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Doublemeat Palace Written by: Jane Espenson Directed by: Nick Marck |
| Teaser |
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INT. BUFFY'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY (DAY 1) WILLOW and XANDER and ANYA sit, talking intensely. XANDER WILLOW ANYA WILLOW XANDER WILLOW ANYA WILLOW ANYA WILLOW Willow is starting to get wistful. WILLOW (cont'd) She stops herself. WILLOW (cont'd) XANDER ANYA WILLOW ANYA XANDER WILLOW Xander reacts to that -- it's true. ANYA BUFFY (V.0.) They turn to look at Buffy standing inside the doorway. She wears a fast-food uniform: orange polyester with cow spots and a matching orange paper hat. BUFFY BLACK OUT. END OF TEASER |
| Act One |
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INT. DOUBLEMEAT MANAGER'S OFFICE - CLOSE ON TV STILL PHOTO of a McDonald's-style fast-food restaurant, complete with drive-thru lane. NARRATOR (V.0.) STILL PHOTO of the interior of such a restaurant, the photo slightly yellowed and dated-looking. NARRATOR (cont'd;
V.0.) STILL PHOTO of a smiling Doublemeat worker behind the counter, with a dated hairstyle, smiling stiffly at the camera . NARRATOR (cont'd; V.0.) STILL PH0T0 of the view from behind the counter, looking at the customers. NARRATOR Suddenly, jarringly, we switch from photos to moving images, shot on video, quick under- or over-lit clips of employees looking awkward and sounding rehearsed: PIMPLY TEEN HOUSEWIFE TYPE ELDERLY MAN Then, suddenly, EXTREME SPLIT-SCREEN CLOSE-UPS OF A COW AND OF A CHICKEN NARRATOR (V.0.) IN A TACKY-LOOKING EFFECT THE COW AND CHICKEN PICTURES SWIRL TOGETHER, TO BE REPLACED BY... A STILL PH0T0 of a Doublemeat Medley. (It looks a lot like a Big Mac.) NARRATOR (cont'd; V.0.) INT. DOUBLEMEAT MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY The Orientation Video continues to play as Buffy, in uniform, sits alone and watches it in a cramped and dingy office. She's wearing a name tag: "Buffy Summers, TRAINEE." The lights are dim and the TV makes blue light flicker over her face. NARRATOR (V.0.) Buffy blinks in disbelief at something on the video. BUFFY TIME DISSOLVE: INT. DOUBLEMEAT MANAGER'S OFFICE - LATER - DAY Appalled, Buffy is still watching the TV. NARRATOR (V.0.) The video ends with a flourish of music MANNY the Manager steps into frame to turn off the TV set. MANNY Buffy stands up, faces Manny. We get our first look at him. He's in his late thirties, with a serious demeanor, and he wears thick heavy-rimmed glasses -- he looks like he might belong in the 5Os. He wears a name tag: "Manny Rocha: MANAGER" and a pin: "10 years." BUFFY He doesn't laugh. MANNY BUFFY Absently, Manny sucks in his stomach, hoists up his pants. This JINGLES a RING OF KEYS he wears hooked to a belt-loop -- about 2O keys dangle from it. MANNY BUFFY Manny is looking at her blankly. BUFFY (cont'd) He nods, satisfied. MANNY BUFFY MANNY Buffy follows Manny out of the office. Into... INT. DOUBLEMEAT BACK ROOM - DAY Primarily a break area. A beat-up looking table and a pay phone and a row of lockers against one wall. Two employees, PHILLIP and TIMOTHY, are sitting at the completely empty table. Phillip is older, an ex-con type. Timothy is young, gawky and gangly. They both stare blankly at fixed points on the wall, as if drugged. Buffy looks at the walls. There are posters up -- pictures of trees and sunsets and forests. One says "DEDICATION". Another says "PRODUCTIVITY". Another says "COOPERATION". MANNY BUFFY MANNY Timothy keeps staring at a poster. Phillip slowly moves his focus to Manny. He never looks at Buffy PHILLIP MANNY PHILLIP Creepily, Timothy never moves his eyes off the poster as he volunteers: TIMOTHY BUFFY TIMOTHY Manny has moved over to the wall of lockers. Some of the lockers have employees names and combination locks on them. Others, unlocked, are labeled "VACANT." Manny opens a "VACANT" locker... MANNY The locker has clothes in it. BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY Manny leads Buffy toward the back door where the time clock is. Phillip and Timothy still haven't moved. MANNY (cont'd) BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY They're at the time clock now. Manny picks up a time card, punches it and hands it to Buffy MANNY
(cont'd) INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER - DAY Now Manny leads Buffy through the kitchen. Other workers are there, cooking, packaging, grinding, slicing... Buffy tries to catch their eyes, but they don't look at her. MANNY Buffy finds herself staring at the meat slicer... BUFFY MANNY BUFFY BUFFY'S POV Of the slicer as the sharp blade creates perfect slices of pressed chicken meat, one after another after another. The slices pile up. She's fascinated. Buffy is startled out of it by a staticky amplified voice... VOICE (V.0.) MANNY BUFFY Buffy indicates cupboards beneath the food-prep tables. Manny touches his keys. MANNY He picks up a wrapped Doublemeat Medley from under the heat lamp. He unwraps it during what follows. MANNY
(cont'd) BUFFY MANNY He hands it to her. BUFFY She takes a bite, forces it down. BUFFY (cont'd) MANNY INT. DOUBLEMEAT COUNTER - DAY Buffy looks over GARY'S shoulder as he works the counter. He's very young and driven, so far the most alive person we've seen here. He has just finished taking money from a customer, an OVERWEIGHT MAN, and now he scurries to grab the drink, fries and package the order. As he works, Buffy trails him. BUFFY He grabs a drink cup, hands it to her... GARY Buffy looks at the cup. BUFFY Gary smiles over his shoulder as he gets the fries. Buffy fills the cup (with delicious soda). GARY BUFFY GARY BUFFY Gary looks around nervously. GARY Gary pushes the completed Order at the customer, who moves away. An older lady with an obvious wig steps up, we'll call her WIG LADY. Standing next in line behind her is a TYPICAL FAMILY, father, mother and three small children. WIG LADY GARY As the wig lady slowly counts out change... BUFFY GARY BUFFY He takes the wig lady's money. GARY Gary steps aside to fill the wig lady's order and Buffy steps up to the register. The wig lady smiles at her intensely. BUFFY WIG LADY BUFFY WIG LADY BUFFY Gary returns with the coffee and the McDonald's-style cherry pie. WIG LADY And she's gone. The Typical Family steps forward. BUFFY MR. TYPICAL BUFFY'S POV of her register. She suddenly realizes it has dozens of buttons. The pictures of food are tiny and largely identical to each other. A little surreal. BUFFY Points at one of the buttons, leans toward Mr. Typical... BUFFY DISSOLVE TO: INT DOUBLEMEAT DINING AREA - LATER - DAY Lunch time. Buffy sits alone amid the customers, eating a Doublemeat Medley and staring into space. INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - LATER - DAY Buffy walks through the kitchen. She hesitates at the door to the walk-in freezer. No one is looking at her. She opens it, looks inside -- we may get a shadowy impression of stacked boxes inside. She closes it, revealing Manny, who was standing on the other side of the door. MANNY BUFFY MANNY As he walks away: BUFFY INT. DOUBLEMEAT COUNTER - LATER - DAY Back at work. Another cashier, a retirement-aged woman named GINA, works the other register. Buffy, unsmiling, pushes a filled tray toward a customer. The customer moves away, revealing Willow, Xander, Anya and DAWN, waving and smiling. DAWN XANDER ANYA BUFFY Willow is at the opposite end of the group from Dawn, so she moves to her, gingerly trying to heal their rift. WILLOW Dawn is polite but cool. DAWN XANDER BUFFY DAWN During Buffy's answer, Willow gets bored and distracted, looking around, drumming her hands a little... BUFFY WILLOW Buffy leans over, talks softly... BUFFY ANYA BUFFY XANDER BUFFY ANYA Buffy looks back where Anya is pointing. It's Manny, dumping dehydrated pickle chips into water. XANDER WLLLOW DAWN BUFFY XANDER BUFFY XANDER Buffy goes about getting the food. Willow gets distracted and fidgets a little through the following: XANDER (cont'd) DAWN XANDER ANYA DAWN ANYA WILLOW ANYA Buffy returns with Xander's food. BUFFY Xander tears into the burger, a nice big bite. BUFFY (cont'd) XANDER BUFFY EXT. DOUBLEMEAT PALACE - NIGHT (DAY 1) Establishing night shot. INT. DOUBLEMEAT COUNTER - NIGHT (DAY 1) A few customers eat early dinners at the tables. Buffy and Gina are at the registers, but there are no customers to wait on. (If we see past them into the kitchen, Gary is visible, making fries.) Gina stares straight ahead. Buffy looks at Gina. BUFFY No reaction from Gina; Not even a blink. BUFFY(cont'd) Buffy sighs. She goes to Gina, takes her by the arm. BUFFY
(cont'd) Gina turns, very slowly, to look at Buffy. BUFFY (cont'd) GINA BUFFY GINA Buffy turns to see SPIKE. He's standing in front of her register, making a big show of studying the menu board overhead. BUFFY Reluctantly she goes over to him. BUFFY
(cont'd) SPIKE BUFFY SPIKE BUFFY SPIKE Buffy refuses to react to that. SPIKE (cont'd) BUFFY SPIKE BUFFY There is a SIZZLE off-screen as someone puts meat on the grill. Spike takes a moment to really absorb the feel of the place. Spike leans in, suddenly very serious. SPIKE He waits for her to meet his eyes. SPIKE (cont'd) BUFFY SPIKE BUFFY SPIKE Buffy finds herself leaning closer, unconsciously looking at Spike's body. BUFFY But she steels herself BUFFY (cont'd) She starts to turn toward where Gary is visible, working the fryer. But Spike touches her on the arm. She pauses. SPIKE And Buffy walks away, over to Gary. SPIKE (cont'd) EXT. DOUBLEMEAT PALACE - DUMPSTERS - NIGHT (DAY 1) It's later now and Gary is leaving work. Still in uniform, he leaves out the back door by the dumpster. He fishes the car keys out of his backpack and turns as if to head out to the parking jot. But then, there is a noise from behind the dumpster... a BUMP. The dumpster budges. Gary turns to look. GARY CLOSE ON GARY As he registers recognition. GARY (cont'd) SUDDENLY HE'S SCREAMING. We're on the dark, stained concrete ground as Gary's orange uniform hat fails to the ground. THE SCREAM CUTS 0FF SUDDENLY. BLACK OUT. END OF ACT ONE |
| Act Two |
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EXT. DOUBLEMEAT PALACE - MORNING (DAY 2) On a bright sunny morning. INT. DOUBLEMEAT BACK ROOM - MORNING Buffy stands in line to punch the time clock. Phillip and Timothy are in front of her. It's exactly nine o'clock. All three are already in their uniforms. BUFFY Timothy turns slowly to look at her. TIMOTHY It's Timothy's turn at the clock. He punches his card. BUFFY Timothy walks away without a look back. Buffy's turn. She punches her card, turns away from the clock to find herself... Face to face with Manny. She jumps. MANNY BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY Buffy finds Gary's time card, hands it to Manny. He puts it in a box with about fifty other cards. The box is labelled "Gone." BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY BUFFY For the first time, we see Manny smile. MANNY He walks away. INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - LATER - MORNING Buffy and Phillip are at the grill. Above the grill is a big sign that says "You're Part of the Doublemeat Experience!" There is also an array of buttons. Phillip speaks flatly, eyes on the grill, not on Buffy PHILLIP BUFFY PHILLIP BUFFY There's a long awkward beat. Phillip starts loading the grill with a set of beef patties. He hits a button, Buffy and Phillip look at the cooking meat in silence CLOSE ON: Beef patties frying, the grease bubbling around the edges, pooling on top... BUFFY AND PHILLIP WATCH BUFFY PHILLIP BUFFY PHILLIP BUFFY PHILLIP BUFFY Buffy gives up. Another beat. There's a BEEP. Phillip hands her the spatula and she flips the patties. BUFFY (cont'd) PHILLIP For the first time ever, he looks right at Buffy. PHILLIP (cont'd) BUFFY PHILLIP BUFFY PHILLIP BUFFY MANNY
(0.S.) Buffy turns to Manny with some relief. BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY BUFFY An armload of heavy wrapped meat is dropped onto the table in front of Buffy by Timothy. THUNK TIMOTHY Buffy looks at it. INT. XANDER'S APARTMENT - DAY Xander Sits on the sofa, holding the phone. He has to twist around to hang it up. XANDER Xander, having hung up, turns back around to find HALFREK, a vengeance demon, looking at him intensely. Some fog billows behind her. XANDER
(cont'd) Halfrek looks like Anya did when she was still a vengeance demon. She stares at Xander unnervingly. HALFREK Anya enters, consulting a notebook, not looking up. ANYA XANDER She sees Halfrek, looming over the trembling Xander ANYA HALFREK ANYA Halfrek takes a closer look at Anya HALFREK Anya and Halfrek hug. ANYA XANDER ANYA HALFREK The women laugh. Xander gets up and edges toward the front door. XANDER He's out. He closes the door. ANYA HALFREK ANYA HALFREK ANYA HALFREK ANYA HALFREK ANYA INT. DOUBLEMEAT LOCKER ROOM - NIGHT Buffy opens the "VACANT" lockers. One is empty. One has clothes and a purse. Another has clothes. Another has clothes and a wallet. These people didn't quit. INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - NIGHT Buffy is at the french fry station. There are two side-by-side fat basins. One is bubbling furiously, the fry basket inside. The other is calm. Buffy lowers the second fry basket in. It bubbles. Buffy raises the first fry basket. The fat there goes flat again. Buffy stares into it. Buffy's POV: close on the calm fat. Then it begins to bubble on its own. BUFFY looks at it, curious. Creepy Timothy is standing beside her now -- we didn't see him approach. TIMOTHY He stares too for a beat, then remembers: TIMOTHY (cont'd) Buffy doesn't react right away. She glances toward the front of the restaurant. She can see something outside, through the glass. It's Spike, walking deliberately toward the back of the building. He's looking in at Buffy. They exchange a long look. Buffy turns and heads toward the back, taking off her hat. EXT DOUBLEMEAT PALACE - DUMPSTERS - LATER (NIGHT) Buffy and Spike are having sex against the brick wall by the dumpsters. No kissing, no talking, nothing lovely about it. Just effort and need. Taped to the wall near them, by the door, lit by a small light is a lonely poster. A landscape labelled "TEAMWORK." INT. WILLOW'S ROOM - NIGHT Willow lies on her stomach on her bed, reading and highlighting a textbook. She kicks one foot nervously. There's a KNOCK AT THE DOOR. WILLOW AMY enters AMY Willow looks at her cautiously. WILLOW AMY Amy indicates her old cage, now sitting empty. WILLOW AMY Willow softens. WILLOW AMY WILLOW AMY WILLOW AMY Amy is looking at Willow's text, lying open on the bed. Willow turns to look at it. She has HIGHLIGHTED THE WHOLE PAGE. WILLOW AMY WILLOW AMY WILLOW Amy walks over to the cage, bends to look at it. AMY WILLOW As Amy picks up the cage and heads toward the door, very off-hand... AMY WILLOW Willow GASPS as her eyes FLOOD WITH BLACKNESS and her fingers momentarily CRACKLE WITH RED ELECTRICITY. She jolts, feeling what she's been missing. Amy smiles, watching from the doorway. Willow touches a vase. She gasps again, feeling the physical surge of it as the vase changes, OPENS LIKE A FLOWER. She touches a lamp. It BURSTS INTO FLAME AND THEN DISAPPEARS. She tries to catch her breath. WILLOW
(cont'd) AMY Amy is out the door, closing it behind her, but Willow hardly notices. She's still breathing hard, staring at her hands and the vase. INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - NIGHT CLOSE UP of a meat grinder. The ground meat emerges. BUFFY stares at it, as if hypnotized. On the receptacle for the ground meat as it gets full. Fuller. It overflows. A GLOP of meat hits the ground. Buffy bends over to clean it up. She sees something under The corner of the table supporting the grinder. She reaches under and picks it up, looks at it in the light. It's a human finger. She stares at it, uncomprehending, for a moment. INT. DOUBLEMEAT MANAGER'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT Manny is hanging an inspirational poster in his office. It says "MOTIVATION." Buffy BURSTS IN. She holds up the finger in front of him. BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY BUFFY MANNY Buffy walks out of the office fast. Manny hurries after her. MANNY
(cont'd) INT. DOUBLEMEAT DINING AREA- NIGHT Customers look up as Buffy bursts into the dining area. The TYPICAL FAMILY and the WIG LADY are among them. (The Wig Lady just has her coffee and cherry pie.) BUFFY She grabs a burger from the youngest child and throws it to the ground. The child starts crying. BUFFY (cont'd) Buffy knocks over a table... swats another burger from someone's hand. BUFFY (cont'd) Manny and Phillip have followed her out. They grab her by the arms, start hauling her back behind the counter. HIGH AND WIDE SHOT Buffy, as she's pulled back: BUFFY Customers, including the Typical Family and the Wig Lady with her cherry pie, stare at her. Employees stare from their side of the counter. Buffy struggles and yells: BUFFY (cont'd) WIG LADY BLACK OUT. END OF ACT TWO |
| Act Three |
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INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT Buffy is hauled into the kitchen by Manny and Phillip. MANNY Manny and Phillip are on either side of her. Buffy PUSHES them away with Slayer strength, sending them both flying. Manny, on the floor now, looks up at her. MANNY (cont'd) INT. XANDER'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Anya and Halfrek have settled in with snacks. HALFREK ANYA HALFREK ANYA HALFREK ANYA HALFREK ANYA HALFREK ANYA HAL ANYA HALFREK ANYA And we prelap: XANDER (O.S.) INT. MAGIC BOX - NIGHT Xander and Dawn are playing cards. XANDER A wrapped Doublemeat Medley plops onto the table near them. Dawn and Xander set their cards down and look up curiously at BUFFY, who has just put it there. BUFFY DAWN XANDER BUFFY Dawn crosses to join Buffy at the counter, leaving Xander alone and out-of-frame at the table. DAWN BUFFY Dawn shrugs, a confirmation. BUFFY (cont'd) Buffy takes the finger from her purse, wrapped in a napkin. She puts it on the counter, unwraps it. DAWN BUFFY XANDER They turn to look at Xander, who is just swallowing a bite. The very last bite of the Doublemeat Medley. The wrapper sits open and empty in front of him. XANDER
(cont'd) BUFFY XANDER BUFFY XANDER Willow enters, rushing in, flustered and jittery. WILLOW Xander is wiping his tongue with his shirttail. XANDER Willow is rummaging in her backpack, fidgeting. WILLOW DAWN XANDER WILLOW BUFFY DAWN BUFFY WILLOW Willow grabs a pencil off the table. She gasps at the surge of power. The pencil DROOPS in her hand like a cooked noodle. She looks around... no one saw. She hides it. DAWN XANDER BUFFY Buffy heads out. WILLOW Willow fidgets, she can't stay still. Dawn sees that something's wrong, softens a little toward her. DAWN WILLOW INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - NIGHT The restaurant is closed and dark. The chairs are up on the tables, the upward-pointing legs making strange silhouettes. Buffy moves though, slowly looking around cautiously. The bait is fully schmucked. In the kitchen the shapes and shadows are even scarier. Buffy opens the freezer, steps inside, leaving the door open behind her. The open door is always visible behind her in the frame, as if someone could slam it closed at any moment. CUT TO: Now Buffy is looking at the meat slicer. A gleaming blade for the slicer lies on the counter next to it. Buffy leans over, examining the slicer mechanism, touching it tentatively. The slicer blade is briefly unseen, blocked by her body. She straightens up again. The blade is still there, no fiend took it. CUT TO: Buffy leans over the meat grinder. Peering into it. Her head is almost inside the meat chute. If someone pushed her... Buffy hears something behind her. She jumps and spins. No one there. But there is a dim light shining from Manny's office. BUFFY Buffy moves toward the office. She trips, almost falls. She bends down, picks up what she tripped over. She has to hold it up into the scarce light to see what it is... An ankle and foot. Wearing a wing-tip shoe. BUFFY (cont'd) INT. MAGIC BOX NIGHT Willow has a rack of test tubes on the table, several of them contain liquids. She also has containers, science books, a microscope, and the burger wrapper. Willow combines liquids in a beaker, but her HANDS SHAKE. WILLOW Dawn and Xander, at the counter, don't hear her. DAWN XANDER DAWN XANDER DAWN XANDER Dawn looks at Xander, appalled. DAWN WILLOW Xander and Dawn go over to Willow at the table. XANDER WILLOW Willow prepares a microscope slide with a speck of meat from the wrapper. Unsteady, she drops the slide, picks it up. Anya enters, out of breath and hurrying. ANYA DAWN ANYA XANDER ANYA XANDER ANYA XANDER ANYA XANDER WILLOW Xander holds the slide while Willow drops some of her solution onto it from a medicine dropper. WILLOW (cont'd) DAWN ANYA XANDER Willow is looking through the microscope now. DAWN WILLOW XANDER WILLOW XANDER ANYA XANDER Willow is looking into the 'scope again. WILLOW DAWN WILLOW Willow looks up. WILLOW (cont'd) INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - NIGHT Buffy, clutching the shoe/foot to her chest, is making her way back through the cooking area. It's still dark, scary, and now something is moving at the corner of our vision... Buffy sees what looks like a human scalp on the counter! BUFFY She reaches out... touches it... BUFFY
(cont'd} A distinct FOOTSTEP behind Buffy. BUFFY (cont'd) She turns, and indeed, there is wig lady, without her wig -- a few wisps of thin hair protrude from the sides of her head. WIG LADY Then a grey tube of lamprey-head rises snakily from the top of the woman's head. The woman's eyes are sucked in through their sockets -- they're actually the lamprey's eyes. WIG LADY (cont'd) The lamprey, still attached to the lady, shoots toward Buffy, its tooth-ringed mouth in her face. It sprays her in the face with liquid. WIG LADY (cont'd) Buffy throws a punch, but the lamprey DUCKS IT. Buffy tries a kick. . . she can't move her leg. We're on her legs as she tries harder, manages to take a step, but it's slow and painful. She turns toward the front door, puts out a hand, tries to grab something to pull herself in that direction. Behind her we can see the lamprey, getting closer. BLACK OUT. END OF ACT THREE |
| Act Four |
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INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - NIGHT (DAY 2) The lamprey projects from the top of the woman's head. As it snakes and sniffs closer to Buffy, wig lady continues to talk. WIG LADY Buffy's eyes dart around, looking for help. WIG LADY (cont'd) Buffy sees the meat-slicer blade glinting on the counter near her hand. Buffy throws herself at it, but she falls short, hitting the floor hard several feet away from the blade. She pulls herself along, toward it... EXT DOUBLEMEAT PALACE - NIGHT Willow walks up to the closed and darkened building. She tries the doors Locked. She cups her hands around her face to peer inside. She knocks on the door. INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - NIGHT We can hear Willow's faint knocking in the distance as Buffy pulls herself closer to where the cutting blade lies on a counter over her head. WIG LADY Buffy pushes up, painfully lifting her head... THE LAMPREY is right in her face, teeth in front of her eyes. Buffy opens her mouth -- to talk or scream, but nothing comes out. WIG LADY (cont'd) Buffy, her arms still working, grabs a plastic serving tray off the floor near her and SLAMS the Lamprey across the face with it one handed. The Lamprey head is snapped back. Then Buffy drops back down and rolls painfully under the table. Moving out of sight of the lamprey as it recovers. When she has recovered, the Wig Lady has to bend over low to let the Lamprey snake around under the tables, searching for Buffy. WIG LADY (cont'd) Buffy moves under the tables, pulling herself slowly along with her arms. There's a CRACKLE from the drive-thru speaker. WILLOW
(0.S.) On BUFFY, lying flat, eyes wide and desperate. EXT. DOUBLEMEAT PALACE - NIGHT Willow stands in front of the drive-thru speaker (a cow head with a beak to talk into). WILLOW INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN - CONTINUED - NIGHT The lamprey head, inches from Buffy hesitates, distracted by Willow's interruption. It swivels away. Buffy inches farther away from it. WILLOW (0.S.) EXT. DOUBLEMEAT PALACE - NIGHT Willow leans against the speaker now... slumped, exhausted... WILLOW INT. DOUBLEMEAT KITCHEN NIGHT We can't see the lamprey now. Buffy, face-down, has wedged herself so far under the table that she's almost out the other side. She keeps edging farther and farther that way. WILLOW (0.S.) Buffy has pushed herself so far that her shoulder protrudes out from under the far edge of the table. And the Wig Lady is there. She grabs Buffy with her hands, surprisingly strong, pulls her out into the open and pulls her to her feet. Buffy sags there. The Lamprey fastens onto Buffy's shoulder and begins to feed. Buffy flails with a hand, catches a hold of the meat slicer, WRENCHES it with all her weight. It TOPPLES WITH A CRASH, hitting the meat grinder as it falls, which turns on with a GROWL... BUFFY'S POV Buffy's breathing gets louder... WILLOW (O.S.) Willow's voice faces away. Buffy's vision dims, the screen darkening. Then, a CRASH, a window breaking. Buffy's vision lightens. Willow is standing in the doorway between the dining and kitchen areas. WILLOW THE LAMPREY ON THE LADY'S HEAD Swivels its round little toothy mouth toward Willow. (It leaves a ring of torn clothing and flecks of blood on Buffy's shoulder.) WIG LADY It rears back and SPITS its paralyzing liquid. Willow falls out of frame. Was she hit? Long beat. The lamprey turns back toward BUFFY. Then, Willow rises into frame behind the lamprey. And she's holding the slicer blade. WILLOW Willow swings the blade like a baseball bat, slices the lamprey where it's attached to the top of the lady's head. The lady's body falls to the floor. So does the grey, wet length of lamprey. So does Buffy. WILLOW
(cont'd) The lamprey lives on, even detached -- a long length of gray tube. It writhes on the floor, gnashing its circle of teeth. It's dangerously close to Buffy. Buffy triumphantly brings up her hand. .. she's holding a PLASTIC KNIFE. She plunges it into the writhing lamprey. It SCREAMS (the only sound to actually come out of its mouth). Willow grabs the injured lamprey, struggles with its slippery length -- like wrestling a huge squirming gray macaroni noodle -- and dumps it into the running meat grinder. The lamprey is ground into a gray paste. Willow helps BUFFY to her feet. WILLOW (cont'd) BUFFY WILLOW Buffy and Willow look into the grinder. BUFFY/WILLOW EXT. BUFFY'S HOUSE - DAY (DAY 3) Shiny new morning. INT. BUFFY'S HOUSE - FOYER - DAY Willow opens the front door. Amy is standing there. AMY WILLOW Willow doesn't step aside. AMY WILLOW AMY WILLOW AMY WILLOW AMY WILLOW AMY WILLOW AMY WILLOW AMY WILLOW Amy looks at her, almost a challenge. But eventually, she turns and leaves. INT. DOUBLEMEAT MANAGER'S OFFICE - DAY Buffy, her uniform folded over her arm, knocks on the open door of the manager's office and enters. Someone new is there, LORRAINE, around 30, Pleasant-looking. She looks up from taking down the inspirational posters. She has a "5 year" button. BUFFY LORRAINE BUFFY LORRAINE BUFFY LORRAINE Buffy hands Lorraine the uniform and starts to leave. Then she turns back... BUFFY LORRAINE BUFFY Lorraine closes the talk, speaks confidentially. LORRAINE BUFFY LORRAINE BUFFY LORRAINE BUFFY LORRAINE BUFFY LORRAINE BUFFY LORRAINE BUFFY LORRAINE She points at her "5 year" pin. LORRAINE (cont'd) On Buffy, looking resigned. BUFFY BLACK OUT. END OF SHOW |