The Watcher Diaries - Intervention - Buffy Episode 5.18

Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 03.02.2010

Glory dials up her quest for the Key and Spike is caught in the crossfire!



5.18 Intervention
Writer: Jane Espenson
Director: Michael Gershman

Slayer Speak

Xander: No one is judging you. It's understandable. Spike is strong and mysterious and sort of compact but well-muscled.
Buffy: I am not having sex with Spike, but I'm starting to think that you might be.

Buffybot: Angel's lame. His hair goes straight up, and he's bloody stupid!

Anya: We're just kind of thrown by the you having sex with Spike.
Buffy: The who whating how with huh?
Anya: Okay, that's denial. That usually comes before anger.
Buffy: I am not having sex with Spike!
Anya: Anger.

Murk: We will bring you Bob Barker. We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker!

Watcher’s Notes

Glory can only suck the brains of mortals, not vampires and demons.

Mike Gorman has the full review!

"Intervention" is one of the truly great episodes of Season Five as it does a great job of merging the season's continuity, humor and character development. This week marks the debut of the Buffybot which Spike commissioned from Warren in "I Was Made To Love You" and this duel role really allowed Sarah Michelle Gellar to show her comedic skills.

Buffy is feeling a bit out of sorts after the recent developments and Giles encourages her to accompany him on a vision quest to help her find some clarity.She agrees and they travel to the desert. In the meantime Glory has ordered her minions to keep a close eye on Buffy and her friends, watching for anyone new in her life or extremely close to her. Enter the Buffybot, Spike's sex toy. SMG is so great here playing the "ideal" Buffy of Spike's dreams. Everyone gets caught up in the antics when Xander & Anya see Spike and the Buffybot going at it, behavior also noticed by Glory's guys. While Xander and co. assume Buffy has gone nutso, the minions assume that Spike is the key and kidnap him. In the meantime, Buffy's quest begins and she discovers that her spirit guide is the first Slayer. In usual cryptic fashion, she learns from the spirit that "Death" is her gift. This is something that will be misunderstood at first but become very important as the season ends.

Spike's kidnapping really is the crux of the episode as it sets in motion the Buffybot's collision with the Scooby Gang and some true development on the Spike and Buffy front. First we get to see some very funny scenes as the Bot runs off to find the Scoobsters to help save Spike. It is quite funny to see her tell Willow she knows she is gay over and over. Also, when they confront her about her relations with Spike it leads to some truly classic moments. Sadly the comedy ends soon after when the real Buffy returns and the ruse is discovered. They all decide they must go and kill Spike if necessary to protect Dawn's identity. At the same time Spike is being tortured by Glory who realizes he is not the key because it could not be a vampire but believes he does probably know who is the key. Spike escapes and runs into the rest of the gang. They proceed to fight off Glory's troops together and flee.

The best scene of the episode follows as the real Buffy goes undercover as the Buffybot in Spike's crypt. She is there to determine whether or not Spike told Glory of Dawn's true identity. Spike tells her that he would never do that, he would never betray the real Buffy. She kisses him and he realizes it is the real Buffy. She tells him she will never forget what he did for her. This is the turning point in the Spike and Buffy relationship. She will grow to rely on him even more now and he will move close to becoming a true part of the Buffy crew. I think that it was handled very well and presented as a natural progression on Buffy's part. Yes, I am one of those fans who sees Spike's choosing to be good as a bigger feat than Angel's good turn after his soul was restored. Shoot me.

Glory is getting close to the truth and much drama is still to come as we hit the home stretch on Season 5. "Intervention" was one of the primo eps of the season so far in my opinion. It hit all the right notes and moved the story forward.

Ronny Sarnecky	The Buffybot lives! This is a highly entertaining episode thanks in large part to the introduction of the robot version of Buffy. I love how Spike had the robot programmed. She mis-pronounced Giles as Guyels. She was programmed to think Angel was lame, which is hysterical. I love the ending of the episode, as Buffy pretended to be the Buffybot in order to find out if Spike really told Glory who the key was. Like Willow, Anya, and Xander in previous episodes, Buffy was able to see that Spike wasn’t the evil vampire that they all believed. Having Buffy kiss Spike in that scene was a nice touch. The biggest thing to come out of this episode was Buffy’s interaction with the first Slayer. The first Slayer told Buffy that her (Buffy’s) gift is death. While it sounds strange now, this is a foreshadowing to the future at the end of the season.	9
Ron Martin	There's so much I like about this episode, but at the same time, there is much I'm not so into. I do like the fact that everyone had their role to play here. It was flashback to Season Three where we have this unique cast of characters, we put them in a situation and let them react accordingly. I'm even willing to forgive Xander's out of character praise for Spike because it was so funny. I am always a big fan of the Buffybot and her one dimensional opinions of her friends (especially Angel). I also like the two mini-storylines started in this episode. I, like everyone else, will misinterpret Buffy's gift of "death" until the last episode of this season. Secondly, I am fond of Glory going through Buffy's people (first Spike, then Tara) looking for the key. Sometimes the things that make the most sense are the hardest for TV writers to write. I'm no fan of so much Spike, which has been chronicled. I think they go out of their way to find reasons for him to take his shirt off. However this was the true beginning of Spike's redemption story...and it works. What doesn't work is the Scooby Gang (who have for the most part been pro-killing Spike) sticking up for him all of a sudden when Buffy wants to stake him. The last scene also falls flat, I feel, as it was entirely predictable. Unlike the "your gift is death" paradox, I don't know anyone that was fooled into thinking that was the Buffybot. This was the point that you knew a Spike/Buffy relationship was inevitable. It makes me a bit queasy to think about.	7.5
Jeremy Thomas	As many know, I'm a big Spike fan and so it's probably no real surprise how much I love this episode. But we'll get to that in a moment. "Intervention" features the first appearance of the Buffybot, which gives Sarah Michelle Gellar a chance to have some fun. We all knew that the Buffybot wouldn't last since it's essentially the same style of a character that Anya portrayed at this point; besides, they didn't need to make Gellar work double-time. But while we have her, the ride is fun. Spike and the 'Bot's little Slayer games are pretty funny and give us Buffy/Spike fans a preview of what a relationship with them might be like…okay, not really, but kind of in a twisted way. And almost as much fun are the reactions of the Scoobies when they think that Buffy is sleeping with Spike. When Willow tries to justify a little bit and Tara comes back with "Are you kidding? She's nuts!" I can't help but laugh. And the Buffybot offering to make sketches of all the different ways she and Spike have had sex…well, Gellar handles it with pitch-perfect skill. I loved the humor of how this played out and yet it all seemed about as natural as a storyline involving a sex robot can be. As much as the Buffybot is fun, this episode is really about Spike. The episode's title, "Intervention," can refer to a lot of things, and on one level it has to do with the Scoobies trying to talk Buffy out of having sex with Spike. However, she's not actually having sex with Spike, so it probably has another meaning. In this case, it refers to Spike itself. An intervention at its core is simply this: the act or fact of interfering with a condition to modify it or with a process to change its course. Spike was certainly on one course, and ironically it is Glory who performs that act. By attempting to torture the location of the key out of Spike, she puts him at a crossroads. He can either go back to being evil and give Dawn up, or he can do the noble thing and protect her and Buffy. That intervention results in Spike's first true steps on the path toward goodness, and the scenes in which it happens are wonderfully done. It results in the wonderful ending in which Buffy pretends to be the 'Bot and learns the truth from Spike. Yes, it is obvious that it wasn't the robot, but that doesn't make it any less well-done. This is a great episode that I always enjoy watching and is a must-see for Spike fans.	9.5
Jason Chamberlain	This is a pretty funny episode and it's Spike heavy, which is always a bonus for me. The Buffybot stuff could have gotten old but it's actually used pretty well (the rudimentary facts on Buffy's friends that Spike had programmed in are all good for a laugh) and I fall off my chair every time I hear Glory's lackey promise to bring her the limp, beaten body of Bob Barker. If Bobby had come on for a cameo and beaten up some lackeys, that would have been EPIC. I love the final scene, where Buffy gives Spike some recognition for what he did for her and Dawn. Say what you will about him and his past, it can't be denied at this point that he genuinely cares for Buffy and her family, and that will take him, and the show, down some interesting paths.	8

GRR!!! ARGH!!!

The 411: Buffy goes on a vision quest and Spike gets to play with his new Buffybot. "Intervention" is a very strong episode continuity and humor-wise allowing many of the actors to remind us why we love their characters so much. It is a week that Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters truly shine. Glory is close to discovering the truth about the key and it is only a matter of time before her master plan becomes evident.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]