Welcome to Rewatching Buffy, the part of the blog where I rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each Tuesday evening, you’re invited to join me as I attempt to rediscover what made me love this show 21 years ago.

The Replacement

• So… Dawn’s still around.
• Guess that’s gonna be a thing now…
• Buffy and Riley are hanging out with Xander and Anya in his basement.
• When his parents get home and loudly argue upstairs, Xander quips about it being about time to find a new place to live.
• Elsewhere, some kind of ugly demon with glowing cracks in his skin is performing some kind of spell that has something to do with the death of the Slayer.
• Guess we just got the set up for our freak of the week.
• The whole gang goes apartment hunting with Xander and Anya.
• He’s not too confident about his chances of getting the apartment. His current construction job is ending, so he’s worried he can’t afford it right now.
• This upsets Anya.
• The demon shows up at the magic shop and Giles tries to overpower him, but he’s no match for the demon.
• The demon said that the Watcher was of no concern to him.
• Doing some research, Giles discovers that the demon’s name is Toth.
• Giles remembered that Toth had a distinct smell. So they all head over to the dump.
• Of course they run into Spike. Because why not?
• And then Toth shows up and begins firing some kind of weapon. He misses Buffy, but hits Xander.
• The gang helps him up, and he’s hurt, but seems otherwise all right.
• After they walk away, the camera pans over to show Xander lying unconscious in a pile of trash.
• Huh?
• The next morning, Trash Xander wakes up really disoriented.
• He makes his way to his basement, but can’t get in. Doesn’t have his keys.
• He looks through the window and sees a somewhat classier version of himself getting dressed for work.
• Trash Xander follows Classy Xander while trying to remain hidden.
• Dawn’s still obnoxious. In case you were wondering.
• Spike puts together a bunch of the junk he got from the junkyard to make a mannequin version of Buffy.
• And then he kicks the crap out of it. Guess it’s a sign that he’s got a lot of repressed violent energy since he can’t actually fight Buffy anymore.
• At the job site, Classy Xander is called into the foreman’s trailer since the job is winding down.
• Trash Xander watches as the foreman offers Classy Xander a full-time job. He notices Classy Xander carrying around a shiny piece of metal.
• He assumes that the shiny metal is some kind of hypnotic device.
• Oh, and Classy Xander signs the lease on the new apartment. And the landlady is hitting on him.
• Do girls hit on Xander?
• When Classy Xander leaves he apartment, Trash Xander tries to get the jump on him, but Classy Xander throws him off easily.
• Classy Xander meets up with Buffy and Giles and convinces them that Trash Xander is some kind of doppelganger that needs to be destroyed.
• Trash Xander goes to Willow. Because if anyone will believe he’s the real Xander, it’s her, right?
• He explains that he woke up in the dump. She’s confused because she was with everyone when they walked him home after he got hit by Toth’s ray stick.
• Between Trash Xander talking to Willow and Classy Xander talking with the others, they both seem to be the real Xander.
• Trash Xander begins to freak out. He tells Willow, “Wait until you have an evil twin, see how well you handle it!”
• “I handled it just fine,” she says to herself. And she did handle it pretty well.
• Classy Xander spends time with Anya at his new apartment and he begins to understand why Anya has been upset lately.
• When she got hurt last week, it made her realize that she’s mortal now. Classy Xander is super understanding and intuitive.
• Trash Xander bursts into the apartment and tries to convince Anya that he’s the real Xander.
• Willow goes to Giles and Buffy… Giles realizes that neither Xander is a demon.
• The device Toth used caused Xander to split. One became his strongest personality traits, the other took on his weakest.
• The plan was to split Buffy. The weaker Buffy would have been easy to kill.
• Kill one, kill them both.
• Back at the apartment, Trash Xander pulls a gun on Classy Xander.
• Buffy and Riley arrive in time to keep either Xander from killing the other.
• She explains the situation to both Xanders.
• Trash Xander explains about the flashy metal disc being used to hypnotize.
• Classy Xander explains that it’s just a nickel someone flattened on a railroad track. He found it on the construction site and thought it was cool.
• Toth breaks in the door and tries to split Buffy again. But she kills him dead.
• They all get to the magic shop and Willow breaks Toth’s spell, reintegrating both halves of Xander into one.
• Riley helps Xander move boxes out of his basement.
• They have a nice little talk about their relationships. Riley admits that he’s the lucky one. Because he knows that she doesn’t really love him.
• Body count: Demons – 1