The Body (Buffy episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title=The Body


Series=Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season=5
Episode=16
Airdate=February 27, 2001
Production=5ABB16
Writer=Joss Whedon
Director=Joss Whedon
Episode list=List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Prev=I Was Made to Love You
Next=Forever

"The Body" is the 16th episode of season 5 of the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Plot synopsis

ummary

Buffy and the gang are crushed by the death of Joyce Summers.

Expanded overview

First act

The episode begins with the last few moments of the previous episode, as Buffy comes home to find her mother Joyce lying on the couch, unresponsive. A quick flashback scene is shown featuring all of the Scoobies at the Summers' household for Christmas dinner. We rejoin the shocking events of the present as Buffy calls 911, and eventually proceeds to perform CPR on her mother, despite noticing that the body is cold. The paramedics are equally unsuccessful in their attempts at reviving her, calling the time of death shortly afterwards. Buffy calls Giles, who is the closest thing she now has to a living parent. She asks him to come over but doesn't tell him why. The paramedics inform Buffy that the coroner has been contacted and she should try not to disturb the body, and then they leave on another call. Buffy wanders the house aimlessly for a few moments. She collapses and vomits on the rug in the dining room and starts to clean it up just before Giles arrives. Giles asks what's happening, thinking it may be Glory, but then he sees Joyce and runs to her side, but stops when Buffy cries out, "We're not supposed to move the body!" The scene ends as she realizes what she has said and covers her mouth in horror.

econd act

Dawn is at school, in the middle of an art class. She is nervously talking to a boy whom she obviously likes. Buffy comes into the class and asks to take Dawn out. Dawn doesn't want to go but Buffy makes it clear that she is serious. Once in the hall, Dawn becomes upset, starting to realize that Buffy may have taken her out of class to tell her the news that she is most afraid of hearing, as her mother had been ill, but she was allegedly cured. As Dawn demands to be told what is happening, the entire class watches through the large interior windows, unable to hear the conversation. Dawn cries "no" repeatedly and collapses to the floor while the class watches. The scene ends with a shot of the human body drawing she'd been working on.

Third act

Willow and Tara are distressed as well, and Willow reacts by becoming hysterically worried about what would be appropriate to wear to the hospital, because al her clothes have "stupid things on them". She begins to think that she can't "act like a grownup" and begins to hyperventilate. Tara comforts her with a kiss and some gentle words. Xander and Anya soon arrive at Willow's place. Xander attempts to place the blame for Joyce's death on Glory since she said she'd attack Buffy through her family and may have covered her tracks, but the others point out that Glory would want them to know she'd done it. Xander then tries blaming the doctors, and he is clearly having trouble dealing with something that revenge can't be exacted on. Anya, still struggling with the concept of being a mortal human, asks inappropriate questions regarding Joyce's death, which upset Willow further. Anya responds with a short monologue expressing her complete lack of experience with death, and her discomfort and confusion over the whole situation. After a short and uncomfortable silence, Xander punches his fist into the wall, injuring himself slightly and surprising everyone in the room. All four leave the room to go to Xander's car. Just a few moments after the door closes, Willow runs back in to quickly change her shirt for the fifth or sixth time. The scene ends with a shot of a police officer ticketing Xander's car.

Fourth act

At the hospital, the doctor informs Buffy that Joyce died from an aneurysm, probably almost instantly. Giles decides to help out with all the paperwork. Dawn wanders off to the washroom while the rest of the Scoobies go to fetch snacks. For a short while, Buffy and Tara are alone, and Tara tries to tell Buffy she understands her situation, since she too lost her mother.

After leaving the washroom, Dawn, in denial, decides to go to the morgue to see her mother's body. As she approaches, she hesitates when attempting to lift the sheet placed on top of her. Just then, another body arises and it turns out to be a vampire. Buffy, looking for her sister, arrives just in time and kills the vampire. Dawn then gets to see her dead mother, having accidentally pulled the sheet away in the scuffle. Buffy tells her sister not to touch their mother, saying, "It's not her." Dawn asks, mechanically, "Where did she go?" She reaches out to touch Joyce's cheek, and the episode ends just before she does so.

Acting

tarring

*Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
*Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
*Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
*Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins
*Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers
*James Marsters as Spike (listed but does not appear)
*Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

*Randy Thompson as Doctor Kriegel
*Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
*Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

Co-starring

*Loanne Bishop as 911 Operator
*Kevin Cristaldi as First Paramedic
*Stefan Umstead as Second Paramedic
*J. Evan Bonifant as Kevin
*Kelli Garner as Kirstie
*Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly as Lisa
*Tia Matza as Teacher
*John Michael Herndon as Vampire

Writing

"The Body", in presenting the death of a critical character in Buffy's life, confronts the topic of death more directly and realistically than usual in "Buffy". The show's typical balance between drama, comedy (see dramedy) and action is largely abandoned in favor of a much barer style, with neither diegetic nor incidental music (other than the theme song, the only sources of music are a wind chime and a barely audible festive melody in the Christmas flashback). The scenes are extended and often single-shot, with long moments of silence and a solemn ambience and dialog style. Joss Whedon stated in the episode's commentary that he wanted to portray the sheer boredom of death that occurs within the first twelve hours of someone's passing.

Besides becoming a fan favorite, the episode received considerable critical applause. [ [http://archive.salon.com/ent/col/mill/2001/03/12/buffy_mom/print.html Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | The death of Buffy's mom ] ]

Cultural references

*The Avengers - Xander says "The Avengers gotta get with the assembling". The Avengers are a Marvel Comics group of superheroes, whose catch-phrase is "Avengers Assemble!"
*Burnt Bunboy - The name of the odd-looking toy that Anya holds as she sits down at Willow's dorm room is "Kogepan", a Japanese character of whom Joss Whedon and his wife, Kai Cole, are big fans.

Production details

Music

*Boston Pops Orchestra - "The First Noel". Plays during an opening scene where the Scoobies and Joyce have dinner.

Translations

* Italian title: "Un Corpo Freddo" ("A Cold Body")
* German title: "Tod einer Mutter" ("Death of a Mother")
* French title: "Orphelines" ("Orphans"; "f")
* Spanish title: "El cuerpo" ("The Body")

Quotes

* As mentioned earlier, there is a moment in the Second Act where the audience is not allowed to hear the dialog between Buffy and Dawn. The unheard dialog between Buffy and Dawn, at school, appears to be as follows::Buffy: Mom died this morning. While we were both at school, she—:Dawn: No...:Buffy: I don't know exactly what happened, but, she's dead...:Dawn: No. "No no" no no you're lying she's fine she's "fine" and you're lying oh no no please no you're lying she's fine, she's fine…:Buffy: Dawn she-:Dawn: It's not true, it's not real, it's not real, oh no... no...

*Anya monologue on why she doesn't understand death:Anya: I don't understand. I don't understand how this all happens. 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 can't just get back in it and not be dead anymore. It's stupid. It's mortal and stupid, and, and Xander crying and not talking, 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".

Trivia

* This episode features the first on-screen kiss by Willow and Tara, a significant point in the history of lesbian characters on American television. Joss has said that he wanted their first kiss to be a non-issue and wanted it to be a seamless, ordinary thing.
* Willow is portrayed as obsessing over what to wear to meet Buffy in the hospital; according to Whedon, this was based on his friend's funeral, where he was frantically obsessed with finding a proper tie.
* Throughout the scene after Xander punches through a wall, only the left side of Willow's face can be seen, because Alyson Hannigan had an allergic reaction to the plaster dust, causing her right eye to swell.
* Creator Joss Whedon and actor Tom Lenk (Andrew), as well as a legion of fans, consider this a favorite episode.
* At one point actress Kristine Sutherland (Joyce) blinked in an important shot which, considering she was playing a corpse, was not a good thing. Whedon later had the blink digitally removed. According to Whedon, this was the only time in eight days of playing a corpse that Sutherland blinked on camera.
* James Marsters (Spike) does not appear in this episode.
* The original airing of this episode attracted 6.0 million viewers, which was typically high in Season 5.
* Joss Whedon stated in the commentary that the point of the Christmas scene after the opening credits was so that the 'Guest Starring' and producer credits did not overlap the scene where Buffy attempts to revive Joyce. Whedon has also said that he regrets not involving Joyce as much in this scene.
* This episode is the most "supernatural-lite" of the series, with the vampire at the end of the episode being the only otherworldly element of the story; in addition the supernatural Glory is mentioned but does not appear.
* Kristine Sutherland knew that her character was going to die roughly a season or two before it happened as Joss mentioned it to her.
* At the Buffy Reunion at Paley Festival, Emma Caulfield (Anya) was asked what emotions she was feeling when she filmed her monologue on why she doesn't understand death in Willows dorm room, and admitted that they had been filming all day without a break and the only thing she was thinking was that she really had to pee.
* Each act of this episode takes place in real time.

Continuity

* Buffy's "As long as you two stay away from the band candy, I'm cool with anything" comment is a reference to Season Three's "Band Candy", in which Giles and Joyce had sex (twice, and on the hood of a police car, as Buffy markedly points out in another episode) while under the influence of candy which caused them to emotionally regress to adolescence. Buffy learned this from Joyce in "Earshot", where she temporarily became able to read minds.

Arc significance

* This episode is a significant departure from the Glory storyline, being an intense character study. However, Joyce's death has a devastating effect on Buffy that will contribute to her fall into apathy toward the end of the season.

* Glory is mentioned in passing by Giles as he enters the home in the beginning and when a desperate Xander points to her as a possible villain to blame. Buffy also hints at Glory's possible involvement in her mother's death in her short message to Giles over the phone.

Timing

*Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

References

External links

* [http://buffy.wikia.com/The_Body "The Body" at Buffy Wiki]
*
*
* [http://www.buffyguide.com/episodes/body.shtml "The Body" on BuffyGuide.com]
* [http://www.restlessbtvs.com/trivia/episodes/season-5/516/ "The Body" at The Buffy Trivia Guide]