Guest Starring: 
     
 DB Woodside: 
 (Robin Wood) 
   
 Tom Lenk: 
 (Andrew) 
   
 Iyari Limon: 
 (Kennedy) 
   
 Danny Strong: 
 (Jonathan) 
   
 Adam Busch: 
 (Warren) 
   
 Sarah Hagan: 
 (Amanda) 
   
 
 
  16. Storyteller.  
   
  As the Hellmouth grows in power under the school, Andrew begins a video diary detailing events.  
   
  Great quotes:  
   
 
'Welcome, gentle viewer...'
  • Andrew: “Buffy: slayer of the vampires.”
  • Anya walks in on Andrew while he is recording his video diary in the bathroom: “Why can’t you just masturbate like the rest of us?”
  • Robin Wood to the Scoobies: “I don’t know why any of you should trust one another; you’ve all been evil at some stage.”
  • Andrew screaming to the sky: “Get out of my brain!!”
  • Andrew: “You said we could all get through this.” Buffy: “I made it up, I’m making it all up; so what kind of hero does that make me? This isn’t the kind of story where good triumphs because good triumphs. People are going to die, girls, maybe me, probably you, probably right now.”
  
  Fantastic moments:  
   
 
Andrew, evil genius.
  • Andrew’s re-working of history is great stuff. He re-imagines the scene where Willow tries to kill him and Jonathan in Two To Go, in his mind he is a powerful magician against whom Dark Willow can barely cast a spell. He then tells his murder of Jonathan in two different ways, firstly he is talked into the act by The First, secondly he is possessed by the spirit of The First.
  • Andrew is recording a piece on the state of the Summers’ house, going into the front room he discovers Willow and Kennedy making out on the sofa. Rather than film this erotic encounter, he focuses on the window “Xander made those...”
  • The whole final scene, in which Buffy tricks Andrew into crying in order to close the Hellmouth, is filled with pain, suffering and – most of all – redemption. Buffy asks Andrew if his death saving the world will “... buy it all back...”; will he be redeemed, she asks him. Andrew’s emotions then pour forth when he genuinely thinks Buffy is going to kill him for the greater good, he finally stops telling stories and admits to his own failures and crimes. His blood isn’t needed in order to buy redemption, just his tears.
  • So Xander and Anya have ‘break-up’ sex. This event is mainly prompted by Andrew’s Jerry Springer-esque interview of the couple in which he forces them to explore their feelings surrounding Xander’s departure from the altar 12 months previously. The sequence ends in a strangely unexpected yet brilliant moment when Andrew repeatedly watches his recording of the interview; he appears to be mouthing Anya’s lines.
  
  Duff Bits:  
   
 
  • Can’t think of anything.
  
  Dean's comments:  
   
 
They are as gods.
In a single episode the BtVS writers have done to Andrew what it took 3 seasons to do to Spike, i.e. turn a 1-dimensional bit-part character into someone the audience gives a damn about. This – season seven’s best – episode is so thickly layered with in-jokes, post-modern references and nods to the audience that one can only marvel at the writers’ skill in putting it together coherently. From simple moments like Andrew filming and commenting on Buffy’s “... inspirational speech...” to the incredibly clever re-editing of Willow’s destruction of the Magic Box from Two To Go, ‘Storyteller’ is the most ambitious episode since Once More with Feeling. The central character of the piece is Andrew, who finally – after all his tales of turning away from evil to find his redemption – has his redemption thrust upon him brutally when Buffy unceremoniously exploits his fears to seal the Hellmouth. These are yet more signs that, for once and for all, the series has grown up. Andrew’s feelings are totally secondary to Buffy’s mission; the girl who is disappearing is given a quick “Snap out of it pep-talk by Buffy”, in season 1 such an incident required an entire episode. When Buffy corners Andrew and circles him twirling a knife, the realisation dawns upon the audience that she is really going to kill him. His moment of redemption is a moment of relief for us as we discover our hero was never going to kill him, probably. After all, when Andrew asks Buffy what she would have done if his tears didn’t work, the slayer simply walks away in silence.
A view inside Andrew's mind, a disturbing place indeed.
The final scene shows what great storytellers the BtVS production team are, Andrew admits his crimes, stops inventing fantasy’s about his past and buys his redemption. This bit-part comedy nerd has somehow become the central focus of a piece of heart-rending characterisation. There’s only one word to describe writing like that; Genius.		 
   
 10/10 
 
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