Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Goodbye, Iowa

Goodbye, Iowa
Season 4, Episode 14
Airdate	February 15, 2000
Production Number	4ABB14
Written by	Marti Noxon
Directed by	David Solomon
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Four

Goodbye, Iowa is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the seventieth episode overall.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), James Marsters (Spike)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Amber Benson (Tara Maclay), George Hertzberg (Adam), Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates), Bailey Chase (Graham Miller), Jack Stehlin (Dr. Angleman), JB Gaynor (Little Boy), Saverio Guerra (Willy), Emma Caulfield (Anya)

Co-Starring: Amy Powell (Reporter), Andy Marshall (Scientist #1), Paul Leighton (Rough-Looking Demon), Karen Charnell (Shady Lady)

Plot Overview

In the wake of Walsh's murder, cracks begin showing in Riley's worldview. Buffy and the Initiative scramble to find the demon responsible, unaware that the true murderer is the first step in a secret project Walsh herself was brewing up.

Notes

Monster of the Week

Adam makes his presence known to The Initiative and Buffy. When he confronts them, he explains that he's a "kinematically redundant, bio-mechanical demonoid" constructed out of demons, a human and machines. After fighting him, Buffy admits to Willow that he's smart, fast and strong enough that her attacks did nothing to faze him.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Little Boy	Adam	Mutilated	Woods
2	Soldier	Adam	Dropped	Archives Catwalk
3	Dr. Angleman	Adam	Skewered	Archives

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Initiative: According to Dr. Angleman, the soldiers in The Initiative had been eating drugged food for an undetermined amount of time. The drug, presumably some kind of steroid, is strong enough and addictive enough to cause severe withdrawal symptoms in Riley, who goes without the drug during the fallout of Walsh's death.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• International: Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been dubbed into many different languages and the title translated for each different international version. Some international translations of this episode's title are:
  • French: "Stress"
  • Italian: "La fabbrica dei mostri" ("The Factory of Monsters")
  • German: "Die Kampfmaschine" ("The Fight Machine")
  • Spanish: "Adiós, Iowa" ("Goodbye, Iowa")

Goofs

• In the previous episode Spike received a hole in the back of his shirt from the tracer bullet, but picking up where this episode left off, the hole has completely disappeared.

• Angleman slips in Walsh's blood and finds his hands covered in it. However, it is clear that his hands do not actually encounter the pool of blood when he hits the floor.

• After Buffy gives Riley her bandanna from her hair, it reappears in her hair in one following shot.

Quotes

• Spike: (commenting to Buffy on her relationship with Riley) Got to hand it to you, Goldilocks. You do have bleedin' tragic taste in men. I got a cousin, married to a regurgitating Frolopse demon's got better instincts than you.

• Willow: Buffy, it's not your fault. How could you know?

Giles: She's right. You mustn't blame yourself.

Buffy: I'm not going to. I'm going to the crime scene to see what I can find out. You guys research the Polgara demon. I want to know where it is. When I find it, I am going to make him pay for taking that kid's life. I'll make him die in ways he can't even imagine.

(dramatic music score dies out; everyone just looks at her for a beat, unmoved by her passionate speech before Buffy notices their looks and glances down)

Buffy: That probably would have sounded more commanding if I wasn't wearing my yummy sushi pyjamas.