Doppelgangland

"Doppelgangland"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Vampire Willow (from "The Wish") captures Willow
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 16
Directed by	Joss Whedon
Written by	Joss Whedon
Production code	3ABB16
Original air date	February 23, 1999 (1999-02-23)
Guest stars
Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce Emma Caulfield as Anya Ethan Erickson as Percy West Eliza Dushku as Faith Lehane Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder Jason Hall as Devon MacLeish Michael Nagy as Alfonse Andy Umberger as D'Hoffryn Megan Gray as Sandy Norma Michaels as Older Woman Corey Michael Blake as Waiter Jennifer Nicole as Body-Double Willow
Episode chronology
← Previous "Consequences" Next → "Enemies"
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"Doppelgangland" is the 16th episode season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It revisits the alternate reality created in episode 9, "The Wish", in which Buffy Summers never arrived in Sunnydale and vampires ruled the city. When Anya attempts a spell to regain her powers, it pulls the alternate universe's Willow—an evil vampire—into the current world.

Plot synopsis

Anya unsuccessfully entreats D'Hoffryn to restore her demonic powers.

Principal Snyder browbeats Willow into tutoring basketball star Percy West. At Giles's request, Willow hacks into Mayor Wilkins's files; when Faith finds out, she alerts him of the intrusion. Wilkins presents Faith with a fully furnished apartment and then tells her he plans to have Willow killed.

Percy makes it clear that his idea of "tutoring" is that Willow should do his homework. Frustrated and unhappy, Willow then quarrels with Buffy and Xander and storms away. Willow assists Anya with a spell, but their conjuration goes awry, summoning the vampiric Willow from "The Wish" rather than retrieving the magic amulet Anya sought. Neither Anya nor Willow realizes the consequences of their spell.

Vampire Willow goes to the Bronze, where she fights with Percy and shows her vampire face to Xander and Buffy. Two vampires sent by the Mayor attack her, but she turns them to her side. Buffy and Xander tell Giles that Willow has been killed and turned vampiric, but the genuine Willow arrives to demonstrate their error.

Angel and Anya drop in to the Bronze. Vampire Willow and her new minions arrive and capture the crowd. Angel escapes to find Buffy. Anya recognizes what has happened, offers to restore Vampire Willow to her own world in return for help in retrieving her amulet, and suggests capturing the other Willow to assist in the spell. Angel, Buffy and Xander head for the Bronze, but Willow, turning back to get the tranquilizer gun, is captured by her doppelganger. Willow shoots the vampire and goes to rejoin her friends. They lock the unconscious vampire in the library cage, and Willow changes clothes with her. They return to the Bronze.

Cordelia arrives at the library and releases Vampire Willow, who immediately attacks her, but Wesley intervenes and drives the vampire away. At the Bronze, although Anya exposes Willow's disguise, Buffy defeats the other vampires, then captures the returning doppelganger. Anya returns vampiric Willow to her own timeline, where she is immediately killed.

The next day, Percy, thoroughly intimidated by Willow's doppelganger, shows up for tutoring with all his work completed.

Arc significance

• First appearance of D'Hoffryn, the leader of the vengeance demons.
• It is hinted for the first time that Willow might become a lesbian in the future, one of several hints in the first three seasons that either Willow or Xander would later become gay; Joss Whedon had not yet decided which.
• Buffy stops herself from staking Vampire Willow after Willow shouts for her not to, with about as much time as Faith had in "Bad Girls" between hearing Buffy's warning and staking Deputy Mayor Allen Finch, which may suggest that Buffy's reactions are sharper, but it may also mean that Buffy has more self-control than Faith or that Faith is less willing to listen to advice or direction from others.
• Willow and Anya meet for the first time, and cast a spell together. Their mutual dislike will endure throughout the series.
• As in "The Wish", Vampire Willow repeatedly uses the phrase "Bored now." It will be uttered once by the living Willow, immediately before she kills Warren in "Villains" (season 6).
• Sandy, whom Vampire Willow bites at the Bronze, returns as a vampire in "Shadow" (season 5), flirting with Riley in a demon bar.

References

External links

• "Doppelgangland" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Doppelgangland" at TV.com
• "Doppelgangland" at the BBC
• "Doppelgangland" at BuffyGuide.com