"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Get It Done (TV Episode 2003) Poster

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8/10
Buffy visits another dimension
katierose2958 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
The middle of season seven is filled with episodes that don't really accomplish a lot. From "Don't Ever Leave Me" to "Get It Done," it seems like the season is just spinning it's wheels and setting stuff up for later. This isn't the most important episode, and you could probably skip it if you're in a hurry to get through the season. But it does show Buffy's growing rift with the Potentials and Mr. Wood's hatred of Spike, both of which will play into later episodes. All in all, it has some good parts, but it's not vital.

"Get it Done" revolves around Buffy visiting another dimension. Principal Wood comes to the Summers' house and gives Buffy a bag of Slayer stuff left to him by his mother. Inside is a cool little shadow puppet thing that, when activated, opens a mystical doorway. The First has been tormenting the Potentials, driving one girl to suicide. Willow is still scared to do magic. Spike won't fight full out anymore. And Buffy is frustrated with all of them. When Dawn translates the shadow puppet instructions to mean something about the Slayer gaining more power, Buffy jumps into another dimension. As soon as she does, a giant demon appears in the Summers' living room. It beats up Spike and the others and runs off. In order to get Buffy back, they need to throw the demon through the portal again. But the Scoobies now have two big problems: (1) The demon is gone and (2) the portal has closed.

Willow and Spike, the two "people" that Buffy was most annoyed with for holding back with their powers now have to save her. Willow agrees to use magic and get the portal open again. In doing so, she begins to lose control. She sucks the life energy (or something) out of Kennedy in order to create a portal. Kennedy is scared, but Willow keeps the doorway open. Meanwhile, Spike stops by Sunnydale High and retrieves his leather coat. Feeling more like himself, he heads after the demon. After a rousing fight, which cheers him up considerably, Spike drags the dead demon back to the Summers' house and tosses its body through the portal.

In the Shadowland (or whatever it's called) Buffy has met up with the men who made the first Slayer. Apparently, they tied this girl up and infected her with the essence of a demon in order to create a better fighter. Now they tell Buffy that she is the "Last Guardian of the Hellmouth" and offer to give her even more power to fight the First. When they try to infect her with more demon essence, though, Buffy refuses. She fights them off. One of the men shows her a vision of what she will fact in the final battle. Then she's swept through the portal gain. Buffy is worried that she should have taken the extra power. The vision that the shadow man showed her is of an army of UberVamps waiting to attack.

There are some good parts to this episode. I love Andrew and his "Big Board." The silly drawings and colorful markers he used to make are just adorable. He's so happy to be a "guest-age at the Summers' house. He finally has a place to belong. And I like Spike and Principal Wood eying each other warily in the basement. Neither one of them is gonna back down. The more Mr. Wood tries to question Spike and get real answers, the more evasive and smirk-y Spike becomes. Honestly, Spike always seems more comfortable dealing with assertive women than men. With Mr. Woods pushing he's gotta push back. And when Spike hears that Buffy filled Mr. Wood in about his soul, his annoyed, hurt, embarrassed, "What are we just telling everybody now?" just cracks me up. I also enjoy Buffy's "everybody sucks but me" speech. When she starts Chloe's eulogy off with "Chole was an idiot" I just have to smile. It's about time some put the Potentials in their place. (Have I mentioned that I hate the Potentials?) The scene with the shadow puppets coming to life on the wall is also pretty cool. They begin moving all by themselves and there's drum beats and screams as they spin faster and faster. It's creepy.

On the down side, I must shout "Shut up, Kennedy!" forty times whenever I watch this episode. She's incredibly annoying as she tries to lecture REAL characters like Willow, Spike, Buffy, etc... I just can't stand her. Also, I think that Buffy has a point. Willow and Spike, especially, are holding back. They're afraid of going evil again and the don't want to risk hurting anyone. It's gonna get people killed and they need to cut it out. But did Buffy have to confront them about it in front of the Potentials? Willow and Spike have legitimate fears and I think Buffy could have been a little more sensitive. Also, if those guys in the desert put a demon essence inside the first Slayer, does that mean that Slayers are part Demon? Like Cordy over on "Angel?" Why couldn't Spike always hit Buffy then? Am I just understanding that wrong? Finally, isn't this around the time of the season that Buffy traditionally has her birthday episode? Why don't we get a Buffy party this year?

My favorite part of the episode: Spike finally gets his coat back!! YAY!! I have no idea how it wound up in the school basement, since he left it at the Summers' house last season in "Seeing Red." But, who cares? At least he's wearing it again and acting more like himself.
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7/10
Baffled
bpvalentine13 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
OK, so what exactly do people have against this episode?

While I agree season 7 in general is weak compared to Buffy at its height (say season 3 through 6 maybe, but especially 3), I think episodes like Get It Done is an example where season 7 shines. My reason being that Buffy is always best when it's about character, not so much the Big Bad stuff. It's more about how characters "deal."

And how characters deal is what this episode is all about.

Of particular interest (and what doesn't seem get much notice in these reviews) is Spike having to face through Principal Wood the tragic outcome, face of grief and revenge, from survivor of one of vampire Spike's "greatest achievements." Something that Whedon must have been setting up ever since we first saw the flashback in the subway where we see how Spike got his leather coat.

On its own, this makes the tension of this episode worth it all by itself.
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8/10
Revelations and ravishment
Joxerlives15 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
The Good; Buffy's trip to see the Shadowmen finally answers a lot of the questions. Plus bad boy Spike is finally back! The Shadowcasting scene is surprisingly creepy.

The Bad; How convenient Buffy is wearing a skirt for the first it in ages when 'knocked up' by the Shadowmen's pet demon?

Women good/men bad; So the Slayer, the symbol of female empowerment is actually based on the subjugation of women? If it was anyone but Joss you'd think this was misogynistic but here Buffy once more shows that the modern Slayer has overcome the need for patriarchal domination, she chooses to be the Slayer and will only work WITH them to save humanity. Is her breaking the staff a phallic symbol? One theory is that vamps are undead and are therefore a travesty of life. Women are the lifegivers so the Slayer's vamp sense is based upon that, that they are almost allergic to something that is against nature? Also possible that women are the Slayers as they can accept the demon within them just as they conceive a child.

Kinky dinky; How long have you got? Buffy is multiply penetrated by the demon and refers to herself being 'knocked up' and 'violated' which is normally CC's job. We discover why Buffy and Faith (and it's hinted a couple of the Potentials) have this dark and kinky sexual side to them, that the Slayer was created in a whirlwind of rape, bondage, impregnation, dark magic and female enslavement. We now know why Buffy and Faith have a thing for older men (the Shadowmen/Watchers) with 'a little demon in them' like Angel, The Master, Spike, the Mayor, Dracula, Slayer's son Wood, the Immortal. You wonder if Dawn will be the same, she share's Buffy's blood and she's already had a crush on Spike and Justin? This is the last time Buffy gets sexually assaulted in the series, that makes seven (Xander in The Pack, twice by Larry in Halloween, by Cam and then the entire mutated swimteam in Go Fish, by Spike in Seeing Red) Not counting The Master and presuming Drac was consensual. Borders on Got-fic.

Captain Subtext; Buffy is actually made stronger by the Shadowmen forcing themselves upon her, a metaphor for the power of female sexuality? Note the gentle, intimate gesture of the third Shadowman stroking his hand down Buffy's cheek even after their violent conquest of her that preceded it (repeated between Boyd and Echo on Dollhouse and Buffy/Faith in Graduation Day pt2). And Buffy actually let's him do it, it's almost a fatherly moment of affection between them. (Her Slayer side born of the Shadowmen, her Buffy side born of Hank and Joyce?).Interestingly after her girlfriend rejects her Willow goes to Buffy's bed and suggests she use 'kisses' (and Twinkies) to motivate her.

Guantanamo Bay; The Shadowmen/Watchers are supremely ruthless, Buffy's almost callous treatment of Chloe shows her going the same way. After this she wakes up to her behaviour and is much more human from now on.

Some people say that this is Buffy at her nastiest but I sympathise with her, when you see the scene with her walking around at the start guarding over the sleeping potentials she just looks so concerned and loving.

Scoobies in bondage: Buffy in chains as she's ravished by the demon.

Scoobies knocked out: Buffy by the Shadowmen, Will and Spike by the demon, Dawn and Kennedy by Willow

Kills: one demon for Spike, the big bad is back!

Notches on Scooby bedpost: do we count Buffy and the Shadowmen's pet demon as sex? It's definitely metaphorical rape but is it actual? Her reaction is like a porn star faking it, moaning, groaning, shuddering, writhing, straining against her chains. Shiver me timbers? However this is Joss and the power she gains allows her to break free, the First Slayer saying the Slayer derives power from pain, the 'women experience pain differently' concept coming to the fore again.

Buffy: 4 confirmed; Angel, Parker, Riley, Spike. 3 possible, Dracula+RJ+Shadowman's demon(?)

What the fanficcers thought; One in particular where the Shadowmen keep Buffy as their slave but in the follow up we find she's been faking all along in order to give herself a mini-break from the responsibilities of Sunnydale 'Gotta Get It Done'. Another where she travels back through time Quantum Leap style, inhabiting the body of every Slayer through history and gaining power by enjoying their greatest sexual experience (and meeting Faith doing the same along the way)

Questions and observations; Dawn more and more starting to take on the role of junior Watcher and helps organise the Scoobs with Buffy gone. Buffy asks Anya what she actually does, she later shows us when she helps Willow figure out the spell to bring Buffy back. When Buffy says she wants the old Spike back is she voicing the opinion of many fans? Here we finally understand what Dracula meant when he referred to the darkness within Buffy and what Adam was referring to in Restless when Buffy says "I'm not a demon" and he replies "Is that a fact?"

Note that the bag which Woods' gives her is the same one she get's the mud from in 'Restless' after which she gives her 'primitive' (or stripper?)leer after giving herself an impromptu facial. According to the Shadowmen Buffy is the Hellmouth's last guardian which indeed she is. Will mentions 'Bring it on'. Willow says that she sucked power from the most powerful person nearby which was Kennedy. Note that Dawn takes a lot longer to recover consciousness than Kennedy, maybe Slayer healing?

So if Wood's bag wasn't passed down does that explain why Buffy was never found until she was 15?

Marks out of 10; 8/10 certainly LOTS to write about
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8/10
Not enough
ossie8519 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Buffy has a dream that includes The First Slayer telling her that its 'not enough'. Principal Wood gives Buffy a bag of items that belonged to his mother, in this bag is a box that takes Buffy back to the origin of the slayer. Spike tries to get back the edge that made him such a good fighter. D'Hoffryn is still trying to kill Anya.

Why It's So Good - The Slayer mythology can sometimes be accused of being a bit vague, and this episode attempts to clear that up a bit! Some great cinematography, and the first hints that the Slayer power maybe isn't as innocent as we've assumed.

Watch Out For - Its my bone.

Quote - " Well, I've got a system. It's called flunking out. No, just kidding. I'm paying someone to do my work. I'm kidding. I love to see your eyeballs change colour when you think I'm gonna flunk out...." - Dawn.
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4/10
Buffy is Banished to the Shadow Realm
Samuel-Shovel13 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
In "Get It Done", Buffy receives a bag from Principal Wood that once belonged to his mother. In it, they discover a book that transports Buffy to meet the Shadow People, the creators of the First Slayer. The gang must figure out a way to get her back, forcing Willow to use powerful magics. Spike tracks down a demon that showed up in a swap when Buffy left. Kennedy takes on the role of leader of the Potentials. One has a nervous breakdown and kills herself after talking to the First. Buffy learns of all the thousands of Ubervamp awaiting the call from the First.

I don't really understand anyone's motivation or mood or tone anymore. Buffy's weird speech after that girl dies was extremely bizarre. I don't know what Spike's doing.

I also don't need the Slayer origin story either. Franchises seem to think that we always want the minutia of details regarding the start of every story. Can we just go with "there's a Slayer that kills vamps and that's the way it is"? I don't need all this ancient mystic stuff.

The final season has gone off the rails a bit.
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2/10
Get It Done? Get It Over With Already is more like it.
skay_baltimore11 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The key to the entire series:

Principal Wood: "Well...there's nothing like the end of the world to bring people together."

Whether or not people realize it...THIS is actually the cornerstone of the entire NWO. They foment terror in order to bring people together for ultimate control/enslavement. The irony is that togetherness in one sense is the ultimate goal of good. But there are two distinct kinds of togetherness. One is the kind that sustains individual differences, and is brought together by love. The other is the kind that attempts to obliterate individual differences and is brought together by fear. The puppet masters are architects of the latter.

Chloe hangs herself. (Who would have ever thought that a household of teenage girls -- with no parental supervision -- could ever be this depressing?)

Buffy decides it's time to break open the bag of stuff that belonged to Principal Wood's Slayer mother.

And Dawn now has special translation skills from ancient languages? (Heck...I thought she was still working on mastering English.) Not to worry though...eventually the Samarian translates itself into English. Wow...to be a Buffy fan...

They use a shadow puppet thing, along with whatever Dawn is translating from an old book, to open a portal to another dimension. Also, the history of how the first slayer was brought about is revealed -- she was injected with some demon powers. Buffy jumps through the temporarily open portal into another dimension, but it's a two-way street. A demon enters the Sunnydale dimension. Xander quips...the "exhange student" is a demon that they now have to fight. The demon runs away. But not before making a big mess in the house. More work for Xander to fix up the house. Again.

Best part of the episode? After Buffy entered the portal, and is talking to the three tribal men, she starts blathering on and on until one of them takes his stick and smacks her in the head to shut her the eff up! Then...later on...one of them says: "The First Slayer did not talk so much". LOL Funny stuff!!

Cheap CGI for the demon that created The First Slayer.

Dark Willow re-opens the portal.

And good old Buffy...the Know-It-All-Slayer...decides that she doesn't need any additional power and that she knows more than the men who created The First Slayer, despite the fact that she's totally over matched against The First (Evil).

Spike finds his long black coat in the school basement and now he's....what? Spiderman? Superman? SuperSpike?

Spike defeats the demon...blah...blah...blah...Buffy refuses the help of the three tribesmen...blah...blah...blah...the demon is exchanged for Buffy and she returns to Sunnydale...blah...blah...blah...Buffy realizes after it's too late that she should have taken the power from the tribesmen...blah...blah...blah...
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