BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 6.11 GONE

SMG on Craig Ferguson (cuz she is cute and funny)

WRITER: David Fury

DIRECTOR: David Fury

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

To help Willow in her recovery Buffy and Dawn clear the house of any and all magic items and supplies. But while they are doing so, Buffy receives an unwelcome visit from Spike, followed by an even more unwelcome visit from a social worker who has come to check up on Dawn's home life. Unfortunately the meeting with the social worker doesn't go well. That, alone with Spike's insistent lustful presence drives the now furious-with-herself Slayer to run upstairs and hack off her long blond hair. Meanwhile, across town, the Geek Trio have built themselves an invisibility ray and while out testing it accidentally go and hit Buffy with the ray as she is leaving the hairdressers, turning her invisible. Slayer related hijinks ensue.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

The freedom of being invisible, of being freed to do what you want and behave how you want without anybody knowing. Also, as far as Buff is concerned, she is free from the judging eyes of her friends and from Spike's lustful eyes and Dawn's angry eyes. But most importantly she is free from having to look in to her own eyes, free from seeing herself and who she thinks she has become.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

The Geek Trio I guess, though mostly Warren who it is becoming clear is the one who truly has no problem hurting others, especially women.

WHY IT ROCKS

A nice idea. Becoming invisible is a standard for almost every scifi/horror/fantasy series. But as always with Buffy it is used primarily as a means to explore character. In this case it is about how Buffy sees herself and how she thinks others see her...or don't see her. The show already did one episode concerning invisibility, season one's Out of Sight, Out of Mind, in which teenage Marcie became invisible for real after being ignored and sidelined by her peers for so long. That story was about alienation and teen rage. This one is about adult life pressures and guilt.

Funny. Okay, forget the metaphor and larger season arc, Gone is simply a very funny episode with more than one laugh out loud moment. Writer/director David Fury is not afraid to go very silly (and pretty raunchy) to make us smile. And it works.

Buffy larks around. Many good ones from Buff as she enjoys her new found invisible freedom. Love the 'eye' balls at the Magic Box, stealing the meter man's car (“So long coppa!”) and The Shining inspired repetitive typing at the social worker's office designed to freak the poor woman out (All work and no play makes Doris a dull girl.) Heh.

Spike doing his 'push ups'. Oh Xander, surely you can't be that dense? Walking in on Spike in bed humping away on an invisible Buffy and falling for Spike's 'I'm exercising' line. Plus you can clearly see Spike's ear moving as it is being nibbled on while he talks to Xander. Mind you, if I was Xan I wouldn't think Buff would be doing that kind of thing with Spike either. But whatever the case, the scene is very, very funny. And love how it ends with invisible Buff winning over a petulant Spike by giving him a special happy as, taken by surprise, he looks down at his (out of shot) groin and states, 'Hey, that's cheating.' Tsk tsk. Naughty Buff.

Direction. David Fury does a great job directing his script. His direction is wonderfully inventive, especially how he treats invisible Buffy and the invisible Trio as if you could still see them, following them 'in shot', zooming in for reaction shots we can't see, and shooting an invisible fight scene as if it were all entirely visible. Great stuff and most amusing.

WHY IT SUCKS

Very silly. Okay, maybe it does get a bit too silly for its own good. And the Trio, while fun, are still just three clever twits messing about and doing nothing very compelling.

Buffy's hair. Blimey! Never before (or since) has so much attention been paid to Buffy's hair as in this episode. Everyone and their sister comments and has an opinion on it. At least Xander has the good sense to be exasperated by this, just like the audience. It is obvious that in the first act SMG is wearing a pretty heinous wig which she then hacks away at before heading to the hairdressers for her new short do. I'm guessing SMG got her hair cut meaning they had to shoe horn this in for continuity sake.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

Spike's exercise routine

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Buffy: So you three have, what... banded together to be pains in my ass?
Warren Meers: We're your "arch-nemesises-ses".

Buffy (to social worker): You know, I know what that looks like, but I-I swear it's not what it looks like. It's magic weed. It's not mine.

Jonathan Levinson: [Warren almost hits Jonathon with an invisibility ray] You penis!

Andrew Wells (about the invisible ray gun): I pictured something cooler. More ILM, less Ed Wood.

Xander: [as Xander walks in on Spike on top of invisible Buffy] Spike? What are you doing?
Spike: What am I-... What does it look like I'm doing, you nit? I'm exercising, aren't I?
[starts doing "push-ups"]
Xander: Exercising? Naked? In bed?
Spike: A man shouldn't use immortality as an excuse to let himself go. You gotta keep fit for killing.
Xander: Ya-huh.

AND ANOTHER THING

Doris the social worker is played by Susan Ruttan who you may remember played Arnie Becker's secretary Roxanne in LA Law

Doris's co-worker in the Social Services Office is played by writer/director David Fury's wife Elin Hampton. Together the couple co-wrote Season 2's "Go Fish".

Gone is the first episode without Amber Benson (Tara) since season five's 'Into The Woods' and marks only the sixth episode without her since she was introduced in season four's 'Hush'.

Buffy cheerily whistles a bit of Going Through the Motions from Once More, With Feeling after making social worker Doris Kroger look crazy.

HOW MANY STAKES?

Gone but not forgotten. 3.5 (out of 5)

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 6.10 WRECKED

Trailer

WRITER: Marti Noxon

DIRECTOR: David Solomon

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

Returning home the next morning following their respective nights out, Buffy is ashamed of having slept with Spike and Willow is exhausted from having used so much magic. Later, still feeling drained from her over indulgence, Willow is taken by Amy to see a grubby sorcerer named Rack who deals in quick and powerful fixes of dark magic which quickly get Willow hooked. Later on that evening and Willow and Dawn head out together to go see a movie but Willow decides to make a stop at Rack's on the way to get another fix. This puts poor Dawn in to all sorts of unnecessary danger with the unforeseen consequences of Willow's latest dark magic fix being the summoning of a deadly demon who seems intent on killing the doped up witch and her teenage charge.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

Drug addiction and its consequences to both the individual and to those they love.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

Nasty dark magic dealer Rack, a scary demon, and also Willow and her magically addicted selfishness.

WHY IT ROCKS

Self satisfied Spike lying amidst the rubble and waving Buffy's discarded underwear at the disgusted-with-herself slayer.

Trippy, man! The sequences of Willow high (literally) on Rack's magic are nicely shot with some cool trippy FX.

Jeff Kober is suitably sleazy and creepy as Rack.

Willow enchanting one of Tara's dresses, filling it out with an invisible body to snuggle up to is touching and a wonderful visual effect.

Alyson Hannigan does doped up and self destructive pretty well.

Buffy's quiet talk with a distraught Willow and seeing herself in Willow's shoes thanks to her own 'addiction' to Spike is a great scene with SMG nailing every beat.

WHY IT SUCKS

The drug addiction metaphor is so in your face that it soon becomes kind of annoying. Don't do drugs kids, mmkay?

Neither Dawn nor Willow are wearing seat belts when the car they are in crashes in to the pillar at speed. No apparent airbags either. Dawnie would have gone through the wind sheild and Willow been crushed against the steering wheel. Both would almost certainly be goners. Yet both girls walk away with a few cuts, bruises and one slight fracture.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

Magical Tara dress.

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Xander: Anya has a theory. She thinks Martha Stewart froze that guy.
Anya: Don't be ridiculous. Martha Stewart isn't a demon. She's a witch.
Xander: Please, she... really?
Anya: Of course. Nobody could do that much decoupage without calling on the powers of darkness

Buffy: When...when did the building fall down?

Buffy: The only thing that's different is that I'm disgusted with myself. That's the power of your charms. Last night was the most perverse, degrading experience of my life.
Spike (grins): Yeah. Me, too.

Dawn: I'll leave a note for Buffy on the refrigerator. That's the first place she goes after patrolling. She's such a pig after she kills things.

Dawn: It was like a meat party in my mouth! Okay, now I'm just a kid and even I know that came out wrong.

AND ANOTHER THING

Actor Jeff Kober who plays Rack is probably best known in the UK for his series of Bacardi adverts, in which he was Ray from Reef Radio. He also played insane vampire Zackary Kralik in the season 2 Buffy episode Helpless.

The music playing when Willow is floating on Rack's ceiling is Laika's Black Cat Bone.

This episode is dedicated in memoriam to J.D. Peralta, who was Marti Noxon's assistant. She died of cancer on November 12, 2002, at the age of 31.

HOW MANY STAKES?

Amidst the wreckage we find 3 (out of 5)

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 6.8: TABULA RASA

Welcome to the nancy tribe


WRITER: Rebecca Rand Kirshner

DIRECTOR: David Grossman

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

And the fallout from the events in OMWF begin to take shape. Giles tells an angry and petulant Buffy that he is going back to England permanently as he knows he is now standing in the way of her personal growth. Tara and Willow take a break from their relationship with Willow promising Tara that she'll give up magic for a week to prove that she doesn't have a major problem. And Spike pursues an in denial Buffy determined for them to talk about their big kiss...only to be interrupted by the arrival of a demonic loan shark demanding kittens he says Spike owes him. Later that night, the entire gang (including a hiding out Spike) gather at the Magic Box where Giles is about to tell them he's leaving permanently for England. But before he can break the news a spell Willow has secretly cast backfires and the gang suddenly lose all memory of who they really are. Meanwhile, outside the store, Mr Loan Shark and his goons have arrived looking for final payment from Spike.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

Are we simply the sum of our memories and experiences or is there something else at work? Tabula rasa is Latin for 'blank slate' and in 1607 philosopher Francis Bacon put forward the idea that we are all born in to the world as a blank slate, knowing nothing and that personality is imprinted upon us through memory and experience. However Charles Darwin went on to put forward the idea that our emotions and actions are at least in part based upon instincts which are hereditary. These two competing ideas are tested in this episode with Joss and co. seeming to come down on the side of Darwin. Although Buffy and the gang have no idea who they are, they soon adopt roles based upon instinctual reactions (once they've gotten over the initial fear and confusion of not knowing who they are). For instance, Buffy and Dawn pretty quickly figure out they are sisters and Buffy takes on a leadership role as well as her muscle memory seeming to kick in what with her unthinking ability to fight and slay. But as well as the nature/nurture thing this episode is also about pushing the characters in to new and not so fun places. If OMWF exposed the lies and the secrets they'd all been concealing, then Tabula Rasa forces them to confront those lies and secrets head on and then do something about them. The most obvious examples being with Giles leaving Buffy, Tara leaving Willow, and Spike and Buffy finally (at least in part) resolving the emotional and physical dance they've been doing with each other.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

Loan Shark and his vamp goons. And Willow too I guess.

WHY IT ROCKS

A perfect example of Buffyness: By which I mean that while it's not the best episode of the series ever, Tabula Rasa manages to encompass all of the things that are great about Buffy the show. For a start, the episode is about something with a central idea and theme. It is also character driven and pushes the characters forward (or possibly backward), delivering serious personal drama and serious emotional pain while also managing to be being gloriously silly in places and very, very funny thanks to a clever script and pitch perfect performances from the cast.

Randy Giles: James Marsters as Spike is on top form. After having his memory wiped Spike thinks he is Giles' son named Randy (due to them both being English and the label inside his tweed jacket that says 'property of Randy' – part of a disguise he's wearing to elude the loan shark). Spike aka Randy then acts all disgusted with his name and immediately assumes he and 'dad' have major father/son issues.

Giles and Anya sitting in a tree: Giles and Anya believing they are an engaged couple who run the Magic Box and that Anya is 'Randy's' new young step-mother-to-be. Much bickering ensues leading Giles to discover his one way plane ticket to London, thinking he was about to flee the engagement.

Bunnies: Desperately trying random spells to help the situation Anya accidentally conjours up a plague of bunnies which sends her atop a table in yelping horror.

Skeleton sword fight: in a wonderful homage to Jason and the Argonauts Giles sword fights a skeleton after another attempted spell of Anya's goes badly wrong.

Randy the Vampire: Spike aka Randy, in the midst of a fight alongside Buffy (calling herself Joan), suddenly goes all vamp faced much to both his and Buffy's surprise. This leads Spike to tell Buffy he is probably a good vampire, one with a soul, searching for redemption. To which Buffy snorts and says that is just so lame.

Xander's comedy faint.

Willow and Tara: Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson are both superb in their scenes together dealing with Willow's abuse of magic and their growing estrangement. But it is Amber as Tara who is the driving force and who makes the big decisions. She is terrific and really does bring on the lump in the throat moments.

The final few minutes: the sad conclusion to the episode is played out with no dialogue while Michelle Branch sings her emotional acoustic ballad 'Goodbye to You' live at the Bronze.

WHY IT SUCKS

The loan shark being an actual man with a shark's head is just a bit too silly for its own good. Plus they really want kittens that bad? What is it with kittens?

Buffy and Spike engage in a big, violent and noisy brawl with several of Loan Shark's vamp goons in the middle of a suburban street full of houses with their lights on and cars in the yard. And yet nobody comes out to see what all the ruckus is or at least calls the cops? Weird.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

Goodbye to You: an emotional dialogue free denouement.

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Xander: I just feel weird feeling bad that my friend's not dead. It's too mind-boggling. So I've decided to simplify the whole thing. Me like Buffy. Buffy's alive, so, me glad.

Giles: Spike?
Anya: Holy moly!
Spike (dressed in Tweed and bow tie): You need to give me asylum.
Xander: I'll say.

Giles: We'll get our memory back and it'll all be right as rain.
Spike: Oh, listen to Mary Poppins. He's got his crust all stiff and upper with that nancy-boy accent. You Englishmen are always so... Bloody hell! Sodding, blimey, shagging, knickers, bollocks. Oh, god. I'm English.
Giles: Welcome to the nancy-tribe.

Spike: Oh, great -- a tarty step-mother who's half old Daddy's age.
Anya: Tarty?
Giles: Old?

Giles: Anyway, what did I call you?
Spike: (looks at jacket label) "Made with care for Randy." Randy Giles? Why not just call me "Horny Giles" or "Desperate-for-a-shag Giles"? I knew there was a reason I hated you.

Spike: Dad can drive. He's bound to have some classic mid-life crisis transport. Something red, shiny, shaped like a penis.

Buffy: Hey, stay away from Randy! (stakes Vamp)

Buffy: Ready, Randy?
Spike: Ready, Joan.

Buffy: I kill your kind.
Spike: And I bite yours. So how come I don't want to bite you? And why am I fighting other vampires? I must be a noble vampire. A good guy, on a mission of redemption. I help the helpless. I'm a vampire with a soul.
Buffy: A vampire with a soul? Oh my god, how lame is that?

Giles (surrounded by white fluffy bunnies): Clearly, that is not a helpful book, darling. Come down and we'll go about fixing this in a sensible fashion.
Anya (standing on a table): Sensible? You think it's sensible for me to go down into that pit of cotton-top hell, and let them hippety-hop all over my vulnerable flesh?

Xander: (laughs) Sorry, I just got back the memory of seeing "King Ralph".

AND ANOTHER THING

The tweed suit Spike wears for most of the episode is similar to the one he wore in Xander's dream in 4.22 Restless. In the dream Giles said he looked upon Spike as a son.

The tweed jacket and bow tie combo of Spike's bears a resemblance to Matt Smith's first costume as The Doctor in Doctor Who. Plus James Marsters played Captain John in the DWH spin-off show Torchwood while Tony Head appeared as an alien baddie in the David Tennant DWH episode School Reunion.

Michelle Branch's song Goodbye to You which she sings in the Bronze at the end of the episode was a pretty big hit taken from her platinum selling album The Spirit Room.

Giles does indeed have a red and shiny sports car. We first saw it in Real Me.

Buffy quotes Macbeth when she says 'What we did is done'.

Buffy names herself Joan. After Joan of Arc maybe? Seems she has something of an instinctive martyr complex having died twice already.

HOW MANY STAKES?

A hilarious and heartache-y 4 (out of 5)

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 6.6 : ALL THE WAY

Anya doing the dance of capitalist superiority

WRITER: Steven S. DeKnight

DIRECTOR: David Solomon

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

It's Halloween in Sunnydale, the one night of the year when most vamps and demons take the night off. Pulling a fast one on their parents/guardian Dawn and her friend Janice secretly hook up with a couple of older boys at the park who turn out to not be what they seem. Meanwhile Xander and Anya announce their engagement and Buffy takes off with Spike to go on patrol (despite no big nasties coming out to play on Halloween). With Buff not around it falls to Giles and the rest of the Scoobies to go and look for Dawn when it becomes clear the teen has lied to them all and is probably off somewhere in town getting in to all kinds of trouble.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

Flirting with danger, with irresponsibility, and being seduced in to doing things you know deep down are not a good idea. Darkness and temptation are so alluring, be it hooking up with exciting strangers, or being tempted to use great power without due concern for others welfare of feelings.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

Justin and Zack. Plus, at first, the old man. And then there's Willow...

WHY IT ROCKS

Teen rebellion: Okay, its not much of a rebellion by Dawn, just the usual kind of thing we all did as kids e.g. being places we weren't supposed to be after telling a few lies to our parents etc. No? Really? (looks guilty) Um, just me then.

Cautionary tale: This is in part one of those cautionary tales for young girls. You know, beware boys cuz they are only after one thing... And no, not your blood (I hope), the OTHER thing. It should also be noted that it isn't just Dawn being tempted towards a very not right kinda hook up. We can tell that Buffy is edging ever closer to Spike in that way. And while I love Spike as a character, he doesn't provide for the healthiest of relationships. Just wait until 6.19 Seeing Red if you don't believe me.

Multiple levels: Not just a cautionary tale for teens, this works as one for adults too, regarding the use and abuse of power. How it begins. How it can start to seduce you. Yes, Willow, I'm looking at you.

Anya the Angel: Adorable doesn't cover it seeing Anya in 70's roller disco mode with her Farrah hair, zipping around the Magic Box, loving every minute of it. And wait 'til you see her do her dance of capitalist superiority. Sigh. Such a lovely ex-vengeance demon.

Pirate Xander: Very funny with his “GARRR – ing”

Shiver me timbers: Um, apparently some kind of 'game' that Anya and Xander will play later while staying in costume. The mind boggles.

Cute little witch: I'm with Willow. Just how darn cute is that little girl dressed as a witch. Awww...

Giles in the spooky cemetery: Heh. Giles acknowledging to himself that wandering alone on Halloween through a misty cemetery is SO not gonna end well.

Giles kicking vampire ass: Go G-Man! He gets some serious slaying action going.

Willow and Tara: Willow's treatment of Tara in this episode is really not nice. How she speaks to her when Tara voices concerns is actually quite shocking and mirrors her threat to Giles in Flooded. Things are slowly turning bad for the couple. And while that is good for story and drama its bad for two characters we love so much. Hence this will appear in the Why it Sucks bit as well.

WHY IT SUCKS

Willow and Tara: See above.

Dawn centric: Okay, I'm not a Dawn hater like so many Buffy fans seem to be. Yes, she can be annoying, but then she is still a kid, although as apparent in this season growing up fast. But do I really care about her fooling around with boys and getting her first kiss? No, not really. The A story here is, simply, not very interesting, spending too much time with bland supporting characters like Zack and Justin. Snore. The interesting stuff is Willow and Tara and Spike and Buffy. Sorry Dawnie.

Door slam death: Buffy kills a vamp by presumably slamming its head in a car door but in the long shot you can clearly see its the vamps waist in the door.

Stunt doubles: In the big fight scene at the end you can clearly see the face of SMG's stunt double in several shots.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

Anya on wheels. Beyond adorable.

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Xander (lying exhausted on the floor): Store go boom. Garrr.

Dawn: You do this every night?
Anya: Every time I close out the cash register. The dance of capitalist superiority.

Buffy: Did you know about this?
Giles: No. Unless I blocked it from my memory, much as I will Xander's vigorous use of his tongue.
(Giles takes off his glasses and starts cleaning them)
Buffy (shocked): Is that why you're always cleaning your glasses? So you don't have to see what we're doing?
Giles: Tell no one.

Buffy: Over my dead body. The kind that doesn't come back.

Giles: Anya's a wonderful former vengeance demon. I'm sure you'll spend many years of non-hell dimensional bliss.

Dawn (after her first kiss): Shiver me timbers!

Giles: Mist. Cemetery. Halloween. Should end well.

Buffy: How's your face?
Giles: Oh, still ruggedly handsome. Grandpa, indeed. (puts ice pack on swelling) Ow.

AND ANOTHER THING

Amber Tamblyn who plays Janice is the daughter of actor Russ Tamblyn. Amber would go on to be the lead in The Grudge 2 playing Aubrey, the younger sister of the main character Karen in The Grudge, played by... Sarah Michelle Gellar. Amber has also been the star of the TV show Joan of Arcadia and starred in other movies such as 127 Hours and Django Unchained.

Xander is handing out 'Firefly' sweets to customers at the Magic Box. A subtle plug for Joss Whedon's then upcoming space western of the same name?

HOW MANY STAKES?

Not quite all the way. 2.5 (out of 5)

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 6.5: LIFE SERIAL

Promo

WRITER: David Fury & Jane Espenson

DIRECTOR: Nick Marck

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

Buffy returns home after her meeting with Angel just as the geek Trio of Warren, Jonathan and Andrew launch in to a series of goofy and rather annoying scenarios to secretly test the slayer. Scenarios that include a mummy hand infested time loop, speeded up time, and a conjured demon attack. Thinking someone is messing with her, Buff teams up with Spike to crash the local demon haunts in search of info. This leads to vast quantities of booze being consumed, a few hands of kitten poker and a run-in with a nerdy Star Wars van and a decidedly odd red faced demon.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

The continuing search to find where you fit in, what direction your life should be going in. Making some kind of sense out of the senseless.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

The Trio and their various tests.

WHY IT ROCKS

Funny: After what has been a fairly heavy start to the sixth season, Life Serial is just a big bunch of full-on silliness. Much of the comedy is not subtle, be it the innuendo around grabbing Jonathan's magic bone, the Trio's geek fight over who was the best Bond, the reveal of the Death Star and the Star Wars horn, Buffy's Evil Dead/Three Stooges style battle with a living mummy hand, drunk Buffy, kitten poker etc. Yep, not subtle. At all. But funny? You bet.

Who was the best Bond? Warren and Jonathan's vigorous debate over whether Connery, Brosnan or Moore are the best James Bond is hilarious, especially when Andrew, sat between them, says that he preferred Timothy Dalton, thus earning a hard smack around the head from Warren. This is followed up by a discussion on how terrible Moonraker is and then Andrew's later scream of rage that: “Dalton should get an Oscar and beat Sean Connery over the *head* with it!” Heh.

Kitten poker: Pure bloody genius. 'nuff said.

Buffy the boozer: Oh she is not a good boozer. So funny how she does a silly gag with every shot she does. And then later suffers the mother of all hangovers complete with handy bucket. Ugh. We've all been there.

Giles' dark look as a happy Buffy leaves the bedroom, saying she's so happy he'll always be there to help her out with her problems.

WHY IT SUCKS

Tricks: the tricks/tests the Trio put Buffy through are not exactly scary or too terrible, more annoying. Luckily the mummy hand sequence is very funny thanks to some snappy direction and SMG's game performance.

Silly: The entire episode is very, very silly. While that is not a bad thing per se, it's just that this one tips over in to the absurd rather than keeping itself grounded in some sort of reality, which all the best eps of Buffy are able to do.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

Kitten poker. Who's gonna advance me a tiny tabby?

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Willow: You're not dumb, just rusty!
Buffy: Maybe I should ease back in with some non-taxing classes, like Introduction to Pies, or maybe Advanced Walking.

Xander: I think it's worth checking out. And I don't mean later. You need to see Giles right away. I'd start by IDing those demons.
Buffy: You're firing me, aren't you?
Xander: Big time.

Andrew: Why is the Slayer here anyway? She's a student, she's a construction worker, and now she's some kind of selling-stuff person?
Warren: It's like she's completely without focus... Should we check the other channels for free cable porn?

Jonathan: Stop touching my magic bone!
(Warren & Andrew giggle)
Jonathan: Shut up!

Andrew: I just hope she solves it faster than Data did on the ep of TNG where the Enterprise kept blowing up.
Warren: Or Mulder in the X-Files one, where the bank kept exploding?
Andrew: Scully wants me so bad!

Warren: This mummy hand has ceased to be!
Andrew: It is an _ex_-mummy hand!

Buffy: You play for *kittens*?!?
Spike: Who's gonna advance me a tiny tabby... get me started? Come on, someone's got to stake me.
Buffy: I'll do it! (he glares) You thought I was just gonna let that lie there?

Andrew: We're really super-villians now! Like Dr. No.
Warren: Back when Bond was Connery and movies were decent.
Jonathan: Who remembers Connery? I mean, Roger Moore was smooth!
Warren: You're insane. You're short and you're insane.
Andrew: I like Timothy Dalton. (warren smacks him) Hey!

Buffy: Scamper! Be free, kittens!

Warren: Connery is the only actor of the bunch!
Andrew: Timothy Dalton should get an Oscar and beat Sean Connery over the *head* with it!!!

AND ANOTHER THING

Star Wars: There are lots of pop culture gags and references in this episode. Perhaps the most obvious (other than Bond) are the numerous Star Wars ones. This is not by accident. George Lucas' daughter was a massive Buffy fan and during the filming of season six both her and her dad visited the set to meet the stars and production team. George was so impressed with what he saw he actually invited Joss and the gang to come out to Australia and do some shooting while he was there making Episode 2: Attack of the Clones at the new FOX studio. It was seriously considered for a while but in the end time and money prevented it from happening.

Gidget & Britney: Buffy is referred to as both Gidget and Britney by the construction guys. Gidget was a trouble-prone teenager in a popular 1960's American TV show played by a young Sally Field. Britney is, I think, fairly obvious to all.

Clem: Spike's pal Clem, the good natured loose skinned demon, makes his first appearance in this episode.

In jokes: If you could read the labels on all the jars on the Magic Box set, you’d see in-jokes like Boreanaz Beads, Charisma Charms and Tony's Heads.

The Mummy's Hand: Actress and puppeteer Alice Dinnean Vernon, who also worked on Sesame Street, provided the mischievous mummy hand.

HOW MANY STAKES?

The Force is (fairly) strong with this one. 3 (out of 5)