Episode 16: Doppelgangland

Before reading this, be forwarned that Sarah wrote this and she will be trying her hardest not to fangirl over Willow too much. Though she will probably fail at this attempt because Willow is just too hot awesome.

Season Three, Episode Sixteen

"Doppelgangland"



“For a thousand years I wielded the powers of the wish […] I was feared and worshiped across the globe. And now I’m stuck at Sunnydale high: mortal, a child... And I’m flunking math”

Now let's all give Anya a nice warm welcome as she comes back in this episode! As you all probably remember, Anyanka is the vegence demon that threw everyone into an alternate reality as per Cordelia's wish. Now we see the aftermath of her post-demon life as a mortal human and student at Sunnydale. If The Wish is any indication, we're in for a really good episode. 

We leave Anya to see Willow spinning a pencil in the air; she tells Buffy it’s all about emotional control. Buffy begins talking about how she wants to do better than Faith in different tests that Wesley is conducting with them and then starts talking about how she could have been Faith. Willow disagrees and Buffy apologizes for discussing her since it bothers Willow. She however tells Buffy that she’s okay hearing about Faith, but her pencil gives her away by spinning out of control.

Next scene we see Willow in Snyder's office with Percy, some random jock student. Snyder tells them that they're the perfect couple and Willow adorably guesses that he's asking them to do:

"You want us to breed?"

Snyder explains himself saying that Willow has to "give back" and tutor Percy so that way the football team has a chance, especially after what happened to the swim team last year. This whole arrangement is so ridiculous; he basically threatened Willow into tutoring. She’s ranting to Buffy about how stupid it is and how he assumes everyone’s time is his. Not even a second later, Giles tells her to do something and she willingly hops to it.  

After Willow's moment of adorableness, Faith comes back and tells Buffy “it’s just like fun, only boring." She then wishes Buffy luck and touches her shoulder before she leaves for her tests. I still ship them hard.

Faith watches while Willow attempts to hack the Mayor’s files. This isn't good since Faith is now teamed with the Mayor now, which the Scoobies have no idea about. And speaking of the good ol' Mayor, he gives Faith an amazing apartment! They both have an adorable relationship. Some of the special features for this season have the writers talking about how awesome they were and it really is true. They have amazing chemistry and they act as a shadow to Giles and Buffy's relationship. They each have great connections, one just for good while the other isn't.

As much as I would love to talk about their relationship some more, Oz enters the screen and demands my attention.

I require everyone's attention because I am so amazing

He tells Willow that he just had a show in another city and Willow says she might have wanted to go to which he responds he didn’t take her as one who would want to miss school and she becomes concerned that he thinks she’s boring. Willow has a sad.

Without pausing, another punch comes Willow's way. She finds Percy and tells him that they should work on his history paper during lunch and he's a dick to her.

“I don’t have any time at lunch, I gotta hang out”

He tells her to do it herself and leaves the conversation. Willow gets mad and decides to eat her banana, lunch time be damned! She's so adorable 

Buffy and Xander interrupt Willow's banana eating she won't be doing that much longer. Buffy calls Willow old reliable and she takes it personally. Xander doesn’t help at all by having no idea what the hell he’s talking about.

Willow:  No, it's fine. I'm 'Old Reliable'. Xander:  She just means, you know, the geyser. You're like a geyser of fun that goes off at regular intervals. Willow:  (disgustedly) That's Old Faithful. Xander:  Isn't that the dog that, that the guy had to shoot...Willow:  (incensed) That's Old Yeller. Buffy:  Xander, I beg you not to help me.

Willow gets upset and leaves. Buffy tries to stop her but Willow tells her “[she's] storming off. It doesn’t really work if you[Buffy] come with me." Not long after leaving her friends, she runs into Anya and she asks for help with a project since Willow is “reliable old dog geyser person." However, Willow's mood changes when she learns that it's a spell Anya needs help with! She begins helping her but ends up seeing Anya’s last wish while doing the spell and refuses to help her again when it fails the first time. She tells her to “look inside the sofa in hell” for her necklace. Anya tells her "[she] can't do it by [herself]" and Willow retorts by saying "that's a relief." in frustration, Anya breaks the plate they were using and someone ends up coming into the picture:

ZOMG it's vamp!Willow (VW); now it's time for some sexy Willow awesomeness fun!

VW runs into Percy and he tells her to go home and do his homework. She then utters her famous line “bored now” and tosses him. Xander sees Percy and VW and assumes Willow needs help, then she starts touching him innapropriately. Enter Buffy asking is Xander:

“Are you going to introduce me to your—holy god, you’re Willow”

I love Buffy’s reaction! She tries to stop Willow from leaving and then learns that she’s a vampire. Everyone has a sad.

VW runs into two vampires that were sent by the Mayor to kill human!Willow and VW breaks their fingers until they say that they work for her. This is when shit gets real.

Buffy and Xander go to Giles and he joins in on their group sad.

Giles: "She was truly the finest of all of us" Xander: "Way better than me" Giles: "Much, much better"

For the next scene, we're going to read the transcript because everything is amazing:

Willow:  Jeez, who died?She notices just how deeply sad they really are and realizes she may have gotten it right.
Willow:  (almost panicked) Oh, God! Who died?Xander jumps up and gets in Willow's face with the cross.
Xander:  Back! Get back, demon!She doesn't cower from it, but instead shows deep concern for him, thinking maybe he's flipped out or something. Xander shakes the cross as though it were broken and puts it back in her face. Buffy and Giles notice that she's not frightened of the cross, and slowly approach.
Buffy:  (breathlessly) Willow, you're alive?Willow:  (puzzled) Aren't I usually?Without any further hesitation, Buffy runs the two steps to her best friend and hugs her hard and close.
Buffy:  Oh!Willow is surprised, and lets out a little groan from the tightness of the embrace. An instant later Xander is also hugging her for all he's worth.
Willow:  (wonderingly) I love you guys, too?The hug goes on for a long moment before it gets too intense for Willow.
Willow:  Okay. Oxygen becoming an issue.They both let go, smiling at her with tears in their eyes. She smiles back, but still doesn't know what to make of it all.
Willow:  Giles, what's going on with these...Before she can finish she finds herself being warmly embraced again by the normally reserved Watcher.
Willow:  Oh!Again she groans from the tightness of the hug, and Giles quickly releases her, a bit embarrassed at his emotional display.
Giles:  Oh. Sorry. (backs away)
Willow:  (still wondering) It's really nice that you guys missed me. (wide-eyed) Say, you all didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs, did ya?Xander:  (breathless) Will, we saw you at the Bronze. A vampire.Willow:  (startled, then insulted) I'm not a vampire.Buffy:  You are. (gets a look from Willow) I-I mean, you, you were. (very confused) Giles, planning on jumping in with an explanation any time soon?Giles:  (very unsure) Well, uh... something... something, um, very strange is happening.Xander:  (facetiously) Can you believe the Watcher's Council let this guy go?

While hilarity is ensuing here, it also is ensuing back at the Bronze! Anya isn't able to get a beer even after telling the bartender (a.k.a. ID guy) that she's 1120 years old.) Honestly, Anya, probably not the best way to ask for a beer...

Angel and Oz are talking and vampires come in and say that if everyone listens no one will get hurt. Angel asks“why don’t I believe him?” and Oz, awesomely, responds by saying “well he lacks credibility."

However the funniness starts to fade when Oz sees Willow and has a sad; Anya, however begins enjoying her life again. Anya informs VW that this isn’t her world and she doesn’t belong here. But she lets VW know that she can get there again.

Back in the library, everyone is still weirded out by VW:

Buffy:  It was exactly you, Will, every detail. Except for your not being a dominatrix. (uneasily) As far as we know.Willow:  (rolls her eyes, grins sardonically) Oh, right. Me and Oz play 'Mistress of Pain' every night.Xander:  Did anyone else just go to a scary visual place?

Angel makes his way from the Bronze and tells the Scoobies the bad news about Willow only to see Willow and become confused. They all decide to go to stop VW at the Bronze and Willow tells everyone to go ahead and she'll follow. It always works out amazingly when Willow leaves the rest of the scoobies. One of them, probably Buffy, should have waited for her. But no, they leave and VW comes and grabs Willow. VW comes onto and licks Willow while human!Willow asks if that means they “have to snuggle.” I seriously love her so freaking much.

VW hits Willow and she flies over the counter and grabs the sleepy gun. She shoots VW and, after getting shot, VW says “Bitch” and I giggle.

The Scoobies come back and lock VW up and Willow is weirded out and says “I’m so evil and skanky and I think I’m kinda gay.” Buffy then tells her “just remember a vampire’s personality has nothing to do with who a person was” and Angel says “well, actually..." until he sees Buffy's face and ends by saying "no she’s right…”  

I love Buffy’s plan because Willow gets to continue looking hot and acting adorably. In VW's outfit, Willow looks down and says "gosh, look at those" (Favorite Line) and I die laughing and not at all staring.

Willow starts off pretending to be VW amazingly by saying in a cheery voice “hi I’m back” and waving. They ask where Willow is and she tells them “[she] killed her and sucked her blood as we vampires do.” She continues on by waving to Oz, god I love her! 

The next part is awesome though. She tells them why she killed Willow by saying “she bothered me. She’s so weak and accommodating. She lets people walk all over her and then gets cranky with her friends for no reason. I just couldn’t let her live.” Willow tells everyone as VW exactly what she dislikes about herself and it's brilliantly done.

Back in the library, Cordelia comes in and sees VW locked in a cage. VW asks to be let out but, being Cordelia, she instead decides to take the opportunity to lecture her about cheating with Xander.

Cordelia: Able to piss off humans and vampires alike

After lecturing, she unlocks VW and then learns that she’s a vampire. She screams and Wesley saves her and then he screams in terror when Cordelia taps him on the shoulder.

Look how brave I am!

At the Bronze Anya suspects that Willow isn't actually VW and Willow protests saying “[she's] a blood sucking fiend, look at [her] outfit." They don't buy it so she asks “could a human do this *screams*”

Yeah, a human could do that

Enter Buffy being a badass and Willow hits Anya and hurts her hand (which would totally be me, by the way.) Willow then sees VW and says “no more snuggles?” (Second Favorite Line.) Buffy goes to stake VW but Willow says no and instead Buffy captures her. VW says that this world isn’t any fun and Willow answers by saying you noticed that too? D’awwww

They decide to send her back to her reality because Willow, and Buffy, can’t stake her. Willow is adorable “good luck, try not to kill people *hugs*…..HANDS, HANDS!” lol

VW goes back and gets killed. Poor girl...

After this whole ordeal, Willow decides that she needs to never do anything bad ever because she “see[s] where the path of vice leads. She messed up everything she touched, I never wanna be like that.” Keep this thought in mind for the next few seasons...

The next minute Percy comes and gives Willow two papers, one on each President Rosevelt, bibliography, and offers to change whatever she wants and hands her an apple.

She then decides that she can go out with Buffy later.

-Sarah

Kali's Notes:
- This episode is one of the ones both written and directed by Joss Whedon so you know it’ll be good, especially the dialogue. I feel like I could quote the whole episode!

- I like that they decided to bring Anya back. Since we are just being introduced to her now I won’t go into detail, but I always felt like Anya was underrated and didn’t get much character development until the end.

- SEE! Call back to the florist reference! Remember it?! I get so excited when writers do this!

- Favorite line from Willow (Of course): “Aren’t you sort of naturally buff, Buff?” Ha! I think the best part is how she snort-laughs at her own joke, like so many of us nerds do.

- Shouldn’t Willow not be practicing magic in a very public place? Just sayin’.

- I like how Willow is the one that says, “Some people just don’t have that in them” referring to killing people. THIS MAY BE SIGNIFICANT. We also see how Willow is intrigued by the idea of using magic as a form of rebellion from being her normal reliable self. I feel like this is a little part of the reason she focuses so much on learning magic and becoming a powerful witch.

- I LOVE the Faith/Mayor relationship. He genuinely cares for her and she finally has someone to give her the approval that she so desperately desires. Too bad he’s evil and is asking her to do evil thinks.

- Willow: “Did you try looking in the sofa in HELL?” Lolz.

- After the trio hug, I absolutely love how Giles hugs Willow too! I think Giles really likes Willow because she is the smartest of the bunch so he enjoys her company the most.

- I seem to forget about Willow and Anya in this episode. Anya lies to Willow in order to get her to help with a spell and Willow ends up punching her later on. This is part of the reason their relationship struggles in the future.