Act Three

1BB) "Hi! Would you like a copy of the Watchtower?" (00:21:22) POP CULTURE TIME: The Watchtower is the magazine of the Jehovah's Witnesses.--Cactus Watcher, Tuesday, 03:26:02 at 20:47:32.

1CC) BUFFY: This scene is also interesting, because it gives us a view of how Buffy used to be in L.A., before she was called and lost all of her friends. As Joss said before, she was Cordelia. Now, her difficulty in deciding on an outfit (she even says, "I used to be so good at this..."), is a sign that she is not that vapid girl anymore who worries only about broken nails and looking cool. She has a duty, and, although she is trying to ignore it at the moment, it is even now a part of her.

1DD) "I know. You're sixteen. I've read all about the dangers of over-nurturing." (00:22:05) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "Like...[Giles, Joyce] somebody who's clearly still searching in her own life...who doesn't have all the answers. One of the things we really tried not to do...is make all the adults complete morons, even though we play the metaphor of 'Mom doesn't understand'...At the same time, she has struggles of her own and is a very sympathetic character." --Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary

1EE) FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: As a supplemental statement to the idea that Joyce, in many ways, cannot understand Buffy, is this stage direction from the original shooting script: "As the conversation segues into serious territory, both women become somewhat uncomfortable with each other."--"Welcome to the Hellmouth" by Joss Whedon, available from Pocket Books, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season One, Volume 1

1FF) "Don't worry. I don't bite." (00:24:14) ROLE REVERSAL: This dark alley scene is yet another quintissential horror movie scene that Joss turns on its head. In fact, this is a virtual dramatization of Joss' exact original idea, in creating Buffy. See 1B.

1GG) "Truth is, I thought you'd be taller." (00:24:28) ANGEL CONTINUITY: This statement of Angel's is later contradicted when we discover, in Becoming, that he has in fact seen Buffy in the past, and was actually standing there the day she was called (see 33Px5). This does not have to make this a major continuity error, however, since, in the early episodes, Angel used to give Buffy a bit of a ribbing most of the time, to deflect her anger or perplexity at him. So, he could have just been cutting her a little down to size here. There definitely is a gently mocking tone in his voice, although more bemused than disrespectful. Also, "he may not have wanted to admit that he was hanging round her school," following her around and watching her through her bedroom window, all pretty much stalkerish activities.--KdS, Sat, 05/24/03 at 14:42:59, with additions by Rob

1HH) "That's incorrect, but you do get this lovely watch and a year's supply of Turtle Wax..." (0:24:48) POP CULTURE TIME: This is a reference to the, usually silly, consolation prizes game show contestants receive when they fail to win the game.

1II) "You're standing at the mouth of Hell." (00:24:55) HELLMOUTH: This is the first time Sunnydale is acknowledged as the mouth of Hell. The exact phrase, "Hellmouth" has not yet been uttered, but that will happen in the next episode, The Harvest. We already know, from Giles, that this place is full of "everything you ever dreaded under your bed and told yourself couldn't be by the light of day" and that it is a "center of mystical energy."

1JJ) "Let's just say I'm a friend." (00:25:25) JOSEPH CAMPBELL & THE HERO'S JOURNEY: "Despite Buffy's persistent refusal to accept her destiny, forces beyond her control push her out on the road. The seemingly innocuous decision to go to a club that evening takes her to the Threshold of Adventure. She meets with another Herald figure in Angel, who appears only as a tall, dark, handsome stranger; but of whose character we know nothing. Buffy again refuses the call, but, in the time honored tradition of Heralds on the Hero's road, Angel leaves her with a parting gift, a small silver cross necklace."-- Rattletrap, Tuesday, 12/11/01 at 09:21:16 See 1Q, 1S, 1Y, 1TT, 2T, 2RR, 3FF, 11GGG, 12LLL, 27CCC, 35XXX, and Appendix A.

1KK) RELIGIOUS REFERENCES: "[Angel giving Buffy the cross]...both foreshadow[es]... that he is a vampire...[since] he doesn't touch the cross, and refers to classic vampire lore...[which states that] crosses hurt vampires...[by burning their skin.]"--Fresne, Tuesday, 03/26/02 at 10:06:34 See 2*2.

1LL) Buffy enters the Bronze for the first time. (00:26:05) MUSICALLY SPEAKING: "The lyrics to the first song we hear set the theme for Buffy's attitude in the episode and for her overall quest: "What's inside of me?/Oh I just want to believe/If my life can have a purpose/Help me to believe."--Sophist, Wed, 03/27/02 at 09:15:19

1MM) "He stole my Barbie." (00:27:10) WILLOW AND XANDER: This short scene lets us know just how long Xander and Willow have been friends. This is obviously a very close bond, since they were five years old. And this is the tightly-knit group that Buffy will be joining.

1NN) "Seize the moment. Because tomorrow, you might be dead." (00:28:05) BUFFY AND WILLOW: This is probably the moment where Willow first truly starts to almost hero-worship Buffy. This new girl comes into town. She's beautiful, self-confident, assured, and actually wants to talk to Willow. She doesn't speak condescedingly, and does not presume that Willow would not be there on a date, even though Willow definitely doesn't look like she is. And now she gives her this philosophy of life which Willow immediately sets about trying to emulate. And when that fails, Buffy is there to save her.

1OO) "You don't have to come back." (00:28:15) WILLOW: As when Willow was shocked earlier that Buffy wanted to talk to her, she is still finding it hard to believe. She would totally understand if Buffy didn't come back, and would accept, because that's how her universe has always worked. Buffy's arrival, of course, will change that forever.

1PP) "Witness me prowling." (00:30:50) JESSE: This statement is remarkably prescient, since he will very soon be turned into a true creature on the prowl. Remember Cordelia's shabby treatment of him, the next time you see him ask her to dance.

1QQ) "A vampire appears to be a normal person, until the feed is upon them. Only then do they reveal their true demonic visage." (00:31:12) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "The decision to make vamp-face for the vampires was very conscious and very thought out. The idea that they would look normal, and then change into vampires, was done because we wanted (a) to have normal high school students...who would turn out to be evil, and you would never be sure which was which, and...[(b)] because, when Buffy is fighting them, it was important to me that they look like demons...I didn't...really want to put a show on the air about a high school girl who was stabbing normal-looking people in the heart. I thought somehow that might send the wrong message. But, when they're clearly monsters, then it takes it to a level of fantasy that is safer."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary

THE BRONZE'S BALCONY: See 31C.

1RR) "But you didn't...hone." (00:32:06) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "[This line]...always makes me laugh extraordinarily much. His frustration at her...complete subversion of all the rules of making a horror movie."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary

1SS) MORE ON HONING: "In the scene at the Bronze, Giles believes that Buffy should have a mystic ability to identify vampires. She does not, other than her keen fashion sense. This is contrary to the movie, where Buffy got cramps when she came near a vampire, which could have been awkward in the series. Although of course, as in the movie, Buffy does use her keen fashion sense for good and not evil."--Fresne, Tuesday, 03/26/02 at 10:06:34

1TT) "Excuse me. I have to call everyone I have ever met. Right now." (00:33:44) JOSEPH CAMPBELL & THE HERO'S JOURNEY: "In The Writer's Journey, Vogler notes that the transitional point on the Threshold is often a bar or watering hole of some type. Buffy is no exception. The dark, noisy, crowded world of the Bronze contrasts with the daylight world of classes at SHS. The conditions make it a perfect hunting ground for vampires, reinforcing the show's juxtaposition of mundane and mythical elements (a).

Here Buffy is given the call she can no longer refuse. Willow, one of Buffy's very few friends at this point, is abducted while acting on Buffy's advice to seize the moment, because life is short. Feelings of responsibility toward her friend finally force the reluctant Hero into her journey. Before the journey can begin, however, Buffy must confront another archetype along the road. She encounters Cordelia and the Cordettes outside the bathroom in the Bronze and is confronted with a decision: rescue Willow and sacrifice her social status or ignore her calling and embrace the normal life of a high school student. Cordelia, in this context, represents the Guardian of the Threshold, a figure that stands in the way of the Hero's passage, but is not necessarily a malevolent figure(a)."--(a) Rattletrap, Tuesday, 12/11/01 at 09:21:16; (b) e-mail submission by aliera See 1Q, 1S, 1Y, 1JJ, 2T, 2RR, 3FF, 11GGG, 12LLL, 27CCC, 35XXX, and Appendix A.

1UU) "Master..." (00:35:05) FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "...The Master, the most powerful of vampires. Born Heinrich Joseph Nest (some six hundred years ago,) he wears a vaguely SS-like outfit. What he does not wear is anything resembling a human face. He is as much demon as man. As powerful as Luke is, it's clear that this man is much more so, both from his bearing and from the reverence with which Luke looks upon him."--"Welcome to the Hellmouth" by Joss Whedon, available from Pocket Books, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season One, Volume 1

FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "We decided early on the Master would never be in normal face, because he was so old and so far gone, we made him more animalistic than other vampires...he is devolving to this very demonic, animal state, and so he is very bat-like (see 37P)..."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary

THE MASTER'S FOREFATHERS: "The Master's make-up and costume are clearly based on those of Max Schreck as Graf (Count) Orlok in Nosferatu, F W Murnau's famous silent film adaptation of the first third or so of Dracula. Moreover, the Master's first appearance, rising from a pool in a rigid, upright position, turning through 90 degrees without apparently moving a muscle, copies a famous shot in Nosferatu in which Orlok rises from his coffin in the hold of a ship in an identically eldritch manner.

Although I believe Joss has publically denied any conscious influence, the Master bears notable similarities to the recurring villain of the same pseudonym (played at various times by Roger Delgado, Peter Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers, Anthony Ainley and Eric Roberts) in the famous British sf/horror TV series Doctor Who. Both share a confiding, melodramatic and theatrical style of villainous performance, both are constantly attempting to open up Earth to alien conquest, both have powers of telepathic mind control, and both have a fondness for high-buttoned black jackets. Moreover, in his later appearances the Master (Doctor Who) is a discarnate entity who survives his natural death by killing and possessing the bodies of other humanoid beings, similarly to the early ME concept of the vampire."--KdS, Sun, 03/09/03 at 10:19:00

1WW) "Work it up, girlfriend!" (00:36:31) WILLOW AND XANDER: This line again identifies the relationship between Willow and Xander. Although anyone with a pair of eyes can tell that Willow has always had a thing for Xander, they have always had this "best friend" relationship that got in the way of them every becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Note how Xander here does not seem jealous or upset that Willow may have "scored." He's impressed. One can assume that Willow's reaction would not be the same. Looking at later episodes, we know this to be a fact. Xander, meanwhile, is too busy with his new crush, on Buffy, to notice.

1XX)"Live in the now." (00:39:00) BUFFYVERSE MYTHOLOGY: This idea of a vampire continuing to dress in the clothes befitting the time period in which he was sired, is a recurring one on Buffy, although it doesn't happen all the time. While on the one hand, it is meant as a sight gag, it also could be an implication that, even though a vampire is a human body, taken over by a demon spirit, the vamp retains some of the human's past. A vamp dressing like this probably does so because whatever remnants of the person he once was would feel most comfortable in the clothes of his or her time period. This is, of course, not true of all vamps. Many, most notably Spike and Drusilla, completely change their appearance and identities to ride the wave of the changing times.

1YY) "You look like DeBarge." (00:39:06) POP CULTURE TIME: This is a "reference...to an early 80s R&B group and its lead singer."--Sophist, Wed, 03/27/02 at 09:15:19

1ZZ) Buffy dusts Thomas. (0:39:25) BUFFYVERSE MYTHOLOGY: Buffyverse vampires can be killed or harmed by a wooden stake through the heart, direct sunlight, crosses (see 2*2), holy water, or by being beheaded. When a vampire is staked through the heart, it and whatever clothes it was wearing at the time, explode into dust. The clothes dissolve as well, because, whatever a vampire is holding or wearing becomes a part of his or her metaphysical makeup, while it is touching him or her--a sort of "the clothes make the man" type situation. There are very few exceptions to this rule (see 5C).

FROM THE MOUTH OF JOSS: "I didn't think it would be fun to have 15 minutes of "Let's clean up the bodies" at the end of every episode."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary

1AAA) "And like a plague of boils, the race of Man covered the earth." (00:41:38) DEGRADATION MOST HOLY: Here is yet another inversion of traditional Judaeo-Christian relgiion: Luke recites a piece of vampire scripture that sounds awfully like it came out of the Old Testament, albeit it with decidely different subject matter. Luke consecrates this by finishing off with an "Amen" before pouncing on Buffy. See 1AA, 2B, 2C, 2Z, 2NN, 7V, 7XX, 15L, and 25BBB.

1BBB) "But on the third day of the newest light will come the Harvest." (00:41:45) ARTISTICALLY SPEAKING: The woodcut that Giles is looking at in his book is "by Gustave Dore from Dante's Inferno Canto XXVIII. This is a level in the Malebolge (intestines) of Hell, where sinners who caused strife are condemned to be eternally flayed by an unseen demon."--Fresne, Tuesday, 03/26/02 at 10:06:34

1CCC) "...lands in the coffin..." BUFFY BURIED: See 16Kx4.