Synopsis of Beneath You
Written by Brandee Mode
A young woman with pink hair runs along the rooftop of a nightclub. She is being chased by two hooded figures. She climbs down to the ground and enters the building, only to be pushed back into an empty entryway by two figures in hooded robes. She tries to fight them but is quickly defeated when they stab her. Before she dies, she says "from beneath you it devours."
Dawn wakes Buffy from a nightmare. Apparently Buffy dreamt about the girl with pink hair. Buffy wakes up and mutters "from beneath you it devours" and she tells Dawn that other girls are going to die.
We get a view of a street somewhere in the city. Something underground causes the ground to shake. Then we get the opening credits.
Spike appears to be stalking a rat while muttering about how "it's not time yet" and that "no manners is the problem". The ground begins to shake and Spike grabs his head while screaming in pain.
Xander is driving Dawn and Buffy to school. Dawn is excited that Buffy will be there with her but at the same time, orders Buffy not to actually make contact with her. Buffy is worried about the job. They comment briefly on whether it's time for Xander to start dating again. Dawn tells them they both need to stop dating. Buffy reminds her that she had a "smooch-a-thon" with a vampire last Halloween.
At the school, Principal Wood thinks the students will seek Buffy out because she is "the least stuffy member of the faculty". He warns her not to make friends with the students because they will "eat you alive" and this reminds Buffy of Principal Flutie. After Principal Wood leaves, Buffy decides to look around. She heads to the basement in search of Spike.
In England, Willow sits on a suitcase, in a doorway. Giles approaches and tells her the taxi has arrived. Willow doesn't want to go, she is afraid she will "screw up again". Apparently Giles is sending her back to Sunnydale a little sooner than originally planned because Willow can sense something is big is coming and she says she is worried that she will become "all veiny and homicidal" again. Giles thinks she is really worried that her friends won't accept her back. He tells her that even is she is not wanted, she will be needed.
A woman named Nancy is walking her dog when the dog disappears through a hole in the sidewalk. Then *something* bursts up through the sidewalk (we don't see what it is) but Nancy is able to run away screaming. And she runs into Xander, literally.
The next thing we see is Nancy sitting on the sofa at Buffy's house, explaining to Xander, Buffy and Dawn was happened. Nancy tells them the only warning she had was rumbling, which causes Buffy to mutter, "from beneath you it devours". Dawn asks if they should "round up the gang" to which Xander points out that they are all the gang they've got. Buff starts to form a plan when Spike appears in the doorway, telling them "what you need is help. Fortunately you've got me."
[I was disappointed to realize that Spike's hair is once again fully blonde.]
Nancy asks who Spike is and Xander explains that he is Buffy's "ex". Spike says he doesn't want to be there, around people who don't like him, but he needs to talk to Buffy. Xander and Dawn get angry that Buffy didn't tell them she saw Spike earlier. Spike and Buffy move from the living room and she tells him not to apologize. He says that's not why he's there. He came because something big is coming. Buffy admits he's right. Back in the living room, Buffy tells Xander to drive Nancy home. Nancy asked Xander if his girlfriend is always this commanding and Xander hurries to explain that Buffy is not his girlfriend. Buffy says she and Spike will check out where the dog disappeared. Xander reminds her that Spike tried to rape her and Buffy reminds him that Spike failed. Buffy heads out the door, but before Spike can leave, Dawn stops him to ask if he sleeps. When he says yes, Dawn points out that she can't beat him in a physical confrontation. But Dawn promises that since he does sleep, if he hurts Buffy again, he will wake up on fire.
DAWN: "You sleep right? You... vampires, you sleep?
SPIKE: "Yeah, what's your point?"
DAWN: "Well, I can't take you in a fight or anything. Even with a chip in your head. But you do sleep. If you hurt my sister at all, touch her... you're going to wake up on fire."
As they arrive at the hole in the sidewalk, Buffy asks Spike what happened to him. Spike says those "ghostly types" from the basement got in his head and made him "flat out bug shagging crazy". He admits they were stronger than him; making him hear things, do things. Spike hands the flashlight to her and they brush hands when she takes it, causing her to have a flashback to the attempted rape. Spike understands why she is nervous. He says that he can't say he's sorry or ask for forgiveness but he can say that he's changed. Buffy agrees, but changed into what? Buffy thinks Spike is hiding something from her.
SPIKE: "You're right, there is. But we're not best friends anymore, so too bad for me, I'm not sharing. We've been through things, end of the world and back. I can be useful, 'cause honestly I've got nothing better to do. Make use of me if you want."
Then Spike points out that the "beastie" they are looking for is gone and then walks off. Buffy sighs.
As they arrive at Nancy's apartment, she asks Xander if she can call him sometime. He tells her yes and then the ground starts to rumble. They run and a giant worm-like monster burst up through the floor but it leaves without actually attacking them. Xander realizes that it's attacked her twice and thinks that is not a coincidence. We learn that Nancy has an ex-boyfriend named Ronnie who kept bothering her. Xander wonders if he could have summoned the giant worm but Nancy says he is more of an "abusive bastard". They briefly discuss the problems of having an ex-lover.
NANCY: "Do you ever get so tired of feeling helpless that all you can do is just wish that it would stop?"
At Nancy's use of the word *wish* Xander realizes what might have happened. The scene switches to show Anya sitting with a woman at the Bronze. The woman asks Anya if she wants to know what she wishes... Commercial.
Xander, Nancy, Buffy and Spike arrive. Anya complains that they are interrupting her work. At Xander's questioning, Anya admits that she turned Ronnie into the giant worm monster. Buffy informs Anya that worm-Ronnie ate Nancy's dog, to which Anya shows concern. Xander gets angry at that, he thinks Anya should be more concerned with what she is doing to people's lives. Somehow the group ends up explaining the relationships between Xander, Anya, Spike and Buffy. Which prompts a disgusted Nancy to ask if there is any of them that haven't slept together. Spike and Xander look at each other. Anya admits that Nancy only wished he were a worm, and Anya embellished a little. Xander tells her to un-embellish, to which Anya replies...
ANYA: "Bite me Harris. I have rules to work with."
Anya starts on a tirade and tells them they couldn't understand because they are all so... "human". Spike steps forward and points out that he is not human. As he starts talking, Anya just stares at him, realizing there is something different about him. She asks him how he did it over and over. Spike quickly becomes agitated, telling her to be quiet. But Anya doesn't stop asking and doesn't let go of his arm. Spike gets desperate, and hits her to make her stop talking. Anya falls to the floor. Nancy is freaked out and leaves. Spike goes to hit her again, but Anya kicks him across the room. Spike and Anya each change into their demon face and prepare to fight but Buffy intervenes, claiming that Spike hasn't changed. She hits him and he hits back once, but after that refuses to defend himself. Spike taunts her about it being the first time they've touched since "you know when". Xander interrupts Buffy from beating Spike to say they should go after Nancy because she is "worm bait" out there alone. Buffy tells Xander to stay and get Anya to reverse the spell while she goes after Nancy.
Nancy walks along a sidewalk, talking to herself about how she needs to get away from the freaks. The ground starts to rumble again and she climbs up a ladder to the roof of a building. The building starts to shake.
Back at the Bronze, Xander is trying to get Anya to reverse the spell. She doesn't want to because she is in trouble with D'Hoffryn already. Xander makes a comment about her "nice friends" and Anya replies that she HAD nice friends until he left her at the altar.
XANDER: "Sooner or later, Anya, that excuse just stops working."
Buffy swings by on a rope and grabs Nancy on her way past. [no idea where that came from]. Buffy and Nancy land on the ground and a minute later worn-Ronnie bursts through the ground. Spike arrives and begins to beat worm-Ronnie with a pipe. Spike is right in the middle of charging at him with the piper, like a spear when Ronnie returns to human form. Spike is unable to stop himself in time and spears Ronnie through the shoulder. Spike grabs his head in pain and looks up on confusion, then shock as he realizes what happened. Spike immediately says he's sorry and pulls the pipe out of Ronnie's shoulder.
Ronnie and Spike both go into shock. Spike yells out "help me" and Buffy tells Spike that he is not the one who needs help. Buffy covers the Ronnie with a blanket that just happened to be there and uses her cell phone to call 911. Spike paces and mumbles to himself. Buffy tells him to take it somewhere else. Spike suddenly turns away from Buffy, as if talking to someone who isn't there, or perhaps something we can't see (?) and yells
SPIKE: "What the hell are you screaming about? I can hear you. There's no need to shout!!"
Spike kneels on the other side of Ronnie. He tells Buffy that "this is just the beginning" and says some other stuff that doesn't make any sense. Then he points to the ground and says "from beneath you it devours." Then Spike gets up and runs away.
Xander and Anya arrive right after that. Nancy blames Anya for "this" and leaves. Buffy tells Xander to look after Ronnie and she leaves to look for Spike. Xander tells Anya she was brave to reverse the spell and it when she is unsure if it was the right decision, he tells her it could be worse. She says it will be (worse).
Buffy enters a church. She finds Spike shirtless, hiding in the shadows. He tosses aside his shirt, saying the costume didn't work. She tells him she doesn't want any more mind games and he tells her he has "no more mind'. She reaches for the scars on his chest and asks what happened to him. He pulls away and tells her not to touch him. Then he starts to unbutton his pants, mumbling about the "girl needs serviced" but she makes him stop. He mumbles that "the girl doesn't want to be serviced because there's no spark." She tells him she's listening and he admits he went looking for the spark. Spike moves back to the shadows and says he dreamed of killing her. Buffy gets nervous and picks up a piece of wooden furniture.
SPIKE: "Angel, he should have warned me. He makes a good show forgetting, but it's here, in me. All the time, the spark. I wanted to give you what you deserve and I got it. The put the park in me and now all it does is burn."
Buffy's eyes get wider as she realizes he got his soul back.
SPIKE: "It's what you wanted right? And now everybody's in here. Talking. Everything I did. Everyone I... and him... and it... the other... the thing. Beneath you. It's here too. Everybody, they all just tell me go, to hell."
Buffy asks why he did this.
SPIKE: "Why does a man do what he mustn't? To be hers. To be the kind of man who would never..." He notices the large cross at the front of the church and begins walking toward it. "And she shall look on him with forgiveness. And everybody will forgive and love. And he will be loved."
Spike leans fully against the cross and puts his arms around it. Smoke starts to rise. "Can we rest now? Buffy, can we rest?"
Buffy gets tears in her eyes as the TV fades to black.
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