Doppelgangland

"Doppelgangland" is episode 16 of season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot synopsis

Summary

Episode 16 of season 3 revisits the alternate reality from 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.

Expanded overview

In a local crypt, Anya, who is now a mere human being, begs the demon D'Hoffryn, her former boss whom she has summoned, to create a temporal fold in time and allow her to go back and retrieve her amulet. The demon denies her request, and Anya vows to get the amulet back with or without his help. At school, Willow practices floating a pencil while Buffy does sit-ups in preparation for Slayer testing. When Buffy mentions Faith, Willow loses her emotional control and the pencil goes flying into a tree.

Principal Snyder tells Willow that she is going to be tutoring one of the basketball team stars, Percy West, in History. Later at the library, Giles asks Willow to re-attempt breaking into the Mayor's files. Faith and Wesley come in after training on the obstacle field; Wesley is a bit tired. Faith finds out about Willow searching through the Mayor's files and informs him of it. The Mayor presents Faith with a brand new, fully-furnished apartment and then tells her that he plans to have some vampires kill Willow and make it look like a random attack so she is out of the way and unable to access his computer.

Back at school, Oz meets up with Willow and informs her about a gig his band had the other night that she didn't know about. When Willow confronts Percy about tutoring him, he gives his own interpretation of events: that she is to do his work for him. Buffy and Xander pick the wrong moment to ask Willow if she recorded "Biography" for them the other night. Willow, offended at being labeled "Old Reliable," storms away, threatening to do something irresponsible — change her look, cut class, or eat a snack between meals.

Anya finds Willow and asks her to help her with a spell, which she does. The spell involves chicken feet and the ritual pouring of sand over the representation of the object desired. The two perform the spell in an empty classroom, and as it's working, several scary images from "The Wish" flash before their eyes. Shocked, Willow moves, accidentally spilling some of the ritual sand on herself. With the spell over, and apparently unsuccessful, Willow is still very frightened by what she saw and refuses to try the spell again. In an abandoned warehouse the vampire Willow from "The Wish" universe appears instead of the amulet.

Vampire Willow walks through Sunnydale and is very confused by this world where humans freely walk the streets at night. She enters the Bronze. Percy finds her and orders her to finish his paper; Vamp Willow attacks him. Xander breaks up the fight and Vamp Willow recognizes him from her world, only to be disappointed that he is "alive" (not a vampire). Buffy is surprised by Willow's new leather look, and even more surprised when Willow snarls at her with vampire face.

Later that night, Vamp Willow is attacked by two of the Mayor's vampires who mistake her for the human Willow. She easily defeats them and "persuades" them to work for her. Buffy and Xander return to the library and tell Giles that Willow is dead. The three sit commiserating until the real Willow shows up. Xander tries to chase her away with a cross, and Willow merely looks puzzled; recognizing that this Willow at least is not a vampire, her friends simultaneously enfold her in a crushing embrace. Willow is dismayed to learn that there is a vampire walking around town looking exactly like her. When the gang turns to Giles for an explanation, his only response is "something...something very strange is happening." Xander in turn expresses his amazement that the Watcher Council let him go.

Meanwhile, back at the Bronze, Anya tries to get a beer at the bar, with the bartender asking for her ID. Clearly not having one she settles for a Coke. Angel shows up looking for Buffy. Vamp Willow and her new minions appear, taking control of the Bronze. Angel leaves to get Buffy and Oz watches as Evil Willow kills a girl. Anya, recognizing what has happened, approaches Vamp Willow with the idea of restoring her to her own world (and Anya's amulet to herself).

Angel goes to the library and announces that Willow is dead, before noticing Live Willow standing there. They all head for the Bronze, but Willow turns back to get something and is caught by the Vamp Willow. The two banter back and forth before finally Willow shoots her evil double with the dart gun (first seen in "Phases") and locks her up in the library cage. At Buffy's suggestion, Willow swaps clothes with her sleeping double. Uncomfortable in the leather attire (partly because it is tight enough to constrict her breathing), Willow does her best to pose as the Vamp Willow while the rest of the Scooby Gang waits outside the Bronze.

Cordelia arrives at the library, dressed up to impress Wesley, and finds Vamp Willow – wearing Willow's fuzzy pink sweater – locked in the cage. Before releasing Willow, Cordelia takes the opportunity to lecture her on the ethics of stealing boyfriends. Bored out of her mind, Evil Willow apologizes to get Cordelia to shut up, and Cordelia lets her out. Evil Willow shows her vampire face and pursues Cordelia, cornering her in a restroom. Wesley, hearing Cordelia scream, intervenes and forces Evil Willow to depart. Cordelia hugs him and asks what he's doing that night.

After Willow's not-so-convincing act at the Bronze, Anya points out to the other vampires that their leader is a fake. Willow screams – a prearranged signal for Buffy, Angel and Giles to enter. As they fight the vampires, Willow retreats to the stage with Oz. Evil Willow then returns, throws Oz out of the way and starts choking Willow. Buffy breaks it up, but Willow shouts for her not to stake Vamp Willow (just as Buffy had shouted, too late, to stop Faith from staking Allen Finch). Despite fully knowing what her evil doppelganger is and does, Willow cannot bear to have her staked. She convinces the others to send her back, arguing that Evil Willow should have the chance to survive in her own world, a suggestion which the homesick doppelganger accepts. With Anya's help they do so; Evil Willow is transported back to the middle of the brawl shown at the end of "The Wish". She has just enough time to smile at being returned to her reality before Oz grabs her and shoves her against a protruding piece of wood from the humans' cage. Evil Willow has just enough time to snarl "Oh fu-" before she turns to dust.

The next day, Buffy asks Willow if she'd like to go out that night, but she can't because of all the homework she has. Percy shows up, and before Willow can apologize for not doing his work, he presents her with papers on both Presidents Roosevelt- he wasn't sure which one the report was supposed to be on, and he didn't feel like risking Willow's wrath again. Because of this side effect of Percy's encounter with Willow's vampire double, her schedule is freed up.

Writing and acting

• Joss liked the character of Vamp Willow when she was first introduced in "The Wish" so much that he wrote this episode specifically for her.

• The episode's humor stems mainly from mistaken identity, and Anya certainly helps. Alyson Hannigan is given the chance to explore different aspects of Willow's personality in various situations. She has to portray not only both good and evil versions of Willow, but each of them pretending to be the other.

Starring

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg/Vampire Willow
• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
• David Boreanaz as Angel
• Seth Green as Oz
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

• 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

Co-starring

• 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

Production details

Music

• Christophe Beck - "Alternate Willow"
• K's Choice - "Virgin state of mind". - Features on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album.
• Spectator Pump - "Priced 2 move"

Quotes and trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2007)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Buffy the Vampire Slayer#Doppelgangland

• The episode's title is taken from the term "Doppelgänger", a German word for a look-alike or double of a living person, and "gangland", a term associated with organized crime. The form "Doppelgangland" is actually not correct German: "The land of the Doppelgängers" would be Doppelgängerland (note "-er-" inserted), while "the land with doubled gangs" would be Doppelgangland (no umlaut over the "a"). It should be noted, however, that the title is a pun combining German and English words. It can be read as "The land of evil doubles." The title was changed to "Doppelgängerland" in the German DVD edition. In English Doppelgangerland with the 'er' loses the gangland pun and doesn't make any sense.

• Sandy, the girl whom Vampire Willow bites in the Bronze, will appear again as a vampire in the Season Five episodes "Family" and "Shadow", where she will meet her end.

• In the episode "The Replacement", Xander makes a reference to Willow not knowing what it's like to have an evil twin, prompting Willow to reference the events of this episode.

• Vampire Willow foreshadows two later developments in Willow's character:

Willow: It's horrible. That's me as a vampire? I mean, I'm so evil, and skanky, and I think I'm kind of gay.

Buffy: Willow, just remember, a vampire's personality has nothing to do with the person it was.

Angel: Well, actually-- [Buffy glares at him.] --that's a good point.

• Willow will acquire a female lover in Season Four. (Jane Espenson said in an interview with the BBC, however, that at the time of "Doppelgangland", "Joss didn’t know that was going to pay off later, that the Willow character in fact was gay.") It is worth noting that, in the Season Six episode, "Tabula Rasa", after observing two or three details about herself, an amnesiatic Willow repeats the season 3 line "...and I think I'm kind of gay".

• Secondly, when Willow herself turns "dark" at the end of Season Six, she displays Vampire Willow's capacity for cruelty, as well as her deadpan mannerisms and the catchphrase "Bored now."

• The partial retention of personality traits from human to vampire is further explored in later seasons, in Spike's interactions with his mother (shown in flashbacks) and with Buffy.

• Andy Umberger, the actor portraying D'Hoffryn, is one of only five actors to appear in three of Joss Whedon's shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly.

• Xander (Nicholas Brendon) references John Wayne: "So we go out and attack in the style of John Wayne?"

Continuity

Arc significance

• This episode marks the first appearance of D'Hoffryn, Anya's boss when she is/was a demon.

• This episode has the first reference to Willow potentially being gay (though that may have been unintentional; see trivia section).

• 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 shows Buffy's reactions are sharper.
  • This may also mean that Buffy has more self-control than Faith did.

• This episode (the one in which they meet) marks the beginning of Willow's and Anya's mutual dislike, which will become a love/hate relationship until the show's end. It is also the first time they cast a spell together.

• Mentioned in the episode "The Wish" as well, vampire Willow repeatedly uses the phrase "bored now." This phrase re-occurs when Willow becomes the big bad in Season 6 right before she kills Warren in the forest, indicating that the evil-ness Willow has reached at this point is the same as that of a soul-less vampire.

Translations

• Italian title: "Il mondo parallelo" ("The parallel World")
• German title: "Doppelgängerland" The German title follows the correct spelling of "Doppelgänger" (see quotes and triva section for more information)
• French title: "Les deux visages" ("The Two Faces")
• Japanese title: "ウィローのドッペルゲンガー" ("Wirō no Dopperugengā" - "Willow's Doppelgänger")
• Spanish title: "Doble personalidad" ("Double personality")

External links

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

Episode guides

• BBC episode guide to "Doppelgangland"
• BuffyGuide.com episode guide to "Doppelgangland"

Reviews

• Peripheral Visions Review
• Swing the Sickle Review

Other

• Buffy Body Count synopsis of "Doppelgangland"