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Date Posted: 05:46:54 04/23/03 Wed
Author: First aired Wednesday 23rd April
Subject: Episode 8.09 - "INFLECTION" by Wyvern

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow is still using magic to manipulate nature, Faith and Buffy are sent into a Slayer dream by Willow, Raven attacks Casa Summers, the Four are summoned, more details of Anya’s bunny fear are revealed, Willow gives Dawn Tara’s Book of Shadows…

A typical night in one of Sunnydale’s numerous cemeteries. A large gang of vampires is fighting the White Hats. Everyone, including Andrew and Kennedy but excluding Giles is there involved. Andrew is fending off anything that comes near him with a cross and holy water. Willow and Dawn are standing on top of a crypt trying to work a spell together, Willow gently guiding Dawn… but it isn’t working. These vampires seem unusually tough, even Buffy and Faith seem to be having a hard time dealing with them. Xander takes one out but it’s a lucky shot; he wasn’t winning this fight on strength and skill. Spike is vamped out and even he’s having trouble. He throws a punch at his opponent but the blow is deflected. He’s knocked to the ground. He lashes out angrily with his feet and finally lands a solid kick in the vampire’s gut, causing him to double over and giving him a chance to roll away. Kennedy is aiming her crossbow at the vampire attacking Buffy; she manages to get a shot off but as she does so, something lands heavily behind her, upsetting her aim and causing the shot to go wide as it strikes her across the head. It’s a demon, complete with horns and other ugliness. She lands on her face in the dirt as the demon strides towards Faith. “Great,” she mutters, “now it’s a party…”

Buffy groans in frustration as the vampire she’s fighting blocks yet another blow. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s wild crossbow bolt thuds into a tree behind the vampire fighting Faith, distracting her long enough for Faith to stake her. She dusts. Faith smiles grimly in triumph and looks across at Buffy, ready to offer assistance. Kennedy shakes her head groggily and manages to get to her knees. She reaches for the crossbow on the ground beside her and rises unsteadily to her feet. She notices that both Xander and Andrew are being seriously threatened by yet more vampires and tries to raise the bow to take one of them out. She’s shaking too much to get a decent shot. Spike, however has managed to better his opponent and kicks him to the ground. He lands on his belly; Spike stakes him through the back.

The demon strides across to Faith in just a few steps. They go hand to hand. The combat is aggressive and ugly and Faith is taking serious damage. Finally, the demon grabs Faith around the neck and lifts her off the ground. There is a sickening crunch and she falls limply to the ground, her eyes wide and glazed, staring straight into the camera. Buffy’s eyes widen with shock and horror as she realises what has happened. It’s as if it gives her the added impetus she needs as she eventually kicks the vampire she’s been fighting in the chest, forcing him back and making him lose his footing. She finally manages to dust him as the demon turns to take her on. At last Willow and Dawn manage to work their spell – an intense light, like burning magnesium, arcs over the cemetery and strikes all the remaining vampires and the demon. They burst into white-hot flame, then crumble to ash. Buffy runs over to Faith, kneeling by her and feeling frantically for a pulse as the others gather around her. Buffy looks up, her eyes red-rimmed. “She’s dead”.

Kennedy looks around with a look of confusion on her face. Suddenly she feels stronger and no longer groggy, energy almost crackling through her body from somewhere deep inside right through to her extremities. Then realisation hits her; she has been Chosen…

Wolf Howl; Opening Credits: Same old, same old…

A typical, sunny Sunnydale morning. Dawn and Willow are in the kitchen working on magic. There are various pots, bowls, herbs and other bits of magical ephemera scattered over the counter. Dawn has Tara’s Book of Shadows in her hands and is positioning the items on a cloth with a great deal of respect. Willow is overseeing Dawn’s work. Dawn places the final item, an athame, on the cloth, steps back and eyes her work critically. Willow smiles, but Dawn’s unsure. “Is this… is it right? Did I do it right?” she asks as she looks from the book to the altar. “Is this what Tara would have done?”

Willow nods. “It isn’t about what Tara would have done, Dawnie. It’s about how Dawn’s gonna do it. If you look back through the book, you’ll see that every witch does it a little differently. There isn’t any hurry to get it right.” Dawn smiles a little, “Plus,” adds Willow, “magic tends to get kind of kablooie if you rush it. Bad choices can be made, including some involving yak cheese I’d rather forget…”

Dawn returns to the book and lights a candle…

Meanwhile, in the living room, the curtains are still closed and a lumpy shape covered in a blanket is on the couch. Kennedy sits on the floor. Spongebob Squarepants is on TV (the episode where Squidward feels alienated and moves into a colony with others like him) but she isn’t really watching it. She’s drinking orange juice and staring distractedly into the middle distance. Buffy walks in, a little stiffly, crouches and puts a hand on Kennedy’s shoulder. Kennedy doesn’t really acknowledge her.

“Tough, huh?” Buffy asks. Kennedy looks away. “I know… it’s one thing to think that you might be the Chosen one… that somewhere in the distant future you might be called on to…
Kennedy stops her. “I know… it’s not that. It’s Faith. I mean… I’m only the Slayer because she can’t be any more. And the next Slayer…” Kennedy looks at Buffy. Both of them understand the implication. Then, Buffy’s body language changes; no longer quite so stiff and weary looking, she glances at the clock, grabs the juice from Kennedy and takes a gulp. She throws open the curtains, flooding the room with sunlight, then grabs the blanket and pulls it away from Xander, who over-reacts somewhat… Grabbing back the blanket, he snaps “Are you trying to kill me?” and, pulling it back over his head, continues “Close them! Close them!”

Kennedy closes the curtains a little uncertainly, whilst Buffy picks up her juice again and drains the glass. Running for the door, she calls out, “Gotta run and make some money! Don’t want to be late!” As the door slams behind her, Xander settles into the couch to watch Spongebob. Kennedy goes out to the kitchen to get more juice.

Dawn is meditating in front of the candle. Willow is occasionally muttering quiet words of encouragement. As Kennedy comes in, Dawn opens her eyes. “Good,” says Willow, “That was good. Did you find your centre?” Dawn nods slowly. “I think this time I did.” The three stand in a moment of uncomfortable silence until Willow asks Kennedy what she’s going to wear to the Halloween party. Kennedy looks stunned at the idea. “Halloween party? Surely that’s the night everything comes out of the Hellmouth to party?” “Nope,” cuts in Dawn, “Quiet as a grave – a normal grave with a normal dead person in, not the kind of vampire-infested one. Nothing ever happens on Halloween, right, Willow?” Willow looks as if she’s about to say something but thinks better of if. “No, nothing happens on Halloween,” she says with forced humour, “it’s like a holiday for the Hellmouth.” Kennedy still looks unsure. “But… what about Faith? How can we have a party when she’s…” Willow and Dawn both look extremely relieved to hear a knock at the door; Dawn wins the opportunity to answer it. “I’ll go,” she says thankfully and runs from the room.

Willow looks intensely at Kennedy, her features hardening (either they’ve done something clever with the lighting or it’s a digital tweak – it’s almost, but not quite, a hint of Dark Willow). “There’s something you need to know about Faith,” she mutters, darkly. “She may have been a Slayer but she was never one of us. She might have gone all redeemy on us, but some people have long memories. We didn’t like her. We never liked her.” Kennedy looks truly shocked at this revelation and it’s obvious she’s struggling to decide whether to say what’s on her mind. Finally, she gives in. “But… but what about the things you did?” Just as Willow’s about to answer, Dawn bounces back into the room. “That was different. Willow’s our friend; she’s one of us. Come on, guys, Andrew and Anya are here – and they brought books!”

Commercial Break: Looking for a good place to fight the Undead? Come on down to Chuck’s yard of broken and splintered lumber! We’ve even got a picket fence!

Back to the living room. Kennedy, Dawn and Andrew sit on the floor around the coffee table. Xander and Anya take opposite ends of the couch, and it’s noticeable that the curtain behind Xander is pulled across. Willow paces uncomfortably. “OK,” starts Anya, “Who wants to tell me why Faith’s dead?” The others look at each other blankly. Andrew turns to Kennedy. “What do you think? I mean, you’re the Slayer. What happened last night?” Kennedy thinks for a moment. “I could say she was sloppy, but I don’t think that’s true. I could say she was unprepared, but no one except maybe Buffy could have been more prepared. She was the Slayer! And all it took was a moment for her not to be.” Andrew nods slowly, taking in Kennedy’s reply. “So?” he prompts. “So… I think she was mostly just unlucky. It wasn’t her night is all.” Andrew stands up abruptly, knocking the coffee table over and spilling books all over the floor. “She was unlucky. That’s pretty much it. I mean, vampires, demons, we find, we slay, we deal – or at least, you do all that whilst I get hit over the head with heavy objects, also bitten sometimes – but all it takes is one bad move to be dead. Which means… “ he continues uncertainly, “that I should probably be dead by now. Oh well…”

Anya queries why the vampires were so much stronger than they should have been, and why they had the “big ugly” with them. Dawn decides to hit the research online whilst Andrew starts working through the books with Anya. Realising that the lesson is over for now, the conversation turns to costumes and party decorations. “My turn this year,” says Dawn and waves a hand around the room. Immediately it is bedecked with streamers of orange and black, jack o lanterns, cardboard skeletons and cliché-witches, cobwebs, spiders and strings of lights (mostly pumpkins, but some strings of red chillies too) – and one black, buck-fanged vampire bunny. “Too much?” she asks as she casts a critical eye over her handiwork but everyone seems happy with the arrangements. Anya picks up the bunny, grins and puts it back down before telling everyone she needs to collect her costume. Xander slopes off unnoticed.

Upstairs in her room, Willow looks around her for inspiration and connects the long green velvet curtains hanging at the window with a half-remembered conversation. She gets them down and drapes them against herself, admiring the view in the mirror as she adjusts the fabric to a more satisfactory shape.

Back downstairs, Dawn sits at the computer with Kennedy and Andrew to either side of her. She’s working through the “Demons, demons, demons” web-site trying to identify the “big ugly”. She doesn’t have a lot of success; although she finds a number of demons that share characteristics with the thing she and Willow terminated with the spell none of them match the descriptions entirely. However, at the same time she’s running a background search on reports of unusual vampire activity. When she plots everything significant on a map, she discovers a pattern – wherever Kennedy goes, particularly nasty vampires follow. Last night they caught up with her. They speculate that these vampires were scouts for the demon, searching for Kennedy and summoning their master when they caught her. Their speculation is cut short by a shout and a thump from upstairs. Dawn says she’ll go check on Willow, cutting off Kennedy’s protests. Kennedy walks to the back of the house and looks out into the yard and stares at the fresh mound of earth that is clearly Faith’s grave.

Dawn walks in on Willow to find her surrounded by scraps of velvet curtain and a slightly battered looking sewing machine. The main bulk of the fabric isn’t really recognisable as anything except a slightly singed pair of ex-curtains. She explains. “I tried magic but it just wouldn’t come. So I tried sewing. But that wouldn’t come either” she says, sheepishly. Dawn looks at the mess and rolls her eyes. Green sparks start to arc from her fingers…

Andrew stands a few feet behind Kennedy and watches her with concern as she stands at the window. “Wanna talk about it?” he asks. Clearly she doesn’t – there’s no reply.

Willow walks down the stairs with a grinning Dawn who indicates to Andrew to be quiet. She sweeps around the foot of the stairs and into the hallway and we see that Dawn managed to pull off the spell that Willow couldn’t; she’s dressed in a perfect replica of Scarlett O’ Hara’s green velvet dress, right down to the curtain ties, the feathered cap and the ringlets in her hair. She walks up behind Kennedy and slips a hand around her waist. “What’s the matter?” Kennedy shakes her head. “I just don’t get any of this any more. I thought I’d be more prepared for all this and now… now I just feel tired. I can’t get anything straight in my head… I just…” Willow turns Kennedy around to face her and she sees Willow as her fantasy woman for the first time. A whole mixture of emotions – surprise, happiness, doubt, confusion and more chase across her face. “Sshhh… let me make you feel better”. Willow kisses Kennedy (and we’re not talking a peck on the cheek here – this is a full scale “Gone With The Wind” moment) and leads her by the hand upstairs.

Commercial Break: Windex – now in new cherry flavour!

Willow and Kennedy are bathing in an obvious afterglow. Kennedy strokes Willow’s hair; Willow kisses whatever PG-appropriate body parts come into reach. It’s a relatively tight shot that pulls back to show that on the bed, near where their feet must be, there is a large black and white cat playing with a ball of red wool. Kennedy pushes herself up, the covers remaining artistically draped to ensure nothing PG-inappropriate escapes. She looks at the cat, then at Willow. “I didn’t know we had a cat… what’s her name?”
Something dark again flickers across Willow’s face. “I never knew… she never told me. And we don’t have a cat.” Willow’s voice drops to barely a whisper. “We had a cat once… she did and I did. But we don’t have a cat any more… we don’t have a we any more.” Kennedy is clearly wounded by this statement and starts to swing her legs out of bed. “I’m going downstairs now… I have work to do.”

As Kennedy rounds the bottom of the stairs, we get to see the entire room from Kennedy’s point of view. It is starting to resemble chaos – Xander is standing sullenly in a corner, trying to keep out of everybody’s way, Anya and Andrew are still poring over a big pile of books which by now is starting to swamp the room – if you’ve seen “The Trouble with Tribbles”, where the tribbles are all over the bridge of the Enterprise, that should give you an idea of the proliferation of volumes heaped over every available surface. Andrew is wearing a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches and drinking tea from a cup and saucer; Anya is holding a book in one hand and a stake in the other and pacing through an attack as she reads. Meanwhile, Giles and Spike are slumped on the couch watching TV. There’s a large bowl of popcorn on Giles’s lap. They seem to be fighting over a remote control unit and Giles is brandishing a DVD case at Spike. Giles is threatening to skip part of the movie, but Spike disagrees, loudly. “No way!” he shouts, “Give me that!” and attempts to grab the remote from Giles. Giles counters Spike’s move and holds the remote out of reach and yells back, “Way! I’m SO skipping that chapter… all that kissy stuff in the middle totally ruined Episode Two!”

The whole thing is rather childish.

Kennedy looks surprised to see Spike and Giles and challenges them as to why they’re there. They explain that Buffy had agreed they could come over and watch movies before the party tonight. Kennedy asks where their costumes are if they’ve come for the party. “We haven’t decided what to wear,” Spike tells her, “We don’t know who we are yet,” adds Giles. They soon start bickering again.

The arguing gets louder and more intrusive. Dawn, still working through the magic book, glares at the pair of them. “Here’s a suggestion; Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee.” Taking advantage of the distraction, she gestures in front of Spike and Giles. The DVD player explodes and the TV channel hops from channel to channel for a moment, finally settling on a Bugs Bunny cartoon, just as Buffy (wearing a red catsuit, horns and a tail) walks into the room. She freezes in horror for a moment as she catches sight of what’s on the TV, then grabs a crossbow and shoots straight at the screen, which also explodes in a display of pyrotechnic brilliance. This seems to really upset Xander, who complains that “now we have to watch the small TV…” Kennedy looks around the room, taking in the fact that something is definitely not right. She isn’t sure what it is, but she can tell that things are a little bit “off”. She starts to work her way into the middle of the room. “Who are you?” she asks. “This is all wrong!”

Commercial break: Need a brain? Need it fast? You’re probably not looking in the right place if you’re here!

Kennedy stands in the middle of the Summers living room, a look of panic on her face. Andrew, dressed as Van Helsing, steps up to her and places a gentle hand on her arm. “I don’t know what’s going on in your head, what’s bothering you, but can’t we work through it together? I want to help but I can’t if you don’t tell me what’s wrong” Kennedy shakes his hand off. “Look at this place, Andrew…” she pleads, gesturing about the room, “tell me this is normal!” Dawn walks in dressed as Madam Butterfly and takes a handful of popcorn from the bowl on Giles’s lap. “Looks about right to me.” Kennedy shakes her head. “You aren’t listening to me! I can’t do this any more!”

As Spike (in a Jedi costume) and Giles (an ice cream salesman) once again begin to bicker over the remote control, Kennedy runs to the front door muttering “I have to get out of here” and pulls it open abruptly. She is about to storm out of the house when she nearly collides with a short, bald man standing on the doorstep. He carries a small case, which bears the legend “Sunnydale Dairy Board”. He opens it to display a selection of cheeses on a plate. “Can I interest you in a blind taste test?” he asks. Kennedy yells in frustration and everything goes black.

At Kennedy’s bedside, Willow is frantic with worry. Dawn, Buffy, Xander and Andrew stand a little further back. “Come on, Kennedy,” whispers Willow, stroking her face, “This can’t… I can’t…” Buffy squeezes Willow’s shoulder as she starts to sob quietly. “How long now?” “Longer than I’d like,” admits Buffy, “but she’s strong, Willow… you have to give it time.” Willow looks up at her and reaches for Kennedy’s hand. Slowly, Kennedy’s eyes open and she looks around in confusion. “Hey”, she whispers as she catches sight of Willow, who smiles with relief and kisses her on the forehead. “What about the demon? Faith?” asks Kennedy. “I’m here” smiles Faith as she walks into the room, “What demon?”

Kennedy recounts her version of what happened that night and how Faith had died and she’d been called in her place. More importantly, she explains how she felt - isolated and alone in a crowd. She explains how they were all taking on aspects of each other, how it seemed like they were gradually melding and how she felt like an outsider because she was left as herself. How she didn’t feel as ready to be the Slayer as she thought she would. When she finishes her tale, they explain what really happened…

Back in the graveyard… it’s the same fight as in the teaser with a large gang of vampires versus Buffy, Faith, Willow, Kennedy, Xander, Dawn and Andrew. Andrew is fending off anything that comes near him with a cross and holy water. Willow and Dawn are standing on top of a crypt trying to work a spell together, Willow gently guiding Dawn… but it still isn’t working. These vampires seem unusually tough, even Buffy and Faith seem to be having a hard time dealing with them. Xander takes one out but it’s a lucky shot; he wasn’t winning this fight on strength and skill. Spike is vamped out and even he’s having trouble. He throws a punch at his opponent but the blow is deflected. He’s knocked to the ground. He lashes out angrily with his feet and finally lands a solid kick in the vampire’s gut, causing him to double over and giving him a chance to roll away. Kennedy is aiming her crossbow at the vampire attacking Buffy; she manages to get a shot off but as she does so, something lands heavily behind her, upsetting her aim and causing the shot to go wide as it strikes her across the head. Kennedy falls unconscious to the ground as yet another vampire joins the throng. They’re tough, they’re organised but in the end, they’re regular vampires and the battle is brought to a swift conclusion when between them Willow and Dawn manage to cast a spell that causes the vampires to become disorientated, giving the others the break they needed to stake or decapitate their foes. They then gather around the fallen Kennedy, concerned that she isn’t coming to. They gather her up and carry her away.

Back in the bedroom, Willow explains how worried they’d all been and she was afraid she might loose Kennedy – and that everyone had been concerned what she might have done if that had happened. But Xander reminds them that there’s a bright side - they know there’s a lot going down, but as it’s Halloween, maybe they’ll get a little respite tonight.

Grrr... Arrrg...

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