Buffy Season 8 Recap - Predators and Prey

Andrew runs through the corridors shouting for Buffy, his inner monologue tells us that being part of the Slayer organisation is like family, you take on one member and you’re taking all of them on. “Nothing comes between us” he runs into the control room where Buffy Willow and Xander are sitting, “slam that door one more time and I’ll make you eat it” Buffy snaps at Andrew, clearly annoyed with him. Willow scorns Buffy for being so harsh to which Buffy quickly apologises, Xander explains that they are currently dealing with Harmony fallout which is bad for the Slayer organisation. Andrew accepts the apology and tells them that he has located Simone the rogue Slayer. His sources tell him that one of Simone’s key team members has been caught by a demon and they should go rescue her so they can question her on Simone's plans. Buffy tells Andrew that they will leave in the morning, it shouldn’t be a complicated task so they will go alone.

We see Buffy and Andrew drive for hours, Andrew is talking constantly about geek subjects (Star Wars, Star Trek, James Bond) as Buffy stares out of the window. Suddenly she hears the name Daniel Craig and guides the conversation to a place that she can contribute, as Andrew gushes about how gritty and “real” that bond is, Buffy gushes about the attractiveness of Daniel Craig, she says that she loves his tiny swimming trunks and asks Andrew’s opinion but he responds with “no comment”. They finally arrive at their destination and begin to search for the demons lair, they finally find it and see that one of the rogue Slayers has indeed been trapped by the demon. As Buffy helps the Slayer escape she tells Buffy that Andrew used to be her watcher, and that the demon used to be extinct until Andrew bred a new one. Buffy looks at Andrew in shock as he takes out a mechanical device and turns off the glowing globe that was trapping the Slayer. Andrew tells Buffy that he used the demon to find and trap Simone and her rogue Slayers, he asks Buffy if it matters how he captured them, surely all that’s important is that he did. Buffy realises now that using any type of villainy tactic for the greater good isn’t acceptable, that includes breaking into a bank, or breeding a demon. She begins to tell Andrew that she is angry that he bred a dangerous demon and more importantly that he lied to her about it but they get interrupted as the demon, a giant spider, returns. As they question how they will escape Simone comes from behind and hits Buffy in the face. Simone takes a gun from her backpack and Buffy tells her that killing her with a gun is lazy, but Simone tells her that the gun is for the Spider demon, she shoots it with a ray and it falls down stunned. She tells Buffy that she wants to keep it, and Simone, the rescued Slayer and the Spider demon transport back to their base via magic.






As Buffy and Andrew climb out of the Spider’s lair Buffy questions Andrew on his actions. He tells Buffy that he knew using the demon was a severe decision but he needed to stop Simone as he feels responsibility for her villainy. He was her watcher, he should have seen this coming, Buffy tries to tell him that it isn’t his fault but Andrew continues telling Buffy that he feels like he has earned his place in the Slayer organisation which Buffy agrees with but he was worried that Simone’s villainy will make them lose faith in him. Buffy tells him that she doesn’t blame Andrew for a rogue Slayer and that the only way she would lose faith in someone is if they lied to her, which he has done. They finally return to the car and Andrew realises that he can track the Spider and thus Simone. They arrive via boat to an island and get out, as they begin tying up the boat a small girl comes to them and tells them that they should leave the island. She explains that a woman and her friends have told the villagers to leave or die, the villagers have fled to the hills and left the village for the woman and her friends. Buffy tries to comfort the girl and tells her that she will tell the bad woman that she cannot steal a village.

As they walk through the deserted village, they find themselves in front of an opera house. Andrew tells Buffy that the trace has lead them to here and that Simone and the spider should be inside. As they walk inside Andrew apologies again and tells Buffy that he was just trying to do the right thing, Buffy questions if this is the right time to be talking about this but Andrew reveals that he worried he is about to die and he wants to get some things off his chest. He also tells Buffy that he prefers Spike over Angel and that he is totally “team Spike”, also, he liked it when Buffy cut her hair short (Season Six, ‘Gone’). They finally enter the stage area prepared to take on Simone and they find themselves outnumbered by about twenty Slayers. Simone explains that she assumed they would follow her back, and also that she doesn’t want to kill Buffy, in fact, all she wants to do is keep the island. She tells Buffy that they don’t need the spider to keep rule of the island and she will gladly give Buffy the Spider, in exchange for Andrew. She doesn’t like authority figures and she would love to torture her previous watcher (sound familiar?). Buffy is surprised that she wants Andrew but tells her that there is no way she is giving her Andrew. Buffy grabs a near by sword and Simone grabs one too as a fight begins.

Buffy jumps to the chandelier above and swings on it, Simone tells her that it’s a stupid move because the chandelier is weak but that’s what Buffy was planning. Buffy and the chandelier fall down onto Simone and she drops her sword. Buffy swings around with her sword and tells Simone that she has way more experience than her so she has already lost but Simone tells Buffy that she is much younger, and quicker as Buffy realises that Simone has pulled her gun out “I hate guns” Buffy says. Simone tells her to drop the sword which she does. Andrew who is now being held by one of the other rogue Slayers begs Buffy to walk away with the dangerous demon and to allow Simone to torture him, allowing her to keep the demon could hurt lots of innocent people, but he is willing to sacrifice himself to stop that. Buffy tells him to stop being melodramatic and to stop quoting nerdy self sacrificing speeches, Buffy doesn’t care if she leaves with the demon or not, but she is not leaving without Andrew. Simone laughs as Buffy is surrounded and outnumbered, “you miscalculated” a voice says from above as Slayers descend from the roof and from the entrance. Andrew gets excited “It’s the Italy squad!” (who he mentored as a watcher), they tell Simone that they don’t want to kill her and her rogue group but they will do what they must to save their watcher. Buffy reminds them that she is there also, and they quickly add that they are not leaving without Buffy either. Buffy tells the head of the Italy squad that she had promised to save the village but the head Slayer tells her that it would be better to live to fight Simone another day, and instead help the villagers to the mainland and to get them off of the island. Fine, Buffy says, “you can keep the island” she grabs Simone’s gun from her hand “but give me back my nerd!” Buffy keeps the gun pointed towards Simone as the Italy squad escape with Andrew “thought you didn’t like guns?” Simone asks Buffy “it’s not for you” and she shoots the lock off of the Spider’s cage. Buffy leaves and locks the doors behind her, trapping Simone and her rogue Slayers alone with the demon. Outside Buffy tells the little girl and her family that they will take them to the main land, it is not safe for them on the island anymore.

Back in Scotland Buffy walks into Andrew’s room and tells him to take the evening off. He tells her that he is just making some notes on the mission and the Spider demon, if they ever need to fight the demon they should know its weaknesses. Buffy tells Andrew that Simone and her Slayers probably killed the demon and then tells Andrew how proud she is of him, he was willing to sacrifice his life to save innocent people, that was a big moment for him. Andrew is not so proud of himself though, he is disappointed in himself for lying to Buffy, as Buffy leaves she tells him to not be so hard on himself “you’re part of the family, we’ve all lied and made mistakes for the greater good. It’s what we do.” A smile gradually forms on Andrew’s face, “I’m part of the family?” he says proudly