"Him" is the sixth episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on November 5, 2002 on UPN.
Plot
Xander introduces a reluctant Spike to his new living environment: Xander's apartment. Buffy tries to convince an equally reluctant Xander that Spike needs their help and a place better than the school basement to live. Buffy and Dawn talk privately about Buffy's feelings for Spike and why she is helping him in light of the pain he has caused her. Dawn starts to rant about love and relationships and Buffy leaves so she can return to work. Dawn then sees an attractive jock named R.J. on the football field and falls in love with him.
Buffy fights with and kills a demon at Anya's apartment that was sent by D'Hoffryn. Anya thanks her, but does not "want to need anyone's help." Buffy explains that the gang needs her and she wants to protect her friends. At the high school, Dawn awkwardly tries to start a conversation with R.J., who is discussing cheerleader tryouts with another player, O'Donnell, and two cheerleaders. Later, Dawn tries out for the cheerleading team wearing Buffy's old cheerleading uniform, but she falls and makes a fool of herself. At home that night, Dawn locks herself in the bathroom and cuts up the cheerleading uniform while Buffy tries to get her to come out.
Buffy tries to offer help and support, but considering Buffy's track record with guys, Dawn is not interested. The next day at school, Dawn overhears O'Donnell inform R.J. that he will not be starting quarterback for the game and she confronts O'Donnell. She yells at him at first, but then in a moment of anger, she shoves him and he falls down a flight of stairs. Dawn has a meeting with Principal Wood and Buffy about the incident and informs them that the jock just tripped and fell; Buffy realizes, though, that Dawn might have been motivated by her love for R.J. and actually pushed O'Donnell down the stairs.
R.J. catches up with Dawn after her meeting and asks her out on a date. At the Bronze, the gang sit around and talk about Spike's progress at Xander's place, then are shocked to see R.J. "getting all thrusty with some slut-bag hussy" - Dawn. Rolling Stone ranked the episode at #87 out of the 144 episodes in honor of the 20th anniversary of the show's ending: "It's not consequential in the final season, but it's much-needed levity in an otherwise heavy Season Seven."
Billie Doux, in a mixed review, called it very "funny, frothy, and well written. ... Michelle Trachtenberg showed some serious range." Reviewer Noel Murray called it "fairly inconsequential" but added, "The staging of the last act of 'Him' is pretty crackerjack, with the four ladies' schemes taking place first in split-screen and then in a series of boffo gags." Dan Owen, awarding it 3 out of 5 stars, thought it "an enjoyable hour of BtVS, which got better once the fundamental issue started to grow in complexity. ... I think this episode wasn't as funny as it thought it was," but its "silly, charming moments... held this amusing episode together."
Entertainment Weekly praises Trachtenberg's "dramatic and comedic potential" and the "tongue-in-cheek storytelling" — "with split-screen action backed by a '70s soundtrack and the pairing of reluctant partners Spike and Xander," all in all voting it a hilarious episode.
Notes
:1. The music used each time one of the women falls in love with R.J. is the Theme from A Summer Place, written by Max Steiner for the 1959 movie. In Season Two's episode "Inca Mummy Girl," Willow's soon-to-be-boyfriend Oz says that what would pique his interest in a girl "involves a feathered boa and the theme to 'A Summer Place'." Other music is "Warning Sign" by Coldplay and songs by The Breeders, who perform live at the Bronze.