touched

“Touched”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 20
Guest stars	Anthony Stewart Head    (Giles) Eliza Dushku    (Faith) D.B. Woodside    (Principal Wood) Iyari Limon    (Kennedy) Nathan Fillion    (Caleb) Sarah Hagan    (Amanda) Tom Lenk    (Andrew) Harry Groener    (Richard Wilkins III)
Written by	Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Directed by	David Solomon
Production no.	7ABB21
Original airdate	May 6 2003
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Empty Places" "End of Days"
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"Touched" is the 20th episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Plot synopsis

Summary

A depressed Buffy is comforted by Spike; the Scoobies capture and interrogate a Bringer; Faith and the potentials discover an element of the First's plan and launch a pre-emptive strike; Buffy then brawls with Caleb to find a powerful weapon Caleb didn't want her to find.

Expanded overview

With Buffy gone, the rest of the gang sit around and debate how they're going to deal now that they don't have Buffy making decisions for them. In the midst of their debating and arguing, the power goes out and Faith concludes the power company has left town and taken the power with them. Meanwhile, Buffy watches as people load up their cars and plan to escape the city, then breaks into a house in search of a place to stay. The owner is still there, but Buffy quietly convinces him it's a smart idea to leave town because nothing in Sunnydale belongs to any of them anymore.

Andrew talks incessantly to Spike while the vampire impatiently waits for the sun to go down again. Worried about Buffy, Spike temporarily gets Andrew to shut up and they continue to wait. Down in the Summers basement, Faith and the others talk about their plan and their enemies. Kennedy pushes for a say in decisions, but Faith steps up and makes it very clear that now that Buffy's gone, she's the leader they all voted for and they all need to accept that. Faith decides they should go after the Bringers to attempt to gain information about the First or Caleb from one of them. Kennedy walks alone down an alley until a Bringer steps out of the shadows and tries to attack her. The Bringer is ambushed by the rest of the Scooby gang and taken as a captive. Back at the house, they find that the Bringer is without a tongue. Dawn suggests a spell she heard about that would allow them to communicate with the Bringer.

Andrew and Spike return and when Spike asks about where Buffy is and when she will return, Willow tries to explain with an embellished version of what happened the previous night. Spike is not convinced that Buffy would "take a time off" during an Apocalypse and realizes that the others turned their back on Buffy by kicking her out. Furious over their betrayal, he snaps at them for being ungrateful, saying that Buffy died three times "saving their asses". However, Faith is not impressed by him until they start to fight each other. Spike yells at her for being jealous off Buffy because she had the life Faith never had. Spike breaks off the fight and steps outside. He catches Buffy's scent and start to look for her.

In the basement, Willow uses a spell to get the Bringer to talk while Kennedy, Giles, Xander and Andrew sit around waiting. Andrew begins to talk whilst the group wonders if the spell worked, but they soon realize that he's speaking for the Bringer. Andrew explains that the Bringers are everywhere preparing for battle, taunting them with words until Giles hears enough and slashes the throat of the Bringer, breaking his spell on Andrew, who feels unnerved by the whole experience.

Spike finds Buffy curled up in a bed at the house she broke into, noticing that Sunnydale is now truly evil, explaining that he didn't need an invitation. He tells her about the vineyard and what they found. She was right, but Buffy doesn't seem to care anymore and is ready to give up. Spike tries to convince her that she shouldn't listen to what they said, reminding her of everything that ever happened, but she never gave up.

Giles and Faith look over a map as they plan to begin a search through the sewers for the Bringer's hideout. As Giles leaves, the First in the Mayor's form appears to Faith. She knows what he is and isn't fazed, but he prods anyway, praising her for kicking Buffy out and warning that Buffy is a dangerous threat. Buffy breaks down from exhaustion and Spike tries to explain to her that she's needed still by the others.

She talks about how she detached herself from the Potentials and how detaching herself from people is something she's done for as long as she's been the Slayer.

Meanwhile, Spike still tries to convince Buffy and finally starts to talk about his feelings. He says he has always thought to be sure of what he was doing, being a vampire and kill people. That was until he met her. He says he has never been sure of anything in the world but her. By saying that he loves the way she is, saying she's the one, Spike professes his true love for Buffy. He then starts to leave, but Buffy is so touched by him that she asks him to stay and just hold her. Robin interrupts Faith's chat with the First and they start to talk about the First's visits with both of them and the effect it had. The two rant to each other about their problems and failures, then Faith takes things in a different direction and they kiss and tumble onto the bed.

Willow returns to her room to find Kennedy waiting for her and all of the other Potentials gone from the room. They kiss, but Willow breaks it up, worried that if they let things go too far, something bad may happen. Kennedy convinces her that everything will be okay and she'll protect Willow, then the two get back to kissing. This is unusual for the series, which primarily shows only Buffy and occasionally Xander having sex with their respective partners. It's "special" that this time Buffy is the only one of the Scoobies not having sex. Buffy and Spike continue to hold each other while at the house, Anya and Xander, Faith and Robin, Willow and Kennedy all have sex. The First talks about the gang and the knowledge that they're all taking comfort in each others' arms. Caleb talks to it about how he has its strength inside of him and the First's need to feel. Later, Faith gives out her orders to the gang, sending some to watch over Buffy and others to help her investigate the sewers. Spike wakes up to find Buffy gone and a note left in her absence.

At the vineyard, the First talks with Caleb about their progress, but the First is impatient, worried that Buffy may get her hands on what they have. A Bringer is tossed down the stairs of the cellar and the real Buffy stands at the top, asking for whatever it is Caleb has of hers. Buffy goads Caleb into attacking her, but instead of taking a beating, she keeps her distance and avoids his blows. In the sewers, Faith and the girls find the Bringer's lair and the Bringers that live there. Meanwhile, as the battle with Caleb dies down, Buffy spots a trap door in the floor and dives through it. The girls battle with the Bringers, eventually disposing of all of them. After the fight ends, Kennedy finds a stairway that leads to an area below the sewers. Buffy finds a scythe embedded in a rock while Faith finds a locked metal box. Faith breaks open the box only to find a bomb inside, ticking away with a few seconds to go as she tells everyone to take cover.

Acting

Main Cast

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins
• Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers
• James Marsters as Spike
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenburg

Recurring Role

• Eliza Dushku as Faith Lehane
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
• Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells
• Iyari Limon as Kennedy
• D.B. Woodside as Principal Robin Wood
• Sarah Hagan as Amanda
• Harry Groener as Richard Wilkins

Guest Stars

• Nathan Fillion as Caleb
• Felicia Day as Vi

Quotes and trivia

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer#Touched

Faith: "I'm your leader. Which means I go first, and I make the rules, and the rest of you follow after me. Is that clear?" — Faith mirrors Buffy's leadership style in "Get It Done."

Spike: "That diabolical old torture device, the comfy chair." — reference to "Monty Python"

• This episode was filmed after "End of Days," even though it aired beforehand, so that Eliza Dushku could film her pilot for Tru Calling.

• The sex scene between Willow and Kennedy is the first lesbian sex scene ever on network TV.

Production details

Music

• Heather Nova - "It's Only Love"

Translations

• German title: "Die Quelle der Macht" ("The Source of Power")
• Italian title: On TV "Toccata dal Male" ("Touched by Evil") or, on DVD, "Commossa" ("Moved")
• French title: "Contre-attaque" ("Counter-attack")
• Spanish title: "Tocado" ("Touched")

Continuity

Arc significance

• Buffy regains her will to fight and finds the weapon that in the end will bring victory. Faith accepts her role as a leader after leading the Potentials to disaster.

• We get back to a place of trust and intimacy between Buffy and Spike, enough so that Buffy requests he spend the night holding her.

• The relationships of Buffy and Spike, Faith and Wood, Willow and Kennedy, and Xander and Anya all get a boost in bed. Though she does not know it yet, Wood will help Faith outgrow her fear of attachment.

Timing

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

External links

• "Touched" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Touched" at TV.com
• BBC episode guide to "Touched"

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