Buffy the Vampire Slayer/The Replacement

The Replacement
Season 5, Episode 3
Airdate	October 10, 2000
Production Number	5ABB03
Written by	Jane Espenson
Directed by	James A. Contner
← 5x02 Real Me	5x04 → Out of My Mind
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Five

The Replacement is the third episode of the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the eighty-first episode overall.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg Dawn Summers), James Marsters (Spike)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Michael Bailey Smith (Toth)

and Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)

Co-Starring: Kelly Donovan (Xander Double), Cathy Cohen (Building Manager), David Reivers (Foreman), Fritz Greve (Construction Worker)

Plot Overview

Following a demon attack, Xander wakes up to find that his life has been taken over by a doppelganger. As his luck seems to sink lower in his quest to get help, Xander begins to realise that his rogue may even be living his life better than he has.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• Toth: They origins and mannerisms of the Toth demon aren't gone into in depth, but it is known that the demon is more sophisticated than the ones that they have faced previously in that he uses a weapon. Toth's weapon splits the person into two polarizing halves, in the case he had hoped for, he wanted to split Buffy and The Slayer.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Toth	Buffy	Impaled	Xander's Apartment

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Xander: Xander finally moves out of his parents' basement and into a high class apartment in this episode. He is also promoted to a carpentry crew when the boss calls his more confident half into his office.

Referbacks

• Passion: Willow and Xander's Christmas tradition was first mentioned in the referenced episode.

• Doppelgangland: Willow had an evil vampire twin from an alternate universe in the referenced episode.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• No Digital Processing: The scenes where the Xanders were standing next to each other in the same scene was easier than it looks, the producers had Kelly Donovan, Nicholas Brendon's stunt double and twin brother, stand in for him.

Allusions and References

• Babylon 5: Babylon 5 was a highly regarded, award winning science fiction series by J. Michael Straczynski that was aired on TNT between 1994 and 1998. The set of Babylon 5 commemorative plate referenced by Xander were planned, but never actually produced.

Xander: Not unless you want my collection of Babylon 5 commemorative plates.

• Star Trek: On the original Star Trek series, Captain Kirk demanded that Spock "kill them both" if he cannot tell them apart or rejoin them (in each instance). The first time this occurs was on the episode "The Enemy Within", where Kirk was split into two people, one being his aggressive side and the other being his passive side. This is most likely where the reference came from. Additionally, on the episode "Whom Gods Destroy", an insane Captain Garth shapeshifts into Kirk and Kirk demands that Spock shoot them both.

Both Xanders: Kill us both, Spock.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas: A Charlie Brown Christmas was first broadcast on December 9, 1965. The primetime special was the first to feature the Peanuts gang and is shown annually. The story retells Charlie Brown's purchase of a small and weak tree because he feels sorry for it. He is met with anger until the children figure out the true meaning of Christmas. The Snoopy Dance was the dance that Snoopy did on top of Schroeder's piano and during the opening dancing segment.

Xander: Every Christmas, we watch Charlie Brown together, and I do the Snoopy Dance.

Memorable Moments

• The Toth Demon fighting Buffy and the others in the dump, only to shoot Xander on accident.

• The Suave Xander being hit on by the woman renting out the apartment.

Quotes

• Buffy: So a mythic triumph over a completely indifferent foe?

Giles: Well, I'm not dead or unconscious, so I say bravo for me.

• Riley: Owning this place does seem kinda dangerous.

Giles: Toth.

Riley: What?

Buffy: He called you a toth. It's a British expression. It means, like, moron.

Giles: No. Toth is the name of the demon.

• (at the city dump)

Riley: What are you doing here, Spike?

Spike: Oh, there's a nice lady vampire who set up a charming tearoom over the next pile of crap.

• Giles: Spike, um, we're looking for a demon, tall, robed, skin sort of hanging off, deep voice.

Spike: (pointing behind them) You mean a great, tall robey thing like that one?

• Buffy: Well, if this guy wants to fight with weapons, I've got it covered from "A" to "Z" – from "Axe" to... "Zee other axe."

• Xander: On my seventh birthday, I wanted a toy fire truck, and I didn't get it, and you were real nice about it, and then the house next door burnt down, and then real firetrucks came, and for years I thought you set the fire for me. And if you did, you can tell me!

• Buffy: We better get there soon. If Xander kills himself, he's dead. You know what I mean.

• Riley: Psychologically, this is fascinating. Doesn't it want to make everyone else lock them in separate rooms and do experiments on them? (off everyone's look) Just me then.

• Anya: Well, maybe we shouldn't do this reintegration thing right away. See, I can take the boys home and, you know, we can all have sex together, and then, you know, just just slap 'em back together in the morning.

Confident Xander: She's joking.

Lame Xander: No, she's not! She entirely wants to have sex with us together, which is... wrong, and – and it would be very confusing.

Giles: We just need to arrange the candles. Also, we should continue to pretend we heard none of the disturbing sex talk.

Willow: Check. Candles and pretence.

• Anya: Well, what do we do if it doesn't work?

Xanders: Kill us both, Spock!

Buffy: They're kinda the same now.

Giles: Yes, he's clearly a bad influence on himself.