21A) What's My Line? WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "From The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, 1946- Present (Fifth Edition) by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, Ballantine Books, New York, NY, (c) 1992, pp. 972-973: 'First telecast on CBS in February 16, 1950 and last telecast on September 3, 1967, What's My Line was the longest-running game show in the history of prime time television. Contestants were asked simple yes-or-no questions by the panel members [Arlene Francis, columnist Dorothy Kilgallen (1950-1965), poet and critic Louis Untermeyer (1950-1951), gag writer Hal Block (1950-1953), Bennett Cerf (1951-1967), radio comic Fred Allen (1954-1956) and Steve Allen (1953-1954), with John Daly moderating] , who tried to determine what interesting or unusual occupation the contestant had. Each time the contestant could answer no to a question, he got $5, and a total of 10 no's ended the game. The panel was forced to don blindfolds for the 'mystery guest,' a celebrity who tried to avoid identification by disguising his voice. Finally in 1967, hoary with age, What's My Line left the network, only to surface less than a year later in a considerably less sophisticated and more slapstick syndicated version. Arlene Francis was the only holdover, joined by Soupy Sales as a regular panelist and Wally Bruner as moderator (replaced by Larry Blyden in 1972). The syndicated version lasted until 1975.'

Obviously, we have a few parallels between the game show and Career Week at Sunnydale--as on the show, people are asking questions (both oral and written) about others to determine occupations. The show, however, merely tried to determine existing occupations; Career Week is focusing on determining the students' FUTURE occupations--whether the occupation is something the student wants or not. Buffy, like the contestants on What's My Line follows both an interesting and unusual occupation--she is the Slayer. Like the blindfolded panelists on the game show trying to determine the identity and occupation of the 'mystery guest,' the Order of Taraka (a 'panel' of three) is searching--somewhat blindly--for the 'celebrity' who is the Slayer. Quite a lot to pack in a three-word title!"--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

Teaser

21B) "Well, what if I'm a people person who keeps his own company by default?" TEST ME: "A typical question on psychological tests to determine if the test-ee is extroverted or introverted. As Xander points out, the type of personality that a person has does not always mesh with social reality--especially in high school, which is rigidly conformist."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21C) "That would introduce too many variables into their mushroom head, number-crunching little world." ALL OF THE ABOVE: "Once again, we have the theme of objectifying. The test is strictly either/or--it allows no room to state that the choices it presents are not accurate, and it is being done this way to create quantifiable, measurable data about the students, reducing their personalities to numbers. However, the innate bias of the test is skewing or misrepresenting facts--a frightening fact when you consider that these tests will determine both teachers' and employers' views of the students' probable futures."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21D) "No, it's just these people can't tell from one multiple-choice test what we're gonna be doing for the rest of our lives." PREFERENCE TEST: "Like most teenagers, the gang misinterprets the preference test. They are not about what a kid is good at, but what kind of people, the kid shares interests with. They don't indicate future success or failure at doing anything in particular."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 02/14/03 at 07:19:08

21E) "What, and suck all the spontaneity out of being young and stupid?" BLISSFUL IGNORANCE: "Xander is the one most troubled by the tests. Willow, the good student, is the one who wants to know what kind of career she could have. Buffy is angry--she sees herself as trapped in one role while other possibilities dangle just beyond her reach. Xander, who is not academically gifted nor the focus of a destiny, sees himself being trapped by what the tests say that he should be. He doesn't want to have his whole life planned for him; he wants spontaneity. Incidentally, I think he uses the wrong word here. Xander wants to remain ignorant of his future (particularly since, as we will learn in the sixth season, he has a horror of becoming a man just like his father), particularly if it is as bleak as he fears it will be; that is not the same thing as being stupid."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21F) "Yes, but I'll always be stupid." SELF-DEPRECATING XANDER: At times, the other Scoobies will slip and allude to Xander not being smart, which he usually doesn't notice (see 16VV). In most cases, this is meant harmlessly, but what is important to note is here when Xander himself refers to himself as stupid, despite the comedic beat, Buffy does reassure him that he is not.

21G) "I aspire to help my fellow man." FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: "Of course, Cordelia will later become a genuinely self-sacrificing helper of her fellow man in AtS, after some resistance."--KdS, Fri, 02/14/03 at 08:03:16

21H) "That's between you and your god." HOLY PLANTS: "There is a link between religion and shrubs. The Druids worshipped trees and shrubs, and the trees of the Druidic Ogham alphabet were divided into three classifications: chieftains, peasants and shrubs (http://www.geocities.com/spirit_of_eireland/Druids.html). Here are the 'shrubs' in the Ogham alphabet:

QUERT-APPLE Month: none Class: shrub Letter: Q Meaning: A choice must be made.
NGETAL-REED Month: October Class: shrub Letter: NG Meaning: Upsets or surprises.
RUIS-ELDER Month: makeup days of the thirteenth month Class: shrub Letter: R Meaning: End of a cycle or problem.
AILIM-SILVER FIR Month: none class: shrub Letter A Meaning: Learning from the past mistakes; take care in choices.
EADHA-WHITE POPLAR OR ASPEN Month: none Class: shrub Letter: E Meaning: Problems; doubts; fears.

All of these 'shrubs'--problems, doubts and fears, learning from past mistakes, end of a cycle or particular problem, upsets and surprises, and making an important choice--will be dealt with in this episode."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21I) "I came down on the side of shrubs." WITCHY WILLOW: "Not too surprising that the future witch would come down on the side of something so Druidic! What is interesting is that 'Willow' is the name of an Ogham letter (Saille, meaning Willow, and corresponding to the letter S). Ironically, 'Willow' in Ogham represents 'gaining balance in your life'--something that Willow will later have a great deal of trouble with."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21J) "It's Principal Snyder's hoop of the week." MEIN COMMANDANT: More Snyder-enforced mandatory school activities. See 14O.

21K) "Do the words 'sealed in fate' ring any bells for you, Will? Why go there?" OPTIMISTIC WILL: Notice how Willow, as usual, encourages Buffy to also care about the un-supernatural side of her life. She wants her to believe she can have a good future, just as she will, in the latter portion of the third season, be excited for Buffy when she gets into impressive colleges.

21L) "...with that kind of attitude you could've had a bright future as an employee at the DMV." INSULTS & APOLOGIES: "DMV--Department of Motor Vehicles. Employees of the DMV are widely perceived to be the rudest people in any job anywhere in America. It says a lot about the friendship of the three that Xander immediately leaps to Willow's defense by accusing Buffy of this level of rudeness, and that Buffy instantly apologizes. They can hurt each other, intentionally or unintentionally, but they do care about each other. Deeply."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

SOUNDS LIKE...: "Oddly enough, Buffy later works at 'subsistence' level at the DMP, Doublemeat Palace."--Tchaikovsky, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:12:05

21M) "...unless Hell freezes over and every vamp in Sunnydale puts in for early retirement, I'd say my future is pretty much a non-issue." THE CHOSEN ONE: "That Buffy's future is pretty much a non-issue can be taken two ways. First, she is destined to be the Slayer so long as there is one vampire in the world--and, as she says, unless hell freezes over and every vamp retires, her job as Slayer will overwhelm her future. Secondly, Buffy is facing the fact that she doesn't really HAVE a future--Slayers, by nature of the job, tend to have lives that are painfully short, the oldest of them dying in her mid-twenties. Much as Buffy hates to admit it, she isn't going to live very long--and thanks to her death at the hands of the Master, she knows just how brief her lifespan may be."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21N) Drusilla is standing at one end of a large table dealing her tarot cards. TAROT FUN: "Although we will see Drusilla evincing skill at prediction through prophetic visions and through dreams in other episodes of Buffy and on Angel, this episode and What's My Line II are the only ones in which we see her using Tarot cards to prophesy the future. Tarot cards will be used by other characters in Primeval, Restless, and Out of My Mind. (http://www.tarottotes.com/item.asp?IID=43)"--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21O) ...Dalton tries to translate the ancient text in the book that they stole from the library. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "DALTON has the serious look of a scholar - sort of an anti-Giles."--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

CONTINUITY CHECK: This is the very book the vampire stole in Lie to Me (see 19YY).

"First appearance of Dalton, the bookish vampire who'll play a key role in Surprise/Innocence...For a few episodes here in season 2, Spike and Dru have their own shadow-Scooby-gang, complete with research-wonk Dalton, spooky-magic Dru, and muscle-guy Spike as the anti-Slayer. It doesn't last long, though."--MaeveRigan, Fri, 02/14/03 at 09:48:10

WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "It's appropriate that Dalton is a reader--he shares his name with that of a national chain of bookstores—B. Dalton Booksellers."--Rhys, Sun, 03/09/03 at 11:22:20

DALTON'S GLASSES: Dalton is a very interesting case, because he is a walking irony. We don't ever see him out of vamp face, and yet, he is a vampire who is full of humanity, due to his love of books and learning. Further, the fact that he wears glasses at all is very interesting. One would assume that the transformation from human to vamp physiology, with the praeternatural strength and all, would improve his eyesight. So, either Dalton wears the glasses because he likes maintaining this smart, bookish exterior, or he really still needs them. There are cases on the show where a human failing (physical or mental) stays with the vampire version of that person, for example, Zachary Kralik, from Helpless, who, upon being vamped, maintained not only his mental illness, but his dependancy on drugs. Interestingly, either option, that Dalton chooses to wear glasses or that he really needs them, tie him closely to humanity. He either has a human physical failing, or part of him wants to keep his human identity. His glasses are a small, subtle, early hint that not only are vampires most likely not just demons walking around in human bodies, with the former human's memories, unlike what the Watchers would have us believe (see 2LL), but that who a person is will usually dictate what kind of vampire he becomes (see 2MM). See 35F.

GLASSES AS METAPHOR: See 4E, 6W, 25FFF, and 34FF.

21P) "Debase, the beef, canoe." TRANSLATE THIS: "Er...not exactly, Spike.

deprimo -primere -pressi -pressum [to press down , depress]; esp. [to plant deep in the ground, dig deep]; of ships, [to sink]. Hence partic. depressus -a -um, [low-lying].

ille illa illud (older forms olle and ollus) pron. [that , that yonder, that one]; emphatically, [that well-known]; in contrast with hic, [the former, (sometimes the latter)]; 'ille qui', [he who, the one who].

bibulus -a -um [fond of drinking , thirsty]; 'charta', [blotting paper].

linter -tris f. [a boat , skiff; a trough, tub, vat].

So the phrase would roughly translate as 'to dig deep in that thirsty trough/vat yonder.' Which is not too far from what the vampires do--they have to delve into a trough or ditch (scrobis being another word the Romans used for 'ditch' or 'grave') which is thirsty. 'Thirsty' could refer to the burial place being open, or to it being a grave belonging to the thirsty dead...that is, a vampire."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21Q) "Oh, I'm sorry, kitten." VAMPIRES IN LOVE: Again, Spike instantly apologizes after he snaps at Dru. See 19BBB.

21R) "I need to change Miss Edith." MATERNAL INSTINCTS: Such a wonderful detail that mad, deranged, dangerous Dru also is so tender and motherly to her dolls.

21S) ...bends over and whines. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "She starts to walk away, but falters. Suddenly weak - she tries to grab the table to keep from falling. Spike RUSHES to her side - saves her from taking a bad tumble. He moves her gently back to a chair at the table - brushing her shawl aside in the process. We see for the first time that her ARMS ARE MARKED WITH DEEP BRUISES. Spike can't look at them, averts his eyes. He kneels by her, desperate."--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

The bruises are "meant to suggest not abuse but Dru's worsening condition. Bruising, especially around the inner elbows, can be a symptom of leukemia, Dru seems to suffering from some sort of vampire equivalent. This is not to say that there isn't a heavy S&M component to their relationship but here I think Dru's bruises are meant to add urgency to their hunt for a cure - she is apparently dying. Also I'd say the bruises echo drug abuse - Spike and Dru are the vamp Sid and Nancy after all (see 15R) - and contribute to the picture of Dru as someone who doesn't have much of a future."--ponygirl, Fri, 02/14/03 at 12:10:49

21T) "Then MAKE IT A LANGUAGE! Isn't that what a transcriber does?!" DEFINITIONS: Dalton answers, "Not exactly," and that's the truth. "A transcriber makes copies of existing literary works, usually by writing them. What Spike wants done is decryption, not transcription."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21U) "Some people find pain...very inspirational." OW!: A key piece of evidence to prove that Spike does indeed utilize torture to gather information from his victims. Many Spike fans try to whitewash his past, or claim that current allusions to Spike torturing his victims were retconned. Here is an early Spike episode that clearly shows that despite the fact that he displays human characteristics, he is still a vampire, and would gladly inflict pain on people.

21V) "Not without...the key." FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: "Of course, we have all sorts of (probably unintentional) foreshadowy goodness here with the allusion to the fifth season and the Key that Glory and the Knights of Byzantium are both searching for and helpless without."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21W) A mausoleum is pictured on it. TAROT FUN: "This image does not occur in the Tarot deck with which most people are familiar, the Rider-Waite Tarot, or in any Tarot deck that I've been able to discover. It seems to have been designed solely for the show. [Editor's Note: This was confirmed by Marti Noxon, in her DVD Commentary. She came up with the ideas for the cards, and the production team created them.] It would probably be most analogous to the Death card. In a spread, the Death card 'is an indication of situations in which a person terminates his previous business or affairs and begins something completely new and different. It is not considered a good card, whether upright or in reverse. When it is upright, it symbolizes destruction, termination, corruption, failed marriage, losing a position of strength. In reverse, all the above are amplified, in addition to difficulties, despair and death.' (All About Tarot by Hali Morag, Astrolog Publishing House, Hasharon, Israel (c) 1999, pp. 40-41.)"--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21X) "On the Slayer's grave!" FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "He laughs, lifts her gently into his arms - supporting her frail body as he spins her to the music only she can hear."--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

Act One

21Y) "Oh, I forgot. You're not a people." VAMPS AREN'T PEOPLE, TOO: "…Buffy…de-humanize[s] vampires--partly because it's easier to kill things than it is people, and partly because she's in love with a vampire. Seeing the human in one vampire must make it very hard for Buffy not to see the human in others, so to avoid the crushing guilt that would make it impossible for her to do her job, she fights to perceive vampires, except for Angel, solely as monsters, demons, things. This will get much more difficult as the series continues."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

In Buffy's defense, of course, at this point in the series, vampires were, for the most part, considered completely inhuman monsters. The only kind vampire was that way because he had been changed by an external force. Although this is questioned later, at this point, everything is much simpler, which is meant to be a metaphor for the more black-and-white, good-and-evil view of the world teenagers learn in high school. In Lie to Me, yes, Buffy learned that, in humans, evil isn't always so cut and dried, but this has yet to be extended to demons (see 19Lx4). Nothing the Watchers' Council has taught its Slayers would ever challenge the concepts that vampires are not people. They are animals. For the most part, even the vampires don't want to be associated with humanity (see 19C).

21Z) "Now you know what it feels like, Stealth Guy." BOO!: "Referring to Angel's well-honed ability to sneak in and away without anyone noticing, leading Xander to suggest he wear a bell."--Tchaikovsky, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:12:05

21AA) "Just dropping by for some quality time with Mr. Gordo?" WHAT'S IN A NAME?: Gordo is a perfect name for Buffy's pig, because it "is the masculine form of the Spanish adjective for 'fat'."--KdS, Fri, 02/21/03 at 04:59:23

"Also, one of the writers for this episode was Howard Gordon, which may have been where the name came from."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

HAPPY AS A PIG IN...: "The toy stuffed pig echoes Herbert, Sunnydale High's pig mascot who was eaten in The Pack (see 6P)."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21BB) "Mom's in L.A. till Thursday." MOTHER & DAUGHTER: "It says something about Buffy's and Joyce's relationship that Joyce apparently feels she can trust her sixteen-going-on-seventeen-year-old daughter to stay by herself alone for a period of four days...and not get into trouble." She obviously still has not lost the trust in her she gained in School Hard (see 15Mx4).--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00, with additions by Rob

MARTI SPEAKS: According to Marti Noxon, Joyce was "sent" to LA for this episode to heighten and intensify the feelings of isolation and loneliness Buffy will feel as the episode progresses.--Marti Noxon, DVD Commentary

21CC) "Habit." CONTINUITY CHECK: "A Buffy habit which continues through several seasons, before being inherited by Dawn, who climbs out the window in Blood Ties and Potential."--Tchaikovsky, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:12:05

MARTI SPEAKS: According to Marti, when this scene was first written, there was no mention of Joyce being in L.A. Buffy just crept up on Angel, sneaking in the window, and that was that. Upon filming, they realized that later in the episode they say Joyce is away, and so the sneaking in thing was a flaw. But they loved the joke so much (Buffy making Angel jump) that they added in this line that Buffy climbed through the window out of habit, which also worked out well, since it is also a very good joke.--Marti Noxon, DVD Commentary

21DD) Buffy looks into her long mirror. She's alone in the reflection. MARTI SPEAKS: "There’s a motif that we’ve used again and again which is Angel doesn’t appear in mirrors, and in this case, it was sort of to show Buffy’s isolation and aloneness..."--Marti Noxon, DVD Commentary

21EE) "The Cliff Notes version?" DEFINITION: "Referring to another famous brand of annotations. The Cliff Notes on various books condensed the ideas into short, concise but soulless paragraphs, so that non-book-loving 16 year olds didn't even have to read their novels to pass their English exams."--Tchaikovsky, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:12:05

21FF) "I wish we could be regular kids." CONTINUITY CHECK: This dream will be temporarily fulfilled in the first season Angel episode, I Will Remember You.

21GG) It's of her as a child on ice-skates. MARTI SPEAKS: The ice skating "was inspired by Sarah herself, who…has done quite a bit of ice skating and took lessons. I don’t know how serious she was about it, but I know that there were costumes involved."--Marti Noxon, DVD Commentary

21HH) "My Dorothy Hamill phase." BUFFY ON ICE: "From http://www.restlessbtvs.com/episodes/season2/9line1/index.html: 'Dorothy Hamill: An American figure skater, Dorothy entranced the world when she won a gold medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. She became an instant star, and her "wedge" hairstyle was adopted by young women everywhere.'"--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

"...considering Buffy was...born in...[1981,] it seems that Joss's math suckage may be to blame for Buffy's slightly retro taste in winter athletes."--Tchaikovsky, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:12:05

21II) "My parents were fighting all the time, and skating was an escape." CONTINUITY CHECK: A key piece of proof that Joyce and Hank's marriage started falling apart before Buffy was called. See 10D.

21JJ) "But I'm in full 'see no evil' mode." IDIOM TIME: A riff on the famous saying, "See no evil, hear no evil."

21KK) "Two worlds collide." POP CULTURE TIME: A reference to the classic 1951 science-fiction film, When Worlds Collide.

21LL) "Wouldn't you two say you know me about as well as anyone else? Maybe even better than I know myself?" FRIENDSHIP: A really sweet sentiment on Xander's part, and also a continued affirmation that, by this point in the story, he considers Buffy one of his best friends, close enough to know him "better than I know myself." Just a few short months ago, he could only say this of Willow, and maybe Jesse.

21MM) "When you look at me, do you think 'prison guard'?" XANDER THE WARDEN?: "In one sense, prison guard is the terrible job of Xander's nightmares...and yet, in another sense, it's wholly appropriate--Xander as a figure of law in a lowly, dangerous and poorly regarded position which no one would acclaim as heroic, helping to guard the world from evil. It combines Xander-as-hero and Xander-as-Zeppo very well (see 10HHH and 13H)."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21NN) "Um, crossing guard, maybe..." DEFINITION: "Crossing guard--someone who guides children across a busy intersection so that they don't get run over trying to cross the street--is another nothing job. Yet it encapsulates Xander's protective qualities toward the innocent, as well as placing him again in a position where he is guarding others from harm."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21OO) "...they assigned you to the booth for law enforcement professionals." BUFFY THE COP?: "And what an appropriate job for Buffy. Police officer is not, traditionally, a highly regarded occupation. It carries little status, and is not, unless the person is corrupt, a huge money maker. Yet it is one of the most essential occupations in any society--the person who stands for the force of law against those who violate it, the one who protects and defends society against evil. And, like Buffy's destined occupation, police officer is a dangerous one, which might well lead to her early death. Altogether, it's fairly close to Buffy's role as Hero/Slayer."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

Still, it is hardly the type of a job that most teenage girls would dream of doing, and that explains Buffy's aversion to the idea. Not to mention the fact that the type of enforcement she gives to the demons couldn't exactly translate well to humans.

21PP) "As in polyester, doughnuts and brutality." COP STEREOTYPES: Xander's line encapsulates the most well-known stereotypes about police officers, which basically divide them into those that are lazy and spend all day loafing around eating donuts, and those that beat up innocent citizens, usually minorities. Or those who do both.

21QQ) "Well, I'll just jump off that bridge when I come to it." IDIOM TIME: "Buffy is riffing on the expression 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.' That she would prefer to jump off of the metaphorical bridge rather than cross it says a lot about her lack of regard for her potential future career as police officer."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

21RR) "He's on this Tony Robbins hyper-efficiency kick." SMILE, DARN YA, SMILE!: Tony Robbins is a very famous American motivational speaker who does lecture tours across the country, teaching people how to live and function to the best of their potential. He is all about self-actualization and self-esteem, and has made millions with his books, videos, and cassette tapes.

21SS) "I used a number two pencil!" THE NUMBER TWO: "Early test scoring machinery required this specific writing implement to be accurate. It's doubtful, their use for machine scoring is really necessary any more. [Editor's Note: And yet they still require it!] Pencils are made in a variety of hardnesses. The higher the number the harder the pencil 'lead,' the lighter the line it will make and the longer it will stay sharp. The advent of computer assisted drafting, has made it difficult to find anything, but No. 2 pencils which are used extensively by grade school pupils."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 02/14/03 at 07:19:08

21TT) "I've been, uh, indexing the Watcher diaries covering the last couple of centuries." DEAR WATCHER'S DIARY: Again, the Watcher Diaries are brought up. See 17Y and 18X.

21UU) "You would be amazed at how numbingly pompous and long-winded some of these Watchers were." CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK: Reminiscent of the scene in Lie to Me where Angel tells Willow and Xander that the cult had no idea what real vamps dressed like, only to have a guy appear a moment later in the exact same outfit as Angel (see 19UU), the humor comes from Giles seeing negative things in other Watchers but not noticing it in himself. The fact that he can see other people as being pompous and long-winded also makes him more human.

21VV) "...whole nine yards." IDIOM TIME: Whether or not there actually is a definitive meaning to this famous phrase is not known, but, according to Buffyguide.com, the two most popular theories are: (a) "Nine yards is the length of a belt of bullets for an old-fashioned machine gun, and so soldiers would be ordered to 'give 'em the whole nine yards.'"; (b) "Nine yards is the length of fabric used to make a burial shroud."--Information found by Rhys

21WW) "Have a cow, Giles!" POP CULTURE TIME: A variation on Bart Simpson's (see 16HH) classic "Don't have a cow, man!" line, which basically means, "Chill out, calm down, don't get so worked up."

21XX) "I mean, i-i-if you'd made an effort to, uh, to be more thorough in your observations..." CONTINUITY CHECK: Giles' been wanting her to do this since the first episode (see 1RR).

21YY) "I could be dead." NOT FUNNY: Note how Giles does not find Buffy's line here amusing at all. It hits a little too close to home, especially after her death in Propehcy Girl.

21ZZ) "They're coming to my party. Three of them." THE MAGIC NUMBER: See 12F.

CONTINUITY CHECK: Dru's next "party" will be in Suprise.

Act Two

21AAA) "Not your actual shoes, of course, because you're a tiny person." SELLING HIM SHORT: "And in four short sentences Xander tells Snyder that he thinks the principal is small in body (which could be taken to mean inferior sexually as well), small-minded and small-souled. Furthermore, Xander tells Snyder (without meaning to) that he would like to fill Snyder's shoes--that he could, in fact, MORE than fill them, since Snyder is so small in every respect. No wonder Snyder doesn't acknowledge Xander's comments."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00 See 33TT.

21BBB) "And I can only hope that one day I'm in the position to be that honest with you." CONTINUITY CHECK: "He was eventually, but only in his dream in Restless." Snyder was sort of eaten before Xander could have a chance to do it in the real world.--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 02/14/03 at 07:19:08

GO, XANDER!: "This reply of Xander's has more class [than anything Snyder could say], telling the principal who has just dismissed his every word as 'a meaningless waste of breath' and 'an airborne toxic event' that his own opinion of Snyder is similarly low--he just can't say anything right now because Snyder is in charge..." It also subtexually hints to Xander's wishes that one day he will be in a higher position, when he will be on more even footing with this seemingly better educated and more powerful man (see 17III).--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00, with additions by Rob

21CCC) "Fascinating." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Snyder looks at Xander as if examining a rare bug."--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

21DDD) They pull the curtain aside for Willow. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Two free-standing walls separate this area from the general population - and Willow feels like she's dropped down the rabbit hole. The space has been refurbished into a deco salon. Soft lighting. A gently BOSSA NOVA plays from hidden speakers. On the wall there is a LOGO of a company that looks STRANGELY LIKE the MICROSOFT LOGO."--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

MARTI SPEAKS: "...[F]or me, that whole choice at the end of high school was really daunting and felt like you had no idea what you wanted to be when you grew up…I wasn’t sure I wanted to grow up! But each one of these kids individually started thinking about what their fate might be. It seemed pretty clear that Willow would be the one who pretty much had the largest number of options, and at the time the whole computer world and technological world…just seemed like the obvious thing…and this was a great way to sort of show that they [Willow and Oz] were in a different class than the other students."--Marti Noxon, DVD Commentary

21EEE) Oz is sitting there on the couch... CONTINUITY CHECK: After brief run-ins in Inca Mummy Girl and Halloween, this is the first time Oz and Willow really get to speak, besides their "sorries" (see 16Bx4 and 18CCC). That doesn't exactly count, though, since Willow was completely covered by the white sheet.

MARTI SPEAKS: "Oz proved to be a very different kind of student than Willow is. He...is [very] smart, but that’s not really his thing. He’d much rather be playing the guitar and hanging out."--Marti Noxon, DVD Commentary

21FFF) "God, you act like I picked this gig. But remember, I'm the picked." FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: This nicely foreshadows What's My Line II where she finds out she may not be picked any more, after all.

21GGG) "Which shouldn't prevent you from e-e-eventually procuring some more gainful f-f-form of employment." FULL-TIME JOB: This line hints at the fact that Giles is very optimistic about Buffy living a longer life than most Slayers. In all probability, most don't ever have to worry about eventually getting a "real" job. Strictly speaking, the Watchers' Council would probably chastize Giles for even implying to Buffy that she could have another job.

21HHH) "What am I supposed to do? Carve stakes for a nursery?" THAT'S PUNNY: "Buffy is referring to stakes that plants are propped up against and tied to in order to help the plants grow. These stakes--which don't resemble stakes for vampires in the least--are usually pre-made in factories and shipped en masse to nurseries and greenhouses, so there wouldn't be much call for Buffy to carve them."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

In the seventh season, Buffy learns that a good job that uses her talents for helping people in a more conventional environment is as a high school counsellor.

21III) "Note to self: religion: freaky." JOSS ATHIEST: Another example of Joss gently poking fun at organized religion (see 19UUU).

21JJJ) "Josephus du Lac was buried here." WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "Saint-Joseph-du-Lac is a city near Montreal in the province of Quebec, and roughly translates as St. Joseph of the lake. However, I've been unable to discover any mention of Josephus du Lac in any encyclopedia, and must conclude that he is fictional."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

GOOD KNIGHT, SWEETHEART: du Lac also brings up connections to the Arthurian legends, whether intentional or not. Lancelot du Lac was the greatest knight of the Round Table (but not the purest, which was his son, Galahad). His search for the Holy Grail gives him similar religious connotations to the made-up Josephus du Lac.

21LLL) However, it was written in archaic Latin so that nobody but the sect members could understand it. IT'S ALL LATIN TO ME: "Since Old Latin--that, is classical Latin--is still used by the Vatican to write encyclicals, papal bulls, etc., it would seem that Josephus and his sect would have been better off using a different language." In the Buffyverse, apparently, however, archaic Latin is harder to decipher than in our world.--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00, with additions by Rob

21MMM) He looks around and steps off the bus. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "We pan up to see a GIANT. Seven feet tall in boots, and a hard four hundred pounds. A think, milky cataract covers one eye. His other eye is set deep in the fleshy mask of assorted scars and carbuncles he calls a face. His name is OCTARUS."--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "'Octarus' is an interesting name--it sounds both like 'Octavus/Octavius' [a rather formal and Latinate name] and 'octopus' [alluding to both his strength and his monstrousness]."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00, with additions by Rob

21NNN) "...I'm Norman Pfister..." WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "'Pfister' means 'painter' in German. Appropriate, as he is pretending to sell cosmetics--what used to be called 'face paint.'"--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 02:59:00

POP CULTURE TIME: "Apparently, the name 'Pfister' was used on multiple occasions as a running joke in the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off Laverne and Shirley."--KdS, Fri, 02/14/03 at 08:03:16

AVON CALLING: "Door-to-door salesman - Rising wages in all jobs and shopping malls made this sales method unprofitable for the companies that used it. Door-to-door sales just about went extinct in the 1950's, although some companies still recruit college students to do this kind of work in the summers, mostly because the students are too inexperienced to realize the deal they are being offered for their efforts will almost certainly earn them little or no money."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 02/14/03 at 07:19:08

21OOO) "...Blush Beautiful Skin Care." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: In the original script, it is called Quintessence Skin Care. We can only guess as to why it was changed, but perhaps there actually is a Quintessence company, so the show was barred from using the name.--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

21PPP) It's a young Caribbean girl with long curly hair tied back and large hoop earrings. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "We stop on an ETHNIC YOUNG WOMAN, her feline, feral eyes getting used to the sudden light. She's a predator, a hunter, and her name is KENDRA."--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

DANGEROUS FLIGHT PLAN: Riding in the cargo hold was "not a great idea on her part [or, that is to say, wouldn't have been in the real world]--'The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has uncovered "temperature ranges in the cargo hold from zero to104 degrees [Farenheit] reported in a single flight.' During layovers and delays, a cargo hold can reach as high as 140 degrees very quickly. And delays are not uncommon. In addition to heat, baggage holds often suffer from improper ventilation, which has often led to dogs and other animals in the hold suffocating due to lack of air."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:04:31

"Kendra's gratuitously dangerous method of travel stresses her complete cutting off from human society. It's also hard to imagine Buffy making such a gratuitous attack on an entirely innocent human being."--KdS, Fri, 02/14/03 at 08:03:16

21QQQ) "So you're saying these vampires went to all this hassle for your basic decoder ring?" DECODE THIS : "Decoder items (badges, pins, whistles and so on) were given out by radio programs in the 1930s and 1940s in exchange for a certain number of premiums (boxtops, labels and so on). Orphan Annie (yes, it was a radio program) gave out a Secret Compartment Decoder Pin (1936), a Starburst Decoder Pin (1937), a Telematic Decoder Pin (1938), and a Mysto-Matic Decoder Pin (1939) (http://home.teleport.com/~jrolsen/premiums/orphanannie.html). Captain Midnight had a Mystery Dial Code-O-Graph (1940-41), a Photomatic Code-O-Graph (1942), a Whistling Code-O-Graph (1947), a Key-O-Matic Code-O-Graph (1949) and an SQ "Plane Puzzle" Decoder (1955-56) (http://home.teleport.com/~jrolsen/premiums/captmidnight.html). PF Tennis Shoes gave away the first decoder ring--Jonny Quest's magic decoder ring--in the 1950s, with every pair of PF Flyers."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:04:31

21RRR) "Uh, actually, yes, I, I suppose I am." BUFFY RIGHT: Buffy and Giles' relationship has come to a point where he's actually starting to get her pop culture references and sense of humor! Whereas he earlier would have dismised or ignored Buffy's decoder ring comment, here he stops, thinks about it, and realizes that she made a perfect analogy after all!

21SSS) "Speaking of, I really have to bail..." MARTI SPEAKS: "...even though she’s a superchick and really cool and has these special powers, she’s also a girl, and even in the middle of a crisis, she has other agendas, and one of them…[is her] love life, and she’s got this vampire guy she’s mad about. And so even in the middle of a great crisis…she’s gonna go ice-skating!"--Marti Noxon, DVD Commentary

21TTT) "...I kinda lack in the book area. I mean, you guys are the brains..." SELF-DEPRECATING BUFFY: Buffy is definitely being too hard on herself, albeit here she is doing it in order to get out of having to do research. See 2L.

21UUU) "You go for snacks!" DUTIES ASSIGNED: "Ironically, by The Zeppo, Xander is the one with the responsibility for the doughnuts."--Tchaikovsky, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:12:05

21VVV) "But Ho-Hos are a vital part of my cognitive process!" SNACK TIME: "Ho-Hos are snack cakes by Hostess, the same company that gave the world Wonder Bread, Twinkies and Ding Dongs. According to http://www.twinkies.com/mediaroom/hostess.asp, Ho Hos®, which were first hand-produced at Continental's bakery in San Francisco in 1967, are Swiss-filled chocolate cakes with white creme filling enrobed with chocolate-flavored confectionery coating."--Rhys, Fri, 02/14/03 at 03:04:31

21WWW) She makes use of the whole rink, doing practiced turns and spins. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "INT. SKATING RINK - NIGHT...CLOSE ON A PAIR OF ICE SKATES as they SHAVE THE ICE, stopping on a dime. WIDEN TO INCLUDE BUFFY Alone on the ice, which seems to glow from the moonlight filtering in from the high-grimy windows. She breathes in the cool air - takes off again. MOVING WITH BUFFY As she enters a clear frame, picking up speed. Remembering the movement. And the rush. Her blowing hair frames a smile she hasn't allowed herself in the longest time. ANGLE - POV FROM BLEACHERS Watching Buffy skate. Spinning into a tight pirouette. She's good. She's very good."--"What's My Line?" by Howard Gordon & Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc., as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 2

MARTI SPEAKS: Marti Noxon confirms, in case there were any doubts, that that is, indeed, Sarah Michelle Gellar skating, not a stunt double.--Marti Noxon, DVD Commentary

IF THE SKATES FIT: "Buffy's love of figure skating has always struck me as a perfect comment on her character. Figure skating is widely regarded as feminine, frilly and silly. But, as Buffy herself points out in Helpless, figure skaters are very strong athletes. They have to combine physical strength, speed, flexibility, and sense of balance with grace and beauty. Sounds like a certain Slayer we know."--dream of the consortium, Fri, 02/14/03 at 07:56:50

Part Two