Showtime (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Showtime" is the eleventh episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot synopsis

A young woman gets off a bus at a bus station at night and heads to a payphone to find the number for Buffy Summers. Before she can find the number, one of the Bringers appears behind her with a knife. She backs away to escape the cloaked figure and others like him until she hits a wall, but before the Bringers can attack, Buffy arrives and rescues the young Potential Slayer. Once Buffy disposes of the Bringers, Buffy welcomes the frightened woman, Rona, to Sunnydale. At the Summers house, Willow struggles to sleep on the floor of her room while Kennedy talks constantly from her spot on the bed. Kennedy talks about the luxurious life she had when she was younger, prompts Willow to do some magic and repeatedly attempts to get Willow to join her on the bed, making Willow uncomfortable.

Downstairs, Molly tells several new Slayers-in-Training about the recently killed Anabelle. Xander suggests they be quiet and sleep, but a still-bound and very bored Andrew suggests they speak louder. Buffy arrives with Rona and the gang is updated on the recent activities and findings. The gang lacks answers to most of their current problems like destroying the Turok-Han and rescuing Spike from the First Evil. The Slayers in Training are worried and lacking confidence. Giles suggests they seek answers from an oracle-like creature known as Beljoxa's Eye. Down in the cave where he's kept prisoner, Spike is approached by one of the Bringers, but for once, he fights back and breaks free of the bonds that hold him to a wall. He runs through the underground tunnels and finds Buffy waiting for him, but quickly is pulled away from his dream and into reality where the First Evil, looking like Buffy, is waiting for him.

Giles and Anya go together to meet with a demon, named Torg, about Beljoxa's Eye. After some careful persuasion, Torg opens up a dimensional portal for the both of them to pass through. On the other side, they find themselves in a dark, windy dimension and soon come face-to-face with a caged mass of eyes, the Beljoxa's Eye. Willow gets a call from a member of the Coven in England. Andrew is freed from his bonds and Buffy attempts to scare him by asking if he's ever seen Misery, which Andrew starts comparing with the book before he realizes the implied threat. Willow informs Buffy about another potential Slayer in town and Buffy rushes off with Xander to pick the girl up before the Bringers do. As they leave, Dawn questions the usefulness of these potential slayers. The Slayers in Training work out in the basement of Buffy's house and thanks to some depressing comments from Eve, they talk about the seemingly insurmountable challenge they are facing and being called as a Slayer.

Buffy and Xander knock at the room where the latest potential slayer is staying. When no one answers, Buffy kicks the door in and they find a dead blond girl lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection, they find that the girl is Eve and she's been dead for days. Back at the house, Andrew talks to Dawn about his usefulness and continues to ramble, even after Dawn informs him that Buffy gave her permission to kill him. Buffy and Xander return to the house and proceed towards the basement where they tell "Eve" to get away from the others. The First in Eve's form finally reveals itself and with some thanks for all the information over the past few days and threatening comments about the future, then disappears. In the other dimension, Giles and Anya speak with the Beljoxa's Eye, which tells them that the First Evil cannot be destroyed and that its mission exists now because of a disruption in the Slayer's line, which was in fact, caused by the Slayer.

The gang, all worried after the frightening invasion by the First, talk about what they are going to do. Buffy tries to keep the potential Slayers calm, but they continue to worry about whether they are prepared to handle anything that lies before them. Buffy and Willow exchange glances and then both leave the dining room, followed by a confused Xander while the others continue to panic. Back in the cave, the First approaches the Turok-Han as Eve and sends him out to kill everyone except "her." A crowd of Bringers forms outside Buffy's house that night, but do nothing but keep the Slayers from leaving. Buffy disperses weapons to the gang as they all wait for the expected attack of the Turok-Han. Willow practices some simple magic to see if the First would go after her again. Kennedy interrupts and is intrigued by Willow's skills and her past struggles with it. Willow warns her that the evil magic she's been exposed to in the past is not something Kennedy wants to see.

The Turok-Han charges at the house and breaks the front door down. Willow puts up a barrier that keeps the vampire at bay, but it's almost too much for Willow and Buffy instructs everyone to run out the back. The gang encounters Bringers in the backyard, but they are destroyed and the gang runs off as the Turok-Han finally breaks through Willow's magical barrier. Meanwhile, Anya and Giles return to their usual dimension and Giles explains that the disturbance in the Slayer line was Buffy's revival from death. Anya realizes that if they had never brought Buffy back to life, the First wouldn't be doing this to them now. The gang runs down the street together and then Buffy tells them to break up. Willow and Xander lead the potential slayers, as well as Dawn and Andrew to a safe location while Buffy turns and attacks the Turok-Han. After a brief struggle, Buffy runs and tries to get the vampire to follow her.

Xander leads the way through a construction site, which the potential Slayers find to be an extremely exposed and unsafe location for them hiding at. The Turok-Han appears, proving that it decided to go after the easier potential Slayers instead of Buffy. Kennedy prepares to attack the vampire, but then bright lights flood the site and Buffy appears as the potential Slayers move back to watch from a distance. Buffy tells the ubervamp that he's going to help her set an example for the other girls and begins a fight. A vicious battle ensues, but the ubervamp again proves to be stronger. As Dawn watches, she realizes aloud that Willow and Buffy planned everything as a teaching tool. A quick flashback to the panic-filled discussion at the house earlier shows that at the moment that Buffy, Willow and Xander left the others, the three were communicating telepathically about a plan to destroy the ubervamp and boost morale of the others at the same time.

The potential slayers begin to worry as Buffy ends up on the losing end of the fight, but Willow tells them to wait. Just in time, Buffy turns things around and strikes the ubervamp with a few harmful blows. Buffy finally grabs a wire to wrap around the vampire's neck and pulls until she beheads the creature, turning it to dust. The Turok-Han dusted, the bruised and blood splattered Buffy ends her lesson and leads the newly confident Slayers-in-Training back home. In the cave, Spike tries to tell off the First in Buffy's form as she stands before him with a knife in hand. Buffy cuts away his bonds as Spike wraps his arm around her, realizing it's not the First but the real Buffy. She helps the sobbing vampire out of the cave.

Production details

Writing

• In keeping with this season's theme of going "back to the beginning", in the shot right before the opening credits Buffy greets Rona by saying "Welcome to the Hellmouth", which is the same as the title of the first episode of the series.

Arc significance

• The Turok-Han is killed by Buffy.
• Spike is rescued from the First's cave, though he has not overcome the behavioral trigger.
• Xander is shown sleeping on the couch at Buffy's house, completing the Scooby Gang's migration to Buffy's house.
• It is revealed exactly why the First has decided to mount an attack on the slayer line. It is explained by the Beljoxa's Eye that The First exploited a weakness in the Slayer line that was created when Buffy died at the end of season 5, and was subsequently resurrected.
• Kennedy is intrigued by Willow's use of magic. She will continue to try to coax her into using her powers more throughout the series. Willow tells her that the dark magic in her is something Kennedy doesn't want to see. This will come to light in the episode "Get It Done", which will strain their relationship.
• The barrier Willow uses to stop the Turok-Han from entering Buffy's house is the same barrier she used in Season 5's episode 'Spiral'.

Cultural references

• Andrew claims Dawn has a Licence to Kill, and then goes on to discuss Timothy Dalton's era as James Bond.
• Andrew states that he is "Bored. Episode one bored," referring to the fan disappointment of the Star Wars: Episode I film.
• Andrew asks Dawn if she wants "to play Kevin Bacon", a reference to the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
• Before the final fight with the Turok-Han, Buffy says "Welcome to Thunderdome." and Andrew continues "Two men enter, one man leaves", a reference to Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
• After defeating the Turok-Han, Buffy says "Here endeth the lesson." She is directly referencing Spike from the episode "Fool for Love" in season 5. In that episode, Spike taught Buffy how he killed two slayers. At the very end of his teachings he stated "Here endeth the lesson." In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, "Here endeth the lesson" is announced at the conclusion of each reading of biblical passages during the Order for Daily Morning Prayer. The English poetry-writing Spike would be well acquainted with Anglican canonical forms. The Master also says this in the episode "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" after he reads about The Anointed One and throwing a vampire into a coffin.

Cited texts

• The Book of Common Prayer. 1928. 

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Showtime

• "Showtime" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Showtime" at TV.com