Buffy the Vampire Slayer/As You Were

As You Were
Season 6, Episode 15
Airdate	February 26, 2002
Production Number	6ABB15
Written by	Douglas Petrie
Directed by	Douglas Petrie
← 6x14 Older and Far Away	6x16 → Hell's Bells
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Six

As You Were is the fifteenth episode of the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the one-hundred and fifteenth episode overall.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers), James Marsters (Spike)

and Alyson Hannigan (Willow)

Special Guest Star: Marc Blucas (Riley Finn)

Guest Starring: Ivana Milicevic (Sam)

Co-Starring: Ryan Raddatz (Todd), Adam Paul (Skanky Vamp), Marilyn Brett (Lady), Alice Dinnean Vernon (Baby Demon Puppeteer)

Uncredited: Mitch Morris (Cute Boy)

Plot Overview

Riley unexpectedly returns to Sunnydale to enlist Buffy in a special mission. Buffy’s relief at Riley’s presence is destroyed when she quickly finds out he’s now married.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• Suvolte Demon: Sivolti demons are a highly dangerous, nearly extinct race of demons who Riley's military operation has been exterminating in the jungles of South America. The demon nests and procreates, adding ten more to its population each time it reproduces. Upon reproduction, the hatchlings begin to kill instantly.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Vampire	Buffy	Staked	Graveyard
2	Suvolte Demon	Buffy	Snapped neck	The Dam
3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12	Suvolte Hatchlings	Buffy	Blown up	Spike's Crypt

Music

• Lunatic Calm - "Sound of the Revolution"

• Trespassers William - "Washes Away"

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Buffy and Spike: Buffy breaks off the relationship she was carrying on with Spike once and for all.

Referbacks

• No Place Like Home: Buffy used "William" to address Spike before when he first revealed his feelings for her. She uses it again when she breaks off the relationship.

• Life Serial: Buffy repeats a line to Riley that she first said to the bank security guard about using guns. That line was: "These things? Never help."

• Older and Far Away: Buffy makes a comment about being unable to leave the house.

Trivia

The Show

• Final Appearance: Although he left the cast in season five, this episode marks the last appearance of Marc Blucas in the series.

Allusions and References

• Tribbles: Tribbles are a race of aliens who prominently appeared in the original Star Trek series. The Tribbles are small, fuzzy creatures who are born pregnant. Although they aren't dangerous, their population is prone to exploding.

Buffy: So... they're like really mean Tribbles?

• Nick and Nora Charles: The Thin Man was a series of films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a retired detective and his socialite wife. The series began in 1934 and ended five films later in 1947. In the movies, the two solve crimes in a comedic fashion involving witty banter and lots of alcohol.

Xander: No! But, granted, I have a hard time imagining Nick and Nora Fury hiding out from their own relatives in their bathroom.

• Nick Fury: Nick Fury is a Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963 (Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1). Fury was a war hero and spy for the government, he advanced through the ranks before being placed at the head of a top secret organization named S.H.I.E.L.D., which acts as a liaison between the United Stated or United Nations and superheroes.

Xander: No! But, granted, I have a hard time imagining Nick and Nora Fury hiding out from their own relatives in their bathroom.

Goofs

• When the demon first attacks, there are people in the background who seem oblivious despite all the visible and audible commotion its causing.

Quotes

• Buffy: Nice wheels.

Riley: Came with the car.

• Riley: I got some, uh, big stories to tell you, too, if we ever get half a second.

Buffy: Did you die?

Riley: No.

Buffy: I'm gonna win.

• Buffy: Which means we have to find the nest and fast before Sunnydale turns into the Troublemeat Palace. (beat) I wish I'd said something else.

• Riley: You want me to say that I liked seeing you in bed with that idiot? Or that blinding orange is your very best colour? Or that that burger smell is appealing?

Buffy: You smelled the smell?

Riley: Buffy, none of that means anything. It doesn't touch you. You're still the first woman I ever loved and the strongest woman I've ever known. Now, I'm not advertising this to the missus, but you're still quite the hottie.

Buffy: You know, it goes away after many bathings.

• Riley: So you're not in the world's greatest place right now. And maybe I made it worse.

Buffy: No.

Riley: The wheel never stops turning, Buffy. You're up. You're down. It doesn't change what you are. And you are a hell of a woman.

• Buffy: I'm using you. I can't love you. I'm just being weak and selfish...

Spike: Really not complaining here.

Buffy: And it's killing me. I have to be strong about this. I'm sorry, William.