Intervention

When love-sick vampire Spike (James Marsters) acquires a robot version of Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) to use as his sex toy, the resulting case of mistaken identity almost gives mad hell-god Glory (Clare Kramer) the key to interdimensional Armageddon. The problem begins when Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) takes Buffy on a vision quest into the desert. There, she communes with the spirit of the First Slayer (Sharon Ferguson) and learns, cryptically enough, that her greatest gift is death itself. Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale, various Scoobies spot Spike fighting alongside -- and canoodling with -- the Buffy-bot he recently obtained (see "I Was Made to Love You"). Fearing for the Slayer's virtue (and her sanity), her friends prepare to stage an intervention. Meanwhile, Glory's minions spot the Buffy-bot protecting Spike during a battle and jump to the conclusion that he must be The Key their mistress is seeking. They kidnap him and, when Glory realizes he isn't The Key, begin torturing him to find out who is. Meanwhile, Buffy arrives back at the Summers house and sets her friends straight about her sexual involvement, or lack thereof, with her neutered suitor. Learning from her robot doppleganger that Spike is in the big bad's clutches, Buffy rescues him to keep him from revealing that The Key is actually her sister, Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg). Then, in order to find out how much information Spike may have revealed to Glory, Buffy poses as her robot self and cuddles up to him. Once her deception is revealed, the besotted vampire vows that he would never allow Buffy or Dawn to be harmed -- a promise that earns him a tender kiss from his unattainable beloved. Originally broadcast April 24, 2001, on the WB network, "Intervention" marked episode 96 of the cult-favorite series. Buffy would finally figure out the meaning of the First Slayer's message in "The Gift"; in doing so, she would set the stage for an eventual non-robotic romance with Spike.