Dead Things

Did You Know?

• The demons Buffy fights in the woods are called Rwasundi Demons, and they caused the time-shifting during the fight.
• The woman Buffy accidentally strikes is actually Jonathan magically disguised as Katrina.
• The Sunnydale Police ruled Katrina's death to be suicide or accidental drowning.

Plot

After a sexual encounter on the floor of Spike's crypt, Buffy and Spike talk about her feelings. She tells him she only likes him "sometimes" and will "never" fully trust him. Later, Buffy confides in Tara that Spike can now physically hurt her even though his chip still works. She worries that Willow's resurrection spell brought her back "wrong," and Tara promises to look into it.

That night, Xander and Anya teach Dawn how to waltz for the upcoming wedding. Dawn then leaves to spend the evening with her friend Janice, not expecting that Buffy would want to hang out with her. So Buffy goes to the Bronze with the others. There, she and Willow talk about Willow's month without magic and her recovery.

Willow joins Xander and Anya on the dance floor, while Buffy goes to the balcony. Spike follows her, and they have sex while he makes her watch her friends dancing. He tells her to think of her life with him as separate from theirs.

Meanwhile, the Trio build a "cerebral dampener" device that can turn any woman into a sex slave. Warren goes to a bar looking for attractive women, while Andrew and Jonathan watch through a camera hidden in Warren's tie, pointing out women they would want as slaves. Annoyed by their suggestions, Warren takes out his earpiece and approaches someone he knows: his ex-girlfriend, Katrina. She rejects him, but he uses the dampener on her, and she starts calling him "Master."

The Trio take her to the house they've rented since leaving their old lair and dress her in a French maid outfit. After she serves them champagne, Warren takes her to a bedroom for sex, but the dampener's control wears off. Furious, Katrina accuses the Trio of planning to rape her. Jonathan and Andrew are shocked, especially when they learn she is Warren's ex.

Katrina says she will go to the police. To stop her from leaving, Warren hits her in the head with the champagne bottle, accidentally killing her.

Themes and interpretations

Season 6 asks what happens when the Scoobies lose their support system and their self-made family falls apart, according to Mark Oshiro. Most people talking about this episode focus on sexual ethics and the immorality or amorality shown by the Trio. The Snark Squad calls Warren a full-fledged sociopath, with Jonathan and Andrew as the junior misogynists, in an episode they describe as extra rapey even by Season 6's low standard for proper consent.

They label the Trio's secret lair the Basement of Misogyny and Failure, their van the Pedo Van, and the cerebral dampener the rape ball. The Trio knows that Buffy is the real law in Sunnydale, while the police are just the less fearsome option. TV Tropes points out that the title has multiple meanings: Katrina ends up dead, Buffy feels dead inside, and Spike is undead. The site also discusses the memes Sex for Solace, I Have You Now, My Pretty, Destructive Romance, Evil Feels Good, and to a lesser extent Applied Phlebotinum for the dampener.

Theresa Basile, writing about consent issues in Buffy, looks back to Season 5's "I Was Made to Love You," where Warren abandoned the sex-bot he created for a real woman because she was more interesting. In this episode, he tries to turn that real woman into a sex-bot and punishes her when she refuses. Basile sees Andrew and Jonathan as less malicious but equally culpable, both carrying frustrations and immaturity they need to overcome, though two of the three will never get that chance.

She also views Buffy and Spike's relationship as consistent with the Trio's sexual misconduct in this episode, and as part of a pattern of mutual abusive power and control throughout the series.

Reception

In 2023, Rolling Stone placed this episode 92nd out of 144, noting that the Trio's comedic facade crumbles as Warren's vicious sexism takes center stage, calling it the series' most despairing installment. Vox ranked it 60th, echoing that sentiment while praising Tara as the season's sole source of warmth. Reviewer Billie Doux highlights the central relationship, calling it the strongest Buffy/Spike episode yet because it moves beyond physical encounters to the raw feelings fueling their affair.