Episode Trivia
Alexis in the credits
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The episode 1.11 Somnambulist marks a change in the opening credits of the show, as Alexis Denisof takes the place of Glenn Quinn as a main character.
Apt Pupil
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When Cordelia calls Penn “Apt Pupil boy” in 1.11 Somnambulist, she is referring to the novel Apt Pupil by Stephen King. In the book, a young man searches out a Nazi and forces him to become his mentor. This is paralleled in Angel and Penn’s relationship, as Angel taught Penn how to be a killer.
Blood links
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We discover in Somnabulist that vampires who are linked by blood (such as a sire) can sense each other’s presence and can be physically linked in dreams. This occured when Angel began to dream about the murders commited by the vampire he sired, Penn.
Cordelia and Xander’s seeing abilities
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The following is an eerie comparison between Cordelia and Xander…
In 1.10 Parting Gifts, Barney refers to Cordelia as being a Seer when she’s put on auction:
Barney: “Next up lot 32. We’re very lucky to have this here today. It’s a rare, and beautiful find.”
Cordelia: “I’m really not a seer. I only had a vision once, and I’m pretty sure it was just something I ate!”
Barney: “The magnificent eyes of a seer. Your very own pipeline to the Powers That Be, folks. The possibilities are endless. Keep the girl as a slave, remove the head as a trophy, or simply harvest the eyes, in any case a unique party icebreaker. It doesn’t get any better than this. Let’s start the bidding at 2,000…”
From the next episode 1.11 Somnambulist:
Wesley: “Quiet all around then. Well, I’ll keep myself available. The situation can only escalate. We made a most effective team, I felt. Vanquishing that empathy demon in such short order.”
Cordy: “Yeah, well, nobody gauged out my eyes, so I’m happy.”
Over on Buffy, we witness the following conversation between Dawn and Xander in 7.12 Potential:
Dawn: “Maybe that’s your power.”
Xander: “What?”
Dawn: “Seeing. Knowing.”
XANDER: “Maybe it is. Maybe I should get a cape.”
Dawn: “Cape is good.”
XANDER: “Yeah.”
Before gauging out Xander’s eye in 7.18 Dirty Girls, Caleb says:
Caleb: “You’re the one who sees everything, aren’t you? Well, let’s see what we can’t do about that.”
Cordelia’s surnames
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Cordelia has a habit of giving people sarcastic new surnames.
She has called Angel:
- “Mr. I Was Alive for 200 Years and Never Developed an Investment Portfolio” in 1.01 City of.
- “Mr. I can’t tail the suspect during the day because I’ll burst into flames Private Eye” in 1.15 The Prodigal.
- “Mr. ‘oh, you’re my big, fat hero!” in 3.05 Fredless.
- “Mr. Distance” in 1.17 Eternity.
- “Mr. Killing Spree” In 3.02 Dead Man’s Party.
- “Mr. ‘I’m so tortured’” in 1.11 Somnambulist.
- “Angel? Mr. Bumpy-face? Hello?” in 4.04 Slouching Toward Bethlehem.
She has called Gunn:
- “Mr. I don’t take orders - now where do I stick my axe?” in 2.11 Redefinition.
- “Mr. Rationalization” in 2.03 First Impressions.
She has called Lorne:
- “Mr. Big Mojo-guy” in 2.11 Redefinition.
- “Mr. Green-Mojo-Guy” in 2.20 Over The Rainbow.
She has called Wesley:
- “Mr. Fussy Pants” in 2.05 Dear Boy.
- “Mr. Grouchy Pants” in 1.16 The Ring.
- “Mr. Don’t Talk to Me Before I’ve Had my Flagon of Oatbran in the Morning” in 1.16 The Ring
- “Mr. Star-schmoozer” in The 2.08 Shroud Of Rahmon.
- “Mr. Too-much-cologne” in 1.14 I’ve Got You Under My Skin.
Others have also been named by Cordy:
- To Xander: “Mr. Excitement” in 3.13 The Zeppo.
- To Devon: “Mr. I’m-the-lead-singer-I’m-so-great- I-don’t-have-to-show-up- for-my-date-or- even-call” in 2.06 Halloween.
- To Xander: “Mr. Faithful” in 3.01 Anne.
- To Wesley and Gunn: “Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson” in 3.05 Fredless.
- To Pierce: “Mr. Armani” in 1.07 Bachelor Party.
- To Barney: “Mr. Emotional Radar” in 1.10 Parting Gifts.
- To Kate and Angel: “Mr. and Mrs. Spock” in 1.06 Sense And Sensitivity.
Cordelia has also thrown in a few Misses in her name calling. She has called Buffy:
- “Little Miss Likes-to-fight” in 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two).
- “Miss Not-Over-Yourself-Yet” in 3.07 Revelations.
- “Miss Save-The-World” in 2.13 Surprise.
Cordelia has even called herself a name:
- “Miss one-foot-in-the-grave” in 5.12 You’re Welcome.
Gallagher
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When discussing Penn’s murders, Cordelia and Wesley have the following exchange in 1.11 Somnambulist:
Cordelia: “No lie. Gallagher’s changed his act more times than this dude has in the last two centuries. Why do you figure he’s still doing the same old schtick?”
Wesley: “Well, I mean it’s a classic, isn’t it? Every time he smashes that watermelon with a sledgehammer, I just….”
This is a reference to the comedian who uses a sledgehammer called the sledge-o-matic to smash food at his audience… his favourite being a watermelon.
Jeremy Renner
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Jeremy Renner, who played the vampire Penn in Somnamulist, has also been in A Little Trip to Heaven, North Country, Lords of Dogtown, S.W.A.T., Monkey Love, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Fish in a Barrel, Time of Your Life, The Net and Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane.
Penn
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Penn was a former puritan sired by Angelus. Angelus taught him everything he knew about killing - including killing his own family. Penn began to recreate his murders, making Angel believe they were his doing. He was dusted by Kate Lockley, after a huge fight with his sire.
Somnambulist
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The official meaning of somnambulist is sleepwalker. This is obviously linked to the episode concept of Angel believing he is killing in his sleep.
Star Wars
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George Lucas’s Star Wars films are a cult phenomenon. They are referenced numerous times in the Buffyverse. The original trilogy included the movies Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return Of The Jedi (1983) and the movies The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) were made later on.
- 2.01 When She Was Bad: when Xander and Willow play Guess the Movie from the tag line:
Willow: “Use the Force, Luke.”,
Xander: “Do I even have to dignify that with a guess?” - 2.03 School Hard: Spike told Angel that, “You were my Yoda!” Yoda was the ancient Jedi master who became the mentor and teacher for both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker.
- 3.13 The Zeppo: A visual reference to Star Wars is seen when Xander runs into the corridor and runs back out with the gang members chasing him. Han Solo does the same thing in Star Wars.
- 3.19 Choices: Buffy says that Faith has turned to ‘the dark side’.
- 4.01 The Freshman: Xander confuses the Star Wars Jedi code quoted by Yoda in The Phantom Menace.
“Hate leads to anger…no wait…Fear leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side.”
Also in that episode, the old frat house that the vampires are holed up in is the Psi Theta house. If you write those two greek letters together, and pronounce them together, you get Sith.
- 4.04 Fear, Itself: Xander says to Oz, “Sensing a disturbance in the Force, Master?”
- 5.08 Shadow: Buffy using the chain to choke Sobek the snake-demon is reminiscent of Princess Leia killing Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi.
- 5.17 Forever: Ben calls Glory’s minions “Jawa rejects” after the small hooded and robed creatures in Star Wars.
- 6.05 Life Serial: Andrew paints a Death Star from Star Wars on the side of the gang’s van. It’s the Empire’s revised design from Return of the Jedi, which Jonathan says is flawed.
- 6.21 Two To Go: Andrew says:
“We’ve got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds us all into to Jawa burgers and not one of you bunch has the Midichlorians to stop her.”
These are all Star Wars references: Darth is a title given to a Sith Warrior (such as Darth Vader); Jawas are the hooded creatures who live on Tatooine, and Midichlorians are micro-organisms which exist in all living things.
In that episode, Andrew says another two Star Wars quotes:“Laugh it up, Fuzzball.”
“…in a galaxy far, far away…”
- 6.06 All The Way: Tara and Willow see a couple dressed as Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker kissing in the Bronze. Willow asks:
“Do they know they’re brother and sister?”
- 6.09 Smashed: we see that the three nerds own a mint condition (though out of its packaging) 1979 Boba Fett action figure. Though Boba Fett was first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back (made in 1980), the earliest Boba Fett figure was made in 1979, before the film was released.
- 6.13 Dead Things: Jonathan and Andrew play fight with green light sabres.
- 6.18 Entropy: Warren calls Jonathan “Padawan”.
- 7.07 Conversations With Dead People: Jonathan and Warren have the following conversation, all quotes from Star Wars:
Warren: “Come on, “If you strike me down…”
Andrew: “I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine…That boy is our last hope.”
Warren: “No, there is another.” - 7.12 Potential: Xander says to Andrew:
“Say Skywalker, and I smack you.”
- 7.11 Showtime: Andrew says, “I’m bored. Episode I bored.” He’s referring to George Lucas’s disappointing movie Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He also says: “Um, deflector shields - deflector shields up!”
- 7.09 Never Leave Me: Warren/The First says, “I’m like Obi Wan”. He also says to Andrew, “We’re right in the trench, and the exhaust port’s in sight.” This is a reference to the scene in Star Wars in which the Death Star is under attack.
- 7.10 Bring On The Night: Andrew says:
“I’m like Vader in the last 5 minutes of Jedi with redemptive powers minus a redemptive struggle of epic redemption which chronicles…”
He’s referring to the last scenes of the final Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi. He also says:
“I admit I went over to the dark side, but just to pick up a few things, and now I’m back.”
- 7.16 Storyteller: there are two framed Star Wars comics on the wall in Andrew’s opening scene.
- 7.18 Dirty Girls: Andrew says:
“But like so many tragic heroes, Faith was seduced by the lure of the dark side.”
- 1.06 Sense And Sensitivity: Cordelia’s line “Jar Jar is getting his own talk show” is another reference to Star Wars.
- 1.05 Rm W/A Vu: Cordy says to her ghost, “Hey, hey - Phantom Dennis, put that back.” Jane Espenson says in her commentary fo the episode that she insisted the ghost be called Dennis to be able to pun the title of The Phantom Menace which was in cinemas at the time.
- 1.11 Somnambulist: Cordelia references Star Wars again when she calls Penn “Psycho-Wan Kenobi”.
- 2.03 First Impressions: Gunn says to Cordelia and Wesley,
“You two? I find Deevak, I’m gonna need more than C-3PO and Stick Figure Barbie backin’ me up, no offence.”
C-3PO was a droid in the Star Wars films, designed to assist with etiquette, customs, and translation so that meetings of different cultures run smoothly.
- 5.11 Damage: Andrew says (about Dana): “Driven insane by Yoda-knows-who.”
- 5.10 Soul Purpose: Spike references Star Wars, when he says “Sorry Mr Vader, but I don’t have an itch to join the evil Empire.”
- 4.15 Orpheus:
Wesley: “Sorry. I think my sense of humor’s trapped in a jar somewhere.”
Willow: “It does seem like you’ve given in to the grumpy side of the Force.”
What’s in Romania?
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In Somnabulist, the following conversation occurs:
Angel: “Got held up in Romania.”
Penn: “Romania. What’s in Romania?”
Angel: “Gypsies.”
This is a reference to the Buffy episode Becoming, Part One, in which we see gypsies give Angel his soul back.
Words to that effect
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When Cordelia tries to persuade Angel to take a license plate to Kate in Somnabulist, the following line cut due to length:
“Just remind her that if it wasn’t for you she’d be the curdled gooey leftovers of a proto-Babylonian Burrower demon. Or words to that effect. You’ll pretty it up”.