I Was Made to Love You

"I Was Made to Love You" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the ninety-third episode altogether. It was written by Jane Espenson and directed by James A. Contner. It originally broadcast on February 20, 2001.

An odd girl who turns out to be a robot roams Sunnydale looking for her boyfriend Warren, becoming violent when impeded -- and especially when he tells her that he is in love with someone else. Spike asks Warren to create a robot of Buffy for him. When Buffy returns home, she finds her mother dead on the living room couch.

Synopsis
Buffy rants about her problems with Spike while pounding away at Xander who is wearing a sumo-sized bodysuit. Xander consoles the Slayer about her love life, blaming the Hellmouth for her not being able to find a decent guy. A young woman arrives in Sunnydale, searching for her boyfriend. Joyce nervously prepares for a date with a man named Brian with the help of her daughters.



Anya and Tara discuss the Internet and Anya's knowledge of online stock trading and websites. April approaches them, asking if they know where Warren is, but when the girls can't help her, April moves on to another person and asks the same question. Buffy and Xander dance at a campus party while Anya, Tara and Willow watch. After dancing, Buffy locates Ben at the party and casually catches his attention. They chat briefly but awkwardly, and Buffy asks Ben to dance.

Anya admires the Chex Mix with Xander when April arrives at the party, still searching for Warren. Warren just so happens to be at the party and escapes with his date before April discovers him. April questions the people at the party, offering that Warren is her boyfriend and he lost her. Tara is mildly concerned about her relationship with Willow when Willow remarks, "Yeah, a pretty girl like that won't stay lonely for long."

Spike approaches Buffy while she's waiting, but she tells him off before Ben returns. Ben offers Buffy his number for a possible coffee date and isn't scared off when Buffy warns him of her bad history. After seeing Buffy with Ben, Spike is inspired to hit on April, but his suggestive comments only anger her and lead her to throw the vampire through a window, much to the crowd's show. Both amused by Spike's pain and shocked at April's behavior, Buffy tries to talk to April, but April throws her aside and leaves.



Later, at Xander's apartment, the gang quickly deduces that April is a robot, and while they don't view her as an immediate threat, they do realize that they have to track down Warren and get him to April before someone less durable than Spike rubs her the wrong way. Buffy returns home, and Giles suggests he not watch Dawn alone anymore because he can't take much more exposure to the habits of a young teenager. Joyce returns from her date in an extremely good mood, shocking her daughter with the joke that she left her bra in Brian's car.

April goes door to door searching for Warren's residence. Willow finds Warren Mears on her computer and the house where he could be living. The gang talks about Warren and how he made April to fill a void in his life. Buffy finally gets up the nerve to call Ben, but the phone rings at Glory's place. She morphs into Ben to answer the phone, and a date is made for coffee.

Warren rushes to get packed and move away with his current girlfriend, Katrina, but she doesn't understand why. Buffy shows up at Warren's in search of answers relating to April, while Katrina finally walks out, upset about being kept in the dark. Warren reveals to Buffy that he made April to be the perfect girlfriend, however rather than falling in love with her as expected, he instead grew bored with how predictable she was easy things were with her. He then met and fell in love with Katrina, and instead of 'breaking up' with April, cowardly left her in his dorm room to let her batteries run down. Buffy asks if Katrina is dangerous, and Warren tells her that she's only programmed to be in love with him... which confirms to Buffy she is dangerous.



Meanwhile, the Scoobies are meeting at the Magic Box, when they receive a visit from Spike. When he enters, however, he receives open hostility and disdain from the gang, including Dawn. Spike attempts to win some acceptance by giving a somewhat embellished explanation of what happened previously, but the Scoobies are not fooled. Giles takes command, roughly shoving him against a wall, informing him that the Scoobies are not his friends and that he will never be able to get into a relationship with Buffy, and finally ordering him to get over his feelings for Buffy and leave the Magic Box. After a brief hesitation, Spike departs.

Katrina encounters April at a park, and April uses force to make Katrina admit that Warren is her boyfriend. Warren finally tells April that he can't love her, then April turns on Buffy, and the two fight. Buffy damages April's electrical work, and she is finally stopped. After talking with April in her final moments, Buffy realizes that she doesn't need a man in her life. Buffy leaves a message for Ben on his answering machine, canceling the date, but Glory listens to the message, not Ben.

Spike confronts Warren about making a robot for him, one based completely on Buffy. Warren refuses, but Spike won't take no for an answer. Buffy then comes home. She sees the flowers that were left, and then calls out to her mother, then finds her lying on the living room couch. Worried by her mother's awkward appearance, Buffy calls out to her, but Joyce doesn't move and doesn't answer.

Continuity

 * Unlike the later Buffybot, April is not salvaged and kept for later examination and/or repair; the fate of her inert body is a mystery. Though it is possible that she was recycled for the Buffybot.


 * This episode marks the first appearance of Warren Mears, who will return as a major villain in Season Six and then Season Eight.


 * When Buffy tells Warren her name and asks him "Do you know who I am?", what she is really asking is if Warren realizes she is the "odd" Sunnydale High student who protected other students from the dangers they almost never admitted exist in the town. Warren answers in the affirmative; the episode clarifies that he spent his senior year at Sunnydale High, meaning that, although this is his first actual appearance, he was "behind the scenes" as a member of the Sunnydale student body throughout Season Three. Warren's status as a Sunnydale alumnus is also referred to in Season Six, where it is revealed that he attended the school play that was attacked by Monkey Demons sent by Andrew Wells (an incident that was itself never actually depicted).


 * Katrina is also introduced in this episode. She will return &mdash; and be killed by Warren &mdash; in the Season Six episode "Dead Things", and later as a ghost in "Villains".


 * The dress Joyce wears for her date with Brian must be her 'date dress' - it's the same one she was wearing when Buffy caught her in the kitchen kissing Ted, who was also a robot, three years earlier.


 * Technology in Buffyverse has been shown to be advanced enough to produce such an advanced robot as April (see "Ted"). When the gang discusses April, Dawn mentions that she "always thought" Ted might come back, reminding viewers that although Dawn did not appear in any episode prior to Season Five, she nonetheless remembers them, at least to the extent that any other person in Buffy's household would.


 * Joyce dies, an event that will profoundly affect Buffy's outlook throughout the rest of the series. Also, true to the series' style, Joyce's death managed to occur while she was at her happiest. This was true for Jenny Calendar in "Passion" when she died after finding Angel's cure and was forgiven by Giles. In future episodes, Tara will die after reconciling with Willow ("Seeing Red") and Spike after Buffy states that she loves him ("Chosen").


 * Spike is able to figure out that Warren built April, despite having no idea who Warren is and the Scoobies not telling him.

Body Count

 * April, battery depleted
 * Joyce Summers, deceaded of a ruptured aneurysm

Production

 * Joss Whedon has confirmed that April the robot was written (along with "the creation of Warren the villain [and] the Buffybot") in anticipation of Britney Spears appearing on the show.

Pop Culture References

 * The title of the this episode could have been inspired by the KISS song, I Was Made for Lovin' You.

Music

 * Caviar - "Ok Nightmare"
 * Los Straitjackets - "Kawanga!"
 * Mellonova - "Hi Dee Ho"