The Cheese Stands Alone

All of the conflict and dissension that has been building amongst the Scooby Gang in Season 7 comes to a climax in "Empty Places." As the town of Sunnydale is emptied of all its residents, the Summers home is going through its own expulsion. After the badly executed attack on Caleb, Buffy proposes yet another open attack on the winery. The Gang and Potentials revolt, and Buffy is kicked out of her house...and out of the club. The scene of the mutiny resembles some sort of Slayer intervention, and in many ways, it is. While the motives of The Gang seem somewhat less than pure, the resulting solitude for Buffy serves a greater purpose. Perhaps the opportunity to be physically alone gives Buffy the chance to contemplate her lonely status as the Slayer ("Touched.")

Once again, we have Spike as Truth Speaker. This is a role that is played by multiple characters over the entire series (Anya, Cordelia, Spike, Andrew, etc.) While Buffy's epiphany about her own culpability in her solitary status is something she comes to on her own, it is Spike who reminds her of the power and nobility in her role as Slayer. After deciding (with Spike's prompting, of course) to return to her Potentials, Buffy finds the Super Scythe (my name for it, anyway) and rescues the remaining Potentials. ("End of Days") Her return to the group seems to equal her return to power and clear-thinking because she is soon full of ideas, a plan not to hold back The First, but to defeat it.