Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season 5

Buffy vs. Dracula

1. Spike mentions that he had met Dracula before and that "the poncy bugger owes [him] £11." In a comic book entitled "Spike vs. Dracula", when Bram Stoker's book was first published in 1897, Spike bought a copy for Drusilla, which Dracula himself destroyed. The book cost Spike £11.
2. Sarah Michelle Gellar's husband Freddie Prinze Jr. was originally going to play Dracula.
3. Emma Caulfield Ford is added to the opening credits for the first time.
4. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Rudolf Martin played lovers when they appeared on All My Children (1970) as Kendall and Anton.
5. Dracula says to Buffy, "you think you know what you are, what is to come. You haven't even begun." Tara says this to Buffy in the season 4 finale during her dream sequence.
6. Rudolf Martin (Count Dracula) later played Vlad the Impaler (the supposed inspiration for Dracula) in a TV miniseries, Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000), released in the same year.
7. Michelle Trachtenberg's only time as a guest star. She will be added as a season regular from now on.
8. It's the one occasion in which all original young Scooby-gang went together (on the beach) with their actual love interest just to have fun together: Buffy-Riley, Xander-Anya and Willow-Tara.
9. This is the first time Giles bitten by a vampire on the show although in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000) he refers to having experience of vampire brothels so it may not be his first time.
10. This marks the first appearance of Dawn, Buffy's younger sister, who would continue to be featured in every remaining episode and would be a very important arc to the show.
11. The vampire who was going to show Buffy a darker side of herself was originally envisioned as "just another vampire who rode a horse and was all cool", says writer Marti Noxon. "I kept saying, 'Like Dracula'" - until Joss Whedon said, "Why not Dracula? He's public domain."
12. Dracula was trying to convince Buffy in this exchange cut due to length: Dracula: "I know intimately what it is to be different. Human, but not quite... Of the world but still an outsider... You see? We understand each other. Both of us are born of darkness, masters in the art of death-"Buffy: "No. Hold it. Enough with the darkness. I'm born of Joyce, pal."
13. Marti Noxon says the scene in which Dracula implies that Buffy would "make an amazing vampire" thematically resonates with the questions of identity with which Buffy struggles throughout Season 5.
14. Michele Waitman and Melissa Barker replace Sophia Crawford as Sarah Michelle Gellar's stunt double from this episode on.
15. An action figure and a bust of Buffy were produced based on her appearances in this episode.
16. Dracula is the third vampire to drink from Buffy. She was previously bitten by the two well-known vampires the Master in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (1997), and Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999). Spike drinks from Buffy next, in the comic Desperate Times. Willow comments she knew Buffy was bitten once again from the moment she saw the scarf, in reference to Buffy's behavior in this episode.
17. Joyce appears to be unaware that Tara and Willow are a couple, remarking to them that she feels like "giving up on men altogether". In the next episode, Joyce appears to know about their relationship.
18. Xander refers to getting "funny syphilis", which occurred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pangs (1999).
19. Riley states that he has lived in Sunnydale for a couple of years, implying the Initiative was active in the town from at least season 3.
20. Giles prepares to leave Sunnydale, but changes his mind, due to Buffy asking him to be her Watcher once again. In season 6, he actually does leave for England until returning at the end of the season.
21. Riley maintains the scar he got in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000) after removing the Behavior Modifier from his chest.
22. Amber Benson is now credited with "as Tara" under her name.
23. This is the first episode in which Buffy turns to Giles to really dig into her calling's past, notably deepening her study in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fool for Love (2000).
24. Dracula's revelation of the inherent darkness of the nature of the Slayer is foreshadowing the demonic origin of the Slayer lineage, as revealed in [link=tt0533429.
25. The first of the Three Sisters is portrayed by Jennifer Slimko, who would also portray the unidentified Romanian woman in Angel: Five by Five (2000).
26. The rivalry between Spike and Riley begins in this episode.
27. Xander says "Blood is life" when talking about Dracula. This could be foreshadowing season 5 finale Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001), when Spike tells Xander "Blood is life." in regards to the key to stopping Glory.
28. Originally Buffy should have "defeated" Dracula this way: Buffy arms herself with a lit torch, when Giles and Riley burst into the room.Dracula: (sends Buffy one final look full of pain and fury) "What a shame. You could have been great, you know." (He jumps out of the window, changes himself into a wolf and lopes into the dark woods).
29. The trap of the missing stairs into the basement is likely an homage to Salem's Lot by Stephen King where a similar trap was created by Barlow.
30. In Australia this was shown as the series 4 finale cliff hanger. Viewers had to wait three months to find out who the new sister was.
31. This is the third, but not final, time Buffy is bitten by a vampire. Spike bites her in Season 7 while under the influence of the First. Buffy's blood temporarily breaks the First's hold on him.

Real Me

1. Prior to the role of Dawn being cast, Sarah Michelle Gellar suggested they take a look at Michelle Trachtenberg. Dawn was originally conceived to be 12 years old, but after Trachtenberg was cast, the writers raised the character's age to 14. However, the first few scripts were still written in the voice of a 12-year-old. Before being cast, Trachtenberg, a fan of the show, had written a letter to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000) that suggested how she could become a character on Buffy. The character of Dawn was also originally intended to have the power to speak to the dead, or to be able to move objects with her mind. These powers were later dropped.
2. David Fury says he was "given a lot of freedom to develop Dawn" as her background was completely unknown. He set up her relationships with other characters, such as Willow's status as Dawn's "favorite aunt", and provided additional backstory that - although not necessarily appearing in the finished script - "infused her character in future episodes."
3. Michelle Trachtenberg has been added to the opening credits, marking the shortest period in which an actor goes from a guest credit to a main character (only one episode, with Dawn's debut appearance being at the very end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy vs. Dracula (2000)).
4. The man who scares Dawn outside the magic shop says, "I know you. Curds and whey." This is a reference to the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet, which Faith quotes from in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999) when she is foreshadowing Dawn's arrival: "Little Ms. Muffet counting down from 7-3-0".
5. This is the second episode in a row to promote a guest star to main cast status (the first was Emma Caulfield Ford). The number of main characters on the show now stands at eight, the record for both Buffy and Angel (1999). This will remain the case until the tenth episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000), when Marc Blucas leaves the main cast.
6. During the scene where Buffy laughs over the idea of Harmony as the Big Bad, Joss Whedon behind the camera trying to make Sarah Michelle Gellar laugh.
7. The role of Cyrus, one of Harmony's gang, is played by Tom Lenk. This was Lenk's first appearance on the show, but he later portrayed Andrew Wells.
8. Dawn's description of Willow and Tara's relationship implies Joyce knows about its romantic/sexual nature; she was oblivious to their sexual orientation in the previous episode Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy vs. Dracula (2000).
9. Mr. Bogarty is the third owner of the magic shop to be killed in the series. The shop, to be named the Magic Box, will become the Scoobies' third base of operations until its destruction in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Grave (2002).
10. First appearance of Giles' red BMW, replacing his Citröen which Spike wrecked in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A New Man (2000).
11. Dawn's crush on Xander is first mentioned in this episode. About four years later, the two eventually kiss and begin a steady relationship in the comic Retreat, Part Three.
12. As Xander teaches Anya the table game's rule of "cash equals good", she develops a passion for money and capitalism, a contrast to her past self (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Selfless (2002)).
13. Giles tells Buffy about watching a soap opera with Spike, the same the vampire had complained about wanting to watch in his apartment in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Something Blue (1999).
14. Xander mentions "another hair-pulling contest" with Harmony, in reference to their fight in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Initiative (1999).
15. Tara mentions still feeling like an outsider in the Scooby Gang. That will change in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Family (2000) when the Scoobies stand up for her.
16. The music used for the scene in which Buffy is meditating is later used in several episodes, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Intervention (2001).

The Replacement

1. Nicholas Brendon's real-life twin brother Kelly Donovan is his body double for this episode. In almost all of the scenes, Nicholas Brendon played both suave and goofy Xander with his brother Kelly Donovan playing the double with the non-speaking role. Kelly only spoke in the scenes where both Xander halves had speaking lines.
2. To prove to Willow that he's the real Xander, he does the Snoopy Dance, which Willow noted she likes seeing him do when she goes to his house to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Passion (1998).
3. The "hasty" Xander brushes off Willow's remark, that he did not think earlier about the implication of the situation with Anya, by wondering how she would handle an evil twin. Willow mutters "Well I handled it fine," a reference to her her counterpart from the Wishverse she faced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999).
4. Xander gets a promotion at his construction job, he's shown as presumably a foreman, which is the beginning of Xander being shown to have more responsibility on construction sites in later episodes. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001), he tells Anya he had to shut his own crew for the day; in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lessons (2002), he arrives wearing a suit; and, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Showtime (2003) he indicates he may be responsible for multiple construction sites too.
5. In a DVD feature highlighting the demons of the season, Jane Espenson says "I liked the name Toth because I got a joke out of it later". It then cuts to the clip of Buffy saying "He called you a toth. It's a British expression meaning moron". However, Toth is not a British expression for "moron" or anything else. There's no reference to the word "toff" which means a posh person, not a moron. So it's hard to work out exactly what on Earth she's talking about.
6. Xander mentions Buffy had been in hell, a reference to the factory dimension she went in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne (1998).
7. Riley mentions Buffy's obsession with bad ice skating movies. Buffy's interest in ice skating has been previously mentioned in episodes like Buffy the Vampire Slayer: What's My Line?: Part 1 (1997).
8. When Riley helps Xander pack up his things from his parent's basement, Xander claims he envies Riley, for his sanity and not for Buffy, reaffirming "Not that I'm still into Buffy. Not that I ever was." This is a reference to Xander's crush on Buffy in the first and much of the second seasons.
9. Xander notices Anya's conflict in being human and mortal, which she had became once again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Wish (1998).
10. Riley mentions his interest in psychological experiments on the Xander halves, as he used to be a TA on "Introduction to Psychology" class (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Freshman (1999)).
11. Anya still has her arm on a sling, as she dislocated her shoulder when facing Harmony Gang in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000).
12. When Buffy and Dawn argue, Joyce grabs her head and refers to her "two teenage girls in the house" headache, all the while looking visibly distressed. While it is implied that she is being sarcastic, this exchange is, in fact, a prelude to the brain tumor she will develop, beginning in the next episode.
13. Moving out of his basement at the end, Xander calls up more or less fond memories: "That's where Spike slept" (in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999)); "That's where Anya and I drowned the Sepavro demon (in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Something Blue (1999)); "That's where I got my heart ripped out" (in Xander's dream in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000))
14. Riley reveals to Xander that he knows Buffy doesn't love him back, which serves as the first solid indication of trouble in their relationship and a prelude to their upcoming break-up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000).

Out of My Mind

1. This is the last appearance of the old Sunnydale High School.
2. Spike watched Dawson's Creek (1998). Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) and Dawson's Creek (1998) both aired on the WB from 1998 to 2001.
3. Riley's belief that a normal guy was not enough for Buffy is a sharp contrast to Angel's point of view when he had broken up with her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999), claiming that she deserved someone "normal".
4. Buffy and Dawn meet Ben Wilkinson.
5. Willow begins to use magic when not strictly necessary and Tara feels unease with her power and attitude. This continuous behavior will have as consequence the end of their relationship in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tabula Rasa (2001) and Willow's magic addiction in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrecked (2001).
6. Joyce begins to have health problems, foreshadowing her eventual death in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Was Made to Love You (2001).

No Place Like Home

1. In Glory's rant, after interrogating the monk, she mentions "someone sits on a tuffet". Dawn has been referred to as Little Miss Muffet in the dream that Faith had while in her coma in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999) (Miles to go. Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0).
2. The flashback scenes take place in the Czech Republic in 2000.
3. A sign under the cash register in Giles' new business, the Magic Box reads: Shoplifter's will be TRANSFIGURED.
4. This episode begins the main story arc of the season, revealing the truth about Dawn and introducing Glory. This would also be a main plot point in the Season Nine comic due to the end of magic when Dawn began to fade away.
5. At the end of the episode right after Dawn storms upstairs, Joyce is reading a magazine and there is an advertisement that features Sarah Michelle Gellar in the ad.
6. This is the first time Spike sees Buffy after he came to the realization that he loves her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of My Mind (2000). It's also the second of four occasions when she calls him "William": in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Something Blue (1999), during their engagement; in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: As You Were (2002), when she breaks up with him; and in the Disempowered comic, when she tells him they'll stay together ever after weeks separated.
7. The original run attracted 6.4 million viewers, the highest rated episode of the season.
8. Anya gets her first job: as a retailer in the Magic Box.
9. Dawn was fading in a family photograph, emphasizing she was not real. A similar occurrence will happen when Dawn falls in a coma because of the end of magic in the comic The Watcher.
10. At the end of the battle between Glory and Buffy, Glory throws a tantrum and stomps the concrete floor of the warehouse causing a fracture to run across the floor and up through a support beam. Glory looks up to the roof that about to crash in on her and mouths a very popular expletive: "Holy Sh*+ !!!"
11. Giles said for someone to rip the Magic Box's bell off it's hinges since it always meant someone was coming to buy items. Ironically, Buffy would actually do this when she was stuck in a time-loop by the Trio in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Life Serial (2001).
12. Joyce refers to Dawn by her pet name, "Little pumpkin belly". Buffy never had such a name although Joyce sometimes calls her "Sleepyhead".
13. Giles dresses as a stereotypical wizard when Buffy enters the Magic Box. Anthony Head eventually played a role of one of the main characters of Merlin (2008).
14. The security guard will reappear in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Listening to Fear (2000) along with the wife and two daughters he mentioned.
15. Anthony Head would appear in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011) with a similar storyline, a religious cult trying to kill a child destined to be a sacrifice to fulfill an evil apocalyptic prophecy and a supernaturally empowered hero trying to stop them.
16. Buffy tells Giles she's been practicing concentration, as seen in her training interrupted by Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000).
17. Giles officially opens the Magic Box. While the Scooby Gang met in the library during Seasons 1-3 and at Giles' apartment in Season 4, the Magic Box will be the gang's HQ until it is destroyed at the end of Season 6.
18. This is the first episode to mention Joyce's illness, which will cause her death in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Was Made to Love You (2001).

Family

1. It becomes clear why Tara sabotaged Willow's demon locator spell in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Goodbye Iowa (2000) to conceal what she believed to be her demon blood.
2. This is the first time that we learn Tara's surname: Maclay.
3. Sarah Michelle Gellar starred in Cruel Intentions (1999) and Amy Adams, who guest starred, played in Cruel Intentions 2 (2000) as the same character Gellar played in the original movie.
4. It is established that Hank Summers "bailed" on his family and Buffy states that he is now in Spain "living the cliche" with his secretary. Only eight years later he'll attempt to reconnect with his daughters in the comic Freaky Giles Day.
5. In the original script, Joss Whedon had written this in the scene where the team is helping Buffy moving: "Tara is in the closet (no jokes please)".
6. This is the last episode to feature Miss Kitty Fantastico. It would not be revealed what happened to the cat until Buffy the Vampire Slayer: End of Days (2003), in which its's mentioned that some incident with the cat and a crossbow occurred.
7. Buffy's college bedroom, that the Scoobies are helping her move out of, is number 214. This was the same room number as the twin room Buffy previously shared with Willow.
8. Steve Rankin and Kevin Rankin, who play Tara's father and brother respectively, are not related.
9. Buffy will use her comeback "We're family." once again, against Archaeus in the comic Relationship Status: Complicated, Part Two.
10. Apparently, the gang is drinking beer at the Bronze, but they don't turn 21 for another year. Buffy had been first seem drinking in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Beer Bad (1999), and Willow in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Something Blue (1999).
11. Sandy, the vampire Riley was talking to in Willy's Bar, is the girl Vampire Willow bit in Season Three's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999). He'll accept her offer in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Shadow (2000).
12. In the confrontation against the Maclay family, all Scoobies are a wall towards their bigotry. Even Spike, though claiming he doesn't care, punches Tara's nose (knowing it gives more pain to him than Tara) to show she's not a demon.
13. Buffy takes a semester off college to take care of her mother, but her own death will prevent her to apply for admittance on time (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: As You Were (2002).
14. Tara's grave, seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Help (2002), gives her birthday as October 16, therefore three weeks before this episode airing.

Fool for Love

1. The poem snatched from William's hands is the first draft of the poem that Spike later reads in its complete form at the open-mike event in Angel: Not Fade Away (2004), this time received with enthusiastic applause from the audience.
2. The scene in South America is in reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998). When Spike is drunkenly confiding in Willow, he mentions he caught Drusilla making out with a Chaos Demon. The Chaos Demon, matching Spike's description as "slime and antlers," is in the middle of the argument between Spike and Dru.
3. It is revealed how Spike got the scar over his left eye, which James Marsters actually got when he was mugged in New York.
4. Kali Rocha plays Cecily, the woman who inspires Spike's poetry. She also plays the vengeance demon Halfrek in Season 6.
5. It was revealed Spike's character real name is "William Pratt", and also originally a famous actor's name but in most movies fans know him as Boris Karloff.
6. The crossover Angel: Darla (2000) first aired later the same night: November 14, 2000.
7. Drusilla siring Spike apparently contradicts Buffy the Vampire Slayer: School Hard (1997), when Spike calls Angel his sire, but Joss Whedon later verified that any vampire in a line can be referred to as a sire. Darla sired Angel, who sired Drusilla, who sired Spike - forming a "familial" line.
8. The flashback scenes take place in London and Yorkshire in 1880, Beijing in 1900, New York City in 1977 and Brazil in 1998.
9. This episode marks the final appearance of Darla on this series.
10. Spike and Cecily/Halfrek cross paths in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Older and Far Away (2002), on which occasion she calls him William, and he appears to recognize her, but both promptly act as if nothing had happened.
11. Riley's hand signal, in fact, means "increase speed/double-time/rush".
12. According to the non-canonical comic "Old Times", Cecily was already the vengeance demon Halfrek at the time of her meeting with William, and subsequently massacred the room of people who had laughed at his poetic efforts.
13. It is learned that Spike has been in love with Buffy since they teamed up to save the world during Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998), but he only realizes his feelings for her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of My Mind (2000).
14. Spike says in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: School Hard (1997) that the last Slayer he killed (Nikki Wood) begged for her life. Here, she is not shown begging, although the episode is structured as a flashback, with 1977 Spike addressing Buffy during the time she would have been begging. In Angel: Damage (2004), the Slayer Dana recalls the words of past Slayers and speaks with Nikki's voice, begging Spike to spare her and let her go home to her son.
15. In the graveyard scene, Xander does not comprehend Riley's military hand signals, suggesting that his knowledge from being transformed into a soldier in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Halloween (1997) has completely faded.
16. This is the only time on either Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) or Angel (1999) in which Angel/Angelus appears in flashbacks but no present-day scenes.
17. The Boxer Rebellion scenes in this episode were directed by Tim Minear - who wrote and directed the second part of the crossover in Angel: Darla (2000) which gives more context to the Boxer Rebellion segment from Angel's perspective.
18. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: School Hard (1997), Giles says that Spike was "barely 200", while in "The Initiative", Spike said that he was 126 years old. This episode definitively establishes that he was sired 120 years before.
19. The novel "These Our Actors" elaborates on Spike's actions immediately after being turned, which include him seeking out one of the men who insulted his poem and asking if he would prefer the railroad spike or the poem while holding a spike by his ear, with 'William' allowing the man to say that he would prefer the poem before saying that he doesn't have one, subsequently ramming the spike into the man's ear.
20. This episode contains two flashbacks which are repeated in Angel: Darla (2000), the companion episode of Angel which was originally shown immediately afterwards: The first one is the scene in the street where the tearful William leaves the party and bumps into Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla (only shown from their backs), before being sired by Dru in an alleyway. In "Darla", it is revealed that Drusilla was jealous of Angelus's and Darla's relationship, to which they - immediately before this happens - suggest she sire herself a companion.The second flashback takes place during the Boxer Rebellion, when Angel - who has yet to reveal he has regained his soul to anyone but Darla - learns that Spike killed a Slayer, although it initially looks like Angelus is envious or even praising him. When Drusilla states she "smells fear" and Angel demands they leave, it is seen in "Darla" that he knew there was a family hiding away in that direction.
21. Spike and Drusilla's discussion about Buffy was originally longer: Drusilla: "...and you couldn't ever do it. She brought blackness upon us."Spike: "So, Sunnyhell was not our finest hour. And yes, I made a deal with the Slayer. But you were shagging Angel and bringing about an Apocalypse to end all life as we know it. So? Every couple's got their ups and downs, Love. Point being, we got through all that, it's behind us now. Isn't it?"Drusilla: "I hate it here. Furry little animals peering at us from out of the trees, and the people all taste funny."Spike: "Right. We'll pick up and move again, and we'll keep moving 'til we've found the perfect spot, and there I'll make you my queen. Just tell me what you want.Drusilla: "I want the Slayer dead, Spike."Spike: "You're the one who keeps bringing her up! I haven't said a word about the bloody Slayer since we left California! She's on the other side of the planet, Dru! Gone from our lives forever!"
22. The episode is named after a play of the same title by Sam Shepard. The play's two protagonists, Eddie and May, struggle with an intense attraction to each other that disgusts them because they are brother and sister. They hate each other, yet cannot stay apart. As a result, they are doomed to be together and therefore damned.
23. There was originally a scene where the Scoobies discuss Xander's construction job while on patrol: Willow: "Wow. So they really work for you?Xander: "Well technically, they work for the construction company. But they are my crew. I tell them what to do, and they very often do it.Anya: "Except sometimes they do it wrong and he gets to be all stern, but fair. It's so damn cute."
24. There was originally more content from the party attenders discussion: Male Partygoer: "...I've heard on good authority they're not human at all. Animals of some sort. Escaped from a traveling sideshow."Female Partygoer: "But wild animals would leave a trace of some kind. Tracks...2nd Male Partygoer: "Mangled bodies..."Female Partygoer: "Charles! Don't be ghastly."
25. Drusilla siring Spike is a fact that had been first revealed in the Buffy one shot comic Spike and Dru: Paint the Town Red, co-written by James Marsters with Christopher Golden and released a year before this episode's airing.
26. As a vampire, William adopted the name Spike from his practice of torturing people with railroad spikes (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: School Hard (1997)). This episode reveals the true origin of his nicknames: one listener to William's poem in the flashback comments that he would rather have a railroad spike driven through his head than listen to any of William's poetry, and another one notes that William is referred to as "William the Bloody" because of his "bloody awful poetry".
27. Spike takes the leather coat from Nikki after he kills her. This is the jacket that Spike wears in almost every appearance from the start of season two until Angel: The Girl in Question (2004) (when it gets destroyed in an explosion).
28. The scene in South America is in reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998): When Spike is drunkenly confiding in Willow, he mentions he caught Drusilla making out with a chaos demon. The chaos demon, matching Spike's description as "slime and antlers", is in the middle of the argument between Spike and Dru.
29. Spike's line while battling Xin Rong was cut: "Just like I pictured. This good for you?"
30. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: School Hard (1997), Spike had indeed mentioned he first killed a Slayer during the Boxer Rebellion.
31. The original title for this episode was going to be "Love's Bitch".
32. The denim jumpsuit Harmony is wearing in this episode would later be worn by Cordelia Chase in Angel: Belonging (2001) and Angel: Over the Rainbow (2001).
33. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fool for Love (2000) had just four days to deliver the script.
34. This episode shows Drusilla siring Spike, a fact first revealed in the comic Spike and Dru: Paint the Town Red.
35. This is the second time Buffy is nearly killed by her own stake in her own hand - the first instance was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Helpless (1999).
36. Spike is shown writing his poetry with his left hand. This would have been quite usual as particularly in late 19th century England, educators would force students to use their right hand
37. On the DVD commentary, writer Douglas Petrie says that the scene in which Spike and Angelus are fighting and trying to stake each other while Darla and Drusilla look on with glee is a not-very-subtle allegory for female enjoyment of male homo-eroticism.
38. The second Slayer Spike kills, Nikki Wood, has a son named Robin, who later appears as Sunnydale High's new principal in the seventh season. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lies My Parents Told Me (2003), Robin appears as a child witnessing an earlier fight between Spike and his mother, as well as trying to get his revenge on Spike as an adult for his mother's death.
39. When Spike kills the Chinese Slayer, what she says to him before she dies translates roughly to "Tell/ask my mother to forgive me."
40. When Spike goes to confront Buffy at the end of the episode but instead sits beside her and comforts her, the music in the background is a slower rendition of Buffy and Angel's love theme Close Your Eyes. This references Spike's attraction to Buffy, as well as foreshadows their relationship.
41. Spike states that Buffy would eventually want herself to die just like the other slayers he killed - to end the fear and uncertainty of every day possibly being her last. Spike's words would later prove correct about Buffy's "death wish" when she had fallen into the early stages of her depression. Part of her had wanted to die in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001), and she would also try to kill herself in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001) before Spike stops her.

Shadow

1. This episode is the first time we hear the name of Buffy's mysterious blond enemy, Glorificus ("Please, call me 'Glory'.") and her role as the season's Big Bad is further cemented.
2. Though not listed in the filming locations, the carousel Riley and Dawn are at is the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round in Los Angeles. "All 68 horses have up-and-down action, and they've been leaping in circles in the city park since 1937". The Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round was also featured once on Castle (2009).
3. This episode cements Tara's usefulness to the Scooby Gang. After a while with no real contribution to any of theorems and plans, she even describes herself (along with Dawn) as a "non-Scooby" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000), she makes a breakthrough by suggesting that research is useless because the "demon" predates the written word.
4. Anya mentions the demon Sobek, and Glory later prays to it. Sobek was the ancient Egyptian God of the Nile, depicted with the head of a crocodile.
5. Anya's fear of bunnies is referred again when Xander mentions that he would like to come across a cult that worships bunnies.
6. When asked his opinion on the computer-generated demon used in this episode, David Fury says he was originally envisioning it as something "amorphous, bug-like, something non-human looking;" it was Marti Noxon who came up with the idea of using a reptile. From that idea, Noxon proposed that Buffy find it hiding in a reptile house.
7. This is the first time that Buffy punches an enemy so hard she perforates its innards, causing her fist to be covered in its guts. She will do this again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Normal Again (2002).
8. Buffy refers to the Spawn of Sobek as "big but not Mayor Big," referring to Richard Wilkins becoming the Olvikan in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998).
9. This marks the death of Sandy. A vampire sired by Vamp Willow in Season Three's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999).
10. This episode introduces the tumor that leads to Joyce's surgery, complications of which lead to her death in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Was Made to Love You (2001) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001).
11. Riley's "addiction" to having vampires feed on him would ultimately lead up to his departure from the main cast two episodes later in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000).

Listening to Fear

1. The mental patient who talks to Dawn and is killed by the Queller demon was the nightwatchman victim of Glory's energy absorption in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Place Like Home (2000).
2. It is revealed in this episode that Ben knows about Glory and has some sort of connection to her.
3. Another instance in which Spike displays his growing affection for Buffy.
4. More instances of someone "outside reality" noting that Dawn is, in reality, not a "true person", including Joyce (whose semblance of sanity has been hit hard due to her brain tumor). As a result, Joyce is let in on the secret of Dawn's true nature as the Key.
5. Joyce goes into the surgery for the tumor. Her death will ultimately be caused by a complication from this surgery.
6. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Forever (2001), Buffy reveals that Joyce discussed with her about funeral arrangements before her surgery.

Into the Woods

1. The "In Memory of MC Gustafson " at the end of the episode referred to Gustav Gustafson, who was the Leadman for the first two seasons of the show. Gustav was apparently a close friend of Sarah Michelle Gellar, and died during filming of the series at age 41, after fighting cancer and AIDS.
2. The banner Giles hangs above the counter of the Magic Box reads: "Don't Forget Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa & Gurnenthar's Ascendance Are Coming!"
3. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999), Willow becomes upset when she finds out Anya's plans and takes back her chicken's feet. Here, Anya and Willow have a fight that starts out over chicken's feet.
4. Marc Blucas leaves the main cast in this episode. He was promoted to series regular in the eleventh episode of the previous season. He, therefore, was a main character for exactly one season.
5. Graham reappears in the comic In Pieces on the Ground.
6. This episode depicts a vampire variation of a crack house, in which humans allow vampires to partially feed upon them in exchange for the "high" the experience provides humans; Sunnydale's seamier side would receive more attention in the form of magic drug dealer Rack and his operations in Season Six. An even more extreme version is seen in Los Angeles in Angel: Release (2003), where humans get "high" on drugs and then allow vampires to partially feed upon them, heightening the effect for both humans and vampires.
7. This is the most evident example of Xander's ability to see what others cannot, and perhaps foreshadows many coming events in his life.
8. This was the first episode directed by Marti Noxon. Of the experience, she says "It was thrilling and it was terrifying. I thought I was going to bolt the whole time." She will do the same again for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Forever (2001).
9. When asked why they chose to have Riley leave Sunnydale, Joss Whedon says he tried to give Buffy a healthy relationship, but "people didn't want it. They did some great work together. But at the same time, when they were happy, it made people crazy". Marti Noxon adds "Sunnydale romance just rarely goes well. Buffy with a boyfriend is not as interesting as Buffy in some kind of romantic strife. Riley, by his nature, was such a good and constant character that we were at risk of things getting a little dull."
10. The title "Into The Woods" is derived from the Stephen Sondheim musical of the same name. The musical explores the tragedy that befalls fairy-tale characters after their 'happily ever after'; much like how Joyce's 'happily ever after' is followed by tragedy in Buffy's relationship.
11. After his intense conversation with Buffy, Xander tells Anya that he is in love with her, therefore their relationship is cemented as something more than just a high school romance or a sexual relationship.
12. This marks both the end of Buffy and Riley's relationship and Riley's last appearance as a series regular. He reappears later in Season Six's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: As You Were (2002).

Triangle

1. As of this episode, Marc Blucas is no longer credited as a series regular, he does however return for one more episode in season 6, "As You Were".
2. Unlike most times, in which everything magical is fictional, during the fight which takes place in the Magic Box, in the background is a rack filled entirely with copies of the real-world Neo-Pagan magazine Green Egg, published by the Church of All Worlds.
3. Anya once again mentions the world without shrimp, a dimension she had previously noted exists in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Superstar (2000).
4. This line of Willow's was cut, when Giles returns from England and sees the damage of the Magic Box: "Um...Giles? Could you maybe make an angry face? 'Cause the smile is kind of scaring me."
5. Willow confirms in this episode that she is, in fact, gay and not interested in men.
6. We learn that Tara is allergic to shrimp.
7. Despite Buffy's extravagant concern of the welfare of Xander and Anya's relationship being played out as largely for comedic effect, she does genuinely have admiration for their relationship, as she'll openly admits they provide a beacon of hope that a person can live in a happy, stable relationship (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hell's Bells (2002)).
8. Xander's arm is injured in this episode and will remain in a cast until Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001) (though he injures his arm again in the same episode).
9. Anya states in this episode that she's driving for the first time, despite the fact that she asked Xander to get into her car and flee Sunnydale with her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 1 (1999). It is possible however she just hired one with a driver.
10. Abraham Benrubi has appeared in a number of TV shows, two of which involved ex-Buffy cast members: Robot Chicken (2005) created by and starring Seth Green, and Bones: The Method in the Madness (2012) starring David Boreanaz.
11. Anya mentions the time that Cordelia caught Xander and Willow kissing (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998)), Cordelia's desire for retribution over which being what brought Anya to Sunnydale in the first place (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Wish (1998)).
12. Buffy has been heartbroken since the last episode with Riley's departure.
13. During Willow and Anya's argument while looking for a reversal spell, they both allude to future plot paths involving Anya returning to demon form, and Willow turning evil. In both instances it involves Xander, as Anya turns evil again because of Xander, and Willow returns from being evil due to Xander.
14. Willow foreshadows Amy becoming evil, mentioning that she thinks she made Amy smart and that she's "planning something."
15. This is the actual first time that Spike mentions the onion flower. It will appear later in this season. In season 7 he and Andrew will have a conversation about it.
16. This episode marks the first appearance of Olaf, who will later appear (in both human and troll form) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Selfless (2002). The Scoobies also acquire Olaf's hammer, which will prove to be a crucial weapon in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).
17. Though being still an employee of Giles and just a temporary manager of Magic Box, Anya is very upset when Willow jokingly does magic tricks on articles on sale. A pale anticipation of how she shall feel at the end of next season.
18. During Willow and Anya's argument, while looking for a reversal spell, they both allude to future plot paths involving Anya returning to demon form, and Willow turning evil. In both instances, it involves Xander, as Anya turns evil again because of Xander (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Entropy (2002)), and Willow's return from evil due to Xander (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Grave (2002)).
19. Olaf accurately predicts that Xander and Anya will not last as a couple.

Checkpoint

1. Anya reveals her second alias as a human, "Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins", after being first undercover as "Anya Emerson" (Sunnydale High Yearbook, The Watcher's Guide, Volume Two). She mentions this full name again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Selfless (2002).
2. Anya's false story was a little longer: "And when I was seven, I had a pet dachshund that died from choking on a wiener, which I find ironic."
3. Spike's interview originally began with more talking: Lydia: "You can't hurt anyone?"Spike: "That's right."Lydia: "But you are a vampire."Spike: "If I'm not, I'm gonna be pissed about drinking all that blood."Lydia: "So it's this chip in your head that keeps you from hurting people."Spike: "My goodness, you put that together all on your own? That's right. Leastways that's what I've got 'em all believing. Could just be a hoax, though. I fake some headaches, everyone gets used to poor helpless Spike. Then one day, no warning, I snap a spine, bend a head back, drain 'em dry. Brilliant."Lydia: "The chip. Assuming it exists. It takes away the... ability. But it leaves... leaves the..."Spike: "Desire? Yeah, I've got tons of that."
4. The karate instructions Buffy is given in Japanese are "shoumen ni rei" (bow to the front), "shoumen-zuki" (front punch), and "ushiro-geri, empi-uchi" (back kick, elbow-strike).
5. This is the first time Giles is officially Buffy's Watcher since Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Helpless (1999). Additionally, the last time that we saw Quentin Travers was near Buffy's eighteenth birthday; this episode is very close to Buffy's twentieth.
6. Willow had some rhyming fun in this line cut due to length: "I didn't create the troll. I didn't date the troll. In fact, I hate the troll. I helped deflate the troll."
7. The scene where Buffy is unfairly humiliated in front of her history class by a bullying professor is rather similar to a scene in the earlier Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Freshman (1999), where a like-minded bullying professor of the Pop Culture class unfairly treated Buffy in a similar fashion in front of the class before ejecting her.
8. Being British, Mr. Giles ought to have said "disorientating" rather than the American "disorienting".
9. While telling Giles how badly she does not want the Watchers Council to come to Sunnydale, she mentions how they almost got her killed during her Tento di Cruciamentum, referring to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Helpless (1999). She also states that when she was Faith, they almost killed her again, referring to the incident with Watchers Council Special Operations Team in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Who Are You? (2000) and Angel: Sanctuary (2000).
10. Buffy resumes her alliance with the Watchers Council after turning her back to them in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 1 (1999).
11. Xander's arm is still hurt from Olaf's attack in the previous episode.
12. Introduces the Knights of Byzantium, one of three powers connected to the Key.
13. Giles officially becomes Buffy's Watcher again (with retroactive pay) after being fired from the position by the Quentin Travers in season three's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Helpless (1999).
14. Reveals that Glory is not an ordinary demon, but a god.

Blood Ties

1. In the hospital, the mental patients each start mumbling the phrase "What's the frequency?". This is an obvious reference to the infamous event, in 1986, where CBS Newsman Dan Rather was accosted by (then) unknown assailants. One of the assailants, apparently deranged, kept repeating the question "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" (which meant absolutely nothing to Dan Rather)
2. This foreshadows Dawn's penchant for kleptomania, which will be focused on in the next season.
3. The 12th or 13th episode of each season is traditionally when Buffy celebrates her birthday; her birthday takes place in episode 13 of season 2 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Surprise (1998)), episode 12 of season 3 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Helpless (1999)), episode 12 of season 4 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A New Man (2000)), and episode 14 of season 6 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Older and Far Away (2002)).
4. Six years later, when Dawn starts disappearing and losing her memories, Spike will keep her company telling her about the time the two invaded the Magic Box and discovered she was the Key in the comic The Core, Part Two.
5. Spike's intended gift for Buffy is the same box of chocolates with which he practiced his lines on (and bludgeoned) the Buffy mannequin in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Triangle (2001).
6. In her fight with Glory, while Buffy is unable to defeat the Hellgod, she puts up a much better fight, lasting a bit longer and even landing a few good blows, unlike the last time they fought (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Place Like Home (2000)). This occurs in their later fights until Buffy gains the upper hand in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001). This shows Buffy's adaptability to fighting stronger opponents, something she shows in her later fights with Caleb in season 7.
7. When Dawn gets upset with Joyce and Buffy in her bedroom she shouts: "Get out. Get out! Get out! Get out!" She shouts the same thing, in the same place, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Older and Far Away (2002), during Buffy's 21st birthday.
8. Dawn eventually comes to terms with her condition as the Key, as herself reveals in the comic Old Demons, Part Two. Nonetheless, Dawn's fear of not being real still manifests when she visits the Dimension of Darkest Fear, in the comic Own It, Part Three.
9. As Dawn put the pieces together about her identity as the Key, it flashes archive footage from episodes Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Listening to Fear (2000), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Shadow (2000).
10. This is the first Buffyverse episode written by Steven S. DeKnight.
11. Buffy assures Dawn she is family as she has "Summers blood", which will have greater meaning in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).
12. Although a link between Ben and Glory had been previously suggested, this is the first time we see that Ben and Glory share a body, although neither retains memories of the other's activities. It is also noteworthy that Dawn does not remember Ben changing into Glory; this memory glitch will be a recurring phenomenon in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Weight of the World (2001), affecting everyone who witnesses the shift (except Spike).
13. This marks the beginning of the bond between Dawn and Spike.
14. Dawn is revealed to have arrived six months ago, according to Buffy. It is very probable that Dawn arrived in the moment that Buffy entered her room, at the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy vs. Dracula (2000) asking her what she was doing there.
15. Spike and Buffy's future relationship is foreshadowed when Spike steps in to help in the final fight and Glory refers to him as Buffy's boyfriend.
16. Dawn's self-harm incident will become a rumor in her school of attempted suicide, as mentioned in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001).
17. The rest of the Scooby Gang, as well as Dawn herself, learn that Dawn is the Key. Buffy discovered in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Place Like Home (2000) and told Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Family (2000), then Joyce noticed it in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).

Crush

1. This marks the final "real" appearance of Drusilla in the TV show as all her future appearances are either in the forms of illusions or flashbacks. She later appears in the canonical comics.
2. David Fury didn't like the direction the show was going in with regard to Buffy/Spike. To keep viewers from romanticizing their relationship too much, he inserted the line about Quasimodo being unable to truly love Esmeralda, which draws a parallel with Spike being unable to love Buffy without a soul.
3. The pink dress that Anya wears in the scene at the Bronze is later worn by Harmony in Angel: Life of the Party (2003).
4. Drusilla's arrival in Sunnydale follows the events of Angel: Redefinition (2001). She mentions Angel setting her on fire and still had scars from the incident.
5. When Buffy looks at a newspaper, the banner reveals it to be the "Sunnydale Press," with a circulation of 1,321,908.
6. Harmony refer to Drusilla as "Morticia", a reference to Morticia Addams. Mercedes McNab had a role in The Addams Family (1991) and also Addams Family Values (1993).
7. Spike says the "L.A. scene [...] didn't agree with me", in reference to his latest defeat in the city in Angel: In the Dark (1999).
8. Spike finds out that Darla has been resurrected, revealed in Angel: To Shanshu in L.A. (2000).
9. This is the Bronze's first appearance since Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Triangle (2001), in which it was badly damaged by Olaf. Its new look remains for the rest of the series.
10. David Fury, asked to do "an episode that takes the Buffy/Spike relationship to the next step", decided that it was time for the audience to discover that Spike was in love with Buffy. He says, "...and it then progressed into Buffy finding out, which was something we were saving for later. It turned out to be a good play because we were able to take them to interesting places throughout the rest of the season." According to Fury, the resurrection of Spike and Drusilla's relationship "was really significant in terms of what love means to Spike."
11. In a way, this episode is antithesis to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Angel (1997). Buffy was surprised to find out that Angel, the man she loved, was a vampire and voluntary fought against Darla, who want to reestablish a relationship with Angel. Darla was finally dusted by her ex-lover and Buffy invited him into her house. Here, Buffy is repulsed to discover that Spike, the vampire she hated, is obsessively and desperately in love with her and fights involuntarily against Drusilla who wants to reestablish her relationship with Spike. Spike vainly tried to dust her to demonstrate his love to the Slayer. Finally, Drusilla escaped from Sunnydale and Buffy removed Spike's invitation to her home.
12. When discussing crushing on vampires with Buffy, Dawn states that Buffy dated Angel for three years. This is somewhat inaccurate; they first kissed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Angel (1997), but Buffy and Angel's formal dating relationship actually began in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Reptile Boy (1997), and ended abruptly when Angel lost his soul and was sent into Acathla's dimension. Upon his return, they did not resume dating until Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Amends (1998), and broke up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999). Although indeed during a period of three years, in reality Buffy and Angel only dated for a little over a year.
13. Willow has headaches as a result of her teleportation spell to get rid of Glory in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001).
14. It's established that it's been about a week since the previous episode Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001).
15. This marks the final appearance of Harmony on Buffy. However, she will later appear as a recurring character and finally a regular cast member on Angel (1999), becoming Angel's secretary at Wolfram & Hart.
16. Buffy has the invitation she extended to Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998) revoked. She will invite him again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).
17. Spike's feelings for Buffy become known to the Scooby Gang at large; Spike himself noticed this in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of My Mind (2000).
18. While on the train with Xander, Buffy sits down on one of the seats, perfectly fitting into the tape outline of the dead body that used to sit there, foreshadowing Buffy's death a few months later.

I Was Made to Love You

1. This episode marks the first appearance of Warren Mears, who will return as a major villain in Season Six and then in the Season Eight comic.
2. Joss Whedon has confirmed that April the robot was written (along with "the creation of Warren the villain [and] the Buffybot") with Britney Spears in mind as he considered her performances 'robotic'. However she turned it down, according to David Fury, because she wanted to play a character who hung out with the Scooby Gang rather than a 'sex slave robot'.
3. When Buffy tells Warren her name and asks him "Do you know who I am?", what she is really asking is if Warren realizes she is the "odd" Sunnydale High student who protected other students from the dangers they almost never admitted exist in the town. Warren answers in the affirmative; the episode clarifies that he spent his senior year at Sunnydale High, meaning that, although this is his first actual appearance, he was "behind the scenes" as a member of the Sunnydale student body throughout Season Three. Warren's status as a Sunnydale alumnus is also referred to in Season Six, where it is revealed that he attended the school play that was attacked by Monkey Demons sent by Andrew Wells (an incident that was itself never actually depicted).
4. Dawn mentions that she always thought Ted, from season two's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ted (1997), would come back. This shows that although she was not actually present for any events prior to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy vs. Dracula (2000), she nonetheless remembers them.
5. According to David Fury, when he questioned the incredible technological abilities of Sunnydale residents (reanimating the dead in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Some Assembly Required (1997), constructing lifelike robots in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ted (1997)), Joss Whedon replied "You're just way overthinking it. The Hellmouth should be able to provide us with anything we want to do; the energy that comes out of it makes mad scientists out of humans who then go ahead and create something evil".
6. Buffy says her secret to attracting men is to "Slap them around a bit, torture them and make their lives a living hell". She has actually done this to all her boyfriends/lovers.
7. After than encounter with April, Buffy said she's had it with "super-strong little women who aren't me". This is likely a reference to Glory and Faith.
8. The dress Joyce wears for her date with Brian must be her "date dress" look; it's very similar to the one she was wearing when Buffy caught her in the kitchen kissing Ted in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ted (1997).
9. Willow is attracted to April, the first time she ever expresses an appreciation of a woman other than Tara. In season 7, she will be attracted to Dawn and her new girlfriend Kennedy. And in Angel: Orpheus (2003) she's openly (though jokingly) flirting with Fred.
10. Buffy remarks she has had two boyfriends, presumably she only considers Angel and Riley as qualifying.
11. Spike shows again his formidable instinctive intuition, being able to figure out that Warren built April, despite having no idea who Warren is and the Scoobies not telling him.
12. Britney Spears was originally supposed to play April the Robot (played by Shonda Farr ) but scheduling conflicts caused her to back out. Rumors of Spears' return to the show ran rampant for the rest of the series' run. Interestingly, Farr and Spears later appeared in Crossroads (2002) together.
13. Joyce dies, an event that will profoundly affect Buffy's outlook throughout the rest of the series. Also, true to the series' style, Joyce's death managed to occur while she was at her happiest. This was true for Jenny Calendar in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Passion (1998) when she died after finding Angel's cure and being forgiven by Giles. In future episodes, Tara will die after reconciling with Willow in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Seeing Red (2002)], and Spike after Buffy states that she loves him in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen (2003).
14. April's last words are "things are always darkest before..." This could be a reference to Dawn and right before actual dawn when Buffy sacrifices herself in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).
15. Spike places an order from Warren, leading to the creation of the Buffybot.
16. The final scene (where Buffy finds Joyce dead, which is also the teaser of the following episode) was written by Joss Whedon. It does not appear in the shooting script for the episode, which ends with Spike asking Warren to make him a robot of Buffy.
17. Katrina is also introduced in this episode. She will return in Season Six-and be killed by Warren Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dead Things (2002), and later as a ghost in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Villains (2002).

The Body

1. This episode features only diegetic sound; Joss Whedon explained that music comforts the audience, and he wanted this episode to be touching and horrifying at the same time.
2. According to Joss Whedon's DVD commentary, the episode begins with the flashback of the gang's Christmas dinner because he didn't want the cast and crew credits to appear over the main scene of Buffy finding her mom.
3. Joss Whedon wanted the scenes to be long which is why there are four scenes (other than the Christmas scene). Whedon has stated that he wanted to capture how time feels stuck when grief strikes. There is no music, either, because Whedon said that music is a comfort to the audience.
4. The most difficult scene for Joss Whedon to film was Willow panicking in her dormitory room. Her obsession about what to wear to visit Buffy was inspired by Whedon's own experiences when he was at a loss for what tie to wear for a friend's funeral. He praised Alyson Hannigan's acting, saying that she was able to be consistently emotional in every take and make him and the crew cry every time. Whedon acknowledged his difficulty speaking on the DVD commentary while watching Hannigan in the scene.
5. Kristine Sutherland (Joyce) is notably absent in much of season 4. She apparently told Joss Whedon that she wanted to leave the show to move abroad. His reply was that "you can't leave because I'm going to kill you."
6. Joss Whedon has said that throughout her time as Joyce's body during the filming of this episode, Kristine Sutherland only blinked on-camera once, which was taken out using CGI.
7. Joss Whedon's rejection of the "very special episode" format impelled him to address the physicality of Willow and Tara's relationship. Before this episode, they had held hands and danced on screen, but they had not kissed. A genre of television specials dealing with female homosexuality developed as the "lesbian kiss episode" in the 1990s, where a female character kissed another female but no relationship is further explored. Whedon set out to acknowledge Willow's and Tara's affection without making it the primary focus of the show. For attempting this, he received resistance from the airing network, the WB. Whedon informed them that the kiss between Willow and Tara was "not negotiable". According to Whedon, the conversation about the kiss was approached by the network executives, who were concerned with the number of gay relationships on the network. Whedon countered that the kiss was "true to character" and said he would quit the show if the network forbade it. It was the only time during the series he threatened to do so.
8. The opening sequence was also the closing scene of the previous episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Was Made to Love You (2001); this is the only episode in the series that was first aired without a "Previously on Buffy" lead-in.
9. Joss Whedon's mother, a teacher, also died of a cerebral aneurysm, and he drew on his own experiences, and those of friends and other writers, in constructing the episode. He tried to achieve an "unlovely physicality" to portray the upsetting minutiae involved in attempting to comprehend what is incomprehensible.
10. Emma Caulfield Ford was asked what emotions she was feeling when she filmed her monologue on why she doesn't understand death in Willow's dorm room, and admitted that they had been filming all day without a break and the only thing she was thinking was that she really had to go to the bathroom.
11. Joss Whedon stated on the DVD commentary how surprised he was at the response from viewers who wrote to say that the episode allowed them to accept the death of a close family member, even if they had not acknowledged it for months or years.
12. From the start of writing the series, Joss Whedon asserted that it would never have a "very special episode, where the core cast of characters addresses a single issue (AIDS, drug abuse, or alcoholism, for example) and resolve all the problems at the end. Whedon was not interested in finding a life-affirming lesson. Rather, he wanted to capture the isolation and boredom involved in the minutes and hours after finding a loved one has died, what he termed "the black ashes in your mouth numbness of death". He did not intend to resolve any religious or existential questions about the end of life, but wanted to examine the process in which a person becomes a mere body.
13. Sarah Michelle Gellar fought against the decision to kill off Joyce.
14. Both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Michelle Trachtenberg were raised by single women, and Gellar later spoke about the experience of acting something that was very real and close to her, stating, "you try to separate it as best you can and at the same time it adds that extra layer". As soon as the scene was finished with Gellar "at a fever pitch", they restarted it where she comes in the door happily, which Joss Whedon regretted for the emotional range Gellar was required to endure
15. It is said that if you have a dream of an open grave while it is raining, someone you know will die within a year. Faith awoke from a dream such as this almost exactly in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: This Year's Girl (2000).
16. Kristine Sutherland was informed during the third season that her character would be killed off, which she accepted because she intended to spend time in Europe. She is absent from most of the fourth season because she was traveling. She reported that the atmosphere on the set was strange and tense because she had been a regular character through the series and she was suddenly playing a corpse. She found the part difficult to play, not only for the stillness, but getting into the make-up, and lying on the morgue table with other bodies.
17. The Christmas scene takes place sometime between Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Checkpoint (2001).
18. This is what Buffy and Dawn say in the scene, where Buffy tells Dawn Joyce is dead: Buffy: "Mom died this morning. While we were both at school, she-"Dawn: "No..."Buffy: "I don't know exactly what happened, but, she's dead..."Dawn: "No. No, no, no, no, you're lying, you're lying, she's fine, she's fine and you're lying, oh, no, no, please, please, no, you're lying, she's fine, she's fine..."Buffy: "Dawnie..."Dawn: "It's not true, it's not real, it's not real, oh, no... no..."
19. Spike does not appear in this episode, marking his only non-appearance in the series since becoming a regular in season four.
20. Joss Whedon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon and Tom Lenk all cited this among their favourite episodes.
21. According to Joss Whedon's DVD commentary, he wishes that he had included Joyce in the scene at the table, and not had her separated from the Scoobies in the kitchen.
22. Joss Whedon took out a series of ads in Hollywood trade papers to promote this landmark episode.
23. Willow's line "Strong like an Amazon?" refers to the song "Amazons" by Phranc, the "all-American Jewish lesbian folksinger" and record-holding Tupperware Lady. Willow is quoting the line of the chorus. Joss Whedon reveals this in the DVD commentary, but insists he didn't choose this song because of Willow's, Tara's, and Phranc's sexual orientation.
24. Tara mentions her mother's death. We first found out that her mother was dead in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Family (2000).
25. In the flashback, Buffy tells to Joyce and Giles: "As long as you two stay away from the band candy," in reference to the events from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Band Candy (1998).
26. Dawn's self-harm incident in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001) has ignited a fuel of rumors that spread across the school.
27. The 911 operator asks Buffy if she is "alone in the house". Sarah Michelle Gellar appeared in Scream 2 (1997), in which her character was asked the exact same question by the killer on the phone.
28. Willow and Tara's dorm room is number 213. Willow and Buffy's dorm in the previous year was identified as 214.
29. The side-effects of the brain surgery which removed Joyce's tumor in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Shadow (2000), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Listening to Fear (2000) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000).
30. When Xander accuses Glory for Joyce's death, he mentions the threat Glory had made about killing Buffy's family and friends in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Checkpoint (2001).
31. Xander says, "We do morgue time with the Scooby Gang", referring to their often visits to the morgue, as seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date (1997), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Beauty and the Beasts (1998), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Help (2002).
32. In the scene where Xander punches his hand through the wall, only a shot of Willow's left eye is shown. This is because Alyson Hannigan had experienced an allergic reaction to the dust from the plaster on the wall - a reaction that resulted in her right eye swelling badly. Because of this, she had to go to the hospital the next day to get her eye treated.
33. The blue sweater that Willow wants to wear to the morgue but cannot find is the same sweater that Tara is wearing when she is killed in season six. Fans have joked that "at least Joss Whedon made sure somebody wore it to the morgue."
34. Excluding the dinner scene, which was written so the audience would not be distanced from Buffy's initial reactions, there are only 4 scenes: 1)Buffy's House 2)Dawn's School 3)Willow's Dorm 4)The Hospital This was done, According to Joss Whedon, to fully capture how long time feels during grief.
35. The death of Joyce Summers (and later that of Cassie Newton's in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Help (2002)) are the only ones in the show's huge body-count that were due to natural causes.
36. When Buffy finds her mother dead, she says, "Mom? Mom? Mommy?" Dawn repeats this phrase in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Conversations with Dead People (2002) when she thinks Joyce is trying to communicate with her. In the same show, when Cassie's ghost appears to Willow at the library, she mentions that Willow is strong like an Amazon, referring to Tara and Willow's exchange in this show.
37. After Xander removes his bleeding hand from the drywall, he is asked if it hurts and replies "It doesn't matter. The Avengers have to get with the assembling." Joss Whedon wrote and directed this and would go on to write and direct the live action adaptation of The Avengers (2012).

Forever

1. Spike is able to enter Doc's home without an invitation. This hints at the fact that Doc isn't human - later confirmed when Dawn notices that Doc has a tail.
2. The melody that Doc hums while gathering ingredients for Dawn and Spike is the motif associated with "Peter" from Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf."
3. After Anya previously, it's time for Spike to give a loving and sad eulogy about Joyce. They are technically both potential very evil foes, a demon and a vampire, but they seem to have admired and loved the lady.
4. This aired on Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)'s birthday.
5. Marti Noxon says: "To me, the idea of wanting to defy death is just an inherent, almost mythological, iconic notion. It's something we can relate to... a universal longing." She says the idea for this episode arose from the idea that Dawn would be in the bargaining stage of mourning, and "if you were in Sunnydale and someone you loved died, you would absolutely call on the forces of darkness to resurrect them."
6. This is Angel's first appearance in Sunnydale since Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor (2000).
7. This is the first episode to show Dawn shoplifting; this will develop into kleptomania and discovered by the Scoobies in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Older and Far Away (2002).
8. During her resurrection spell, Dawn calls on Osiris. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bargaining: Part 1 (2001), Willow summons Osiris to resurrect Buffy, and she attempts to save Tara by calling on Osiris again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Villains (2002).
9. Annie Talbot, the actress who portrays the woman holding a child during the funeral, returns in Angel: Loyalty (2002) to portray Gracie's mother.
10. Kristine Sutherland did not portray Joyce in the final scene.
11. Alan Henry Brown, here portraying the funeral director, also portrays the demon bartender in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Villains (2002).
12. Spike says that Joyce didn't treat him like a freak and always had a nice "cuppa" for him, as they have bonded in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Crush (2001).
13. Angel's visit to comfort Buffy occurs after his reunion with his Los Angeles associates in Angel: Epiphany (2001).
14. This is the first episode in which Willow's bookcase is on a different wall from its original placement.
15. Buffy reveals that before Joyce went into surgery, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Listening to Fear (2000), they had a talk about funeral choices.
16. During Joyce's funeral, the minister says: "We commend to almighty God... Ashes to ashes and dust to dust... And give her peace". He is reading from the burial service found in the Book of Common Prayer, which includes the commonly heard phrase "ashes to ashes and dust to dust" (that phrase is based on the The Bible, Genesis 3:19: "...for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return"). This part of the speech is normally read while earth is cast upon the coffin.
17. Ben has hurt Jinx once before. He beat him up as a message to Glory in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Checkpoint (2001).
18. Chicken feet are a staple ingredient in witchcraft. It is mentioned by Willow in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999) and by Anya in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods (2000).
19. This episode focuses on the aftermath of Joyce's death. She died in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Was Made to Love You (2001) while the confirmation and reactions took place in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001).
20. During the service, the minister reads Aaron's blessing, as seen in The Book of Numbers 6:24-26: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.", but in third person, "her" instead of "you".
21. While mourning Joyce's death, Giles goes to his home and has a drink while listening to "Tales of Brave Ulysses" by Cream. This is the same song that he and Joyce listened to in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Band Candy (1998) from Season 3, before having sex together. This is significant to show Giles, no longer around Buffy and needing to be strong, remember Joyce and remark his loving father-figure to Buffy, as opposed to the usual Watcher.
22. The idea for this was taken from 'The Monkey's Paw' by W.W. Jacobs. The last scene when Buffy is concerned about how Joyce will return and then Dawn reversing the spell at the last second is almost exactly like the last scene in the short story.
23. This is the last appearance of Giles' apartment, as The Scoobies do not go there for the rest of season five, and he has moved out by season six.
24. Willow tries to console Dawn by secretly providing her with a book on magic. Willow using magic to solve all problems is a major theme in the following season, leading to Willow and Tara breaking up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tabula Rasa (2001) and her admitting her addiction in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrecked (2001).
25. Spike assists Dawn in her attempt to resurrect Joyce; years earlier, he had attempted as well to overcome his own mother's mortality siring her, as seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lies My Parents Told Me (2003).
26. Both Willow and Spike, irresponsibly trying to help Dawn to resurrect her mother, show once again the sincere affection they had for Joyce, their surrogate mother figure.
27. When Dawn and Spike try to raise Joyce from the dead, they don't bother digging up her coffin. This implies that she had to get herself out. When the Scoobies raise Buffy, they will also neglect to dig up her coffin in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bargaining: Part 1 (2001), leaving Buffy to dig herself out of her own grave.

Intervention

1. Nicholas Brendon was sick with pneumonia for part of the filming, so his twin brother, Kelly Donovan stood in for him for the part of Xander Harris.
2. The Buffybot pronounces "Giles" with a hard g (as in "guy-els"). Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon have said on several occasions that they get annoyed with "so-called fans of the show" when they pronounce "Giles" in this way. This pronunciation is present as well in some official international dubbing for the series.
3. Jane Espenson explains the Buffybot was introduced out of "the necessity of story", as it was "interesting to see what Spike would do with this bot... to see how those personalities affect each other." Providing Sarah Michelle Gellar with the chance for comic relief during a period of particular grimness for her character was a "bonus... an extra scoop of ice-cream," says Espenson.
4. When it's revealed to the group that there are two Buffys, Xander says, "Hey, I know this! They're both Buffy!" This is a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Replacement (2000), in which Xander's psyche was split into two separate bodies.
5. This the first time Buffy kisses Spike with true emotion and affection; even if only spurred on by gratitude for Spike taking such a beating and not giving up Dawn to Glory, the latest Big Bad. This also marks very clearly that Buffy's emotions are turning at least friendly toward Spike.
6. To call upon the guide, Giles reads in Swahili: "...nilivyoahidi kulinda na kuongoza, nakupokeza. Mpeleke afike mahali pa usalama na ujuzi. Mpe anavyohitaji. Mwonyeshe njia." This translates to English as: "...that which I am pledged to guard and guide, I hand over to you. Lead her to a place of safety and learning. Give her that which she needs. Show her the path..."
7. According to Buffybot's system screen,Willow is gay since 1999, when she first met Tara.
8. Buffy recognizes the desert the mountain lion leads her as well as the vision of the first Slayer, having dreamed about them in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000).
9. Buffy will describe her encounter with the Guide to the Potential Slayers when they venture the same quest, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Killer in Me (2003).
10. The Buffybot will be kept in the Magic Box from then on, then reconfigured to play a crucial role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001) until her destruction in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bargaining: Part 2 (2001).
11. Spike endures Glory's torture and hides Dawn's identity as the Key, which he discovered in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001).
12. Buffy recants her earlier words to Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Crush (2001) upon discovering that he is capable of great personal sacrifice on her behalf, and welcomes him back into the fold.
13. The Spike/Buffybot angle foreshadows the relationship Buffy and Spike will have starting in season 6.
14. Warren finished the robot Spike requested in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Was Made to Love You (2001).
15. The Scoobies find Glory's mansion based on Buffy's memory from the area she fought the Spawn of Sobek in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Shadow (2000).
16. Buffy kisses Spike out of gratitude, this time not influenced by a spell as in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Something Blue (1999). They will kiss again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001), when they begin their secret affair.
17. While Willow, Xander, Tara and Anya in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Was Made to Love You (2001) recognized immediately April as a robot, they don't do the same about Buffybot, despite its weird demeanor and speeches. Their judgment is clearly obfuscated by their affection towards the Slayer, that makes them think it's just shock and grief.
18. Dawn is shown to steal Anya's earrings; her increasing kleptomania is eventually discovered in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Older and Far Away (2002).
19. Xander says Buffy's supposed attraction to Spike is "understandable". In different circumstances, Xander will react with disappointment when he discover Buffy has been having sex with Spike.
20. Upon hearing that Buffy was supposedly having sex with Spike, Tara says "she's nuts"; in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dead Things (2002), she's reacts more sympathetically to Buffy when she confesses the same thing.
21. Buffy finds out that "death is [her] gift", which will contribute to her insight on how to save the world in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).
22. The guide tells Buffy to "love, give, forgive. Risk the pain, it is your nature." And that "Love is pain, the slayer forges power from pain." These could be foreshadowing statements about her relationship with Spike. She forgives him for what he is and loves him for who he is. Though their relationship causes her pain (ridicule from her friends, the attempted rape by Spike), her relationship with him makes her stronger.

Tough Love

1. When the doctor is firing Ben he says that one of his excuses could be eating too many Twinkies. This refers to the "Twinkie Defence" as used by Dan White when he was on the trial for the murder of Harvey Milk (San Francisco City Supervisor) and George Moscone (San Francisco City Mayor). This was also referenced by Cordelia in season one's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of Mind, Out of Sight (1997).
2. This episode marks the last appearance of Glory's affectionate minion Jinx.
3. This is the first time that Glory is hurt by a member of the Scooby Gang; Willow's accomplishment in causing Glory pain is later remarked upon by Buffy as the first injury the Hellgoddess has received, and becomes important in the final battle against her.
4. When Dawn and Buffy enter The Magic Box early in the episode, Xander is reading an X-Men comic book. The issue, X-Men #109, is the last in that series before the death of Colossus - an event which later became pivotal to Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men.
5. Willow defends her use of magic in this line, there was cut due to length: "But it's good-witch power, not bad-witch power. You know, Glenda-in-a-bubble power, not Margaret Hamilton-on-a-bicycle power."
6. Tara and Willow have their most serious fight yet in this episode, related to Tara's unease at Willow's magic use, effectively setting up some of the next season's chief conflicts.
7. Buffy once again displays a growing ability to fight more evenly with Glory. This was last displayed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001). While she is unable to defeat her once more, something she will fail to do until "The Gift", Buffy is clearly adapting to fighting the Hellgoddess, blocking and avoiding her blows more often than getting hit by them and landing some semi-effective hits of her own. She later displays this adaptability with her later fights with Caleb in season 7, an enemy who nearly matches Glory's sheer strength.
8. Dawn says "Who cares if a key gets an education anyway?". She already said "Blobs of energy don't need an education" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001).
9. Tara expresses her fear that Willow will leave her for a man.
10. This episode is most notable for Willow's first blatantly violent, "dark" use of magic for personal reasons, complete with flashy special effects and "Dark Willow's" trademark black eyes. Willow goes after Glory not because it's the "right" thing to do, but for revenge.
11. Willow lies to her friends, leading them to believe she won't go after Glory on her own, marking the first time Willow has felt the need to lie to her friends about her magic use, something that will be a recurring theme in Season Six.
12. Buffy struggles with being Dawn's authority figure (her mother, in a sense), and essentially depends upon Giles to encourage and indeed force her to act, a theme which will lead to Giles's eventual departure in Season Six.
13. In a definite sign of Buffy's growing trust of (and lessening hostility towards) Spike, she arranges for him to watch over Dawn after Glory's attack on Tara, when she had earlier made it clear that he was to stay away from her and the Scoobies from now on.
14. Tara is brain-sucked by Glory, causing her to lose her mind. This will not be rectified until Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).
15. Glory learns that Dawn is the Key.

Spiral

1. According to Steven S. DeKnight, in the original script, the chase scene was a ten-minute long action scene that culminated with Buffy getting smacked into a tree and fighting Glory with a sheared lamp pole. "Joss read it and said 'This is great, this is wonderful, Kubrick couldn't film this in 20 days with five million dollars, so cut everything'. I'm like 'Great, okay, that's fine, as long as I get the Knights chasing the Winnebago'."
2. Willow's eyes turn black when she casts powerful spells in this episode, the third time in which this effect occurs on her, following Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tough Love (2001).
3. Xander makes a reference to The Judge and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Innocence (1998).
4. Orlando displays knowledge of Dawn's identity as the Key; in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001), she visited the mental ward looking for answers while he was there and he recognized her.
5. Although this is the first time most of the Scoobies witness Ben transform into Glory, Spike will be the only one to clearly remember this fact.
6. Buffy mentions Adam's death by pulling out his uranium power core in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000).
7. This is the second time Buffy uses a sword as a weapon; the first was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998).
8. Dante mentions having ten of his men dead; as seven Knights had been killed in this episode, he also referrers to the three men Glory killed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001).
9. This is the first and only time that Buffy kills any humans; the Knights of Byzantium that attacked the bus.
10. The spell Willow casts to repel Glory is Russian - 'Air become fist'.

The Weight of the World

1. This is the first time that Buffy's "death wish" is seen. What Buffy tells Willow in her dream about realizing that Glory will win is highly reminiscent of what Spike has previously told Buffy about all slayers having a death wish.
2. An explanation of why Dawn didn't remember Ben's transformation in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001) is provided.
3. Upon seeing the First Slayer, Willow recalled when she had tried to kill all of them in their dreams in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000).
4. Willow again took on a leadership role when Buffy was unable to do so, as she did in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Dark Age (1997) and will do again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 1 (1998).
5. This is the first time we see Willow assume leadership responsibility, even with Giles present. As her powers grow, so does her confidence. However, in Season 6, it is the growth of her powers and reckless use of magic that make Willow spiral out of control.
6. Buffy finally decides to confront Glory and save Dawn, leading to the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001). The episode also showcases for one of the first times, the intense, long-term impact certain events have had on Buffy's life and her perspective.
7. Joel Grey is credited as a "Special Guest Star" for his appearance as Doc. He was only credited as a guest star for his appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Forever (2001) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).
8. Doc refers to Dawn's attempt to resurrect Joyce in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Forever (2001).
9. It is revealed that the barrier between Ben and Glory is breaking down, allowing the Scoobies to retain the knowledge that the two share a body.
10. Glory refers to Tara as a 'Nummy Treat' much like Spike did sarcastically about Xander in the previous season.
11. Willow, in Buffy's mind, attends the conversation between Buffy and the Guide during Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Intervention (2001).

The Gift

1. Thinking that this would be the series finale, creator Joss Whedon wrote the scene in the alley at the beginning for old time's sake.
2. When Buffy ask Giles how many apocalypses they've been through, he replies "At least six, but it feels like a hundred." Depending on what you consider an apocalypse, this is correct. That it 'feels like a hundred' is a fun nod to the fact that this was the hundredth show.
3. This is the 100th show of the series.
4. As Buffy gives her final warning before the battle, Spike remarks that it was no "St. Crispin's Day speech", to which Giles says "We few, we happy few" and Spike continues "we band of buggered". This is a direct spoof the St. Crispin's Day Speech from Shakespeare's Henry V, where the title king rallies his troops. It is considered one of the most rousing war speeches ever, from which the famous "Band of Brothers" line is derived.
5. Spike initially warns Buffy about the difficulty in wielding the Enchanted Hammer, as he was unable to do so in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001). It had been acquired in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Triangle (2001) and will apparently never be used again.
6. Originally, Sunnydale was supposed to be destroyed by the Hellmouth in this episode, but it was decided to save the idea for the series finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen (2003).
7. Spike is invited back into Buffy's home after being barred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Crush (2001).
8. Buffy mentions having to sacrifice Angel to save the world, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998).
9. The outfit that Buffy wears is the same outfit that she wears in Angel: I Will Remember You (1999).
10. When Buffy asks Giles how many apocalypses they've been through, he replies "at least six"; indeed, they've averted apocalypses in [link=tt0533474, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Zeppo (1999), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doomed (2000), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000).
11. Willow and Tara performed a spell together to move something out of the way through holding each other's hands, an action similar to their first magical encounter with each other in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999).
12. Giles would have later confessed to Buffy about killing Ben in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lies My Parents Told Me (2003), but the scene was cut right before it aired.
13. Dawn being the Key becomes a non-issue after this episode; from here on, this will be mentioned in the past tense. Dawn herself says in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bargaining: Part 1 (2001): "I'm not the Key. Or if I am, I don't open anything anymore." In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Storyteller (2003), Andrew says: "Dawn used to be a key. I don't really know what that means." Her identity as the Key remains, though, as she begins exploring in the comic In Pieces on the Ground, Part Five.
14. This episode marks the final episode that Anthony Head is featured in the opening titles as "and Anthony Stewart Head as Giles", and is now replaced with Alyson Hannigan taking over as "and Alyson Hannigan as Willow" for the remainder of the series. Anthony Stewart Head is henceforth classed as a Special Guest Star.
15. It was rumored that this episode was going to be a two-hour television event called "Centenary" and to feature almost every single character from previous seasons including the entire Angel (1999) cast.
16. The "Previously on" segment immediately preceding this episode is unique compared to other episodes (both before and after). Instead of simply showing the key moments from previous episodes, this segments begins by showing clips from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Welcome to the Hellmouth (1997) in which all the main characters that first appeared in that episode (including Angel and Cordelia) introduced themselves, then clips from each episode following that one up this episode are shown. As they continue, the clips begin to go by faster until they're only a fraction of a second long.
17. Willow demonstrates the ability to communicate by telepathy with Spike, which she will later use to give orders to the group while hunting vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bargaining: Part 1 (2001). This ability will also be utilized later as well in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Showtime (2003).
18. Spike's inability to fulfill his promise to protect Dawn in this episode will reflect in his over-protection during Buffy's absence, as he and Dawn discuss in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bargaining: Part 1 (2001), and his obsession in thinking the events all over again, as he tells Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: After Life (2001).
19. Xander exclaims that smart chicks are hot and Willow asks "You couldn't have figured that out in the tenth grade?", a reference to the crush Willow had on Xander during seasons 1 and 2. Her feelings are unrequited until their secret affair in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Homecoming (1998).
20. Joss Whedon joked at the Noctural convention in 2001 that Anya was originally supposed to die in this episode, however, he had to keep her alive because Emma Caulfield Ford kept moving as Xander was carrying Anya.
21. As mentioned by Joss Whedon in the DVD commentaries for both this episode and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen (2003), this episode was originally written to serve as the series finale, and several ideas that were used in the real finale were originally written for this episode.
22. Willow's successful communication with Spike via telepathy indicates that vampires can receive projected thoughts even though, as Angel stated in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Earshot (1999), their own thoughts cannot be read.
23. After being beheaded by Glory, Buffybot will be repaired and used again as a Buffy decoy, until her final destruction in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bargaining: Part 2 (2001).
24. Buffy describes Willow as the only one among the Scoobies who had demonstrated an ability to hurt Glory until this point, in reference to her attack in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tough Love (2001).
25. Buffy has flashbacks of when she told she and Dawn shared Summers blood, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties (2001), and the Guide's message to her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Intervention (2001).
26. Angel: The Shroud of Rahmon (2000), here portraying the unidentified vampire, has also portrayed Broomfield in Angel: The Shroud of Rahmon (2000).
27. Buffy's death does not cause the activation of a new Slayer. This can be attributed to the fact that her death in the season one's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (1997) caused the activation of Slayer Kendra Young, who then died and was replaced by Faith Lehane. It can be assumed that because Buffy has already died and been replaced by a new Slayer, she is technically no longer the "active" Slayer, and that the Slayer line now runs through Faith.
28. As the gang is leaving the Magic Box, Tara points at Giles and says "You're a killer" as if she knows that he is the only one with it in him to kill Ben.
29. Last appearance of Anthony Head (Giles) as a regular. He left the show so he could spend more time with his family in England. He then continued to appear as a guest star 22 times for the rest of the show which brought him to 123 in total for the duration of the series including the unaired pilot.
30. This is the last original episode to air on the Warner Bros. Network. Because of this, The WB promoted this episode as the "series finale" and not the "season finale" since the show will air on UPN for the following season.
31. Buffy's tombstone reads "Buffy Anne Summers 1981-2001 Beloved Sister Devoted Friend She Saved the World A Lot."
32. Buffy's statement to Dawn, "The hardest thing in this world... Is to live in it", is repeated by Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling (2001) after Buffy reveals that she had been in heaven and that she feels miserable for being alive again.
33. Before jumping into the portal, there is a subtle suggestion that Buffy would in fact end up in heaven; opposed to hell. Before she sacrifices herself Buffy sees the sun rise.
34. In the original script, Dawn was supposed to sacrifice herself in Buffy's place.
35. There is a foreshadowing early on that Buffy will end up in heaven, when she says "I just want to be with Mom" the piece "Sacrifice" starts to play. This piece also plays when Buffy jumps into the portal at the end, the piece singing offers that Buffy will in fact be with her mother soon.
36. This episode was criticized by the Parents Television Council for showing a character committing suicide, ignoring the context in which Buffy's self-sacrifice occurred.
37. Willow will go to Los Angeles to let Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley know that Buffy is dead, in Angel: There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb (2001).
38. Other than obviously Dawn, the most stricken Scoobies by Buffy's death, openly crying, are Spike and Willow, who in the next season are villains, Spike only in one episode where he is trying to rape her, the other one becoming the big bad and trying to kill her. The other ones just look sad and grim.
39. Buffy's death has been foreshadowed in her dreams twice: in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999), when Faith told her "Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0" two seasons/years (730 days) before, and in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Restless (2000), when a clock read 7:30 and Tara said it was completely wrong, since one whole year had passed.
40. In an exchange with Willow, Buffy calls Willow "her big gun" to which Willow responds, "I was never a gun, someone else should be a gun." In season 6, Tara is shot by Warren. Here Willow is foreshadowing the events of season 6 when she and Tara come into conflict about Willow's use of magic, and it's only when they reconcile that Tara is killed by Warren. Willow then goes on to try to destroy the world. Here she offers her defense that it was Warren, with a gun that killed Tara, which leads to her becoming Dark Willow.