Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season 4

The Freshman

1. This aired the same night as the series premiere of Angel (1999), Angel: City of... (1999). The two share a very brief crossover moment. Buffy answers the phone but doesn't hear anything. In Angel: City of... (1999), Angel calls Buffy but is unable to say anything, so he hangs up.
2. The original storyline for the character of Sunday was that she was a former Slayer turned vampire. Joss Whedon also mentioned his regret of killing her off so quickly as he admited she made for an interesting character. By the time he realized it, it was too late.
3. This is the first TV appearance of Pedro Pascal as Eddie.
4. Xander misquoting the line "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering" from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) was Joss Whedon's not-so-subtle criticism of the platitude.
5. When Buffy tells Xander about a troublesome vampire, he sarcastically asks, "Then where's the gang? Avengers Assemble! Let's get it going." Joss Whedon later went on to write, and direct The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
6. Buffy compares Giles to Playboy creator Hugh Hefner. A vampiric Hefner would later cameo in the comic book Angel; After the Fall, where he is killed by Spike, who then takes over the Playboy mansion and installs his own harem.
7. Buffy references Mr. Pointy, the stake left to her by late friend and fellow Slayer Kendra Young.
8. The photo of Buffy and her mom in the frame on Buffy's desk when she walks into her dorm room is the same photo from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ted (1997), in season two. Clearly a duplicate as the one from Ted was folded in half.
9. Among the things taken by Sunday and her gang, there's Buffy's Class Protector Award, given to her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999).
10. This marks the last time Mr. Gordo is on the T.V. show. It would later return in the comics (Wolves at the Gate, Part One). Normally in pink color, the stuffed pig is black and white.
11. Starting with this, the series was filmed in 16x9 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 4x3. DVD releases of the final four seasons have followed the same pattern, with European (Region 2) discs displaying in 16:9 widescreen format and North American (Region 1) discs not. Netflix has the widescreen versions of Seasons 4-7.
12. This is the first not to feature Sunnydale High School, which was blown up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999).
13. This line where Sunday is dissing Buffy's umbrella was cut due to length: "What better way to say, 'I am the very most of geek'."
14. Charisma Carpenter and David Boreanaz are no longer series regulars and have been removed from the opening credits. Angel's absence was explained at the end of season 3, but Cordelia's whereabouts will not be shown until Angel: City of... (1999). This is the first season premiere not to feature the two characters, and the first time in the series that an actor has been removed from the opening credits.
15. This marks the first appearances of Marc Blucas as Riley Finn, Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh, and the Initiative. Riley will be a recurring character at the beginning of the season but will be made a series regular from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doomed (2000) up until Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000). He will make one final guest appearance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: As You Were (2002). Maggie Walsh will act as a recurring character throughout the season. The Initiative will also contribute largely to the main story arc of Season Four.
16. The man in the Bronze who looked like Angel was actually played by David Boreanaz up until the point his face became visible.
17. Buffy says "Can't wait till mom gets the bill for these books. I hope it's a funny aneurysm," foreshadowing Joyce Summers' death from a brain aneurysm.
18. Xander sarcastically says "Once more, with even less feeling" to Buffy when she is talking about having started college. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001) is the similar to the musical Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001) in season 6.
19. Giles states to Buffy that she needed to start doing things on her own and not always going to him for help, since she was getting older and he wouldn't always be there. He would later fully reinforce this after he went off to London.

Living Conditions

1. When Buffy tells Giles she is 'still going ick' from the last time he tried to recapture his youth, it is a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Band Candy (1998), where the adults turn into teenagers and Giles has sex with Buffy's mother.
2. The Mok'Tagar demon heavily resembles the demon Toth, who will later appears in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Replacement (2000).
3. Giles mentions to Buffy that adjusting to a roommate can be hard for an only child. Of course, Buffy's status as an only child would change a year later with the introduction of Dawn. It will be shown in early Season Five that Buffy will be frequently irritated by the presence of Dawn.
4. The demon in this episode resembles the boo hag. A Boo Hag is a creature in the folklore of Gullah culture resembling an energy leech. They gain sustenance from a person's breath. They have no skin so they will steal a victim's skin and use it for as long as it holds out. Both elements were seen in the episode, stealing the soul by sucking breath and a fake skin covering the demon's body.

The Harsh Light of Day

1. Joss Whedon has mentioned in various interviews that Sarah Michelle 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 Sarah that when you "go to college, you do stupid things."
2. This set up a crossover with Angel episode Angel: In the Dark (1999), broadcast the same evening, in which Oz guest stars. Spike and Oz are the only characters to appear in both episodes.
3. The band repeatedly playing is "Bif Naked."
4. The victim chained to the wall is actually "Asian Joe", a recurring extra in the series who features in the background at Sunnydale High, notably in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Earshot (1999) when Buffy overhears him thinking about becoming a "software jillionaire". Harmony acknowledges this, saying she had a class with him a year previously. He also appears to be wearing a green shirt (like the military fatigues worn by Initiative agents), could indicate he is an Initiative agent or recruit. Supporting this is the fact Harmony says he tastes funny, which as revealed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Goodbye Iowa (2000) Initiative agents are given drugs which could alter the taste of their blood.
5. When Buffy is on the phone with Giles telling him about the Gem of Amara, on the side of the payphone "Cordy sucks" is part of the graffiti. This could be in reference to Cordelia, who left the show after season 3 to star in Angel (1999).
6. Buffy explains she was bitten by an "angry puppy"; Willow's vampire double also referred to Angel as "the puppy" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Wish (1998).
7. Scenes that were cut from the episode: An exchange between Willow and Buffy:Willow: "You know what else I love about college? How when the professor comes in, the class gets all quiet."Buffy: "Oh, I hate that. I'm always like, what? Did something scary come in? Do I have to kill it?"When they see Harmony again:Devon: "Man, that looked like Harmony. Weird. I saw her get bit at graduation. I didn't tell you?"Buffy tells Parker, she drowned:Parker: "Wow, I mean, you hear about stuff like that."Buffy: "Yeah, well, pool safety, important. Anyway..."Another reference to her drowning:Parker: "Buffy? When you... drowned, whoever brought you back? They're getting a big kiss from me."Buffy: "Xander will be so happy."Anya talks to Xander:Xander: "This is just, I'd say out of nowhere, but that doesn't really capture the amount of nowhere which it's out of."Buffy sees Spike again:Buffy: "I think you two should go."Spike: "But the fun's just starting: old friends, lots to drink..."Anya visits Xander:Xander: "So... you're my first guest at Casa del Xander - not the final name, still working on it."Buffy and Giles discuss Spike and Harmony's relationship:Buffy: "I mean, I thought Spike and Dru were a forever kind of deal, didn't you? Where's the commitment?"Giles: "I'm disillusioned. I shall never love again."Parker and Buffy discuss that everyone has a choice:Buffy: "It doesn't feel like it. To me, a lot of the time, it feels like stuff's just coming at me, you know, and I'm reacting as fast as I can, just trying to keep going. Just - just trying to be on my feet before the next thing hits."Parker: "That sounds exhausting."Buffy: "It really is."Buffy confronts Parker:Parker: "Okay, I'm a little confused now. I mean, I definitely got the idea you'd done it before. You were the one who was all over me. It was fun."When Buffy and Willow talk about sleeping with a guy and then he turns evil:Willow: "Well, from what I understand, pretty much. But it won't always be like that. You've just had some really bad luck."Buffy: "I don't know, Will. Bad luck just happens. I made this happen."Willow: "Well, why shouldn't you, if it's what you want? I mean, as long as it's safe. Oh, Buffy, it was safe, wasn't it?Buffy: "It was safe. It's not that. It's that the whole time, I kept thinking, hey, look at me with someone who isn't Angel. Look how much I'm not hung up with Angel anymore. Look how this is not all about Angel. God, how come I didn't see it?"
8. It's revealed Spike wasn't able to resume his relationship with Drusilla after his last appearance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998).
9. Parker notices Buffy's scar from being bitten by both the Master (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (1997)) and Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 1 (1999)).
10. While Anya tried to seduce Xander into having sex, he referred to her being blunt as "still more romantic than Faith," referring to when he slept with her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Zeppo (1999).
11. Buffy waking up in Parker's bedroom is reminiscent of when she woke up in Angel's room after they sleep together in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Surprise (1998). Both times, Buffy woke up alone, wrapped in red sheets. Buffy seemed to sense this and worried that Parker was gone, as happened with Angel, until he walked in with coffee. A similar circumstance would later occur with Riley in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The I in Team (2000).
12. This is a crossover with Angel episode Angel: In the Dark (1999), where Spike follows Oz to Los Angeles and tries to get the ring from Angel with the help of sadistic vampire Marcus. Angel gets the ring in the end, but destroys it as there is a risk of it falling into another vampire's hands and he feels having it will isolate him from the people he needs to save at night.
13. Buffy's reaction when she finds Parker after days of no contact is similar to her reaction when she confronts Angel (not knowing he's Angelus) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Innocence (1998). Both times, the men she slept with act flippant about their night together, leaving Buffy confused and even to blame herself.
14. When questioned by Parker if Spike was an ex-boyfriend of hers, Buffy laughed hysterically at the idea. Ironically, two years later, she entered a sexual relationship with him, eventually becoming a couple in Season Seven
15. Willow is bitten by Harmony, becoming the third Scoobie to be bitten by a vampire, after Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (1997)) and Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 1 (1998)).
16. Buffy comments that, as a vampire, Harmony "must be dying without a reflection". We see in Angel: Harm's Way (2004) how Harmony eventually copes without a reflection.
17. It's revealed Harmony was sired during the graduation day battle (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999)).

Fear Itself

1. The filming location was the same house used for the first and eighth seasons of American Horror Story (2011).
2. The title reference comes from the First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 4, 1933: "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear... is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror..."
3. The first time Anya mentions her phobia of bunnies, which will be a running gag for the rest of the series.
4. The second of three with a Halloween-theme. Giles reveals the reason why supernatural forces avoid going out on Halloween: "They find it all much too crass". A Halloween theme occurs every second season of Buffy, previously in season two with Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Halloween (1997) and later in season six with Buffy the Vampire Slayer: All the Way (2001).
5. With a Gachnar appearance in comic issue Fight or Flight, it's established that Gachnar isn't a single entity, but a demon species.
6. The "Old Book" referenced by the frat guys of Alpha Delta for drawing "The Seal of Gachnar" is a real book of occult reference, which can be seen used many other times in the show covering five seasons. While the book is full of genuine old occult drawings, the ones seen on the show such as The Seal of Gachnar are fictitious and were added into the book for use on the show.
7. Willow references the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Gingerbread (1999) when comparing the fact that both she and Joan of Arc were tied and set to be burned at the stake.
8. When Xander, Willow, and Oz notice that Buffy is very down because of Parker, Xander asks if anyone wants to "smack that guy", and they all raise their hands. Their wish comes true when Buffy (as a cavewoman) bashes him over the head (twice) with a club in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Beer Bad (1999), and when Riley punches him in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Initiative (1999).
9. This dialogue was cut due to length: Willow: "Oz!"Xander: "Will!" (she appears, moving down the hall.) "We've got trouble. There's something terribly wrong with Buffy. She can't even tell that I'm-"Willow: "Oz!" (Willow can't see Xander either, so he stops. Willow looks around.) "Oh, God... Okay, guiding spell. Okay. Yeah. I can do it." (She takes off. Xander turns back and knocks a pumpkin off a table in frustration.)
10. Joyce mentioned Buffy's father and her first serious Sunnydale boyfriend, Ted, whom she now knows was a robot. Joyce also remarks that she is no longer the "social butterfly" she used to be.
11. This is the seventh and final time there are no vampires. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Witch (1997), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Pack (1997), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I, Robot... You, Jane (1997), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Puppet Show (1997), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Inca Mummy Girl (1997) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Living Conditions (1999) are the first six). From now on, even when there are no evil vampires to fight, there will always be Spike (except in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001), in which Buffy fights an evil vampire though).
12. The Scoobies are forced once again to deal with their personal fears. Xander fears being abandoned by the others, and he is separated from them all inside the house. Willow is worried about losing control of her magic, and her spell backfires and attacks her. Oz is scared of letting his inner wolf take control, and he begins to transform with no warning. Buffy's fear is stated outright by the frat boy with the broken neck. She fears being alone and is isolated from her friends.
13. Oz expresses worry over Willow's frequent use of magic. Tara will later express the same concerns, which will become a running theme with Willow for the remainder of the series.
14. This marks Buffy's first contact with Initiative "commandos" (though she mistakes them for people in costume).
15. Riley begins appearing as a regular until Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000).

Beer Bad

1. While this is often called one of the worst by fans and critics, Joss Whedon has a different perspective: "It's interesting, every single episode contains an attempt to do something real, and contains at least one or two lines that crack me up, or one or two moments that genuinely shock me. I know there are ones that are not favorites among fans. And there are definitely ones where I scratch my head and go, "You know, this seemed a great idea on paper." But I never actually singled one out and went, "Here's a total failure." .... "Everyone always talks about the Frankenstein one, but I think it has some beautiful stuff in it. And I think the same thing about "Beer Bad," where Buffy goes all cave man. A lot of people groan at that one, but I think it has some lovely stuff in it."
2. Producer Douglas 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 now because "we didn't want her to find her strength immediately in this new setting."
3. Xander's fake ID is a mock-up of an Ohio driver's license, with a zip code (43226) located on the far north side of Columbus.
4. Kal Penn, who plays Buffy's drinking buddy, Hunt, also appears in Angel: That Vision Thing (2001) as the fez-adorned mystic Lilah Morgan hires to attack Cordelia Chase. He later co-starred as a recurring character with Alyson Hannigan in How I Met Your Mother (2005).
5. In an interview, Joss Whedon revealed doubts he and David Solomon had about the quality of the script: "The fourth season's Beer Bad wasn't everyone's cup of tea, especially with Buffy fans". Solomon had some doubts but it turned out to be better than he expected. "Joss wasn't entirely pleased with this story," he says. "He came into my office at the last minute with the script and said to me, 'I tried to make it better but all I did was make it funnier.' I took that to mean, 'We're not exactly sure what this is supposed to be about so just enjoy yourself.' So I actually had a ball doing it. It was a laugh to watch frat boys turn into cavemen and have Buffy affected by the same thing that was affecting them. We just let everyone go 'crazy' and nothing all bad came out of it."
6. 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. Funding was rejected 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."
7. The most striking feature is the twin moral: Beer and casual sex are bad for you. In a BBC interview, Douglas 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."
8. Willow proves again that she can't be sweet-talked, something first shown in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Pack (1997).
9. 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 1970s, he does not contradict the facts.
10. Oz's attraction to Veruca is built up further, setting the stage for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wild at Heart (1999).

Wild at Heart

1. While filming a scene where Oz and Veruca have supposedly just woken up from mating as werewolves, Seth Green talked about being naked except for a "man-thong". He stated that this was incredibly uncomfortable since Paige Moss had her boyfriend visiting the set.
2. During the scene where Oz is supposed to be turning into a werewolf, Joss Whedon wrote a special direction to Seth Green in the script. He told him to imagine he was "about to come onto acid".
3. In a BBC interview, writer Marti Noxon says she would have liked to have directed, 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."
4. Reveals the reason for the connection Oz was feeling with Veruca, as seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Living Conditions (1999) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Beer Bad (1999).
5. In 1985, Lindsay Crouse played Seth Green's mother in ABC Afterschool Specials: I Want to Go Home (1985). Here, Oz attacks and tries to kill Crouse's character, Professor Walsh; Green laughingly called this coincidence "the circle of life".
6. When Buffy & Giles are discussing how distressed Willow is, Giles points out that Buffy has felt like that herself. Buffy recalls how she ran away & went to hell to get through it. She is referring to the events of Season 2 finale Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998) when she ran away to LA after having to kill Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne (1998), when she went to a hell dimension while she was in LA.
7. Upon Willow discovering Oz and Veruca together, Oz says he remember "how it feels," in reference to the time he and Cordelia saw Willow and Xander kissing each other (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998)). Willow says she thought this was behind them, as they dealt with the betrayal and resumed their relationship in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Amends (1998).
8. Buffy is now interested in the commandos she keeps seeing. This is building the plot-line of the Initiative.
9. Giles lives at number 4616.
10. Scenes cut from the show: Willow and Buffy discuss Veruca:Willow: "And I don't want to be the kind of girl who freaks every time my boyfriend notices somebody else (and now cut) - even if she is throwing herself at him like a twenty dollar ho."Buffy: "Please. Ten dollar ho. Fifteen, max."Maggie is telling Buffy and Riley about the "dogs":Maggie: "I know how it sounds. But crazy is my specialty. And I definitely saw what I saw."Buffy discusses Maggie's "dogs" with Giles:Buffy: "Clearly we need to get you kicking some monster bootie, stat."Willow reacts to Veruca:Veruca: "Go ahead and cry - but you should have seen this coming. You can't tame a wild thing. He's not yours anymore. He's in you, he'd be thinking about me. No. Not thinking. It's deeper than that. Why don't you just try to relax now? In a minute or two, it'll all be over."Willow: "Love. It's a logic blocker."
11. This marks the last time Seth Green appears in the opening credits. Joss Whedon had originally envisioned the love triangle between Oz, Veruca and Willow to continue for most of Season Four. However, 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." Nevertheless, Green would only return twice, in (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Moon Rising (2000) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000) both in Season Four). 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."
12. Another hint that Willow might misuse magic, first seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998), which becomes a major plot point of season 6. She performs a very hurtful spell of revenge against Oz and Veruca but cancels it at the last moment. It also sees the rise of Willow's power, especially when she is emotionally affected, as the equipment she used for the spell levitated without her intent.
13. Unlike the Lycanthropus Exterus species of werewolf, Veruca remains in her wolf state after Oz killed her.
14. When Willow is asking Xander for advice on making love, he asks "wild monkey love or tender Sarah McLachlan love?" Sarah McLachlan's songs are used to end the season 2 season finale after Buffy kills Angel & leaves Sunnydale (Full of Grace) and the season 6 season finale when dark Willow is placated and Spike gets his soul back (Prayer of St Francis).
15. One of the few times, like Season 3's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Zeppo (1999) where Buffy is, for the most part, not the focus. It is Willows and Oz, as their relationship falling apart.
16. Willow almost gets run over by a late model (as of filming) Toyota Supra.

The Initiative

1. Joss Whedon was glad that James Marsters agreed to join the show full time because he felt that Charisma Carpenter having moved to Angel (1999), the show lacked a character who was openly rude to the other characters. He described it as "having that awkward neighbour that is like "Hi can I borrow a cup of sugar and insult you?""
2. First time Spike in the main credits instead of as a guest star.
3. Seth Green has been removed from the opening credits, with James Marsters promoted to the main cast and takes his place, a position he will maintain for the remainder of the series. This is also the first time in the series a cast change occurs mid-season.
4. 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."
5. The existence of a secret government/corporate organisation dealing with the bizarre/supernatural is a recurring theme in Joss Whedon's works and can be seen with Shield, The Organization in The Cabin in the Woods (2011), the Blue Sun Corporation in Firefly (2002), the Rossum Corporation in Dollhouse (2009) and the successors to The Company in Alien: Resurrection (1997).
6. When Spike scrolls through the student register on the computer, the student names include names of crew members working on the show: J.D. Peralta (producer Marti Noxon's assistant); Eric Parker (assistant chief lighting technician) Jeff Pruitt (long-time stunt coordinator and husband of Sarah Michelle Gellar's stunt double, Sophia Crawford), Victoria Ruskin (set designer); Cindy Rosenthal (costume supervisor); Lisa Rosenberg (hair stylist); David Solomon (one of the directors); Tim Speed (lighting console operator / rigging gaffer) and Leo Solis (special effects).
7. Willow reveals that Oz's real name is Daniel Osbourne.
8. At the first overview of The Initiative bunker, one of the Fish People from "Go Fish" (Season 2 Episode 20) can be seen on one of the stretchers.
9. Tom, Spike's cell neighbor at the Initiative, had been captured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Freshman (1999) after running away from Buffy when she was slaying Sunday's gang.
10. According to Douglas Petrie's commentary, Forrest and Graham were meant to be Shakespearean sidekicks, whose job was to tell the hero what his heart truly wants: "So it's Shakespeare with ray guns and shit".
11. In the DVD commentary, 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 her screams, he wanted viewers to believe that Willow had actually been killed.
12. The vast set for the Initiative, revealed for the first time, was filmed at Skunk Works, a complex where stealth bombers are built. When describing the set, writer Douglas Petrie said he was told by Joss Whedon to "go big. Use your imagination. Do it, go there. This is a big budget movie."
13. According to the DVD commentary, Graham Miller, one of Riley's friends, was named after a college friend of Douglas Petrie's. The original Graham Miller was Canadian, and while talking about Buffy with Riley, Graham references this by saying that "Maybe she's Canadian".
14. Spike's attempted feed on Willow is intentionally characteristic of a rape scene, while the next scene where he struggles to bite her due to his chip is obviously referencing erectile dysfunction.
15. Spike asks a fellow prisoner who their captives are, guessing if it's "the government", "the Nazis", "a cosmetics manufacturer" are involved; in Angel: Why We Fight (2004), it's revealed that Spike was captured by the Nazis during World War II and dealt with the Demon Research Initiative. Ironically, Spike declared at the event: "I'm not getting experimented on [the American] government," which is exactly what happens to him.
16. When discussing with Forrest over Buffy, Riley dryly remarked she didn't have good taste in men for sleeping with Parker. Ironically, Buffy's two other respective love interests said very similar statements about her love life: Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Goodbye Iowa (2000) and Angel in Angel: The Girl in Question (2004).
17. Spike remarks he is 126, making his birth date around 1873 and establishing him as a late Victorian.
18. Spike receives an inhibitor chip in his head, which will continue to be a major story point for years to come.
19. Scott Becker is credited as "Lost Freshman" although his scene was cut.
20. Scenes cut from the episode: This line was cut:Buffy: "Giles, I live in a dorm now. [and now cut] Filled with what the young people these days call 'the young people'."After Giles tells Xander to shut up, they would continue:Xander: "Just setting the mood, big guy."Giles: "I don't think I ever fully appreciated how Buffy deals with this every night."Xander: "Buffster's the champ. Way she deals with the boredom. The violence. And all without these tasty little cucumber sandwiches to keep her going..." [Xander reaches into a brown paper bag. Fishes about. Empty.] "Hey, who ate the last one?"Giles: "Still, it's nice to be able to make oneself useful. I dare say we'll see some action before the night is through."Xander: "Commandos'll never see us coming. We're shadows, we're the wind, unseen and un--Lost Freshman: [offscreen] "Excuse me? You guys know which way's Mather House?" [Pause. Giles points.] "Thanks."
21. The existence of the Initiative is established, with it being revealed that the group is led by Maggie Walsh and Riley is a high-ranking member.
22. Despite Seth Green departing from the show and therefore his name being removed from the credits, he still appears twice, once with a quick clip from Fear Itself and once in Alyson Hannigan's section.
23. Though in an odd way, it marks the beginning of the friendship between Willow and Spike. Further on, they seem to understand each other way better than other characters.
24. When Riley asks for Willow's advice on how to ask Buffy on a date, she tells him: "Okay, say that I help, and you start a conversation, and it goes great. You like Buffy, she likes you, you spend time together, feelings grow deeper. And one day without even realizing it, you find you're in love. Time stops, and it feels like the whole world is made for you two, and you two alone. Until the day one of you leaves and rips the still beating heart from the other who's now a broken hollow mockery of the human condition." All of this ends up happening and Riley is the one that leaves Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000).

Pangs

1. In an early draft of the script, Spike was invited into Giles's apartment by Buffy. However, the scene didn't make it to air and the invitation occurs between acts. This was a year before it was established in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000) that only an actual resident could invite a vampire into a domicile.
2. All of the female characters on the show (Willow, Anya, and Buffy) have sympathy for and empathize with Hus about the suffering he and his tribe have endured. All of the males (Giles, Xander, and Angel) simply wish to destroy him in true cowboy tradition, in part due to the traditional Wild West trope of protecting their womenfolk.
3. This is preceded by Angel: The Bachelor Party (1999), in which Doyle received a vision of Buffy in trouble. Later, Buffy follows Angel back to Los Angeles, as seen in Angel: I Will Remember You (1999).
4. The actual Chumash people was entrenched along the California Central Coast - including around modern Santa Barbara, a probable real-life counterpart to Sunnydale - and numbered as many as 20,000 people before contact with Europeans. The tribe survives today as the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash, which has U.S. recognition as a Native American tribe and controls a reservation and casino in Santa Ynez, California.
5. Anya acted as if she met Angel for the first time; they had, however, briefly met during the rite to send back Vamp Willow to the Wishverse in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999).
6. Willow asks Angel about Cordelia working for him, which she's been doing since Angel: Lonely Heart (1999). She probably knows about it due to Oz's visit at the Angel Investigations (Angel: In the Dark (1999)).
7. This is the first of only two times to feature Buffy's three primary love interests (Angel, Spike, and Riley). The other is Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000). While all three also appear in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fool for Love (2000) Angel/Angelus does not appear in person but only in Spike's flashbacks.
8. Anya meets Spike for the first time.
9. Anya later refers to Xander's mystical illness in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001), during the song "I'll Never Tell."
10. Xander now refers to Anya as his girlfriend. Riley and Buffy are establishing a relationship as well.
11. This exchange was cut due to length: Xander: "I didn't mean - you're an EX-vengeance demon. It's totally different."Anya: "Sure. It's okay."
12. This is the first time Angel sees Riley, seemingly suspicious of him talking to Buffy.
13. Angel says he had forgotten how bad it feels to watch over Buffy without being able to help her. It was revealed, he did so since she was called as a Slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 1 (1998)).
14. It is confirmed that Joe survived the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Harsh Light of Day (1999), as he's sitting in the stands at the opening ceremony.
15. Angel reminds Giles that watching over Buffy isn't his job either, since he was fired from the Watchers Council in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Helpless (1999).
16. Willow says "We're not at Fort Giles, with the cavalry coming to save us!" Four and a half minutes later, exactly that happens - the mounted troops (generally classified by armies as mounted bicycle infantry rather than cavalry, presumably because from a bureaucratic perspective they didn't require stabling and fodder) ride in to save the day.
17. Joyce is referred to as being out of town visiting Aunt Arlene and her family for Thanksgiving. This suggests that Arlene is Joyce's rather than Hank's sister.
18. This is the last time, Angel would appear in Giles' house, and the first time since Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Amends (1998).
19. Xander will refer to his affliction in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy vs. Dracula (2000).
20. This is the occurrence in either series in which Angel appears, but Cordelia does not.
21. Harmony threatens to kill Spike with a stake, reminding him that he had done the same to her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Harsh Light of Day (1999).
22. Angel and Giles suggest that the Chumash spirit, 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.
23. When Buffy, Willow and Anya are watching the ground-breaking for the new Cultural Center, Buffy is wearing a black cowboy hat. The cowboy hat suggests the later conflicts with the Indians (or, rather, Chumash natives).
24. When Buffy and Willow are discussing the buried mission, Willow comments how it makes you wonder what else is buried. In the season 6 finale, Dark Willow raises a satanic temple from underground on Kingman's bluff.

Something Blue

1. Buffy mentions having met with Angel for five minutes (from her point of view) in Angel: I Will Remember You (1999).
2. The dress shop in which Buffy admires the wedding dress is the same one in which Cordelia Chase worked in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999).
3. Both Buffy and Giles are unable to see how a member of the Scooby Gang, here Willow, is truly feeling. Spike is able to see it right away. This perceptiveness is later exploited by Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000).
4. This marks the first time Buffy and Spike kiss (albeit under the influence of magic).
5. This line from Buffy was cut: "So she did a good spell - but the plan kind of sucked. I mean, she's the one stuck eating pellets out of a plastic cup."
6. 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 Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Selfless (2002) in order to talk to D'Hoffryn about Anya.
7. Shows Spike to be left handed.
8. Despite the fact that it has been shown that vampires have no reflection, Spike can be seen many times in a mirror to the left of the door, visible just past Giles' shoulder and in the glass front of the bookshelf next to his chair.
9. The title refers to both Willow's grief, as there's something blue about her; and Buffy's engagement, as the tradition of a bride wearing something old, something borrowed, and something blue during her wedding.
10. Buffy and Spike's wedding plans were featured in the book "The Official Grimoire - A Magickal History of Sunnydale".
11. When seeing Willow drunk, Buffy references the time she herself became a cavewoman in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Beer Bad (1999).
12. Spike references the Zagat's Guide, a collection of ratings and reviews for restaurants and other establishments in various cities.
13. 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).
14. Alyson Hannigan would star in How I Met Your Mother: Something Blue (2007).
15. When Buffy and Xander see Willow dancing at the Bronze, Xander says "I believe that's the dance of a brave little toaster." After Willow comes out as a lesbian in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Moon Rising (2000), a group of Internet board posters sent Joss Whedon an engraved toaster, in reference to the "coming-out" in Ellen (1994).
16. This foreshadows many plot points in season 6: Willow indicates that she's a bad witch (near the end of season 6 she does in fact go bad); Willow says if she had any real power she could've made Oz stay (in season 6, she uses magic to make Tara stay with her); Willow says she can't make Amy a girl again (she manages this in season 6); Willow mentions that she couldn't finish the spell on Veruca, the person responsible for Oz leaving (in season 6 she kills Warren, the person who kills Tara); Buffy and Spike become romantically involved via Willow's spell (in Season 6 this happens for real); Willow mentions that Xander is a demon magnet (in season 6 Anya turns back into a vengeance demon and tries to inflict pain on Xander); Giles expresses strong concern for Willow and her magic (in season 6 they get into a very heated argument and then later fight due to Giles' concerns of Willow using magic).
17. At the end, as Willow is apologizing for her spell that wrongly affected the Scooby gang, Buffy says "We may be into a forgetting spell later". This foreshadows Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tabula Rasa (2001), in which, again, Willow's spell goes wrong and wipes everyone's memory.
18. When Spike is searching for the proper book to cure Giles' blindness, the first book he picks up bears the same Wicca symbol from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Gingerbread (1999).
19. Xander tells Willow that she will meet someone new. In, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999), Willow meets Tara, her eventual lover.

Hush

1. Joss Whedon claimed he wrote this as a challenge to himself. Critics had hailed him for his deft use of banter and witty wordplay, so he decided to see if he was a good enough writer to craft a script which was largely lacking any dialog at all.
2. The scene where Buffy objects to Giles' drawing of her with its wide hips was apparently improvised by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
3. Two of the Gentlemen, Doug Jones and Camden Toy, were able to sustain the creepy smile while on camera, without aids.
4. Alyson Hannigan was asked in a May 6, 2003, interview with Fred Topel, which was her favorite. She said: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999), the silent one, because it was so interesting to do. I had never done anything like that and it was just such an interesting process, having to really know where each moment was because you didn't have the benefit of words. It was so compelling."
5. This introduced Amber Benson, playing Tara Maclay, to the show. Although urban legend has it that Benson played an uncredited part in Season Three's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999), that is incorrect. This is her first appearance on the show. She was originally passed over for the part by Joss Whedon because she did not fit his mental image of what Tara should look and act like, but Marti Noxon convinced Whedon to give Benson another reading, and she so impressed him, he decided to retool the character to fit the actress.
6. The Gentlemen were featured as monsters in a maze in Universal Studios Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights in 2005 and 2008.
7. During Giles' presentation, he set it to Danse Macabre. This piece of music is used as the theme tune for the show Jonathan Creek (1997), in which Anthony Head played a magician. He then left the show to star in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). Often, in Jonathan Creek, crimes are solved where it seems the cause is magic or something spooky, but the main character is able to debunk that theory and show how it might be done using real methods.
8. The soft drink vending machine in the laundry room is the same that was used at Sunnydale High.
9. On the DVD commentary track, Joss Whedon says that they wanted to pack the "audience" during the dream sequence in which Buffy and Riley kiss for the first time, so they not only filled the seats with extras, they also corralled the staff from the production offices and that day's set visitors and had them fill the seats and sit in the aisles as well. One of these impromptu extras was the actor Andy Hallett, who would go on to play the regular character of Lorne in Angel (1999). Hallett happened to be visiting the set that day.
10. The Gentlemen were inspired by a nightmare Joss Whedon had as a child, specifically one in which he was in bed and approached by a floating monster.
11. The cast found the Gentlemen actors in make-up and costume to be terrifying in broad daylight, and Joss 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.
12. The actors actually deliver all of their lines as normal, and the dialogue was muted so that the lip reading early on was identifiable. With a high enough volume on a television set Alyson Hannigan can be heard to say the first part of her line "I've gone deaf." when she and Buffy are in the dorm.
13. 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". Joss Whedon considers the scene one of the "most romantic images we've put on film" in the course of the series.
14. Joss Whedon originally planned to produce Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001) in place of this episode. However, Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) had recently shown a musical episode so the idea was put on hold.
15. According to Camden Toy, the appearance of Gentlemen was so intimidating the rest of the cast would avoid them between takes. Only Marc Blucas would interact with them, whilst Amber Benson's mother actually asked them to keep away from her daughter. Benson stated that she felt bad because no one else would eat lunch with the actors playing the Gentlemen.
16. As Buffy and Willow are walking through town the morning after their voices are gone, they pass a group of people holding a sign saying "Revelation 15:1." That verse goes, "I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues--last, because with them God's wrath is completed."
17. The Gentlemen's floating effect was accomplished by suspending them from cranes with wires (digitally removed in post-production), or by pulling them on dollies.
18. The 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.
19. Douglas Petrie called the Gentlemen the "creepiest villains we've ever done".
20. Jane Espenson stated the episode "redefined what an episode of television could do".
21. Buffy and Riley were originally going to make love in this episode, but Joss Whedon realized it was too soon for them.
22. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon and Joss Whedon ranked this among their favourite episodes.
23. The silence began exactly 14 minutes and 3 seconds into the episode.
24. When Xander is accusing Spike of stealing his voice, Spike holds up two fingers as this is the British equivalent of giving the middle finger.
25. Nosferatu (1922), Pinhead from Hellraiser (1987), and Mr. Burns from The Simpsons (1989) all served as physical models for The Gentlemen. Elegantly Victorian in costume and demeanor, Joss 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, an era that Whedon considers "classically creepy".
26. Several scenes in this episode are filmed on the same street used in Desperate Housewives (2004). Many of the characters noticeable homes can be seen. The two shows would share many actors over the years.
27. 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.
28. The minute hand on the church clock tower, where the Gentlemen are found, is done in the shape of a cross, this means that whenever it's half something the minute hand show a cross of Saint Peter/upside down cross. Appropriate, considering Sunnydale lies on top of a Hellmouth.
29. As the voices are being stolen, it shows the apartment building made famous in Melrose Place. It's actually 4616 Greenwood Place (rather than actually being on Melrose Avenue). Sunnydale High School was also the school from Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) which had the same producers as Melrose Place.
30. This is the last episode to feature Marc Blucas as a guest star. From now on, he will appear as either a regular (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doomed (2000) until Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000)) or a Special Guest Star (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: As You Were (2002)).
31. This exchange was cut: Cheryl: Well, you missed last week. We did a healing chant for Chloe's ankle. She said the swelling went right down.Nicole: What's she doing on a mountain bike anyway?Cheryl: She was trying to impress Justin.Willow: I was actually talking more about real spells.
32. In this episode, viewers get their first glimpse of Giles' use of gore and graphic artistry. His works will make another appearance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: First Date (2003), when he frightens Chao-Ahn so badly she locks herself in the bathroom.
33. Joss 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.
34. On his DVD commentary for Angel: Conviction (2003), Joss Whedon acknowledges that although many people assumed he had invented the concept of a dialog-free episode for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999) , he had actually seen it done in other shows such as Space: Above and Beyond (1995), which he described as "powerful", and an "overlooked little piece of TV", and an episode of The Twilight Zone featuring Agnes Moorhead. He does not, however, cite either of those shows as "the inspiration" for this episode, as is sometimes claimed.
35. This episode features the first kiss between Buffy and Riley.
36. After Olivia finishes talking at 13:29, there's general murmuring until the voices go into the box, then no dialogue from the main characters for 27 minutes. During the first eight minutes of this there is dialogue from the elevator, newscaster, and computer, ending at 21:29. From 21:29 until 40:26 there is no dialogue at all.
37. This is the first time Riley and Buffy discover each other's secret nightlife of battling monsters.
38. This foreshadows Willow and Tara's relationship.
39. The first appearance of Tara Maclay. Tara becomes a major recurring character in Seasons Four, Five and Six of Buffy, finally being made a series regular in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Seeing Red (2002). Tara will have a huge effect on Willow's life, bringing Willow to the realization that she is gay, and the two enter a long-term relationship.

Doomed

1. The trophy that Catherine Madison is trapped in (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Witch (1997)) can be seen on the floor as the Scoobies walk through the halls.
2. Much of Anthony Head's dialog has been very noticeably re-dubbed in this episode. This is most noticeable in the scene where Buffy first asks Giles about the earthquake - the lip-sync is off and the audio is far too clean in comparison to Sarah Michelle Gellar's.
3. About the unusual process of three writers for one episode, Douglas Petrie has described: "I think in terms of the line-up, I probably would have written that one myself except I was getting married that week and as much as I love Buffy, I was glad I took that couple of days off! It was tough and it was funny because Jane [Espenson], Marti [Noxon] and Joss [Whedon] were all there for my wedding. Jane, at one point, was on the dance floor and said, 'Okay, I've got to go back...' We were writing it over a weekend. "Doomed" was very difficult. I was around for the breaking of the story and I'm happy about that. It was difficult, and it was hard. I think that we were really up against the wall. We didn't know what we were going to do and we didn't have much time. Things either go really, really well when that happens. You are blessed with some kind of inspiration, things click and they move fast because you don't have time. Wonderful things happen. Or... You work really hard and you do your best and hope. I think that was the case with "Doomed". It was a lot of hard work. Buffy and Riley are the King and Queen of their respective worlds and have their own methods of dealing with the enemy."
4. This dialogue was cut due to length: Xander: "Look at you! You have knees! Very white knees!"Spike: "Damn things keep doing that."Xander: "You know I'm not any happier about you wearing my stuff than you are."Spike: "That cannot be true. Don't know how you let yourself be seen in this... Wanker-wear."
5. Spike learns that his chip doesn't prevent him from hurting demons. This marks the beginning of Spike fighting evil alongside the Scoobies, albeit for different motives.
6. This is the first time the ruins of Sunnydale High are shown, after the school was destroyed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999). During the fight in the library, the book cage can be seen hanging above the demon in one frame. The floor has been blown away, cutting into the earth, making the base of the library lower than that of what it was during the first three seasons
7. Buffy explains the difference between herself and Riley is that he treats demon hunting as a job, while for Buffy, it is her destiny. This echoes Buffy's conversation with Kendra at the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: What's My Line?: Part 2 (1997), in which Buffy's role was reversed and Kendra lectured Buffy about not treating slaying like a job because it is who she is. In the two years since that conversation, Buffy's experience has forced her to more readily reconcile her identity with that of being the Slayer.
8. Buffy briefly alludes to Faith, but not by name, mentioning she is in a coma because she had "so much fun on the job". This could possibly foreshadow Faith's return to the series, four episodes later in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: This Year's Girl (2000).
9. Marc Blucas is added to the opening credits starting with this episode.
10. Xander is back working fast food in between construction jobs, this time delivering pizzas. Prior to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pangs (1999), it was mentioned he had worked at Hot Dog on a Stick.
11. The earthquake frightens Buffy, remembering that it was one of the portents in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (1997) announcing her first death.
12. In this episode, we also learn the Slayer myth appears in Medieval folklore, as a story demons tell to their young to scare them into behaving, similar to the boogeyman in human parlance.
13. Willow meets Percy, whom she had tutored in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999). He had not been seen since Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999).
14. Xander steps in something odd while walking in Sunnydale High, explaining it as "Mayor meat - extra crispy," referring to Richard Wilkins, who died in the explosion in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999).
15. Buffy flipped herself off the ground and accidentally tried to punch Riley, believing him to be a demon. Riley easily blocked the punch. This situation happened exactly the same between them in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000).

A New Man

1. This episode marks the only time Buffy's birthday is celebrated on the show in which the inevitable unfortunate event doesn't happen to her, although to someone close to her.
2. The crypt in which Giles encounters Ethan later becomes Spike's home for the next few seasons.
3. Crashed by Spike, this episode marks the last appearance of Giles' Citroën, to be replaced by a red BMW in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000).
4. Douglas Petrie has mentioned the creative process for this episode's metaphor: "Well, we felt that Giles was a little bit underserved at this point in the season and wanted to give him something to be doing. It's always fun to have Ethan Rayne back in the mix. Really, this is Giles' mid-life crisis episode. It was the first time that we got to deal with a metaphor that was that adult, not teen-orientated at all, and quite a bit of fun. [...] There were a couple of ideas kicked around. We were talking about a portal. We were talking about him becoming younger, him becoming older, him kind of recapturing his youth by becoming - I don't think seriously - but I know Jane Espenson was kicking around the idea of getting teenage actors to play teenage versions of Giles and Ethan and to have young Ethan try to seduce Buffy. That was an intriguing idea but ultimately we went with a pretty straight-on metaphor of his questioning himself in the middle of his life and he's turning into a monster."
5. Maggie Walsh questions Buffy how many "hostiles" she has killed; it's known she has killed more than a total of 100 demons and vampires.
6. A line of Spike wasn't aired in the final cut of episode. It's after he smashed into the building with Giles's car: "I can kill demons. I can crash cars... Things are looking up!"
7. From now on, Emma Caulfield Ford is credited with "as Anya" under her name, for the rest of the fourth season.
8. Buffy will eventually use Giles' transformation into a Fyarl to prove she's herself, recalling the event while in Faith's body in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Who Are You? (2000).
9. In a line cut from the script, Riley talks about his father: "My dad was out of work for a while back. He sells farm equipment. It was rough."
10. From this episode on, Tara will appear in every episode of the fourth season.
11. Banter at the restaurant that was cut: Waitress: "You're not Roger Moore".Ethan: "God's truth. Tell her, Ripper".Giles: "What? Oh. He's not Roger Moore".
12. Ethan warns Giles about the number 314, that is eventually revealed to be the room in which Adam has been built for the 314 Project.
13. It's revealed that Spike is able to understand Fyarl language.
14. This line from Buffy was cut from the script: "I'm so sorry about, you know, stabbing you in the heart."
15. Final appearance of Ethan Rayne in the TV series. (He does re-appear, and is killed, in graphic-novel season 8.)

The I in Team

1. The fact that Buffy immediately has sex after a tense fight with the Polgara demon seems to prove Faith's theory that slaying makes one "hungry and horny", as stated in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Faith, Hope & Trick (1998). However, Buffy didn't actually kill the demon but this notion does seem to have some substance since Faith did have sex with Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Zeppo (1999) after he saved her from a demon.
2. Professor Walsh sends the Initiative team after a demon she refers to as Polgara class. This is a reference to the character of the same name from The Belgariad and Malloreon book series written by David & Leigh Eddings.
3. About Maggie Walsh's departure and the reveal of this season's Big Bad, producer Douglas Petrie has said: "It's very much a Frankenstein story wherein someone creates a monster and then the monster is out of their control. That's what this was. We knew from the beginning that Maggie Walsh was going to be killed by her own creation. Then we got Lindsay Crouse, the great Lindsay Crouse. This is the episode where sadly she shines the most and this is her best episode. As often happens, just when things really start cooking, they've got to go. She's one of the bigger names that we've gotten on the show and we know that we had her for a limited time, so there was a practical consideration as well. It's very much in the vein of Frankenstein's monster and we felt it essential that the first thing the monster do is kill its creator - to hand over the baton as it were and give someone else the villain's mantle for season four."[2]
4. Buffy's line was cut from the script: "Slick trap you set for me. Sorry to disappoint you, but I killed your two pets. There's a couple of research grants down the drain. Oh, and about you trying to kill me? I'd say that's an issue you and I need to discuss. So get ready. I'll be paying you a visit. Real soon."
5. Buffy says about the pager Professor Walsh gives her, "I've been thinking about getting one of these"; she had one in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date (1997).
6. The scene in which Buffy wakes up in Riley's bed after sleeping with him is a parallel or contrast to the episodes in which Buffy sleeps with Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Innocence (1998)) and with Parker (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Harsh Light of Day (1999)). Each scene is similar in its portrayal of Buffy awakening, but this one is the only one in which Buffy wakes up and the man is still next to her; Buffy appears moderately surprised that this is the case.
7. An exchange in the elevator cut due to length: Riley: "That panel - say something into it."Buffy: "My mind's a blank."
8. 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. This will be first mentioned in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Moon Rising (2000).
9. Professor Walsh becomes one more of Buffy's teachers to be killed.
10. As promised, Giles pays Spike for his help in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A New Man (2000).
11. One of the arc 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 Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A New Man (2000) it was Giles who felt left out of Buffy's life and duties. This theme culminates in and is resolved by Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000).
12. This episode marks the first appearance of Adam, who will become the season's Big Bad.
13. The brand of energy bars, Boost Bars, is an actual bar in real life, though does not include the features Xander describes for the product seen in the episode.
14. The monster that Professor Walsh has in room 314 is called Adam. Though Walsh's Adam has a greater resemblance to the monster in "Frankenstein", the book by Mary Shelley (1818), it is also a reference to the Bible and God's first man Adam.
15. Willow recalls Ethan Rayne's warn about the number 314.
16. At the Bronze, Xander is wearing a shirt with the Captain America shield on it. Buffy creator, Joss Whedon, would go on to direct The Avengers (2012), and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), both of which feature Captain America as one of the main characters.
17. Riley mentions Taggart as a team leader, a surname previously used in Sunnydale High teacher Mrs. Taggart.

Goodbye Iowa

1. This episode marks the final appearance of Willy in the series, although dialogue in future episodes makes it clear that the character remains in Sunnydale.
2. The song playing on the jukebox in the bar scene is "Romeo Had Juliette" by Lou Reed (Lou Reed).
3. After Adam escapes the Initiative's base, he happens upon a small boy playing in the woods. The exchange is reminiscent of the dialog in the "Frankenstein" novel between Frankenstein's monster and a child after he escapes the professor's laboratory.
4. In the first few lines, Buffy says, "... it's raining monsters," and Xander says, "Hallelujah." This is a jokey reference to the song "It's Raining Men."
5. Buffy and Anya discuss Xander's experience as a military due to his memories from the Ritual of Janus, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Halloween (1997).
6. Spike attempts to cover his identity from Riley imitating an American accent and describing himself as a friend of Xander, as he had done in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doomed (2000).
7. This exchange was cut: Willow: "I bet you will."Buffy: "No. No bet. I will make it work."
8. As Anya and Giles argue with each other, Buffy asks them to stop re-enacting scenes from her parents' marriage, as they would often fight before their divorce.
9. Buffy and Adam face each other for the first time, having their final fight in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000).
10. Buffy complains about the lack of realism in a cartoon while they watch TV, like she'll complain again about an action movie in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Replacement (2000).
11. This episode takes place the day after the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The I in Team (2000), with the Polgara demon two days prior. As Riley mentions the demon as captured "last week", it may mean either that it was calculated through real airing time or that these events takes place in the beginning of the week.
12. Forrest tells Riley "I see a demon, it dies." This closely parallels Charles Gunn's initial attitude towards demons in Angel (1999).
13. After Giles complains about Xander's basement, Spike recalls himself staying there (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doomed (2000)).
14. The reason for Tara sabotaging the spell will not be made clear until Season 5's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Family (2000), where it is revealed that her father falsely told her she was part demon on her mother's side. Tara was afraid the spell would identify her to the Scoobies as a demon.

This Year's Girl

1. This line was cut, where Buffy explains what she would like to use to get into the Initiative: "Explosives, tear gas, grappling hooks."
2. In the original version of the scene in which Buffy and Faith meet again for the first time, Douglas 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."
3. In the audio commentary for the episode, writer Douglas Petrie revealed he almost titled this episode "Rise and Shine".
4. When Faith walks through downtown Sunnydale she admires knives on display in the storefront window of Meyer Sports and Tackle, the same shop she and Buffy broke into in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bad Girls (1999).
5. When Spike threatens to send Faith after the Scoobies, he says: 'Just because I can't do the damage myself doesn't stop me from aiming a loose cannon your way.' In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998), when Spike comes back to town, Mayor Wilkins also describes Spike as a 'loose cannon'. This underscores the connection between Spike and Faith that is only briefly alluded to in Season Four, before developed further in Season Seven. The show's creators had initially planned a 'Spike and Faith' spin-off which never came to fruition.
6. 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. Douglas Petrie felt as though the ordeal was worth it because the scene needed to feel homey and cozy.
7. The post-mortem video Faith receives from The Mayor is particularly telling 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.
8. The concept for the gadget Faith receives from the Mayor was based on gadgets designed by the American comic book artist Jack Kirby.
9. Joss Whedon reportedly planned plot lines months, or years in advance. In the opening dialogue between Faith and Buffy, Faith mentions that Buffy has to get ready for "little sis" to arrive, foreshadowing the arrival of the character of Dawn in Season 5.
10. This is the second episode that foreshadows the arrival of Buffy's sister, Dawn Summers. Both times, Faith was the one who mentioned her, the first time being in the Season 3 finale Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999), when Faith said "Little Miss Muffet, counting down to 7-3-0." This time was less cryptic, Faith actually says: "little sis coming".
11. Mid-fight, Faith mocks Buffy by saying her boyfriend Riley could use "a good roll in the sack", to which Buffy replies "Going for the boyfriend again? That's tired". This is a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Enemies (1999) where Faith attempted to seduce Angel. Faith will also sleep with Riley in the next episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Who Are You? (2000)

Who Are You?

1. The credits read "Eliza Dushku as Buffy", instead of "as Faith", reflecting the fact she is playing Buffy in Faith's body for the majority of the episode.
2. Faith (in Buffy's body) becomes the first person to recognize Willow and Tara's romantic relationship. This makes her the only character, apart from Spike, to recognize it without being told, Spike figures it out himself in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000). Willow will only tell Buffy about Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Moon Rising (2000), and Xander and Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000).
3. Eliza Dushku was filming both this and Bring It On (2000) back to back.
4. After Faith (in Buffy's body) finishes teasing Spike, he says to her "I get this chip out, you and me are gonna have a confrontation." Indeed, after his chip is removed by the Initiative, Spike and Faith actually do end up 'confronting' each other twice, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dirty Girls (2003) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Touched (2003).
5. Faith (in Buffy's body) comments on Xander's sexual performance, about which she gained firsthand experience in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Zeppo (1999).
6. Faith literally takes over Buffy's life, realizing an earlier sense of anxiety that Buffy experienced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Faith, Hope & Trick (1998) when Faith first arrives in Sunnydale. This theme is explored further in Season 7, particularly in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Empty Places (2003), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Touched (2003).
7. The church Boone and other vampires invade is the real Church of the Angels, in Pasadena.
8. Buffy's hairstyle changes after Faith inhabits her body from straight to loose curls (crimped), and Faith's hairstyle changes from loose curls (crimped) to straight, in which no other character notices, (especially joyce).
9. Buffy (in Faith's body) stakes the vampire Boone from behind when it is attacking Faith (in Buffy's body), revealing her standing there when it dusts. This scene echoes Faith staking Mr. Trick in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Consequences (1999).
10. Faith (in Buffy's body) states that "Faith's" arrest was "poetic justice". This references Faith and Buffy's confrontation in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 1 (1999), 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.
11. This episode marks the halfway point of the series.
12. When Faith flirts and teases with Spike in Buffy's body, Spike reveals some of the repressed lust he harbors for Buffy, foreshadowing his feelings for her he'll only notice in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of My Mind (2000).
13. While in Buffy's body and thus in the Scoobies' company, Faith vividly imagines killing Willow; in Angel: Sanctuary (2000), she has a similar fantasy of killing Angel. As Buffy, Faith acknowledges Willow's hatred of Faith, first expressed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Choices (1999), 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 reconcile with Faith after she experiences her own spiral during Season 6, which gives her the perspective of what Faith has gone through.
14. Buffy reminds Giles of his transformation into a Fyarl demon in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A New Man (2000); that he hasn't had a job since they blew up the school (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999)); and the occasion he had sex with Joyce, which Buffy found out in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Earshot (1999).
15. This line of Adam's was cut: "You are here to be my first. To let them know I'm coming. I am the end of all life, of all magic. I'm the war between man and demon, the war that no one can win. You're a part of that now. You have to show me you're ready."
16. Faith will apologize and finally come to terms with Riley eight years later, in the comic Lost and Found, Part Five.
17. When Willow and Tara are discussing what could have possessed Buffy, Willow mentions hyena possession, as Xander was victims of a Primal ritual in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Pack (1997).
18. When Faith-as-Buffy uses the credit card over the phone, she states that the expiration date is "5-01." Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001) (where Buffy sacrifices herself) was broadcast in May of 2001.
19. Faith ends up escaping to Los Angeles at the end, leading to events in the Angel: Five by Five (2000) on Angel (1999). Buffy will follow Faith to Los Angeles.

Superstar

1. Brad Kane, who played Tucker Wells in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999), provided the singing voice for Jonathan (played by Danny Strong).
2. One of Spike's lines were cut due to length: "You're a bleeding idiot, you are, Jonathan. 'Cuz you'll be the first victim and you'll be stone dead before you hit the ground. [proudly to himself] The worst kind of scum."
3. Julie Costello and Shawnie Costello, who play the Swedish twin sisters Ilsa and Inga, bedmates for Jonathan, are from Kentucky, and according to Jane Espenson, their Swedish accents were dubbed in.
4. In the alternate reality, it's Jonathan and not Buffy who is the arch-nemesis of Spike. Spike demonstrates a different interest for Buffy, foreshadowing his future attraction toward the Slayer.
5. When Jonathan is playing the trumpet in The Bronze, he is actually syncing the notes, fingering it as instructed by a family member.
6. The opening credits have been modified to center on Jonathan performing several heroic acts, such as defusing a bomb. The end of the sequence is a shot of Jonathan with a flowing cape, similar to the last shot of the opening sequence from Angel (1999), rather than the usual power shot of Buffy.
7. Anya was just getting to the part of Jonathan's book where he invents the Internet. This is a reference to the oft-repeated misquote from then-Presidential hopeful Al Gore.
8. The immediate prequel to this episode is Jane Espenson's comic "Jonathan: Codename: Comrades".
9. Anya's quote, "Vengeance wishes on ex-boyfriends. I'd wish he was a dog, or ugly, or in love with President McKinley or something," later turns out to be a reference to Leon Czolgosz.
10. The book about the talisman that Willow reads mentions "Le petit albert", an 18th century grimoire of natural and cabalistic magic.
11. While Jonathan is done with the "big gestures," he's found a new hobby in magic, which will play a huge role later.
12. Although it was not mentioned by name, this was the first instance of thaumogenesis.
13. This is the only Jonathan-centric episode.
14. On her DVD commentary, writer Jane Espenson said that just before the shooting started, actor Danny Strong was brought in for a full day of photo shoots (to create all the Jonathan-related props seen throughout the show, from a basketball poster to Xander's trading card collection, various advertisements, and a swimsuit calendar). Espenson said that Strong had not yet read the script or heard the premise, but the photo shoot made him think that it might require more of him than his usual background or secondary character participation in the show.
15. While the Scoobies are researching, Riley is asking questions about spells and magic. He asks, "can you really turn your enemies inside out?" This foreshadows the way Evil Willow kills Warren in season 6.
16. Jonathan revealed Adam's uranium power source as his weakness, which was later exploited by the Scooby Gang to defeat him.

Where the Wild Things Are

1. This was the last episode written by Tracey Forbes.
2. When Xander is driving the ice cream truck there is an advertisement in front of the driving wheel advertising giant insects. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Teacher's Pet (1997), Xander has a crush on and is almost killed by a woman who is actually a giant praying mantis. It is a running joke throughout the show that he is attracted to dangerous women.
3. This episode marks the first time in the series that Anthony Head displays his singing talents. Giles will sing on screen again in three more episodes: in his apartment in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000), during his dream sequence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000), and in the musical episode Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001). Prior to being cast in Buffy, Head had several roles in musical theater.
4. Roy, the boy who first touched the enchanted wall, was also one of the students who turned into a caveman in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Beer Bad (1999).
5. Forrest seems to have forgotten Maggie Walsh's advice from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999) about using the elevator in an emergency.
6. Spike enters the frat house without an invitation. Perfectly logical, being not just a college public institution, but even an army base. The rule, as established, is that vampires cannot enter without invitation just in private homes. As in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Initiative (1999), Spike can enter the public areas of dorms and frat houses, but would need permission to enter the individual dwellings.
7. Willow refers to having had a crush on Giles, and Tara and Anya seem to share it.
8. In the original script Willow added something after she talked about Martin Luther King: "But probably a lot less eloquent... And with the... Evil... So, different that Martin Luther King. Let's move on."
9. Anya and Spike first began to bond. This becomes important later when they found physical comfort in each other after being rejected by their lovers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Entropy (2002).
10. This episode may count as more evidence of Faith's theory that slaying makes people "hungry and horny", which she stated in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Faith, Hope & Trick (1998). This is shown at the very start were Buffy and Riley immediately have sex after killing a demon and a vampire. There is a similar occurrence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The I in Team (2000).
11. Willow expresses a fear of horses in the episode but seems to have overcome it by the end of season 5.
12. This episode's title has a double meaning, referring both to the episode's main setting (a house that is haunted by ghosts, the titular "wild things") and the phrase "doing the wild thing", a metaphor for sex.
13. Ironically, Kathryn Joosten, who plays Genevive Holt, the old lady who abused the children under her care and thus led to their spirits haunting the house, began her first career as a psychiatric nurse practitioner caring for disturbed teenagers.

New Moon Rising

1. It should be noted that this is the final appearance of Seth Green as Oz in the real world. The character does appear in the season finale Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000), but it is in Willow's dream sequence.
2. This is Seth Green's first time in Season 4 as a Guest Star. Due to him leaving earlier in Season 4, which is why he's not appearing as a main Cast member in the Intro. He just returned for this and in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000).
3. A scene between Jape and Adam was cut from this episode. Nevertheless they remained credited. The scene in question reveals that the demons shown in the episode were unleashed by Adam as a test against the Initiative soldiers. Though deadly, Adam believes they are "not enough" for his plans.
4. Willow and Tara discuss getting a cat together, and Tara suggests the name Miss Kitty Fantastico. The cat will first appear in the next episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000).
5. Rob Benedict, credited as Robert Patrick Benedict, is the vampire Jape. Much later he will play Chuck on the TV show Supernatural (2005).
6. When Buffy is in Riley's room, she is wearing the same thing that Faith (in Buffy's body) wore at his place in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Who Are You? (2000).
7. Willow finally reveals to someone, namely Buffy, that she is dating Tara. She will tell Xander and Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000).
8. Oz mentions his time in Tibet, which he will tell the Scoobies in more detail in the comic Retreat, Part Two.
9. Riley leaves the Initiative, and will return to his military service only in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000).
10. Buffy explains to Riley about Willow and Oz's sudden break up and his departure in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wild at Heart (1999).
11. After this, in which Willow comes out and chooses to stay with Tara, aired, a group of internet board posters sent show creator Joss Whedon an engraved toaster to thank him for the story-line. This was a reference to the "coming-out" show of Ellen (1994), (a show on which longtime Buffy writer Jane Espenson had also worked) in which there had been a running joke about the LGBT movement awarding every newly out person a toaster for "joining."
12. Buffy and the Scoobies are attempting to free Oz from the bowels of the Initiative. Buffy is holding a crossbow to the commanding officer's head and says " Stay back or I'll pull a William Burroughs on your leader here".This is a reference to author William S. Burroughs who in 1951 shot his wife Joan Vollmer in the head in a drunken attempt to recreate the famed act of William Tell. Tell, as legend says, was an excellent marksman and split an apple in half that was sitting on top of his son's head with a crossbow.
13. The New York Daily news referred to this as a landmark in TV history because of the implied kiss between Willow and Tara at the end.
14. Spike joins up with Adam, an alliance that will endure until Adam's impending defeat in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000).

The Yoko Factor

1. Angel's visit to Sunnydale follows directly from the events of Angel: Sanctuary (2000).
2. Spike knows exactly what to say to each member of the Scooby Gang to break them up, foreshadowing each character's personal insecurities that would be explored in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000).
3. The title refers to Yoko Ono, blamed by many for The Beatles' break up. Spike acts as the "Yoko factor", sowing dissension within the Scooby Gang. Also, when Spike asks Adam if he has ever listened to the Beatles and Adam answers that he likes Helter Skelter. Spike remarks that he is not surprised, which is probably a reference to Charles Manson and his murders (Manson believed that the Beatles had hidden messages directed at him, and named his killing spree Helter Skelter)
4. Whereas Anthony Head does not actually play guitar for Behind Blue Eyes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Where the Wild Things Are (2000) (music supervisor John King did), this time he both sings and plays Free Bird.
5. During the scene where Anya and Tara are hiding in the bathroom, the voices arguing in the background is actually the argument in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pangs (1999), where Willow and Giles are arguing about what to do regarding the indigenous vengeance spirit.
6. Spike opines that what makes Buffy such a successful Slayer is her friends and family supporting her, a premise that will be revisited in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fool for Love (2000).
7. When the argument begins, Anya and Tara retreat to the bathroom together, one of several occasions where the two comparative newcomers to the Scooby Gang pair up apart from the core four of Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles.
8. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fear Itself (1999), Gachnar mentions to Buffy that her friends will abandon her. After Buffy, Xander and Willow argue with each other, Xander and Willow abandon Buffy and Buffy goes off to fight Adam alone.
9. This line from Spike was cut for length: "Now that you've turned Super Wicca and you're damn near Amish. All candles and hand-ground herbs..."
10. Willow refers to Tara as her girlfriend for the first time.

Primeval

1. One of the pieces of "high tech laboratory equipment" in The Initiative's hideout is a DJ mixer, which can be seen when Spike is slammed into by Forrest.
2. According to writer, David Fury, and director, James A. Contner, on the DVD commentary, it was a mistake that Buffy was separated from her friends in the previous show with Buffy needing the encrypted disc information from Willow. Thus, the error was corrected by having it be a flaw in Spike's plan and subsequently having him push Buffy back towards her friends early .
3. After the spell takes effect and Buffy becomes one with Willow, Xander and Giles, Buffy's voice changes. The effect was achieved by combining the 4 actor's voices.
4. The line "See what you get for taking French instead of Sumerian?" was changed from "See what you get for taking Spanish..." after Nicholas Brendon remembered established continuity.
5. The DVD commentary states that the "super-Buffy" was inspired by the comic book heroine Promethea.
6. The invocation of the First Slayer has serious consequences in the next episode and in subsequent seasons.
7. When rappelling down the elevator shaft, Buffy and Willow hug and start to fall. Willow says "Falling now" with the same inflection as Dark Willow and Vamp Willow saying "Bored Now."
8. In this exchange cut due to length Willow and Tara discuss Willow's computer hacking skills: Willow: "I'm scaring you now, huh?"Tara: "A little. In a good way. It's like a different kind of magic"
9. Riley will receive a scar after removing the Behavior Modifier which can be seen in the fifth season.
10. At the very end, the Army adviser tells the council "burn down the Initiative and salt the Earth". This a reference to the Siege of Alesia (52 BC), in which a Julius Caesar obliterated a city that resisted to the power of Rome. Caesar thus burnt it down and then spread salt on the soil, making sure nothing would grow there, ever.
11. When the Scoobies are discussing their strategy, Buffy says, "According to Riley, Adam's power source comes from a uranium core embedded somewhere inside his chest." Amusingly, however, Riley must have merely passed on information that actually came from Jonathan in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Superstar (2000) when he cast a spell to make himself a superhero and was an advisor to the Army.
12. The events are reminiscent of another project by Joss Whedon. The Cabin in the Woods (2011) a film written by Joss, has all the creatures kept in glass cages let out in a government facility.
13. The Buffy-composite displays magic abilities that surpass Willow's but also foreshadows the power Willow has inside of her.
14. Despite Mr. Ward's orders, The Initiative was not in fact "filled in with concrete" as Buffy discovers in the Season Seven [ episode Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Killer in Me (2003) when she takes Spike there to get his chip removed.
15. Adam, this season's "Big Bad", is defeated and killed in this episode. In a variation unique to Season Four, the Big Bad is defeated in the penultimate episode rather than the season finale.

Restless

1. The text being written on the Tara's back is a love poem by Sappho of Lesbos, the Greek lyric poet and archetype for homosexual love. The word "lesbian" is derived of her birthplace.
2. Final appearance of Principal Snyder. He quotes Apocalypse Now (1979) as he did before in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Gingerbread (1999) and Xander finally tells him what he thinks of him as he promised to do in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Halloween (1997).
3. Music department's Christophe Beck can be seen at the piano while Giles sings on stage at the Bronze.
4. In Xander's dream, he finally comes to terms with his relationship to Buffy: she refers to him as "big brother," a term that distinctively surprises him, culminating in the final dissipation of his romantic feelings towards her. Buffy is the only one of the Scooby-girls (Joyce included) he does not think of in a sexual way.
5. It was rumored this episode was to guest star many past recurring characters. Willow's classroom dream was to feature Larry, Cordelia and Amy. Jenny was to be pushing the baby carriage instead of Olivia, followed by having Olivia crying in Spike's crypt. Faith was going to appear in Buffy's bedroom telling her to "be back before Dawn," while Angel was to have appeared in the desert as the voice of the First Slayer. Unfortunately Joss Whedon was only able to recruit Seth Green, Mercedes McNab and Armin Shimerman to return for this episode.
6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000) is the only time in the season with no 'teaser'. Once the "Previously on..." part is done, it jumps to the show's credits right away.
7. Willow taking a drama class was established in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000). Her stage fright was previously explored in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Puppet Show (1997) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Nightmares (1997). The staging of the play here also echoes elements from the talent show in "The Puppet Show", most notably Giles as the director giving a speech to rally the performers.
8. Joss Whedon stated that this was used to connect the 4 characters (Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles) and study their characters. It sums up what they have been through, what they have become and what they will face in the future. It highlights how they all need each other despite the fragmented season they have just been through. Buffy is forced to question what she is and where she came from, which sets up some of the events of season 5.
9. All of the many elements in the dream sequences have meaning, with the exception of the Cheese Man. Joss 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."
10. Buffy mentions how she and Faith had just made the bed, a reference to their shared dream in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: This Year's Girl (2000). Tara asks, "For who?" Buffy: "I thought you were here to tell me?" She looks at the clock made by Sony, which has the "o" and "y" blacked out, the time is 7:30 AM. So the clock reads from top to bottom, S_N AM, the morning sun is called the dawn. This is immediately repeated when Tara hands her the Manus card from the previous episode upside-down, so it reads from left to right "SUNAM" or SUN AM.
11. The translation of the French segment: Giles: (in French) "... the house where we're all sleeping. All your friends are there having a wonderful time and getting on with their lives. The creature can't hurt you there."Xander: (in English) "What? Go where? I don't understand."Giles: (in French) "Oh for God's sake, this is no time for your idiotic games!"Anya: (in French) "Xander! You have to come with us now! Everybody's waiting for you!"Giles: (in French) "That's what I've been trying to tell him."Xander: (in English) "Honey, I don't... I can't hear you..."Anya: (in French) "It's not important. I'll take you there."Xander: (in English) "Well, wait. Where are we going?"
12. According to Armin Shimerman, he had never actually seen Marlon Brando's performance in Apocalypse Now and watched it specifically to prepare for this episode.
13. The Scooby Gang's dreams are shown in the same order that they took part in the spell in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000). Each is killed by the First Slayer in a manner reflecting their contribution to the enjoining spell: Willow as spirit (her life force drained), Xander as heart (the organ taken), Giles as mind (a cut on the head), and Buffy as hand (fought, but not defeated).
14. This episode marks the first appearance of Sineya, the first Slayer.
15. Angel and Cordelia were supposed to appear, but were written out when scheduling conflicted with Angel (1999). Initially, Angel was written as the dream guide for the gang (a role which was eventually given to Tara) and Cordelia was one of the students insulting Willow in the classroom. As a result, this is the first season finale in which they do not appear.
16. Some of the bizarre transitions in location, where characters suddenly step from one familiar setting to another, reflect the actual layout of the Buffy studio lot, where the Magic Box, the Bronze, UC Sunnydale lecture hall, Sunnydale High School hallways and other locations are all housed in a large converted warehouse.
17. During Willow's dream Buffy rips off her "costume" and she is wearing the same dress she wore in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Welcome to the Hellmouth (1997).
18. 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".
19. The French voice over for Giles during Xander's dream was done by Diego Gutierrez, an assistant of Joss Whedon.
20. Some special effects shots came about by accident; in his commentary Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000) 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.
21. Previous seasons had ended with an action episode which tied up all the threads of the season's main plot line, but Joss Whedon wanted to end season four differently. The penultimate episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000), 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.
22. Joss 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.
23. 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. 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. Joss Whedon cited films by Steven Soderbergh as his main inspirations for the odd editing, especially The Limey (1999) and The Underneath (1995). He also listed The Trial (1962) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999) as inspirations for many of his shooting and editing decisions.
24. The glass-lidded coffin which is seen briefly makes an appearance in Have Gun - Will Travel: One, Two, Three (1962) on Have Gun - Will Travel (1957).
25. The band playing in stage in Giles' dream sequence (with Christophe Beck on piano) is none other than Four Star Mary, the band behind Dingoes Ate My Baby's music (Oz's band).
26. Joss Whedon stated that the maze of red curtains on the stage in Willow's dream are not a direct homage to Twin Peaks (1990), as some have posited, but rather represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara, and are a sexual metaphor as well.
27. Joss Whedon used a variety of cinematographic techniques to achieve the dreamlike quality. 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 Anthony 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.
28. Joyce and Riley finally meet for the first time.
29. 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. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000) 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.
30. Dream Riley's use of the term killer in reference to Buffy hearkens back to "Bad Girls", in which Buffy tells Faith that "Being a Slayer is not the same as being a killer." This motif was used again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: This Year's Girl (2000) when Faith in Buffy's body says "I am not a killer! I am the Slayer!"
31. 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.
32. Willow tells Tara that she has "others' homework to do". It's a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999), where she was supposed to help Percy West with his homework and uttered the very same sentence.
33. This is not the first time Armin Shimerman has done an impersonation of Marlon Brando (as Colonel Kurtz)]. He had previously imitated Brando as Don Vito Corleone in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Nagus (1993).
34. The episode has no real structure, which was a departure for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000), 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.
35. While talking about the writing of the episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000) said it had been like writing poetry, a process he found "liberating and strange". Like the earlier Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999) - an episode with almost no dialogue - he viewed the episode as an exercise in form and writing, and what it means to write.
36. The desert in Buffy's dream is the same desert that appears in Firefly: War Stories (2002), also created by Joss Whedon.
37. Anya is the only character other than the Cheese Man and the First Slayer to appear in all four dreams; Tara appears in three dreams - Willow's, Xander's, and Buffy's; several other characters only appear in two dreams: Joyce appears in Buffy and Xander's; Riley appears only in the women's dreams and Spike in the men's. While Xander, Willow and Giles dreams all contain the other three dreamers, Buffy's dream contains none of them (other than a quick shot of the four in the living room still sleeping).
38. 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 (1979) section is lit with carefully controlled spotlights which allow the background to fall out to black. Joss Whedon cites The Underneath (1995) 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.
39. This is the first of only two episodes where the title-sequence is at the very beginning, the other being Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001).
40. The sideshow vampire is "Drac"; the actual Dracula appears in the following episode.
41. A line of Buffy's was cut: "I think they might be in trouble-danger."
42. According to Armin Shimerman, he had never actually seen Marlon Brando's performance in Apocalypse Now (1979) and watched it specifically to prepare for this episode.
43. There's another subtle plot clue to the arrival of Dawn in Season 5. In the Buffy dream sequence, Tara and Buffy are talking about the bed that Buffy and Faith made. As Buffy leaves, Tara says, "Be back before dawn." And then, at the end, Buffy stops to look in to Dawn's room at the now unmade bed.
44. The Scooby Gang's dreams are shown in the same order that they took part in the spell in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000). Each is killed by the First Slayer in a manner reflecting their contribution to the spell (Willow - spirit, Xander - heart, Giles - mind, Buffy - hand/strength).
45. In Buffy's dream, when "Adam" tells her that the two of them come by aggression differently than humans, she exclaims that "we're not demons," presumably referring to herself and her fellow Slayers, to which "Adam" responds with "is that a fact?" This foreshadows the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Get It Done (2003), in which Buffy discovers that the First Slayer was created with the essence of a pure demon.
46. This is the last appearance of Seth Green as Oz. Even though he left earlier in Season 4, he came back twice as a guest star. He was only mentioned twice by Xander here and there in little moments, throughout seasons five and seven. However, Oz does return in the canonical comic book continuation.
47. The suit Spike is wearing in Xander's dream is worn by him again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tabula Rasa (2001). Giles remarks during the dream that "Spike is like a son to him". In "Tabula Rasa", Spike and Giles assume they are father and son. This part of the dream also makes reference to a shark on land, which foreshadows the loan shark demon from "Tabula Rasa."
48. Xander's dream foreshadows a gag in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tabula Rasa (2001). Spike says that Giles told him Spike is like a son to him.
49. Tara telling Willow in her dream "You don't know everything about me." is a hint to the family secret that will be revealed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Family (2000).
50. The leather bag from which Buffy draws the mud she smears on her face will finally appear in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Get It Done (2003) This bag was a Slayer keepsake and contained the Slayer emergency kit.
51. In Giles' dream, there's a moment that seems to foreshadow the sixth season musical episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001) when Giles bursts into song, and climbs on stage and tells Xander and Willow, in song, what they need to do.
52. Dream Riley's use of the term Killer as a nickname for Buffy hearkens back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bad Girls (1999), in which Buffy tells Faith that "Being a Slayer is not the same as being a killer." This motif was used again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: This Year's Girl (2000) when Faith, in Buffy's body, says "I am not a killer!!! I am the Slayer!" Though the words technically mean the same thing, the show is placing a distinction in their context, with Killer referring to murder and Slayer referring to a justified act, in this case Buffy's role as a warrior against the forces of evil. Its use here reflects Riley's role in the Initiative, a group that exists outside the realm of the supernatural yet interferes in that world. Shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Moon Rising (2000) established Riley's black-and-white views toward demons, for which he was admonished by Buffy, who tells him not all demons are evil. By using the term Killer instead of Slayer here, dream Riley reflects this inability to grasp the shades of gray of the demon world while subtly placing Buffy into it (she responds "we're not demons.") This dichotomy reflects Buffy's concerns that, despite his efforts to change, Riley remains an outsider to the world and destiny into which Buffy was born, and will never truly understand her, which we shall see eventually leads to the end of their relationship.
53. The desert in which Buffy confronts the First Slayer will turn out to be a real location. This is where Buffy will undergo the Vision Quest in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Intervention (2001).
54. In Buffy's dream, Joyce is apparently insane and living in the walls. This is a foreshadowing of the mental issues associated with her brain tumor in season 5.
55. In Xander's dream, Anya says how she's been thinking of getting back into vengeance. In season 6 when Xander leaves Anya at the altar, she becomes a vengeance demon again.
56. Spike, in Giles dream when ushering him over to his crypt to see his show, foreshadows Giles absence during Tara's death in Season 6 and Willow's descent into Dark Willow, Spike calling over to Giles you're going to miss it. Giles also happens to be wearing during this segment of his dream the trench coat he dons when confronting Dark Willow in the final three shows of Season 6.
57. In Buffy's dream, Riley says, "Okay Killer, if that's how you want it." He then walks away, foreshadowing his departure towards the middle of next season.
58. Giles is the first and only one to figure out who wants to kill them in their dreams without being helped by anyone. Willow and Xander didn't figure it out before dying in their dreams and Buffy was helped by Tara. She then gets an explanation directly from the First Slayer.
59. Buffy mentions how late it is, after looking at the clock in the room (which says 7:30). Tara replies "Oh, that clock's completely wrong." This is a foreshadowing of her death in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001), and a reminder of Buffy's dream in the season 3 finale, where Faith says "counting down from 7-3-0" (as it was approximately 730 days later that Buffy would die). Tara saying that the clock is wrong means that she no longer has 730 days.
60. In Buffy's dream, when "Adam" tells her that the two of them come by aggression differently than humans, she exclaims that "we're not demons," presumably referring to herself and her fellow Slayers, to which "Adam" responds with "is that a fact?" In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Get It Done (2003), Buffy will discover that the First Slayer was created with the essence of a demon, as well as the Slayer line.
61. In Willow's dream, Tara tells Willow, "Everyone is starting to wonder about you, the real you. If they find out, they'll punish you, I can't help you with that." The next scene has Willow as her high school self so Tara's words possibly plays on her paranoia that she is still the nerd that she was in high school. It could also allude to the fact that Willow becomes dark in season 6, kills humans & tries to destroy the world.
62. The sideshow vampire is 'Drac' foreshadowing Dracula's appearance in season 5.
63. In Buffy's Dream. When talking to Tara, Buffy says that she needs to find the others (Giles, Willow, Xander). Tara replies that Buffy lost them. Tara might refer to the fact that the others died in their dreams.
64. Anya in Buffy's dream in Willow's dorm room bed asking her to wake up startled unintentionally signifies her death in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen (2003), during the battle of the Hellmouth around the time Anya meets her end at the hands of a Bringer, Buffy is unconscious from the stab wound from the Turok-Han.
65. Tara tells Buffy: "You think you know... what's to come... what you are. You haven't even begun." Dracula would later mention a very similar line to Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy vs. Dracula (2000).
66. The suit Spike is wearing in Xander's dream is worn by him again in "Tabula Rasa". Giles remarks during the dream that "Spike is like a son to him"; in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tabula Rasa (2001), Spike and Giles assume they are father and son. This part of the dream also makes reference to a shark on land, which foreshadows the loan shark demon from the episode.