The Initiative

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"The Initiative" is the seventh episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[edit] Plot synopsis

[edit] Summary

Spike is imprisoned in an underground demon-research facility; Riley realizes he has a crush on Buffy.

[edit] Expanded overview

Riley and a couple of friends, Forest and Graham, watch Buffy as she manages to make a mess of the soda machine and yogurt machine. They comment on what a catch she is, and how interested they all are, but Riley is reluctant to make fun.

Giles and Xander discover the commando guys are human and that their help will not be needed, again. Buffy arrives and while Giles tells her to patrol, she says she's going to party with Willow and hopefully cheer her up.

Spike, having been knocked out by a Taser at the beginning of the previous episode, wakes up in a facility where various types of demons are held captive behind electrically charged barriers. A packet of blood drops from the ceiling into Spike's cell but before he drinks it, a vampire in the next cell - Tom, captured in "The Freshman" - warns him that doctors starve the vampires and then feed them drugged blood before doing experiments on them.

In class, Willow asks about Oz but Riley says he dropped out. After Willow tries to tell him that Oz will return, Professor Walsh informs her that he won't be back to her class, whereupon Willow abruptly leaves, saddened. Buffy approaches the professor, and tells her off, prompting Walsh to comment to Riley that she likes her.

Forrest asks Parker about Buffy, and when Parker vulgarly brags about having sex with her, Riley punches him. Riley then realizes he likes Buffy. He visits Willow and asks her advice in wooing Buffy; Willow, still emotionally distressed, questions his motives, but eventually relents, listing some of Buffy's likes and interests.

Spike lies on the floor of his cell, pretending to have drunk the drugged blood, and when the doctors come to get him he attacks. He escapes the Initiative and returns to Harmony's lair, telling her he's "back for good" - then immediately leaves to kill the Slayer. Xander later discovers Harmony crying, burning some of Spike's things. The two get into an inept slap-fight, and then mutually agree to stop. Harmony lets Xander know that Spike is back.

At the party, Willow tries to help Riley flirt with Buffy, but his attempts are thwarted when Xander arrives to inform Buffy that Spike has returned. Riley is also called away; he and Forest break away from the party and, after passing through several electronic checkpoints, go down a hidden elevator to the underground facility where Spike had been held. The operation's head, Professor Walsh, informs them that "Hostile 17" (Spike) has escaped, and the guys suit up. Riley gives orders to three teams that he sends out all over Sunnydale to find Spike.

Riley's team spot Buffy sitting on a bench. Riley says she won't be their bait and goes out to get rid of her. Each unaware of the other's secret identity, Riley and Buffy try to send each other out of harm's way.

Meanwhile, Spike has found Buffy's dorm through the school computer system. Willow is moping in her room and when there is a knock on the door Willow invites the person in without thinking. Spike swaggers through the door attempts to bite Willow, but when he does he is stopped by an intense pain in his head. Willow hits him with a lamp and runs out just as Riley and friends cut the power and then work their way up to the dorm room. They capture Spike but, while they consider whether to take Willow or not, Spike breaks free. Buffy arrives and fights Riley and his friends while Spike manages to escape through a window. Unable to make out the identity of their attacker, Riley orders them to retreat.

Professor Walsh is not happy with what happened or with Riley's report on the event. It is revealed that Spike cannot harm a human without feeling pain in his head thanks to an implant they placed there. Riley catches up with Buffy and they talk. Buffy tells him he's a little peculiar, which he says he can live with.

[edit] Acting

[edit] Starring

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
• James Marsters as Spike
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

[edit] Guest starring

• Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
• Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
• Adam Kaufman as Parker Abrams
• Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
• Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
• and Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh

[edit] Co-starring

• Mace Lombard as Tom
• Scott Becker as Lost Freshman

[edit] Production details

The vast Initiative set, revealed for the first time in this episode, was filmed at Skunk Works, a complex where Stealth bombers are built. Writer Doug Petrie, when describing the set, said he was told by Whedon to "go big. Use your imagination. Do it, go there. This is a big budget movie."^[1]

In the commentary for this episode, Douglas Petrie reveals that when Spike attacks Willow in her dorm room and the scene immediately cuts to commercial after a fleeting glimpse of the corridor outside - filled with people who fail to hear Willow's screams - he wanted viewers to believe that Willow had actually been killed.

Actress Mercedes McNab says the hair-pulling, shin-kicking fight with Xander was "actually one of my favorite on-screen fights." When asked if she had a stunt double, she responded "No, it was all me", but "we wore knee pads and shin guards... which was kind of ridiculous seeing it was just such a cheesy fight."^[2]

[edit] Music

• Deadstar - "Lights Go Down"
• Four Star Mary - "Fate" (this song was also played in "Inca Mummy Girl", the first appearance of "Dingoes Ate My Baby")
• Jake Lee Rau - "Welcome"
• Moby - "Bodyrock"
• that dog. - "Never Say Never"

[edit] Quotes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer#The Initiative

Forrest: Oh... check her out. Is she hot, or is she hot?

Riley: She's Buffy.

Forrest: Buffy? I like that. That girl's so hot, she's buffy.

Willow: Okay. Let's say I help. And you start a conversation. It goes great. You like Buffy. She likes you. You spend time together. Feelings grow deeper, and one day without even realizing it, you find you're in love. Time stops and it feels like the whole world's made for you two and you two alone until the day one of you leaves the other and rips the still-beating heart from the other who's now a broken, hollow mockery of the human condition.

Riley: Yep. That's the plan.

[edit] Translations

• Italian title: "Le pattuglie della notte" ("The night patrols")
• German title: "Die Initiative" ("The Initiative")
• French title: "Intrigues en Sous-Sol" ("Intrigue in the Basement")
• Spanish title: "La Iniciativa" ("The Initiative")

[edit] Continuity

[edit] Arc significance

• The existence of the Initiative is established. We now know who the mysterious commandos are and apparently they do experiments on demons and vampires. Throughout the show in previous seasons, Buffy has explored the powers of magic fighting demons, now in this season we will see the power of science fighting them.

• The theme of Giles' feeling useless appears again. He's lost his footing this season, since he's not an official Watcher anymore and Buffy no longer defers to his authority. Several times in this episode, we see this happen when he tells Xander they won't be able to help Buffy again and when she tells him that she's patrolling on her own.

• This episode marks the first of many references to Spike as a neutered animal, or an impotent man, now that he has the Initiative-installed inhibitor chip in his brain. Willow tries to comfort Spike after he tries unsuccessfully to bite her, telling him they could "try again in half an hour."

• This episode marks the second time that Willow sits next to a distraught Spike on a bed and tries to comfort him; the first time is when Spike returns to Sunnydale in Season 3 and kidnaps her to perform a love spell. He threatens and menaces her, but then sits next to her and they discuss the pain of his breakup.

• With this episode, James Marsters (Spike) replaces Seth Green (Oz) in the opening credits.

[edit] Timing

• Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

[edit] External links

• "The Initiative" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Initiative" at TV.com

[edit] Reviews

• Soulful Spike Society analysis of The Initiative
• Peripheral Visions Review
• Section 31 Review
• Swing the Sickle Review

[edit] References