Doublemeat Palace (29 Jan. 2002)

When Buffy gets a job at the Doublemeat Palace, a local fast-food restaurant, she begins to believe that disappearing co-workers and the secret ingredient to the restaurant's hamburger may be connected.

Director:

Nick Marck

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Jane Espenson

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Emma Caulfield

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Emma Caulfield	...	Anya
Michelle Trachtenberg	...	Dawn Summers
James Marsters	...	Spike
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Elizabeth Anne Allen	...	Amy Madison
Pat Crawford Brown	...	Old Lady
Brent Hinkley	...	Manny
Kirsten Nelson	...	Lorraine Ross
Kali Rocha	...	Halfrek
Thomas Michael Ferguson	...	Gary (as T. Ferguson)
Marion Calvert	...	Gina
Douglas Bennett	...	Phillip
Andrew Reville	...	Timothy

Storyline

Starved for cash, Buffy gets a job in a fast food restaurant where the weird manager and high turnover of employees has her more than a little suspicious. When co-workers start ending up in pieces, the mystery behind the "secret ingredient" comes into question. Meanwhile, Willow continues to struggle with magic, and one of Anya's oldest friends stops by for a visit.

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Plot Keywords:

sister sister relationship | heroine | female protagonist | lesbian

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 January 2002 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Casting Decisions: Kali Rocha who plays Halfrek was also featured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fool for Loveas Cecily Addams, Spikes woman of desire who turns him down.

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Quotes

Manny: I'm Manny the manager. It's not a joke, it's just my name.

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Connections

References Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

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Soundtracks

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer Theme"
Written by Nerf Herder
Performed by Brandon K. Verrett

User Reviews

This episode's sooo spaced out...

**Please ignore the horrible pun. I usually avoid puns, but it was so fitting that I just kept it** (not that anyone will read this anyway)

This episode is very un-Buffy. Its a quirky Soylent Green meets Burger King episode filled with awkward dark humor, and there's a reason for this: Its very reminiscent to Daisy's half of the Spaced episode "Mettle", down to the awkward boss and "mysterious firings" (though the morale is ruining creativity vs. unhealthy food). Still cool that someone else appreciate awesome British TV shows.

Anyway, from the reviews, its a very underrated episode. The whole surreal nature of the episode works really well. Working in fast-food, the whole atmosphere is sadly realistic to how its really like. A great parody, really, and a great way to break up the season's depressing story arc. The biggest con is the effects of the baddie at the end is so low-budget it looks like something from Troll 2. I mean, its really laughably bad. Guess kinda fitting with the B-movie plot, but they really coulda tried a bit here...

Its really a love it or hate it kind of episode. I kind of get the complaints that its a one-off sort of plot that should of been a sidepoint rather than a whole episode. I mean, Spaced dedicated like 5 minutes of the episode on this, while the rest was robot wars. Then again, the Soylent Green aspect wasn't really there, and the show's a legit comedy.

Watch it, and you'll definitely form an opinion strong enough to go on IMDb and write a review. Whether you like it or not, its definitely a memorable episode.