The Scent In Question

[white avenger]

This has probably been asked before, but with their oft mentioned vampire senses, primarily smell, why didn't either of our intrepid blood suckers notice that the scent in the apartment in Rome wasn't Buffy's? (I know that the Buffy/Immortal affair was supposed to be real at the time and Joss (curse him!) only changed it into a hoax as a plot device in Season 8, but sense he did, it has to be explained, if only so that I can sleep nights.

[Keanoite]

Maybe they took some of her clothing and stuff like that and left them around the apartment to create the ambiance!

[Joyce Summers]

Yeah, ditto. I mean it says in season 8 that the other two Buffy decoys need to trick the world that they are actually Buffy. So they dyed their hair, followed her style etc so it would make sense that maybe they would have a few items of her clothes, her perfume. "Smell-stuff" to trick the more erm....smell-honed members of the demon community.

Please people, do not learn from my english today. Hehe.

[Kemy]

Well theres one thing that really annoys me about the Decoys that they couldn't overcome.

Tara could walk into a room and know that it wasn't Buffy in "Who Are You" so I'm assuming anyone with The Sight can do the same, even their little psychic squad in the castle and any Seer's out there.

The ambient "aura" would be of that person, not Buffy.

[white avenger]

Maybe they took some of her clothing and stuff like that and left them around the apartment to create the ambiance!



...except for the fact that there seemed to be no knowledge that anyone familiar with the real Buffy's scent would be showing up in Rome, and if the Immortal has super sensitive senses like a vampire, then that would only confuse the issue of having him believe that the impostor was, in fact, the real Buffy. It could be, of course, that Buffy had very recently visited the apartment for some reason, but in Season 8 I got the distinct impression that she had never been there.

Willow might've cast some sort of spell to turn the Roman impostor into a veritable clone of the real thing, right down to fingerprints, scent, even DNA. Hopefully that'll be explained (or more likely simply ignored completely) if and when either Spike or Angel show up at Buffy's castle gate sometime in the, hopefully, near future.

(Ya see, Joss, the trouble you get into by changing canon like that? I hope you've learned your lesson!)

[palabravampiress]

(Ya see, Joss, the trouble you get into by changing canon like that? I hope you've learned your lesson!)

I'll forgive him just this once, though. The Girl In Question was just too funny. Then, to open up the first Buffy comic and see another funny joke... it was worth the canon change to me!

[nerd4hire]

Let's assume vampires have a sense of smell akin to a bloodhound. If you put a piece of clothing in front of a blood hound that's 2 years old, will it still be able to find that person? Do people's scents change. I don't know.

I know this; a bloodhound won't seek the scent of a person unless he's directed towards it. In other words it has to consciously make a decision to peel that one tiny scent away from the multitudinous scents it's buried in, and seek that particular scent.

Also they believe they're going to see Buffy. They've accepted it. They're not applying their senses to the possibility of being fooled. In the night club they see a flash of Buffy dancing. They see hair, her general size, and style of dancing. If they're expecting trickery they might have enough there to clue into unBuffyness, but they don't so they just accept the fact they've been given. That's Buffy.

[TabulaRasa]

Let's assume vampires have a sense of smell akin to a bloodhound. If you put a piece of clothing in front of a blood hound that's 2 years old, will it still be able to find that person? Do people's scents change. I don't know.

I know this; a bloodhound won't seek the scent of a person unless he's directed towards it. In other words it has to consciously make a decision to peel that one tiny scent away from the multitudinous scents it's buried in, and seek that particular scent.

Also they believe they're going to see Buffy. They've accepted it. They're not applying their senses to the possibility of being fooled. In the night club they see a flash of Buffy dancing. They see hair, her general size, and style of dancing. If they're expecting trickery they might have enough there to clue into unBuffyness, but they don't so they just accept the fact they've been given. That's Buffy.


I had figured they just weren't paying attention to her scent.

[Evilyn]

But, when you love someone, one of the first things you remember is the way a person smelled. It sounds kinda icky, but it's true. Growing up, my Mom always smelled like hamburgers and Chanel No.5, because she was the manager of a store and they cooked those little White Castle like burgers there. And she always wore that perfume. So anytime I smell burgers like that, I relate that smell to her. I relate the smell of motor oil to my Dad, because he owned a service station when I was growing up. To this day, when I smell a certain brand of fabric softner it reminds me of an ex-boyfriend and it brings a smile to my face.

So, I figure one of the first things they would do, especially since neither had seen her in a while is breathe in her scent. I'm with you WA, this is a question that needs to be properly addressed. It is more than likely that they quickly accepted that she was with the Immortal and got too lost in their brooding to even realize.

[Jules]

Having not read the comics I'm out of my depth here, but I'm going to reply anyway, and it's not to try and answer the question, just raise another one.

Angel smells Spike on Buffy in Chosen, he says he remembers Spike's scent. In theory, shouldn't he remember Buffy's scent that automatically, so that if she had walked into a room he would know it was her. I suppose you could argue that he isn't looking for Spike when he speaks to Buffy but he is trying to figure out why she is trying to send him away, so he could tap into his other senses.

I'm babbling now, so I'll stop :)

[justanotherjen]

But, when you love someone, one of the first things you remember is the way a person smelled. It sounds kinda icky, but it's true. Growing up, my Mom always smelled like hamburgers and Chanel No.5, because she was the manager of a store and they cooked those little White Castle like burgers there. And she always wore that perfume. So anytime I smell burgers like that, I relate that smell to her. I relate the smell of motor oil to my Dad, because he owned a service station when I was growing up. To this day, when I smell a certain brand of fabric softner it reminds me of an ex-boyfriend and it brings a smile to my face.

So, I figure one of the first things they would do, especially since neither had seen her in a while is breathe in her scent. I'm with you WA, this is a question that needs to be properly addressed. It is more than likely that they quickly accepted that she was with the Immortal and got too lost in their brooding to even realize.

I completely understand this. Smell is closely linked to memories. My mom wore the same perfume. After she died my dad put what was left into those little plug in air fresheners. It was eerie--the whole house smelled like my mom. The biggest scent for me is cookies. I always remember her baking cookies so whenever I'm baking I remember her.

I had actually read the first 5 Season 8 comics right before I watched this Angel episode and although I knew that Angel and Spike thought it was the real Buffy I was like, "wait--they changed that, she is one of the impostor Buffys now because of the comic" which made it more funny for me since they were chasing and fighting over the wrong girl.

But I wondered the same thing--how come they couldn't tell since she was both of their "true loves". I think they were just too caught up in their own personal war with each other over her. It wasn't really about helping Buffy, it was about besting each other.

[GorramSpaceTrash]

But I wondered the same thing--how come they couldn't tell since she was both of their "true loves". I think they were just too caught up in their own personal war with each other over her. It wasn't really about helping Buffy, it was about besting each other.

Exactly what was I thinking. Both Spike and Angel are so wrapped in besting the Immortal and each other over Buffy they don't even stop to contemplate if it's the real one. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if it was an old trick of the Watcher's Council with Slayers past, having decoys available in different locations. I'm sure there's some method to substitute for the whole 'scent' issue.

[Black Eye Guy]

I don't think the first thing they would have noticed in the apartment would have been the lack of smell, you wouldn't notice that.

In the Club, it was packed with people dancing, Think of the amount of perfume, cologne and sweat that would have been in the air, I don't think they would have noticed her scent there either.

About Tara noticing Faith in Buffys Body, she was able to see Faiths Aura stuff in Buffys body, it didn't flow right or look correct - that isn't the case here, the aura would look normal. So unless the person had met Buffy before they wouldn't have noticed the aura thing, same thing applied to the smell, if some random vamp met one of the imposter's, they wouldn't smell her and then call her a fake without having met the real Buffy.

[thegifting]

All these argument are great and all, but the point of the whole situation was to mess with Liam and William. Why, then, would The Immortal go out with some nobody when it's only Buffy that makes a difference? No, he wouldn't.

[white avenger]

The closest to any kind of viable answer that I can imagine is that the impostor was, through some sort of spell or glamor, made to be Buffy's absolute double, identical to the original down to cell structure, dna, retinal pattern, finger print, and even scent, so that on the off chance that even someone who knew the real Buffy would be fooled by the physical double, which would explain Andrew being there, since he would, to a certain extent, be able to provide any necessary coaching for the girl concerning life in Sunnydale and the battle with the First Evil.

Maybe???

[Kana]

All these argument are great and all, but the point of the whole situation was to mess with Liam and William. Why, then, would The Immortal go out with some nobody when it's only Buffy that makes a difference? No, he wouldn't.

I think the Immortal would go out with anybody. He seemed kind of like a player anyway.

[Aussie]

This is the way I saw it ( I also dont have the comics but have picked up the general gist from youtube and other resources :p)

Season 8 isnt neccessarily set straight after Buffy season 7 ends is it? Please correct me if I am wrong about this as I said I am unsure because I dont own the comics. I assumed that season 8 was set closer to the end of Angel season 5 or even after Angel season 5?

Buffy could have easily been in Italy for a holiday or 'summer fling' when the girl in qustion is set. So that would explain the scent and other things. She may have actually been in Italy and then a decoy put in her place once she had moved on from there. Does this make sence?

[white avenger]

***THE FOLLOWING MAY BE CONSIDERED SPOILERS FOT SEASON 8 ISSUE 1***








In the first comic, Buffy states that she has 2 doubles, 1 living "underground literally" (in some sort of underground kingdom, and 1 "cavorting around Rome with some character called the Immortal." Apparently, for some reason which will, I hope and pray, be made clear sometime in the future, Joss chose to change what we had all accepted as canon in order to relocate Buffy and her Slayer army in a castle somewhere in Scotland.I personally had found th idea of the mysterious Immortal very intriguing and had looked forward to finding out exactly what he or it was as a part of this season. Up to this point, however, the Immortal remains a mystery (cursed be Joss and his twisted plot devices!!).

[VisionGuy]

Now that I know it wasn't really Buffy with The Immortal in "The Girl In Question" the episode seems like such a waste. Having Spike and Angel chase some random chick in Italy thinking she's Buffy. Pppffftt. They could have used that episode for something else.

[Blondie Bear]

I somewhat agree, VG, but I think it was more about Angel and Spike's relationship than it was about Buffy. As Andrew said in the end, they needed to learn to move on.