Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sleeper (2002)

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After being told that Spike (James Marsters) is once again siring vampires (see "Conversations With Dead People"), Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) leads a desperate investigation into the activities of her mad, recently soul-infused ex-lover. She discovers a string of disappearances and enlists the help of Anya (Emma Caulfield) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) in monitoring Spike's after-dark whereabouts. Spike himself appears to have no knowledge of the slayings, even though Buffy witnesses him leading a pretty, young thing down a dark alley to her probable doom. Eventually, Spike encounters a newborn vamp vixen who claims he sired her; fragmentary images of his killing spree slowly come back to him. Buffy, realizing that Spike is being manipulated by the same shape-shifting demon who recently toyed with Willow (Alyson Hannigan), nonetheless agrees to meet him in a deserted basement. Just as the confused Spike begins to confess to his amnesic killing spree, the shape-shifting demon appears to him (but not to Buffy) and manipulates him into carrying out a carefully orchestrated ambush. Buffy almost becomes the victim of the newborn vamps Spike has been "planting" in the earthen basement floor like so many undead tulip bulbs. But Spike's conscience-stricken abandonment of his tormentor's manipulations and her own fighting prowess save the slayer. Spike tells Buffy to kill him, but instead she resolves to dig into his repressed memories for clues about the identity of the big bad who's been haunting her friends. Meanwhile, in England, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) stumbles onto the scene of a massacre and appears well on his way to becoming the latest casualty from the Watcher's Council. Originally broadcast November 19, 2002, on the UPN network, "Sleeper" marked episode 130 of the cult-favorite series. Pop musician Aimee Mann appears as herself, singing songs from her album Lost in Space on-stage at the Bronze during Spike's battle with the vampire he sired. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi