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 22 years ago.

Gone

• All potentially magic items in the Summers house are being deleted.
• This is all so Willow can go cold turkey.
• Buffy finds a lighter, which reminds her of Spike.
• Which reminds her that she really needs to go cold turkey, too.
• Warren puts together a gun using that diamond they stole from the museum a couple weeks ago.
• It’s an invisibility ray.
• It can make things invisible and return them to normal.
• That’s good, in case someone becomes invisible and needs to be seen again by the end of the episode.
• Spike bursts into the kitchen, interrupting a cold shoulder breakfast.
• Claims he’s out for a stroll… but morning sure is a dangerous time of day for a stroll.
• Something very nearly happens between them, but Xander walks in, mocking Spike for still trying to get with Buffy.
• As Xander takes Dawn to school, a social worker arrives for an appointment with Buffy to make sure everything is still good as Dawn’s guardian.
• This visit doesn’t go well.
• Dawn’s grades have fallen sharply, due mostly to many absences and late arrivals to school.
• The social worker is ready to take the next steps toward removing Dawn from Buffy’s custody.
• Buffy’s pretty close to distraught.
• So she cuts her hair. Then she goes to an actual stylist to fix it.
• The nerds head out into public to test the gun.
• But while Jonathan and Andrew fight over who should be the first to turn invisible, they accidentally shoot Buffy, a tree, a traffic cone, and a dumpster…
• Xander and Anya are going over seating charts for the wedding when Buffy walks into the Magic Box.
• She reveals that she’s invisible and Xander is concerned that she may have felt ignored lately.
• But this isn’t a Marcy situation (Remember her? Head back to Season 1 for a refresher).
• Buffy heads out to exploit her new found invisibility.
• Anya points out that it’s obvious that a spell has caused this… which leads Xander to worry that it’s an accidental magic deal.
• Maybe Willow has slipped.
• So he goes to confront Willow, but it’s not because of her.
• She doesn’t take that well.
• Buffy goes to visit her social worker and has a little fun… driving her a little crazy… and the Summers interview gets reassigned to another social worker.
• Easter egg: Invisible Buffy whistles “Going Through the Motions” as she leaves social services.
• Willow, in spite of being upset, goes and figures out that other things were made invisible at the same location where Buffy became unseen.
• She spray paints the dumpster and one of the traffic cones, telling Xander to take it back to the shop and see if he and Anya can figure out what kind of spell was used.
• Buffy goes to visit Spike.
• I guess it’s okay for her to sleep with him since she’s invisible.
• Like when Chandler and Monica could keep having sex as long as they were in London.
• The traffic cone begins to break down at the shop… which means the same thing could happen to Buffy.
• About the same time, Warren figures out the same thing.
• Warren has no problem with Buffy dying, but the other two aren’t on board with killing anyone.
• He argues that they’re villains and they really shouldn’t care. But eventually, he agrees to make Buffy visible again.
• Xander’s looking for Buffy and heads to Spike’s… and walks in on them having sex.
• But that’s okay, because it kinda just looks like Spike is doing naked push ups.
• Buffy talks to Spike, mentioning that since she’s invisible, she feels free of life…
• He eventually kicks her out of the crypt and she heads home.
• Dawn walks in soon after Buffy and she’s showing off her invisibility, but it kind of upsets her.
• Willow has been able to track down the trio’s van to Warren’s house.
• She goes down into their basement lair, but they aren’t home.
• But she does discover proof that they’re behind Buffy’s invisibility.
• But it turns out they were there all along… they were just invisible themselves. And they take Willow hostage.
• They call Buffy and demand that she meet them at the arcade if she wants Willow back.
• When she arrives, Warren claims he’s gonna return her to normal, but Willow recognizes that the gun is on the wrong setting, that he’s trying to kill her.
• An invisible fight breaks out and Willow manages to turn everyone normal again.
• And the trio claim they’re her arch-nemeses. Pretty lame.
• Body count: No one died!