Buffy The Vampire Slayer"The Body"
My 7 All-time Favorite "Buffy" Episodes
DVD Season 5, Episode 16
Jenny D - TwoCents Staff Writer
jennyd@thetwocentscorp.com
It was a sad day in Buffyverse. After 94 episodes of Buffy, a major character and someone who Buffy needed more than anything died. The emotion of the characters, the fact that the death was natural and there was nothing supernatural about this episode, and the impact the death of Buffy’s mom made to her and the show is why I chose “The Body” as my number 7 all time favorite Buffy episode.
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer
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My 7 All-time Favorite "Buffy" Episodes
DVD Season 5, Episode 16
Jenny D - TwoCents Staff Writer
jennyd@thetwocentscorp.com
It was a sad day in Buffyverse. After 94 episodes of Buffy, a major character and someone who Buffy needed more than anything died. The emotion of the characters, the fact that the death was natural and there was nothing supernatural about this episode, and the impact the death of Buffy’s mom made to her and the show is why I chose “The Body” as my number 7 all time favorite Buffy episode.
Buffy arrives home to find flowers and a card for her mom. As she calls for her, she finds her laying on the couch. She asks what she is doing, but there is no response. “Mom, Mom, Mommy?” There is a flash of Christmas dinner. Everyone is there. Everyone is happy. Buffy and Joyce are in the kitchen and as they drop a pie, we pan back to Joyce laying dead on the couch. Buffy goes to her trying to get her attention. She calls 911 and they instruct her on how to give CPR. She tells the woman that her mother is cold. She responds, “the body?” She says, “No my mother.” The paramedics have arrived and Buffy calls Giles. They check on her, and Buffy has a flash that they are able to revive her. Back in reality, one of the paramedics tell her that she is dead and has been for a little while. WE flash back and forth in the conversation with the paramedic, when we see it from Buffy’s perspective, we only see the bottom half of his face. The filming was very well done. Really taking it to the next level of putting it into Buffy’s perspective. They leave and tell her not to disturb the body. She goes into the kitchen. She stops and throws up on the carpet as we here wind chimes in the background. Giles rushes in and Buffy rambles about waiting for the coroner and needing to tell Dawn. Giles turns and see Joyce. She tells him they are coming for her and that they are not supposed to move the body. You can tell in that moment that it really hits her. It is no longer her mother, just a body. She is really gone.
We see Dawn crying at school. We assume that it is from her mom, but it was from a boy calling her a freak at school. And I love the line she uses next, “What a primo bi-atch. If I could make her head explode only using the power of my mind, that is what I would be doing right now.” A little humor to an episode that is so serious. They go to class. In art, they are drawing bodies, ironic, no just good writing. Buffy arrives. She tells her she needs to tell her something as they go out into the hall. Buffy tries to get her to go outside, but Dawn insists on hearing it right now. Her friends watch as Buffy tells her that their mom is dead.
We see them preparing to do the autopsy as Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander get ready to go to see Buffy. Willow cannot decide what to wear. She is freaking out and tells Tara that she can’t do this. As Anya and Xander get to Willow’s room, Xander begins to freak out, at first blaming Glory, then the doctors. He is convinced that there is more to it. He cannot accept that it just happened. Anya is asking a lot of questions. Willow takes it as her being rude, but she truly doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know what to do and how to act. And apparently Xander doesn’t know either as he punches a hole in the wall. They get his hand out and leave.
The flash to Joyce on the table as the doctor leaves the exam room to tell them the result of the autopsy. She died of an aneurysm as a result of the tumor. He said that even if someone had been there (Buffy flashes to visioning her by her mother’s side saving her), it would probably not have been dealt with in time. With all the times Buffy has saved people and the world, this is one time she was not able to. Dawn needs to use the bathroom, and the others go to get food and drinks, leaving Buffy and Tara alone. The two of them have never had much in common besides Willow. Tara tells Buffy about her mother dying. As this exchange goes on, Dawn sneaks into the morgue examining room to see Joyce. A vampire raises and Buffy arrives just in time to kill it. They look up to see Joyce. Dawn tries to understand the situation and Buffy tells her that she is gone.
Well, that was number 7 on my list. It was a very emotional episode unlike any other seen on Buffy. Would it have made your top Buffy episodes list? If so, where at? Next week I will be reviewing number 6 on my list, “Something Blue”, season 4, episode 9. Sunnydale is turned upside down as Willow’s every command comes true.
Please leave your two cents in the comment section or e-mail me at JennyD@thetwocentscorp.com. I will see you next week!
I absolutely LOVE this episode... it's in my Top 5: probably number 3. I love that there is no music and very little dialog. I love that Anya tries so hard to understand death (I get choked up EVERY time at her speech about the stupidity of mortality). And I love that Joyce died from natural causes - nothing supernatural about it... and nothing Buffy could fix. Amazing episode.
ReplyDeleteI love this episode. It gets to me every single time, how helpless Buffy feels and how quiet the whole episode is. It's Joss at his best.
ReplyDeleteLadies- I agree that this episode was so well done. The acting by all of the characters and the way it was set up and played out was amazing. And I really like how the only thing supernatural in the episode is the very end where Buffy has to kill a vampire in the morgue.I thought about moving it up in the list, but I have 6 great ones to come!
ReplyDeleteI loved this episode. It was such a departure from the normal Buffy episode--because it was so normal. I kept waiting for Joyce to rise again or for something supernatural to come and save the day. So well done. I'm still amazed that it didn't get a writing, directing or acting Emmy!
ReplyDeletetarai- I think Beffy got passed by many times. No one truly appreciated the talent of this show. I think everyone viewed it as a teen show, so it never got the respect it deserved. :(
ReplyDeleteSo true. Buffy was complely overlooked! So unfair.
ReplyDelete