Doppelgangland
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"Doppelgängland" is episode 16 of season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Plot synopsis
Summary
Episode 16 of season 3 revisits the alternate reality from episode 9 "The Wish" where Slayer Buffy Summers had never arrived in Sunnydale and vampires ruled the city. In "Doppelgängland" Anya's attempt to regain her powers with Willow's help goes awry and the spell instead summons evil vampire Willow from the Wishverse to the normal reality moments before she is staked in the alternate reality (poignantly, by Good Willow's then-boyfriend Oz).
Expanded overview
Anya, who is now a mere human being, begs the demon D'Hoffryn, her former boss, to create a temporal fold in time and allow her to go back and retrieve her amulet. The demon denies her request and she vows to get the amulet back with or without his help. At school, Willow practices floating a pencil while Buffy does sit-ups in preparation for Slayer testing. When Buffy mentions Faith, Willow loses her emotional control and the pencil goes flying into a tree.
Principal Snyder tells Willow that she is going to be tutoring one of the basketball team stars, Percy West, in History. Later at the library, Giles asks Willow to re-attempt breaking into the Mayor's files. Faith and Wesley come in after training on the obstacle field; Wesley is a bit tired. Faith finds out about Willow searching through the Mayor's files and informs him of it. The Mayor presents Faith with a brand new, fully-furnished apartment and then tells her that he plans to have some vampires kill Willow so she is out of the way and unable to access his computer.
Back at school, Oz meets up with Willow and informs her about a gig his band had the other night that she didn't know about. When Willow confronts Percy about tutoring him, he gives his own interpretation of events: that she is to do his work for him. Buffy and Xander pick the wrong moment to ask Willow if she recorded "Biography" for them the other night. Willow, offended at being labeled "Old Reliable," storms away, threatening to do something irresponsible — change her look, cut class, or eat a snack between meals.
Anya finds Willow and asks her to help her with a spell, which she does. The spell involves chicken feet and the ritual pouring of sand over the representation of the object desired. The two perform the spell in an empty classroom, and as it's working, several scary images from "The Wish" flash before their eyes. Shocked, Willow moves, accidentally spilling some of the ritual sand on herself. With the spell over, and apparently unsuccessful, Willow is still very frightened by what she saw and refuses to try the spell again. In an abandoned warehouse, the vampire Willow from "The Wish" universe appears instead of the amulet.
Evil Willow walks through Sunnydale and is very confused by this world where humans freely walk the streets at night. She enters the Bronze. Percy finds her and orders her to finish his paper; Evil Willow attacks him. Xander breaks up the fight and Evil Willow recognizes him from her world, only to be disappointed that he is "alive" (not a vampire). Buffy is surprised by Willow's new leather look, and even more surprised when Willow snarls at her with vampire face.
Later that night, Evil Willow is attacked by two of the Mayor's vampires who mistake her for the human Willow. She easily defeats them and "persuades" them to work for her. Buffy and Xander return to the library and tell Giles that Willow is dead. The three sit commiserating until the real Willow shows up. Xander tries to chase her away with a cross, and Willow merely looks puzzled; recognizing that this Willow at least is not a vampire, her friends simultaneously enfold her in a crushing embrace. Willow is dismayed to learn that there is a vampire walking around town looking exactly like her. When the gang turns to Giles for an explanation, his only response is "something strange is definitely going on."
Meanwhile, back at the Bronze, Anya tries to get a beer at the bar, claiming she's 1120 years old, but settles for a Coke. Angel shows up looking for Buffy. Evil Willow and her new minions appear, taking control of the Bronze. Angel leaves to get Buffy and Oz watches as she demonstrates the good and bad of cooperating with the vampires by killing a girl. Anya, recognizing what has happened, approaches Evil Willow with the idea of restoring her to her own world (and Anya's amulet to herself).
Angel goes to the library and announces that Willow is dead, before noticing Live Willow standing there. They all head for the Bronze, but Willow turns back to get something and is caught by the Evil Willow. The two banter back and forth before finally Willow shoots her evil double with the dart gun (first seen in "Phases") and locks her up in the library cage. At Buffy's suggestion, Willow swaps clothes with her sleeping double. Uncomfortable in the leather attire (partly because it is tight enough to constrict her breathing), Willow does her best to pose as the Evil Willow while the rest of the Scooby Gang waits outside the Bronze.
Cordelia arrives at the library, dressed up to impress Wesley, and finds Evil Willow – wearing Willow's fuzzy pink sweater – locked in the cage. Before releasing Willow, Cordelia takes the opportunity to lecture her on the ethics of stealing boyfriends. Bored out of her mind, Evil Willow apologizes, and Cordelia lets her out. Evil Willow shows her vampire face and pursues Cordelia, cornering her in a restroom. Wesley, hearing Cordelia scream, intervenes and persuades Evil Willow to depart. Cordelia hugs him and asks what he's doing that night.
After Willow's not-so-convincing act at the Bronze, Anya points out to the other vampires that their leader is a fake. Willow screams – a prearranged signal for Buffy, Angel and Giles to enter. As they fight the vampires, Willow retreats to the stage with Oz. Evil Willow then returns, throws Oz out of the way and starts choking Willow. Buffy breaks it up, but Willow shouts for her not to stake Evil Willow (just as Buffy had shouted, too late, to stop Faith from staking Allen Finch). Willow wants to send her double back to the other universe and not kill her. With Anya's help they do so; Evil Willow goes back just in time for Oz to push her up against the broken piece of wood and she manages to say, "Oh, fu..." before turning into dust.
The next day, Buffy asks Willow if she'd like to go out that night, but she can't because of all the homework she has. Percy shows up, and before Willow can apologize for not doing his work, he presents her with papers on both Presidents Roosevelt. Evil Willow scared him good, thus freeing up Willow's schedule.
Writing and acting
- Joss liked the character of "Evil Willow" when she was first introduced in "The Wish" so much that he wrote this episode specifically for her.
- The episode's humor stems mainly from mistaken identity, and Anya certainly helped. Alyson Hannigan was given the chance to explore different aspects of Willow's personality in various situations. She had to portray not only both good and evil versions of Willow, but each of them pretending to be the other.
Cast
- Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris (human and vampire)
- Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
- David Boreanaz as Angel
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg (human and vampire)
- Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
- Seth Green as Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne
Production details
Music
- Christophe Beck - "Alternate Willow"
- K's Choice - "Virgin state of mind". - Features on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album.
- Spectator Pump - "Priced 2 move"
Quotes and trivia
- This is the 50th episode of Buffy.
- This episode is Joss' 5th fave ep according to The Last Sundown featurette on the Season 7 DVD box set.
- This is one of Alyson Hannigan's favorite episodes of the Show, according to a recent interview with PopWatch (October 05)
- The episode's title is taken from the term "Doppelgänger", a German word for a look-alike or double of a living person, and "gangland", a term associated with organized crime. The form "Doppelgängland" is actually not correct German: "The land of the Doppelgängers" would be Doppelgängerland (note "-er-" inserted), while "the land with doubled gangs" would be Doppelgangland (no umlaut over the "a"). It should be noted, however, that the title is a pun combining German and English words. It can be read as "The land of evil doubles." The title was changed to "Doppelgängerland" in the German DVD edition.
- Alyson Hannigan loved her vampire make-up so much that she was made up again as "Evil Willow" to attend a Halloween party that same year.
- Sandy, the woman who "Evil Willow" bites in the Bronze, will appear again as a vampire in the Season Five episodes "Family" and "Shadow", where she will meet her end.
Continuity
Arc significance
Like "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" the season before, this comic episode came soon after a Scooby Gang member turned bad. This time, the gang was still unaware that Faith had offered her services to Mayor Wilkins, but fans knew. In both cases, the comedy takes advantage of the tension that had been building thus far into the season.
Vampire Willow foreshadows two later developments in Willow's character.
- Willow: It's horrible. That's me as a vampire? I mean, I'm so evil, and skanky — and I think I'm kind of gay.
- Buffy: Willow, just remember, a vampire's personality has nothing to do with the person it was.
- Angel: Well, actually — [Buffy glares at him.] — it's a good point.
Willow will acquire a female lover in season 4. (Jane Espenson said in an interview with the BBC, however, that at the time of "Doppelgängland", "Joss didn’t know that was going to pay off later, that the Willow character in fact was gay.")
Secondly, when Willow herself turns "dark" at the end of season 6, she displays Vampire Willow's capacity for cruelty, as well as her deadpan mannerisms and the catchphrase "Bored now."
The partial retention of personality traits from human to vampire is further explored in later seasons, in Spike's interactions with his mother (shown in flashbacks) and with Buffy.
Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse: