I Was Made to Love You

Writer: Jane Espenson Director: James A. Contner

Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers, Amber Benson as Tara, Charlie Weber as Ben, Clare Kramer as Glory, Troy T. Blendell as Jinx, Shonda Farr as April, Adam Busch as Warren Meers, Amelinda Embry as Katrina Silvers. Original broadcast date : February 20, 2001 My one-line description: The episode that created a monster. Since then, everyone wants a Spike-Bot, a Faith-Bot, a Vampire Willow Bot, what have you… At the Magic Box, Buffy is letting her frustration over Spike out on a big punching bag. Giles points out that Spike’s feelings aren’t her fault, but she comments that something about her must have turned Spike one. At the thought, she punches harder, and throws in a few kicks. The punching bag begs for a break – and reveals itself to be Xander, wearing a heavily-padded sumo suit. A contrite Buffy helps him lean against the wall, and then continues lamenting her bad luck in attracting men. Xander also thinks she’s not the problem, but Buffy wonders whether she’d keep a guy if she slayed less and laughed more at his jokes. Xander advises that she just be herself, and a grateful Buffy hugs him. A young girl gets out of a cab on a curb somewhere in town. The driver asks if she’ll be OK, and wonders what she’s looking for. “True love”, she answers. At the house, the Summers women are enjoying some quality time as Joyce shows off the dress she plans to wear on a date that evening. Buffy asks about the guy she met, and Joyce fills her in. This reminds her of the impending date, and she nervously asks Buffy what she thinks she should do. However, Buffy refuses to give any advice, since both her former boyfriends left town. Anya and Tara are taking a walk in the park, discussing computers and the Internet. Suddenly, the young girl from the cab walks up to them and asks if they know where Warren is. The two girls tell her they don’t know any Warren, so she thanks them and cheerfully walks up to another person to ask the same question. It’s the Spring Break Party that evening, and Buffy enjoys a dance with Xander. As the song ends, Xander goes to join Anya, and Buffy spots Ben at a punch bowl nearby. She sneaks up near him and leans on a column, acting nonchalant until he notices her. When he finally sees her and calls out her name, she walks over to him; they share some small talk and nervous laughs, and she asks him if he wants to dance. He agrees, and goes look for a place to store his drink. Xander and Anya spot the young girl who’s looking for Warren, and Anya reports that she and Tara saw her earlier. Nearby, a young man nervously tells his girlfriend that they have to leave before “she” sees him. Meanwhile, the girl walks over to the Scoobies and asks them – again – about Warren. After some questioning, she informs them that Warren is her boyfriend, and that he lost her. Spike shows up and tries to make small talk with Buffy, who’s still waiting for Ben to come back. She just glares at the vampire, so he leaves her and settles for watching from afar. Ben comes back and asks if the guy was bothering her; when she answers that he wasn’t, Ben gives her a piece of paper with his phone number, suggesting that they could get coffee sometime. Buffy starts rambling about how him giving her his phone number could end up with him leaving town, but he timidly replies that he’d just like to get to know… coffee… better. Buffy promises to call her. Spike, having spied the interaction between the two, decides to leave, but he runs into the girl looking for Warren. She introduces herself as April, and tells him that she’s looking for her fellow. He teasingly says that she’s found him, and whispers something in her ear. This outrages April, who picks Spike up and throws him through a window, shouting that he is not her boyfriend. As everyone at the party stares, Spike demands to know why she did that. She answers that Warren is her boyfriend; “You know what? My bleeding sympathies to Warren!” replies a bruised Spike before leaving. April declares to the spectators that only Warren can touch her; she turns to go, but Buffy steps in front of her. April asks her if she knows where Warren is, and the Slayer asks her to stop thinking about Warren for a moment. April picks her up and sends her flying across the room, landing on her shoulder. The young girl apologizes for hurting Buffy, and leaves. Later, the Scoobies discuss April, whom they surmise is a robot. They decide to search for Warren the following day, and Buffy goes home to “rescue” Giles, who is babysitting Dawn. Not long after Buffy has gotten home, Joyce comes back from her date, beaming – it’s obvious she’s had a good time. She teases Buffy saying she left her bra in her date’s car; as her horrified daughter runs upstairs, not wanting to hear more, Joyce shouts that she was joking – she actually left it on the dessert cart… It’s three in the morning, and April is going door to door, waking people up and asking if they’ve seen Warren. The next day, Willow informs the gang she found the Warren they’re looking for, a guy from high school. They discuss why he would build a robot, and Tara comments that it’s sad to want a nice, normal person and not to be able to find one. Obviously affected by this, Buffy goes into another room to call Ben. On the other end, Glory morphs back into the male intern just in time to pick up the phone. He and Buffy make arrangements to have coffee the following evening. Meanwhile, Warren is quickly packing while his girlfriend, Katrina, asks what’s going on. He opens the door to show her out, and comes face to face with Buffy. Katrina asks who she is, but Warren tells her to shut up, and she angrily stomps out. Warren asks Buffy if April has hurt anyone; he informs her that April is a robot – news that comes as no surprise. Spike bursts into the Magic Box under a flaming blanket and casually asks what’s going on. The Scoobies stare at him coldly, and Giles tells him that he’s not welcome here. Spike argues that he and Buffy worked together to get rid of Drusilla, but Giles, having had enough, shoves him into a cabinet. “We are not your friends”, he growls. “We are not your way to Buffy. There is no way to Buffy. Clear out of here. And Spike, this thing, get over it. » Seeing he will get no support, Spike leaves under his blanket. Meanwhile, Warren explains to Buffy that he didn’t make a sex toy – he made a girlfriend. Buffy asks if he’s in love with her, and he replies that he isn’t – he met Katrina, and decided to leave April in his dorm room until her batteries ran out. However, he didn’t tell the robot about his plan… In a playground, April runs into an angry Katrina and asks her if she knows Warren (uh oh!). Katrina says Warren is her boyfriend, causing April to grab her and start choking her as she tells Katrina to stop lying. A bit later, Buffy and Warren arrive and find April holding an unconscious Katrina a few centimetres above ground. Warren orders her to give Katrina to Buffy, and as the two humans lay her on a bench, April innocently asks if she’s broken. Then she asks Warren why he left, and he tells her that it’s over – he adds that he loves Buffy (uh oh!).

Somewhere in April’s computer core, a switch goes over to combat mode. April growls. “She growls? You programmed her so she growls?” exclaims an appalled Buffy, before April charges her. Katrina wakes up to witness the fight, and realizes April – Warren’s ex-girlfriend – is a robot. Horrified, she runs away, demanding that Warren stay away from her. He chases after her, trying to explain. Meanwhile, April begins to choke Buffy; but then her batteries finally begin to give, and she grows weak. Buffy and April sit on swings, now reconciled. April doesn’t understand why Warren left her – she can’t even imagine her reason to live without him. Buffy tries to comfort her, telling her Warren was proud of her. As her batteries finally drains, April dies, still optimistic that Warren will return… As Xander repairs a window, he and Buffy chat about April, and Buffy makes a parallel with her own obsession about now having a boyfriend. She decides to call Ben, and leaves a message on his answering machine cancelling their date. At the other end, Glory listens, wondering what Ben is planning against her… Warren receives a visit from Spike, who shoves a box full of pictures of Buffy and other stuff into his arms. He orders Warren to make him a robot, and make her love him. Buffy returns home to find some flowers Joyce’s date sent. Going into the living room, she sees her mother lying limply on the sofa, glassy eyes staring upward. “Mom?” Buffy asks. Then, more concerned : “Mom?”. Then, in a small voice : “Mommy?” Summary by OttsFiveByFive.

Episode Ratings

Mac - “With the exception of the shocking ending, it’s average at best.”

Quotes

(B=Buffy, G=Giles, X=Xander, W=Willow, S=Spike, A=Anya, D=Dawn, T=Tara, J=Joyce, WA=Warren, AP: April, BE: Ben)

B: Spike! Spike wants me – how obscene is that? G: Well, it is very strange, I can’t imagine what he’s thinking. Not that you’re not attractive!

B: I mean, something about me had to make him feel that, right? Something that made him say, “Woof! That’s the one for me.”

B: Oh, puffy Xander. I’m sorry, I got– I guess I got carried away. Are you okay? X: I’m alive. I can tell ’cause of the pain. B: Do you want to sit down? X: I’m not that bendy. I could lean.

B: Comfy? X: Oh, yeah. this leaning – this is the stuff.

B: See, that’s my secret to attracting men. You know, it’s simple, really. You slap ’em around a bit, you torture ’em, you make their lives a living hell, and– sure, the nice guys, they’ll run away, but every now and then you’ll come across a real prince of a guy like Spike who gets off on it.

X: He can come along any minute. B: Yeah, and the minute after that, I can terrify him with my alarming strength and remarkable self-involvement.

B: I could laugh at his jokes. Men like that, right? The joke laughing at?

X: This is the day you choose to hug me?

X: You ever think maybe the reason you haven’t found a great relationship on the Hellmouth is because it’s a Hellmouth?

Guy: What are you looking for in Sunnydale, anyway? AP: True love.

B: I might like it more than the others. Can you spin around again? D: Ooh, I’m not sure. Once more. B: Now could you go the other way? J: You’re messing with me. B: We just wanted to see how many times we could get you to do it. D: Was that five or four-and-a-half?

J: So is anyone gonna talk about my dress? D: I like it. J: You sure? it’s not too Mom-ish? D: Oh. That was why I liked it. B: You’re both crazy. It’s not Mom-ish at all. It’s sexy. It screams, “Randy sex kitten – buy me one drink and I’ll–” Oh, wait, that’s not really good, either. D: Mm-mmm.

J: What time is it? B: 4:23. You have lots of time until 7:00. Vast acres of time in which you could plant crops.

J: He’s a nice, normal guy, okay? B: I think I’ve heard of those.

B: Oh, no – love doctor Buffy is not in. I’m not qualified to give dating advice. I’ve had exactly two boyfriends, and they both left. Really left. Left town left.

D: You’re going to that Spring Break party tonight. Maybe you’ll find someone there. B: Or maybe Brian has a son and Mom and I can go on some unspeakably awkward double dates.

J: What time is it now? B: 4:24.

T: Willow’s good with all that computer stuff, but me not so much. Do you really understand all that? A: Oh, well at first it was confusing. Just the idea of computers was like, “Whoa, I’m 1100 years old.” I had trouble adjusting to the idea of Lutherans. T: I go on-line sometimes, but everyone’s spelling is really bad. It’s depressing.

A: I’m thinking about buying something very expensive. Maybe an antelope.

X: How you doing? Having o’ the fun? B: You know, I am. Dancing with you is way better than trying to hook up with some good-looking guy. X: I think I liked it better when you were kicking me in my puffy groin.

W: A good deed. A: Yes. I’m expecting a big karmic reward any second now.

B: And again with the non-medical clothing. BE: Well, actually, these are orthopedic pants. [pause] Man, that sounded so funny in my head. B: [fake laughs] It’s very, very funny. It’s funny in my head, too.

A: She speaks with a strange evenness and selects her words a shade too precisely. X: Well, some of us like that kind of thing in a girl.

X: Somehow, I don’t think a girl that looks like that is gonna be lonely for too long. W: Definitely not! [Tara looks at her suspiciously] Oh, not me.

S: Oh, dear. If looks could stake.

S: If you want me to leave, you can put your hands on my hot, tight little body and make me.

BE: Was that guy bothering you? Should I offer to get inappropriately violent or something?

B: What’s that? BE: Oh, yeah, my phone number. I was gonna try to subtly work it into the conversation, but it didn’t pan out, and I thought I should try to give it to you before you see me dance.

B: I think you should know that I kind of have this bad history in which, you know, we go get coffee and, well, it all ends with you leaving town, and you just got here and everything… BE: Apparently we’d be risking a tragic chain reaction, but I just really like… coffee. I think coffee might be worth it. And I would like to get to know coffee better.

AP: That would be wrong. You are not my boyfriend!

S: Bloody hell. You threw me through a window! What’s that about? AP: You cannot make those suggestions to me. I have a boyfriend. Warren is my boyfriend. S: You know what? My bleeding sympathies to Warren.

B: Ow! I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve had it with super-strong little women who aren’t me.

T: At least she didn’t do too much damage. X: Are you kidding? Double-glazed glass ain’t cheap. And the jamb needs to be completely repaired. Oh, dear god, I’m the grown-up who sees the world through my job. I’m like my Uncle Dave the plumber, and I must be shunned. W: Okay.

B: This may sound dumb, but I kind of got the impression that she was a– T: Robot. X & everyone: Oh yeah, robot.

W: It’s an unusual name. There’s hardly any, except Warren Beatty, and, you know, President Harding. It’s probably not either of them.

W: I’m not sure this is a code red. Hey, is there a code pink? We need more codes.

B: Tonight, I better go back and rescue Giles. He’s been watching Dawn while my Mom’s out on her date. And I have a feeling there’s only so much he can take. T: Oh, Giles and Dawny? I bet they ended up having a blast. … G: Dear god, Buffy, there’s only so much I can take.

B: What did she make you do? G: Well, we listened to aggressively cheerful music sung by people chosen for their ability to dance. Then we ate cookie dough and talked about boys.

B: If it makes you feel any better, my fun-time-Buffy party night involved watching a robot throw Spike through a window. So, if you want to trade– No, wait… I wouldn’t give that memory up for anything!

B: Unless you want to stay for a while, then you and I could– J: Who wants to hear everything? B: …listen to my mom talk about boys. G: Right. Must go. See you tomorrow.

B: I didn’t even see a good-night kiss. It all looked pretty tame to me. J: I suppose, by your standards, it could seem pretty… Oh, dear. B: What? J: I left my bra in his car. B: Mother! J: I’m joking. B: Good god, that’s horrible. Don’t do that. J: I left it in the restaurant. B: No more! No more! No more! J: On the dessert cart. B: I can’t hear you!

T: She practically had “genuine molded plastic” stamped on her ass. [everyone looks at her, startled] Just trying a little spicy talk.

T: Do you have any books on robots? G: Oh, yes. Dozens. There’s an enormous amount of research we should do before– No, I’m lying. I haven’t got squat. I just like to see Xander squirm. X: Funny. Charming and funny.

X: She’s a sexbot. I mean, what guy doesn’t dream about that? Beautiful girl with no other thought but to please you, willing to do anything. [pause] Too many girls. I miss Oz. He’d get it. He wouldn’t say anything, but he’d get it.

B: I found your number in my pocket, and, you know, I figured I’d pick up the phone a couple of times and then hang up and then finally call and see if maybe you wanted to get that cup of coffee or…

BE: Oh, fine!

WA: There’s something you need to know about her. B: I know. WA: No, wait, this is important. B: Believe me, I worked it out. WA: No, this is something that you can’t possibly know. She’s a robot. B: Uh-huh.

X: Nah, forget it. Letting him in is good, ’cause then we get to toss him out. A: Ooh, can we throw him out the window like the robot did? ’Cause that was neat.

G: We are not your friends. We are not your way to Buffy. There is no way to Buffy.

WA: Yeah, I felt like I deserved to have someone. I mean, everyone deserves to have someone. B: So naturally, you turned to manufacturing.

B: Swell. Romance and magnetic trains.

B: Is she dangerous? WA: She’s only programmed to be in love. B: Then she’s dangerous.

B: She growls? You made her so she growls? WA: Well…

B; Can you cry? Sometimes I feel better when I cry. But… there might be rust issues. AP: Crying is blackmail. Good girlfriends don’t cry. B: Oh.

AP: When things are sad, you just have to be patient. Because… because every cloud has a silver lining. And when life gives you lemons… make lemonade. B: Clouds and lemonade, huh?

X: I think I’ve actually turned into someone you want around after a crazed robot attack. B: And if you ever start your own business, you have your slogan right there.

X: Robots are the strangest people.

S: I’m placing an order. WA: Oh, no, I’m not making any more girls. S: Sure you are. Here’s your specs.

Credit: The Sunnydale Slayers