Episode Trivia
Aliens
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In 2.12 Bad Eggs, the offspring of the Mother Bezoar is very similar to the facehugger parasite (designed by swiss artist H R Giger) in the Alien(s) movie series. The Bezoar dissection scene is also a clear nod to a scene in Aliens, in which the android Bishop (Lance Hendriksen) examines one of the creatures.
In 3.05 Fredless, Trish Burkle says,
“I mean, Rog’s always had a thing for those disgusting Alien movies, all the slime and teeth. Ugh, he just can’t get enough of them. Except for that last one they made - I think he dozed off.”
This is an in-joke at the expense of Joss Whedon, who was credited as co-writing the fourth movie, Alien: Resurrection, though his script was extensively rewritten.
Bezoar
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The Mother Bezoar was a prehistoric parasite living underneath Sunnydale High, seen in the episode 2.12 Bad Eggs. The mother lays white eggs, similar to chicken’s eggs. Whilst inside the egg, the parasite grabs a victim by using its long tentacles. They take control of the victims’ mind and, in this case, brainwash them into breaking open the floor of the basement of the school to release their mother. Buffy saved her brainwashed classmates by jumping down the hole they created to kill the Bezoar.
Bus Brats Talk
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As Joyce enters the library in 2.12 Bad Eggs to pick up (an absent) Buffy a sign can be seen which reads: “Sunnydale HS Library, Web Site Coming, Bus Brats Talk, Hours 8 am 8 pm”. It seems amazing that Giles, as the sole librarian at the school, works a 12 hour day.
Dreidel Song
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Xander tells Willow to sing the Dreidel song to her Jewish egg in 2.12 Bad Eggs. He’s referring to the song that is sung in a children’s game using a Dreidel - a four-sided spinning top. The song begins:
“I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay, and when it’s dry and ready, then dreidel I shall play”.
Fan-O-Rama
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There are a couple of in-jokes aimed towards Buffy’s strong internet community in the episode 2.12 Bad Eggs. In the science lab during the dissection, the words ‘Posting Board’ can be seen on a blackboard - for those who go to the main Buffy forum. Then, when Joyce enters the library, the words ‘website coming’ and ‘BVS brats talk’ can be seen on a signboard.
Giga Pet
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Buffy says in 2.12 Bad Eggs:
“I killed my Giga Pet!”
Giga Pets where the U.S. answer to the Japanese Tamagotchi: an electronic “virtual pet” which the owner looked after to stop it becoming unhappy or dying.
Hell’s Offspring
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Hell’s offspring is a demon-related book belonging to Giles. Joyce spotted it in 2.12 Bad Eggs, when she looked for Buffy in the library.
In Loving Memory
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In the episode 2.12 Bad Eggs, Buffy and Angel have the following conversation in a graveyard:
Angel: “You really don’t care what happens a year from now? Five years from now?”
Buffy: “Angel, when I look into the future, all I see is you! All I want is you.”
Angel: “I know the feeling.”
The two then kiss and the camera pans to a tombstone which says ‘In Loving Memory’. This could be a foreshadowing of the next episode Suprise, in which Angel turns bad and their relationship disintegrates.
James Parks
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James Parks played Tector Gorch in 2.12 Bad Eggs. James is the son of Michael Parks (who appeared in The Hangman’s Daughter with Ara Celi, who played Ampata in 2.04 Inca Mummy Girl). James played Edgar McGraw in Kill Bill: Vol. 1.
Jeremy Ratchford
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Jeremy Ratchford played Lyle Gorch in 2.12 Bad Eggs and Homecoming. He stars as Nick Vera in Cold Case, which has guest-starred Amber Benson (Tara) and Summer Glau (River in Firefly).
Jewish Willow
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Although it had been suspected because of her last name, the first time it is stated on the show that Willow is Jewish is in 2.12 Bad Eggs.
Lyle Gorch
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Lyle Gorch was a cowboy vampire whose brother, Techtor, was eaten by the Mother Bezoar demon (2.12 Bad Eggs). Originally from Abilene, Texas, the brothers once massacred an entire Mexican village in 1886, before they even became vampires. Lyle married vampire Candy and the two took part in Slayerfest ‘98 in Homecoming. Candy was killed by Bufy, and Lyle ran away from Cordelia.
Machiavelli
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Giles says to Xander in 2.12 Bad Eggs:
“I suppose there is a sort of Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression.”
He’s referring to Renaissance philosopher Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) whose most famous work was The Prince (1515). In it, he says that to remain in power and be truly effective, a ruler must reject traditional morality and use his power ruthlessly. The term “Machiavellian” therefore means to achieve goals by whatever means necessary. In 6.15 As You Were, Todd asks Buffy:
“You know Machiavelli, right?”
In 5.10 Soul Purpose, Gunn says of an evil warlock:
“We open a can of Machiavelli on his ass.”
Microscopic pain
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Xander gets smashed in the head with a microscope in two episodes: 3.08 Lover’s Walk and 2.12 Bad Eggs.
Mr. Whitmore
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Mr. Whitmore was Sunnydale High’s teen health teacher who gave Buffy’s class eggs to protect in 2.12 Bad Eggs. He was under the control of the Mother Bezoar.
No kids
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Angel tells Buffy that vampires can’t have children in 2.12 Bad Eggs, because he’s essentially a dead body He later fathered a child called Connor in Angel but that was all Powers-that-be stuff though, so apparently doesn’t count.
Pinball machine
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When Buffy fights Lyle Gorch in the mall in 2.12 Bad Eggs, she pushes him into a pinball machine. It seems to be the same machine she throws Andrew onto in the season six episode Gone.
Pollock
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In 2.12 Bad Eggs, when the Bezoar-controlled Sunnydale students/teachers go into a storage room to collect pick-axes and shovels a large amount of graffiti can be seen on the walls and ceiling. Most prominent is the word “Pollock”. Probably the most famous Pollock was Jackson Pollock, the American abstract expressionist painter. Not to confused with the Atlantic Pollock… which is a fish.
Sex Ed.
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
In a sex ed. class in the episode 2.12 Bad Eggs, the students are asked to name some consequences of sex. No one mentions that your immortal vampire lover might lose his soul, team up with your enemy, kill your friends, psychologically torment you and plan to end the world - but all of these things happened to Buffy when she has sex in the very next episode (2.13 Surprise).
Tector Gorch
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Tector Gorch was a cowboy vampire, whose brother was called Lyle. The two were originally from Abilene, Texas, where they once massacred an entire Mexican village in 1886, before they even became vampires. Tector was eaten by the Mother Bezoar demon in 2.12 Bad Eggs.
The Mall in Bad Eggs
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The mall scenes in 2.12 Bad Eggs were filmed at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, north of Los Angeles in California.
The Wild Bunch
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The 1969 film The Wild Bunch by Sam Peckinpah is one of Joss Whedon’s favourites. It is mentioned in Buffy. In 1.02 The Harvest, Buffy advised her friends, “Don’t go wild bunch on me” before they entered the Bronze. In 6.02 Bargaining (Part Two), Xander called the demons who raided Sunnydale the “wild bunch”.
Lyle and Techtor Gorch, who appeared in 2.12 Bad Eggs, are named after characters from The Wild Bunch. In that movie, the Gorches were brothers in William Holden’s gang, played by Warren Oates and Ben Johnson. Pike from the Buffy movie was named after William Holden’s character in The Wild Bunch and Angel was another character from the film.
WP (Widespread Panic)
details | 17 comments | suggested by Jess
A black and white oval sticker with the letters “WP” can often be seen in Sunnydale. The sticker is for a band called Widespread Panic. Examples of episodes in which this is seen include:
- 2.04 Inca Mummy Girl: behind Xander when he says to Ampata, “Why’d you run away?”.
- 2.06 Halloween: next to Cordelia when she’s dressed as a cat and talking to Oz (on Oz’s locker door), and when Willow walks into the library when she’s a ghost, there is one on the bulletin board to her right. There is also a sticker on the bathroom wall, seen behind Buffy’s right shoulder when she an Willow look through the book.
- 2.05 Reptile Boy: at the beginning of the episode, behind Xander’s left shoulder in Buffy’s room.
- 2.12 Bad Eggs: behind Jonathan’s right shoulder on the locker when he is being attacked.
- 2.13 Surprise: on the locker behind Cordelia when she is talking to Xander and behind Xander when he calls Giles a party weasel. A colourful Widespread Panic poster can also be seen behind Joyce in Buffy’s dream.
- 2.15 Phases: when Buffy is in the Bronze looking for the werewolf, a WP sticker can be seen on a pillar behind her right shoulder.
- 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered: poster in Xander’s room and behind Xander when Harmony tells him he should learn a second language so more girls can reject him. A sticker can also be seen on the locker behind Cordelia when Harmony is telling her off for breaking up with Xander.
- 2.22 Becoming (Part Two): at the beginning of the episode, when the cop is arresting Buffy in the hall, you can see a WP sticker on the lockers behind her.
- 3.02 Dead Man’s Party: on a guitar case behind the drums during the party.
- 4.12 A New Man: behind Giles when he’s at Buffy’s party.
- 4.06 Wild At Heart: a colourful WP poster (not the sticker) can be seen to the right of Oz’s bedroom door.
- 4.20 The Yoko Factor: in Buffy and Willow’s dorm room.
- 5.03 The Replacement: on the payphone that Xander uses to call Buffy.
[Goof] Chain
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In the library in 2.12 Bad Eggs, Buffy puts her egg near a chain, which changes position several times without being moved.
[Goof] Cordy’s hair
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In 2.12 Bad Eggs, Cordy’s hair gets tucked behind her ear in her conversation with Buffy outside the school, even though she doesn’t touch it.
[Goof] Egg parents
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Buffy makes a fuss of being a single “mother” to her egg in 2.12 Bad Eggs, but where were Willow and Xander’s egg-raising partners? And wouldn’t it make more sense for every kid in class to have an egg - as there’d be more people for the Mother Bezoar to control?
[Goof] Moving bag
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When she’s playing on the pinball machine in 2.12 Bad Eggs, Lyle’s date has a bag which moves up her arm when Buffy arrives, without her touching it.
[Goof] Vamp reflection
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At the very beginning of 2.12 Bad Eggs, as we see the vampire Lyle Gorch and his date walk through the mall, Lyle’s reflection can be seen in the floor.