LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Anyone who watched Tuesday's musical episode of UPN's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" knows two things for certain: creator/composer Joss Whedon has the music in him, and nothing is going to be the same.

In particular, those who hung in past the hour (the first airing of the episode ran eight minutes over) were rewarded with a big "The End" plastered over the busily kissing faces of Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and vampire Spike (James Marsters), whose love/hate relationship appears to have taken a turn for the love.

"It's a love that dares not speak its name, that's for sure," says executive producer Marti Noxon. "It's going to be a wild ride."

Spike was forced to throw in with the Slayer and her Scoobies after a government-implanted microchip prevented him from harming humans.

His hatred for Buffy morphed into an awkward fascination, later replaced by an obsessive fascination, which settled into a cordial truce, brought about by his loyalty and his unique understanding of digging out of one's own grave (which he and Buffy both have done). But as Spike sang in his ballad, "Rest in Peace," this laying down of arms has not been nearly enough to satisfy his longings.

Love can change a person, and it may change Spike's rather monochromatic black-on-black wardrobe. His long-missing striped red shirt returned in the musical, and there could be more to come.

"He's going to be breaking out," says Noxon. "He's going to be wearing some crazy things, like maybe gray."

Speaking of costumes, steady "Buffy" watchers may have noticed several of the characters wearing sweaters or shirts that had numbers on them. This has caused fans on the Internet to speculate on what this all means.

"Um," says Noxon, "nuthin'. It's just a fashion trend, believe it or not. There are no deeper meanings. The costumer did it without really thinking about it, then we decided just to go with it. I'd like to tell you that it refers to the Psalms or our favorite episodes, but it was just an accident."

"I'm not ashamed to tell you, it's just us being goofy. It refers to nothing. It signifies nothing."