Season 4, Episode 9 | Aired: 30 November 1999 | Written by: Tracey Forbes | Directed by: Nick Marck
Willow, grieving Oz, casts a spell to have her will done and accidentally makes everything she says literally true. Giles goes blind. Xander becomes a demon magnet. Buffy and Spike get engaged. The episode is one of the season’s funniest half-hours and also does real work on Willow’s grief and her relationship with magic as a coping mechanism — a thread that will become the season six arc.
What Happens
Willow’s spell fires through casual statements: “Giles can’t see what’s right in front of him” — he goes blind; “Xander will be a demon magnet” — demons pursue him. “Buffy and Spike — they’re so totally in love” — they announce their engagement. Buffy picks out a ring. Spike is oddly sweet about it. D’Hoffryn shows up, impressed by the quality of Willow’s inadvertent vengeance work, and offers her a position as a vengeance demon. She declines. Everything is reversed. Spike is grumpy about it.
Key Moments
Spike and Buffy planning their wedding — Spike delighted, Buffy earnest, both of them completely sincere about the engagement in the moment. It’s funny because of how well Marsters and Gellar play the domesticity. The scene plants seeds the show will water years later.
Monster / Villain
Willow’s grief, weaponised by accident. D’Hoffryn (Andy Umberger) as a gentle, avuncular demon recruiter.
Notable Quote
“We’re going to be miserable together.” — Spike, to Buffy, engaged and earnest. He will say something like this again, under different circumstances.
Where It Fits
Something Blue is light entertainment with a serious undertow — Willow turning to magic to manage pain is the first clear sign of where that road leads. D’Hoffryn’s offer, declined here, becomes significant in Season 6. Spike and Buffy’s engagement is a joke that the show will spend three years making earnest.