30A) Killed by Death. MUSICALLY SPEAKING: The title of this episode is a reference to the song, Killed by Death, by the band, Motorhead. It appears on their 1984 album, No Remorse. Here are the lyrics:

"Shut up

If you squeeze my lizard
I'll put my snake on you
I'm a romantic adventure
And you’re a reptile too

[CHORUS:]
But it don't make no difference
'cos I ain't gonna be, easy, easy
the only time I'm easy's when I'm
Killed by death (x4)
So long

I'm a lone wolf ligger
But I ain't no pretty boy
I'm a backbone shiver
and I'm a bundle of joy

[CHORUS]
Killed by death (x3)
So long ‘cos you’ve been killed by death
No more
Don’t go..."--lyrics provided by Celebaelin, Thurs, 05/01/03 at 16:54:56

Teaser

30B) ...and Buffy pulls herself up. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "BUFFY hoists herself into view. She rests for a moment. Her face is pale, her eyes sunken, her hair mussed up -- not the bright and shiny Buffy we're accustomed to seeing."--"Killed by Death" by Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 4

30C) Xander screams and reflexively jumps back, holding on tightly to his own stake. Cordelia lets out a high-pitched scream behind him. Willow is there, too, and the girls both reflexively hold up crosses at Buffy. METAPHORICAL GOODNESS: "Interesting symbolism here--Xander, the 'Heart' of the Scoobies, is holding a stake, which is intended to be plunged into a vampire's non-beating heart. Willow, the 'Spirit' of the Scoobies, is holding a cross (nice irony, by the way--a Jewish technowhiz using a Christian cross for spiritual protection). Cordelia, who's been described elsewhere as Buffy's shadow self, is behind Xander (Heart) and, like Willow, is holding a cross (Spirit)--hiding behind and using the trappings of both without being either."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

TEAM WORK: The whole gang coming together here to help Buffy with slayage foreshadows the opening scenes of Anne (see 35E) and Bargaining, where the gang works together to fill in for an absent Buffy.

30D) "My whole life just flashed before my eyes! I gotta get me a life!" LINKAGE: "Echoed by Spike in Bargaining, of Giles: 'Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost gotta shagged, cuppa tea?' The teaser in which this quote occurs is rather similar to the current teaser: here we have Xander, Cordy and Willow filling in for sick Buffy, there we have Xander and Willow plus Anya, Spike, Giles and the Buffybot doing the same thing for dead Buffy."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 07:24:40

30E) "Buffy, you're sick." METAPHORICAL ILLNESS?: "Buffy is suffering from Angelus' attacks on her family/friends, and from her affection for the person he was. Whether the sickness is a metaphor for her weakness, or whether it's a case of mind affecting body (it's pretty well established that stress can increase susceptibilty to illness) there's a connection here. This is also a little reminiscent of the time she escapes into a coma in S5's The Weight of the World, haunted with guilt after Dawn is taken [also, interestingly, the only other episode where we see Buffy as a child--see 30KK]. Buffy is also carrying a lot of guilt here, since she feels her affair with Angel has brought down the current disaster."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 07:24:40

"That the heroine is ill is significant. Buffy's superhuman strength, agility and durability have been compromised to an extent, making her more vulnerable, more like the ordinary mortals whom she fights to protect. Ironically, Buffy will discover that this vulnerability--which puts her in such peril at the beginning--will be the only way that she can find and destroy the demon in this episode. Buffy, in order to kill the Kindestod, will have to make herself ill--in effect, embracing her mortality and her humanity, rather than relying solely on her superpowers."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43 See 30II and 30SSS.

CONTINUITY CHECK: "The last time that Buffy was ill, she had been cursed by Catherine Madison in The Witch (see 3MM)."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30F) "I mean, I'm... the world's spinning a little bit, but I like it, it's kinda like a ride." CARNIVAL RIDE: "A ride: as in funfair ride [or roller-coaster. Originally a (touring) fairground ride, a mechanical device on which a number of people stand or sit while being spun round, jiggled about, raced around a looping track, carried high in the air or (more recently) being stuck to a wall by centrifugal force while the floor dropped away. These paying rides were/are assembled by professional fairground workers (often traditional family-based groups) at designated sites (fairgrounds) on public holidays. The funfair itself grew out of, and eventually superceded, the trading fair, a holiday market originating in mediaeval times. Static rides started to be built in holiday resorts in the Victorian era, and became a staple attraction of theme parks from the 50's onwards."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 07:24:40

"Of course, there are many amusement park and fairground rides that involve spinning around, but the one that springs to mind immediately is that of the merry-go-round--a child's ride that travels in a circle, returning to where one was at the beginning. As we will see, Buffy's battle with the Kindestod will take her from illness to health to realization to illness once more."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30G) "Half the school's out with this flu." MEDICALLY SPEAKING: "Flu being an abbreviation for influenza. 'Influenza is a common viral infection. It is caused by three viruses - Influenza A, B and C. Type A is usually responsible for the large outbreaks and is a constantly changing virus. New strains of Type A virus develop regularly and cause new epidemics every few years. Type B causes smaller outbreaks, and Type C usually causes mild illness. In the United States, infection with influenza A and B leads to 20,000 deaths and more than 100,000 hospitalizations each year. Influenza is transmitted from person to person via contagious droplets that are spread when an infected person sneezes or coughs (http://www.1uphealth.com/health/influenza_info.html)."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 07:24:40

30H) "We're all concerned about how gross you look." OUTWARD APPEARANCE: "It's typical of Cordy that she focuses on how sick Buffy LOOKS. It's also a key theme for this episode--appearance of a problem (or lack of appearance) versus reality. We will learn that just because you cannot see a problem, that does not mean it is not there."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30I) "Buffy, come on, one night of rest in not gonna kill you." LINKAGE: In the seventh season's Bring On the Night, a dream version of Joyce tells Buffy that the best thing she can do to prepare to fight the First is to rest and clear her head. Buffy finally takes this advice to heart in Touched.

30J) "No, but it might kill somebody else." SELFLESS BUFFY: "Buffy is putting the welfare of others ahead of her own health here. Noble, but not entirely practical--as Xander points out, she is off her game at the moment, only 'half a Slayer'. And being half a Slayer could get her, or others, killed."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD: Here we see Buffy facing an issue that bothered her in Phases, with the death of Theresa (see 27GG and 27Ax4), that as a superhero, she can't save everybody. Is it then her fault when anyone in Sunnydale dies because she wasn't there to protect them? She is pushing herself harder than her body is capable of, to make sure she isn't "responsible" for any more deaths. Arguably, it is this same type of stubborn resolve that leads to many of her psychological problems that manifest most strongly in the seventh season.

30K) "You mean Angel might." ASSIGNING BLAME: Xander's line here is incredibly important, because he tells her clearly that no, it is not you causing the deaths. It is Angel. While tragedy may occur, you cannot be held responsible for not saving every person. You save as many as you have the ability to do, and you can't blame yourself for another's evil. In essence, he is morally absolving her from responsibility in Jenny's death, and whether she did have some responsibility in the chain of events that led to it or not (see 28UUU), this is the most healthy thing for Xander to say to her and for her to understand. In the end, Angelus is the one who did the killing. It was his decision and his action. She cannot spend her life regretting every action she has made and wondering "what-if" scenarios.

30L) "Buffy, this is not the time to challenge Angel for the ultimate fighting championship." POP CULTURE TIME: "As opposed to just your normal fighting championship. The roots of this concept probably go back to martial arts films of the 60's & 70's. Bruce Lee's influential Enter the Dragon (1973) featured a to-the-death kung-fu/karate contest on a secluded island, and many subsequent martial arts movies, like Jean Claude van Damme's Bloodsport (1983), used the mixed-style killer contest as an excuse for a plot. With the rise of computer games in the 80's/90's, it became a staple premise of the 'beat-em-up' genre, typified by such games as Mortal Kombat. However, Xander may be referring to the Ultimate Fighting Championship organisation, which has staged mixed-martial-arts contests since 1993, mainly in the States but also in Japan and the UK, as a form of public entertainment. It also markets a computer game version of the contest, Tapout."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 07:24:40

30M) "Not feeling well, lover?" FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: "Buffy will echo Angelus' mocking terms of endearment to her in Becoming II, as she confronts him sword in hand with a kick ass attitude and 'hello lover.'"--Helen, Fri, 05/02/03 at 01:04:36 See 34VVV.

30N) He starts to bend down to bite her, but just then Willow throws Xander's jacket over Angelus' head. As she backs away, Xander grabs his head under the jacket, punches him and knees him twice in the face. Angelus falls over onto his back. Willow and Cordelia pull out their crosses and hold them out at him as he gets up, and he has to back off. NO "I" IN TEAM: "The teamwork and determination evinced by the Scoobies here is remarkable. What makes it even more so is that no supernatural or magical powers are used--only fast, shrewd action coupled with the 'normal' use of crosses as suitable weapons against vampires. They do not kill Angelus, but then their objective was to save Buffy--not to kill a vampire."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30O) "I told you guys to leave, I..." MEANING...?: "One wonders if Buffy realizes that her friends had just saved her life, or if she thought that they were still in danger. If she thought that they were in danger, her insistence that they leave (especially in view of her collapse after saying this) becomes incredibly heroic. If, on the other hand, she realized that they had saved her life and was lashing out at them out of fear and anger--as parents often do when a child does something dangerous but is unharmed--then her reaction is far less heroic and far, far more human."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

Act One

30P) Xander rushes in with Buffy in his arms. BIG BROTHERLY XANDER: Another great Xander-protects-Buffy moment from the second season.

30Q) "What happened?" PRODUCTION NOTES: "Robert Munic, who plays the intern, also appeared in the following movies whose names or themes seem to fit oddly well with this episode: Gavre Princip--Himmel unter Steinen [English Title--'Death of a Schoolboy' ](1990); Radio Flyer (1992) (a movie that deals with child abuse, the threat of death and the use of imagination to escape an impossible situation); the TV-movie Bloodlines: Murder in the Family (1993); The Pros and Cons of Breathing (1994), which he also directed and wrote the screenplay for; the TV-movie, Missing Parents (nice shout-out, considering Joss's motiff of bad, missing or irresponsible parents); and 1996's Bordello of Blood."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 19:01:38

30R) "Patient's unconscious... Pupils are unequal and unresponsive." MEDICALLY SPEAKING: "According to http://www.tcusportsmedicine.com/headweb.htm, Buffy is displaying signs of a third degree concussion. Symptoms of this include extended loss of consciousness, retrograde amnesia, unequal and unresponsive pupils, dizziness and disorientation. '[A] small penlight can be used to check the dilation and constriction of the eye pupils. The pupils should constrict with light and dilate when taken away. They should also respond equally. Any discrepancy in size, or if the pupils are fixed, constitutes possible serious pathological changes.' Later, Buffy does evince dizziness and disorientation, probably caused both by her fever and by the concussion."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30S) "Get her into Trauma 1, give her a CBC, Chem 7, type and screen." MEDICALLY SPEAKING: "CBC stands for 'Complete Blood Count.' It's the most common blood test performed. According to http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/medical/labtest4.html, the CBC 'analyzes the three major types of cells in blood: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. The CBC counts these cells, measures hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying molecule in red blood cells), estimates the red cells' volume, and sorts the white blood cells into five subtypes.' Another test that is part of the CBC is the Platelet Count. From http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/medical/labtest4_p2.html: 'Platelets are the smallest blood cells. They play an important role in blood clotting and the prevention of bleeding. There are about 100,000 to 300,000 platelets in each cubic millimeter of blood. When a blood vessel is damaged or cut, platelets clump together and plug up the hole until the blood clots. If the platelet count is too low, a person can be in danger of bleeding in any part of the body.'

Three of the tests in the CBC--'the red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and mean (red) cell volume - look specifically at the red blood cells'--how many red blood cells per millimiter of blood, how much oxygen the blood can carry throughout the body, the percentage of blood composed of red blood cells, etc. These three tests are often done to determine the presence of anemia...

Here's what http://health.discovery.com/diseasesandcond/encyclopedia/1124.html has to say about the Chem-7: 'In the past, the CHEM-7 was a set of seven tests that was performed on a single sample of blood. Doctors used to order groups or panels of laboratory tests in order to rule out different conditions. Now, doctors most often order each laboratory test separately depending on a person's specific condition.'"--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

"The CBC is most likely being ordered to check her white blood cell count, which is likely to be high as her immune system fights the flu. Doing a complete blood count rather than just testing one component is pretty routine. The unequal, unreactive pupils sound way more serious than anything that would be caused by the injuries we saw Buffy take in the fight scene. And there'd be no reason to check her blood type unless they expected her to need a transfusion, which she wouldn't except in the case of severe blood loss. Since there are no open wounds, it would have to be internal bleeding. 'Possible fractures' are mentioned, & broken bone ends can cut blood vessels, but accumulation of blood under the skin is usually visible, & her blood pressure would drop. This wouldn't be the 1st time the writers have flubbed medical stuff."--anom, Sun, 05/04/03 at 00:07:21

POP CULTURE TIME: "The second half of this line is something of a catchphrase in [the hit NBC medical drama,] ER."--KdS, Fri, 05/02/03 at 03:56:52

30T) "You call Buffy's mom, tell her, n-not what happened, just get her here." MEDICAL OOPS?: "Buffy is a minor, so Joyce would have to give permission for her to be treated. Yet the ER doctors are working on Buffy before Joyce gets there and signs the releases."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

According to a friend of mine, this may not be an error. In some states at least, in cases of emergency, an underage patient can be admitted without parental consent, as long as he or she is approved by two attending physicians.

30U) "I'm Dr. Wilkinson." WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "Dr. Wilkinson is another person in the Jossverse whose name begins with the 'Will' sound (see 19P). 'Wilkinson' is an old English name meaning 'son of William' or 'son of little Will.' 'William' is from the Old German 'Willihelm' and means 'resolute protector.' 'Will' is both a nickname of 'William' and an Old English name in its own right meaning 'determined, firm, or possessing strong will.' Not a bad name for an ER doctor trying to save people from injury or death on the Hellmouth."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30V) "She still has some healing to do." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: In the original script, the doctor continued here, going into more details on Buffy's injuries. When she explains that Buffy is suffering from dehydration, among other things, Wilow wittily replies, "I keep telling her that Yoo-Hoo is not a fluid replenisher." For those who don't know, Yoo-Hoo is a bottled drink, similar to chocolate milk.--"Killed by Death" by Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 4

30W) "My bed is better than any bed that's...not my bed." NO INVITATION NECESSARY: "Even in her groggy state, Buffy may have remembered that Angel has access to public places, while her own house has been secured."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 14:33:54

30X) "Hospital zone. No singing." NO SINGING!: See 30NN.

30Y) "The vampires! I need to kill the vampires!" BUFFY CRAZY?: See 3NN, 23CCC and 24H.

30Z) "When she was eight her cousin Celia died in a hospital. Buffy was alone with her at the time." WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "'Celia' is a nickname for the name 'Cecilia.' 'Cecilia' comes from the Latin 'Caecilia,' which means 'blind'--an ironic name, surely, as Celia not only was not blind, but she also saw the demon that her eight-year-old cousin Buffy could not. The memory of Celia will push Buffy to find a way to see the demon that is killing kids at Sunnydale Hospital."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

REALVERSE CONFLICT: "Not likely. Visiting children without adult supervision have been taboo in most US hospitals for more years than I've been around to remember."--Cactus Watcher, Wed, 05/01/03 at 15:29:13

30AA) "I should go call her father." THE ENIGMATIC HANK SUMMERS: One of the rare references to Hank, after When She Was Bad (see 13N). Although the fact that Joyce does contact him is a sign that she still thinks he wants to be a part of Buffy's life, it is awful suspicious that he doesn't visit Buffy once while in her stay at the hospital. Hank is definitely drifting away at this point.

30BB) "I hope I'm not out of line, but... I-I-I wanted to say how sorry I am about, uh, that teacher, Ms. Calendar." GILES' ANGUISH: Notice how difficult it is for Giles even to hear Joyce speak of Jenny. Although "Giles appears to be coping with the loss of Jenny...[moments like this show that] he is actually deeply distressed, and it is affecting his judgment [perhaps why he disbelieves Buffy in this episode--see 30WW], as becomes clearer in the next ep, I Only Have Eyes for You."--MsGiles, Sat, 05/03/03 at 02:56:09

GILES AND JOYCE: "For the first time Giles and Joyce find themselves [bonding over their] relationship to Buffy[, a connection] which will persist until Joyce's death in S5, almost but not quite becoming romantic (except briefly when they become their teenage selves in Band Candy, S3)."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 14:33:54

30CC) "Lysette got her nose done here..." CONTINUITY CHECK: "Lysette shows up in the episode, The Zeppo."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30DD) "...she came in looking for the Gwyneth Paltrow..." POP CULTURE TIME: "Gwyneth Paltrow, a tall slender blonde actress, would have been best known, at the time this episode first aired, for her title role in the 1996 movie Emma [and for being Brad Pitt's girlfriend]. However, she was in another movie that resonates with a common theme from Buffy: The Pallbearer (1996), about the difficulties of making the transition from adolescence to adulthood when one isn't sure how to do it." Paltrow won an Oscar for Best Actress in 1999 for Shakespeare in Love.--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30EE) "...Mr. Potatohead." TOY STORY: "Mr. Potato Head was first made by the Hasbro company in 1952. It is a brown piece of plastic shaped roughly like a potato, though perforated with holes in various places. Peg--backed features such as eyes, a nose, lips, a hat, feet, and ears can be inserted into the holes of the potato shape to make comical grotesque faces. Mr. Potato Head noses are exaggerated for comic effect, so they tend to be bulbous, hooked, prominent, warty, etc. There is no such thing as a flattering Mr. Potato Head nose."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

"...[T]he original plastic 'feature' pieces [actually] came with a very sorry looking cardboard 'potato.' Children were encouraged to stick the pieces in genuine potatoes, which made much nicer 3d figures."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 05/02/03 at 09:41:03

30FF) "You know, that thing on her face?" WHAT'S TACT?: "SMG indeed has a small pimple-shaped 'thing' on her chin. But, of course, Charisma has a much larger birthmark on her cheek."--Cactus Watcher, Wed, 05/01/03 at 15:29:13

30GG) "He can come in, it's a public building." THE RULES OF INVITATION: See 7E.

30HH) ...and a young boy is there just silently staring in at her. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "His name is RYAN. He's still, expressionless, Stepfordian. Think Christopher Walken at age ten."--"Killed by Death" by Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 4

30II) It's all disfigured, his nose is long and bent down to a point, his teeth are all long fangs, and his fingers are grossly elongated. ONE, TWO, FREDDY'S COMIN' FOR YOU: "[T]he Kindestod's hat, claws, sardonic attitude and association with hallucinations are all reminiscent of Freddy Kreuger, the razor-gloved, dream-stalking undead serial murderer in the Nightmare on Elm Street films."--KdS, Fri, 05/02/03 at 03:56:52

"In Nightmare on Elm Street - the original movie directed and written by Wes Craven and starring Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger - Krueger only appeared to people when they were dreaming. He could not be seen when you were awake. And he only attacked the adolescent children of the parents who had killed him. The story was that Freddy was a horrible child molester and the heroine's mother and the parents of her friends got together to capture and kill Freddy, keeping him from hurting any more kids. They did this by burning him alive in a boiler room...But Freddy has slowly been gaining power through the nightmares of their children. He enters their dreams and guts them. The heroine to stay alive, tries to keep herself awake throughout the movie. In fact she tells her friends not to fall asleep. The moment they do, they are gruesomely killed. (And believe me it's gruesome.)

How is Freddy similar to the monster in Killed by Death? First off, Freddy and Kinder both have almost the same face. Burned and old. With no hair. They also both wear a hat. In fact in Nightmare On Elm Street - one of the last scenes - where the heroine defeats him is when she grabs his hat, pulling him into the waking world. That's how she stops Freddy, by pulling him out of her dreams and into reality. The heroine allows herself to dream but takes control of those dreams. In Killed by Death, Buffy takes control of the situation by entering a fevered dream state. Realizing only sick children can see the monster. Just like the kids in Nightmare, the kids in Killed by Death only see the monster when they are in a different or altered state. In Nightmare it's when they are asleep. In Killed By Death it's when they are in a fevered sleep or fevered state almost delusional. In Nightmare - the figment of your worst nightmares kills you, in Killed by Death - the figment of your worst delusions does. Another similarity is both monsters go after children. Or at least at first. Freddy goes after adolescents. Kinder goes after young kids. Adults up until the very end of Nightmare, are more or less left alone by Freddy. Same with Kinder - he only goes after the adults who get in his way, Buffy and the Doctor. Otherwise they are left alone.

Both deal with the metaphor that our fears/nightmares can kill us if we give them power over us. This metaphor is used repeatedly in horror films and science fiction. We see it in Dreamscape, starring Dennis Quaid, where a man has the ability to enter others dreams to save them. One of the dreams in the film is a young boy who is being traumatized by a monster. The myth explored in the film is if you are killed in your dreams, you are killed in reality. The writers of BtVS, in a way, subvert this idea in Killed By Death, instead of following the cliche - we can be killed by the monsters in our nightmares, they subvert it a little by exploring the idea that our fear of illness can kill us.

The delusions of the fevered mind can do us in. The monster in Killed by Death - sucks the life of the kids, feeding off of their fevers. It does not kill well children. And it lives in hospitals. In Freddy - the heroine is terrified to fall asleep, she is controlled by her fear of sleep of nightmares - she conquers her fear of not being in control by finally taking the control of her dreams and bringing the nightmare out of her subsconcious where it is attempting to kill her and to the conscious world where she can tackle and destroy it. Buffy in Killed by Death does the same thing - she fears hospitals, dreads being in them, this dates back to a traumatic experience with her cousin. She had sworn to always protect her cousin and instead watched her younger cousin die in front of her eyes, unable to help her or stop it. An experience that haunts her. Her childhood fear of sickness and hospitals takes on the literal shape of the Kinder who kills children who are sick and in her memories, she links with the death of her cousin.

Like the heroine in Nightmare, Buffy's realization of her fear and ability to finally face it head on, provides her with the ability to destroy the Kinder (see 30EE and 30SSS), she takes it's power away from it and saves the childrens lives. Buffy does end happier than Nightmare does. Nightmare ends like all the 70s and 80s slasher pictures - with the monster killing someone close to the hero or reappearing in the final frame, unkillable. A cheap reversal that got old after Halloween. Whedon does not go for that cheap plot twist and allows his heroine to remain empowered."--Shadowkat, Fri, 05/02/03 at 21:15:00

"Interestingly, in the third Nightmare film, Dream Warriors, victims of the nightmare are confined to an asylum, and have to learn to band together to fight Krueger."--MsGiles, 05/03/03 at 02:56:09

LINKAGE: de Kindestod's eerie wide smile, bald head, and wrinkled skin, as well as his dark fairy-tale style link him greatly with the Gentlemen in Joss' fourth season silent opus, Hush.

PRODUCTION NOTES: "James Jude Courtney, who plays the Kindestod, worked as the stunt double for Garibaldi and G'kar on Babylon 5, also guest starring as 'Gyor' in the 1994 first-season episode TKO, as 'Narn #1' in the 1996 third-season episode Sic Transit Vir ['Thus Passes Man']."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 19:01:38

30JJ) Cut to the hall. It's deserted except for the janitor mopping the floor behind her. VISUAL SYMBOLISM: "The grainy, off-angled hospital establishing shots in this ep may well be homages to the distinctive visual style of Lars von Trier's TV mini-series, The Kingdom, which deals with supernatural mayhem in a hospital built on a mystical hot spot reminiscent of the Hellmouth. The Backer subplot of the ep is reminiscent of one of The Kingdom's main plot arcs, in which an evil and possibly demonic doctor poisons his illegitimate daughter under the guise of treating her for a lung infection."--KdS, Fri, 05/02/03 at 03:56:52

30KK) Little Buffy comes walking down the bright but deserted hall. HAIR TODAY: "I think this is the first time that we see young Buffy. She's portrayed by Mimi Paley. On a nice note of continuity, in Season 6's Normal Again, Buffy is shown looking at a picture of herself as a youngster with her Mom and Dad. Mimi Paley is again pictured as the young Buffy circa 8 years old. It's interesting to note that she is portrayed as naturally having light brunette hair. Although SMG consistently has one of the best dye-jobs I've ever seen over the course of the show, they're acknowledging that she's not naturally blond...

...[T]he only other time...that we see a younger Buffy is in 5.21 The Weight of the World. The actress is different (Alexandra Lee) and is shown with blond hair. If Buffy and Dawn are about 7 years apart (Buffy 22 this year to Dawn's 15) in age, Buffy would be about 7 when Dawn is brought back from the hospital (even though this never really happened). I assume they couldn't use the same actress 3 years later (S2 to S5), as she would be too old, but it's interesting that they were inconsistent with the natural hair color. And it's unlikely that this could be explained by a dye-job, since that would be pretty unusual [although not impossible] for a 7-8 year old."--tomfool, Sat, 05/03/03 at 11:13:24

PRODUCTION NOTES: "Mimi Paley, who plays 'Little Buffy,' may be familiar to fans of The X-Files. In 1993, she played Samantha Mulder in the seventh season episode Closure."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 19:01:38

30LL) ...Dr. Backer... PRODUCTION NOTES: "'The part of Dr. Backer in this episode is played by veteran actor Richard Herd. Those of you of a certain age may remember Herd fondly as ‘Visitor’ leader ‘John’ in Kenneth Johnson’s excellent 80s miniseries V as well as its successor V: The Final Battle. He has done other genre turns in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager, playing the part of Admiral Owen (‘Father of Tom’) Paris in the latter. Fans of Seinfeld may also recognize him as ‘Wilhelm’...and has anyone noticed he looks (and sounds) a lot like Karl Malden? (http://www.restlessbtvs.com/episodes/season2/18killed/index.html)"--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 18:06:59

30MM) "You know what, if-if you have a problem with my methods, just take it up with the board." BAIT AND SWITCH: "Joss likes to have us jump to conclusions and then realise they're the wrong ones. Here we assume Dr. Backer is up to no good, while actually he has realised what is happening and is trying to save the children."--MsGiles, Sat, 05/03/03 at 02:56:09

Act Two

30NN) Angelus comes walking out of the waiting room from the elevator bearing some white flowers and whistling a few bars of "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's 9th symphony. COLORFUL SYMBOLISM: "In Japanese culture, white is the colour associated with death."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 14:33:54

THE SINGING VAMPIRE: This refers to earlier in the episode, when "Buffy in her fever tells Xander no singing is allowed (see 30X)...[Here,] Angel enters whistling a snatch of tune from the chorale section of Beethoven's ninth symphony, which uses Friedrich von Schiller's poem Ode to Joy as lyrics."--Cactus Watcher, Wed, 05/01/03 at 15:29:13

And for completists, here are the lyrics to Ode to Joy:

"Freude, schoener Goetterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium;
Wir betreten, feuertrunken,
Himmlischer, dein Heiligthum.
Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng getheilt;
Alles Menschen werden Brueder,
Wo dein saenfter Fluegel weilt."--Tchaikovsky, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:45:32

Here is a portion of the most famous English version, by Henry van Dyke:

"Joyful, joyful we adore thee,
God of glory, Lord of Love!
Hearts unfold like flow'rs before thee,
Praising thee, their sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,
Drive the gloom of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day."

Interestingly, though, this is not the most accurate translation, for, while this uses imagery of a single God, and Christ in particular, the actual words refer rather to the multiple Roman gods. Here's an example:

"Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter fire imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary...

Joy, daughter of Elysium
Thy magic reunites those
Whom stern custom has parted;
All men will become brothers
Under thy gentle wing."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

"Another dividing line between Angel and Angelus which will be re-established in Angel (Judgement/Soulless) - Angel never sings, Angelus does. Note that in Helpless, Buffy talks about hating hummers. The choice of tune may be a reference to [the controversial Anthony Burgess book, later turned into a controversial film directed by Stanley Kubrick,] A Clockwork Orange, in which the ultraviolent anti-hero Alex is a fervent Beethoven fan."--KdS, Fri, 05/02/03 at 03:56:52

PRODUCTION NOTES: Ironically, "Killed by Death was originally supposed to be a first season episode in which Angel brings Buffy to the hospital (http://www.restlessbtvs.com/episodes/season2/18killed/index.html)."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 18:06:59

30OO) "You game?" XANDER THE BRAVE: "Again, Xander confronts Angelus with his trademark calm acceptance of threats."--KdS, Fri, 05/02/03 at 03:56:52 See 26FF.

30PP) "Buffy's White Knight." LITERATURE CORNER: "'Knight in shining armour' is the usual phrase. The White Knight, from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, is a friendly but bumbling figure forever falling off his horse, with whom Alice quickly loses patience. Angelus just slipping in a little extra insult, there."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 14:33:54

30QQ) "It must just eat you up that I got there first." PETTY CRUELTY: Angelus gets in a few nasty digs here, similar to those he used to torture Buffy in the infamous bedroom scene from Innocence (see 26X).

30RR) "You're gonna die. And I'm gonna be there." XANDER'S ATTITUDE: "Killed by Death really states Xander/Angel’s new dynamic and is the transition from Xander’s concern being Buffy to it being the mission. He does this to compensate for his feelings for Buffy. Killed By Death is one of the more important episodes to Xander’s arc...Xander’s goal now is to see Angel dead. Before he was supporting Buffy in what she had to do. It was still about Buffy, and Willow supported him. Xander is now going to focus on seeing that Angel is killed. At the beginning of the episode, Xander is the one that asks if Buffy is ok and is the one that leads the attack against Angelus when he has Buffy pinned. It could be argued that Xander is starting to see that the only way to protect Buffy is to get her to kill Angel, but in the coming episodes he loses this focus and concentrates instead on just killing Angel. Even the flow of the episode shows this. Prior to Angelus showing up, Xander is the one who is most concerned about Buffy (Willow assumes the role). After this, his focus switches to helping fight the monster. He is trying to get over his obsession about Buffy by focusing on the mission. Cordelia even calls him on his attraction to Buffy (see 30FFF). Xander’s feelings for Buffy never go away. Instead he has to find a way to deal with them. He transfers the feelings he has for Buffy to her mission..."--lunasea, Wed, 05/28/03 at 10:09:13 See 33Ex4.

FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: Xander won't be there in person when Angel finally does "die," but he will play a major (controversial) role in Buffy's sending her lover to Hell in Becoming II. See 34TTT.

30SS) "Power Girl to the rescue!" THE CHOSEN ONE: In the seventh season's Empty Places, Anya argues that Buffy was chosen as the Slayer arbitrarily, not because of anything innately special about her. This scene is a good counter-argument. Here we see that "...[b]efore she knew of her destiny, she was playing the hero, rescuing her cousin from danger. And then in The Weight of the World, we see 6-year-old Buffy offering to take care of her little sister, Dawn. So long before she was chosen, she was the type of little girl to play superhero and take care of others. Since we get so few glimpses of Buffy's pre-slayer life (and the majority of dialogue references point to her shallower teenager days), these few scenes of pre-pubescent Buffster can tell us a lot about her character during those important developmental days. Makes me want to believe that she was chosen because she's the type to protect and take care of others."--Tyreseus, Sun, 05/04/03 at 02:16:59

POP CULTURE TIME: "Power Girl is the Supergirl of Earth-2, and a member of the Justice Society of America. Her first appearance was in All-Star Comics #58 (January/February 1976). Like Buffy, Power Girl was a blonde heroine with super-strength and super-speed...though, being a Kryptonian, Power Girl possessed invulnerability to bullets and lesser projectiles, x-ray vision and the power of flight (well, long, long jumps). For a thorough bio of Power Girl, go to http://my.execpc.com/~icicle/POWERGIRL.html."--Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 08:34:43

30TT) "Swelling's...gone!" SLAYERLY HEALING: See 8FF.

30UU) "You know, chocolate says that even better." BUFFY & CHOCOLATE: See 11N.

30VV) "Do you want me to go real fast?" LINKAGE: "Willow and Buffy momentarily paralleling Dru and Spike [in the wheelchair]."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 14:33:54

30WW) "Buffy, a-a-a frightened child..." DISBELIEVING BUFFY: See 8X and 9Z.

30XX) "Did it have an hourglass?" DEATH BE NOT PROUD: "The image of Death as the Grim Reaper, holding scythe and hourglass, so popular in medieval iconography, may well derive from the Titan, Kronos [from Greek mythology]. Kronos was the child of Gaia (the earth) and Uranus (the sky). As Uranus refused to let his children be born, Gaia gave Kronos a sickle. He castrated and killed his father, and released the children, the race of titans. Kronos repeated the pattern by swallowing his own children, one of whom was Zeus, head of the Greek pantheon. Zeus escaped swallowing, managed to free his siblings, and with the other gods eventually overthrew the titans, and established Olympia. Kronos was a harvest god, associated with death and rebirth (hence the scythe or sickle), and he is also Chronus, time (hence the hourglass)."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/02/03 at 14:33:54

30YY) "Ooo, if he asks you to play chess, don't even do it." POP CULTURE TIME: "A reference to the film, The Seventh Seal (although Xander may be familiar with the concept through the parody in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey)."--KdS, Fri, 05/02/03 at 03:56:52

30ZZ) "So this isn't about you being afraid of hospitals 'cause your friend died and you wanna conjure up a monster that you can fight so you can save everybody and not feel so helpless?" METANARRATIVE HUMOR: "Nice bit of metanarration. This is after all what Buffy does for us...[T]he show turns our fears into monsters and Buffy slays them. However, Cordy has not gone quite as far as proposing that she and the Scoobies are part of Buffy's coping mechanisms as well - in S6's Normal Again, we 're shown that even within the reality framework of the Buffyverse, Buffy may be delusional, and creating the narrative of slaying, that Cordelia summarises here, in her mind."--MsGiles, Sat, 05/03/03 at 02:56:09 See 3NN, 23CC, 24H, 28GGG, 30ZZ, 34JJ, 34YY, 34ZZ, 34BBB, and 35WW.

30AAA) "Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass." WHAT'S IN A NAME?: In most likelihood, Cordy's name is a reference to the character of the same name in William Shakespeare's King Lear. "In the opening scene, Cordelia is banished from [Lear,] her father's favour and his kingdom, from her rightful inheritance, because of a fatal flaw: she cannot dissimulate. She cannot lie. She cannot pretend to emotions she does not have. What she feels, she expresses just as she should. But Lear, in his madness rejects unvarnished, loving truth for overblown flattery. While her sister Goneril tells King Lear that she cannot express her love in words (but goes on to do so), Cordelia murmurs: 'What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent.' When Regan [the other sister] goes on to give her fulsome praise of her father, Cordelia says in an aside: 'Then poor Cordelia!/And yet not so, since I am sure my love's/More ponderous than my tongue.' And when finally she speaks, she speaks plainly: 'Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave/My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty/According to my bond, no more no less.' So when our, BtVS Cordelia says 'If tact is not saying true stuff, I'll pass!' we see that link between truth and speech made that Shakespeare endued his Cordelia with. And we all know...Joss...[loves Shakespeare]! And King Lear is possibly Shakespeare's greatest play. It is also a tragedy, and...[in the sixth season,] we see the idea of Sunnydale as cathartic tragedy grow more compelling.

I would also argue though, that Season 1 Cordelia has only the potential to be the virtuous Shakespearean Cordelia. We all know that Cordy dissimulates to please men (Reptile Boy--see 17H). She...[hides her own depth] because it's better to be lonely and popular than lonely and by herself (see 11UU)...It is when she is exiled from Sunnydale [in the third season, after the events of Lovers Walk, and the revelation in The Prom that her family has lost all of their omney] (as Cordelia herself is exiled from Britain in the play) that we see her take on her personification as 'Truth' to its fullest, Shakesperian extent. The logical conclusion of this is her 'Visions'. For what are visions, but 'seeing'? In King Lear, we see the imagery of sight and truth (blindness and lies) associated time and time again.

"I started pondering Cordelia, Queen of Sunnydale High. Sunnydale...is a land of lies. This is the reason why it is so often the villains who speak the truth. It is most interesting that a fantasy show like BtVS functions on a huge lie, and this point is best addressed in Normal Again. A show that values emotional truth and honesty, but also a show which ‘lies’ at the same time.When we first meet Cordelia, she has power and prestige (see 1N). We know that as she grows, she will grow into a full inheritance. Looking back, we also know that her tragedy (but also her salvation) is to lose everything – lose her wealth, her social status, and even her geeky boyfriend. But this dispossession is not only a far away twinkle in David Greenwalt’s eyes. We see that though Cordelia scorns associating with ‘losers’, she starts getting dragged into the Scooby gang. She tells Buffy ‘don’t let me stop your downward mobility’ [in Welcome to the Hellmouth] but the irony in that is that Buffy is going to precipitate her plunge down the social ladder. Losing everything is Cordelia’s moral salvation, and that in many ways is the essential message of King Lear, and in a way, the larger message of BtVS, tying into the theme, that ‘not belonging’, ‘otherness’ can be special (see 1P). It can allow you access to the greater truths brought about by social, and moral detachment.

So I would argue that the lies that Cordelia’s truth must be contrasted against is not the lies of the other Scoobies, but perhaps the lies that she herself once told to herself; the lies of Sunnydale. In that, I think there was a note of irony in Joss calling her ‘Cordelia’ but as always, the little ironies in BtVS always deepen into the most meaningful tragedies. Just another interesting point with regard to Cordy...becoming part demon [in the Angel episode, Birthday]. After Shakespeare’s Cordelia speaks and angers her father, there is a sense in which she becomes a ‘monster’, ‘unnatural’. I think this fits in very well with the...[themes of both series.]"--submitted by Rahael

30BBB) Suddenly a security guard appears next to her, and she jumps and gasps. PRODUCTION NOTES: "The creepy security guard who runs into Xander and Cordy in the basement archives is played by Willie Garson. Willie Garson currently stars in HBO's Sex and the City as Stanford Blatch, the gay galpal and confidante of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker)." Interesingly, Sarah Michelle Gellar later guest-starred in an L.A.-based episode of Sex and the City. --Rhys, Fri, 05/02/03 at 19:01:38, with additions by Rob

30CCC) "Either that, or 'Live in the now.' I haven't decided yet." LINKAGE: See 1XX.

30DDD) "Could you make just a little more with the touchy-gropey?" XANDER JEALOUS: See 28Z.

30EEE) "Of Rogaine boy?" POP CULTURE TIME: Xander is making fun of the guard's bald head. Rogaine is a product that claims to regrow hair on the heads of men who are beginning to lose their hair. Xander's gibe may be either implying that the guy should use Rogaine, or that he is (many people believe that Rogaine does not work).

30FFF) "Your obsession with protecting Buffy. Have I told you how attractive that's not?" XANDER LOVES BUFFY: See 27Cx4.

30GGG) "We both know that there are real monsters. But there's also real heroes that fight monsters. And that's me." THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT: "The speech may be influenced by the famous quotation from G K Chesterton on fairy tales: 'Fairy tales don't tell children there are monsters. They know there are monsters. Fairy tales tell them monsters can be killed.'"--KdS, Fri, 05/02/03 at 03:56:52

30HHH) "Can't fight death." DEATH IS YOUR GIFT: This is one of the most important recurring themes of Buffy. She can fight supernatural monsters, but she can't fight or reverse death. This was a major theme in episodes such as The Body, Forever, and Villains. The only time death truly was reversed on the show by supernatural means, in Bargaining, it (a) was possible because the death was caused by mystical forces and (b) came at a great price.

30III) A bag of Krispy Kreme doughnuts plops down onto it. REALVERSE CONFLICT: "It was widely known among fans at the time the episode was first shown that Krispy Kreme's weren't for sale in California. They are now."--Cactus Watcher, Wed, 05/01/03 at 15:29:13

30JJJ) Suddenly he gets hit in the back and spun around by something unseen. INVISIBILITY R' US: See 11FF.

Part Two