Spoiler Slayer

Spoilers cropped up at JamesMarsters.com, in two different batches.

The first group is episode specific.

The asterisks (*) are for eps that haven’t been filmed yet and are still in the script stage. The titles for these eps and even some details may be changed. The writers and the gist of the stories is pretty well set though.

Episode 11 – “Gone”
Written by David Fury

Willow’s road to recovery is halted when she does a spell to try and help Buffy find a demon that can manipulate the forces of nature. Despite her help, the act further alienates Willow from Dawn and Tara and leads to Buffy asking Willow to move out. Rack has a particular interest in Willow and tells Amy that she’s “cut off” until she can bring Will back with her. Buffy intentionally avoids Spike, which raises more than a few Scoobie eyebrows.

Episode 12 – “Doublemeat Palace” *
Written by Jane Espenson

Buffy gets a job working at a new fast-food restaurant that serves humans as food. Willow manages to resist magickal temptation, no thanks to Amy. Buffy, however, finds resisting Spike to be harder than expected and once again finds herself in bed with him. Xander is having cold feet as the wedding date grows closer and Anya is heavily into the planning.

Episode 13 – “Mixed-Up Confusion” *
Written by Steven DeKnight

While the girls throw Anya a wedding shower, Spike gives a depressed Xander an unexpected and unwelcome “bachelor party,” complete with demon bar fight, a beautiful vamp that can’t keep her hands off of Xander, and Spike’s drunken revelation that he and Buffy slept together. Also, Jonathan, Warren, and Andrew execute the next step in their plan: a spell that requires the Slayer’s blood.

Episode 14 – “Best Served Cold” *
Written by Douglas Petrie

Buffy reveals her hidden “relationship” with Spike to the gang but promises them it’s over. Buffy tells Spike she thinks it would be best for both of them if he left town. Assuming Xander is the cause of this, an angry Spike has the girl vamp from the previous episode tell Anya she and Xander slept together. D’Hoffryn offers to restore Anya’s demon powers if she will prove herself worthy by taking the ultimate vengeance on Xander. Willow falls off the wagon and returns to Rack with Amy, only to find the warlock has special plans for her.

The second group is a bit more vague (unconfirmed rumors the poster says)

1. The nerds' big scheme has been to set up this spell thing they are going to do on Buffy. They're using that diamond they got from the museum as well as some drops of Buffy's blood they get in a later ep. The purpose of the spell is to transfer Buffy's strength and so on to the three geeks. However, from what I've been told, the geeks plan will go awry when an outside party (the Big Bad??) steps in and takes their place in the spell.

2. I've been told that the "big bad" has not been set even right now. Reportedly the writing team has decided upon three or four separate ways to go and they are going to leave all options open until the final four eps or so when things will pick up and the baddy will be reveal him/her/itself. This is why Willow's and Spike's storylines are seemingly getting muddier. This is also why Rack will be kept around.

3. Elizabeth Allen is scheduled to be in 10 eps this season (she's already been in 2 so far). The rumored Warlock/witch trio thing was started over the plan of a Rack/Amy/Willow alliance which still may come to fruition.

4. As of right now, Marsters' future on the show is up in the air. Although JM is willing to stay through next season, ME is thinking of letting him out of his contract after this season. The reason being is that some of the creative, Joss in particular from what I've been told, think that with Spike cannot stay on the show unless he's a big big part, like he is now. In other words they can't just make him "Oz" all of a sudden and have him pop up when needed and leave when not. Also Joss is not happy that due to the ongoing Willow and Spike storylines that certain characters ( cough *Xander* cough) aren't getting enough screentime. So the chances of Spike being the BB and getting dusted or just leaving SunnyD are very possible, although right now undetermined.

As of right now, I'm completely skeptical of these. Not only does it reference an episode title from a source which has already been proven incorrect, but there's just way too much that doesn't fit known facts.

For instance, I'm pretty sure that the season was already outlined before they began filming, so the comments that there are three or four directions that the show could go have to be wrong. While Rack might mix it up for a while, he really doesn't have what it takes to be a real 'Big Bad'. In addition, saying that a 'Big Bad' hasn't been decided on would go against everything they have done in the past. I can't think of a season where there wasn't major foreshadowing of the 'Big Bad' that became apparent in hindsight (Drusilla's comments to Angel in 'Lie To Me', The Mayor throughout early Season Three, Adam with the number references, and even the Glory/Dawn storyline with '730, Little Miss Muffet, and Be Back Before Dawn'). I find it hard to believe that all of this wasn't decided early on, especially when it comes down to terms of designing sets, makeup, etc.

The episode specific ones do make a bit more sense (at least the first two), but then again there are spoilers out there that already hint at some of it. For example, even I could see a scenario where Rack cuts Amy off until she brings Willow back. The entire fast-food thing is also something one could figure out almost (though it might not necessarily be right - I would go with the kittens being an integral part of the menu, I don't think that gags over yet). I'm going to sort through these and put them into the Spoiler Slayer page, but for now I say most at best are completely 'Unlikely'. I especially love the one that basically says that Joss doesn't have any control over his show. If he was really upset about Xander not enough in the way of storylines, don't you think he could do something about it. ;D