Season 7 Episode 16 - Storyteller

In the vein of Masterpiece Theatre, Andrew enjoys a quiet evening by the fire, and he's ready tell us a heroic tale that he likes to call "Buffy, the Slayer of the Vampires." However, his surroundings are only an illusion, broken by Anya pounding on the bathroom door. He's videotaping himself telling Buffy's story, so he takes his camera elsewhere.

Andrew has decided to preserve Buffy's history and heroism for all time, and the only person not interested is Buffy, who's more worried about Ubervamps than which camera angle works. To assist in his storytelling, Andrew gets out his Big White Board, an excellent visual aid in explaining the players in his story. His imagination tends to run away with him, since he envisions Buffy with the wind in her hair as she pours cereal, while a shirtless Spike canoodles with the Slayer over bran flakes. Ahem.

As Buffy fills in the gang on her vision of the Ubervamps, Andrew reviews his "history" as "leader" of the Evil Trio. He also spies Willow and Kennedy making eyes at each other (as well as making out), which is a relief after their little tiff over Willow's magical power. Andrew is reminded of his own run-in with Dark Willow last year, and in his own mind he was easily able to deflect her powers. Sure.

At Sunnydale High, all hell is breaking loose, literally. People are disappearing, mirrors are talking, heads are exploding. Something's building up inside the school, and it's about to blow.

Andrew sits Anya and Xander down for a chat, and brings up the fact that today would have been their wedding anniversary. Xander's paid his dues as the bad guy, but Anya still has feelings for him. Later, the two realize they still love one another, but neither knows exactly what that means. Andrew has set up his camera to tape them clandestinely, and later, he lovingly rewinds the sappiest parts of their conversation over and over.

Back at the school, Buffy and Wood investigate the source of the problem: the Seal. Robin gets a closer look, but he's too close, He becomes possessed momentarily, and his anger over Buffy and Spike's relationship emerges. He almost spills it about Spike having killed his mother, but he breaks out of his trance just in time.

Spike, meanwhile, is performing his tough-guy act for Andrew in the laundry room.

When Wood and Buffy get home, they grab Andy and demand that he help them shut down the Seal, since he's the one that opened it in the first place. But it looks like Buffy and Wood left the school too soon, because back in the Sunnydale High basement five students circle the Seal, and it starts to glow.

Willow uses a crystal to pull out of Andrew memories of how he learned about the Seal. He flashes back to his time in Mexico with Jonathan, when he was first approached by Warren/First. Godhood was to be his reward (if you call visions of carousing and singing in a field of flowers god-like). In Mexico, Andrew located a knife somehow connected to the Seal, and used it to kill Jonathan. He stored the knife in Buffy's kitchen, and after they find it, they head for Sunnydale High.

When Buffy, Wood, Spike and Andrew arrive, the school is a complete wreck. Fires have broken out, spray paint is everywhere, and what students remain are wreaking havoc. A mob of kids attack, and after overpowering them, Wood and Spike stay at the door to the basement to keep everyone away from the Seal. Taking advantage of the situation, Wood tries, but fails, to kill Spike.

The Slayer attempts to get the truth out of Andrew about killing Jonathan. It’s virtually impossible, since Andrew constantly changes his story. When they arrive at the Seal, five Bringers (formerly students) await them.

Meanwhile, at home, Anya and Xander bask in the afterglow on Spike's cot. For Anya, it seemed like "one more time," but Xander isn't so sure. Whatever he was hoping for, "one more time" isn't it.

Buffy defeats the Bringers, but the real fight--getting Andrew speak the truth for once in his life--has just begun. The Slayer says she's learned that the blood of the one who opened the Seal will close it, and she threatens Andrew with the knife. Buffy forces him to recognize his action for what it really was: a murder, an act that he deserves to be punished for. Andrew bursts into tears, deeply regretting his crimes. A lone tear falls on the Seal, and suddenly, the Seal stops glowing. Buffy had hoped the plan would work, and doesn't answer when Andy asks what would have happened if it hadn't.

Back home, Andrew tells his real story to the camera. He killed Jonathan, and he probably won't make it through the next fight. Maybe he doesn't deserve to. It's his most honest moment, and he shuts the camera off.