The Girl in Question

Plot

Gunn discovers a demon gang war is imminent, unless the head of the leaders is recaptured from Rome, so Angel and Spike travel to Rome to retrieve the head. They find out that Buffy is dating their nemesis "The Immortal". Flashbacks are shown that explain why Angel and Spike hate "The Immortal": he slept with Darla and Drusilla simultaneously while his minions held Angelus and Spike in chains. They discuss the matter and conclude that Buffy must be under some sort of love spell.

Spike and Angel visit Buffy's apartment and find Andrew Wells. He said that he lives with Buffy and Dawn, and Buffy went to a club with The Immortal. They go to the club and see Buffy from a distance. They get distracted and leave the demon head in a bag on a table, which is snatched by The Immortal's demon butler. Angel and Spike fight the minions and "accidentally" hit each other a few times, too. The demon butler gets away with the head and mocks the heroes as he leaves. Angel and Spike argue over how "if they had their resources", that they would be able to find the head. Spike points out that there is a Wolfram & Hart office in Rome.

Meanwhile, at Wolfram & Hart in L.A., Fred's parents show up and Wesley ushers them into his office to tell them she has been consumed. He is about to tell them when Illyria walks in the door looking and acting exactly like Fred. Later, while her parents are being shown Fred's office, Wesley confronts Illyria. She explains because of Fred's past memories she cannot bear to witness their grief in addition to Wesley's, which she experiences as a physical pain. She explains that she can appear in the form that she wishes. After Fred's parents leave, Wesley asks her if she got what she wanted from that experience. Illyria answers "Yes", and Wesley orders her never to do it again.

Angel and Spike go the Rome Wolfram & Hart offices, where they are greeted by the CEO, an ebullient Italian woman. She says the head is being held in a standard ransom situation. Angel and Spike are given money for the drop, which they exchange with the butler for the bag. They open it and in it is actually a bomb, three seconds from detonation. While the explosion isn't shown, Spike and Angel both easily survive, albeit with their clothing heavily damaged and the street destroyed. Spike complains about his ruined jacket that he took from the dead Slayer Nikki Wood. They go back to the Rome Wolfram & Hart - the CEO laughs, saying they always do that (bomb) to first-timers. She replaces their damaged clothing, including Spike's 'irreplaceable' jacket. After being locked out of her office, Spike and Angel declare their intentions to go home, but return to Buffy's apartment and Andrew tells them to let her move on, that "people change," while he leaves the apartment with two sexy women. Frustrated by their inability to contact Buffy and by the demon butler's chicanery on The Immortal's behalf, they decide to go home.

Illyria follows Wesley into his office, still appearing and speaking as Fred. She states that she wishes to explore the relationship further and does not understand why Wesley is angry when he obviously loved Fred. He replies that she is not Fred and that he is sickened by the sight of her. He tells her to be anything as long as it's not Fred. She appears somewhat confused and when he leaves the room changes back into her usual form. "As you wish" she says.

When Angel and Spike return home, they find the head on Angel's desk with a note signed by The Immortal. They are outraged; this is the second time he "distracted" them while he put the moves on "their" girl.

Acting

Carole Davis, who plays Ilona Costa Bianchi, the CEO of the Roman offices of Wolfram & Hart, plays a similar flamboyant Southern Italian role in Sex and the City as Amalita Amalfi.

Production details

This episode was the first time James Marsters met director David Greenwalt, despite working on the second season of Buffy together. "I was just a guest star, and I had no reason to go up to the writers' offices. I didn't go to the gods at that point," says Marsters. He says that Greenwalt is "exceptional" at inspiring actors to perform their best.

Actress Julie Benz says her last appearance as Darla in the flashback scenes of this episode was "a great way for us to... say goodbye to our characters, to be together and to have some fun." She was relieved to shoot such a "playful" scene, "because anything else I think would have been too hard; too difficult; too painful." She adds the sheet she was wrapped in kept snagging on the camera dolly and falling down. "It was a great way to end; flashing everybody!" she says.

Dawn Summers was intended to appear in this episode, but as Michelle Trachtenberg was unavailable for filming, the role of Dawn was rewritten for Andrew Wells.

Writing

It is a commonly held but mistaken belief that the producers sought Sarah Michelle Gellar for this episode. Another actress played Buffy Summers in a faraway shot of her dancing with The Immortal in a nightclub. In fact, the intention of this episode was always that neither Buffy nor the Immortal would be clearly seen. Gellar was actually sought for the penultimate episode "Power Play", but proved unavailable because she was busy finishing the filming of The Grudge. Writer David Fury explains this in an interview with Mike Jozic:

David Greenwalt refers to this episode as "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern go to Rome."

Continuity

Angel: But she's not finished baking yet. I gotta wait till she's done baking, you know, till she finds herself, 'cause that's the drill. Fine. I'm waitin' patiently, and meanwhile, The Immortal's eatin' cookie dough!

During their argument over which of them has helped save the world more times, Angel and Spike refer to the events of "Prophecy Girl" and "The Zeppo" (in which Angel helped to close the Hellmouth), "Doomed" and "Chosen" (in which Spike did so), "Graduation Day, Part Two" (in which Angel helped to defeat the Mayor), "Peace Out" (in which Angel Investigations defeated Jasmine) and "Becoming, Part Two" (in which Spike conspired with Buffy Summers so that she could kill Angelus before he could awaken the demon Acathla).

Cultural references