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Episode Big Bads Spike’s
Inner Demons – It is unclear if Spike is hallucinating the people from his
past, or if it is an Old Evil is torturing him. We will have to wait and see. Episode References - In
the teaser there is a ribbon cutting ceremony for the reopening of the newly
rebuilt Sunnydale High, on the very ground that it first stood upon. Sunnydale
High was destroyed in the Season 3 episode “Graduation
Day: Part 2”. The destruction of the school was necessary to defeat Mayor
Wilkins in his new ascended form, a giant demon snake. The method of destruction
was a powerful bomb built to emulate the demons previous defeat in a lava
bed. - In Act 1 -
In Act 1 -
In Act 1 - In
Act 1 -
In Act 1 Buffy says, “Ah, you put the box near the milk. I saw it on the food
channel.” The food channel is a cable TV network whose shows deal with food
and food preparation (Cooking Shows). Hence she saw how to prepare cereal there. -
In Act 1 Buffy says,
“My sister's about to go to the same high school that tried to kill me for
three years.” This is obviously a reference to Seasons 1,
2, and 3 of
the show, in which Buffy and her friends primarily did battle with elements from
or drawn to the Hellmouth, which the school was built on. -
In Act 1 Buffy followed the line above with “I can't change districts, I can't
afford private school” This is a reference to Buff and Dawn’s poor financial
situation, brought on by the death of Buffy’s
mother Joyce, and Buffy’s inability to find a good
job. -
In Act 1 Dawn says (When first seeing Xander's suit), “Hey. Check out double-O
Xander.” This is in reference to the Ian Fleming character James Bond, who
works for the British spy organization M-I6. Bond has reached the level referred
to as Double O agent, and has been designated 007. Bond is known for being
dashing, daring, and well dressed. Not to mention his knack with the ladies.
This reference is obviously aimed a Xander’s clothing. -
In Act 1 Xander Says, “Well the last two principals were eaten. Who would even
apply for that job?” This is in reference to Principle Flutie and Snyder.
Principle Flutie was eaten by hyena possessed students in the season 1 episode
“The Pack”. Principle Snyder was eaten by the
ascended Mayor Wilkins in the season 3 episode “Graduation Day: Part 2”. -
In Act 1 when Buffy is talking to Dawn at school she instructs her, “And stay
away from hyena people, or any loser-type athletes, you know, or if you see
anyone that's invisible.” The
hyena people reference is to the Season 1 episode “The
Pack”, in which students are possessed by the spirits of hyenas. The
loser-type athletes is a reference to Larry, the mean jock turned very out
football player, and / or the fish enhanced swimmers in the Season 2 episode “Go
Fish”. The “anyone that’s invisible” refers to the Season 1 episode
“Out of Mind, Out of Sight” where a girl whom
everyone ignored, turns invisible because of it, and lashes out against popular
students at SHS. -
In Act 1 when Dawn was saying good bye to Buffy she says, “I know! You never
know what's coming. The stake is not the power. To Serve Man is a cookbook. I
love you. Go away.” The statement “To Serve Man is a cookbook.” Is a
reference to the Twilight Zone episode “To
Serve Man” written by Rod
Sterling and originally airing on -
In Act 2 when Dawn is introducing herself to the class she says, “I'm very
into Britney Spears' early work, before she sold out. So mostly her, um, finger
painting and macaroni art. Very underrated.” This is a reference to mega
popular pop star Britney Spears. Britney got her break appearing on The Mickey
Mouse Club (Which also included pop star Christina Aguilera) at age 11. In 1999
she released her first album “Baby One More Time”, catapulting her into
stardom. Since then she has released two more albums, become a one of Pepsi’s
star promoters, had her own HBO live concert and stared in a feature film Crossroads. This reference though is obviously poking fun at Spears,
another popular trend in recent times. - In
Act 2 when Halifrek and Anya at the coffee shop Halifrek says, “It's the talk
of the order. They're calling you "Miss Soft serve." Tell me you don't
know this.” Soft
Serve
is a term used to describe a complete category of ice cream and frozen dessert
products. Soft Serve products are frozen in and dispensed directly from the
freezer to the customer. It is a softer (obviously) slightly warmer counter part
to ice cream. It is used in milk shakes, almost all the ice cream at Dairy
Queen, and is round regularly at buffet style restraints, due to its lo cost and
high profit margins. -
In Act 2 when Halifrek
and Anya at the coffee shop Halifrek says, “Listen, Anya. I know I've always
been a little competitive with you. I mean, there was that thing in the Crimean
War.” In the years 1854 to 1856, -
In Act 2 when Halifrek
and Anya at the coffee shop Anya says, “Well, what is this--an intervention?
Shouldn't all my demon friends be here?” An intervention is a commonly used
therapy practice in which the friends of the person whom they are worried about
(Usually an alcohol or drug abuser) is confronted and forced to recognize their
problem by their family and close friends. It is usually a successful practice. -
In Act 2, in the same
conversation above, Halifrek mentions D'Hoffrin. D'Hoffrin is the head of the
vengeance demons. We first met him in the Season 3 episode “Dopplegangland”
where she begs him to create a temporal fold in time so she can go back to the
alternate reality from "The Wish" and
retrieve her amulet. We meet him again in the Season 4 episode “Something
Blue” where -
In Act 3 while Buffy is confronting the manifest spirits of students past she
says, in response to one of the spirits saying they would like to date Dawn,
“Again, wrong sister. I'm the one that dates dead guys. And, no offense, but
they were hotties. I mean, I'm sure you had a great personality, but...” This
is a reference to Buffy’s relationship with Angel in Seasons 1,
2, and 3, and
her relationship with Spike in Season 6. -
In Act 4 after Principle woods sees the interaction between Buffy and Dawn, Kit,
and Carlos, he says to himself, “Curiouser and curiouser.” This is a
reference to Lewis Carroll Alice
books. ( -
At the very end of the episode Spike is being confronted by a morphing evil or
hallucination. The references are in appearance order. Glory
– The big bad of Season 5. Glory is an Evil
God cast out of her deminsion and forced to share a body with the human Ben.
Glory is finally killed when Giles kills Ben in the Season 5 finally (and 100th
episode) “The Gift”. Adam
– Adam is a Demon, man, and machine hybrid. He was created by Initiative
scientist Maggie Walsh in room 314. Adam was introduced in the Season 4 episode
“The I in Team” Adam killed his creator and
atemted to start some kind of evil revolution. His life functions were
terminated in the episode “Primevil” By the
combined forces (thanks to a spell) of Buffy, Giles, Mayor
Wilkins – Sunnydale’s Mayor for a countless number of years. He was killed
during the execution of his master plan by being blown up in the Season 3
episode “Graduation Day: Part 2”. The Mayor
was the primary Big Bad in Season 3 (Despite
being and extremely nice guy). Drusilla
– Drusilla was Spike’s girlfriend and love of his life, until she left him
for a fungus demon (Season 4 episode “The Harsh
Light of Day”). Dru was later badly burned by Angel (On his Series) when he
sets Dru and Darla on fire after they teamed up with Wolfram and Heart to
torture him in the Angel Season 2 episode "Redefinition". The
Master – The series’ first big bad and Darla’s sire, Angel’s grandsire,
Dru’s Great grandsire, and Spike’s great great grand sire. The master was
trapped in a church when a spell he was performing in 1937 to resurrect the
“Great Old Ones” was interrupted by an earthquake. Throughout Season 1
The Master was trying to free himself from his prison. The master was
successful, but was also killed in the episode “Prophesy
Girl”. The Masters Clan, The Order of Aurelius, lead by the Anointed One,
tried to resurrect The Master using his Skeleton in the Season 2 episode “When
She was Bad”, but Buffy stops them and smashes his bones to dust with a
sledge hammer. *The master is not heard from again until the Dreamers Hijack
Dru’s body and force Spike to reunite The Order of Aurelius (Because he is in
the Master bloodline). The Dreamers need the Master’s skills in sorcery to
complete their plan. With Spike and the last of the order’s help the Dreamers
resurrect The Master in spirit form. The Master then takes Angels body to help
the Dreamers with their scheme. Buffy triumphs over the Master and the Dreamers
when Spike betrays then so he can be sure that he and Dru are safe. With
Spike’s help and a spell that cast The Master out of Angel’s (Or anyone’s
for that matter) body. Buffy and the Scoobies were able to defeat the Master
using a powerful and difficult spell to give the master corporeal form so he
could be defeated. For good, we will have to wait and see. Episode Observations, Nitpicks, and
Assumptions -
In the opening credits I noticed the Demons, Demons, Demons website used in the
first season of Angel. Is this a hint of possible crossovers? Maybe! Despite
popular fan-boy assumptions just because shows are on different networks does
not mean that a show cannot cross over (I.E. Ally McBeal and The Practice), the
main factor is the production company. As we all know BtVS, AtS, and Firefly are
all fox shows, despite what network they may be on. So a crossover would be left
up solely to Fox. We saw no crossovers last season because of the bad blood
between UPN and the WB. Fox most likely held off on crossovers as to not through
gas (or Petrol) on the UPN / WB fire. Now that things have cooled off some who
knows what could happen. -
In this episode we notice Xander with snazzy new clothes and a new car (Which
looks like a Chrysler Sebring. The license plate reads 3PCE187.) This is most
likely because of new work that Xander is in charge of. (He supervised the
school and he mentions meeting with clients.) Yea Xander! -
In the episode Spike and Halie refer to a new big bad brewin. Maybe it has
something to do with the dead girl in the teaser… -
When Dawn arrives a the brand new SHS she says that it is her first day of High
School, when se clearly stated that she started high school last season, seems
like the Lil’ Bit is awful forgetful. -
Principle Wood confuses Buffy with Dawn’s Mom, later he tells Buffy that he
has read her file. If this is true then he presumably would have red Dawn’s
file and knew that her mother had died. It is possible that Wood could have
assumed that Buffy was Dawn’s stepmother (Since her father is still alive) but
it most likely would have listed Buffy as Dawn guardian. Is it a plot goof? You
be the Judge. (But not the pale blue one with the horns, “What’s that do?”
Ha, Ha!!!) |