Episode Trivia
Angel’s age
details | 10 comments | suggested by cardboardy
While Joss’ maths doesn’t bear close scrutiny when it comes to deducing Angel’s birth year, there is another factor that complicates his age. We know that Angel is 241 years old in season one. By season three, however, Angel has spent ’several hundred years’ in a Hell dimension, during which time only a few months passed in Sunnydale.
But Angel still got older. Even though we don’t know exactly how long he was on the hell calendar, we can assume that by the time Angel returns to Sunnydale, he is well into his third century. Are there any references in Angel to his age? Does Angel himself count those years that passed in hell?
Angel’s jacket
details | 6 comments | suggested by Jess
The first true hint of a chemistry between Buffy and Angel developed as he gave her his leather jacket in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet - much to Xander’s annoyance. Buffy wore the jacket in several subsequent episodes (such as 1.06 The Pack), even as late as the third season (3.04 Beauty And The Beasts).
Beastly title
details | 7 comments | suggested by Jess
The alternate title for the episode 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts is “All Men Are Beasts.”
Beauty and the Beast
details | 5 comments | suggested by Jess
The title of the episode 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts comes from the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.
Call of the Wild
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In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Buffy reads quotes from Jack London’s 1903 novel The Call of the Wild. The story is told from the point of view of Buck, a dog who is stolen from his home and forced to become a sled dog in the Alaskan wilderness. He is mistreated and becomes wild and vicious, and eventually joins a wolf pack.
CliffsNotes
details | 3 comments | suggested by Meghann
CliffsNotes are a series of student study guides available primarily in the United States. The guides present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Endorsers say the guides help readers understand complex works, while detractors say they let students avoid even reading them. CliffsNotes have been referenced on the following occasions:
2.09 What’s My Line? (Part One)
Buffy: “Right. Well, then you know it’s a whole week of ‘what’s my line’, only… I don’t get to play. Sometimes I just want…”
Angel: “You want what?”
Buffy pauses
Angel: “It’s okay.”
Buffy: “The CliffsNotes version? I want a normal life. Like I had before.”
Xander: “Oh! Call of the Wild. Aren’t we reading the CliffsNotes to this for English?”
Anya: (holds up a notebook she was reading) “Nothing…and nothing. (holds up two other books, one in each hand) CliffsNotes to nothing. Nothing abridged…”
Cordelia: “I don’t know. I just get the visions, not the CliffsNotes.”
Lindsey: “Well, you get a little speechy, all right? And I breeze out. I got the CliffsNotes- honour and humanity. Absolute good. I heard it. So here’s the plot twist—I’m in.”
CSI Willow
details | add a comment | suggested by Mel
In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, the scene in the library where Willow is telling Buffy that the tests she did were inconclusive was originally longer:
Willow: “I should know more after tonight. I’m doing hair and fiber tests.”
Oz: “You know how to do those?”
Willow: “Not- I… like to sound technical when I’m scared. But I figure - wolf hair, hair found on the body. See if they match. It’s a test.”
Oz: “So we’re scared now. It’s official.”
Willow: “What? Oh - no - I didn’t mean it that way-”
Oz: “No. I’d say scared is pretty much called for. It’s cool.”
Danielle Weeks
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Danielle Weeks played Debbie, the girlfriend of Pete in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts. She has also been in Bewitched, What Women Want, Taco Bender, The Day Before, The Weird Al Show and Charmed.
Dead guys
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In the scene where Buffy has ‘broken’ Debbie in the bathroom in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, a poster can be seen near Buffy which says, “Most women are not attracted to dead guys”. Very apt for the Slayer!
Debbie
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
Debbie was a friend of Oz, who attended Sunnydale High seen in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts. Her boyfriend, Pete, used a concoction of drugs to chang his personality. He beat Debbie badly but she stood by him when confronted by Buffy and Willow. Debbie was killed by Pete, and her body was found by Buffy.
Different kinds of kissing
details | 2 comments | suggested by Mel
The following scene was cut from the episode 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts:
INT. SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY
Buffy talks to Oz and Willow as they move down the hall.
Willow: “Okay. You. Scott. School kiss.”
Buffy: “Not a deal. We’ve kissed before.”
Willow: “But in the dark. Alone. A school kiss is a whole ‘nother deal. It’s statement-y. It says - hey, peers - we’re smooching.”
Buffy: “Do you think it was too much?”
Oz: “I thought it was right. It said “nice seeing you” - not - “take me now”. Not that I have anything against a “take me now” kiss, mind you. But it’s not very school.”
Willow: “Totally. That kind of kiss in school is all about showing off. The “haves” rubbing it in the faces of the “have-nots”.Now Willow stops at her locker. Oz lingers with her as Buffy, preoccupied, moves on down the hall.
Buffy: “So I’m good. Yeah. I think…”
And she’s gone. Willow turns to Oz.
Willow: “I’m not sure I completely understand. What was the first kind of kiss?”
Oz: “Oh. That would be the “nice seeing you kiss”.
Willow: “And - how does that go?”Oz smiles - getting it. He leans in, kisses her sweetly but quickly.
Oz: “Nice seeing you. (then) Of course - it can be a fine line. The “nice to see you” kiss can easily morph into…”
Now he gives her a slightly longer, more intense kiss.
Oz (cont’d): Really nice seeing you. And if you aren’t careful, that becomes…”
A pretty intense smooch which shows no signs of stopping. So intense, in fact, that they don’t notice TWO FRESHMAN BOYS who pass them and roll their eyes. Show offs.
Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
The episode 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts is an obvious homage to Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, in which the main character can change into an evil persona after drinking a concoction of chemicals. The German title of the episode is actually ‘Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde’ (hail the subtlety there). Willow references the book when she says, “Mr. Science was doing a Jekyll/Hyde deal”.
Eliza hits Sarah
details | add a comment | suggested by nicole
In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Buffy walks up to Faith, who is listening to headphones. Faith whips around and hits Buffy in the jaw, thinking she’s an enemy. Eliza said of the scene:
“In one scene I had my walkman on, and Buffy came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder to get my attention. I was supposed to flip around, but I was so down with dancing that I turned around and socked Sarah in the jaw! I yelled, ‘Cut! Cut! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?’ She was like, ‘Yes, yes. You could’ve gone on.’”
Exploring Demon Dimensions
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Giles mentions his book Exploring Demon Dimensions in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts.
Full Monty
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In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Xander and Willow discuss how to shield Oz’s nakedness when he wakes up after being a werewolf. Xander says,
“I can handle the Oz Full Monty. I mean, not ‘handle’ handle, like ‘hands to flesh’ handle.”
The Full Monty was a British film made in 1997 about a group of Sheffield steelworkers who became strippers.
Full moon
details | add a comment | suggested by slightlyembarrased
In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, when Xander comes to relieve Willow on “Oz watch”, she explains that Werewolf Oz is more managable on the “second night”, but on the “third night…the real full moon” he is even more “wolf-y”. The problem with that is that the three nights of a full moon are (1) the night before the full moon (the “waxing full moon”), (2) the actual full moon, and (3) the third night, or night after the full moon (known as the “waning full moon”). So, in point of fact, one would surmise that Oz would be most “wolf-y” on the second night, which is the actual full moon.
Hell time
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Giles remarks that time moves differently in demon dimensions, Buffy says, “I remember”. She is referencing the time she fell into a hell dimension in 3.01 Anne.
John Patrick White
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John Patrick White played Pete in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts. He worked with Seth Green before in the 1998 movie Can’t Hardly Wait. He has also been in Galaxy Quest and the TV version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (with Jewel Staite, who played Kaylee in Joss Whedon’s Firefly).
Manacle sharing
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
The manacles at Angel’s mansion were used on Angel in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Faith in 3.15 Consequences, and on Buffy in 3.17 Enemies.
Manimal
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Manimal was a TV series about a college professor who could change into any type of animal. It ran for eight episodes in 1983. The show is referenced by Faith in the episode 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts.
Monopoly
details | 4 comments | suggested by Jess
Faith says in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts:
“Get out of jail free, huh?”
This is a reference to the board game Monopoly, which has a card which allows the player to leave jail. In 5.13 Blood Ties, Buffy tells Dawn she has a “get-out-of-jail-free card”, and in 7.17 Lies My Parents Told Me, Anya says:
“Spike’s got some sort of ‘get out of jail free’ card that doesn’t apply to the rest of us”.
In 5.02 Real Me, Monopoly is one of the games that Anya brings when she and Xander babysit Dawn.
Mr. Platt
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
Mr. Platt was a cool school counsellor who smoked like a chimney. Buffy visited him as a requirement for being allowed back into Sunnydale High. He was killed by Pete in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, whilst doing what he did best: smoking.
Mystery of Acathla
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Giles mentions his book Mystery of Acathla in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts.
Pete
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
Pete was a friend of Oz and boyfriend of Debbie. He used a concoction of drugs which changed his personality. He beat Debbie badly, as he was jealous of any contact she had with other men, but she stood by him. He eventually had a massive fight with werewolf Oz and Angel and was killed in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts.
Phill Lewis
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
Phill Lewis, who played the school counsellor, Mr. Platt, in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, has also been in City Slickers and Heathers. He also played Steve in Friends.
Rorschach test
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
Buffy says to the counsellor in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts:
“Look … I know that I have to do this, and I’ll cooperate and look at your ink blots and everything.”
This is a reference to the Rorschach test in which a person’s interpretation of a series of ink blots is supposed to give the examiner insight into their psyche.
Saving Jenny
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Giles says he dreams that he saved Jenny, who was killed in 2.17 Passion.
Scooby Doo
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The cartoon Scooby Doo has several ties with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Xander calls Buffy’s group of friends the “Scooby Gang” for the first time in 2.09 What’s My Line? (Part One) as they have similarities with the young crime-fighting sleuths in the Scooby Doo cartoon. He says to Cordelia:
“C’mon, Cordelia. You want to be a member of the Scooby Gang you gotta be willing to be inconvenienced every now and then.”
In 1.11 Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight, Willow wears a white Scooby Doo t-shirt in this episode and in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts we see that she keeps her forensic tools in a Scooby Doo lunch box.
In 2.01 When She Was Bad, Xander wears a red Scooby Doo t-shirt.
Sarah Michelle Gellar appeared in two Scooby Doo movies, and Seth Green (Oz) appeared with Sarah in Scooby Doo: Monsters 5.03 Unleashed. Sarah’s Buffy stunt double, Michele Waitman, also doubled for Sarah in Scooby Doo: Monsters 5.03 Unleashed.
More Buffy/Scooby Doo trivia: In the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back there is a spoof scene of Scooby Doo’s gang. The part of Fred was played by Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), Shaggy was played by Matthew James (who played the demon Merl in Angel) and Velma was played by Jane Silvia (who played the ‘conservative woman’ in 4.01 The Freshman).
Smoking bad
details | 12 comments | suggested by Jess
Mr. Platt’s smoking in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts reinforces the shows clear bias against smoking, as every character in the show who has smoked has been either evil (Spike and the evil Angel) or doomed (Laura in 1.10 Nightmares; the prostitute who was Angel’s first kill after re-losing his soul in 2.14 Innocence; and Sheila in 2.03 School Hard). The same theory applies to alcohol too.
Teenage Hate Machine
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Faith listens to Marc Ferrari’s Teenage Hate Machine on her headphones in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts.
The English Patient
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In 4.09 Something Blue, Willow calls Spike:
“the undead English Patient.”
She’s referring to the 1996 movie The English Patient, starring Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas. Kristin’s sister Serena appeared as Gwendolyn Post in the Buffy episode Revelations.
In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Faith says that even your average, “Mr. I-Love-The-English-Patient”, has some beastly qualities hidden somewhere. Apparently a love of The English Patient suggests masculine sensitivity!
The Sound of Music
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
After being possessed by Eyghon, Jenny says to Giles in 2.08 The Dark Age:
“I mean, I’m not running around, wind in my hair, ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ fine, but… I’m coping.”
This is a quote from the title song of the musical The Sound of Music (1959) written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. It was made into a movie starring Julie Andrews in 1965.
Buffy also mentions the song in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts when she says:
“Three-dimensional, Sensurround, The Hills Are Alive…”
In 3.02 That Vision Thing, Lorne says:
“You’re Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.”
To kill or not to kill?
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
The following is a deleted scene from 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts:
Scott: “Stable. Okay. Topics to avoid. The little men that live in your teeth… your compulsion to paint circus clowns…”
Buffy: “But if God keeps telling me to kill, it just seems snotty not to, you know?”
[Goof] Angel’s boots
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
When Buffy finds Angel for the first time in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, he’s wearing just a pair of trousers. Buffy then chains him up, but when she returns to visit him later in the day, he is wearing boots. Where did he get them from?
[Goof] Buffy’s cardigan
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
When Buffy first sees Mr. Platt in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, there are several shots of her in which her cardigan is sometimes open and sometimes almost buttoned up.
[Goof] Missing Oz
details | 1 comment | suggested by Mel
In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, the Scoobies think Oz-wolf may have escaped, and killed - do they really believe that Oz, in werewolf form, escaped through the open window in the library, killed the student, and then climbed back in the window to be there in the morning?
[Goof] Wolf change
details | 4 comments | suggested by Jess
During his fight with Pete in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Oz changes quickly into werewolf form. What happened to the long, drawn-out throes that Oz went through in the process of turning into a werewolf in 2.15 Phases? And where did his clothes go to?
[Goof] Xander’s bag
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
When Cordelia says in 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, “now I’m going to be stuck with serious thoughts all day”, Xander’s bag strap is over his collar. In the next shot, it’s underneath the collar.