire said would reveal her "true nature.") By now, Spike's doppelganger has clearly written its pawn off. It leans over him, a weird image - the actual Spike curled into a tight ball of horror, the Big Evil's mirror-image facade cocky and assured. "Now she's gonna kill you. You lose, mate," it whispers. New vamps disposed of (having efficiently popped them like balloons with the handle of a garden tool), Buffy moves to confront her recently menacing, self-confessed killer of a former lover. He looks up to see her standing there, weapon ready, and obediently holds his jacket open for her stake. "Just make it fast, okay?" he asks wearily. And now we reach the turning point: Buffy surprises him, and us. Despite having found her "proof," she hesitates, asking questions instead, and for once really listening to his answers, listening to his overwhelming guilt. "I don't remember. Don't make me remember," he sobs. "Make it so I forget again! I did what you wanted!" he shouts at the empty room, obviously in pieces. This is enough to convince Buffy that there's more going on here than a lapsed killer returning to his old habits. She throws away her weapon, crouches down at his side, and promises to help him. This scene is full of disturbing images. Spike's horrified reaction to his own multiple murder victims is perhaps the most affecting - his response to Buffy throwing her weapon aside is the anguished cry: "Oh, God, no, please. I need that... I can't cry this soul out of me." Just as strange, in a way, is Buffy's refusal to put an end to all this by staking Spike, an action that's frankly impossible to suss out on a rational level. The idea that Buffy is simply unable to kill something in such a pathetic state is ruled out by when she efficiently stakes an old woman who was too feeble to pull herself from her own grave in the same scene ("Sorry ma'am, it's my job," she offers apologetically). Nor does it seem possible that her suspicions about the Big Evil were concrete enough to override her responsibilities as the Slayer. "There's something playing us," she tells Spike. This is not a reason by itself. Buffy was willing to sentence Anya to death on the strength of Willow's second-hand report, but refuses to convict Spike despite her own eyewitness account. There's no way to view this decision completely through calm, "CSI-like" lens. Worse, at the end of all this, we're given the image of the shadow figure shaking its head in disappointment. By bringing Buffy to the basement, the doppleganger insists, Spike was "going against the plan." So what was the plan? "She's right where I want her... and so are you," the Big Evil rumbled in "Lessons." Is it important that Buffy not trust Spike, that they be kept apart? "Sleeper" showed us two things: the first glimmers of the "kind of man" Spike wanted to become by gaining the soul, and Buffy's decision - for whatever reason - to accept responsibility for him, to stop pretending that he's not her problem. These are significant steps forward for both characters, continuing the forward motion we've been seeing ever since "Seeing Red," when saw Spike make his choice to try to be a man instead of a monster. In "Sleeper," Buffy is making a similar choice. She has no good reason to spare her ex-lover, but she does anyway. The easier road would have been to do her duty, to kill him in a show of impartial Slayer justice, as she did with Anya. By sparing him, Buffy is picking the tougher road, one that's going to require her to deal with the consequences under full view of her friends, who are already starting to look at her askance for her decision. Buffy is making choices that may eventually redefine the kind of person she wants to be - a path Spike started traveling down at least two years ago. As always, I'm curious to see where this ends up. And the episode cuts off. Hopefully, Giles wasn't as well.
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