Intervention

Intervention is the eighteenth episode in the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

When Buffy is worried that she is becoming unable to love, Giles sends her to a spiritual quest in the desert. In the mean time Warren delivers the Buffybot that Spike commissioned in "I Was Made to Love You". Xander and Anya see Spike and the Buffybot (whom they mistake for Buffy) have sex, and Xander decides to confront Spike. Spike is kidnapped by Glory's minions, because they think he is the key. Glory decides to torture Spike for the key's location. Buffy's spiritual journey leads her to the First Slayer, who tells her that love will lead her to her gift, which is death. When Buffy comes back from her quest, the confusion between her and the Buffybot is soon sorted out, and they all head to rescue Spike. Buffy then pretends to be the Buffybot, as she approaches Spike to make sure he did not tell Glory that Dawn is the Key, and when she finds out he did not, she kisses him.

Quotes and trivia

 * In Intervention, the Buffybot pronounces "Giles" with a hard g (as in "guy-els"). Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon have said on several occasions that they get annoyed with so-called fans of the show when they pronouce "Giles" in this way.
 * Spike's dislike of Angel manifests when we see the Buffybot's programmed opinion of Angel is that he is "lame. His hair grows straight up and he's bloody stupid."
 * Xander says of Buffy and the Buffybot in "Intervention", "They're both Buffy". This is a reference to the catharsis of "The Replacement", also written by Jane Espenson who said on multiple occasions she enjoys adding references to episodes she wrote.
 * The desert in which the mountain lion leads Buffy on the vision quest in "Intervention" is the same desert which Buffy dreamed about in "Restless". She says she remembers it. It's also the first place she saw the First Slayer in "Restless".
 * Giles's ritual for the vision quest resembles the Hokey-Pokey.
 * Spike tries to convince Glory that Bob Barker is the key.
 * Xander calls Glory's minions hobbits with leprosy.
 * Buffy asks if the quest is for finding a grail.
 * When Buffy sees the mountain lion that leads her on the quest, she says "Hello Kitty".
 * In this episode, Dawn reads Twist magazine.
 * Tara avoids telling Dawn what Spike really made the robot for, informing her instead that he built the Buffybot to play Checkers with.
 * Buffy: "What you did for Dawn and me; that was real. I won't forget it."