Teaser

18A) Buffy lands flat on her back on top of it. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "SLAM! A body falls on the jack-o'-lantern, CRUSHING it. A beat. Then the fallen person moves and we see that it's BUFFY, covered in jack-o-muck."--"Halloween" by Carl Ellsworth, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1

18B) She follows it up with a pumpkin. SISTERLY PARALLELS: "I think that this scene is referenced in All the Way, in the sixth season. Dawn, the more orthodoxly vulnerable female, has her pumpkin taken out of her hands by the apparently scary old man. While Buffy can defend herself, using the traditionally symbolic pumpkin as a force against monsters, Dawn's experience of the pumpkin is to make her more scared. A notable dichotomy."--Tchaikovsky, Sun, 02/02/03 at 07:22:07

18C) Cut to a view of them through a camcorder. MODERN TIMES: "Proof of the new, more 20th-century attitude that Spike has brought to the Sunnydale vampire community."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

HOW CAN A VAMP BE VIDEO-TAPED?: See 11CC.

18D) The 'battery low' indicator starts flashing. OOPS!: "As we're watching the scene from the taping vamp's POV we see a battery low indicator start to flash on the screen. Then just before the scene ends we see the recorder cut out. This is a joke on how videotape recorders are ALWAYS running out of batteries at the worst possible moment. However as we watch Spike watch the tape at the factory, there's no gap and he clearly sees Buffy stake the other vampire. Either the taping vamp had a backup battery and changed the batteries really fast or they had a small goof in setting up the sequence of events."--Isabel, Sun, 02/02/03 at 22:02:06

Act One

18E) "I know. Is the Bronze so not happening? Or what?" FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Angel looks up to see CORDELIA standing over him. Looking amazing, as usual. And knowing it, as usual."--"Halloween" by Carl Ellsworth, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1

The Cordy/Angel flirtage continues... See 5GG and and 14X.

18F) "I'm supposed to be meeting Devon..." CONTINUITY CHECK: Cordy is apparently still dating Devon, since she began flirting with him two episodes before, in Inca Mummy Girl (see 16PP).

CORDY VIRGINAL?: "My key problem with the argument that Expecting was Cordelia's first sexual experience - I can't imagine Devon dating her if she wouldn't put out."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

"Sheer innuendo, in my opinion; no textual evidence. My read is that QueenC is the kind of girl who knows you get more if you keep the guy thinking you just might than if you give it all away. If Devon doesn't go for this, that's probably why he's standing her up. This actually fits with the ethos of the show as a whole--none of the core 'good' characters are casual about sex."--MaeveRigan, Sat, 02/02/03 at 11:50:25 See 21Qx4, 24M, and 27Q.

18G) "My Barbie Dream Car had nicer seats!" POP CULTURE TIME: "Reference to the Barbie...[line] of fashion dolls [from Mattel] and their wide range of accessories [including dream cars, dream houses, dream pools, and more]. The implication is that Devon's car's 'leather' seats are more like plastic," or, conversely, that Barbie's plastic seats were more luxurious than Devon's leather ones.--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04, with additions by Rob

18H) Cut to Buffy. She's upset seeing Angel there with Cordelia... FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "ON BUFFY Who enters, looking a little sheepish. She's worked from the pumpkin patch episode. Runs her fingers through her hair, pulling seeds and bits of pumpkin muck from it. She sees - ANGEL & CORDELIA At the table. Cordelia says something. Laughs. Angel shakes his head - finally laughs, too. Maybe at her. Maybe not. Cordelia looks radiant - in full flirt mode. ON BUFFY Who looks at herself. At the mess that is Buffy. She hesitates. Then starts to turn away."--"Halloween" by Carl Ellsworth, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1

18I) "Rough day at the office." BUFFY KNOWS BEST: "Buffy is the working man, taking the traditionally masculine role, in contrast to her persona under the spell." When she returns to her normal state, she will again make references to the stereotypical working male persona (see 18Hx4 and 18Ox4).--Tchaikovsky, Sun, 02/02/03 at 07:22:07

18J) "Love the hair. It just screams street urchin." BAD HAIR DAY: "Is it my hair? Buffy's having a bad hair day which Cordy cattily comments on in the Bronze when Buffy arrives late for a date with Angel. She sees Angel with Cordy, who looks perfect. Buffy had been slaying a vamp and has straw in her hair and is a mess. She is jealous and misreads Angel's response thinking he prefers Cordy or pretty girls and she's not pretty. Ironically this comment is repeated again [by Angel] when she has long luxurious black hair like the woman in...[the] drawing – which is reminiscent of Drusilla and Cordelia at that time. It is after all Dru – who Angelus hooks up with." But Angel's response to Buffy's "noblewoman" hair is just as negative as Cordy's to her current hair. He clearly prefers Buffy's regular look.--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34, partly paraphrased by Rob

18K) "I'm an angel burning out / Oh now" MUSICALLY SPEAKING: "Definite musical pun - all the lyrics are sort-of relevant to Angel."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

18L) "Dates are things normal girls have." CONTINUITY CHECK: "References Never Kill a Boy on the First Date – she can’t have dates without either killing the boy or losing him due to her strength (see 5UU). Possibly why she is attracted to men who work in her field: Angel, chipped Spike, and demon hunter Riley.--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34

"This is presumably the 'coffee sometime' non-date that Buffy and Angel agreed to at the end of Reptile Boy (see 17Bx4)."--Vickie, Sat, 02/01/03 at 20:01:35

18M) "Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of." ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE: A reference to a classic monologue from Act 4 of William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, spoken by the old sorceror, Prospero:

"Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."

18N) "Note his interesting take on the volunteer concept." SNYDER THE NAZI: See 14O.

18O) "Yikes. I'll stick to vampires." NOT MOMMY MATERIAL: "At this stage, Buffy is not interested in playing a parental role. She has enough responsibility already. This is shown again in Bad Eggs, where she basically neglects her 'child'. [After Joyce's death in season five, however, Buffy becomes a surrogate mother for her little sister, Dawn, and b]y Season Seven...Buffy has a whole group of people to be protected and trained to defend themselves against real evil," the Potentials.--Tchaikovsky, Sun, 02/02/03 at 07:22:07

18P) "Oh, I figured it'd be a big old vamp scare-apalooza." POP CULTURE TIME: "The word lollapalooza and its variant spellings, mean[s]…'something great'…[Using t]hat ending, '-palooza,' as a joking intensifier was not uncommon by the mid 1960's. My guess it is it can be heard in one or more of those awful beach-party movies of the era."--Cactus Watcher, Sat, 02/01/03 at 07:23:52

In the late 90s, Lollapalooza was a "packaged touring [alternative music] festival of several different bands every year. Set up originally by the group Jane's Addiction and their management..."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

18Q) "He swears that tomorrow night is, like, dead for the undead." BUFFYVERSE MYTHOLOGY: "The first mention of this little bit of Mutant Enemy-invented vampire mythology, which turns up again in episode 6.6 All the Way. The forces of evil being what they are, the Slayer doesn't get many breaks--none, in fact. It was nice of the Buffyverse Powers That Be to at least try to give her one day off. Chaos doesn't work like that, of course."--MaeveRigan, Sat, 02/01/03 at 12:05:02

18R) "You're lookin' Cro-Mag as usual." HISTORICAL FUN: "A reference to the Cro-Magnon culture of Stone Age human beings. Note Xander's courage here, twitting Larry despite his physical superiority."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

18S) "I heard some guys say she was fast." IDIOM TIME: "Terminology from at least the 1930s...To say that a girl is 'fast' means that it doesn't take long to 'get to second base' from similar time period; in other words, not exactly promiscuous but easy to 'make out' with. Not quite the same as 'slut' or 'puts out.' Milder--as in, kisses and more on first date, but doesn't necessarily sleep with everyone she goes out with."--luna, Sun, 02/02/03 at 18:43:27

18T) A Diet Dr Pepper rolls into the slot. WHEN IS A COKE NOT A COKE?: Some fans have argued that the fact that Buffy gets a Diet Dr. Pepper from a Coca Cola machine is a mistake. Not so. A "large portion of soda machines in the US are not filled by subsidiaries of the soda bottling company, but either by independent distributors who may carry a variety of brands for their customers, or the owner of the machine. Either of these can put anything in the machine they want…[S]oda machines may be plastered with one company's logos and filled with another's soda. A school system is always looking for the best deal from the distributors. Often buttons for the 'wrong soda' are covered with crude handwritten signs to tell people what they are getting. Sometimes the machine fillers are lazy and sometimes the signs just fall off. As Willow implies in Graduation Day, pushing a button for one kind of soda and getting another is all too familiar particularly where there is a 'trapped' customer base like a school. It's not a mistake. It's just life (Since the brand was clearly displayed this time, the show probably got a small advertising fee from Dr. Pepper. Notice on US shows how they usually cover up brands, have them in the background or have products with phony labels.)."--Cactus Watcher, Sat, 02/01/03 at 07:23:52

18U) "Get gone." GENDER ROLE TWISTAGE: "Here Buffy is the hero and Xander the wimp, the damsel. Later when they become what their costumes represent – Xander defends Buffy’s honor by beating up Larry who is dressed as an evil pirate (see 18UUU and 18Ax4). Xander, normally the damsel, as GI Joe becomes the hero and Buffy, normally the hero, as Duchess Buffy – becomes the damsel."--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34

18V) "In maybe fifteen, twenty years when my rep for being a sissy man finally fades!" GENDER ROLE TWISTAGE II: "In the world where Buffy is the Slayer, in which a woman has the physical strength, Xander has to face the problem of re-negotiating just what he is best at. He can't really be the protection for the Scooby Gang. Here, he is not even allowed to fight his own corner. Xander's reaction to this is long and gradual. After many episodes however, he realizes that he actually has many of the qualities traditionally ascribed to women. A sometimes powerful grasp of emotions, and an ability to be the 'comfortador' of Restless. Note his talks to Buffy in The Freshman, [Buffy and] Anya in Into the Woods, Willow in Grave, and Dawn in Potential. Xander spends a lot of time being the mother of the gang to the physically strong, emotionally vulnerable women. A classic ME subversion." In Go Fish, Jonathan will have the same reaction as Xander to Buffy's protection of him (see 32Q).--Tchaikovsky, Sun, 02/02/03 at 07:22:07, with small additions by Rob

18W) "Poor Xander. Boys are so fragile." GENDER TWISTAGE III: Another great gender-role subversion joke.

18X) "It's too bad we can't sneak a look at the Watcher diaries and read up on Angel." DEAR WATCHERS' DIARY: "The second reference ever to the Watchers' diaries, which Giles first consulted in 1.7 Angel (see 7Y)."--MaeveRigan, Sat, 02/01/03 at 14:08:10

18Y) "Most importantly, it would be wrong." FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: "She sounds so much like Faith here."--Vickie, Sat, 02/01/03 at 20:01:35 See 4FF.

18Z) "So! How come Halloween is such a big yawner?" BUFFYVERSE MYTHOLOGY: "Giles will finally explain this in 4.4 Fear, Itself."--MaeveRigan, Sat, 02/01/03 at 14:08:10

18AA) "I mean, do the demons just hate how commercial it's become?" MODERN TIMES: This is a joke referencing those people who feel that people have lost sight of the meaning of Christmas, and have replaced the religious significance with toys and presents. This joke implies that just as some Christians may feel this way regarding their most important holiday, perhaps the demons feel for theirs.

18BB) "Ms. Calendar said you were a babe." BUFFY GOOD LIAR?: "This is one of very few times that Buffy bluffs effectively. And it is only because her relationship with Giles is relatively new (he doesn't know her very well yet)...that it works. [Other than that, she doesn't sound very convincing.] I doubt Giles would have been fooled by Season 3."--Vickie, Sat, 02/01/03 at 20:01:35 See 5S and 17LL.

CONTINUITY CHECK: Also a reference to the evolving relationship between Giles and Jenny. We last saw them romantic (or trying to be) in Some Assembly Required (see 14PP).

18CC) "Angel was eighteen. And still human." CONTINUITY CHECK: "Willow, reading from a Watcher diary, says that Angel was still human in 1775, while in Becoming, he is shown being vamped in 1753. While this can simply be attributed to Joss's math-suckage, one can ask--why would a Watcher diary have any record of Angel's life prior to vamping anyway? Unless the Watchers found old documents on his human life, the apparent discontinuity error can be passed on to Willow misreading the diary. She does not realize that 1753 was when Angelus was born, not when mortal Liam was born."--Masquerade, "Halloween" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com See 33A.

18DD) "She's got a funny...uh, waist. Look how tiny that is." HISTORICAL FUN: "The noblewoman herself would not have the tiny waist without the aid of a corset. Sad fact is...a noblewoman got that tiny waist because she started wearing corsets as early as seven. By the time she reached maturity, her internal organs were so shifted that she could hardly stand if she DIDN'T wear a corset. She was also prone to passing out easily if she got excited or exerted herself since her stomach was pressed into her lungs and she couldn't take a deep breath. The right to vote isn't the only reason Willow and Buffy have to be glad they live in this age."--Isabel, Sun, 02/02/03 at 22:02:06

18EE) "Still, I think I prefer being able to vote." WILLOW THE SUFFRAGETTE: "Initiation of the main theme of the ep from Buffy's point of view - that despite the Slayer baggage, empowerment is better than traditional powerless femininity."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

18FF) "Of course! But the cuddly kind. Like a Carebear with fangs?" POP CULTURE TIME: The Care Bears was a popular children's cartoon from the 80s, about a group of teddy bears who lived in a magical kingdom in the clouds called Care-a-Lot, who spread moral messages of love and, you guessed it, caring. With names like Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, and Funshine Bear, these cuddly characters appeared in movies and television specials.

18GG) "...but when it comes to dating, I'm the Slayer." THE BUFFY/CORDY CONNECTION: Another example of Buffy/Cordy linkage. See 17P.

18HH) "It's just...you're never gonna get noticed if you keep hiding." COME AS YOU AREN'T: "Initiation of the 'hiding' metaphor that will become blatant in Restless. The characters' costumes are all revealing (in the metaphorical sense) - Willow hiding her less reputable inner drives, Xander seeking traditional masculine power [as is Larry, of a less noble variety], Buffy pining after traditional femininity...and Cordelia sexy and predatory."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

18II) "Don't underestimate yourself. You've got it in you." YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN: In The Wish and Doppelgangland, we will learn that Willow truly does have it in her. The vampire version of herself is even more skanky than what she looks like in this outfit!

18JJ) "Call me the Two-Dollar Costume King, baby!" POOR XANDER: "A gentle reminder of Xander's economic inferiority to the other two at this point."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04 See 17III.

18KK) "Too bulky. I prefer my women in spandex." FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: "A great foreshadowing moment--who's the one person we see wearing a tight, spandex-like costume? Cordy--the one that Xander ends up dating later ths season!"--Rattletrap, Sun, 02/02/03 at 14:08:59

18LL) "There's no way I could ever afford this." LINKAGE: "This foreshadows the situation with Cordelia's prom dress--when she, surprisingly, can't afford one and has to work in the dress shop to be able to buy it. Xander sees her and finds out about her situation...[and, in a very touching moment, buys it for her] in The Prom."--Luna, Sun, 02/02/03 at 18:52:05

18MM) "I feel quite moved to make you a deal you can't refuse." POP CULTURE TIME: "A reference to the famous line from the mafia film The Godfather, 'I made him an offer he couldn't refuse,' the offer being sign or be murdered."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

18NN) "Rewind that. I want to see it again." COUCH POTATO: "Throughout the series we see Spike watching television. In Season 4 he is watching TV at Giles’ house and is into [the hit NBC soap,] Passions. In Season 2 – at the end of School Hard he states, let’s see what’s on the telly (see 15Rx4). Here we see him watching videos of Buffy slaying vampires. Spike clearly is a strategist. Unlike the Master and Angelus – his focus is on just killing Buffy so she doesn’t get in the way of his plans for Drusilla. Dru is the center of his universe…yet we begin to see in this episode that an obsession with Buffy is growing. He’s so fascinated with her – he barely notices Dru at his elbow."--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34

18OO) "She's tricky. Baby likes to play." SLAYER-GAZING: Spike is clearly impressed with Buffy; the tone of his voice and wording are "definitely sexualized...[and] reminiscent of...Fool for Love" where he compares their numerous battles to an eroticized dance. Those who assume that Spike's attraction to Buffy was retconned in the fifth season should take note of moments such as this.--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04, with additions by Rob

18PP) "Do you love my insides? The parts you can't see?" INSIDE AND OUT: "Spike takes this literally and says eyeballs to entrails, my sweet, but he also sort of says it offhand as if he's not quite listening to her - too busy studying the videos of Buffy. Until she indicates she has a vision and then he pays rapt attention. The mislead is he doesn't take her seriously - when actually he does - using her gifts on more than one occasion to help him get what he wants. This line is also a fantastic metaphor for the series as whole. What lies beneath the surface - do we like what we can't see or are we only in love with the surface image? In Season 7 - the line is referenced again by Giles in Lessons who tells Willow - we are what we are no matter how much we may have appeared to have changed. Halloween is all about appearances or things not being what they seem.

'Do you like what you can't see? What's hidden inside?' Dru asks Spike. And Spike's response - hits another series long metaphor - the physicality of horror - the body. I love your body - "from eyeballs to entrails, pet' as opposed to you spirit or personality."--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34

18QQ) "And once I kill her you can have your run of Sunnyhell." SPIKE & DRU: "Spike's devotion to Drusilla is obvious in his endearments and tender treatment of Dru's frailty...However, it starts to become clear in Halloween that Spike is attracted to Drusilla for her evil predatory power. He hates seeing her ill and unable to hunt. He spends time studying the Slayer so he can kill her, but also to let Dru have her run of 'Sunnyhell'."--Masquerade, "Halloween" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com

18RR) "Everything's switching. Outside to inside. It makes her weak." DEPTH OF VISION: "A mislead – in reality – the costumes hide the true person – they reveal what that person wants to be, the fantasy persona inside. The only person who truly gets switched [appearing in a persona she does not want] is Willow, who outside of Cordelia (who didn’t shop at Ethan’s store) is the only person who [mentally] remains herself. What makes Buffy weak is her desire for the fantasy, another series long metaphor – Buffy is consistently fighting against her calling – she wants to be the normal girl, yet whenever she gets her wish – loses the power in Helpless and in Halloween – she’s upset and realizes being powerless isn’t much fun. In her high school years – the conflict makes her weak – the desire to be normal girl often puts her at odds with her duty – as we see in Never Kill A Boy on The First Date, Prophecy Girl, and here in Halloween when she wants to be the beautiful maiden." Dru's vision "may refer to a switch in gender roles as well – particularly between Buffy and Xander (see 18U)."--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34

18SS) "Come on, talk to Daddy." INCEST FUN!: "Daddy. The number of times that Spike and Dru refer to each other as the other’s parent is interesting. Emphasizing an almost incestuous relationship between the two vampires. Later when we get Angelus’ story and finally Spike’s in Fool for Love – we realize how truly incestuous the relationship is. This is in a way a reference to the Buffy/Angel relationship which also has a Lolita overtone, Buffy in Season 2 particularly often uses Angel as a replacement for Daddy – where he takes her ice-skating in What’s My Line and he supports her. But they show the dark side of this Freudian metaphor with Spike and Dru, using the vampires to depict the taboo." In the seventh season, when the First takes the form of Dru in Bring On the Night, "she" will call Spike this again. Those who claimed that this was a continuity error should take note of this line in Halloween. They always talked to each other like this.--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34, with small additions by Rob See 7Q, 25LL, and 33Px5.

18TT) ...there are wounds in his palms, and blood flows freely from them. DEGRADATION MOST HOLY: "Ethan's homage to Chaos involves a perverse form of stigmata, usually a miraculous recapitulation of the wounds of the crucified Christ."--MaeveRigan, Sat, 02/01/03 at 14:08:10

18UU) "Chaos. I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son." IDOL WORSHIP: "I'm not aware of any literal Chaos worship prior to the 20th century, although many creation myths have the universe being created out of Chaos, and the idea is implicit in the Jungian ‘Trickster’ archetype, which Ethan embodies in a simplistic way (exclusively the negative aspect). The major source of the idea in Anglo-Saxon popular culture was probably the fantasy novels of Michael Moorcock, whose fictional cosmology of an eternal struggle between Law and Chaos was very influential on genre fantasy, notably the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games. In the Buffyverse, characters explicitly allied to Chaos tend to be straightforwardly evil, which is very different to Moorcock's conception, and the conception of some modern neo-pagan syncretists, in which Law and Chaos are philosophical styles which can be adopted to serve either moral or immoral ends."--KdS, Sat, 02/01/03 at 04:19:04

"Although modern chaos theory sees chaos as an organizing force that leads to greater complexity, rather than a disorganizing force, In the Buffyverse, the term 'chaos' is used in the traditional sense--'a loss of order.' This definition still works well on the small scale. Specifically, chaos in the Buffyverse is a tool in the hands of an individual or small disempowered group (demon or human) to create mayhem and disorder. Ethan Rayne, for example, tries to create chaos in Sunnydale from time to time. His goal is not some great evil consequence, but simply confusion and trouble for his victims...Evil-as-chaos comes out of the resentment evil has for good. This is Satan's sort of evil--after being cast out of heaven, the fallen angel becomes dedicated to ruining what the good have going for them. This is the evil of the weak; complete destruction is not possible against the stronger forces of good, and Satan is forced into terrorism."--Masquerade, "Evil on BtVS/Angel: Chaos," from http://www.atpobtvs.com

18VV) ...statue from the woman's face on one side to the man's face on the other. MYTHOLOGY: "According to Bulfinch’s Greek and Roman Mythology: [the Roman god] Janus was the porter of heaven. He opens the year, the first month [January] being named after him. He is the guardian deity of gates, on which account he is commonly represented with two heads, because every door looks two ways. His temples at Rome were numerous. In war time the gates of the principal one were always open. In peace they were always closed. Not the first time chaos has been associated with gates – Glory in Season 5 uses Dawn to open dimensional gates causing chaos to reign."--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34

Act Two

18WW) "I'll show him I can coif with the best of 'em." BEST INTENTIONS: "Buffy has dressed up as what she believes is Angel’s dream girl, a princess, beautiful, Cordelia like – but Angel isn’t interested in the outside package – but the inside one. Of all the people in costumes, Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia all hide behind theirs, the only person, ironically enough, who isn’t hidden by her costume is actually Willow – who is the only one who deliberately chose a costume to hide in – instead Willow’s costume reveals everything she wished to hide, literally causing her spirit dressed in the revealing outfit to disengage from her body."--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34

18XX) "Wow! You're a dish!" COLOR ME IMPRESSED: Willow is so self-conscious and shy at this point that she doesn't realize that Buffy is not overcompensating here, or just trying to make her feel better. Willow does look hot, even though all she feels in the "skank-wear" is uncomfortable. And you can tell that Buffy truly is disappointed when Will comes down as Casper.

18YY) "...Casper." POP CULTURE TIME: A reference to the cartoon character, Casper the Friendly Ghost, who has been appearing in numerous incarnations since the early 50s, including a live-action movie in the late 90s, starring Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman.

18ZZ) "That's aaa fine boo you got there." COMPLETELY COVERED: Again, we hear a bit of unexcitement regarding Will's costume choices, on Xander's part (Inca Mummy Girl). At this point, it seems he really doesn't think Willow has a sexual bone in her body.

18AAA) Xander points his rifle at him... FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Xander takes aim at him with his plastic machine gun - almost 'fires' - but stops himself. A plastic pacifist."--"Halloween" by Carl Ellsworth, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1

Note that Xander will withdraw his (real) rifle later as well. See 18FFF.

18BBB) "Hey, Cordelia. Jeez, you're like a great big cat." THE WONDER OF OZ: Again, Oz is none too impressed with Cordy's looks, and even has a subtle pun about Cordy being cat-like in behavior as well as appearance, similar to his "she's a hot girl" line. See 16SS.

18CCC) "Oh! I'm sorry." TWICE MET: Oz's second run-in with Willow, the joke being that once again, she is covered from head to toe. Last time, in Inca Mummy Girl, she was in the constraining Eskimo outfit (see 16Bx4).

18DDD) "Showtime!" LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!: "We then cut to a child transformed into a red-skinned demon. Sweet's "showtime" line in Once More, With Feeling recalls this, suggesting that both he and Ethan are similar: trickster figures bent on revealing hidden truths." This line is also said by Willow before Buffy trounces the Ubervamp in the episode appropriately entitled, Showtime.--ponygirl, Sun, 02/02/03 at 16:28:25, with additions by Rob

18EEE) "Lady, I suggest you find cover." PRIVATE HARRIS: "Xander gets to be GI Joe Man – Xander’s personal fantasy of being a military guy is realized here and it’s one he holds onto until the Initiative in Season 4, where he realizes in his Restless dream it’s the last thing he wants. The series gets a lot of mileage out of this – since as a result of his time spent as GI Joe – Xander knows how to disable and put back together the Initiative’s weapons, how to get a rocket Launcher and how to pretend to be a military guy. Part of the reason Xander admires Riley so much – may be an extension of this fantasy – first shown to us here in Halloween. Also the military guy – emphasizes the fact that Xander wants to be able to defend himself and women. He feels weak. He’s always running. So he grabs a costume which will make him feel less weak and will make him a hero – the opposite of Buffy who grabs a costume that makes her feel weak but attractive. An interesting switch of gender roles."--shadowkat, Sat, 02/01/03 at 13:18:34

18FFF) "No! No guns! That's still a little kid in there!" GUNS BAD: "This episode is only the second time anyone fires a gun on the show (see 7SS), and Xander is the first Scoob to use one - later examples include Cordy attempting to shoot the Spiny-head demon in Homecoming...a case could be made that Giles-as-Ripper intended to shoot Ethan in Band Candy before Buffy intervened and took the gun [and in The Killer in Me, Willow almost shot Kennedy] . An interesting point to note about these cases is that any time a Scoob has used or genuinely threatened to use a gun, it's been in another identity: Xander as military guy, Giles as the teenage Ripper...Cordy while being mistaken for Faith [and Willow, when she was magically turned into Warren]. Apparently going with ME's stance that guns = bad, they'll only allow the good guys to use them while they're stepping outside of their previously defined identities."--Rook, Mon, 02/03/03 at 22:20:46

"Yes, Xander's use a gun in this episode isn't glamorized in a Hollywood way, either - he's about to shoot at the demons, which would have meant he'd be potentially killing children. The gun doesn't do him much good - it scares off the monsters, apparently, but his ethics (or at least Willow's) prevent him from using it. In other words, guns don't solve your problems, they only exacerbate them."--slain, Tues, 02/04/03 at 10:01:18

Part Two