The Body
- Episode aired Feb 27, 2001
- TV-PG
- 1h
Buffy, Dawn, and their friends deal with the aftermath of Joyce's death.Buffy, Dawn, and their friends deal with the aftermath of Joyce's death.Buffy, Dawn, and their friends deal with the aftermath of Joyce's death.
- Anya
- (as Emma Caulfield)
- Spike
- (credit only)
- Rupert Giles
- (as Anthony Stewart Head)
- 911 Operator
- (voice)
- Lisa
- (as Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording 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.
- GoofsParamedics in the state of California are not allowed to pronounce death. Joyce would have been taken to the hospital where it is likely she would have been pronounced DOA. Also, once paramedics begin CPR, it is usually not allowed to be stopped until someone with a higher degree of medical training takes over.
- Quotes
Anya: Are they gonna cut the body open?
Willow Rosenberg: Oh my God! Would you just stop talking? Just... shut your mouth, please!
Anya: What am I doing?
Willow Rosenberg: How can you act like that?
Anya: Am I supposed to be changing my clothes a lot? I mean, is that the helpful thing to do?
Xander Harris: Guys...
Willow Rosenberg: The way you behave...
Anya: Nobody will tell me.
Willow Rosenberg: Because it's not okay for you to be asking these things!
Anya: But I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens,
[starts crying]
Anya: how we go through this. I mean, I *knew* her, and then she's- There's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore. It's stupid. It's mortal and stupid. And-And Xander's crying and not talking. And-And I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well, "Joyce will never have any more fruit punch, *ever*, and she'll never have eggs or yawn or brush her hair, not ever." And no one will explain to me why.
- Crazy creditsInstead of the regular opening credits, a flashback scene was created that consisted of the whole cast having Christmas dinner at the Summers' house. It was created so as not to have written credits appearing over the dramatic opening scenes.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001)
If art is the attempt to perfectly capture an emotion or an idea through a medium (whether it's music, prose, visual, etc.), then it would not be an exaggeration to say that this episode is a masterpiece. If art, and not entertainment, is the measure of quality television then I could, with certainty, say that this is the best hour of television ever produced. It may be the best thing ever filmed.
As a rather critical person, I realize how silly the praise above sounds. I think many people who haven't experienced the loss of a parent won't "get it." But those that have should come away with similar praise.
- turbozed
- Jan 29, 2011