Lies My Parents Told Me
| "Lies My Parents Told Me" | |
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
William, who will later become the vampire Spike, reads his poetry to his mother
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| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 17 |
| Directed by | David Fury |
| Written by | David Fury Drew Goddard |
| Production code | 7ABB17 |
| Original air date | March 25, 2003 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Lies My Parents Told Me" is the 17th episode in the seventh and final season of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was originally intended to air on March 18, 2003, a day before the Angel episode "Orpheus", but was postponed due to the start of the Iraq War. The gang investigates Spike's trigger; Principal Wood and Giles team up without Buffy.
New York, 1977: Spike is fighting Nikki Wood, a Slayer whom he kills, seen in the fifth season episode "Fool for Love", in a park at night in pouring rain while her son watches from his hiding place behind a bench. Spike has the opportunity to kill her but the kid distracts him and he lets her go with the promise that they'll meet again. "Love the coat," he adds with a smile, before he leaves. When he's gone, a clearly troubled Nikki finds her son and calms his fears by telling him, "The mission is what matters."
The scene switches to an alley in present-day Sunnydale. Buffy, Principal Robin Wood, and Spike are fighting a bunch of vampires. Buffy and Spike manage to kill their quarry, but a vampire has knocked Wood to the ground, and is about to kill him. Spike saves Wood by killing the vampire from behind, then helps him up. Wood thanks him, but the camera zooms in on the stake he's holding, and we see blood dripping.
Previously, the First Evil had programmed Spike with a post-hypnotic suggestion in his mind that allows it to turn Spike violent using an old song, "Early One Morning", as a trigger. This way the First was able to command him to kill again. Buffy wants to find out how to turn it off so that she can fully trust Spike against the First, but Giles opposes Buffy. In his opinion, Spike is dangerous and must be contained or disposed of.
At the same time, the Scoobies go to the basement of Buffy's house, where Willow makes a spell with the Prokaryote stone, a magical artifact that penetrates Spike's mind and makes him more conscious of how the trigger works. During this process information about Spike's human past is revealed, including how he turned his sick mother into a vampire only to be rejected by her newly vampiric self. The song that his mother used to sing makes him relive the whole episode and switch into his evil, soulless self. He unwittingly hurts Dawn in the process and scares them all, except Buffy. Meanwhile, Willow receives a phone call from a girl named Fred and quickly leaves for Los Angeles. She apologizes to Buffy for her quick departure, but promises to be back as soon as she can.
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