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)
While Buffy doesn't rank amongst my all-time favourite shows, it did produce some ground breaking episodes and this perhaps the best of the bunch, I remember feeling so drained when I first watched this and repeated viewings have not really dulled my emotional response (Emma Caulfield's speech gets me every time). Yes that heavy feeling deep in my gut I had the first time around is still there.
The Body is pitch perfect on practically every level. So much so that if you have been unfortunate enough to experience something similar in real life watching this will be achingly familiar and may even help you to re-evaluate your own feelings and actions.
The performances are all great and always feel natural and real. But ultimately it's the other touches that Joss Whedon brings that really hit home and heighten the reality. The absence of music, the direction (which includes some interesting shots and POV's)and the cruel moments of false hope all meld together to give the viewer the same sense of disorientation that Buffy is feeling.
There's also some great staging, for instance the scene where Buffy tells Dawn is beautifully handled and we are reduced to onlookers who understand only too well but yet are hopeless to act or to truly be involved.
With this episode Buffy transcends its origins and becomes art.
If you are not moved in some way by watching this something may be wrong
- lutman-david
- Apr 9, 2014