Gone (Buffy episode)

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Gone
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Episode no. Season 6
Episode 11
Written by David Fury
Directed by David Fury
Guest stars Danny Strong
   (Jonathan)
Adam Busch
   (Warren)
Tom Lenk
   (Andrew)
Daniel Hagen
   (Frank)
Susan Ruttan
   (Kroeger)
Production no. 6ABB11
Original airdate January 8, 2002
Episode chronology
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"Wrecked" "Doublemeat Palace"
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"Gone" is the 11th episode of season 6 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

[edit] Summary

A social services worker threatens to take Dawn from Buffy; the Trio accidentally makes Buffy invisible.

[edit] Expanded overview

Buffy feels life getting on top of her with Willow calming down after an incident involving Dawn, a car and Willow high on the magicks (so much so that her eyes are almost permanently big and black). Dawn is ignoring Buffy too. The reason for that is because Buffy wasn't around (having sex with Spike) and is only talking to Xander. The social worker comes round to check on how Buffy's doing (at the worst possible time). The living room is scattered with Willow's old spell ingredients and objects. Buffy digs herself into a deep hole by saying "It's magic weed." Spike, in the daytime but using a blanket to cover him, comes for what is his... his lighter. He leaves, calling Buffy Goldilocks.

In a state of depression, Buffy cuts most of her own hair off, which cuts to her asking the hairdresser to sort out the mess. As for the trio, they're just outside, about to make themselves invisible. However, Andrew and Jonathan fight over who is going to use it first and activates the gun (the thing that is going to make them invisible) and a beam hits Buffy, making her waver and vanish (along with a dumpster, traffic cone and fire hydrant).

Anya and Xander are talking about their upcoming wedding at the Magic Box. The door opens but no-one enters. Or do they? Buffy's voice comes out of nowhere, along with picking up two magical circular items and making them look like eyes. Buffy continues her invisible adventures in Sunnydale. "I'm the ghost of fashion victims past," she moans to a civilian, who is wearing a studded cap (which would have been fashionable in the 1980s but not in the 1990/2000s.) She then drives off with a parking inspector's van.

Buffy drives to the workplace of the social worker who had made that morning's inspection to the Summers' home. Using her invisibility to its full advantage, she tricks the social worker into behaving in a bizarre manner and replaces the Summers' report with pages consisting entirely of repetitions of "All work and no play makes Doris a dull girl", an allusion to The Shining. The woman's supervisor believes she is having a mental break with reality and sends her home, saying that he would send someone else to inspect the Summers' home the next day.

She then heads to Spike's. Buffy attempts to sexually assault Spike, before he realizes who she is. "I told you stop trying to see me," she finally jokes and then she and Spike go underground for sex. In the meantime, Xander and Anya discover that the invisibility ray was causing the structure of the traffic cone to break down, and realize that the same thing would happen to Buffy if the invisibility wasn't reversed. Xander runs to Spike's crypt in search of Buffy, where he finds Spike in bed, naked and apparently alone, "doing push-ups". Xander has a chat with Spike, wanting to know where Buffy is, and Spike honestly says that he hasn't "seen" her. Throughout the conversation, invisible Buffy gropes and physically teases Spike, causing him to feel pleasure in Xander's presence. Spike tries to act normal, somewhat unsuccessfully. Xander finally leaves, disgusted by Spike's odd behavior, telling Spike that he really needs to get a girlfriend.

Buffy wants to continue their physical activities, but Spike tells her that he is tired of being with her and not really having her. He asks her to leave if she isn't really going to be with him. He is frustrated with her carefree attitude and doesn't appreciate the way she seems to be using the invisibility as an excuse to escape her real life. She protests, but eventually leaves. She doesn't do too well at home when she scares Dawn, who has the same frustrations as Spike, combined with extreme worry for her sister. The bad keeps on coming when she gets the message from Xander and Anya on the answering machine. "Tell her about the pudding" says Anya, referencing the way the invisible traffic cone found by Willow had started to disintegrate into mush. However, before Buffy can head back to the Magic Box, Jonathan phones her up (disguising his voice so Buffy doesn't identify him) and tells her that the trio has kidnapped Willow and tells her to meet them at the arcade.

Buffy does so. However, Jonathan, Andrew, and Warren have also made themselves invisible, and Warren is holding Willow hostage. Warren lies to Buffy, telling her that he is going to reverse the mechanism into making her visible. But Willow points out that he's put it on a setting that is going to kill her. Warren knocks her to the ground and aims the gun at Buffy, telling her that she can't see them. However, Buffy's Slayer training (and possibly her experiences in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" and "Family") provide her with some ability to sense the invisible villains. A scuffle ensues. Warren ends up in the ball-pit, Andrew ends up in the pinball machine and Buffy is holding Jonathan. Willow, who has changed the frequency, aims at Buffy, Jonathan, Andrew and Warren. "So, you're the ones that have banded together and become what? Pains in my ass?" Warren stands firm. "We're your arch-nemesises-ses." After a smoke-bomb goes off and after scuffling to open the door, the trio escape. Buffy and Willow sit on the curb outside and talk. "You've cut your hair," observes Willow.

[edit] Acting

[edit] Main cast

[edit] Recurring role

[edit] Guest stars

  • Susan Rutten as Doris

[edit] Production details

[edit] Music

[edit] Trivia

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar had requested to cut her hair, so the writers made her haircut a plot point of this episode.
  • Buffy is whistling Going Through the Motions, a song from "Once More, With Feeling" as she is leaving the Social Services building.
  • Xander references the episode "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" when questioning Buffy as to how she got invisible.

[edit] Translations

  • Italian title: "Scomparsa" ("Disappeared": female one)
  • German title: "Verschwunden" ("Disappeared")
  • French title: "La femme invisible" ("The Invisible Woman")

[edit] Continuity

[edit] Arc significance

  • Buffy discovers the identities of the Trio.
  • Spike begins to question the nature of his relationship with Buffy, a change that will eventually lead to his quest at the end of the season.

[edit] Timing

  • Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
Location, time
(if known)
Buffyverse chronology: Fall 2001 - December 2001
(non-canon = italic)
L.A., 2001 Buffy/Angel novel: Cursed
L.A., 2001 A3.01 Heartthrob
Sunnydale, 2001 Buffy UPN promos: Scooby Gang talk about Buffy
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.01 Bargaining, Part One
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.02 Bargaining, Part Two
L.A., 2001 A3.02 That Vision Thing
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.03 After Life
L.A., 2001 Angel book: Sanctuary
L.A., 2001 A3.03 That Old Gang of Mine
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.04 Flooded
L.A., 2001 A3.04 Carpe Noctem
Sunnydale, 2001 Buffy comic: Reunion
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.05 Life Serial
L.A., 2001 A3.05 Fredless
Sunnydale, 2001 Buffy graphic novel Willow & Tara: Wilderness
Sunnydale, 2001 Buffy book: Blood and Fog
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.06 All the Way
Sunnydale, 2001 Buffy graphic novel: Note from the Underground
L.A., 2001 A3.06 Billy
L.A., 2001 Angel anthology book:The Longest Night
Sunnydale, L.A., Monster Island, 2001 Buffy/Angel novel: Monster Island
L.A., 2001 Angel book: Endangered Species
L.A., 2001 Angel book: Impressions
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.07 Once More, with Feeling
L.A., 2001 A3.07 Offspring
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.08 Tabula Rasa
L.A., 2001 A3.08 Quickening
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.09 Smashed
L.A., 2001 A3.09 Lullaby
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.10 Wrecked
L.A., 2001 A3.10 Dad
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.11 Gone
L.A., 2001 A3.11 Birthday
Sunnydale, 2001 Buffy graphic novel: Creatures of Habit
Sunnydale, 2001 Buffy graphic novel: Death of Buffy: Withdrawal
Sunnydale, 2001 B6.12 Doublemeat Palace
L.A., 2001 A3.12 Provider

[edit] External links