Entropy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Last updated
"Entropy"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 18
Directed by James A. Contner
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Production code6ABB18
Original air dateApril 30, 2002 (2002-04-30)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Normal Again"
Next 
"Seeing Red"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6
List of episodes

"Entropy" is the 18th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . The episode aired on April 30, 2002 on UPN. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot

The Trio, riding ATVs, pursue two vampires through a cemetery; one of them throws a tree branch at Andrew, causing him to fall off and the others to crash. The vampires encounter Buffy and they fight. One vampire drops the mysterious disk that the Trio were after; Warren snatches it and the Trio escapes, unseen by the Slayer. As Buffy fights, Spike seizes one of the vampires and offers to stake him, provided that Buffy agrees to tell the Scooby Gang about their sex life. Buffy stakes both vampires without Spike's help and dares him to spill the beans himself; since her friends have forgiven her attempt to kill them a little dalliance is unlikely to make them hate her.

The next day, Willow waits for Tara outside of her classroom and the two talk and plan a coffee date. Buffy and Dawn stroll downtown, but there are very few stores where Dawn can show her face: she has confessed to shoplifting at most of them. They chat about all of the things Dawn stole and how they are working to remedy the whole problem.

Jonathan works on a project involving the disk they stole as Warren watches over, eager for it to be complete. While Jonathan finishes his work alone, Warren and Andrew Wells talk about their inability to trust Jonathan and how soon they will not need him anymore.

That evening, Xander comes home from work and finds Anya at his apartment waiting for him, having hid behind the bushes as he left the building the previous day. Xander tries to apologize for walking away from their wedding. There is a glimmer of hope for them until Xander says he wanted to stop the wedding before it happened. Taken aback, Anya asks Xander what he meant by that remark and asks if he still wants to marry her. Xander admits to loving her dearly and wanting to be back with her, but he is still too afraid of himself to marry her. With her back turned to Xander, she reveals her vengeance demon face and angrily begins to wish him physical harm – but nothing happens. Anya morphs back into her human face and, upset that her powers did not work, she leaves while a confused Xander looks on. The next day, Anya has coffee with Halfrek and the two demons talk about Anya's attempts at vengeance. Halfrek reminds Anya that she cannot grant her own wishes and must get someone else to wish Xander harm.

At the Summers house, Buffy makes pancakes for Dawn. Dawn realizes she is trying too hard to make up for what happened when she was crazy, and eventually Buffy catches on to that reality as well. Dawn proposes the idea of joining Buffy on patrol so the two can spend some time together, but Buffy is not interested.

On their coffee date, Willow fills Tara in on all of the supernatural activities that Tara has missed over the past months. Anya interrupts them and tries to maneuver them into wishing harm to Xander. She does the same with Dawn at the Magic Box and with Buffy at home; but no one takes the bait. Xander shows up at Buffy's house and Anya leaves in a huff. Buffy talks him out of following Anya and he takes his aggressions out by kicking a lawn gnome on Buffy's front lawn. When Buffy does not recognize the decoration as something she put there, Xander examines it and finds that it contains a small camera. They guess that it was placed by Spike, who has more than once been caught watching the house in the past. Buffy confronts Spike at his crypt with the mini-camera she found. Spike denies planting the mini-camera, and he further insists that he would never do anything like that to hurt Buffy, because he believes that the love between them is real. Buffy denies being in love with Spike, which hurts him.

At the Magic Box, Anya complains to Halfrek that all the women she knows still love Xander too much to wish him harm, despite what he did to her. Halfrek tells Anya that she needs to find someone who hates Xander to make the wish – and at that moment Spike appears, seeking something to ease his pain. Anya remembers that Giles left something appropriate: a partial bottle of Evan Williams bourbon. After Halfrek leaves, Anya and Spike drink the whiskey and complain to each other about their respective relationship problems. Spike reiterates how he despises Xander, but Anya cannot get him to make a wish. Spike also tells Anya that he likes her forthrightness.

At Buffy's house, Willow uses her computer to try to trace the camera's signal. Given that it was not Spike, they correctly assume that the Trio are behind it. Jonathan completes his work with the disk, and uses it to highlight a spot on a map of Sunnydale. The Trio are delighted, until the map catches fire. This distracts them from a red light, flashing to announce that their network has been penetrated as Willow finds more camera feeds: the Trio are watching her classrooms, the Bronze, Xander's and Buffy's workplaces.

Spike and Anya seek comfort in each other's arms. Anya feels guilty about what happened with Xander and Spike consoles her, which leads to them having sex on a table, where Willow stumbles upon the Magic Box feed. After Andrew belatedly sees the intrusion alarm, Warren directs him to shut down the surveillance network, but they are captivated by the action on the Magic Box camera. Willow fails to keep Buffy, Xander and Dawn from seeing the feed, which enrages Xander. As a stunned Buffy sits in the back yard, Dawn follows her and they begin to talk about Buffy's affair with Spike. Their bonding moment is cut short as Willow informs them both that Xander has left with an axe.

After Spike and Anya awkwardly get dressed, Spike leaves the shop where Xander attacks him. Xander is about to stake Spike when Anya comes outside, trying to stop him; she distracts him long enough for Buffy to knock him out of the way. Xander argues with Anya, disgusted that she slept with Spike, who quietly remarks that he was good enough for Buffy. Xander tells Spike to leave Buffy out of it – then he and Anya see Buffy's startled face and connect the dots. This is too much for Xander; he drops the stake and walks away stunned. Buffy also walks off, angry at Spike for revealing their secret. Spike finally starts to make a wish, but Anya stops him, realizing that she caused too much damage.

Willow is sitting in her bedroom when Tara appears, saying that repairing their love will be a long process – which she would rather skip. They kiss.

Reception

In 2023, Rolling Stone , raked this episode as #135 out of the 144 episodes in honor of 20th anniversary of the show ending. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anya Jenkins</span> Character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Anyanka Christina Emmanuella "Anya" Jenkins is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also appears in the comic book series based on the television show. Portrayed by Emma Caulfield, the character appears as a recurring star in the third and fourth seasons of the show before becoming a series regular in the show's fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons. The character made her last television appearance in 2003, appearing in the series finale of the show that aired on May 20, 2003.

"Tabula Rasa" is the eighth episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on November 13, 2001 on UPN. It explores the characters not as they are, but as they could be, after they lose their memory to a spell gone awry.

"Lessons" is the first episode of the seventh season of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on UPN on September 24, 2002. Dawn finds vengeful spirits in the new Sunnydale High while Giles is rehabilitating Willow in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halfrek</span> Fictional character

Halfrek or Hallie is a recurring fictional character on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She appears as a vengeance demon in seasons 6 and 7, and has previously appeared as Cecily in season 5. She is played by actress Kali Rocha.

"Dead Things" is the 13th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It originally appeared on February 5, 2002. The episode was directed by James A. Contner and written by Steven S. DeKnight.

"Seeing Red" is the 19th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on May 7, 2002, on UPN. In North America, this episode was somehow syndicated onto UPN affiliates a week early by accident. Although none of them broadcast the episode by mistake, the episode was leaked onto the internet more than a week before it was slated to air. The episode was also noted for its drastic and controversial content, being the only episode of the series to air at an alternate time on the Canadian family network YTV.

"Hell's Bells" is the 16th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on March 5, 2002 on UPN.

"Grave" is the sixth-season finale of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on May 21, 2002, on UPN. This episode is the second highest rated Buffy episode ever to air in the United Kingdom. Sky One aired the episode, which reached 1.22 million viewers on its original airing.

"Conversations with Dead People" is the seventh episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on November 12, 2002 on UPN. It is the only episode other than "Once More, with Feeling" where the title appears on screen.

"Two to Go" is the 21st episode of season 6 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on May 21, 2002 on UPN. The name of the episode is a reference to the previous one, which ends with Willow saying "One down" after killing Warren. Despite having died, Tara Maclay remains in brief scenes that are part of the opening credits.

"Real Me" is episode 2 of season 5 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on The WB on October 3, 2000.

"Villains" is the 20th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on May 14, 2002 on UPN.

"The Weight of the World" is episode 21 of season 5 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on May 15, 2001 on The WB.

"After Life" is the third episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the 103rd episode of the series. It was written by Jane Espenson and directed by David Solomon, and aired on October 9, 2001 on UPN.

"Life Serial" is the fifth episode in the 6th season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on October 23, 2001 on UPN. The episode was praised for its innovation and surreal humour.

"All the Way" is the sixth episode of season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on October 30, 2001 on UPN.

"Wrecked" is the 10th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on November 27, 2001, on UPN.

"Bargaining" is the two-part season premiere of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, consisting of the first and second episodes. They are also the 101st and 102nd episodes of the show overall. The two constituent episodes were both aired on October 2, 2001 on UPN. The episodes were written by Marti Noxon and David Fury and directed by David Grossman.

<i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> season 6 2001-2002 season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The sixth season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on October 2, 2001, with a two-hour premiere on UPN and concluded its 22-episode season with a two-hour finale on May 21, 2002. It maintained its previous timeslot, airing Tuesdays at 8:00 pm ET. This season marked the series' network change from The WB to UPN.

<i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> season 7 2002-2003 season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on September 24, 2002 on UPN and concluded its 22-episode run on May 20, 2003. It maintained its previous timeslot, airing Tuesdays at 8:00 pm ET.

References

  1. Dellamonica, Alyx (2013-10-07). "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Rewatch: I'm lonely and drunk and you smell really good…". Tor.com. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  2. "Buffy / Angel: "Entropy"/"A New World"". The A.V. Club. 2011-03-25. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  3. Francis, Jack (20 May 2023). "'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 May 2023.