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The Freshman (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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"The Freshman"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x01.jpg
Buffy, now a college freshman, explores the campus feeling overwhelmed

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 1
Directed by
Joss Whedon
Written by
Joss Whedon
Production code
4ABB01
Original air date
October 5, 1999
Guest actors

Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
Dagney Kerr as Kathy Newman
Pedro Balmaceda as Eddie
Katharine Towne as Sunday
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
Mike Rad as Rookie
Shannon Hillary as Dav
Mace Lombard as Tom
Robert Catrini as Prof. Riegert
Scott Rinker as R.A.
Phina Oruche as Olivia
Denice J. Sealy as Student Volunteer
Evie Peck as Angry Girl
Anil Raman as Earnest Fellow
Jason Christopher as Nonserious Guy
Jane Silvia as Conservative Woman
Mark Silverberg as Passing Student
Walt Borchert as New Vampire
David Boreanaz as Angel's lookalike at the Bronze (uncredited)

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Graduation Day" Next →
 "Living Conditions"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"The Freshman" is the first episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon. The narrative follows Buffy Summers as she attempts to fit into her new college environment at UC-Sunnydale. She first encounters several problems and struggles with her feelings of isolation. Willow is blossoming with Oz in the new environment, Xander is away, and Rupert Giles has his friend Olivia visiting and tells Buffy he is no longer her Watcher.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 Cultural references
4 Continuity 4.1 Arc significance
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
This episode is crucial because it begins the process during which the Scooby Gang are shown dealing with a much more adult world than in the previous seasons, and must themselves work to become adults.
Buffy, Willow and Oz begin attending the University of California at its fictional Sunnydale campus. Buffy (as novelist A.M. Dellamonica writes) "feels overwhelmed by the University of it all, while everyone else is apparently thriving."[1] Willow is excited by the bigger library and the opportunities to advance her learning, while Oz seems typically unfazed. Meanwhile, Giles is a retired "gentleman of leisure" now that the Sunnydale High School library has been destroyed, and Xander is out of town on his much-anticipated cross-country road trip.
Buffy and Willow go to the campus bookstore for supplies, where Buffy accidentally knocks a pile of psychology textbooks onto the head of Riley Finn, who introduces himself as a TA for Professor Walsh's Psych 105 "Intro to Psychology" class. Usually pretty cool, Buffy fumbles the conversation:
Riley: I'm a TA, I'll be helping the Professor out. I'm sorry, I've forgotten my manners in all the concussion... I'm Riley.
Willow: Willow, and this is my friend Buffy.
Riley: It's nice to meet you both.
Buffy: I'm nice to meet.[2]
Buffy then goes on to her new dorm in Stevenson Hall, where she has already moved in and her new roommate Kathy is in the process of doing the same. Kathy expresses her belief that the upcoming year will be "super fun", but Buffy is unconvinced when she sees Kathy hanging a poster of Céline Dion on the wall. During the night Buffy has trouble sleeping because Kathy snores, laughs, and smacks her lips in her sleep.
On the first day of classes, Buffy is humiliated at being ejected from a class by a bullying professor (of pop culture, no less) in front of dozens of other students, and in the next class she feels overwhelmed by the heavy workload promised by Professor Walsh, wondering how she will find the time to both study and slay vampires. Feeling increasingly lonely and isolated on campus, she is relieved to strike up conversation with a fellow freshman named Eddie (who is also taking Psychology with Professor Walsh) when they are both lost on campus at night. They discuss the need for a "security blanket" in unfamiliar surroundings, and he says that the novel Of Human Bondage serves this purpose for him. After Buffy and Eddie separate, he is killed by a group of vampires, who then go to his dorm room, steal his belongings, and leave a fake note from Eddie claiming that he decided he couldn't handle the stress of college and went home.
The next day, Buffy is disappointed to find Eddie missing from class. She goes to his dormitory, finding it empty but for the note and the novel "Of Human Bondage", which is still in his nightstand. Considering their conversation of the previous day, she does not believe that he would leave the book behind, and goes to Giles for advice. However, Giles feels she is capable of handling the situation herself.
That night, during a patrol, Buffy comes across Eddie in a deserted part of campus and is horrified to realise he is now a vampire. The vampires that turned Eddie are watching and now attack. Buffy is thrashed by their leader, Sunday, who injures Buffy's arm and causes her to flee. Buffy's confidence is greatly shaken by this encounter, and she decides to visit her Mom and some familiar surroundings. Joyce did not expect to see Buffy home so early in the semester, and because of this she has been using her daughter's room as extra storage space for the gallery.
When Buffy returns to her dorm room on campus, she finds all of her belongings missing and a note similar to that found in Eddie's room. Buffy goes to The Bronze and mopes around, feeling even worse when she sees a man with a pronounced physical likeness to her former boyfriend Angel. However, she is greatly cheered by the appearance of Xander, who reveals that his tour of America never happened because his car broke down in Oxnard and he spent the rest of the summer washing dishes at the fabulous "Ladies' Nightclub" to earn money for repairs. Now he has returned home, where he lives in the basement of his parents' house and is expected to pay rent. Buffy tells Xander about her negative early experiences of college, and expresses a fear that she cannot adapt to the college experience, but Xander greatly moves her by describing her as "my hero" and explaining that he always thinks "What would Buffy do?" whenever he is in a bad situation. (He adds, "Ok, sometimes when it's dark and I'm all alone, I think, 'What is Buffy wearing?'"[2]) They then agree to track down the vampire lair and reclaim Buffy's stolen belongings.
Using the college computer system, the pair locate the vampire gang in a disused frat house. While Buffy angrily watches the vampires using and abusing her belongings through the glass roof of the frat house, Xander leaves to round up the assistance of Willow and Oz. Unfortunately, the roof breaks and Buffy lands on the floor in front of the vampires. They fight and she is once again losing, in part because of her sore arm from their previous encounter, but seeing Sunday damage the Class Protector award she was given at her senior prom angers Buffy enough to regain her confidence and soundly trounce the vampires, taking out Sunday with a bankhand throw of a broken tennis racket. As Buffy and friends return to the dorm with her belongings, Giles makes a belated appearance with weapons, apologising for his earlier dismissal of her fears and promising that they will fight the evil together.
Meanwhile, one of the vampires from Sunday's gang is hit with a taser by three masked men in camouflage fatigues.
Trivia[edit]
The original storyline for the character of Sunday was that she was a former Slayer turned vampire.
Buffy references Mr. Pointy, the stake left to her by her friend and late Slayer Kendra.
The yearbook seen in this episode, the Sunnydale High Yearbook, was released as a tie-in product after this episode aired.
The college vampires have a tally of Gustav Klimt versus Claude Monet posters they have stolen from the freshmen they kill. A poster of Klimt's painting, The Kiss is found in Eddie's belongings.
This is the first ever episode not to feature Sunnydale High. It was blown up in episode 22 of season 3 "Graduation Day, Part Two", and the characters are now starting college (although the school's charred remains will feature occasionally this season, and it will ultimately be rebuilt for season seven).
When Buffy sees the back of a man's head who she thinks might be Angel, the man is actually played by David Boreanaz until his face becomes visible.
Starting with this episode, Buffy was filmed in 16:9 widescreen; this would be the case for the next three seasons. However, Joss Whedon never intended for it to be shown this way, so while the widescreen version is shown on Sky One in the United Kingdom, all American showings are in 4:3. DVD releases of the final four seasons have followed the same pattern, with European (Region 2) discs displaying the episodes in 16:9 widescreen format and North American (Region 1) discs not.
Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and David Boreanaz (Angel) are no longer series regulars and have been removed from the opening credits.
Cultural references[edit]
Planet of the Apes – Oz quotes the famous line "It's a madhouse. A madhouse!" in the beginning of the episode to describe the crowd at the college. The line was previously quoted by Xander in "When She Was Bad".
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace – During the pep talk Xander gives Buffy at the Bronze, he uses Yoda's "Fear leads to anger..." quote, and mangles it several times.
Scarface – Xander also attempts to quote Scarface during his pep talk, but he stops himself before finishing the quote.
The Avengers – Xander further makes references to the Avengers when saying "Avengers Assemble" referring to getting the gang together to help Buffy. Ironically, it's a line that goes unused in The Avengers, also directed and written by Joss Whedon.
The David Bowie song "Memory of a Free Festival" plays in the background as Buffy enters Giles's apartment.
A Gentleman of Leisure - Giles's new definition of himself, according to Willow - is Gentleman of Leisure, referring to English P. G. Wodehouse's novel.
When Buffy meets Giles in company with a lightly dressed Olivia in his flat, she compares him with Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy Enterprises.
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
Crossover with Angel: Buffy answers the telephone, but hears nothing, not even breathing. The reason is explained in "City of", which was broadcast immediately afterward. Buffy also imagines seeing Angel's side-profile at the Bronze, but it isn't Angel (although David Boreanaz does appear).
This episode marks the first appearance of Riley Finn ("Angel's non-broody, intimacy-capable replacement"[1]), Professor Walsh and the Initiative, the group of military commandos that fight demons and vampires and gives rise to this season's Big Bad.
Giles's girlfriend Olivia (Phina Oruche) appears for the first time; she reappears in the episode Hush, during which she says it is too frightening for her to visit Giles again. She appears once more in the episode Restless, but only as part of Giles's dream.
Buffy's roommate Kathy plays a bigger role in "Living Conditions".
The show will explore the transition from high school to the more complicated college life, which offers significantly more freedom and thus opportunities for mistakes. This episode showed Buffy's loneliness and self-doubt as a small fish in a big pond.
Willow tells Buffy that she believes their old High School library didn't have the best selection. However in the first episode upon meeting Buffy she says she believes the library to have a great collection. It is likely that as she grew up her thirst for knowledge could not be satisfied with the library's books.
Foreshadowing: Professor Walsh says, "Those of you who don't will come to know me by the name my TAs use, and think I don't know about, 'The Evil Bitch Monster of Death.'"
In the University's bookstore, Buffy says, "I can't wait for Mom to get the bill for these books. I hope it's a funny aneurysm." Joyce Summers dies in the fifth season episode "The Body"; in the following episode, "I Was Made to Love You", the cause is revealed to be an aneurysm.[3]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Dellamonica, Alyx (Sep 3, 2012). "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Rewatch: Living Conditions of the Freshman Kind". Tor.com. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
2.^ Jump up to: a b "Buffy Episode #54: "The Prom" Transcript (Full-text)". Buffyworld.com. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
3.Jump up ^ Boyer, Sabrina (March 5, 2009). "Buffy for Beginners 4.1: The Freshman". Pinkraygun.com. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Freshman
"The Freshman" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Freshman" at TV.com


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1999 television episodes
Buffyverse crossover episodes
Screenplays by Joss Whedon







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Living Conditions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about an episode from the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For the economic and philosophical concept, see Quality of life.



[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




This article needs additional citations for verification.  (October 2012)




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 (May 2011)




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"Living Conditions"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Living Conditions.jpg
Kathy Newman, Buffy's college roommate

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 2
Directed by
David Grossman
Written by
Marti Noxon
Production code
4ABB02
Original air date
October 12, 1999
Guest actors

Dagney Kerr as Kathy Newman
Adam Kaufman as Parker Abrams
Clayton Barber as Demon #1
Walt Borchert as Demon #2
Roger Morrissey as Tapparich
David Tuchman as Freshman
Paige Moss as Veruca (uncredited)

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Freshman" Next →
 "The Harsh Light of Day"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Living Conditions" is the second episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy becomes convinced that her annoying roommate is evil, but her friends think she is crazy.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Production details
3 Trivia
4 Cultural references
5 Continuity 5.1 Arc significance
6 Reception
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
While Buffy's gets ready to patrol, her roommate Kathy Newman begins to annoy her, becoming increasingly irritating. Buffy leaves to go and patrol the campus, however Kathy tags along with a reluctant Buffy. Soon enough they are attacked by a demon, however Buffy pushes Kathy into a bush resulting in her not seeing the demon. Buffy manages to fight it off, but as she leaves with Kathy they are being watched by two of the demons who comment "She may be the one."[1]
The next morning, Buffy goes to Giles' flat to describe the previous night's monster. Buffy's atypical interest in what Giles has planned for the day arouses his suspicion, and when pressed she admits she is avoiding her dorm room until Kathy leaves for classes. As Buffy talks to Giles, Kathy is in the dorm room scrubbing the grass stain on her sweater from the previous night. Realising it is ruined, Kathy wears one of Buffy's. Later on, Buffy goes to the Rocket Cafe for lunch, but sees Kathy in line. She cuts into the line to avoid her, and meets another student, Parker Abrams, who introduces himself. Buffy then joins Willow, Oz and Xander, but becomes annoyed when Kathy also joins them and drops her lunch on Buffy's sweater. That night, the tension between the roommates continues to grow and both angrily go to bed early. That night Buffy dreams of the demon that had attacked her the previous night performing a ritual on her body, and is shocked to find Kathy had the same dream.
The following day Buffy explains the dream to Giles, Oz and Willow. Willow also becomes concerned with Buffy's actions and attitude towards Kathy, so Oz agrees to go patrolling with her later that night. That night, the two demons meet again and one confirms that "she is the one." The group chants around a large fire, preparing to summon "the great Taparrich". Meanwhile, as Buffy returns to her dorm room she is angered to find Kathy and Parker getting along. Buffy makes Parker leave, but tells him they should meet again, before leaving to go and patrol. While talking with Oz, Buffy shows more anger towards Kathy, telling him something has to be done. After going to bed, Buffy has the same unsettling dream.
The following day Buffy meets up with Willow, who tells her she is convinced Kathy is a demon due to her toenails growing even after being cut. Buffy goes on to tell Willow that she plans to kill Kathy. Willow, startled by her behaviour, forces Buffy to go and see Giles with the toenails. Upon arriving at Giles' house, Buffy is tied up by Oz and Xander, while Giles tells Buffy that he thinks she has been possessed by the demon. Giles leaves to go and collect supplies from the magic shop to perform and exorcism, while Oz and Xander watch Buffy. However Buffy gets free and knocks the boys unconscious before fleeing. When Giles returns with Willow, they wake up Oz and Xander, before Giles realises that Kathy is a demon.
Buffy arrives back at the dorm room and eventually engages in a fight with Kathy, which results in Buffy ripping off Kathy's face, revealing her to be one of the demons. Kathy confesses to Buffy that she escaped her dimension to go to college, and has been sucking out her soul while she sleeped, planning on making the demons take Buffy back to her dimension. As this happens, the two demons in the woods summon Taparrich, the leader of the demons. Meanwhile, Giles performs a spell that returns the parts of Buffy's soul already taken by Kathy, just before Taparrich arrives at the dorm and takes Kathy back to her dimension.
The episode ends with Willow moving her stuff into the room. She and Buffy will now be roommates. Whilst Buffy helps Willow unpack her things, Willow asks her if she is going to eat her sandwich which Willow starts eating immediately after she asks her, Buffy zooms in on Willow's mouth making it obvious she is annoyed.
Production details[edit]
This episode, running just under 42 minutes, is the shortest of the Buffy episodes which aired on the WB. Also, with the exception of the two-part "Bargaining" episode, the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling", and the series finale, this episode is longer than any of those which aired on UPN.
Trivia[edit]
When Willow moves into Buffy's dorm room, she hangs a poster of Dingoes Ate My Baby, Oz's band, in the same spot that Kathy's poster of Celine Dion once was. The band whose music is "played" by the fictional group onscreen, Four Star Mary, plays the song "Pain" in the background.
This is the first episode of the series since "Inca Mummy Girl" not to feature at least one vampire. The only other episodes in which no vampires appear are "Witch", "The Pack", "I, Robot... You, Jane", "The Puppet Show", "Fear, Itself" and "Beer Bad".
Buffy claims to be from the Stevenson dormitory and Parker claims to be from Kresge Hall at UC Sunnydale. Both are actual residential colleges at UC Santa Cruz where Marti Noxon (writer of this episode) went to college.
Cultural references[edit]
The Terminator – After witnessing Buffy and Parker's first encounter, Xander affectionately refers to her as "the Buffinator", and Oz adds that "he'll be back."
The Exorcist – Xander describes the insane behavior Buffy exhibited while losing her soul as "doing a Linda Blair on us". Linda Blair was the actress who played the possessed child Regan in The Exorcist and its sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic.
RMS Titanic - Buffy says of Kathy, "She's even affecting my work, now. She's the Titanic."
Continuity[edit]
Buffy tells Giles, "Ok, you're not having one of those mid-life things, are you? 'Cause I'm still going 'ick' from the last time you tried to recapture your youth." This is a reference to "Teenage Giles" in Season Three's "Band Candy."
The sweater which Kathy borrows from Buffy is destroyed toward the end of the episode. However, in New Moon Rising, first Willow and then Tara are seen wearing the same sweater, and it is in fact a significant plot point in the episode, despite said sweater being destroyed at the beginning of the season.
Arc significance[edit]
Parker Abrams is introduced in this episode. He will feature in the next few episodes as a significant part of Buffy's growing experience
Veruca is also seen in this episode, although it remains unknown on who she is. The attraction between her and Oz is evident in their first brief encounter and this event foreshadows the break-up of Oz and Willow that occurs this season.
Members of the Initiative also make a brief appearance in this episode but their purpose in this season's storyline is not yet revealed.
Xander's fear of alienation from the rest of the Scooby Gang is touched upon in the Rocket Cafe, when Buffy notes that he is not a college student yet he hangs out on campus.
The effects of a lost soul are touched upon in this episode: Buffy's changing attitude when Kathy is stealing her soul is mentioned by the Scooby Gang at several points. Willow compares Buffy's behavior to Cordelia.
Reception[edit]
A BBC reviewer praised actress "Dagney Kerr's nicely paced performance as Kathy" and added, "it's encouraging to find the regular cast so casually back together again after the worrying indications in the last episode that it would be difficult for the writers to find reasonable excuses for them to continue working as a team. This episode generally dispenses with explanations, and flows better because of it."[2]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Llun, Diov (transcriber). "Buffy Episode #58: Living Conditions Transcript (Full-text)". Buffyworld.com. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
2.Jump up ^ "Living Conditions". BBC (London, England). British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Living Conditions
"Living Conditions" at the Internet Movie Database
"Living Conditions" at TV.com


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1999 television episodes











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The Harsh Light of Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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"The Harsh Light of Day"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x03.jpg
Spike wearing the Gem of Amarra that makes him immune to stakes and sunlight

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 3
Directed by
James A. Contner
Written by
Jane Espenson
Production code
4ABB03
Original air date
October 19, 1999
Guest actors

Emma Caulfield as Anya
Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
Adam Kaufman as Parker Abrams
James Marsters as Spike
Jason Hall as Devon MacLeish
Melik as Bryan

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Living Conditions" Next →
 "Fear, Itself"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"The Harsh Light of Day" is the third episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Jane Espenson and directed by James A. Contner, it originally aired on the WB network on October 19, 1999. In "The Harsh Light of Day", Buffy tries to return to the dating pool, and guest star James Marsters, reprising his role as Spike, returns to Sunnydale for a gem that will make him invincible. The same gem appears in the spin-off Angel episode "In the Dark", which originally aired immediately following this episode.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Production details
3 Trivia
4 Continuity 4.1 Arc significance
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
At the Bronze, Oz and his band Dingoes Ate My Baby play a set, while Buffy and Willow hang out. Willow remarks to Buffy that she has been spending a lot of time with Parker, however Buffy does not want to smother him, so keeps a safe distance and watches as he plays pool. However, Parker approaches Buffy and asks to walk her home, so the pair leave. After the band have finished playing, Oz, Willow and Devon begin to put the equipment in the van out the back. As Willow waits for the others to return, Harmony approaches her. At first Harmony appears friendly towards Willow, but ultimately reveals herself to be a vampire and bites Willow. Oz saves Willow by brandishing a cross, forcing Harmony to flee, but she also threaten them with an attack from her boyfriend. Willow and Oz then precede to Buffy's dorm and warn her of Harmony.
Harmony returns underground and Spike is revealed to be her boyfriend, undertaking a search for an unknown item by digging underneath the city. Harmony persistently annoys Spike to take her to a party, to which he reluctantly agrees to do so the following night. The next day, Xander is helping to arrange Giles' books when Anya makes a surprise visit, questioning a confused Xander about their relationship. That night, Buffy and Parker go on a date to party and run into Spike and Harmony who are carrying a nearly drained party-goer. Spike and Harmony escape, but Buffy catches up with them. Spike proves reluctant to give information to Buffy, but Harmony, absent-mindedly, tells Buffy Drusilla left Spike for a fungus demon and that the pair are in town to find the Gem of Amarra. Spike becomes enraged and forces Harmony to leave. Buffy phones Giles and tells him of the vampires plans, much to Giles surprise as he believes the Gem to not be real. Buffy returns to the party and after spending more time with Parker decides to sleep with him. Meanwhile, Anya arrives at Xander's home and they have sex, while Harmony seduces Spike into bed.
The following morning, Anya tells Xander she is over him, but his lack of a response angers her and she leaves. Harmony continues to irritate Spike and he too leaves to continue work on finding the Gem. Buffy awakes in Parker's dorm and is happy to hear that he will phone her later that day. As Buffy arrives back at her dorm she finds Willow and Giles researching the Gem that turns out to be in a hidden crypt in Sunnydale. Soon after, Spike and Harmony discovers the crypt. Harmony begins to try on the jewels while prattling on, enraging Spike who stakes her - however she is impervious to harm. Realising that she is wearing the Gem, Spike forces it off her and leaves the crypt. Meanwhile, while searching for information at Giles house, Xander turns on the news which is reporting on a giant sinkhole caused by the erosion of dirt beneath it. They come to the conclusion that Spike's underground digging caused it. Buffy tracks down Parker, but she finds him putting the same moves he used on her on another girl. She realizes that the sex they had was meaningless to him and thinks it's her fault.
Willow, Oz and Giles arrive at the crypt and find an upset Harmony who refuses to help them locate and stop Spike, still in love with him. At the same time, Spike, protected by the Gem, attacks Buffy in broad daylight and the pair fight. Xander attempts to help Buffy but is of little help. During the fight, Spike insults Buffy manages to remove the Gem from Spike and he is forced to flee into the sewers. Later, the gang meet at Giles where Buffy decides she wants to give the ring to Angel, to which Oz offers to take to him when he visits L.A. for a gig. Buffy then leaves Giles and walks around the campus upset by the events with Parker, as do Anya and Harmony - all three women heartbroken.
Production details[edit]
When this episode was aired on BBC Two during early evening, the Broadcasting Standards Commission complained about the "sexually charged" scenes between the couples.[1]
Trivia[edit]
Joss Whedon has mentioned in various interviews that Gellar disagreed with Buffy sleeping with Parker. She thought that it was too soon after Angel had left her, and she didn't think that Buffy would do something like that. Whedon told Gellar that when you "go to college, you do stupid things"[citation needed]
The party takes place in a building with ΓΑΠ (gamma alpha pi) by the door: the Greek equivalent of the letters GAP.
The album that Oz asks Giles about in this episode is Loaded by The Velvet Underground.
The scene where Buffy wakes up in Parker's bedroom echoes the scene from "Innocence" where Buffy wakes up in Angel's room after they sleep together. In both scenes, Buffy wakes up alone, wrapped in red sheets. Buffy seems to sense this and worries that Parker is gone, like what happened with Angel, until he walks in with coffee. Similar circumstances also occur later in the season, when Buffy sleeps with Riley. That time, however, Buffy wakes up in red sheets, looks around, and Riley is lying right next to her.
Continuity[edit]
When Parker points out Buffy's scar from Angel, she says it's from an "angry puppy". In the season three episode "The Wish" Angel was referred to as "Puppy" by Vampire Willow and The Master.
Harmony and Willow briefly discuss the events of "Graduation Day" when Harmony mentions the "big snake."
Harmony references Spike almost killing Willow last season, recalling the episode "Lovers Walk".
Before having sex with Anya, Xander mentions having sex with Faith in the season 3 episode "The Zeppo".
Arc significance[edit]
Crossover with Angel: Oz's visit to Los Angeles was aired immediately afterwards in the episode "In the Dark".
This episode features Anya's, Harmony's and Spike's first appearances in season four.
Harmony returns as a vampire, revealing her fate in the season 3 finale, and becomes a more prominent villain in the series.
Spike's obsession with Buffy is revealed for the first time in this episode. His fixation will become a major plot point later in the series.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Stephen Kruger, Peter Wall (2004), Media studies: the essential resource, Routledge, p. 156, ISBN 0-415-29173-9
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Harsh Light of Day
"The Harsh Light of Day" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Harsh Light of Day" at TV.com


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Fear, Itself
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This article is about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. For other uses, see Fear Itself.



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"Fear, Itself"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x04.jpg
Buffy looks at Gachnar, the fear demon, revealed to only be a few inches in height

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 4
Directed by
Tucker Gates
Written by
David Fury
Production code
4ABB04
Original air date
October 26, 1999
Guest actors

Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Adam Kaufman as Parker Abrams
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
Marc Rose as Josh
Sulo Williams as Chaz
Walter Emanuel Jones as Edward
Adam Bitterman as Gachnar
Aldis Hodge as Masked Teen
Darris Love as Hallmate
Michele Nordin as Rachel
Adam Grimes as Lobster Boy
Larissa Reynolds as Present Girl

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Harsh Light of Day" Next →
 "Beer Bad"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Fear, Itself" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of the horror television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). Written by David Fury and directed by Tucker Gates, the episode originally aired on the The WB Television Network in the United States on October 26, 1999. In this episode Gachnar, a demon with the ability to materialize terror, is accidentally conjured and wreaks havoc on a Halloween party, leading Buffy and her friends to confront their worst fears.


Contents  [hide]
1 Filming
2 Plot
3 Arc Significance
4 References
5 External links

Filming[edit]
The fraternity house in the episode is known as the Alfred Rosenheim mansion located in Los Angeles, California. The mansion is a registered Cultural Monument, and was used as the setting for the first season of FX series American Horror Story, which used a studio stage for interior scenes.
Plot[edit]
While carving jack-o'-lanterns in Xander's basement, the gang discusses plans for Halloween; Buffy continues to mope over her situation with Parker. They decide to go to the Alpha-Delta house for a party. The next day at school, Buffy and Oz both express their concerns for Willow and her use of magic. Buffy spots Parker and immediately runs away. Willow follows her, explaining that she should get over it and have fun at the party that night, but Buffy thinks that Giles will want her to patrol. When Buffy goes to visit Giles, she's surprised to find him embracing the Halloween spirit. He discourages her from patrolling and encourages her to go party.
At the Alpha-Delta house, the members are getting ready for the party. One finds a symbol in an old book to paint on the floor. Anya goes to see Xander, wanting to know where their relationship is heading. He agrees that they're somewhat dating, inviting her to the party. Buffy, who skipped her psych class, visits the professor and asks for her assignment, but she receives a cold response. Riley, however, gives her the assignment, telling her to have fun on Halloween. Oz and Xander carry a sound system to the Alpha-Delta house, and Oz installs it while one guy paints the symbol from the book. Oz cuts his hand, spilling drops of his blood, which activates the ritual to summon Gachnar.
Joyce alters one of Buffy's old costumes, Little Red Riding Hood, and talks with her about how things used to be. Buffy waits outside the house for her friends, and Xander shows up dressed as James Bond. They run into Willow, dressed as Joan of Arc, and Oz, going as God. Everything at the party starts to go awry as fears begin to become real, and the fake scary objects like plastic spiders and skeletons, become alive. The gang enters the house, but they encounter several obstacles. Later, Anya arrives at the party, dressed as a bunny, but she is unable to get inside because the entrances to the house have become sealed up. She sees a girl screaming at a window, and the window then disappears from the house. Inside, Buffy tells the gang to find a way out and get help. A skeleton attacks her from behind, but after she attacks, it becomes fake again. Buffy and Willow fight over Buffy rejecting help from her friends and pushing them away, as well as Buffy and Oz arguing with Willow about her use of witchcraft. Willow insists she can safely do a guidance spell. Meanwhile, Anya goes to Giles for help.
Xander tries to talk to the gang but finds that he's become invisible to them. Willow and Oz find a staircase and head up. As they're walking, Oz begins to change into a werewolf and scratches Willow before running away from her. Xander approaches a mirror, and a head on the table behind him says that he can see him. Oz sits in a bathtub, chanting to himself that he isn't going to change. Willow conjures her spell. However, it quickly spins out of control, and she screams for help as it attacks her. Buffy, hearing Willow's cries, tries to get to her, but she falls into the basement where bodies come up from the ground and grab at her. Giles and Anya are unable to find a way inside, so Giles cuts a door using a chainsaw. While fleeing through the house, the gang ends up in the room where the mystical symbol is painted. Giles and Anya break into the room. They determine the sign on the floor to be the Mark of Gachnar, and Buffy and Giles express fear about how scary the demon looks in the illustration. Buffy destroys the symbol before Giles can tell her that destroying the symbol will bring Gachnar forth. But when the demon has manifested itself, it turns out to be merely a few inches in height. After a laugh at giving in to one's fears, Buffy squashes him with her shoe. At Giles' place, the gang eats candy.
Arc Significance[edit]
In this episode, the deepest fears and insecurities of each member of the group is made manifest
Buffy fears that being the slayer means being alone, and she is going to be deserted by everyone she loves. This is a fear that Buffy struggles with throughout the remainder of the season and in future seasons.
Willow fears she will never be a competent wicca and that she will lose control of her magic. She also cries "Oz, don't leave me!", as he runs off, which foreshadows events in Wild at Heart.
Xander fears that no one cares about him anymore and his friends are uninterested in what he has to say due to him being the only one from the gang who doesn't attend college, thus resulting him to become invisible like Marcie Ross in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight."
Oz fears that he cannot control the wolf inside him any longer and will manifest even though it is not a full moon. This idea of not knowing where the line is between him and the werewolf features significantly in future episodes.
Anya's more comedic fear of bunnies is introduced in this episode. This becomes a running joke for the remainder of the series.
References[edit]

External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Fear, Itself
"Fear, Itself" at the Internet Movie Database
"Fear, Itself" at TV.com


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Beer Bad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


"Beer Bad"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Beer Bad.jpg
Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 5
Directed by
David Solomon
Written by
Tracey Forbes
Production code
4ABB05
Original air date
November 2, 1999
Guest actors

Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
Adam Kaufman as Parker Abrams
Paige Moss as Veruca
Eric Matheny as Colm
Stephen M. Porter as Jack the Bartender
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
Kal Penn as Hunt
Jake Phillips as Kip
Bryan Cupprill as Roy
Lisa Johnson as Paula
Joshua Wheeler as Driver
Patrick Belton as College Guy #1
Kaycee Shank as College Guy #2
Steven Jang as College Guy #3
Cameron Bender as Stoner
Kate Luhr as Young Woman

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Fear, Itself" Next →
 "Wild at Heart"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Beer Bad" is episode 5 of the fourth season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is written by Tracey Forbes and directed by David Solomon. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling in a Series.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Writing and acting
3 Cultural references
4 Continuity
5 Reception and reviews 5.1 Controversy
6 References
7 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Buffy is still hurting because Parker dumped her after a night together. In a daydream during one of Professor Walsh's classes (pointedly, about the role of the id in Freudian psychology) she saves Parker's life and he swears to do anything to get her back. A dialogue with Willow later shows how much Buffy is not over him yet.
In the real world, Xander gets a job as a bartender with a fake ID, and has to endure the insults from students. He gets to test his empathy skills with none other than Buffy who then proceeds to get drunk on "Black Frost" beer with four college boys. Oz and Willow are in The Bronze together, but he feels a strange connection to the pretty singer Veruca when she gets on the stage with her band Shy.
The next morning, Willow not only has to cope with Veruca having called her a "groupie", but also with Buffy, who seems to be suffering from "Black Frost." That evening when Buffy drinks herself further and further, it is soon revealed why: somebody has a chemical lab set up and is putting more into the beer than just malt. Xander finally sends Buffy home. When her four drinking buddies turn into violent Neanderthals, he finds out that the owner of the pub has been brewing the beer as revenge for 20 years of college kids taunting him. While the boys escape to the streets of Sunnydale, Xander gets Giles to help. They find Buffy drawing cave paintings on her dorm wall saying "Parker bad." Giles and Xander are unable to keep Buffy in her room when she gets a craving for more beer.
Meanwhile, Willow confronts Parker with what she says he has done to Buffy. When he turns his charm on her, she reveals she has been playing along with a rant about how primitive men are, just when the four Neanderthal students burst into the room. They knock Willow and Parker unconscious and start a fire that rapidly burns out of control. Xander catches up with Buffy and when they see smoke from the Neanderthals' fire, they rush to help. Though afraid of the flames and unable to figure out how to use an extinguisher, Buffy saves Willow and Parker. In the end, Parker thanks Buffy for saving his life, and apologizes just the way she had dreamt — just to get knocked unconscious by Buffy's club. The neanderthal students become subsequently locked in a random van.
Writing and acting[edit]
Willow proves again that she can't be sweet-talked, something first shown in "The Pack".
"Beer Bad" is written with a classic frame structure — Buffy's dream — that emphasizes her development; hitting Parker with a stick qualifies as poetic justice. Producer Doug Petrie says, despite the intensely negative reaction of the fans to seeing Buffy being "battered about by the forces of college" and being treated so callously by Parker, they had to "ride that out" until this episode because "we didn't want her to find her strength immediately in this new setting".[2]
However, the most striking feature of "Beer Bad" is the twin moral: Beer and casual sex are bad. In a BBC interview, Petrie states: "Well, very young people get unlimited access to alcohol and become horrible! We all do it — or most of us do it — and live to regret it, and we wanted to explore that."[2]
Cultural references[edit]
Xander calls Giles "Mister I spent the 60s in an electric-kool-aid-funky-satan-groove," reminding him his own uses of narcotics during his Ripper days. It's a reference to Tom Wolfe's 1967 The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, a book dealing with drug-taking hippies. Although Giles disdainfully rectifies the date, actually the early 70's, he does not contradict the facts.
Once the effects of the beer have taken hold, Buffy begins resembling Daryl Hanna's character Ayla from the film The Clan of the Cave Bear.
Continuity[edit]
"Beer Bad" is the episode where Buffy gets over Parker: At the beginning, she is pining for him, at the end, she is hitting him over the head with a branch, thus clearing the way for Riley.
Oz's attraction to Veruca is built up further, setting the stage for the following episode "Wild at Heart".
Buffy's statement of "fire bad" is reminiscent of her statements at the end of the third season, "fire bad, tree pretty".
The shot of the university immediately after the opening credits is re-used from "The Freshman" as Buffy can be seen walking among the crowd in her outfit from that episode.
Reception and reviews[edit]
A BBC reviewer complained about its "American puritanism"[3] and Slayage criticized writer Tracey Forbes for delivering a trite and obvious message in a series containing "such an abundant feminist subtext".[4] However, Todd Hertz of Christianity Today used this episode of an example of the show's honest portrayal of consequences.[5][6]
Controversy[edit]
This plot was written with the plan to take advantage of funds from the Office of National Drug Control Policy available to shows that promoted an anti-drug message.[7] Funding was rejected for the episode because "[d]rugs were an issue, but ... [it] was otherworldly nonsense, very abstract and not like real-life kids taking drugs. Viewers wouldn't make the link to [the ONDCP's] message."[8]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Past Winners Database: 1999-2000 52nd Emmy Awards". The Envelope: The Ultimate Awards Site (Los Angeles Times). Archived from the original on 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Petrie, Doug (undated). "Beer Bad". Buffy Producer's Inside Guide. BBC. Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
3.Jump up ^ "Stephen" (undated). "Buffy Episode Guide: Beer Bad: Review".
4.Jump up ^ Erenberg, Daniel (March 1, 2003). "The Top 10 Worst Episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Slayage. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
5.Jump up ^ Dalfonzo, Gina R. (2003). "Buffy Fades to Black". Boundless.org. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
6.Jump up ^ Hertz, Todd (1 September 2002). "Don't Let Your Kids Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (But You Can Tape It and Watch After They Go to Bed)". ChristianityToday.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
7.Jump up ^ Edwards, Jim (April 6, 2000). "ESPN Using News for Anti-Drug Propaganda". APBnews.com. WordPress.com. Archived from the original on 2002-02-07. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
8.Jump up ^ Forbes, Daniel (January 13, 2000). "Prime-time Propaganda: How the White House Secretly Hooked Network TV on Its Anti-drug Message". Salon. CommercialAlert.org. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Beer Bad
"Beer Bad" at the Internet Movie Database
"Beer Bad" at TV.com
"Beer Bad" at BuffyGuide.com


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Wild at Heart (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


"Wild at Heart"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x06.jpg
Oz kisses Willow before leaving town

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 6
Directed by
David Grossman
Written by
Marti Noxon
Production code
4ABB06
Original air date
November 9, 1999
Guest actors

Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
Paige Moss as Veruca
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
James Marsters as Spike

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Beer Bad" Next →
 "The Initiative"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Wild at Heart" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of the American television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, first airing on November 9, 1999 on The WB. It was written by Marti Noxon and directed by David Grossman.
In the episode, Oz (Seth Green), a werewolf, is drawn by animal instinct to Veruca (Paige Moss), another werewolf. This causes friction with his girlfriend, Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan), and ultimately Oz leaves town to explore the wolf side of him. The circumstances seen in "Wild at Heart" arose from Seth Green's abrupt decision to leave the series.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Production
3 Continuity 3.1 Arc significance
4 References
5 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Buffy is chased by a vampire, which she fights and then stakes. Her well-thought puns are not appreciated. Spike stalks Buffy from a distance and promises trouble, but he is struck by Tasers and carried off by the masked and heavily armed people lurking in the Sunnydale shadows. At the Bronze, the gang talks about college and why they're still hanging at the Bronze, and then to their surprise Giles joins them. Veruca's band, "Shy" starts to play and all the guys are mesmerized by her singing.
The next morning, Willow wakes up in Oz's bed and they talk about how they'll be apart for three nights while there's a full moon keeping Oz locked up, and a Wicca group is meeting on those three nights. At school, Buffy gets a great grade on a Psychology paper and Professor Walsh asks her to lead a discussion group on the topic. Willow is actually academically envious of Buffy. Veruca invites Oz to sit with her at lunch, which he accepts since there is room for Willow and they start talking amps. Willow arrives, and is lost by their terminology, leading everyone to flee the incredibly awkward situation. Buffy tells Willow not to worry about Oz.
That night, Oz locks himself into a cage in a crypt but he breaks free. As Professor Walsh is leaving the school that night, Oz jumps out at her. Another werewolf appears and while Professor Walsh runs and hides in the bushes, the two werewolves jump out and fight with each other. Oz wakes up the next morning to see that the other werewolf is Veruca. They sneak into the campus laundry room for clothes and Veruca appeals to the animal within him. Willow shows up at Oz's and instead of being welcomed with opened arms, Oz is closed off and so she leaves. Buffy informs Giles of the two werewolves being spotted on campus and later goes to Oz, but he says he doesn't remember anything about what happened when he got out. Desperate for a male perspective, Willow asks Xander about Oz and he suggests they talk and work it out.
Oz arranges for Veruca to meet him in the crypt that night. He wants her to lock herself in the cage with him so no one gets hurt, and finally gets her into the cage. Immediately before transforming, they kiss. The next morning, breakfast foods in hand, Willow arrives and is shocked to see Oz and Veruca curled up naked together. Oz gets dressed and explains Veruca is a werewolf like himself, who had to be locked up so she couldn't hurt anyone. He claims he had no choice, but Willow, tearful and angry, points out Oz could have instead told the other Scoobies, and perhaps found a solution other than locking her up with him. Stoking the argument, Veruca agrees with Willow, and Oz, in an uncharacteristic burst of anger, orders Veruca to leave. He continues trying to explain things to Willow, but she doesn't want to hear it. She asks him if he had feelings for Veruca, which he denies, only that he could sense something, to which she asks if he wanted her 'in an animal way', more than he wanted her, and runs off crying.
Walking home in a dazed state, Willow walks in front of an oncoming car, which Buffy can't save her from, but Riley happens to be there and does. Buffy takes Willow back to their dorm and then goes to take care of Veruca. Using Oz's heightened senses to lead the way, Buffy and Oz go looking for Veruca, although Buffy is not interested in Oz's explanation for why he committed the actions which have left her best friend heartbroken. They find Veruca's clothes and then come to the conclusion that she left her clothes to throw them off her scent and has gone after Willow. Willow is in one of the campus labs, conjuring a spell that will prove to be devastating revenge against Oz and Veruca. She can't bring herself to complete the spell, however, and Veruca then enters, locking the door with intent to kill Willow when the sun goes down and get her out of the way. Just in time, Oz breaks in and the two werewolves fight until Oz rips Veruca's throat out. Before he can attack Willow, Buffy arrives and tranquilizes him, and then turns to comfort a traumatized and hysterical Willow.
The next day, Buffy talks to Giles about a heavily armed guy she ran into while searching for Veruca who was dressed the same way as the guys they ran into on Halloween. Willow finds Oz in his room, packing. Unsure of what separates him from the wolf, he is leaving until he can figure it out. Oz tells Willow he only ever loved her and then walks out. After a brief hesitation, he drives off in his van.
Production[edit]
In a BBC interview, writer Marti Noxon says she would have liked to direct this episode, as it was "close to [her] heart" - particularly the metaphor that "most of us have a creature inside of us that makes us do things that we wish we didn’t do." She adds, "The whole issue of sexuality between men and women is kind of fraught because of the beast."[1]
Joss Whedon had originally envisioned the love triangle between Oz, Veruca, and Willow to continue for most of season four. However, Seth Green abruptly left the show to pursue a movie career, explaining that "the character was always better served in a recurring capacity and Joss and I both felt it was better to revert to that status."[2] Despite that statement, Green would only return in two more episodes, both in the fourth season. Whedon says losing Green so suddenly was a "heartbreaker... and so Willow got her heart broken. I took what we were feeling and put it on-screen, so everybody would be on the same page."[3]
In the episode's DVD commentary, Seth Green said that during filming for the scene where Oz and Veruca have supposedly just woken up from mating as werewolves, he was naked except for a "boy-thong". He stated that this was incredibly uncomfortable since Paige Moss, the actress playing "Veruca", had her boyfriend visiting the set. Lindsay Crouse, the actress playing Professor Maggie Walsh, once played Seth Green's mother in an after school special. In this episode Oz (as a werewolf) attacks and tries to kill Maggie. Seth Green laughingly called it "the circle of life".
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
This episode is the last to feature Oz as a main character (and is the final time Seth Green's name appears in the opening credits); he returns for only two more episodes in the series: "New Moon Rising" and "Restless" (in the latter episode as part of a dream sequence). He is replaced in the opening credits in the next episode by Spike (James Marsters).
Buffy is now interested in the commandos she keeps seeing. This is building the plotline of the Initiative.
Willow and Oz talk briefly about the kiss that she shared with Xander in "Lovers Walk".
Willow's reaction to her heartbreak was to turn to dark magic for revenge. This theme will play out more and more as the series progresses.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Marti Noxon Online Chat, retrieved 2007-07-18
2.Jump up ^ Official Seth Green Bio, retrieved 07//18/2007
3.Jump up ^ Miller, Laura (May 20, 2003), The man behind the Slayer, retrieved 07//17/2007
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wild at Heart
"Wild at Heart" at the Internet Movie Database
"Wild at Heart" at TV.com


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The Initiative
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see The Initiative (disambiguation).

"The Initiative"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
The Initiative.jpg
Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 7
Directed by
James A. Contner
Written by
Doug Petrie
Production code
4ABB07
Original air date
November 16, 1999
Guest actors

Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
Adam Kaufman as Parker Abrams
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
Mace Lombard as Tom
Scott Becker as Lost Freshman

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Wild at Heart" Next →
 "Pangs"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"The Initiative" is the seventh episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Doug Petrie and directed by James A. Contner, it originally aired on November 16, 1999 on the WB network. In "The Initiative", Spike is imprisoned in an underground demon-research facility, and Riley realizes he has a crush on Buffy.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Production details
3 Cultural references
4 Continuity 4.1 Arc significance
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
Riley and a couple of friends, Forest and Graham, watch Buffy as she manages to make a mess of the soda machine and yogurt machine. They comment on what a catch she is, and how interested they all are, but Riley is reluctant to make fun.
Giles and Xander discover the commando guys are human and that their help will not be needed, again. Buffy arrives and while Giles tells her to patrol, she says she's going to party with Willow and hopefully cheer her up.
Spike, having been knocked out by a Taser at the beginning of the previous episode, wakes up in a facility where various types of demons are held captive behind electrically charged barriers. A packet of blood drops from the ceiling into Spike's cell but before he drinks it, a vampire in the next cell - Tom, captured in "The Freshman" - warns him that doctors starve the vampires and then feed them drugged blood before doing experiments on them. Spike is quick to blame the Slayer for his misfortune.
In class, Willow asks about Oz but Riley says he dropped out. After Willow tries to tell him that Oz will return, Professor Walsh informs her that he won't be back to her class, whereupon Willow abruptly leaves, saddened. Buffy approaches the professor, and tells her off, prompting Walsh to comment to Riley that she likes her.
Forrest asks Parker about Buffy, and when Parker vulgarly brags about having sex with her, Riley punches him. Riley then realizes he likes Buffy. He visits Willow and asks her advice in wooing Buffy; Willow, still emotionally distressed, questions his motives, but eventually relents, listing some of Buffy's likes and interests.
Spike lies on the floor of his cell, pretending to have drunk the drugged blood, and when the doctors come to get him he attacks. He escapes the Initiative and returns to Harmony's lair, telling her he's "back for good" - then immediately leaves to kill the Slayer. Xander later discovers Harmony crying, burning some of Spike's things. The two get into an inept slap-fight, and then mutually agree to stop. Harmony lets Xander know that Spike is back.
At the party, Willow tries to help Riley flirt with Buffy, but his attempts are thwarted when Xander arrives to inform Buffy that Spike has returned. Riley is also called away; he and Forest break away from the party and, after passing through several electronic checkpoints, go down a hidden elevator to the underground facility where Spike had been held. The operation's head, Professor Walsh, informs them that "Hostile 17" (Spike) has escaped, and the guys suit up. Riley gives orders to three teams that he sends out all over Sunnydale to find Spike.
Riley's team spots Buffy sitting on a bench. Riley refuses to allow the team to use her as bait and goes out to get rid of her. Each unaware of the other's secret identity, Riley and Buffy try to send each other out of harm's way.
Meanwhile, Spike has found Buffy's dorm through the school computer system. Willow, moping in her room, hears a knock on the door and invites the person in without thinking. Spike swaggers through the door and attempts to bite Willow, but is stopped by an intense pain in his head. After a short, calm dialogue with multiple metaphorical references to impotence (ex: "I know I'm not the kind of girl vamps like to sink their teeth into. It's always like 'Ooh, you're like a sister to me,' or 'Oh, you're such a good friend.'" "Don't be ridiculous. I'd bite you in a heartbeat."), Willow hits him with a lamp and runs out just as Riley and friends cut the power and then work their way up to the dorm room. They capture Spike but, while they consider whether to take Willow or not, Spike breaks free. Buffy arrives and fights Riley and his friends while Spike manages to escape through a window. Unable to make out the identity of their attacker, Riley orders them to retreat.
Professor Walsh is not happy with what happened or with Riley's report on the event. It is revealed that Spike cannot harm a human without feeling pain in his head thanks to an implant they placed there. Riley catches up with Buffy and they talk. Buffy tells him he's a little peculiar, which he says he can live with.
Production details[edit]
The vast set for the Initiative, revealed for the first time in this episode, was filmed at a Skunk Works facility, in a location where stealth aircraft have previously been manufactured. When describing the set, writer Doug Petrie said he was told by Whedon to "go big. Use your imagination. Do it, go there. This is a big budget movie."[1]
In the commentary for this episode, Douglas Petrie reveals that after Spike attacks Willow in her dorm room and the scene immediately cuts to commercial after a fleeting glimpse of the corridor outside with people who fail to hear Willow's screams, he wanted viewers to believe that Willow had actually been killed.
Actress Mercedes McNab says the hair-pulling, shin-kicking fight with Xander was "actually one of my favorite on-screen fights." When asked if she had a stunt double, she responded "No, it was all me", but "we wore knee pads and shin guards... which was kind of ridiculous seeing it was just such a cheesy fight."[2]
Cultural references[edit]
Both Spike and Riley saying that they 'Had to see about a girl' may be a reference to the final line of Good Will Hunting.
When Xander sees Harmony burning Spike's belongings, one of the items is a Sex Pistols CD.
Buffy, holding a flare gun, imitates the "Dodge this" scene from The Matrix, which was released earlier that year.
While Buffy & Riley are talking in the park, she says, "Who died and made you John Wayne?"
Continuity[edit]
While captive, Spike asks a fellow prisoner who their captors are, specifically asking if "the government" or "the Nazis" are involved. It is later revealed in "Why We Fight" that during World War II Spike was captured by Nazis who intended to make an army of vampire slaves to win the war. Ironically, in that same episode, Spike claimed, "I'm not getting experimented on by his (the American) government."
Arc significance[edit]
The existence of the Initiative is established.
This episode marks the first of many references to Spike as a neutered animal, or an impotent man, now that he has the Initiative-installed inhibitor chip in his brain. Willow tries to comfort Spike after he tries unsuccessfully to bite her, telling him they could "try again in half an hour."
This episode marks the second time that Willow sits next to a distraught Spike on a bed and tries to comfort him; the first time is when Spike returns to Sunnydale in Season 3 and kidnaps her to perform a love spell. He threatens and menaces her, but then sits next to her and they discuss the pain of his breakup.
With this episode, James Marsters (Spike) replaces Seth Green (Oz) in the opening credits.
Willow's words to Riley come true in "Into the Woods", where Riley leaves Sunnydale and Buffy.
Oz's full name, Daniel Osborne, is mentioned for the first and only time.
This episode marks the first appearance of Forest and Graham, Riley's teammates in the Initiative, and the final appearance of Parker Abrams.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "BBC Interview with Doug Petrie: Buffy producer's inside guide". Retrieved 2007-07-20.
2.Jump up ^ "BBC Interview with Mercedes McNab: Girl-fight fun". Retrieved 2007-07-20.
External links[edit]
"The Initiative" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Initiative" at TV.com


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Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 4) episodes


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Pangs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

For the basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm, see panging.

"Pangs"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x08.jpg
Buffy's point of view of everyone's reaction when she learns Angel is in town

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 8
Directed by
Michael Lange
Written by
Jane Espenson
Production code
4ABB08
Original air date
November 23, 1999
Guest actors

David Boreanaz as Angel
Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Tod Thawley as Hus - The Chumash Spirit
Mark Ankeny as Dean Guerrero
William Vogt as Jamie
Margaret Easley as Curator

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Initiative" Next →
 "Something Blue"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Pangs" is the eighth episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
On Thanksgiving, Buffy encounters the restless and vengeful spirit of a member of the aboriginal Chumash tribe, who were wiped out by white settlers.[1] During a tense confrontation, the Slayer fights a losing battle against her formidable foe - but fortunately, a mysterious protector watches over her from the shadows.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Themes
3 Critical reaction
4 Writing 4.1 Continuity
4.2 Arc significance
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
Buffy, patrolling, finds a vampire, engages, and then slays it. Angel has been watching her from behind some bushes. The college's Dean Guerrero orates for the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Anthropology building, and Xander is one of the construction workers. Xander begins to dig, but the ground suddenly caves out under him, and he drops into an old abandoned building. Accidentally and unnoticed, he frees the spirit, Hus, who wants revenge.
Buffy, upset that her mother is going to be out of town for Thanksgiving, decides to cook her own Thanksgiving dinner and invite all her friends.
Covered in a blanket and in terrible shape, Spike runs through the woods, trying to escape Riley and his Initiative team as they look for him.
Anya arrives at Xander's to find him incredibly sick, and right away starts taking care of him.
A green haze comes up from the old Mission and goes to the Cultural Center where some weapons are being kept. After the haze comes in contact with a knife, it turns into a large Native American man and kills the curator. Buffy and Willow later secretly investigate the murder, and wonder why the curator's body was missing an ear. They discover that a Chumash knife is missing.
After Giles agrees to look up information on the Chumash people, and Buffy leaves, Angel appears from Giles's back room, having come to Sunnydale because his friend had a vision of Buffy in danger. Willow goes to get coffee and runs into Angel. He tells her he's just looking out for Buffy because she might be in trouble.
Starving, Spike tries to get food from Harmony, but she threatens him with a stake and he leaves.
With only a blanket to protect him from the sun, Spike shows up at Giles's place, asking for help. Buffy is reluctant to give it, but after he offers inside information on the Initiative and Willow helps him explain that he can't bite anyone anymore, she allows him in.
The spirits attack Buffy, Giles, and Spike with arrows. Helplessly tied to a chair, all Spike can do is try to move out of the way as he gets hit with arrows. Willow, Xander, and Anya encounter Angel on their way back and they determine that the Chumash went after Buffy. Angel shows up and helps them out. Buffy cuts one of the Chumash with his own knife, and reaches the conclusion that their own weapons can kill them.
The spirit turns into a large black bear, causing Spike to panic and knock his chair over. Buffy struggles with the bear and then stabs it. All of the spirits disappear.
Angel walks away without having being seen by Buffy, and later, the gang sits down to Thanksgiving dinner. Still tied to a chair, Spike sits with them and whines that he still hasn't been fed. Xander accidentally lets it slip that Angel was in town.[2]
Themes[edit]
Not for the first time, stress brought on by holidays – travel, family and preparations – is metaphorically presented as attacks by spirits.
Two views on America's history are presented, with Willow supporting Native Americans even when they killed people, while Giles and Spike champion the other side of the debate; Giles stresses the futility of symbolic revenge and Spike argues the equal futility of guilt.
Cowboys versus Indians: When Buffy, Willow and Anya are watching the ground-breaking for the new Cultural Center in the opening moments, Buffy is wearing a black cowboy hat. The cowboy hat suggests the later conflicts with natives; the black hat, of course, suggests a villain; this suggests Buffy's later ambivalence.
Angel and Giles suggest that Hus is seeking the strongest warrior. Dean Guerrero is briefly considered to be the one who is sought; guerrero is the Spanish word for warrior.
Patriarchy / Empire - The themes are both emphasized and mocked. For example, Buffy corrects Giles by saying, "Native American." Giles is momentarily confused: "Sorry?" Buffy explains, "We don't say 'Indian'." And Giles mutters, "Oh, right. Yes, yes. Um, always behind on the terms. Still trying not to refer to you lot as 'bloody colonials'." Buffy also belittles Giles by demanding that Thanksgiving Dinner be held at his house: "You're the patriarch. You have to host the festivities, or it's all meaningless." Giles growls, "And this is in no way an elaborate scheme to stick me with the cleanup?" Buffy then tries to deflect him by talking about the murders.[3]
Critical reaction[edit]
Sally Eamons-Featherston comments that it stands out from other Buffy episodes for dealing with the issue of race. Its moral complexity is symbolised by Buffy's initial appearance in a black hat, traditionally the sign of a Western villain, and the program makes several references to the Western genre. The episode was however criticised for stereotyping Native Americans, particularly Chumashes, who actually had a complex culture, while the Chumash warrior is portrayed here as speaking in a highly cliched way.[4]
The A.V. Club called it "an outrageously entertaining episode", noting the many funny moments but also the complex moral debate over the Native American "evil".[5] Persephone Magazine called it the start of a run of three excellent episodes, including Something Blue and Hush.[6]
Writing[edit]
Continuity[edit]
Crossover with Angel: After Doyle received a vision of Buffy in trouble ("Bachelor Party"), Angel arrived in Sunnydale in this episode. Buffy is angry that Angel did not inform her and confronts him in "I Will Remember You", aired immediately afterward.
Willow amusingly questions Angel about hiring Cordelia at Angel Investigations.
Anya meets Angel for the first time. After watching him coldly kill the Chumash warriors when he leaps into the battle, she wryly asks Willow, "So what's he like when he is evil?"
Twice in the episode, characters (Willow and Xander) react to seeing Angel by asking him if he's "evil again." Angel is vaguely offended by the repeated question, and asked rhetorically, "Why does everybody keep saying that? I haven't been evil for a long time..."
Arc significance[edit]
Xander now refers to Anya as his girlfriend. Riley and Buffy are establishing a relationship as well. Angel shows a jealous streak when he asks Willow, "...Who's that guy?" when he sees Buffy and Riley in an obviously affectionate conversation, despite the fact that he has already told Willow that he "doesn't have a whole lot of time for personal stuff."
Willow foreshadows the nature of this season's "Big Bad", Adam, by hypothesizing a demon made out of parts when a victim is missing an ear. In an earlier episode, "Some Assembly Required," the Epps brothers attempted precisely such a creation, although their goal was to create a human, not a demon.
Xander's afflictions in the episode are briefly mentioned in song in "Once More, With Feeling".
While discussing Angel's decision not to inform Buffy while following her, Giles says the line "It's not fair. You know that's what she'd say. You can see her, but she can't see you?" which is then directly referenced in the continuation of this story in the Angel episode "I Will Remember You" when Buffy says "What is it? You can see me, but I can't see you?".
Spike displays evidence of his character's evolution and shifting loyalties, though the other characters do not yet recognize it. Early in the episode, he speaks to Buffy and her friends as an outsider: "You won. All right? You came in, and you killed them, and you took their land." By referring to the group as "you," he reinforces that he does not belong to that group. Later, though, after the battle, he tentatively asks, "What happened? Did we win?" His use of "we" indicates that he is beginning to identify with the group. This growing sense of identification may be based on some combination of his recognition of the increasingly symbiotic relationship he has with them, their common European heritage (having already spoken of the group as representatives of the "conquering nation" that eliminated the Chumash), or even a calculated decision that alliance with the group would be in his overall self-interest. (He has already reluctantly admitted that, due to the limitations placed on him by the electronic chip in his brain, he is at their mercy to some extent.)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Buffy the Vampire Slayer series 4-8 Pangs". Radio Times. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
2.Jump up ^ "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pangs Synopsis". Fandango/AMG/Rovi. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
3.Jump up ^ Espenson, Jane (October 19, 1999). "Buffy Episode #64: "Pangs" Transcript". BuffyWorld. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
4.Jump up ^ Emily Dial-Driver, Jim Ford, Sally Emmons-Featherston, Carolyn Anne Taylor (2008). The Truth of Buffy: Essays on Fiction Illuminating Reality. McFarland. pp. 55–65.
5.Jump up ^ Murray, Noel (August 7, 2009). "The Initiative, Pangs, etc". AV Club. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
6.Jump up ^ "Retro Recap: Buffy the Vampire Slayer S4.E8: Pangs". Persephone Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
External links[edit]
"Pangs" at the Internet Movie Database
"Pangs" at TV.com
[1]


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Categories: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 4) episodes
1999 television episodes
Thanksgiving television specials
Buffyverse crossover episodes
Screenplays by Jane Espenson


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Something Blue (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


"Something Blue"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x09.jpg
Under Willow's inadvertent spell, Buffy tells her friends she's marrying Spike

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 9
Directed by
Nick Marck
Written by
Tracey Forbes
Production code
4ABB09
Original air date
November 30, 1999
Guest actors

Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Elizabeth Anne Allen as Amy Madison
Andy Umberger as D'Hoffryn

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Pangs" Next →
 "Hush"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Something Blue" is the 9th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Tracey Forbes and directed by Nick Marck, it originally aired on November 30, 1999 on the WB network. In "Something Blue", a spell by Willow goes awry, blinding Giles, making Xander a literal demon magnet, and causing Buffy and Spike to fall in love and get engaged.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Critical response
3 Cultural references
4 Continuity 4.1 Arc significance
4.2 References to other episodes
5 Trivia
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
Riley invites Buffy out on a picnic. Willow and Buffy discuss the consequences of a possible relationship with Riley, who seems "safe" and unlikely to hurt her. Buffy wonders if true passion requires pain and fighting. Later, Buffy interrogates Spike, who is chained up in Giles' bathtub, but he doesn't give up much. Willow suggests a truth spell to make Spike talk.
Going to Oz's place, Willow learns he had his possessions shipped to him, crushing her last hopes of his return. That night at The Bronze, she opts to drown her sorrows in alcohol. Later, in the dorm bathroom, Willow performs a spell to let her will be granted in order to make her pain go away. However, her commands don't seem to work.
Giles drops by to find out why she didn't show to help him perform the spell as scheduled. She feels like there's too much pressure on her that she can't live up to. Angry, she says that he can't see anything, and then Giles leaves. Giles tries to perform the spell on Spike alone, but has difficulty reading. After Giles drops the key to the chains keeping Spike captive, Spike is able to escape.
While Willow and Buffy talk, one of Willow's casual comments causes Amy to become human for a brief second, before another turns her back into a rat. After Giles calls, Buffy goes to find Spike and once he's caught (by another sarcastic comment from Willow), she brings him back to Giles's apartment. While talking to Xander, Willow sarcastically suggests that Buffy and Spike get married. Meanwhile at Giles' place, Spike proposes to Buffy and she accepts.
Xander continues to try to console Willow; in misdirected rage and grief, she calls him "a demon magnet." While Buffy and Spike cuddle and kiss and make plans for the wedding, Giles calls Willow for help, confessing he is totally blind. He states that he is blind without his glasses, but doesn't seem to have them on. Buffy runs into Riley outside of a bridal shop and tells him about the wedding, which confuses and upsets him.
Xander and Anya's romantic time is interrupted by various demons that attack them. They rush to Giles' place where Xander realizes that everything Willow has said is coming true. D'Hoffryn, the demon responsible for making Anya a vengeance demon, comes forth and takes Willow through a portal into his demon world to make the same offer. When the gang goes to look for her, Anya recognizes the remains of a portal left by D'Hoffryn.
Buffy and the rest of the group go to a crypt where they hope to stop D'Hoffryn from turning Willow into a demon. En route to the crypt, several demons attack, still drawn to Xander because of Willow's spell. In the meantime, Willow turns down D'Hoffryn's offer and he sends her back. Willow breaks the spell and Buffy and Spike find themselves in the middle of a kiss. Willow apologizes and tries to make up for her messed up spell with cookies. Buffy claims she is over the whole "bad boy" thing. The next day, Buffy confronts Riley and manages to convince him that she's not getting married, and was purposely lied to test whether he truly is a decent person.
Critical response[edit]
Justine Larbalestier has suggested the episode pokes fun at fans "shipping" Buffy and Spike, that is inventing scenarios and writing fan fiction to allow the two characters, normally foes, to become romantically involved.[1]
The AV Club called it "a well-balanced episode", mixing comedy with more serious reflection on the theme of how there's no easy solution to Willow's problems.[2] Nikki Stafford found it funny, particularly Spike's actions, though she found Buffy's reactions less in believable.[3]
Cultural references[edit]
The title comes from a wedding tradition that began in Victorian England. The full poem reads, "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe." Each item is supposed to bring good luck to the bride. It's also a reference to Willow, who is upset, or "blue", because of Oz while also referring to D'Hoffryn who himself is Blue.
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
Crossover: Buffy briefly mentions her visit to Angel in Los Angeles ("I Will Remember You"), which took place after the previous episode. However, the event does not occur as Buffy remembers except for Angel; she believes her visit only last minutes.
This episode foreshadows three major plotlines of season six - Willow's abuse of magic for her own ends,[3] Willow's inner capacity for vengeance and Buffy and Spike in a relationship.
This episode also marks the first time Willow does a large, complex spell that goes awry. This happens again in future episodes.
In this episode, D'Hoffryn gives Willow a talisman so that she can summon him if she changes her mind about becoming a vengeance demon. Willow will later use this talisman in the season seven episode "Selfless" in order to talk to D'Hoffryn about Anya.
The "UC Sunnydale Lesbian Alliance" banner that Buffy sees Riley hanging in the beginning of the episode is a foreshadowing of Willow's upcoming lesbian relationship, beginning in the next episode.
While under the spell, Willow unknowingly manages to turn Amy back into a human, but then turns her back into a rat without realizing what happened. Amy will not become human again until the Season 6 episode "Smashed".
Buffy admits to Willow that she feels "real love and passion have to go hand in hand with pain and fighting", and questions if a normal relationship can have the same sort of intensity. This foreshadows her violent relationship with Spike in season six, as well as the reason her relationship with Riley ultimately fails.
It's also worth noting that Buffy, under Willow's spell, asks Giles to give her away at her and Spike's wedding.
References to other episodes[edit]
One of the spellbooks Spike picks up bears the symbol used in the episode "Gingerbread" on the cover.
After the spell has been broken, Buffy says to Willow, "We may be in to a forgetting spell later." In the episode "Tabula Rasa," Willow casts a spell that unintentionally causes the gang to forget who they are.
Trivia[edit]
In 2007, Alyson Hannigan would star in an episode of How I Met Your Mother entitled "Something Blue."
In the scene where Willow confesses to Giles that she tried to perform a spell to have her will done a poster with the title "Murphy's Law" is visible over her shoulder (may only be visible on widescreen versions).
Despite the fact it has been shown vampires have no reflection, Spike can be seen many times in a mirror to left of the door, visible just past Giles' shoulder and in the glass front of the bookshelf next to his chair.[4]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Rhonda V. Wilcox, David Lavery, ed. (2002). Fighting the forces: what's at stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 232.
2.Jump up ^ Murray, Noel (August 7, 2009). "The Initiative/Pangs/Something Blue". AV Club. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Stafford, Nikki (2007). Bite Me!: The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Edition. ECW Press. p. 226.
4.Jump up ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533488/goofs
External links[edit]
"Something Blue" at the Internet Movie Database
"Something Blue" at TV.com


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Hush (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This is a good article. Click here for more information.

"Hush"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
HushB-W4.png
Willow and Buffy realize they have no voices; for 27 minutes of the episode there is no dialogue

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 10
Directed by
Joss Whedon
Written by
Joss Whedon
Cinematography by
Michael Gershman
Production code
4ABB10
Original air date
December 14, 1999
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors

Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
Phina Oruche as Olivia
Brooke Bloom as Nicole
Jessica Townsend as Cheryl
Doug Jones as Gentleman
Camden Toy as Gentleman
Don W. Lewis as Gentleman
Charlie Brumbly as Gentleman
Carlos Amezcua as Newscaster
Elizabeth Thuax as Girl
Wayne Sable as Freshman

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Something Blue" Next →
 "Doomed"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Hush" is the tenth episode in the fourth season of the supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003). It was written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon and originally aired in the United States on December 14, 1999 on The WB Television Network. After reading critical response to the series in which the dialogue was praised as the most successful aspect of the show, Whedon set out to write an episode almost completely devoid of speech. Only about 17 minutes of dialogue is presented in the entire 44 minutes of "Hush".
In "Hush", a group of fairy tale ghouls named "The Gentlemen" come to town and steal everyone's voices, leaving them unable to scream when The Gentlemen cut out their hearts. Buffy and her friends must communicate with one another silently as they try to discover why no one can speak and find whoever is murdering the townspeople. They must also find ways to express their feelings about each other and keep some semblance of control as the town descends into chaos.
The episode was highly praised when it aired and was the only episode in the entire series to be nominated for an Emmy Award in Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series; it also received a nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single Camera Series (Michael Gershman). "Hush" addresses the limits and assets of language and communication and the disruption to society when communication breaks down. The Gentlemen are often counted as some of the series' most frightening villains, and the episode is frequently included on lists of the best of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Plot
3 Production and writing
4 Themes 4.1 Language
4.2 Community
4.3 Fairy tales
5 Reception
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links

Background[edit]
From the beginning of the series Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is assisted by her close friends, who refer to themselves collectively as the "Scooby Gang". The gang's members vary but always include Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon), a young man who is devoted and loyal to Buffy and her calling, and who often sees emotional truths to which the others are blind; and Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan), a shy but academically gifted student who increasingly dabbles in magic, beginning late in the second season. They are mentored by Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), Buffy's "Watcher", and are eventually joined by Xander's new girlfriend Anya Jenkins (Emma Caulfield), who was a vengeance demon until her powers were taken away. She and Xander are attracted to each other, but Anya's thousand-year history of embodying the wrath of scorned women creates friction between them and they must figure out what their relationship means.[1]
Buffy and Willow begin to attend college in the fourth season. They take a psychology course taught by Dr. Maggie Walsh (Lindsay Crouse), who has a teaching assistant named Riley Finn (Marc Blucas). Riley and Buffy become romantically involved. He is part of a secret demon- and vampire-hunting military organization, a fact which is known to viewers but not to Buffy. The military organization, named The Initiative, has previously captured a vampire named Spike (James Marsters) and implanted a microchip in his head that causes him extreme pain when he tries to hurt humans. Spike escapes, however, and is hiding from the Initiative by living with Giles and then with Xander.[1]
Earlier in the fourth season Willow's boyfriend, Oz, left college in an attempt to grapple with the uncontrollable feral side of being a werewolf, leaving Willow devastated for several episodes. To distract herself, she becomes more involved in magic, practicing spells with varying degrees of success, and trying to socialize with the campus Wicca group.[1]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (often simplified as Buffy) exhibited a writing style unique to television when it aired, specifically with its critically acclaimed dialogue.[2][3][4] Each season has an overall theme. As noted by Buffy scholar Roz Kaveney, episodes in the fourth season address authority, order, and the estrangement from the self and others as Buffy and her friends take on new roles after high school.[1]
Plot[edit]
During a college lecture where Dr. Walsh is discussing the difference between language and communication, Buffy has a dream in which Riley kisses her. They are interrupted by a young girl holding a distinctive box, singing a cryptic rhyme about "The Gentlemen". Riley and Buffy speak after class and they almost kiss, but are unable to stop talking. They leave when it becomes awkward. Buffy calls Giles to tell him of her dream and the details of the little girl's rhyme.
At Giles' apartment Xander and Anya argue, as Anya is trying to get Xander to tell her what she means to him. He is unable to answer her. Willow attends a meeting of the campus Wicca group, hoping to meet others who share her interest in studying witchcraft, but is disappointed when they only talk about bake sales. Willow raises the subject of spells but is chastised for pandering to the stereotype about witches performing magic. A shy woman in the group named Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) starts to speak up to support Willow's suggestion, but falls silent when the attention turns to her.
That night, as Sunnydale sleeps, white wisps float from each person's mouth to a belfry, where they settle in the box from Buffy's dream as ghoulish skeletal figures with metallic-toothed grimaces and impeccable black suits look on. In the morning, Buffy and Willow discover they are unable to speak and become visibly distressed; they soon discover that everybody is unable to speak. The group gathers at Giles' where they see that the news is reporting that Sunnydale is suffering from an epidemic of laryngitis. Buffy and Riley, each concerned that chaos will ensue, find each other attempting to keep order on the streets. They exchange a look and then have their first kiss before parting to continue their efforts.
The next night, the ghouls leave the belfry and float into town accompanied by their straitjacketed, deformed minions. They knock on the door of a student. When he opens it, aroused from sleeping, they hold him down and carve out his heart while he tries in vain to scream. At Giles' apartment his visiting girlfriend, Olivia, is frightened by one of The Gentlemen outside Giles' window. The following morning in a campus classroom, Giles uses a series of overhead transparencies to explain to the others that The Gentlemen steal the townspeople's voices so no one can scream as they gather the hearts they need, and that folklore indicates that they have been vanquished before when a princess screamed—the only thing that will kill them is a live human voice.
That evening, Anya falls asleep on Giles' sofa while Spike takes a mugful of blood from the refrigerator. Xander enters Giles' apartment as Spike, his mouth wet with blood, bends down to pick up something that he dropped in front of the sofa where Anya sleeps. Inferring that Spike bit and drank from Anya, Xander pummels him ferociously until Anya wakes and stops him; excited that he fought to defend her, Anya gestures that they go home for sex.
On her own Tara finds a spell to help the town get its voices back, and goes out to show it to Willow. On the way to Willow's dorm she trips, turns around and sees The Gentlemen floating toward her. In Willow's dorm she frantically knocks on doors which no one will open; The Gentlemen steadily pursue her. Willow hears Tara's panicked knocking down the hall and exits her room as Tara sprints into her, sending them both tumbling. They lock themselves into a laundry room and try to barricade the door with a vending machine, but it is too heavy for them to move. Willow, injured, sits and concentrates on moving the machine with telekinesis; she fails, but Tara sees what she is doing. They clasp hands and the machine moves swiftly across the room, blocking the door.
On patrol, Riley notices shadows in the belfry and goes to investigate. Buffy finds two of The Gentlemen's minions, kills one and runs after the other. Riley fights his way into the belfry and while he's embattled, Buffy crashes through a window, fighting. He turns to attack and finds himself face to face with Buffy. She fights while he stares, unmoving. When a minion pins her down she sees and recognizes the box from her dream and gesticulates wildly for Riley to destroy it. When he does so, the stolen voices escape. Buffy screams until the heads of The Gentlemen and their minions explode.
The next day, Tara tells Willow she is special and has significant power. Riley comes to visit Buffy in her dorm room and they sit facing each other, saying nothing.
Production and writing[edit]



When people stop talking, they start communicating. Language can interfere with communication because language limits. As soon as you say something, you've eliminated every other possibility of what you might be talking about. We also use language to separate ourselves from other people.
“
”
Joss Whedon, DVD audio commentary for "Hush"[5]
Joss Whedon's impetus to create "Hush" was his reaction to hearing that the primary reason behind Buffy's success was the dialogue. He felt that he was stagnating as a director, turning into a "hack" by making formulaic episodes. Whedon tended to concentrate so much on the visual aspects of the series' production that he was chastised by Fox executives in earlier seasons.[5] Thus, writing and producing "Hush" depended almost solely on visuals and not on dialogue, a prospect that Whedon found terrifying, worried that viewers would find the episode boring. Much like the fourth season finale "Restless"—which consisted almost entirely of dream sequences—and the sixth season musical "Once More, with Feeling", Whedon was certain he would fail at attempting to present the show in such a novel way. Initially, this was to be the episode where Riley and Buffy have sex, and Whedon took comfort in that plan because he knew people would not mind the silence, but ultimately he decided it was too early for the characters to sleep together, and he scrapped the idea.[5]
The Gentlemen, called the "creepiest villains we've ever done" by series writer Doug Petrie,[4] were inspired by a nightmare Whedon had as a child, specifically one in which he was in bed and approached by a floating monster. Whedon fashioned The Gentlemen as something from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, intending them to be frightening to children — monsters who carve out people's hearts, smiling as they do so. Nosferatu, Pinhead from Hellraiser, and Mr. Burns from The Simpsons all served as physical models for The Gentlemen. Elegantly Victorian in costume and demeanor, Whedon found their politeness and grace especially unsettling. Their metallic teeth were inspired by the intersection of Victorian culture with the height of the Industrial age,[6] an era that Whedon considers "classically creepy".[5] For Buffy studies scholar Rhonda Wilcox, The Gentlemen and their straitjacket-wearing minions, who clumsily flap, gyrate, and crouch as they move, are representative of class disparity and patriarchy: The Gentlemen, with their Victorian suits, move effortlessly to accomplish what they set out to do while their minions, whom Whedon called "footmen", do the "dirty work".[4][7]








The Gentlemen in full costume were frightening to cast and crew in daylight; Doug Jones, right, who played the tallest of them, out of make-up
Doug Jones and the other actors who played The Gentlemen had previous experience performing as monsters and were professional mimes as well. This gave them an elegant grace, especially in their hand movements. Their floating effect was accomplished by suspending them from cranes with wires (digitally removed in post-production), or by pulling them on dollies. The cast found the actors in make-up and costume to be terrifying in broad daylight, and Whedon was so impressed with the physical movements of The Gentlemen that he admitted on the DVD commentary that his mocking of mimes in general "went down about 40%" after the episode was filmed.[5][6][8]
As newcomers to the Scooby Gang, Tara Maclay and Giles' girlfriend Olivia (Phina Oruche) are inexperienced with monsters, and were brought in to express "real childlike terror". Willow had, after three seasons, grown considerably more confident, having found her intellectual and emotional niche at college, and therefore was no longer evincing the terror she once had; Tara, shy, unsure of herself, and unaccustomed to such experiences, served to fill the gap that Willow's maturing had created. According to Buffy essayist Patrick Shade, Tara's and Olivia's fear "heighten(s) our sense of vulnerability and so make these scenes more frightening".[9] Joss Whedon has said that one of his favorite shots in the episode is of Olivia's frightened reaction to a Gentlemen floating by her window, leering in at her.[5]
Tara became a regularly recurring character throughout the fourth, fifth and sixth seasons, eventually becoming Willow's girlfriend in what would be the first long-term lesbian relationship in U.S. television. The writers decided to replace Seth Green, who played Oz, Willow's lycanthropic boyfriend, after he announced that he would be leaving early in the fourth season.[10] They were unaware at the time that the relationship between Willow and Tara would become romantic, but Benson's performance and demeanor "made up our minds for us", according to Whedon. The writers wanted to make the scene in which Tara and Willow move the vending machine by working together "sensual and powerful", and "a very empowering statement about love; that two people together can accomplish more than when they're alone". Whedon considers the scene one of the "most romantic images we've put on film" in the course of the series.[5] Benson and Hannigan's chemistry was impressive enough that two episodes into Tara and Willow's friendship Whedon took the actors aside and informed them the relationship would be turning romantic.[11]
The episode is a tribute to the silent films that were played in theaters with musical accompaniment,[12] and 27 minutes of it are entirely dialogue-free. Several types of music are used to express what is not being said; music acts as the narrator. During Giles' overhead presentation he plays a recorded version of Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre. Buffy and Riley's love theme is presented for the first time when they kiss in this episode. This composition by Christophe Beck—who composed scores for Buffy regularly—pleased Joss Whedon more than the Buffy and Angel love theme. He considered the Buffy-Riley theme more adult, but a bit more strange and blue than the Buffy-Angel theme: a prediction of where the relationship between Buffy and Riley would go.[13]
Themes[edit]
Language[edit]
"Hush" explores issues relating to the limits and benefits of language and communication. During the first act of the episode, the characters are presented as being overwhelmed by language that is misused, used as white noise, and employed as a means of avoiding truth. Many of the conversations between characters, even those that are seemingly insignificant to the episode's plot or to the show's overall history, deal in some way with various aspects or forms of communication. Whedon stated that he was unaware of how "inevitably coherent" this theme was until after the script was completed.[5] Buffy and Riley are unable to act upon their attraction because they cannot stop babbling, primarily to keep their true identities concealed from each other, but also to avoid becoming closer emotionally. Xander is unable or unwilling to express what Anya means to him, and Anya, still new at interacting with humans, uses blunt, often rude language that distances herself from all the other characters. Giles desperately wants the others to stop talking. Willow considers the women in the Wicca group to be nonsensical, later complaining to Buffy "Talk, all talk. Blah blah Gaia. Blah blah moon, menstrual lifeforce power thingy. You know after a couple sessions I was hoping we would get into something real, but..."[9][14] These pseudo conversations are what Buffy essayists Alice Jenkins and Susan Stuart refer to as "locutionary acts": language that is formed to have meaning but does not engage the listener.[15]
When finally faced with the loss of speech, the characters readily express what they feel. Buffy and Riley, after a series of eyebrow movements and simply mouthed questions, are able to kiss spontaneously. Xander's actions are very clearly directed toward protecting Anya and punishing Spike for harming her, and likewise, within a matter of moments Anya's doubts about how Xander feels about her have disappeared and she becomes instantly affectionate towards him again. Tara, who was overcome with shyness while speaking during the Wicca meeting, easily expresses courage when touching Willow, and Willow realizes she has finally found someone who understands and shares what she is seeking.[9]
Without speech, the Scoobies resort to gestures or writing. Humorous misperceptions arise from this gesturing when, for example, Buffy mimes driving in a stake—as though killing a vampire—too close to her pelvis, causing the Scoobies to think she is suggesting masturbating to rid the town of The Gentlemen. In the belfry, while Buffy and Riley are fighting The Gentlemen, Buffy indicates that Riley should smash the box from her dream. He misunderstands and breaks a jar beside it, looks up and grins, awaiting Buffy's approval.[15] The clumsiness of the characters' gesturing is in direct contrast to the grace of The Gentlemen, who communicate easily through gestures and other visual signals. Their communication is simple and direct; nods, head tilts, and hand movements, achieve exactly what they want it to. The Scoobies, however, are confused and accomplish the opposite of what they intend. When they are rendered silent they are also rendered useless, unsure of how to fight The Gentlemen.[9] According to two Buffy essayists, part of the horror stemming from the arrival of The Gentlemen is the silence that makes the people of Sunnydale helpless, easy victims.[14]
Jenkins and Stuart assert that through the loss of speech, the communication in "Hush" is transformed from the senseless locutionary to the perlocutionary: acts upon which ideas are conveyed into instant meaning and action. The scream uttered by Buffy to destroy The Gentlemen has severe implications for them although it has no real meaning. Even Tara's writing down Willow's room number before going to her dorm communicates that she has been thinking of Willow and wishes to find her. This act confirms to both Tara and the audience that she is interested in Willow.[15]
Community[edit]
Although Sunnydale has long been familiar with demons and monsters who have inhabited the town and fed off its residents, in this episode the conventions by which societal functions are so disrupted by the unexplained silence that significant chaos results, enough to warrant both Riley and Buffy going on patrol to keep order. Buffy and Willow walk down a familiar street, arm-in-arm and easily startled, and see a bank closed and patrons running into a liquor store that is obviously open. The breakdown of order also causes sudden religious fervor; a group of people have gathered on the street to read the Bible (Revelation 15:1 is written on a signboard—an allusion to the seven angels with seven plagues as there are seven Gentlemen, according to author Nikki Stafford[10]). Opportunistic capitalist fervor results in a man selling overpriced dry erase boards.[15] Community, notes Patrick Shade (citing sociologist George Herbert Mead), consists of institutions such as language, religion, and economics. When one institution disappears, Sunnydale residents begin to depend more heavily on the others. Mostly, however, individuals are isolated from one another during the silence. Even the Scoobies find their bonds shaken, as they are unable to use the witty banter that has marked them as a group thus far. (This awkwardness extended even to the actors: the first silent scene the entire cast attempted was the Scoobies gathering in Giles' apartment following the discovery that all of Sunnydale's denizens had lost their voices. It took several rehearsals as the scene came out mistimed, with all of the actors having trouble playing off one another without the use of verbal cues, or all pantomiming over one another.[5]) Without a common language to fall back upon the Scoobies are forced to depend on their shared history to help them recover well enough to be able to take action.
The resolution to this isolation and ineffectiveness is speaking out: restoring the voices of the people of Sunnydale. Shade states that this facet of the episode gives it a political overtone.[9] Noel Murray from The A.V. Club writes that the silence imposed by The Gentlemen is a metaphor for how evil spreads: "When dissent is stifled, or people fail to tell the truth, or when we’re just distracted by other concerns, things can get out of hand."[16] Authority figures in the series, such as the school principal, the mayor's office, and the Sunnydale Police Department, repeatedly either abet the town's endemic evil or choose not to hear about it. During "Hush", at Giles' apartment the Scoobies listen to a newscaster reporting that authorities in the town attribute the silence to a flu vaccine gone awry, causing mass laryngitis. Wilcox writes, "[H]ow many times will we see those in power maintain such a silence while evil proceeds? It is not surprising that [The Gentlemen's] attendants wear straitjackets; their garb suggests the insanity of such behavior—the pretense of civilized politeness while killing is accepted is a matter of course."[17]
Fairy tales[edit]
Two other episodes in the Buffy canon are also based on, or have elements of, fairy tales: "Killed by Death", where only sick children can see a demon who sucks away their lives, and "Gingerbread", where a demon takes on the forms of Hansel and Gretel to create a moral panic in Sunnydale. "Hush" is often compared to these episodes because they contain similar elements. Whedon intended The Gentlemen to be Brothers Grimm-like monsters, with Giles playing the role of the wise man, Buffy the princess,[18] and Tara the "little girl wandering through the woods".[5] In this incarnation, however, Buffy is a swashbuckling princess whose scream saves the town.[note 1] Instead of being the damsel in distress she is the hero, breaking through a boarded-up window in the belfry, then grabbing a rope and swinging across the room to kill one of The Gentlemen's footmen by smashing her feet into his chest.
In many Buffy episodes, understanding why evil has appeared is important in knowing how to fight it, but the reasons for The Gentlemen's arrival and their need to take seven human hearts are never made explicit; they are simply there. According to Giles' overhead transparencies, they can appear in any town. Several Buffy scholars assert that a sexual element similar to what is presented in classic fairy tales is evident in "Hush". Buffy often has prophetic dreams, and it is in a dream that she first sees one of The Gentlemen; she sees a flash of his face just as Riley touches her shoulder. Buffy has only been sexually intimate twice before: with the vampire Angel, whose lovemaking cost him his soul, and with the womanizing Parker Abrams. Riley is notably different from both and Buffy's anxiety about becoming intimate with him, according to scholars, either calls The Gentlemen to Sunnydale or is represented by them.[19] The Gentlemen murder by cutting chests open and removing hearts, penetrative acts. In Buffy's dream Riley says, "If I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down" and when he does so, it instantly becomes night, as if Buffy has crossed over a threshold. Riley's kiss creates physical and emotional intimacy, but initiates mental, intuitive knowledge as well: in this episode Buffy learns of Riley's secret role as a member of The Initiative.[20] Threshold imagery is again used when Tara and Willow block the door with their combined efforts, shutting The Gentlemen out.[21]
Reception[edit]
When the episode was originally broadcast in the United States on December 14, 1999, it received a Nielsen rating of 4.1 and a share of 7, meaning that roughly 4.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 7 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. The episode placed fifth in its timeslot and 93rd among broadcast television for the week of December 13–19, 2001. It was the most watched program on WB that night, and the second most watched program that week, trailing 7th Heaven.[22]
"Hush" was highly praised when it aired, not only for its riskiness in presenting viewers with extended silence, but for the frightening qualities of The Gentlemen. Robert Bianco from USA Today comments, "(i)n a medium in which producers tend to grow bored with their own creations, either trashing them or taking them in increasingly bizarre directions, Whedon continues to find new ways to make his fabulously entertaining series richer and more compelling. With or without words, he's a TV treasure."[23] In the Ottawa Citizen, Chuck Barney writes, "I wondered if this enormously entertaining cult favourite would lose some starch once our favourite little slayer moved on to college. But happily, it continues to win us over with the way it deftly bounces between the genres of comedy, horror and romance. The recent silent episode (Hush) was brilliant."[24] Alan Sepinwall in The Star-Ledger calls it a "magnificently daring episode", explaining "(w)hat makes it particularly brave is that, even when Buffy has been failing to click dramatically this year, the show has still been able to get by on the witty dialogue, which is all but absent after the first few scenes. Whedon finds ways to get around that, with several cast members—particularly Anthony Head as the scholarly Giles and Alyson Hannigan as nervous witch Willow—proving to be wonderfully expressive silent comedians."[25]
Likewise, in the New York Daily News, David Bianculli states that the episode is "a true tour de force, and another inventive triumph for this vastly underrated series"[26] Brian Courtis in Australia's Sunday Age agrees, and writes that "Hush" is "(c)lever, well-written and brightly directed ... Buffy at its best."[27] Robert Hanks from The Independent in the UK writes that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in most weeks the funniest and cleverest programme on TV, reached new heights" with "Hush".[28] Noel Murray in The A.V. Club calls it an "episode unlike any other, with a lusher score and some of the most genuinely disturbing imagery I've yet seen on Buffy."[16] The episode was included among 13 of the scariest films or television shows by Salon.com, and justified by Stephanie Zacharek, who states it "scans just like one of those listless dreams in which you try to scream, and can't. Everybody's had 'em—and yet the way the eerie quiet of 'Hush' sucks you in, you feel as if the experience is privately, and unequivocally, your own."[29]
"Hush" was the only episode of the entire Buffy series to be nominated for an Emmy Award in the Writing in a Drama Series category.[30] It also received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination.[31] Following the series finale in 2003, "Hush" continued to receive praise. Lisa Rosen in the Los Angeles Times states that the episode is "one of TV's most terrifying hours".[3] Smashing Magazine counted "Hush" as one of the top ten television episodes that inspire creativity.[32] Keith McDuffee of TV Squad named it the best Buffy episode in the series, writing "(i)f someone who had never seen Buffy (blasphemy!) asked me to show them just one episode of the show to get them hooked, this would be it".[33] TV.com named it as the fourth most frightening episode in television history.[34]
Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post listed the scene in which Buffy mimes staking The Gentlemen and its humorous misunderstandings by the other characters among the top five best Buffy moments, especially praising Sarah Michelle Gellar's (Buffy) comedic acting.[35] Nikki Stafford, author of Bite Me! The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer writes "Hush" is "mind-blowing" and "one of the best hours of television ever".[10] For Buffy studies scholar Roz Kaveney, the primary reason "Hush" was successful was the acting strengths of the central cast.[36] "Hush" serves as Alyson Hannigan's (Willow) favorite episode of the Buffy series,[37] and the one Nicholas Brendon (Xander) considers the most frightening. Series writer Jane Espenson stated the episode "redefined what an episode of television could do".[4]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Joss Whedon reported in the DVD commentary that the actual scream was dubbed from another actor.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d Kaveney, pp. 13–24.
2.Jump up ^ Stafford, pp. 6–10.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Rosen, Lisa (May 20, 2003). "R.I.P. 'Buffy': You Drove a Stake Through Convention; Los Angeles Times, p. E1.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season; "Hush" Featurette. (June 10, 2003) [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Whedon, Joss (June 10, 2003). Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season; DVD commentary for the episode "Hush". [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Stafford, p. 228.
7.Jump up ^ Wilcox, p. 150–151.
8.Jump up ^ Jones, Doug (October / November 2004), "The Sound of Silence", Buffy The Vampire Slayer Magazine (hosted at dougjonesexperience.com). Retrieved on June 11, 2010.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Shade, Patrick (2005). "Screaming to be Heard: Reminders and Insights on Community and Communication in 'Hush'", Online International Journal of Buffy Studies. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Stafford, p. 227.
11.Jump up ^ Byrnes, Lyndsey (June 8, 2010). An interview with Amber Benson, Afterellen.com. Retrieved on June 13, 2010.
12.Jump up ^ Attinello et al., p. 82.
13.Jump up ^ Attinello et al., p. 71–72.
14.^ Jump up to: a b Wilcox and Lavery, pp. 73–74.
15.^ Jump up to: a b c d Jenkins, Alice and Stuart, Susan (2003). "Extending Your Mind: Non-Standard Perlocutionary Acts in 'Hush'", The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies. Retrieved on June 10, 2010.
16.^ Jump up to: a b Murray, Noel (August 14, 2009). "Hush", etc. The AV Club. Retrieved on June 14, 2010.
17.Jump up ^ Wilcox, p. 160.
18.Jump up ^ Wilcox, pp. 148–149.
19.Jump up ^ Wilcox, pp. 152–156.
20.Jump up ^ Wilcox and Lavery, pp. 169–171.
21.Jump up ^ Wilcox, p. 157.
22.Jump up ^ Ray, Kenneth (January 3, 2000). "BroadcastWatch. (Programming).(television network ratings, February 26 – March 4, 2001)(Statistical Data Included)", Broadcasting & Cable. (Reed Business Information, Inc.).
23.Jump up ^ Bianco, Robert (December 14, 1999). "Critic's Corner", USA Today, p. 12D.
24.Jump up ^ Barney, Chuck (December 23, 1999). "Sopranos hits the high note in 1999 TV: Not all programs were trash this year. Chuck Barney presents his list of the Top 10 programs and sets them off with his choice of 1999's worst 10 shows.", The Ottawa Citizen, p. F2.
25.Jump up ^ Sepinwall, Alan (December 14, 1999). "All TV - Buffy loses voice, gains magic", The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ).
26.Jump up ^ Bianculli, David (March 21, 2000). "TV Tonight", New York Daily News, p. 78.
27.Jump up ^ Courtis, Brian (April 16, 2000). "Another round, another dream; highlights", Sunday Age (Melbourne, Australia), p. 5.
28.Jump up ^ Hanks, Robert (December 22, 2000). "Television Review". The Independent (London), p. 18.
29.Jump up ^ "Truly scary stuff", Salon.com (October 31, 2002). Retrieved on June 14, 2010.
30.Jump up ^ Adalian, Joseph and Schneider, Michael (July 21, 2000). "First Family Takes on Mob: 'Wing,' 'Sopranos' take 18 Emmy noms each", Daily Variety, p. 1.
31.Jump up ^ Schneider, Michael (January 21, 2001). "'Buffy' boss vamps way to major stake", Daily Variety, p. 1.
32.Jump up ^ Lazaris, Louis (April 13, 2009). Unique TV Series Episodes That Inspire Creativity, Smashing Magazine. Retrieved on June 13, 2010.
33.Jump up ^ McDufee, Keith (October 24, 2005). The Five (by Five): Best episodes of Buffy, TV Squad. Retrieved on June 13, 2010.
34.Jump up ^ Lawson, Richard (October 26, 2009). The Five Scariest Episodes in TV History, TV.com. Retrieved on June 13, 2010.
35.Jump up ^ Wiesselman, Jarett (April 14, 2010). Top 5 best Buffy moments The New York Post. Retrieved on June 13, 2010.
36.Jump up ^ Kaveney, p. 3.
37.Jump up ^ Susman, Gary (October 19, 2005). Alyson Hannigan's Favorite 'Buffy" Episodes, Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on June 13, 2010.
BibliographyAttinello, Paul; Halfyard, Janet; Knights, Vanessa (eds.) (2010). Music, Sound, and Silence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-6042-2
Kaveney, Roz (ed.) (2004). Reading the Vampire Slayer: The New, Updated, Unofficial Guide to Buffy and Angel, Tauris Parke Paperbacks. ISBN 1-4175-2192-9
Stafford, Nikki (2007). Bite Me! The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-807-6
Wilcox, Rhonda (2005). Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-84511-029-3
Wilcox, Rhonda and Lavery, David (eds.) (2002). Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 0-7425-1681-4
Yeffeth, Glenn (ed.) (2003). Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Discuss Their Favorite Television Show, Benbella Books. ISBN 1-932100-08-3
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Hush
"Hush" at the Internet Movie Database
"Hush" at TV.com
"Hush" at BBC.co.uk
"Hush" at BuffyGuide.com


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Doomed (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.


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This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.  (May 2011)



"Doomed"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Doomed (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).jpg
Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 11
Directed by
James A. Contner
Written by
Marti Noxon
David Fury
Jane Espenson
Production code
4ABB11
Original air date
January 18, 2000
Guest actors

Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Ethan Erickson as Percy West
Anastasia Horne as Laurie
Anthony Anselmi as Partier

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Hush" Next →
 "A New Man"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Doomed" is the 11th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Plot synopsis[edit]


 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (January 2013)
Buffy and Riley finally talk. As much as Riley wants to tell Buffy who he really is, he can't, but Buffy is able to guess based on the evidence of the past several weeks. Riley is amazed by her talents and abilities, but when she confesses that she's the Slayer, he doesn't know what that is. An earthquake hits and although it is mild, the memory of the last earthquake in Sunnydale disturbs Buffy.
As Xander cleans up some of the earthquake damage, he tells Spike that if he's living there he'll have to do some of the housework. Willow checks in with Buffy and informs her of the aftershock party that is taking place in one of the dorm buildings that lost power. Buffy goes to Giles, fearing that the world is going to come to an end, but he dismisses her worry, thinking that the earthquake was just a normal California occurrence.
Riley pumps Forrest for information on the Slayer, which Forrest thinks is just a myth that monsters made up. A demon goes berserk and attacks Riley and Forrest. They manage to subdue it and wonder at the strange activity their demonic captives have been exhibiting since the earthquake.
At the party, Willow sees Percy, whom she tutored in high school. Laurie, Percy's date, objects to his talking with Willow and suggests that they go somewhere else. Meanwhile, a guy mixing drinks in one of the dorm rooms has his throat slit by a large demon. Willow overhears Percy trying to soothe Laurie by describing Willow as an "Egghead" and "Captain of the Nerd Squad". Depressed, Willow goes into one of the dorm rooms to lie on a bed, but when the lights come back on, she finds herself next to the body that was mutilated by the demon.
Returning home, Xander finds Spike wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts because he shrunk his own clothes. When Spike tries to threaten him, Xander quickly loses his temper and tears Spike down verbally, harshly informing him that no one is scared of him anymore and that he's not even worth the effort to pummel.
Riley shoots baskets with Forrest and broods about Buffy when Graham walks in and tells them about the murder. Riley orders the others to report to Prof. Walsh, while he checks the situation out for himself.
Willow fills everyone in about the body she found, and about Percy talking badly about her. After she shows everyone the symbol carved into the student's chest, Giles says it is definitely the end of the world again. Buffy hunts down this demon, and finds it at a mausoleum where it is collecting the bones of a small child. She fights with the demon, but it escapes and she runs into Riley. He tries to convince her to give a relationship between them a chance, but because of all the pain in her past, she tells him no. Research leads them to find that the demon needs the blood of a man, the bones of a child, and the Word of Valios to perform a ritual called the 'Sacrifice of Three', which will destroy the world. Riley talks to his team and sends them out to find and kill the demon.
Willow and Xander walk in on Spike trying to kill himself by falling on a stake. Their appearance makes him miss the stake. Pitying him, Willow insists that they take him along, and Xander reluctantly agrees.
Out on patrol, Buffy runs into Riley again and they resume their earlier conversation. He tells Buffy that she needs to be more positive, to not look for the bad in the situation. He tells her he doesn't care about her past and begs her to just take a chance on him, but she continues to refuse.
Later, instead of showing appreciation for their efforts, Spike taunts Willow and Xander about things ranging from their love lives to their "uselessness" to Buffy while they make their way to Giles' apartment. Though Willow and Xander protest his words as untrue, Spike clearly strikes a nerve.
Giles discovers that the Word of Valios is actually a talisman that he has in his possession. The demons have already made their way to his apartment and they beat him up badly before taking the talisman. The gang finds Giles and they head off to the remains of Sunnydale High School after he informs them that the ritual is to open the Hellmouth. The gang makes it to the remains of the library where three demons are performing the ritual. A fight breaks out, and then one of the demons jumps into the Hellmouth, revealing that they are the sacrifice for the ritual.
A second demon attacks Spike, and after several hits, he finally hits back. He realizes he can hurt demons without the chip hurting him. Ecstatic about being able to fight again, Spike promptly beats the demon senseless, and proceeds to throw it into the Hellmouth. While the rest of the gang escape the tottering building, Riley shows up to help Buffy fight. The third demon makes its way into the Hellmouth and Buffy goes in after it. Thanks to a cable and hook Riley attached to her belt, Buffy is pulled out of the Hellmouth along with the third demon. The world is saved again.
Afterwards, Riley tries to keep up his secret identity, but Buffy's friends pretty much know who he is by his clothes, while Spike evades detection by posing as a "friend of Xander's" with a bad American accent. The next day, Buffy goes to Riley's dorm, where he says how upset he is at himself for allowing her and her friends to find out about him. Telling him that everything will be okay, she kisses him.
Back in Xander's basement apartment, Spike is eager for another brawl and tries to persuade Willow and Xander to go out for some more demon-hunting rather than watching television, but they are too disturbed and frightened by his overly-excited attitude to do so.
References[edit]



External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Doomed
"Doomed" at the Internet Movie Database
"Doomed" at TV.com


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A New Man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


"A New Man"
Buffy 4x12.jpg
Giles as a Fyarl demon

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 12
Directed by
Michael Gershman
Written by
Jane Espenson
Production code
4ABB12
Original air date
January 25, 2000
Guest actors

Emma Caulfield as Anya
Robin Sachs as Ethan Rayne
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
Elizabeth Penn Payne as Waitress
Michelle Ferrara as Mother

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Doomed" Next →
 "The I in Team"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"A New Man" is the 12th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Continuity 2.1 Arc significance
3 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Buffy and Riley are making out on her bed, but before it gets too serious, Willow barges into the room and tells them of a demon that attacked the rec room. Armed with weapons, they go to the rec room only for Buffy to discover that it's a surprise party for her 19th birthday. At the party, Giles feels out of place, especially when Buffy introduces Riley as her boyfriend, and brags about how wonderful Professor Walsh is.
Now able to hurt and kill demons, Spike moves out of Xander's basement. Professor Walsh is informed that Buffy is the Slayer. After revealing Riley's 17 captures and kills, she inquires about how many "hostiles" Buffy has killed. Uncomfortable, Buffy initially keeps quiet to avoid bragging, but from Buffy's conversation with Riley afterward, the viewer can infer that Buffy is forced to admit that she has killed hundreds of vampires and saved the world multiple times. Riley is impressed and intimidated; as he puts it, "I suddenly find myself needing to know the plural of apocalypse." Meanwhile, Giles discovers that a powerful demon is about to rise, and calls Buffy, but Willow informs him that she is with Professor Walsh. Giles goes to talk with Maggie Walsh about Buffy, unaware that she knows Buffy's identity and of her position in the Initiative. He has an immediate dislike for her, and is offended when she says that Buffy lacks a father figure.
Willow and Xander go with Giles to the cemetery to find the demon. They are very late and fail to find the demon. Instead, they find the area incredibly clean, which Willow suggests is the work of the Initiative. She and Xander go on about how thorough the operation is, only to discover that Giles never knew about the Initiative or that Riley and Professor Walsh are behind it. Again feeling incredibly out of the loop and unwanted, Giles sends Willow and Xander away, offering to stay in case anything happens, but after a few seconds dejectedly leaves. Ethan Rayne walks out of the shadows, speaking of interesting things to come, only to be caught when Giles re-enters the mausoleum.
Giles prepares to beat Ethan, sparing him only with Ethan's hastily uttered promise of information. Going out for a drink, Ethan tells Giles that the underworld is being threatened by the Initiative, especially by something called 314. Whatever the Initiative is doing, it's throwing everything out of balance. Buffy and Riley spar together, both holding back at first until they decide not to. Buffy kicks Riley hard enough to send him flying across the room. Meanwhile, Giles and Ethan get very drunk, with Giles opening up about how left out he feels and his annoyance that the Initiative has the demons running scared when he has been fighting evil for 20 years. Ethan flirts with their waitress and gives his number to her. Willow and Tara meet to practice magic, and a simple magical exercise to float a rose goes awry, causing the rose to fly wildly around the room.
When he wakes the next morning, Giles discovers he has been transformed into a horned demon with incredible strength. He breaks the phone trying to make a call, then breaks the door off its hinges as he tries to leave the house. At breakfast, Willow lies to Buffy about where she was, saying she was practicing magic alone. She does mention that some magical force interfered with the spell she was attempting to cast. Buffy realizes she never told Giles about Riley and the Initiative. Giles goes to Xander's basement and tries to get him to help, but Xander doesn't recognize and cannot understand Giles, who is speaking in a demonic language. Xander starts to throw things at him and Giles runs away.
The gang finds Giles's place destroyed, and are worried that the same demon that went to Xander was responsible for hurting or killing Giles. Walking through the cemetery, Giles runs into Spike, who is in the midst of searching for a new place to live. Spike recognizes Giles, and identifies him as a Fyarl demon. Because he speaks the language, Spike agrees to help find Ethan and fix things, for the price of two hundred dollars. Riley shows up at Giles's apartment where everyone is researching the demon. After finding the demon in Giles's books, they determine it can only be killed with a silver object.
Spike tries to figure out how to drive Giles's car while telling Giles of his experiences with Fyarl demons. Apparently they are extremely stupid, love destroying things, and have an ability that Spike describes as 'that thing with the mucus' to spray goo that hardens like rock. Upon spotting Professor Walsh, Giles makes Spike stop the car so he can chase her down the street in return for her comments in their last conversation. Spike gets information out of the waitress that Ethan flirted with, and finds out where he lives. Breaking into the magic shop, Buffy finds a receipt for materials purchased by Ethan Rayne. Trying to escape the commando vehicles chasing after them, demon Giles jumps out of the car while the commandos continue their pursuit on Spike. Spike later crashes the car while trying to get away.
Demon Giles charges into Ethan's motel room, and attacks him. Buffy and Riley arrive on scene and while Riley takes care of Ethan, Buffy fights with demon Giles. With a letter opener she took from Giles's place, Buffy stabs the demon, but then she looks into its eyes and realizes the demon is Giles. Fortunately, the letter opener turned out not to be made of pure silver. Giles is turned back into a human and Ethan is arrested by Riley. While Giles goes to watch Ethan get put away, Buffy and Riley talk about her abilities again. Buffy apologizes for not telling Giles about Riley and the Initiative and promises to tell him everything in the future, but Giles is worried about her safety and whom she trusts. Professor Walsh is upset that Riley disobeyed orders for Buffy, but says she thinks that Buffy will "work out". Passing through security doors, Walsh enters a room labeled "314."
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
The episode hints that the Initiative is not as clean-cut as once thought and introduces 314, which will create the season's Big Bad, Adam.
Ethan Rayne's last appearance in the series until Joss Whedon's Season Eight.
This episode begins to see Giles feeling not needed and unused amongst the Scooby Gang, leading to his short-term exit in Season 6.
The 12th or 13th episode of each season is traditionally when Buffy celebrates her birthday; her birthday takes place in episode 13 of Season Two ("Surprise"), episode 12 of Season Three ("Helpless"), episode 13 of Season Five ("Blood Ties") and episode 14 of Season Six ("Older and Far Away"). Buffy's birthday is not shown celebrated in Season One (it presumably occurred before the beginning of the half-long season) or in Season Seven.
Although Buffy's birthdays always involve an unfortunate event, this is the only time that said event does not involve her directly.
The Fyarl Demon is referenced in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight story arc "Time of Your Life".
The crypt used in this episode later becomes the crypt Spike lives in for the next few seasons.
The Sunnydale Arms motel, where Faith was living for most of season three, makes a brief return as Ethan's hiding place.
Willow hides from Buffy the fact that she was practicing magic with Tara, hinting that there may be more to their friendship.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: A New Man
"A New Man" at the Internet Movie Database
"A New Man" at TV.com
"A New Man" at BuffyGuide.com


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Screenplays by Jane Espenson


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The I in Team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


"The I in Team"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x13.jpg
Adam awakens and kills Dr. Maggie Walsh

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 13
Directed by
James A. Contner
Written by
David Fury
Production code
4ABB13
Original air date
February 8, 2000
Guest actors

Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
George Hertzberg as Adam
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Jack Stehlin as Dr. Angleman
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
Neil Daly as Mason

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "A New Man" Next →
 "Goodbye Iowa"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"The I in Team" is the 13th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Continuity 2.1 Arc significance
3 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Willow, Anya, and Xander play poker and discuss Xander's plans to start selling the incredibly healthy Boost bars. They question the intentions of Riley and the Initiative. Buffy impresses Professor Walsh as she quickly passes a test of her strengths and fighting talents. Buffy talks about her night with Willow, but Willow's quiet evening spent with Xander and Anya doesn't seem to compare. The Scooby Gang has plans that night to meet at The Bronze; Willow is upset that Buffy is not visibly excited.
Giles visits Spike at his new crypt and gives Spike his money. Spike tries to make it clear that he has no interest in helping them anymore, wants nothing more to do with them and doesn't want any of the Scoobies to come begging to his door for help. Riley takes Buffy into the Initiative, which she is incredibly impressed to see. Led by Professor Walsh, Buffy is given the tour of the facility, and is made a member of their team; however, a Freudian slip from Buffy indicating her prior knowledge of the Initiative's behavior modification research (viz. Spike's chip) does not go unnoticed by Walsh. Tara tries to give a crystal to Willow, a family heirloom, but Willow doesn't want to accept the powerful magical implement. Tara invites Willow to try some spells with the crystal that night, but Willow cites earlier plans. Professor Walsh enters their secure labs and room 314. After exchanging words with her colleague, Dr. Angleman, Professor Walsh checks up on her special project, which is revealed to be a part-demon, part-human creature named Adam.
Buffy is an hour late meeting her friends, and when she does show, she brings Riley and other Initiative members. Willow and Buffy talk about things, and Buffy reveals that she is now working with the Initiative. Willow questions how much trust Buffy should put in with them, and then Buffy rushes off with Riley and friends when all of their pagers go off. After being abandoned by Buffy, Willow goes to Tara's dorm room after all. Buffy and the commandos go out in teams to find and bring back a Polgara demon. Forrest is head of his own team, but is still upset because Buffy took his spot on Riley's "Alpha team."
Forrest spots Hostile 17 (Spike) and sends his team after the vampire. As Spike is running away, they shoot him with a tracer so that they will be able to track him. The Polgara demon attacks the Alpha team; Buffy and Riley team up and fight it together. Afterwards, they go to Riley's dorm room and have sex for the first time. Professor Walsh watches from a secret camera hidden in Riley's room. Desperate and unable to shake off the commandos, Spike goes to Giles for help and is forced to repay the remaining money from Giles's payment in exchange for the Scoobies' help. Waking up that morning, Buffy is a little surprised to see that Riley is still in bed by her side when she wakes. They talk, but when Buffy asks about 314, Riley gets a call from Professor Walsh, requesting his help. Walsh talks with Dr. Angleman and they decide that it is time to go with their plan to get rid of Buffy.
Giles tries to remove the tracer from Spike's shoulder, but it's difficult and they don't have much time. Buffy gets back to her dorm room just as Willow is also returning from her night out, now carrying the crystal she had previously refused to accept from Tara. Buffy is beeped by the Initiative and is sent on a new mission. Wearing a microphone and camera, complete with a heart monitor, Buffy goes on the mission alone, but it turns out to be a trap set by Professor Walsh and the Initiative, with Buffy trapped in a sewer with two demons she had previously seen anesthetized in the Initiative's facility. Riley goes out with Forrest's team to find and recover Hostile 17.
With Willow doing a spell to buy them time, and Spike passed out from drinking to anesthetize him for "surgery," Giles continues his attempts to get the tracer out of the vampire's shoulder. It is finally removed and flushed down the toilet just in time to save Spike from Riley and his team. Buffy fights with two demons, and the heart monitor loses her heartbeat when it drops to the ground. When Riley returns from his mission, Professor Walsh informs him that Buffy is dead. Having killed the two demons, Buffy comes on to the video camera and informs Walsh that her attempts to kill the Slayer have failed. Riley sees this, and then walks out on Walsh infuriated and betrayed.
Buffy returns to Giles's place, now very upset that the Initiative cannot be trusted. Walsh talks to the sleeping creature, Adam. An arm from the Polgara demon that Buffy and Riley were sent out to capture has been attached to him. The Initiative has not only been running tests, but using various body parts from demons to build Adam. When Adam wakes, he stabs Professor Walsh with a spear growing from his hand, speaking the word, "Mommy." Then she falls over dead.
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
The fact that Riley is still in bed beside Buffy in the morning is a marker of his straightforward affection for Buffy and morally unambiguous intentions, unlike the souless Angel or the dishonorable Parker.
In this episode, Buffy realizes that Professor Walsh is up to no good. Learning this, Riley walks out on the Initiative at this point, only to help them soon after Walsh is killed by Adam.
Adam will become the Big Bad of the season.
It is in this episode that Willow and Tara's relationship takes a romantic turn; although no romantic affection is explicitly shown, it can be inferred from the quality of their interactions.
Before turning romantic, the start of Willow and Tara's relationship is foreshadowed a couple of times in this episode. First, when Willow prays for the heart she desires in a poker game with Anya and Xander. Next, when Willow notes "everybody's getting spanked" but her, alluding to the fact that she is the only one without a girlfriend or boyfriend.
One of the overarching themes of Season Four, Buffy's friends feeling alienated from her role as the Slayer, is portrayed when Willow feels left out and hesitant about Buffy joining the Initiative. In the previous episode "A New Man" it was Giles who felt left out of Buffy's life and duties. This theme culminates in and is resolved by "Primeval."
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The I in Team
"The I in Team" at the Internet Movie Database
"The I in Team" at TV.com


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Goodbye Iowa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


"Goodbye Iowa"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Goodbye Iowa.jpg
Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 14
Directed by
David Solomon
Written by
Marti Noxon
Production code
4ABB14
Original air date
February 15, 2000
Guest actors

Emma Caulfield as Anya
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
George Hertzberg as Adam
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Jack Stehlin as Dr. Angleman
J.B. Gaynor as Little Boy
Saverio Guerra as Willy the Snitch
Amy Powell as Reporter
Andy Marshall as Scientist #1
Paul Leighton as Rough-Looking Demon
Karen Charnell as Shady Lady

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The I in Team" Next →
 "This Year's Girl"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Goodbye Iowa" is the 14th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Riley realizes that Walsh had tried to kill Buffy, and finds Walsh dead. He subsequently goes into withdrawal symptoms when he does not get fed the Initiative's drugs. Meanwhile Adam is on the loose, killing at random and seeking answers about himself and the world.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Themes
3 Continuity 3.1 Arc significance
4 References
5 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Buffy fills the gang in on everything that's gone on since she started to work with the Initiative, and they question whether Riley was involved in the death mission on which Maggie sent Buffy. Buffy arms the group with weapons and makes plans to hide out in Xander's basement. Riley shows up at Giles' place asking Buffy for information, and becomes upset when he recognizes Spike as Hostile 17. Riley does not want to accept what the rest of them are saying about Professor Walsh and the Initiative.
Leaving Dr. Walsh's body, Adam escapes the Initiative through a vent. He approaches a young boy playing in the park and questions him about his nature. Dr. Angleman slips in a pool of blood as he enters room 314 and finds Professor Walsh stabbed to death. When Riley and Forrest see Walsh's body, Forrest accuses Buffy of staking Maggie.
Giles is grumpy when he wakes up in Xander's basement the next morning. The girls are watching cartoons when a news story comes on about a young boy who has been killed via skewering and mutilated. Believing it to be the Polgara demon captured in the previous episode, Buffy goes after it. Riley - against Dr. Angleman's orders - also instructs the commandos to search for the Polgara demon; he and Buffy both end up at the park where the boy was killed. While Buffy tries to apologize to Riley, Riley informs her that Walsh is dead and asks if Buffy is happy about that.
Willow goes to Tara's dorm room, planning to find the Polgara using a spell that shows nearby demonic activity. However, Tara secretly sabotages the spell and it fails.
Buffy searches for information at Willy's but Riley also shows up, very angry. He is shaking and sweating and scratching his hand so badly that it bleeds, as he questions Buffy's intentions and pulls a gun on an innocent woman. Buffy consoles Riley as she sees that he is sick and only getting sicker, leaving him at Xander's to rest. When Riley wakes up, Willow tries to stop him from going after Buffy but he pushes her to the ground and runs.
Disguised as a scientist, Buffy gets herself and Xander - dressed in fatigues - into the Initiative. They overhear Dr. Angleman talking to another scientist about their commandos having withdrawals from the drugs they had been secretly putting in their meals. Meanwhile at Willy's bar, Spike is badly beaten by demons for associating with the Slayer. They tell him if he is seen around again, they will kill him. Buffy grabs Dr. Angleman, demanding information about 314. Riley arrives to help Buffy, still unwilling to accept Professor Walsh's sinister motives. Adam drops a dead body to the floor, revealing his presence.
Adam is searching for answers about the world, and has returned to the Initiative so he can discover more about himself and who he is. He has a disk drive in his chest and when he inserts a disk labelled "Adam," he offers information which reveals that he is part human, demon and machine. He explains that even though Riley had a real mother, Maggie was also his mother as she shaped and built him into a human machine for the Initiative. According to Adam, this makes him and Riley brothers, but Riley is again provoked into anger. Soon a fight breaks out, during which Adam kills Dr. Angleman, injures Riley and proves a match for Buffy before escaping again. The other commandos enter and take Riley away. The next day, Buffy talks to Willow about how Adam is out there and very dangerous. At the hospital, Riley lies in bed holding a scarf Buffy gave him earlier. Even though Buffy cannot see him, he has part of her to hold on to.
Themes[edit]
In Televised Morality, Gregory Stevenson argues that this episode pays homage to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and its warning about the dangers of scientific progress without adequate ethical safeguards. For example, like Frankenstein's monster, Adam approaches a boy in the woods. The boy is playing with a cyborg soldier action figure in the park, shortly before Adam - a genuine cyborg - kills him. It should also be noted that the monster in Shelley's novel identifies with the character Adam from Milton's Paradise Lost. In the scene that follows, Anya, Willow, and Buffy are watching Roadrunner cartoons in Xander's basement. As Wile E. Coyote's Acme technology once again backfires, Buffy complains, "That would never happen." Stevenson claims the irony is it does later happen: the Initiative's embrace of technology unfettered by moral guidance ultimately causes its own destruction.[1]
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
Adam announces himself and his intentions to the Initiative and to Buffy.
This episode marks the final appearance of Saverio Guerra as Willy, although dialogue in future episodes makes it clear that the character remains in Sunnydale.
The reason for Tara sabotaging the spell will not be made clear until the Season 5 episode "Family", where it is revealed that she is afraid she may be part demon.
Riley states that the Polgara demon was captured "last week", yet this episode takes place the day after the events of The I In Team, meaning the demon was captured two days prior to the events of this episode.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Stevenson, Gregory (2003), Televised Morality: The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Oxford: University Press of America, ISBN 0-7618-2833-8
External links[edit]
"Goodbye Iowa" at the Internet Movie Database
"Goodbye Iowa" at TV.com
"Goodbye Iowa" at BuffyGuide.com


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This Year's Girl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see This Year's Girl (disambiguation).

"This Year's Girl"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x15.jpg
Faith uses the Draconian Katra device the Mayor gave her on Buffy which will cause them to swap bodies

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 15
Directed by
Michael Gershman
Written by
Doug Petrie
Production code
4ABB15
Original air date
February 22, 2000
Guest actors

Eliza Dushku as Faith
Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Chet Grissom as Detective
Alastair Duncan as Collins
Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins
Jeff Ricketts as Weatherby
Kevin Owers as Smith
Mark Gantt as Demon
Kimberly McRae as Visitor
Sara Van Horn as Older Nurse
Brian Hawley as Orderly
Jack Esformes as Doctor

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Goodbye Iowa" Next →
 "Who Are You"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"This Year's Girl" is the 15th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Doug Petrie and directed by Michael Gershman, it originally aired on February 22, 2000 on the WB network.
In this episode, Eliza Dushku returns as Faith. While Buffy and the Scooby Gang (now with Riley on board) try to find Adam, Faith wakes up from a coma and finds the Mayor has left her a device which she uses to switch bodies with Buffy. Members of the Watchers' Council arrive in Sunnydale, alerted to Faith's waking.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Production
3 Themes
4 Arc significance
5 Trivia
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
In a dream, Buffy and Faith make a bed, until Faith's blood begins to drip onto the clean white sheets. Buffy twists the knife in Faith's stomach. Xander is investigating the Blaster gun from the Initiative, but lacks the knowledge to fix it. Giles is concerned about Buffy, who has been patrolling non-stop for days without finding Adam. On patrol, she finds Adam has strung up a demon on a tree, opened up like a dissection experiment. When Riley wakes up in the military hospital, he attempts to leave but Forrest and Graham try to talk him out of it. Buffy explains her plans for breaking Riley out, but it proves unnecessary as he has escaped and is waiting in Xander's basement.
At the hospital, Faith, still in a coma, is dreaming she is having a picnic with the Mayor. The dream becomes a nightmare when Buffy arrives, slits the Mayor's throat, then chases Faith into an open grave. As Faith climbs out of the grave in her dream, she awakens from her coma. Pulling free of the tubes in her body, Faith walks out into the hospital halls and encounters a girl. She thinks it's still Graduation Day, but the girl informs her of the date and that the Mayor died at the graduation ceremony. Faith leaves the hospital in the girl's clothes. When the hospital staff discovers Faith is gone, a nurse makes a call, asking for a team to be sent out.
Faith walks around Sunnydale looking at all the things that have changed, ending up outside Giles' house eavesdropping on the Scooby Gang's plans to attack Adam. A phone call informs Buffy that Faith is awake and on the loose. On campus the next day, Buffy and Willow run into Faith. The two Slayers talk about what happened—Faith taunting Buffy about having broken up with Angel, for whom she almost killed Faith—and fight briefly before the cops arrive and Faith runs. At the hospital, a helicopter lands, and three men carrying briefcases exit.
Xander and Giles search the streets for Faith and Adam but instead encounter Spike, who claims he intends to help Faith kill them all. Buffy and Riley discuss their jobs working to fight the forces of evil. Buffy tells him he has a choice in what he does with his life. When the conversation turns to Faith, Buffy doesn't mention she stabbed her to save Angel. Faith is approached by a demon who tries to give her a gift, but she kills him and runs off with the box. She breaks into a multi-media store to watch a video tape of the Mayor on a VCR and then opens a box from him that contains a special gift, which is later revealed to be called the Draconian Katra.
Giles finds the three men with briefcases are at his apartment. One of them says "Hello, Rupert", alerting Giles and the audience that the men are from the Watcher's Council.
Faith arrives at Buffy's house and takes Joyce captive; she is surprised when Buffy flies through the window. The Slayers have a fight that travels through almost every room of the house while Joyce calls the police. Faith, holding the gift from the Mayor, grabs Buffy's hand. A light flows through them and Buffy punches Faith, knocking her unconscious. Buffy smashes the metal contraption from the Mayor and when Joyce asks if she's okay, Buffy responds with Faith's characteristic answer: "Five by five."
Production[edit]
In the audio commentary for the episode, writer Doug Petrie revealed he almost titled this episode "Rise and Shine". Also according to Petrie, this episode makes references to many other movies including The Shawshank Redemption (the shot of Faith crawling out of the grave in the pouring rain), The Silence of the Lambs (the demon that's been cut open and eviscerated, hanging by trees), and Star Trek (through dialogue).[1]
In the original version of the scene in which Buffy and Faith meet again for the first time, Doug Petrie had written Buffy attacking Faith first. Joss Whedon rejected this sequence because he felt it was "too unsympathetic to hit a girl who had just been in a coma" [1]
The fire in the fireplace in the scene where Faith is spying on Buffy was a huge ordeal to produce. It was a real fire, and required a fire marshall on set as well as a certain number of fire extinguishers at the ready. Doug Petrie felt as though the ordeal was worth it because the scene needed to feel homey and cozy.[1]
During the final fight scene between Buffy and Faith, watch the left of the screen as the fight moves down the staircase. There you will see a camera trying unsuccessfully to move out of the shot.
Themes[edit]
This is the first episode in which the audience sees a dream sequence from Faith's perspective. Both this episode and "Who Are You" are meant to explore Buffy and Faith's relationship from Faith's perspective, as well as Faith's perspective of her relationship with the Mayor. Faith's dream sequences depict her Norman Rockwell vision of the way her life was, in which she is a normal girl who is loved by a father (the Mayor), and her belief that Buffy is the monster who ruined it all. In Faith's third and final dream sequence, Faith finally defeats Buffy and wakes from her coma.[1]
The characterization of Faith in this episode is "very Lucifer." She wakes up in a version of hell, the hospital basement. She emerges from this hell and goes after the person who put her there.[1]
In their book discussing existentialism in Buffy, Richardson and Rabb argue that this episode and the next (intended or not) explore the impact of Sartre's Look - the outside view that causes a person to redefine themselves from the perspective of the Other. They interpret Faith's defection to the Mayor and relentless dreams of Buffy stalking her as Faith's attempt to escape Buffy’s judgmental Look and the accompanying guilt it brings. When the two Slayers meet again, Faith immediately denies her possession by Buffy, saying, "You’re not me." However, she is beginning to acknowledge the guilt brought on by Buffy's Look; when Buffy expresses concern for the innocent people surrounding them, Faith claims there is no such thing as an innocent person. Richardson and Rabb point out that, therefore, Faith herself "must realize at some level she is not innocent, but is in fact guilty of horrendous crimes."[2]
Arc significance[edit]
In a dream, Buffy and Faith make a bed; Faith says "Little sister is coming," foreshadowing the arrival of Dawn at the beginning of the next season. This is the second reference of Faith to Dawn's arrival. In third season finale episode, in a dream, Faith says, to Buffy, "Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0." 730 is the number of days until the end of Season 5, when Buffy will die again.
The post-mortem video Faith receives from The Mayor is particularly interesting because The Mayor expresses serious doubts about his ascension plans being successful. He also encourages Faith to 'go out with a bang'- perhaps mirroring his own thought process prior to his ascension.
Trivia[edit]
The concept for the gadget Faith receives from the Mayor was based on gadgets designed by the American comic book artist Jack Kirby.
At 9 minutes into the episode during the scene where Buffy, Willow and Xander discover the Demon dissected by Adam, you can see a boom operator in the background.
At 18 minutes into the episode, in a scene where Faith is walking down the middle of a road in Sunnydale, the same couple (a man in beige trousers & a woman in a light-blue coat) cross the road behind Faith three times, always in the same direction. They are then seen crossing back the way they came a few seconds later.
At 38 minutes into the episode during the scene where Buffy and Faith fight, you can see a handheld camera panning on the Left side of the stairs.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Writer Doug Petrie's commentary for the episode on the season 4 DVD.
2.Jump up ^ Richardson, J. Michael; Rabb, J. Douglas (2007), "Buffy, Faith and Bad Faith: Choosing to be the Chosen One", Slayage 23, retrieved 2007-07-26
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: This Year's Girl
"This Year's Girl" at the Internet Movie Database
"This Year's Girl" at TV.com


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Buffyverse crossover episodes
Body swapping in fiction


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Who Are You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


"Who Are You?"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x16.jpg
Sarah Michelle Gellar portraying Faith in Buffy's body, looking at herself in the mirror

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 16
Directed by
Joss Whedon
Written by
Joss Whedon
Production code
4ABB16
Original air date
February 29, 2000
Guest actors

Eliza Dushku as Buffy/Faith
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
George Hertzberg as Adam
Chet Grissom as Detective
Alastair Duncan as Collins
Rick Stear as Boone
Jeff Ricketts as Weatherby
Kevin Owers as Smith
Amy Powell as Reporter
Rick Scarry as Sargeant
Jennifer S. Albright as Date

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "This Year's Girl" Next →
 "Superstar"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Who Are You" is the 16th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon, it originally aired February 29, 2000 on the WB Television Network.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Production
3 Analysis
4 Continuity 4.1 Arc significance
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
Note: Buffy and Faith will be referred to by the character they are, rather than the body they're in.
Buffy, in Faith's body, is abducted by the Watchers Council's team. Meanwhile Faith, in Buffy's body, gives herself a makeover and heads to the Bronze, where she has ruthless fun at the expense of Spike and Tara. Tara recognizes that something is wrong, and she and Willow perform a spell to find the real Buffy. Faith visits Riley and has sex with him while Buffy escapes the Council's team and heads back to Sunnydale in search of Giles and her friends. Buffy convinces Giles of her identity with the help of Willow and Tara. Meanwhile, Adam convinces a group of vampires of their superiority and they attack a church. Faith tries to leave town, but after seeing what's happening on the news, goes to the church to help while Buffy does the same. Faith and Riley each kill one of the three gang members, but the leader overpowers Faith. Before he can kill her, Buffy stakes him from behind. They fight, and Buffy (with the help of Willow and Tara's own Draconian Katra device) restores herself and Faith to their rightful bodies. Faith subsequently escapes and leaves town, and Buffy discovers that Riley had sex with Faith during the body swap.
Production[edit]
In a scene where Faith in Buffy's body tries to seduce Riley, the camera "cut[s] to a medium close-up shot of her leather-clad backside", ostensibly Riley's point-of-view shot. Jason Middleton notes that this is a rare case where the audience's gaze is "positioned in a highly fetishistic relation towards Buffy's body". However, Middleton notes, the show disavows this viewing position by reminding the audience that it is Faith's positioning the body, connoting its "look-at-me-ness"; Buffy herself is disconnected from this image of her body. Riley, with whom the viewer is identified, disavows the shot by appearing confused and taken aback rather than sexually predatory. Middleton concludes this covertly allows "a scopophilic position ... for the viewer, even as the show disavows this position".[1]
Eliza Dushku is credited "as Buffy" in guest starring credits, not as Faith, to reflect the plot of the episode.
Analysis[edit]
Gregory Stevenson, in Televised Morality: The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, finds it significant that Faith's moment where she "confesses the truth about herself and begins to experience the weight of moral responsibility" occurs in a church.[2]
In their book discussing existentialism in Buffy, Richardson and Rabb argue that this episode and the previous (intended or not) explore the impact of Sartre's Look - the outside view that causes a person to redefine themselves from the perspective of the Other. Faith can now literally see herself as Buffy sees her. When the real Buffy escapes from the Watchers’ Council and challenges Faith, the two fight, and Faith (in Buffy’s body) repeatedly punches her own face in a fit of self-loathing, shouting, "You’re nothing! Disgusting, murderous bitch! You're nothing! You're disgusting!" According to Richardson and Rabb, "Faith is finally seeing herself as Buffy sees her and is even harder on herself than Buffy has ever been."[3]
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
Faith literally takes over Buffy's life, realizing an earlier sense of anxiety that Buffy experienced in "Faith, Hope & Trick" when Faith first arrives in Sunnydale. This theme is explored further in Season 7, particularly the episodes "Empty Places", and "Touched".
Crossover with Angel: Faith ends up escaping to Los Angeles in "Five by Five".
While in Buffy's body and thus in the Scoobies' company, Faith vividly imagines killing Willow; in "Sanctuary," she has a similar fantasy of killing Angel. As Buffy, Faith acknowledges Willow's hatred of Faith, first expressed in "Choices," where Willow mocked Faith's troubled past and told her that, unlike Buffy and Angel, Willow did not think Faith could ever redeem herself. Willow would later reconciles with Faith after she experiences her own spiral during Season 6, which gives her the perspective of what Faith has gone through.
When Faith flirts and teases with Spike in Buffy's body, Spike clearly reveals some of the repressed lust he harbors for Buffy, foreshadowing their later relationship.
Spike and Faith do not meet again until three years later, when the Slayer returns to Sunnydale as an ally against the First Evil. Faith reminds him of this conversation, and he clearly remembers it, noting that it is "not the kind of thing a man forgets."
Both slayers come to understand each other a bit better. As Buffy (in Faith's body) feels how lonely, helpless Faith really is and understands how people actually treat her. Faith (in Buffy's body) starts to feel remorse and feels the power of how good it feels to help, as she helped the girl in The Bronze and was actually thanked.
Faith (in Buffy's body) becomes the first person to recognize Willow and Tara's romantic relationship when she comments that Willow "isn't driving stick anymore." She, along with Oz in "New Moon Rising" and Spike in "The Yoko Factor", are the only characters to recognize it without being told.
This episode also contains the first explicit references stating that Tara and Willow are having a romantic relationship (previously all that had been given were "hints").
Tara demonstrates her power, as she is the only one who recognizes that Buffy is not acting herself: the first of many times Tara sees more than meets the eye when it comes to the Scooby Gang's problems. She shows her magical knowledge, as she knows how to find out what is wrong.
Tara and Willow's spell to find Buffy in the nether realm is used as a metaphor for their first sexual experience.
Buffy (in Faith's body) convinces Giles of her identity by describing people and events from past episodes, including Ethan Rayne's transformation of Giles into a demon ("A New Man"), Giles' girlfriend Olivia (first seen in "The Freshman"), and Buffy's telepathic discovery that Giles had sex with her mother Joyce ("Earshot").
Faith (in Buffy's body) states that "Faith's" arrest was "poetic justice". This references Faith and Buffy's earlier confrontation in "Graduation Day" in which Buffy states that sacrificing Faith's blood as a cure for Angel would be "poetic justice", as Faith was the one who poisoned him.
While Faith (in Buffy's body) is being punched by the vampire in the church, Buffy (in Faith's body) stakes the vampire from behind in the same way as Faith had done in Season 3's "Bad Girls".
Willow references "The Pack" when she refers to possession by hyena.
When Buffy is "not herself" for some reason, she often appears with crimped hair, as she does in this episode while Faith is possessing her body. This also occurs noticeably in "Beer Bad", when Buffy becomes a prehistoric version of herself, and in "Something Blue", when Willow's spell causes her to become engaged to Spike.
When Faith (in Buffy's body) is talking to Tara in the Bronze, she says: "I guess you never really know someone 'til you've been inside their skin." She is referring to a line in the book To Kill a Mockingbird: "You don't really know a person until you climb into their skin and walk around in it."
Faith (in Buffy's body) sleeps with Riley, further complicating Buffy's relationship with him.
The episode reveals Riley is a regular churchgoer. Unlike many openly Christian TV characters, he is clearly not Christian-like about sex - not only in accepting his fellow soldiers' premarital sexual activities (and engaging in premarital sex himself in this episode) but in assisting the UC Sunnydale Lesbian Alliance in "Something Blue".
Adam begins rallying vampires to aid him in his plans.
Faith taking steps to rejoin the side of good.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Jason Middleton (2007). "Buffy as Femme Fatale: The Cult Heroine and the Male Spectator". In Elana Levine and Lisa Parks. Undead TV. Duke University Press. pp. 158–160. ISBN 978-0-8223-4043-0.
2.Jump up ^ Stevenson, Gregory (2003), Televised Morality: The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Oxford: University Press of America, p. 122, ISBN 0-7618-2833-8
3.Jump up ^ Richardson, J. Michael; Rabb, J. Douglas (2007), "Buffy, Faith and Bad Faith: Choosing to be the Chosen One", Slayage 23, retrieved 2007-07-26
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Who Are You
"Who Are You" at the Internet Movie Database
"Who Are You" at TV.com
"Who Are You" at BuffyGuide.com


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Buffyverse crossover episodes
Screenplays by Joss Whedon
Body swapping in fiction


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Superstar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




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"Superstar"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy417.jpg
Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 17
Directed by
David Grossman
Written by
Jane Espenson
Production code
4ABB17
Original air date
April 4, 2000
Guest actors

Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Robert Patrick Benedict as Jape
John Saint Ryan as Colonel George Haviland
George Hertzberg as Adam
Erica Luttrell as Karen
Adam Clark as Cop
Chanie Costello as Inga
Julie Costello as Ilsa

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Who Are You" Next →
 "Where the Wild Things Are"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Superstar" is the 17th episode of season four of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 Writing
3 Production details 3.1 Music
4 Continuity
5 External links
6 References

Plot summary[edit]
When Buffy and the gang discover a nest of vampires, they go to Jonathan for help. At Giles' apartment, Jonathan checks out weapons and practices hand-to-hand with Buffy. Willow uses her computer to find a way to attack the vampire nest, but Jonathan finds a better way. He slays the majority of the vampires, leaving Buffy to feel inadequate, as she allows one vampire to get by her.
As they leave the crypt, Jonathan poses for some pictures. He senses Spike hiding in the shadows and the two go face-to-face. Buffy's at a lack for her usual puns, but Jonathan steps in to knock Spike's confidence down. While putting pictures of Jonathan up on a wall, Willow and Tara talk about the fight earlier that night and Buffy's relationship with Riley. At Riley's dorm room, Buffy tries to play basketball, but she is too uncomfortable around him to let him get close.
Jonathan comforts Buffy and he tells her that she's mad at Riley because he doesn't know her as well as she'd like him to. He tries to convince her to forgive Riley because her expectations are too high. All the while, Jonathan signs autographs for overzealous fans. Colonel George Haviland is the new commander at the Initiative, but Jonathan takes over and explains the plans to find and destroy Adam. One fan, Karen is spying on Jonathan's house, but is attacked by a demon and manages to run away.
Jonathan talks to Riley about his relationship with Buffy, then shoots at apples atop of the heads of Initiative operatives, while blindfolded. When Jonathan takes center stage singing at the Bronze, Buffy and Riley take the dance floor. Xander and Anya are inspired to go somewhere to have sex when he plays the trumpet. Buffy tells Riley that she wants to move on with their relationship. Karen goes to the Bronze for Jonathan, and when she is taken back to his place, describes the demon's appearance. Jonathan acts strangely when she draws a symbol she saw on the demon, but he dismisses it as a harmless monster.
Adam realizes that something is wrong with the world, and that Jonathan isn't supposed to be this popular, but decides to see how the situation develops. When twin blond girls call for Jonathan to come to bed, he drops his robe to reveal a symbol on his shoulder that is like the symbol Karen drew. On her way to her dorm room, the demon attacks Tara. She chants a spell and escapes with her life. The next morning, Tara identifies the demon by the symbol on its head, and Buffy has even more reason to question Jonathan.
Buffy stops by Xander's, and finds Anya and plenty of things on Jonathan. Buffy questions how Jonathan could be so perfect. He is credited for all the great things that have happened in the world (starring in The Matrix, inventing the internet etc.). Riley encourages everyone to follow Buffy's lead. They look at Jonathan's swimsuit calendar to see the monster's mark on Jonathan's shoulder. Jonathan arrives and explains that he has a history with the monster and every time he faces it, he is overcome by confusion.
Buffy and Jonathan get information on the demon's location from Spike. Willow discovers that Jonathan did an augmentation spell that would make everyone adore him but also created a demon. If it is destroyed, the spell is reversed. The gang has a hard time dealing with the prospect of a world without Jonathan.
In a cave, Jonathan tries to prevent Buffy from falling into a pit, but the demon interrupts them. Jonathan leaves it to Buffy to fight the demon. Jonathan pushes the demon into the pit and his life is saved by Buffy.
After the demon falls into the pit, everything goes back to normal, and Jonathan is back to being ignored. Jonathan explains that, at counseling after his attempted suicide, another guy informed him about the augmentation spell. However, he skipped the demon part.
Buffy and Riley are kissing on his bed, until she moans, "Jonathan".
Writing[edit]
"Superstar" can be seen as a spoof on Mary Sue fanfiction,[1] in which an idealized version of the writer is inserted into a fictional universe and upstages the established characters. Jonathan, a peripheral character, becomes nearly omnipotent, universally adored and admired, and even takes Buffy's place in the opening credits.
Buffy's character is severely affected by Jonathan's augmented universe: most or all of her previous slayer feats are now credited to Jonathan, and Buffy's position and persona are demoted from confident leader to nervous sidekick. Throughout the episode, Buffy quickly gains confidence in her abilities as a slayer, and through her actions also gains that confidence from the others.
Production details[edit]
The title sequence is generally constant throughout each season, except when the regular cast changes. This episode has a specially modified title sequence that contains about 10 shots of Jonathan performing heroic acts such as defusing a bomb. The end of the sequence is a shot of Jonathan with a flowing coat, similar to that worn by Angel, replacing the usual shot of Buffy triumphant. In spite of Jonathan's prominence in the sequence, Danny Strong is not featured as a regular cast member.
Jonathan-related merchandise seen in the episode includes a number of Jonathan comic books published by Dark Horse Comics, the real company that publishes comic books based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Music[edit]
Danny Strong lip-syncs the song that he sings at The Bronze ("Hey Sonny / Serenade in Blue / Trapped" by Royal Crown Revue). Brad Kane, who played Tucker Wells in "The Prom," provided the vocals. While playing the trumpet at the Bronze, however, Strong was actually synching the notes, fingering it as instructed by a family member.
Continuity[edit]
The immediate prequel to this episode is Jane Espenson's Buffy comic, Jonathan.
Some time has passed between the previous episode and this one, Tara has been introduced to the rest of the gang, and she now associates with them socially; although the romantic nature of her relationship with Willow is still secret.
This episode introduces Jonathan's dabbling in magic, which will play a major role in season 6.
Jonathan helps Buffy and Riley overcome issues raised in "Who Are You".
Jonathan reveals Adam's weakness (his uranium power source), although this is not mentioned again until later in the season, well after Jonathan's spell is ended.
Jonathan's spell establishes how easily reality can be bent to an extreme degree, setting a precedent for the sudden integration of Dawn in Season 5.
This episode introduces the world without shrimp and the world entirely of shrimp. The former will be referenced again in "Triangle", and the latter by Illyria in the season 5 Angel episode "Underneath".
This is also the first time that Xander performs a spell by himself, showing how easy it is.
A comment made by Riley about a spell allowing the caster to "turn an enemy inside-out" is a possible allusion to the fate of "Trio" member and friend of Jonathan's, Warren Mears, in season 6.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Superstar
"Superstar" at the Internet Movie Database
"Superstar" at TV.com
"Superstar" at BuffyGuide.com
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004188.html#33771


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Where the Wild Things Are (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011)

"Where the Wild Things Are"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Where the Wild Things Are (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).jpg
Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 18
Directed by
David Solomon
Written by
Tracey Forbes
Production code
4ABB18
Original air date
April 25, 2000
Guest actors

Emma Caulfield as Anya
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Kathryn Joosten as Mrs. Genevive Holt
Casey McCarthy as Julie
Neil Daly as Mason
Jeff Wilson as Evan
Bryan Cupprill as Roy
Jeffrey Sharmay as Drowning Boy
Jeri Austin as Running Girl
Danielle Pessis as Christie
David Engler as Initiative Guy
James Michael Connor as Scientist

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Superstar" Next →
 "New Moon Rising"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Where the Wild Things Are" is the 18th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
At a fraternity party, Buffy and Riley are compelled to have sex by a mystical influence. The party is held in a house which was formerly a home for wayward children, that is haunted by the angry ghosts of children who were physically and emotionally abused by the Christian fundamentalist who managed the home.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Production
3 Cultural references
4 Continuity 4.1 Arc significance
5 References
6 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Buffy and Riley fight a vampire and a demon in the cemetery, finally disposing of both of them. While they intend to go tell Giles about the odd pairing of demon and vampire, they opt instead for sex at Riley's dorm at Lowell House. Riley gets up in the middle of the night, acting as if he hears something from the restroom. All he finds is a dripping faucet in the tub. Xander's driving an ice cream truck for his new job, and Anya rides along with him to complain about their diminishing relationship. Trying to convince her that there is nothing wrong with him or their relationship, Xander suggests they have sex right there in the truck. He doesn't realize that there is a group of kids waiting outside for their ice cream.
The gang talks about patrol the night before, and they realize that Adam is bringing the races of demons together. Buffy and Riley escape for some alone time, which is no secret to the rest of the gang. The two continue their sex romp through the night. While the rest of the house is freezing cold, Buffy and Riley continue to keep occupied, and warm. An initiative agent is badly burned when a fire in a fireplace bursts forth into the room. The next night, Spike jumps out at Anya in the streets, trying to scare her into giving him her money. At the party, Buffy and Riley are making eyes at each other from across the room while their friends attempt to talk to them. Spike and Anya bond over a couple beers at the Bronze, complaining about what it's like to be without their harmful demon powers.
A guy is talking to a girl, when he places his hand on a wall and suddenly gets very excited. Xander flirts with a girl named Julie. Riley and Buffy escape upstairs to resume their own private party. Willow and Tara talk about horses, but Willow had a bad experience with them and she's very afraid of them. Willow touches Tara's knee, but Tara backs away, inexplicably disgusted with the gesture. Anya and Spike then arrive at the frat party and the two verbally gang up on Xander.
A group is playing spin the bottle and Xander joins in. On Xander's turn, the bottle lands on Julie, and he kisses her on the cheek. She suddenly jumps him and starts kissing him aggressively. After she runs away, Xander follows and finds her in the closet cutting off her hair. Willow goes to the restroom looking for Tara and instead finds a body drowning in the bathtub. When she reaches for it, it disappears and reappears behind her. All this time, Buffy and Riley have barely come up for air, not even stopping when they hear Willow scream or the gang calling for them outside the door.
The house begins to shake violently, and vines begin to cover the walls. Forrest and Graham run downstairs for instructions from their commanding officers. A ghost runs straight through Anya and Spike is strapped to a chair. Spike breaks free of his bonds and everyone escapes outside. The gang goes to Giles for help and find him singing and playing the guitar at the Espresso Bar. He's surprisingly very good, which Willow, Tara, and Anya all find appealing.
Research leads them to information about the Lowell building, which used to be the old Lowell Home for Children. They find the woman, Genevieve Holt, who ran the children's home and she confesses that she rewarded the children when they were good and punished them when they were dirty. She'd cut off the hair of the girls who would preen their hair in the mirror in order to "remove the temptation" of vanity and "baptized" them by holding them under water in a bathtub. After leaving Ms. Holt's place, they conclude that a group of poltergeists is now releasing their pent up sexual energy thanks to the repetitive acts of sex by Buffy and Riley. When Buffy and Riley are drained of all their strength, they will die.
Willow, Tara, and Giles perform a spell to stop the spirits. Xander and Anya hack their way through the vines and try to reach Buffy and Riley. Anya is knocked across the house while Xander is dragged into the bathroom and held underwater. Anya makes her way upstairs to save Xander and they fight against the vines and finally open Riley's dorm. The next day, the gang talks about Giles's "mid-life crisis" and the consequences of Buffy and Riley's endless sex. Unconvincingly, Buffy and Riley say how horrible the experience was.
Production[edit]
This episode marks the first time in the series that Anthony Stewart Head displays his singing talents. Giles will sing on screen again in three more episodes: in his apartment in "The Yoko Factor", during his dream sequence in "Restless", and the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling".
Anthony Stewart Head only sings "Behind Blue Eyes", and music supervisor John King plays guitar. Later, in the episode "The Yoko Factor", Head will both sing and play "Free Bird".
Roy, the boy who first touched the enchanted wall, played by Bryan Cuprill, was also one of the students who turned into a caveman in the episode "Beer Bad".
When Anya and Xander are alone in the house fighting through the vines to get to Buffy and Riley, a pair of arms from off camera entangle Anya with the vines.
Cultural references[edit]
Felicity - In response to the girl pulling off all of her hair in the closet, Xander comments that "people are going all Felicity with their hair," a reference to the show's star cutting off her hair.[1]
Where the Wild Things Are is the title of an award-winning children's book. A mischievous young boy, sent to bed without supper, goes into a land of mythical monsters, becomes homesick and returns to find his supper on the table, still warm.
The song Giles sings is "Behind Blue Eyes".
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
Anya and Spike first bond in this episode. This becomes important in Season 6's episode "Entropy" where they find physical comfort in each other after being rejected by their lovers.
Willow tells Buffy and Riley that the events at Lowell House weren't their fault, since they were under the influence of powerful magic. From Season 6 onward, Willow struggles with her addiction to magic.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ BBC episode guide
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Where the Wild Things Are
"Where the Wild Things Are" at the Internet Movie Database
"Where the Wild Things Are" at TV.com
"Where the Wild Things Are" at BuffyGuide.com


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New Moon Rising (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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Jump to: navigation, search


"New Moon Rising"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x19.jpg
Willow brings a candle to Tara's dorm room due to the blackout, declaring she has chosen her

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 19
Directed by
James A. Contner
Written by
Marti Noxon
Production code
4ABB19
Original air date
May 2, 2000
Guest actors

Seth Green as Oz
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Robert Patrick Benedict as Jape (scenes cut)
Conor O'Farrell as Colonel McNamara
George Hertzberg as Adam
James Michael Connor as Scientist #1
Mark Daneri as Scientist #2
Dorron Keeman as Commando #2

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Where the Wild Things Are" Next →
 "The Yoko Factor"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"New Moon Rising" is the 19th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oz returns to Sunnydale after learning to control his werewolf instincts. However, he loses control when he suspects Tara and Willow's relationship, and is subsequently caught by the Initiative.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Continuity
3 Arc significance
4 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Willow and Tara walk around the school grounds holding hands and talk about Tara getting a cat as a pet. At the Scooby Gang meeting, Buffy explains that there is little going on, but as usual, Giles knows that means trouble. As the meeting ends, Oz shows up in the doorway, shocking everyone into silence. Oz arranges to talk with Willow later, and after Oz leaves, Tara also leaves the incredibly uncomfortable situation. Buffy and Riley talk about how bad Willow and Oz's break-up really was, and Buffy accidentally mentions that Oz is a werewolf. Buffy goes off on him when he negatively comments on Willow dating a werewolf (he says that Willow seems smarter than to date a dangerous guy, unknowingly drawing a parallel between Willow and Oz and Buffy and Angel), accusing him of being a bigot and being unable to see past the 'humans versus demons' ideal he's been living.
Oz takes Willow for a walk outside during a full moon, showing her that he's not in werewolf mode. While in Tibet, with the help of herbs, charms, chanting, and meditation, he's learned to control the wolf inside. Oz wants to get back together with Willow, but she is reluctant. Graham patrols with a team and they are all attacked by a four-legged demon, closely resembling a werewolf. Willow and Oz talk all night about their lives while they were apart. Tara comes by in the morning while Willow is away, and upon having Oz answer the door she gets nervous and leaves.
Buffy wakes up at Riley's, but she's very distant from him. They talk about the night before in the graveyard and Riley's reaction to Oz, then Riley leaves after hearing news about Graham getting hurt. Willow shocks Buffy with the news about Oz being able to control the wolf. Buffy is even more shocked as Willow subtly explains that her relationship with Tara is now serious and that complicates things with Oz. Adam goes to Spike for his help in exchange for getting the chip out of Spike's head.
Willow tells Tara that she and Oz only talked the night before, and then they hug. Oz and Tara have a confrontation and after smelling Willow on Tara, Oz concludes that the two are romantically involved. He loses control, and starts to change into a werewolf. Werewolf Oz chases Tara into a classroom, and then Riley and the Initiative guys take Oz away. The gang meets up and makes a plan to free Oz. Oz is kept caged at the Initiative and just as Riley is about to shoot him dead, he changes back into his human form.
Despite Riley's attempts to help, the scientists start performing tests on Oz. Spike shows up at Giles' place and offers to lead Buffy and the gang into the Initiative. Riley sneaks in, gives Oz some clothes and tries to help him escape. On the way out, they get caught. Colonel McNamara lectures Riley about betraying the Initiative on so many levels and how he will be court-martialed. Dressed as commandos and scientists, Spike and the gang sneak into the Initiative through a back door. Adam secretly helps them by running operations through a computer and helping them shut down the power for most of the city.
Holding the Colonel hostage, Buffy gets Riley and Oz free, Riley leaving the Initiative for good. Now that his life is in danger, Riley camps out at the remains of Sunnydale High with Buffy at his side. He confesses that he was wrong about Oz and that he was a bigot when thinking about Willow and Oz's relationship and couldn't see past the 'humans good, demons bad' idea, but Buffy reassures him he wasn't being a bigot but was just shocked when faced with an unconventional relationship (due to the fact she had a similar reaction when finding out about Willow and Tara). Buffy then volunteers to tell him about her past, and warns him that it's not stuff he's going to like. In Oz's van, Oz notes that he worked hard so he could return to Willow, and now she is the only thing that he can't be around without losing control of the wolf and now he needs to leave town again to escape her and the Initiative. Willow and Oz say their sad goodbyes accepting they will always be an important part of each other before Oz leaves Sunnydale forever. Later that night Willow takes a candle to Tara's room, where Tara tells Willow that she should be with the person she loves, and Willow replies that she is. Tara blows out the candle.
Continuity[edit]
When Buffy is in Riley's room, she is wearing the same thing that Faith (In Buffy's body) wore at his place in Who Are You
Arc significance[edit]
Willow finally reveals to Buffy that she is dating Tara.
This is Oz's last appearance in person, though he will appear once again in Willow's dream in the season finale.
In this episode, Spike joins up with Adam, a match-up which will seriously affect the rest of the season.
Riley deserts the Initiative upon discovering the extent of its corruption.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: New Moon Rising
"New Moon Rising" at the Internet Movie Database
"New Moon Rising" at TV.com
"New Moon Rising" at BuffyGuide.com


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The Yoko Factor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (June 2011)

"The Yoko Factor"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
The Yoko Factor.jpg
Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 20
Directed by
David Grossman
Written by
Doug Petrie
Production code
4ABB20
Original air date
May 9, 2000
Guest actors

Emma Caulfield as Anya
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Conor O'Farrell as Colonel McNamara
George Hertzberg as Adam
David Boreanaz as Angel
Bob Fimiani as Mr. Ward
Jade Carter as Lieutenant

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "New Moon Rising" Next →
 "Primeval"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"The Yoko Factor" is the 20th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Production
3 Themes and allusions
4 Critical reception
5 References
6 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Colonel McNamara talks with a superior about plans for the Initiative, about getting Riley back under his command and about dealing with Buffy.
Spike tells Adam that Buffy is going to be a difficult challenge to defeat and he shouldn't underestimate her. Spike talks about having already killed two Slayers (Xin Rong and Nikki Wood), yet having been unable to kill Buffy, especially because of the chip now in his head. The two plan to separate Buffy from her Slayerette friends.[1]
Still upset about what happened between her and Angel during her visit to Los Angeles (in the Angel crossover episode "Sanctuary"), Buffy returns from L.A. to her empty dorm room. Xander brings Riley some clothes, and they talk about their mutual distaste for Angel, Riley having been told by Buffy about her previous relationship with him. However, it emerges that she has not told him the whole truth; while Riley was aware that Angel lost his soul and became Angelus, Xander tells Riley that having sex with Buffy was the trigger that set Angelus free.
Giles is at home singing and playing guitar when Spike surprises him by walking right in. Spike talks with Giles about files inside the Initiative that he might be able to get for a very large price. Spike tells Giles that Buffy doesn't respect her former Watcher anymore, which upsets Giles. Willow and Tara play with their new kitten, Miss Kitty Fantastico, while planning their class schedule for next year. They also talk about future housing plans, but Willow hasn't talked with Buffy yet and isn't sure what she wants to do now that things have changed so much.
Riley visits Buffy; using a radio, he's tapped into the Initiative and is aware of their actions. She mentions that Angel upset her, but she is focusing on seeking Adam, and Riley leaves. Xander and Anya bring Spike fatigues to wear and a gun. Spike can't believe his luck that he would be given a weapon and points it at Xander intending to shoot, only for the chip to go off in his head. Turns out the chip doesn't allow Spike to point weapons at people... and the gun was fake anyway. Spike makes Xander feel unwanted by convincing him that the rest of the gang doesn't feel he's useful.
Buffy goes patrolling and runs into Forrest, who is also looking for Adam. They argue as they go into a cave and find Adam, who launches a surprise attack. Buffy and Adam exchange a few punches and kicks: Forrest tries to step in and help, but he is pushed away by Buffy. Adam hurls the Slayer against the cave wall, and Forrest uses the opening to shoot Adam with his stun rifle. Instead of harming him, however, the voltage merely seems to refresh Adam, who then disarms and fatally stabs Forrest with his bone skewer. Her will to fight gone, Buffy flees from the cave, with Adam taking pot shots at her. Running for her life, Buffy trips and tumbles down the side of a hill; she strikes her head on a rock, knocking her unconscious.
Meanwhile, pretending to have sneaked into the Initiative and retrieved some disks with information, Spike charges into Giles's place. Giles continues to get drunk while Willow tries to decrypt the disks. Spike talks to Willow and Tara about their Wicca interest and how her friends don't seem to support it. Willow thinks he means that their friends aren't accepting their romantic relationship.
Riley hears of trouble on the streets through his radio. He finds Angel fighting the commandos, and Riley refuses to let Angel go see Buffy. The two have a brutal fight, of which Angel is clearly the victor. Both run off when a military truck arrives.
Buffy returns to her dorm room and Angel shows up. As Angel speaks with Buffy, Riley barges in and raises a gun to Angel. Angel taunts Riley and the two come to blows again. Buffy separates them and wants to talk to Angel alone. Buffy scolds Angel, yet they laugh when Angel confesses he came to make up. Buffy also apologizes for being bossy. The two part on friendly terms, although Angel stops to state that he doesn't like Riley.
Spike reports back to Adam, happy to have split up the Scooby Gang. Riley is worried that Buffy has reunited with Angel and confesses he has learned how Angel can become Angelus. They profess their love to each other, but Buffy must give him the bad news that Forrest is dead. Riley is distraught and leaves.
The damage that Spike has done to the gang becomes clear when their meeting at Giles's home turns into a fight. While Tara and Anya hide in the bathroom, Buffy scolds Xander for telling Riley details about her and Angel's relationship and argues that she is going to take on Adam alone. Giles is drunk and makes funny comments in the background. Xander complains that his friends don't need him and Willow complains that Buffy doesn't accept Tara, revealing their relationship, for the first time, to Xander and Giles. While Giles goes to sleep the alcohol off, Buffy leaves, telling her friends that she doesn't need them as she has someone else she can depend on... little realizing that Riley has gone to Adam's lair.
Production[edit]
Whereas Anthony Head does not actually play guitar for Behind Blue Eyes in the episode "Where the Wild Things Are" (music supervisor John King did), this time he both sings and plays Free Bird.[citation needed]
Themes and allusions[edit]
Spike explains to Adam (and provides the explanation for the episode title) when he calls his strategy "the Yoko Factor. Don't tell me you've never heard of the Beatles?" Adam replies, "I have. I like Helter Skelter." Spike says, "What a surprise. The point is, they were once a real powerful group. It's not a stretch to say they ruled the world. And when they broke up everyone blamed Yoko, but the fact is the group split itself apart; she just happened to be there. And you know how it is with kids. They go off to college, they grow apart. Way of the world."
Motivational speaker Tony Robbins - Spike tells Adam, "You're like Tony Robbins. If he was a big scary Frankenstein-looking -- You're exactly like Tony Robbins."[1]
The song L.A. Woman - Xander says of Buffy, "L.A. Woman? Haven't heard from her. She'll probably come here first thing, though."
The Godfather - Buffy says to Forrest, about the Initiative, "What kind of family are you, the Corleones?"
The Wizard of Oz - Willow says testily to Spike, "I am a whiz." Tara agrees, "She is a whiz." Willow says, "If ever a whiz there was."[2]
Batman - Xander says, "I'll stay behind and putt around the Batcave with crusty old Alfred here."
Critical reception[edit]
A commenter for Critically Touched Reviews praised "the successful payoff we've been waiting for all season," an "extremely well acted" and "potent" argument scene at the end, and "great characterization"; he describes some scenes as "Very funny and well-written" and "simply wonderful."[3]
Noel Murray of The A.V. Club, whose "Community Grade" gave the episode an A-, wrote, "The first fifteen minutes of The Yoko Factor is like the Inglourious Basterds of Buffy episodes, offering six long, winding, evenly paced conversations, punctuated by a quiet interlude and a kitschy-but-oddly-moving musical number... [T]he episode is always at its strongest when people are just talking to each other, either because they're enjoying each other's company or trying to figure out each other out. It's nice, for example, that... writer Doug Petrie found time to show Willow and Tara talking about their plans for sophomore year, while playing with the cutest kitten ever born." While he thought "this crossover seemed a little forced," he also "felt like all the extended chatter in The Yoko Factor rang essentially true."[4]



Two reviewers for the BBC Buffy review pages said, "This [is] what we've been waiting for. No, not the culmination of the Initiative plot. Riley vs Angel: mano a vampo. The five star celebrity un-death match... It's all great fun" and "A very cunning and different episode from Doug Petrie. Yes, Adam may still be a bit pants as a villain, but it's great seeing him and Spike plan to destroy Buffy by making her friends fight. Suddenly, all the little quirks of this season - Xander's jobs, Giles's drinking, Tara and Willow - all come together in a big, messy splat of a squabble. Magnificent stuff. It's also really great seeing Angel back in Buffy - even if it is just to see him pummelling and smirking at Riley."[5]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Petrie, Doug (May 9, 2000). "Buffy Episode #76: The Yoko Factor Transcript". BuffyWorld. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
2.Jump up ^ "The Yoko Factor". www.buffyguide.com. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
3.Jump up ^ Marinaro, Mikelangelo (March 27, 2006). "4x20: The Yoko Factor". Critically Touched Reviews. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
4.Jump up ^ Murray, Noel (September 4, 2009). "The Yoko Factor etc.". The AV Club. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
5.Jump up ^ Stephen and James (September 2005). "The Yoko Factor". www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Yoko Factor
"The Yoko Factor" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Yoko Factor" at TV.com


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Primeval (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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"Primeval"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Buffy4x21.jpg
The composite Buffy-Willow-Xander-Giles turns Adam's missile into a dove

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 21
Directed by
James A. Contner
Written by
David Fury
Production code
4ABB21
Original air date
May 16, 2000
Guest actors

Emma Caulfield as Anya
Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
Jack Stehlin as Dr. Angleman
Conor O'Farrell as Colonel McNamara
George Hertzberg as Adam
Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh
Bob Fimiani as Mr. Ward
Jordi Vilasuso as Dixon

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "The Yoko Factor" Next →
 "Restless"

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Primeval" is the 21st episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Continuity 2.1 Arc significance
3 Cultural references
4 External links

Plot synopsis[edit]
Following Spike's interference in the previous episode, Buffy and the Scoobies are not talking to each other, consistent with Adam's plans. However, since he wants Buffy in the Initiative, Adam is displeased to discover that Willow still has possession of the encrypted disks from the previous episode which would have led her back. He refused to remove Spike's behaviour modification chip unless he rectifies this situation. Meanwhile, Riley is unsure why he is in Adam's lair, and Adam reveals that the government implanted a chip near Riley's heart, giving Adam complete control over Riley's motor functions.
In the aftermath of the Scoobies' fights, Xander dejectedly ponders his life direction, and is consoled by Anya, who tells him that she loves him. Tara and Willow work at decrypting the information disks, only to find that they suddenly decrypted themselves. Giles suffers through a hangover. Buffy returns to Adam's cave seeking more information, annoyed when she finds Spike there, and suspicious when he lets slip that he's aware of the Scoobies' falling out. Buffy realises that Spike has deceived them and reunites with the original gang.
Willow reveals the information on the disks: that Adam is hiding at one of the Initiative's secret labs, and plans to build more cyborg demonoids like himself. Buffy realises that the overcrowded holding cells at the Initiative are a form of Trojan horse warfare; Adam will release the demons and the resulting battle will leave lots of demon and human body parts. Furthermore, he is particularly keen for Buffy to be present to even the demon-human kill ratio. The gang brainstorms how to kill Adam, and a difficult paralysis spell (which only Willow can cast) which must be incanted in Sumerian (which only Giles can speak) within striking distance of the victim (which only Buffy can survive) is suggested. Xander jokingly suggests merging the whole gang into one body to allow the spell to be cast — an idea to which Giles is surprisingly receptive.
Buffy, Xander, Giles, and Willow break into the Initiative through the elevator shaft, but are captured by the Colonel. The gang attempt to explain the situation to the Colonel, but the presence of a "magic gourd" in their bag convinces the Colonel that they are crazy. Adam, watching this on surveillance, sees that Spike has succeeded in getting Buffy to the Initiative, but failed in keeping the gang apart; he orders Spike to be killed, but Spike escapes into the Initiative.
Suddenly, Adam cuts the power in the main part of the Initiative, locking the perimeter while releasing all the demons in the holding cells. The Colonel and soldiers go to engage with the demons, leaving two to guard the Scoobies. Buffy knocks both of them out. Willow finds air ducts leading to an area behind 314 that doesn't exist on the map; this is where Adam plans to build and release an army of hybrid cyborg monsters. Buffy leaves through a secret door while the rest prepare a spell.
Buffy finds Riley sitting unbound in a chair and unable to speak, still under Adam's control. Adam enters and, upon discovering that Buffy will not be balancing the demon-human kill ratio as he envisioned, orders Forrest, now turned into a killer cyborg demonoid, to kill her. As they battle, Riley uses a shard of glass to take out the chip embedded in his chest, freeing himself to attack his former best friend; they fight as Buffy escapes to take on Adam, and Riley uses a bottle of flammable gas to blow Forrest to pieces.
Buffy then engages with Adam. She rushes clumsily at him, but is knocked away with a punch to the gut. Rebounding quickly, Buffy and Adam exchange a high volume of blows: Buffy breaks the Polgara demon spike on Adam's left arm, but he reveals his right arm has been "upgraded" to a giant machine gun. Bombarded with gunfire, the Slayer runs behind a computer console for cover. Much like their previous encounters, Adam is clearly the superior, until the enjoining spell kicks in: Giles, Willow and Xander, by invoking the powers of the Slayer lineage ("from Last to ancient First"), merge their psyches in Buffy's body to form a fighter with Buffy's physical strength (Manus), Willow's magic power (Spiritus), Xander's bravery (Animus) and Giles's knowledge (Sophus). This composite being rises from the ashes, repelling Adams missiles with a shield, and shutting his weapons arm down with a wave of the hand. Closing in, she easily evades every punch thrown by Adam, before countering with a devastating chain of strikes herself, and ripping out his uranium-powered "heart." Riley arrives in time to catch Buffy as she collapses. Giving all of their strength and power to Buffy leaves the rest of the gang totally exhausted and vulnerable as a demon breaks into their room, but Spike kills it. Though unhappy that he tried to help Adam, Willow, Giles, and Xander decide to spare Spike out of fatigue and the fact that he just saved them.
In a largely unseen battle, Buffy, Riley, Xander, Giles, Willow and Spike then join with the Initiative's soldiers to stop the demon attacks, saving most of them with only 40% casualties amongst the Initiative. Graham survives, and the Colonel is killed.
In an internal debriefing, the government decides to shut down the Initiative for good, and remove any paper trail of its existence. They praise Maggie Walsh's vision of harnessing demons as a powerful military weapon, but conclude that demonkind cannot be controlled.
Continuity[edit]
Arc significance[edit]
The invocation of the First Slayer has serious consequences in the next episode and in subsequent seasons.
Despite the orders given, the Initiative's base is not filled with concrete following the season finale; it is featured in the season seven episode "The Killer in Me".
In a variation unique to season four, the season's "Big Bad" is defeated in the penultimate episode and not the season finale.
The Buffy-composite displays magic abilities that surpass Willow's – probably drawing on Giles's superior knowledge – but also foreshadows the power Willow has inside of her.
Adam's power-source was identified by Jonathan Levinson in "Superstar".
The Angel episode "Blind Date" occurs during the events of this episode. Cordelia, while decrypting files with the help of Willow on the phone, mentions to Wesley that the Scoobies have been decrypting files all day as well. This event falls right after the crossover events of "Sanctuary" and "The Yoko Factor".
Cultural references[edit]
While explaining his plan to Adam, Spike says: "The little witch gives her the info and pop - Alice heads back down the rabbit hole." This is a reference to the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll, in which the curious protagonist follows the White Rabbit into unknown danger.
After Adam points out the flaw in Spike's plan, Spike replies "let's not quibble about who failed who," a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where a lord, after his hoped-for son-in-law kills multiple people remarks: "let's not bicker and argue about who killed who."
Spike refers to Buffy as "Nancy Drew," a fictional literary adolescent female detective who was known for her wit and resolve.
While casting the spell, Giles flips over a card featuring the illustration from the inside cover (The Hermit) of Led Zeppelin IV.
Adam's use of distraction leads Giles to call his final plan "the Trojan Horse." A military tactic employed during the Trojan War, it involved Greek soldiers hiding inside of a hollow wooden horse that had been disguised as a peace offering to their enemies.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Primeval
"Primeval" at the Internet Movie Database
"Primeval" at TV.com


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Restless (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Restless"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Two women standing in a desert landscape.
Buffy in her dream with the first Slayer behind her. This episode features a unique visual style, as shown here, where much of the frame is empty while the focal point is in one corner.

Episode no.
Season 4
 Episode 22
Directed by
Joss Whedon
Written by
Joss Whedon
Cinematography by
Michael Gershman
Production code
4ABB22
Original air date
May 23, 2000
Running time
44 minutes
Guest actors

Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
David Wells as The Cheese Man
Michael Harney as Xander's Father
George Hertzberg as Adam
Emma Caulfield as Anya
Seth Green as Oz
Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder
Sharon Ferguson as Primitive
Phina Oruche as Olivia
Rob Boltin as Soldier

Episode chronology

← Previous
 "Primeval" Next →
 "Buffy vs. Dracula"

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 4)
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
"Restless" is the 22nd episode and season finale of season four of the supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), and the 78th episode of the series overall. The episode was written and directed by the show's creator Joss Whedon and originally aired on The WB in the United States on May 23, 2000.
The premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is that an adolescent girl, Buffy Summers, is chosen by mystical forces and given superhuman powers to kill vampires, demons, and other evil creatures in the fictional town of Sunnydale. She is supported by a close circle of family and friends, nicknamed the Scooby Gang. "Restless" centers on the dreams of the four main characters after enduring an exhausting fight in the previous episode. The dreams are used to comment on the characters—their fears, their past and their possible future. Consistent with each dream is the presence of the First Slayer who hunts and kills them one by one until, in the final sequence, she is confronted and disempowered by Buffy.
The episode serves as a coda to the fourth season instead of a climax, as Whedon wanted to achieve something different for a season finale. Whedon experimented with several filming techniques to make the episode as dreamlike as possible. The episode also foreshadows upcoming events, most notably the first appearance of Buffy's sister Dawn. Buffy scholar Nikki Stafford calls the surrealistic episode "unprecedented in television", saying it is "so jam-packed with information that we'll probably be seeing allusions to it for the rest of the series", and referring to it as a "mysterious lead-in to the emotionally turbulent season five".[1] "Restless" received high praise from critics upon airing, particularly for its character development, visual direction, and wit. It is frequently noted as one of the best episodes of the series.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Plot
3 Production and writing 3.1 Filming techniques
3.2 Cast
3.3 Music
4 Analysis 4.1 Foreshadowing
5 Reception
6 References
7 External links

Background[edit]
In the series, Buffy Summers is a teenager who, at the age of fifteen, was chosen by mystical forces to be the latest Slayer, a girl endowed with superhuman powers to fight and defeat vampires, demons, and other evil forces. After moving with her mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), to the fictional town of Sunnydale, she befriends Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon), who join her in the struggle against evil. They are guided by Buffy's "Watcher", Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who is well-versed in demonology and is responsible for Buffy's training as a Slayer. The group collectively refer to themselves as the Scooby Gang. During season two, Willow begins to experiment with magic, eventually becoming a formidable witch.
Each season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (often simplified as Buffy) presents an overall story arc which episodes tie into, as well as a specific manifestation of evil known as the Big Bad. As noted by Buffy scholar Roz Kaveney, episodes in the fourth season address authority, order, and the estrangement from the self and others as Buffy and her friends take on new roles after high school.[2] An ongoing theme in the series is Buffy's complex relationship to her destiny as the current Slayer and how she uniquely expresses this role, and this plot element is further explored in season four in general, and in the episode "Restless" in particular.
Season four begins with Buffy and Willow starting college, attending U.C. Sunnydale, while Xander works at a series of odd jobs and begins dating Anya Jenkins (Emma Caulfield), who lived for 1,100 years as a vengeance demon before losing her powers and getting stuck in the body of a teenager. In the fourth season, Willow becomes romantically involved with fellow-student Tara Maclay (Amber Benson), an experienced witch. The Big Bad in season four is the result of the work of a covert military force called "The Initiative" who are capturing and performing experiments on vampires and demons in Sunnydale. Buffy and her friends discover that chief amongst these experiments is the creation of a human-cyber-demonoid hybrid known as Adam (George Hertzberg), whose programming has gone terribly wrong, leading him to wreak havoc on the town. Buffy's challenge is to find a way to disempower him, something she and the Scoobies achieve in the penultimate episode of season four, "Primeval". In order to do this, the four magically join their essences together to create a single "super Slayer"; while the others perform a ritual, Buffy confronts and defeats Adam while mystically empowered with Giles' mind, Xander's heart, and Willow's spirit aiding her. The ritual employs four tarot-like cards: Manus (meaning hands) represents Buffy, Sophus (meaning teacher) represents Giles, Animus (meaning courage, or heart) represents Xander, and Spiritus (meaning spirit and magical power) represents Willow. These symbols will become relevant to the central motif in each of the episode's four dream sequences.
Plot[edit]
Following their victory over Adam, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles meet at Buffy's to relax with movies, including Apocalypse Now. They quickly fall asleep and are each confronted by the First Slayer in their dreams.
Willow's dream opens with Willow painting Sappho's love poem, Hymn to Aphrodite, in Greek onto Tara's back.[3][4] She then finds herself on the Sunnydale High school stage, about to perform in a radically changed Death of a Salesman. Willow realizes with increasing uneasiness that she knows neither her lines nor her role. Buffy then takes Willow to stand in front of a classroom in the same nerdy clothes she wore in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest" at the beginning of the series. Xander mocks her as she nervously begins to read her book report. Oz and Tara—Willow's ex-boyfriend and current girlfriend—flirt with each other while watching Willow recite. Suddenly, Willow is attacked and has the life sucked out of her by the First Slayer.
Xander's dream begins when he wakes on Buffy's couch. After excusing himself to use the restroom, he finds himself the object of an attempted seduction by Joyce. In the restroom, he starts to unzip, then realizes that the bathroom is attached to a large white room with many men in white coats ready to observe and take notes on his performance. He then meets Buffy, Giles, and Spike in a playground; Spike – unaffected by daylight – tells him that Giles is going to teach him to be a Watcher, as Buffy plays in a sandbox. Xander then finds himself in an ice cream truck with Anya; Willow and Tara (wearing skimpy clothing and garish make-up) are in the back, and invite him to join them. He goes back, only to end up in his basement. He goes to the university and comes across Giles, who starts revealing the reason for the dream, but suddenly switches to speaking in French. Xander next finds himself in a reenactment of the Apocalypse Now scene between a captive Captain Benjamin Willard and Colonel Walter Kurtz, with Principal Snyder as Kurtz. Throughout the sequence Xander finds himself in his basement again and again, chased by an unseen pursuer, who is revealed as the First Slayer when she tears his heart out.
Giles' dream begins with Giles swinging a watch in front of Buffy. They are in Giles' apartment, which has been stripped of furniture but for a chair and a bed. She laughs, and Giles' dream cuts to a family scene with Buffy and his girlfriend Olivia at a fairground. Quicker than the others to understand that something is wrong, he confronts Spike, who is posing for a photo-shoot in his crypt. In The Bronze, he meets Anya failing as a stand-up comic, and Willow and Xander (with a bloody chest wound), who warn him of their attacker. He breaks into song, giving suggestions on how to deal with what hunts them, but when the sound system breaks down, he crawls backstage to trace a wiring fault. He begins to realize his pursuer is the First Slayer, just as she scalps him.
In the final dream sequence, Buffy is woken by Anya in her dorm room. She then finds herself in her room at home, where Tara speaks cryptically about the future. At the university, Buffy talks to her mother, who lives in the walls, then meets Riley at the Initiative. He has been promoted to Surgeon General and is drawing up plans with Adam (now in ordinary human form) for world domination. The three of them are interrupted by a demon attack, and Riley and Adam start to make a pillow fort. When Buffy finds her weapons bag, the only thing in it is mud, which she smears on her face. She is then transported to the desert and finally confronts the pre-verbal First Slayer; Tara is present to speak for her. Through Tara the First Slayer tells Buffy that she cannot have friends and must work alone, which Buffy rejects. The Slayers fight in the desert and then in Buffy's living room next to her dying friends until Buffy realizes that she can stop the fight mentally by simply ignoring the First Slayer. She refuses to fight and walks away from the First Slayer; the First Slayer vanishes, and everybody wakes up.
After they wake up, the four of them then discuss the significance of having tapped into the power of the First Slayer, and Buffy privately recalls Tara's words from her dream as she looks into her bedroom.
Production and writing[edit]



The most important thing when I first started it was that the dreams be dreamlike... It's about combining the totally surreal with the totally mundane... It then became a question of basically writing poetry...basically free-associating. Obviously, things had to get worse at the end of each act—people had to be in peril because this thing was trying to kill them in their dreams. But beyond that, there really was no structure. So I was basically sitting down to write a forty-minute tone poem.
“
”
– Joss Whedon describing the writing process and the episode's structure.[5]
Previous seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer had ended with an action episode which tied up all the threads of the season's main plot line, but series creator Joss Whedon wanted to end season four differently. The penultimate episode, "Primeval", had concluded the Initiative storyline, but Whedon felt the season's overall story arc had not been as cohesive as it could have been, and therefore chose to create an episode to act as a "grace note" to the season, an episode which would comment on each of the four main characters and what they had just been through. While talking about the writing of the episode, Whedon said it had been like writing poetry, a process he found "liberating and strange". Like the earlier "Hush" — an episode with almost no dialogue — he viewed the episode as an exercise in form and writing, and what it means to write.[5] The episode has no real structure, which was a departure for Whedon, as everything he had written before was constructed before even starting the script. Yet despite its fragmented style, the episode unfolds coherently in four discrete acts, each act comprising one character's dream.[3]
Filming techniques[edit]



It's all—anything goes in a dream as long as it doesn't feel like a trick. You know, we dutch the camera occasionally, we use wide angles occasionally. But every dream sequence that I've seen, almost, looked like some sort of trick, and my intent was to make something that looked very naturalistic, but at the same time very avant-garde. And as long as you're true to the emotion of the piece, then it works. If it clashes with it, then it doesn't.
“
”
– Joss Whedon on the techniques used in the episode.[3]
Whedon used a variety of cinematographic techniques to achieve the dreamlike quality of "Restless". He used tracking shots with a Steadicam to follow the characters from place to place, creating a flow in the way of real dreams, where there are no logical connections between places and things. In Giles' dream, he walks from a carnival grounds into Spike's crypt, then through a corridor and straight into The Bronze, three locations not related to one another. Whedon was able to do this by simply having actor Anthony Stewart Head walk through the sets as they were built; this effortlessly created a sense of dreamlike dislocation. Another example of this occurs when, in Xander's dream, he walks from the front of the moving ice cream van towards the back, crawls up and over some boxes, through a window, and drops into his basement. In the theater scene during Willow's dream, a Frazier lens was used to provide a large depth of field, allowing both the foreground and background to be in focus at the same time, while in Xander's dream, as he moves from room to room in Buffy's house to the university dorm rooms, Whedon used a 17 mm lens to give a sense of motion as the camera passes by walls. Whedon also used unusual framing for shots, often leaving much of the frame empty, with a character being placed near the bottom or off to the side. The scenes in Spike's crypt, part of Giles' dream, were shot in black-and-white to emphasize that Spike is seen as "an old 30s movie villain".[3]

A woman with blonde hair sitting in a playground intensely looking at something.

 An example of overexposure in an exterior shot. In this scene Whedon also let the shots last longer than usual before cutting.
The outdoor scene in which Xander sees Buffy in the sandbox was intentionally overexposed, intensifying the foreground and blowing out the background, making the sky look white; flash frames were also used in the shot of Buffy in the desert. Whedon allowed some shots to last far longer than is common in a television episode; this cinematic technique allowed the images to take on meaning. Highly stylized lighting is used throughout Xander's dream. In the university hallway the scene is lit with green and orange gels, while the almost shot-for-shot re-creation of the Apocalypse Now section is lit with carefully controlled spotlights which allow the background to fall out to black. Whedon cites The Limey as an inspiration for the unnaturally colored university sequence, and had the scene from Apocalypse Now playing on tape during filming to ensure as close a match as possible for that sequence.[3] When Xander is driving the ice cream truck with Anya, the backgrounds outside the car intentionally look fake, to give a sense of stillness where there should be motion. Whedon originally wanted to use rear-screen projection for the driving scene, but had to utilize greenscreen instead, as rear-screen projection would be difficult to set up on their stages.[3] Some special effects shots came about by accident; in his commentary Whedon explains that when Buffy smeared the mud all over her face, it looked as though she was giving herself a facial. He therefore dissolved the shot into a negative image, creating intense colors that made the shot more interesting.[3]
Dynamic editing contributed to the surrealistic nature of the episode. Abrupt cuts from close-up to extreme wide angles and sudden shifts from normal speed to super slow-motion are used in Buffy's dream: several sequences become slow-motion partway through them, then revert to normal speed as they continue.[3] Xander's dream features mismatches between sound and image: characters are sometimes shown not speaking even as their voices are heard. Additionally, silence is used frequently, to both reflect the characters' disorientation and to unsettle the audience. Whedon cited films by Steven Soderbergh as his main inspirations for the odd editing, especially The Limey and The Underneath. He also listed Orson Welles' version of The Trial and Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut as inspirations for many of his shooting and editing decisions.[3]
Cast[edit]
Besides the main cast, the episode features several appearances by returning and currently recurring characters, mostly within the dream sequences.
Seth Green, who left the series earlier in the season, makes a brief appearance as Oz in Willow's dream.
Armin Shimerman, whose character Principal Snyder was killed off in the season three finale, appears as Kurtz in the Apocalypse Now scene.
Amber Benson appears as Tara in the dream sequences, as both Willow's girlfriend and a spirit guide to Buffy. Whedon commented on her appearances in Buffy's dream: "The idea that Tara would be her spirit guide made sense because she didn't have that particular relationship with Tara, and Tara has a kind of good Wiccan mystical energy."[3]
George Hertzberg appears as Adam, although in human form rather than in the demon/cyborg makeup he had appeared in throughout the season.
Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall is present during Willow's dream as both an ordinary classmate and a vampire.
Kristine Sutherland appears as Joyce Summers, Buffy's mother. Whedon enjoyed that she got "to play just completely sexy [in Xander's dream], because when you play the mom on a show you're sort of relegated to momhood, so it was nice to see that side of her."[3]
It was during the filming of this episode that Michelle Trachtenberg, who would go on to play Buffy's sister Dawn in season five, first visited the set. Sarah Michelle Gellar had worked with her previously and suggested to Joss Whedon that she read for the part of Dawn.[3]
Music[edit]
In Giles' dream, actor Anthony Stewart Head sings "The Exposition Song"; this was the third time he sang during the season.[6] The song was written by Joss Whedon, arranged by composer Christophe Beck, and performed by Four Star Mary. Beck appears in the scene playing the piano, while members of Four Star Mary play the other instruments.[3] Throughout the first four seasons of the series, Four Star Mary were the real band behind character Oz's fictional band, Dingoes Ate My Baby.[7]
Analysis[edit]

A man with brown hair in a dark red shirt talking into a microphone.

 Writer and director Joss Whedon provided an in-depth analysis of the dreams in his audio commentary for the episode.
Each dream acts as a character study, exploring the fears and future of the dreamer. Willow, Xander, and Giles are stalked by a shadowy figure, then killed within their dreams. The way in which each is killed is directly related to the role they had assumed when melding with Buffy in the previous episode—that role is indicated by the Tarot-like card used to symbolize the character's essence. Willow's card had been Spiritus, representing her magical powers; she is killed by having her spirit sucked out of her. Xander's card had been Animus, representing his heart; he is killed by having his heart ripped out. Giles had been represented by the card Sophus, a symbol of his intellect and role as teacher; he is killed by being scalped. Buffy's card, Manus, was representative of her physical strength. In her dream the stalker is revealed as the primitive, first slayer, who confronts her aggressively. The two fight, but the First Slayer is defeated when Buffy realizes a key difference between them: the First Slayer was alone and isolated, while Buffy is unique among Slayers in that she has friends and a life beyond slaying, factors which make her the greatest Slayer ever.[3][4]
In Willow's dream she struggles to find her place in the school theater production of Death of a Salesman, while her friends and classmates are apparently fully costumed, prepared, and ready to go on stage. Her confusion represents her lack of self-confidence, her fear that she still does not fit in or have a place in the world, unlike those around her, who are competent and know what is going on. She wears ordinary clothes, but the others repeatedly comment on the excellence of her "costume", a reference to her fear that her friends do not see what she has grown into, but rather what she was when younger: nerdy and awkward. This fear is confirmed when Buffy strips off her shirt and jeans, revealing the same unfashionable turtleneck and corduroy jumper she wore in episode one of the series, four years earlier, before her demon-fighting experiences and study of magic increased her confidence and competence. Willow stands anxiously at the front of the class, trying to read a paper, while her classmates express their boredom with listening to her and Oz whispers into Tara's ear, until she is attacked by the First Slayer and her breath is sucked out of her body.
Whedon stated that the maze of red curtains on the stage in Willow's dream are not a direct homage to Twin Peaks, as some have posited,[4][6] but rather represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara, and are a sexual metaphor as well.[3]
The main theme of Xander's dream is his sense of failure and of being left behind as his friends move ahead in life. His fear that he is stuck is reiterated throughout his dream by his inability to escape his basement bedroom in his parents' home. No matter where his dream takes him, he ends up back in the basement. As the only one of the Scoobies not in college, he feels anxiety about his ability to understand and keep up with ideas and conversations, a fear which is realized when he goes to the university, a place he already feels excluded from, and finds that he cannot understand what people say to him. Aware that he is being chased and is in danger, he asks Giles what is happening but cannot understand his answer, nor what Anya says to him, as they are both inexplicably speaking French. He exclaims, "I don't understand!"[3] During his dream both Buffy and Willow tell him, "I'm way ahead of you," and Giles tells him "the others have gone on ahead," underscoring his fear that this is really the case.[4]
Giles' dream presents a choice: either to remain a father figure and Watcher to Buffy, or to begin his own life, represented by the presence of his girlfriend Olivia, who pushes an empty baby stroller. During this part of his dream, Buffy is dressed as a child, with pigtails, and is unable to throw a ball straight without his help and instruction, an indication of his fear that she will be unable to do her job without his guidance. Later, Olivia is seen weeping, while the baby stroller has been overturned and abandoned, signifying elements of his unfulfilled life, such as marriage and children. Later, in The Bronze, he is explaining the reason they are all being stalked and attacked, performing his job as Watcher, but his singing this information represents his unfulfilled longing to be a musician, something he's been exploring privately throughout the season.[4]
The major theme of Buffy's dream is her fear of the personal cost of her life as a Slayer, the isolation and loneliness she is forced to endure. This theme of aloneness is reiterated by several shots in which she is alone in the frame, most notably the wide shot of her in the vast and empty desert. Another source of anxiety is her relationship with her current boyfriend, Riley, whom she finds plotting world domination with Adam in his original, human, form. She fears what Riley could turn into as a result of his alliance with the military. She also fears the destabilizing effect of this alliance on their relationship, and the destabilizing effect of this relationship on her life as the slayer. She is shown putting mud on her face, mimicking the mud mask of the primal, First Slayer. By the end of her encounter in the desert with the First Slayer, Buffy realizes that she does not have to be entirely alone, that it is her closeness to friends and family that makes her a great Slayer, and once she experiences this revelation, the efforts of the First Slayer to continue to engage her in battle become fruitless and increasingly comical. The dream finally ends in a mundane way, as Buffy refuses to accept a tragic climax and instead insists on normality in her life.[3][4]
All of the many elements in the dream sequences have meaning, with the exception of the Cheese Man. Whedon explains: "...the Cheese Man—meaningless. Why? Because I needed something in the show that was meaningless, because there is always something in the dream that doesn't make any sense at all. In this case it was the Cheese Man. He confounds everybody because of that, and people ascribe him meaning. This to me means that we're being successful, because this means they're not worried about everything else, which means they sort of did understand most other things."[3]
Foreshadowing[edit]
Although Whedon does not often foreshadow events, Buffy's dream includes several references to past and future episodes. In a dream sequence in the season three finale, Faith says "Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0"; foreshadowing Dawn's arrival two years later in season five.[8] This number appears (as 7:30) on a clock in Buffy's dream in "Restless". Buffy says, "It's so late." Tara replies, "Oh... that clock's completely wrong." A year has now passed, making the previous number of days to her arrival incorrect. When Buffy leaves the room, Tara tells her, "Be back before Dawn."[3][4] The character Dawn appears in the next episode. Tara's words to Buffy, "You think you know what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun." are repeated by Dracula to Buffy in the following episode ("Buffy vs. Dracula"). In Xander's dream, Giles and Spike swing together on a swing set, with Spike wearing a tweed jacket. Giles comments, "Spike's like a son to me." In "Tabula Rasa" (season six), when the characters lose their memories, Spike wears the same tweed jacket and believes Giles is his father.[3]
Reception[edit]
The episode received critical praise and is often included on lists of the best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 best Whedonverse episodes—including episodes from Buffy, as well as Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse—"Restless" placed at #20, where they called it "Visually lush and trippy," and said, "...it reestablished that this genre show was really and truly a deeply affecting character drama with a delightfully bent sense of humor."[9] At Syfy.co.uk, the episode was listed as the seventh best episode in their list of the top 10 Buffy episodes, saying "This surreal episode marks the show's turning point, as it moved from a very well-executed urban fantasy drama series to something more creative, more thoughtful, and more surprising than pretty much anything else on television."[10] In The Futon Critic's list of the 20 best episodes of 2000, the episode was placed at #1, with the author calling it an even more daring episode than "Hush", another acclaimed episode from the fourth season.[11]
At Slayage.com, the Online Journal of Buffy Studies, author Daniel Erenberg placed the episode as the second best of the series; stating that the episode "lends itself to infinite interpretations. No one watches it the same way. That's the mark of a true masterpiece."[12] When Noel Murray of The A.V. Club reviewed "Restless" in 2009, after beginning his first look at the series in 2008, he praised Joss Whedon's ability to represent what dreams are actually like.[13] The A.V. Club also included "Restless" as an "essential episode" of the series in their list of the best TV series of the 2000s, in which Buffy the Vampire Slayer placed at #25.[14] "Restless" was listed at #10 in The A.V. Club's list of "21 TV episodes that do dream sequences right", commenting, "This device allows for a lot of surreal images and moments of weird comedy" and that "there are also some striking, unsettling touches that have the indefinable power and strangeness of a real dream."[15] The episode was listed as #1 in Daily Kos' list of the top 10 episodes of the series,[16] and the episode was listed as the second best episode featuring dream sequences by USA Today.[17] In series creator Joss Whedon's own list of his favorite episodes, he includes "Restless", saying "Most people sort of shake their heads at it. It was different, but not pointless."[18]
In 2001, the episode received two nominations for the Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards, for Best Contemporary Makeup in a Series and Best Contemporary Hair Styling in a Series.[19]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Stafford, Nikki (December 1, 2007). Bite Me! The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ECW Press. pp. 244–246. ISBN 978-1-55022-807-6.
2.Jump up ^ Kaveney, Roz, ed. (March 18, 2004). Reading the Vampire Slayer: The New, Updated, Unofficial Guide to Buffy and Angel. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. pp. 13–24. ISBN 1-4175-2192-9.
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Whedon, Joss (writer and director) (June 10, 2003). Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season — "Restless" audio commentary (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Wilcox, Rhonda V. (December 2002). "T. S. Eliot Comes to Television: Buffy's "Restless"". Slayage: The Journal of The Whedon Studies Association 7. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Whedon, Joss (writer and director) (June 10, 2003). Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season — Season 4 Overview (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
6.^ Jump up to: a b "BBC - Cult - Buffy - Episode Guide - Restless". BBC. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
7.Jump up ^ Lavery, David; Wilcox, Rhonda V. "Four Star Mary". Slayage: The Journal of The Whedon Studies Association. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
8.Jump up ^ Whedon, Joss (series creator); Fury, David (writer) (December 9, 2003). Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fifth Season — Spotlight on Dawn (DVD). 20th Century Fox.. The two-year interval is very rough; though it is expressed as 730 days, only 441 days passed between the first broadcast of this dream scene at the end of season 3 and that of Dawn's introduction at the beginning of season 5.
9.Jump up ^ Bernardin, Marc; Vary, Adam B. (September 24, 2009). "25 Best Whedonverse Episodes". EW.com. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
10.Jump up ^ Thanigasapapathy, Nim. "Top 10 Buffy Episodes". Syfy.co.uk. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
11.Jump up ^ Sullivan, Brian Ford (January 4, 2001). "The 20 Best Episodes of 2000". The Futon Critic. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
12.Jump up ^ Erenberg, Daniel (February 20, 2003). "OPINION : Best of The Best". Slayage.com. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
13.Jump up ^ Murray, Noel (September 4, 2009). ""The Yoko Factor" etc.". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
14.Jump up ^ Bowman, Donna; Handlen, Zack; Modell, Josh; Murray, Noel; Pierce, Leonard; Rabin, Nathan; Tobias, Scott; VanDerWerff, Todd; Zulkey, Claire (November 12, 2009). "The best TV series of the '00s". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
15.Jump up ^ Adams, Erik; Cruickshank, Noah; Dyess-Nugent, Phil; Handlen, Zack; Harris, Will; Koski, Genevieve; Robinson, Tasha; Sava, Oliver; Semley, John (March 18, 2013). ""What a nightmare!": 21 TV episodes that do dream sequences right". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
16.Jump up ^ "The 10 Best Buffy The Vampire Episodes". Daily Kos. June 27, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
17.Jump up ^ Matheson, Whitney (March 27, 2006). "Attack of the TV dream sequences". USAToday.com. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
18.Jump up ^ Bianco, Robert (April 28, 2003). "Show's creator takes a stab at 10 favorite episodes". USAToday.com. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
19.Jump up ^ Francis, Rob (February 19, 2001). "News - 19th February". BBC. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Restless
"Restless" at the Internet Movie Database
"Restless" at TV.com
"Restless" at BuffyGuide.com


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Categories: 2000 television episodes
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 4) episodes
Dreams in fiction
Screenplays by Joss Whedon




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