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
- TriviaJoss Whedon wanted the scenes to be long which is why there are four scenes (other than the Christmas scene). Whedon has stated that he wanted to capture how time feels stuck when grief strikes. There is no music, either, because Whedon said that music is a comfort to the audience.
- 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)
Buffy reverts to a child about the same age as Dawn when she discovers the body. Anya is more human than she is at any other moment of the series when she admits her profound confusion over Joyce's death, and cries. Zander, ever male in his childishness, wants to hit someone--or something--in his anger at the injustice of natural death. Willow can't find who she is, because she can't define herself without the "right" top. And Dawn has to see the reality of her mom's death with her own eyes, because her own reality is so iffy. Powerful moments for each character to face and it's the soundtrack of everyday life that frames each character's confrontation with reality, not music. Another brave choice by Joss Whedon and the perfect counterpoint to his "Hush" that succeeds just as perfectly.
- christowhelan
- Feb 16, 2007