Crush (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Crush"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 14
Directed by	Dan Attias
Written by	David Fury
Production code	5ABB14
Original air date	February 13, 2001
Guest stars
Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall Charlie Weber as Ben Amber Benson as Tara Maclay Juliet Landau as Drusilla Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers Frederick Dawson as Porter Greg Wayne as Student Joseph DiGiandomenico as Matt Walt Borchert as Jeff Asher Glaser as Boy In Bronze Jennifer Bergman as Girl In Bronze Nell Shanahan as Waitress
Episode chronology
← Previous "Blood Ties" Next → "I Was Made to Love You"
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"Crush" is the 14th episode of season 5 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dawn has a crush on Spike, who reveals his crush on Buffy when he takes her on a stakeout date. When his advances are turned down, Spike kidnaps Buffy and Drusilla, who has returned to Sunnydale. He tries to force an admission of love from Buffy. Harmony appears as well and breaks up with Spike.

Plot synopsis

The Bronze re-opens under new management, and Buffy watches as her friends dance. Spike shows up and tries to carry on a conversation with an uninterested Buffy, only to be forced away by Xander. Willow reveals that she is suffering from headaches and nosebleeds as a result of her teleportation spell. Buffy spots Ben and offers her thanks to him for looking after Dawn. A train pulls into Sunnydale, but the porter goes on board to find all the passengers dead before he too is attacked.

Buffy returns home, and Giles suggests that Dawn be treated normally. Harmony tries to get Spike sexually aroused and suggests a game where she pretends to be Buffy. Buffy reads about the train murders, but concludes that it's a vampire and not Glory. Buffy searches for Dawn and finds her with Spike, listening to one of his scary stories. Dawn reveals her crush on Spike but really shocks her sister when she says that Spike has a crush on Buffy.

Buffy and Xander investigate the train, and Buffy confesses the possibility of Spike loving her, though Xander doesn't take it seriously and is even amused by this. Buffy finds her mother and sister talking in the kitchen with Spike; Joyce subsequently explains that Spike arrived to apologize for the situation with Dawn. Spike tells Buffy that he believes he knows where the vamps from the train are.

Staking out in front of a warehouse, Buffy is unnerved by some of Spike's behavior, such as offering her bourbon, asking her what kind of music she likes, and the fact that he is doing this for free. Buffy and Spike attack the vampires, but they immediately run off at the sight of the Slayer. Buffy realizes that the warehouse is a vampire nest, and thus they couldn't have been involved in the train massacre. When Spike goes so far as to unwittingly hold the door open for her, Buffy finally demands to know why he is acting like this, demanding to know if everything that just happened was just Spike's version of a date. At first, Spike loudly and amusedly denies it, but then asks, in a hopeful manner, "Do you want it to be?" Buffy is disgusted. Despite Spike's pleas and confessions, Buffy refuses to listen to him and denies that there is something between them, insisting that Spike is still a dangerous villain and, being soulless, is incapable of such emotion. Having completely and brutally rejected Spike, Buffy departs the warehouse in horror and disgust. Despondently returning to his crypt, Spike is greeted by his longtime love, Drusilla.

Drusilla tells him of the events in Los Angeles and tries to convince him to return with her. She's already aware of the chip in his head and tries to convince him he can be evil, even with the chip. Harmony arrives and yells at Drusilla for hurting Spike. Spike throws Harmony out of the way, announcing that not only is Drusilla back - he's back. Joyce and Willow talk to Buffy about the problem with Spike and tell her she has to make it clear to Spike that there is nothing between them. Buffy agrees, but tells Willow to do "something" for her while she is out...

Spike and Drusilla dance at the Bronze before Dru spots a couple on the catwalk for them to feed on. She snaps the neck of the girl, offering her to Spike before taking the guy for herself. Spike hesitates, but soon vamps and bites. Buffy discovers the extension of Spike's lair underground and a shrine dedicated to herself. As she returns to the surface, Buffy finds Spike and Drusilla waiting for her. Spike watches Drusilla shock Buffy with a cattle prod. After the Slayer collapses, Drusilla turns to Spike, only to be shocked herself as he seizes the cattle prod and uses it on her.

Buffy awakens to find herself chained up in the underground space below Spike's crypt, Drusilla tied to a pole across from her. Spike poetically describes his 120-year romance with Drusilla—prompting an appreciative sigh from her—but also professes his love for Buffy and offers to kill Drusilla to convince Buffy of his love. He threatens that if Buffy does not return his love, he'll untie Drusilla and let her kill Buffy. Spike asks for only a small sign that Buffy could love him. Buffy rejects Spike again, and he goes into a rage about women being so difficult. Harmony arrives and shoots Spike with a crossbow bolt. While Harmony and Spike fight, Drusilla breaks free and goes after Buffy while the Slayer is still chained up. Spike grabs Drusilla, and unchains Buffy. Realizing that the Spike she once loved is gone forever, Drusilla leaves Sunnydale heartbroken.

Harmony leaves Spike, telling him it's completely over between the two of them. The minute she leaves, Buffy physically attacks Spike and storms off. Spike follows her and desperately attempts to get her to talk to him, but Buffy makes it very clear that he is no longer a part of her life, and he is to stay away from her and her family and friends from now on. Undaunted, Spike tries to follow her into her house, only to find that she has had his invitation revoked. As he recovers from the surprise, Buffy merely glares at him with disdain and closes the door in his face.

Production details

Writing

David Fury, asked to do an episode that took the Buffy/Spike relationship to the next level, decided that it was time for the audience to discover that Spike was in love with Buffy. He says, "...and it then progressed into Buffy finding out, which was something we were saving for later. It turned out to be a good play because we were able to take them to interesting places throughout the rest of the season." According to Fury, the resurrection of Spike and Drusilla's relationship "was really significant in terms of what love means to Spike."^[1]

Cultural references

• While waiting in front of the vampire lair, Spike sings the chorus of "I Wanna Be Sedated".
• Xander refers to Spike as "Evil Dead".
• Willow and Tara discuss The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with Tara coming to the conclusion that "you know it's not going to be a happy ending when the main guy's all bumpy", a reference to several relationships throughout the series. Tara also says Quasimodo had no moral compass and was selfishly motivated by love for a woman who couldn't love him back, a clear reference to Spike's demonic nature and unrequited love for Buffy.

Continuity

• In Spike's lair, he tells Buffy that he loves her. Drusilla begins to laugh and then says "I knew. I knew before you did that you loved the Slayer." Which was shown in the episode "Fool for Love" as Spike recounts how he killed the two slayers to Buffy.
• After Buffy finds out how Spike feels she asks "Are you out of your mind?" calling back to the episode "Out of My Mind" when Spike first becomes conscious of his feelings for her.
• This episode marks the final "in person" appearance of Drusilla in the Buffyverse as all her future appearances are either in the forms of illusions or flashbacks.
• This episode marks the final appearance of Harmony on the series; however, she will later appear as a recurring character and finally a regular cast member in the Angel series, becoming Angel's secretary at Wolfram & Hart.

Arc significance

• Crossover with Angel: Drusilla's arrival in Sunnydale follows the events of "Redefinition". Harmony is next seen in "Disharmony".
• Spike's feelings toward Buffy become known to Buffy and the Scoobies at large.
• Spike's dis-invitation lasts only a few episodes: Buffy re-invites him at the end of the season. She never removes the invitation for him again, not even following his attempted rape.
• Buffy says she wants Spike "out of [her] life" in this episode, and uses the same line later in "Wrecked". Both times the rejection is very short; this time it lasts almost four episodes, before (at the end of "Intervention") Buffy learns that Spike is capable of great personal sacrifice on her behalf. Soon after she seeks out his help protecting Dawn ("Spiral").

References

1. ^ BBC Interview with David Fury, http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/fury/page6.shtml, retrieved 2007-07-20 

External links

• "Crush" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Crush" at TV.com
• "Crush" at BuffyGuide.com