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 so many years ago.

Beneath You

• In Frankfurt, Germany, a leather-clad girl with pink hair runs for her life.
• She’s being chased by those same hooded ne’er-do-wells that were chasing that girl in Istanbul last week.
• Pinkie fares about as well as Istanbul girl, too.
• But as she dies, she cryptically says, “From beneath you it devours.”
• Then Dawn wakes Buffy from the dream… in which she witnessed this girl’s death.
• Buffy says there are more out there… and they’re gonna die.
• Elsewhere in Sunnydale, the earth shakes and the town is either being invaded by one of those graboids from Tremors or Bugs Bunny took a wrong turn at Albuquerque again.
• In the school basement, Spike stalks a rat.
• Guessing he’s a bit hungry.
• He feels the tremor and it distracts him… he says he’s hardly ready before he begins screaming.
• Xander is driving the Summers girls to school.
• Xander says he hopes the kids at the school appreciate that they have a Slayer and friend looking out for them… “I know I sure did.”
• Principal Wood shows Buffy to her desk and encourages her to mostly be willing to listen.
• Buffy does ask the question I have… Why does she have this job without a college degree.
• Wood says these students need someone around who can understand them.
• When she’s free to roam, Buffy heads down to the basement looking for Spike.
• Back in England, Willow sits on her suitcase, unsure if she’s ready to go home.
• Giles tells her it’s fear that’s keeping her from going home… so Willow suggests staying in England until they can get that fear in check.
• Mostly she’s afraid that her friends won’t take her back.
• Giles can’t guarantee that she’ll be welcomed back to Sunnydale with open arms.
• “I can’t promise you’ll be wanted. But you will be needed.”
• A woman is walking her dog… which is apparently eaten by a graboid.
• So… not Bugs Bunny.
• She runs off and runs into Xander, who takes her to see Buffy.
• Her name is Nancy and she’s having a hard time believing she saw what she saw, even though she’s heard the stories about weird things happening in Sunnydale.
• Buffy tells Nancy not to worry, that they’ll figure out what’s going on.
• And then Spike shows up in the living room.
• Uh… soul or no soul… why didn’t they uninvite him when he tried to rape Buffy?
• I mean… I guess things got busy with Willow turning evil and since she’s been in England since then, they don’t have a witch on call to do protection spells like that.
• Anyway, Spike being there makes things awkward for Nancy, the new girl.
• Spike tells Buffy he’s here to help… something’s coming… something big.
• Buffy tells Xander to take Nancy home while she and Spike check out the spot where the dog was taken.
• Dawn stops Spike on his way out and warns him that if he hurts Buffy, she’ll set him on fire while he’s asleep.
• At the hole in the sidewalk, Buffy asks Spike what happened to him.
• He blames his crazy on the ghosts at the school.
• Then she confronts him about the attempted rape.
• He tells her he can’t apologize, but he does tell her he’s changed… but he’s still cryptic about it.
• And she knows he’s changed… she just doesn’t know what he’s changed into.
• They find nothing helpful in the hole in the sidewalk.
• Xander and Nancy seem to be hitting it off pretty well and she wants to give him a call sometime.
• As he tells her good night, there’s another tremor… and they run.
• At the end of the hallway, they are just out of reach of the giant underground worm… with teeth.
• Nancy tells Xander that her ex, Ronnie, would love this… that she was attacked by a monster twice in one night.
• And in talking about Ronnie, she mentions wishing that something would happen to him.
• Which leads Xander directly to Sunnydale’s resident vengeance demon.
• Anya is in the middle of trying to get someone else to make a wish when Xander walks in with Nancy, Buffy, and Spike.
• Anya definitely turned Ronnie into a giant worm monster.
• Spike says that Ronnie is actually a Sluggoth demon now.
• Anya notices Spike’s soul when she takes a look into his eyes.
• She doesn’t say it aloud, but she asks him how he did it.
• Spike starts to fight Anya… she fights back…
• Nancy slips away.
• Buffy heads out to try and find her, but Ronnie the Worm finds her first.
• Nancy manages to climb up on a fire escape, but Ronnie shakes the building causing the ladder to come apart.
• Buffy swings in and saves her just before she can be devoured.
• Meanwhile, Xander is trying to convince Anya to reverse the spell, but she explains to him that she’s in enough trouble as it is.
• Spike shows up to help Buffy and as he goes in to make the killing blow with the worm, he suddenly reverts to human form.
• Which completely unhinges Spike because he just stabbed a regular dude with a metal rod.
• Somewhere in his insane ramblings, he warns Buffy that this is just a warm up act.
• He repeats the line, “From beneath you, it devours.”
• Buffy has called for an ambulance and goes after Spike once Xander and Anya arrive.
• Nancy is sickened by all of this and walks away.
• Buffy tracks Spike to an old church.
• He’s pretty much lost his mind, but he manages to reveal that he has a soul now.
• When he talks about how Angel was able to hide how it feels to have a soul, she figures it out.
• “All it does is burn.”
• He did it so he could be the kind of man who would never do the things that he has done.
• Because he wanted to be loved.
• As penance, he drapes himself on a big cross at the front of the church, causing his skin to burn.
• Body count: Humans – 1; Dogs – 1