Halloween (27 Oct. 1997)

On Halloween, Buffy and her friends patronize an unusual costume shop where customers turn into whatever costume they are wearing.

Director:

Bruce Seth Green

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Carl Ellsworth

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz	...	Angel
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Seth Green	...	Oz
James Marsters	...	Spike
Robin Sachs	...	Ethan Rayne
Juliet Landau	...	Drusilla
Armin Shimerman	...	Principal Snyder
Larry Bagby	...	Larry Blaisdell (as Larry Bagby III)
Twyla Banks	...	Girl / Gennie

Storyline

It turns out that Halloween is the one night of the year when vampires actually lay low, so everybody is getting their costumes from the new store in town, Ethan's Costume Shop. Buffy wears a noble woman's dress from the time when Angel was human, Xander dresses up like a soldier, and Willow chickens out on dressing like a hooker and goes as a ghost. But Ethan Rayne, the shop owner, has invoked the Roman god Janus so everybody becomes their costume. That means all the kids in the neighborhood are now monsters and Buffy thinks she is an 18th-century maiden who faints at the sight of demons and vampires.

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Plot Keywords:

halloween | female protagonist | library | heroine

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

27 October 1997 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer Carl Ellsworth was fired by Joss Whedon immediately after completing the script for this episode.

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Goofs

Willow can't touch anything, but when she leaves the costume shop we hear her shut the shop door.

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Quotes

Willow Rosenberg: She couldn't have dressed up like Xena?

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Connections

Referenced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Innocence (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Shy"
Performed by Epperley

User Reviews

A classic BTVS episode

This is not only one of the funniest episodes of the season, it's also an important one. It introduces Giles' arch-enemy Ethan Rayne and Xander's on-again, off-again bully, Larry, both of whom will be in more episodes to come. It provides us with our first glimpse of the harder-edged Giles lurking behind the tweed and library books. It sets-up the recurring joke that Halloween is an embarrassment to the truly evil, with Spike growing more and more disgusted with it's commericalization as the years go on. This episode will also be cited repeated throughout the rest of the series. For example, Xander's Army-guy training will be discussed right into season seven. "Halloween" is one of the episodes that you really shouldn't skip. It's a classic episode that shows BTVS at it's comedic best.

The episode revolved around Halloween in Sunnydale, where everyone is suddenly transformed into whatever they're dressed as. It begins with, Xander, Buffy and Willow being "volunteered" by Snyder to take neighborhood children trick-or-treating. Having seen Cordy flirting with Angel, Buffy is determined to "wow" him with her costume. She dresses up like an 18th Century lady, convinced that he'll be more attracted to her if she looks like the women from his youth. Xander, meanwhile, dresses up like a soldier and Willow hides the revealing outfit that Buffy made her wear under a white, sheet-like, ghost costume. It should be a fairly simple evening, but being Sunnydale, things soon go wrong. Unfortunately for the Scoobie's, Giles' nemesis Ethan Rayne is in town and he's cooking up a spell to turn everyone into their Halloween costumes. Soon Xander is shooting a machine gun, Buffy is fainting and simpering in the face of danger and Willow is walking through walls. Meanwhile, Spike arrives to take advantage of the situation and starts recruiting the newly transformed children/monsters into a slayer hunting party. It's up to Giles to stop Ethan before Buffy and the rest of the town is destroyed.

There's a lot to like about this episode. I think Angel, Buffy and Cordy's scene at the beginning of the episode is cute. I pretty sure that's the first time we see Angel laugh. And who can resist Spike and Dru? I just adore watching them together. Video taping Buffy so he can study her weaknesses is just so.... Spike. Unlike Angel he gleefully adapts to technology and uses all situations to his own advantage. I also love the scene where Willow, Xander, Cordy and Buffy are hiding at Buffy's house. Buffy and Xander's memory loss is hilarious, especially when Angel arrives. Spike's right, the whole episode is just... "neat."

On the downside, and I'm nitpicking here, but how that vampire just walked into Buffy's kitchen? He should have needed an invitation, even if he was just an ordinary person transformed into a vampire, right? The spell made everyone turn into their costumes, so technically he would be a vampire now and have to follow the "you need to invite them in" rule. Also, I can't believe how easily Spike captured Angel and the Scoobies. Good grief, he didn't even have to break a sweat! Angel's a better fighter than that. Also I'm not convinced that Angel ever knew any noble women in his human life. He was the wastrel son of an Irish merchant. His family, much to young Angel's dismay, only had one servant. I think it's sweet when he talks to Buffy at the end of the episode, reassuring her that she's far more interesting than any of the noble women he once knew. But, I don't think he's being entirely accurate.

My favorite part of the episode: Buffy's reaction to seeing a car for the first time, "It's a demon!" This is the exact same response Angel will have when he looses his memory and sees LA traffic speeding by in the "Angel" episode "Spin the Bottle."