Overall Rating: 9.5 Matt: 10.0 Eric: 9.0 Writer/Director: Joss Whedon Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers, Amber Benson as Tara, Randy Thompson as Doctor Kriegel, J. Evan Bonenfant as Kevin, Rae’ven Larrymore Kelly as Lisa, Kelli Garner as Kirstie. Original broadcast date : February 27, 2001 My one-line description: This episode foreshadows angst-ridden Season 6. Buffy walks into her house and finds her mother lying limply on the sofa, glassy eyes staring at the ceiling. She calls out to her, but doesn’t get an answer. "Mommy?" she says in a small voice… Buffy has a flashback to a Christmas dinner, where herself, Anya, Willow, Tara, Xander and Giles compliment Joyce on the cooking. Buffy helps her mother take a slightly-burnt pumpkin pie out of the oven. Giles opens another bottle of wine, while Joyce teases Buffy and kisses her affectionately. Buffy stares at her unmoving mother. Suddenly, she runs to her and starts shaking her, calling her name. Joyce doesn’t answer. Buffy calls 911 and tells the operator that her mother isn’t breathing. She gives her address, and the operator asks if Buffy knows how to do CPR. She gives Buffy some instructions on how to proceed, and Buffy goes over to Joyce and tries it. Unfortunately, with her Slayer strength, she cracks one of Joyce’s ribs and panics. Picking up the phone, she tells the operator what happened, and the woman reassures her – the paramedics are coming. Then Buffy mentions that her mother is cold – after a pause, the operator gravely tells her to wait for the paramedics. Buffy hangs up and calls Giles, leaving a succinct message on his answering machine. Then she steps outside, where sirens can already be heard. The paramedics come in, move Joyce to the floor, and immediately notice that she doesn’t have a pulse. They put a plastic tube in her throat to get her to breathe, and start performing CPR and pushing air into her lungs. Joyce moves and coughs, and the paramedics prepare to take her to the hospital. In the ambulance, one of the paramedics comments that it’s a miracle; later, as the doctor tells Joyce she’s as good as new, she thanks her daughter for finding her in time. It’s not to be. In the living room, Buffy notices that her mother’s heart monitor shows a flat line. The paramedics give up, and one of them announces the bad news to Buffy. Her mother probably died a while before she was found, and there’s nothing Buffy could have done. He explains that her mother probably died of an aneurysm, and suffered very little. They get another call, and leave with some kind words for Buffy. She watches them leave, in shock. Buffy walks slowly towards the kitchen until she falls to her knees and throws up on the carpet. Getting up, she walks to the back door and opens it, taking in the sights and sounds of life – a wind chime, children playing, the bright sun… Closing the door, she fetches a paper towel and cleans up her vomit. Giles bursts in, wondering what’s going on – is Glory here? Then he sees Joyce, and runs to give her CPR. Buffy shouts that it’s too late, and that they’re not supposed to move the body. Realizing what she just said, she covers her mouth; Giles comes over to hug her as she stares at the body in pure horror. Sometime later, the coroner arrives and zips Joyce in a body bag. In a bathroom at school, Dawn is crying. A guy named Kevin called her a freak, but her friend Lisa tries to comfort her by saying he called her freaky, which can be cool. Apparently a girl, Kirstie, has also been spreading some ugly things about Dawn – she likes to cut herself, she’s adopted… Dawn comments that her big sister could beat the crap out of Kirstie. On the way to art class, Dawn puts on a brave – and hypocritical – face towards Kirstie. In class, the students have to make a charcoal drawing of a nude Greek statue; but Dawn’s attention is on Kevin, whom she has a crush on. The two teens start to share small talk, and it seems to be very promising… until Buffy shows up in the hallway, her face grim. She enters and says a word to the teacher, and then walks up to Dawn and takes her outside. Dawn asks where their mother is, and Buffy says there’s been an accident. The class witnesses the rest from the other side of the window. Dawn starts wailing, and then collapses to the floor in sobs as the students watch in concern. Focus on Dawn’s unfinished drawing. At the hospital, a pair of gloved hands opens the body bag and cuts into Joyce’s shift. In Willow’s room, the redhead tries to decide what to wear. Outside, Xander and Anya arrive in his car, grim-faced. Tara sees them from the window and tells Willow. The redhead throws the green blouse she was holding on a pile of clothes on the bed. Outside, Anya points out to Xander that they’re double-parked. Xander replies that he doesn’t care if he gets a ticket. Upstairs, Willow panics as she tries to figure out what would be appropriate to wear. She’s upset that all her clothes have stupid things on them, and that she can’t be a grownup. As she sobs, Tara tries to comfort her, telling her she’ll get through this, she has to be strong. Anya and Xander walk up to Willow and Tara’s room. Anya is bewildered by all this, and doesn’t know what will be expected of her. In the room, Xander and Willow – now wearing a green t-shirt and a pink sweater – share a hug. Willow’s afraid to start crying again, and Anya reveals that Xander cried at the apartment. Silence falls, and Anya asks what happens now; Willow answers that the plan is to meet the others at the morgue. Xander asks whether Joyce’s death was natural – he suspects Glory, and then the doctors who were supposed to take care of Buffy’s mom. Willow tries to get him to accept that no one is to blame, and Xander puts his arms around her and kisses her on the forehead. Anya makes the gang uncomfortable by asking if they’ll see the body, and Willow changes the subject by wishing for a blue sweater Joyce liked. Then Anya asks if Joyce’s body will be cut open, and this time Willow orders her to shut up. Anya breaks down and shouts that she doesn’t understand why Joyce has to be dead, and no one will explain it to her. Willow replies that they don’t know how it works. Anya distracts herself by tucking a blue sweater she just pulled out of a sofa in an open drawer, and Xander finally punches the wall in grief, getting his fist stuck in it. He retrieves his fist, now bloody, and looks at it. "It hurts", Tara comments. Xander silently goes to wash in the sink, and the Scoobies leave for the morgue. Joyce’s body lies on a metal table, covered with a white cloth. Dr. Kriegel, having finished his autopsy, turns off the lights and walks out. He goes to the waiting room, where the whole gang has assembled. Giles, Dawn and Buffy go over to him, and he explains that Joyce had an aneurysm – an artery in her brain ruptured. He adds that it was probably very sudden, with little pain. Even had someone been by her side… "Oh, Buffy, my head", Joyce says, sitting on the sofa. The paramedics rush her to the hospital, and Joyce recovers in bed. "… it’s doubtful this could have been dealt with in time", Kriegel finishes. He adds that he’s almost certain there was no pain, but Buffy isn’t sure that’s what she heard… The doctor says there are forms to be filled out, and Giles offers to take care of the paperwork. As Giles leaves with the doctors, Buffy and Dawn sit down with the gang. Dawn suddenly gets up to go to the washroom. After she’s left, Buffy comments that she thinks Dawn is angry at her – when she told Dawn the bad news, her sister didn’t believe her. She thinks Dawn still doesn’t believe it. The gang gets up to go fetch some snacks, and Buffy stays alone with Tara. The witch tells Buffy that her own mother died when she was 17, so she can relate to what Buffy is feeling. She tells the Slayer that if she needs to talk… "Was it sudden?" Buffy asks. Tara replies no, than yes… it’s always sudden. Dawn comes out of the washroom and sees Buffy and Tara, but turns the other way – towards the doors to the morgue. She looks through the windows, and then walks in and locks the door behind her. Walking past the rows of covered bodies, she stops in front of the one she thinks is her mother. For a moment, she looks at the white sheet, preparing to take it off her mother’s face. But behind her, a just-awakened vampire sits up, spots her and starts sneaking up to her… As the gang returns with snacks, they wonder why Dawn hasn’t returned from the washroom yet. Buffy gets up and goes to look for her sister; seeing the doors to the morgue are near the washroom, she goes in that direction. Through the door windows, Buffy sees the vampire attacking her sister. She breaks the doors open, and struggles to get the vampire away from Dawn. In the fight, the sheet over Joyce’s body is inadvertently pulled enough to reveal her face. Dawn, hiding under the metallic table, can see the top of her mother’s head. After decapitating the vampire with a surgical saw, Buffy sees her sister slowly get up, not taking her eyes off Joyce. Buffy reminds her sister that the body isn’t their mother – she’s gone. Dawn wants to know where she went, but Buffy stays silent, not having an answer. Slowly, Dawn’s hand moves towards Joyce’s face. Fade to black. Summary by OttsFiveByFive.