The Buffy and Angel Trivia Guide

Episode Trivia

A Buffy marriage

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Alyson Hannigan met Alexis Denisof in season three of Buffy when he played Watcher Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. The two became good friends and eventually started dating. They married in 2003.

Alex Skuby, who played the vampire and El Eliminati member Vincent in 3.14 Bad Girls, also appeared as Harlan in the Angel episode 1.06 Sense And Sensitivity. He has also been in Strip Mall, House, CSI, Without A Trace, Becker, Payback and The King of Queens.

Allan Finch

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Allan Finch was the meek Deputy Mayor of Sunnydale, who was accidentally staked and killed by Faith en route to warn the Slayers of the Mayor’s planned Ascension in 3.14 Bad Girls.

Aye Aye Captain

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Some characters have a habit of putting the word “Captain” before nicknames on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

Angel has been called Captain America by Jack McNamara in 1.16 The Ring
Angel has been called Captain Forehead by Spike in 5.02 Just Rewards
Giles has been called Captain Slow-Poke by Spike in 5.20 Spiral
Riley has been called Captain America by Xander in 5.08 Shadow
Riley has been called Captain Can-Do by Sam in 6.15 As You Were
Riley has been called Captain Cardboard by Spike in 5.05 No Place Like Home
Spike has been called Captain Peroxide by Xander in 6.09 Smashed
Spike has been called Captain Peroxide by Angel in 7.22 Chosen
Wesley has been called Captain Courageous by Giles in 3.14 Bad Girls
Wesley has been called Captain Obvious by Gunn in 4.08 Habeas Corpses
Xander has been called Captain Fear by Anya in 6.04 Flooded
Xander has been called Captain Logic by Anya in 6.04 Flooded

Balthazar

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Balthazar was a bad-tempered demon, long believed dead. The Mayor, Richard Wilkins, had driven Balthazar and his minions, El Eliminati, from Sunnydale one hundred years ago. Balthazar came to Sunnydale searching for an amulet to help him regain his power, aided by his Eliminati soldiers. Balthazar was one of the more memorable demons in Buffy as he was a gigantic blob, sat in a tank of water to stop his skin from dehydrating. Balthazar was electrocuted by Buffy. He warned her about the Mayor before dying.

Can I kill her?

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The appearance of the renegade Ms. Post in the episode 3.07 Revelations makes the Scoobies suspicious of new Watchers. This is reflected when Wesley enters their lives later in the season (3.14 Bad Girls).

Cathy

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In 3.14 Bad Girls the Mayor, Mr. Trick and Deputy Mayor Allan Finch discussed their favourite comic strips. Finch liked Cathy, a cartoon which depicts the life of a young, single career woman.

Christian Clemenson

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Christian Clemenson, who played Balthazar in 3.14 Bad Girls, has also been in the movies Mighty Joe Young, Armageddon, The Big Lebowski, United 93, Apollo 13 and Hannah and Her Sisters. He has been in many TV shows including NYPD Blue, The West Wing, Mad About You, Veronica Mars, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and The Golden Girls.
Christian won an Emmy Award for ‘Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series’ in 2006 for his role as Jerry ‘Hands’ Espenson in Boston Legal.

Curve

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The music Buffy and Faith shake their hair to in 3.14 Bad Girls is ‘Chinese Burn’ by Curve. The lyrics fit Faith quite well, they are as follows:

She burns friends like a piece of wood
And she’s jealous of me because she never could
Hold herself up without a spine
And she’ll look me up when she’s doing fine
Because the rage it burns like Chinese torture
She’s just someone’s favourite daughter
Spoilt and ugly as she willingly slaughters
Friends and enemies they’re all the same
All the same
They’ll burn her name
And crush her fame
She’ll break a promise as a matter of course
Because she thinks it’s fun to have no remorse
She gets what she wants and then walks away
And she doesn’t give a fuck what you might say
Because it cuts her up like Irish mortar
Mother’s pride is what we taught her
Soiled and petty as we happily taunt her
Friend or enemy we’re all to blame
If she sits still like she knows she could
She could win this game and be the queen for good
Save herself up for the cream of the crop
Then she’ll look us up when she’s ready to stop
Because the rage it burns like Chinese torture
She’s just someone’s favourite daughter
Spoilt and ugly as she willingly slaughters
Friends and enemies they’re all the same
To burn her name
Crush her flame
We’re all to blame

Dedication

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The Dedication was a ritual The Mayor performed one hundred days before his Ascension. It made him indestructible, proven when he survived when his head was sliced open with a sword in 3.14 Bad Girls.

Deputy Mayor interviewed…

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Jack Plotnik, who played the deputy Mayor Allan Finch during season three, spoke about his time on Buffy in an interview with BroadwayWorld.com on January 29, 2006:

“Sadly, I didn’t become a crazy huge fan of the show until after I appeared on it. Back then I was like, “Nice to meet you, Sarah Michelle (Gellar)”. Now, I would be like “Oh my God, when you realized your sister was the key and you threw yourself off the building to save her was that harder and/or more heartbreaking than seeing Willow turn evil because her girlfriend was murdered! Sarah Michelle?! Sarah Michelle!?! Who are these guys? I didn’t order security…
“I actually only did four episodes…the day we shot my death, they asked if I’d be willing to do my own stunt. “Heck yeah,” I thought, “What could possibly go wrong with that?” They put a pad on my back, and asked me to throw myself against a dumpster. Okay, that hurts. Even with a “pad.” I don’t recommend it.
“Then she stabbed me in the heart with a stake. Okay. Even a retractable stake HURTS when you get stabbed in the chest with it! Cut to: My next episode I show up in Buffy’s nightmare, pulling her underwater. I guess they still figured that I was happy to do my own stunts, as they had me hold my breath underwater for what seemed like an interminable amount of time. All the while the director is asking me to look calm as feel my life ebb away.”

Double A

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Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) and Alexis Denisof (Wesley) both did guest appearances on the TV series Highlander, as well as appearing in a theatre production of Rope in Chichester, UK together in 1993. It was Anthony who suggested Alexis for the part of Wesley.

Drown me

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Buffy fights with an Eliminati soldier in 3.14 Bad Girls. He tries to drown her in sewer water. She says, “I hate it when they drown me”, a reference to her brief death in 1.12 Prophecy Girl.

El Eliminati

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El Eliminati were a fifteenth century duellist cult, thought to be long gone by many, including Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. They became the acolytes of the demon Balthazar but were driven out of Sunnydale in the late nineteenth century by Richard Wilkins. They returned in 3.14 Bad Girls to retrieve Balthazar’s amulet to make him stronger, but failed when their master was electrocuted by Buffy.

Faith dead?

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An internet rumour runs along the lines that at the end of the episode 3.14 Bad Girls, when Buffy goes to talk to Faith, she was supposed to have discovered Faith dead, having hung herself. This doesn’t seem entirely right as the Faith/Mayor relationship is so integral to this season.

Faith’s bow

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Faith steals a bow and arrow in 3.14 Bad Girls, which she uses to shoot the courier in 3.19 Choices, and Angel in 3.21 Graduation Day (Part One).

Faith’s punching bag

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At the end of 3.14 Bad Girls, Buffy goes to visit Faith to talk about the murder. When Faith goes to hang out her washing, you can see a Faith-made punching bag next to Buffy. There is a face drawn on the bag. Wonder who she thinks of when she’s punching it?!

Family Circus

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In 3.14 Bad Girls, the Mayor says, “I just love the Family Circus! That P.J., he’s getting to be quite a handful.” Family Circus is a newspaper-syndicated cartoon by Bill Keane which has been running since the 1960s.

Germ warfare

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The Mayor of Sunnydale had a fear of germs because Buffy producer David Greenwalt has a fear of germs, and the writers wanted to rib him for it.

Gleaves

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Gleaves helped to expel Balthazar and El Eliminati from Sunnydale one hundred years ago. He took Balthazar’s amulet (the source of the demon’s power) which was buried with him when he died. El Eliminati took back the amulet in 3.14 Bad Girls.

Harry Groener

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Harry Groener played the Mayor of Sunnydale - Richard Wilkins III. He was born in Germany in 1951. Harry has three Tony nominations for his stage work in Oklahoma, Cats and Crazy for You. He has also been in Dear John, The West Wing, Roswell, Malcolm in the Middle, The Drew Carey Show, Boston Public, Judging Amy, Charmed, Family Law, Just Shoot Me, Mad About You, Home Improvement, Star Trek: Voyager, Law & Order, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Enterprise and Remington Steele. His final Buffy episode was 7.20 Touched.

Heart of Faith

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In 3.14 Bad Girls, Faith comes to the school, breathes on the window and draws a heart shape. Doug Petrie, who wrote the episode, remembers a similar incident when he was in High School and a girl who was cutting class drew on the glass. He thought it was cool. Faith’s “want, take, have” philosophy was based on something Petrie’s friend’s sister used to say.

Jack Plotnick

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Jack Plotnick played the Deputy Mayor of Sunnydale, Allan Finch. He also played a cop in Clerks, Barrett in Ellen and Sammy in Joan of Arcadia. He has also been in Gods and Monsters, Say It Isn’t So, Down With Love and Meet the Fockers.

Jail bait

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Faith tells Buffy in 3.14 Bad Girls:

“we can’t save the world in jail.”

Faith is put into prison during Buffy’s fourth season for murder, and is broken out by Wesley in season four of Angel to help save the world.

John Wyndham

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Wyndham from Wesley Wyndham-Pryce may be a reference to British science fiction author John Wyndham, the author of Day of the Triffids.

Lady Macbeth and Jackie Onassis

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In the commentary for 3.14 Bad Girls, at the end of the episode when Faith is in her motel room, Doug Petrie calls Faith “Lady Macbeth” (a reference to Shakespeare’s play Macbeth) She is washing the blood out of her shirt and he compares them by saying “out, out damn spot!” When Faith lets Buffy in her motel room, Doug Petrie calls Buffy Jackie Onassis because her blue jacket and matching dress look a lot like the clothes Jackie O was known to wear. When Buffy follows Faith into the room, he refers to them as ‘Faith and Jackie.’

Marmaduke

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In 3.14 Bad Girls, Mr. Trick says:

“I like Marmaduke… nobody can tell Marmaduke what to do. That’s my kind of dog.”

Marmaduke is a comic strip about a Great Dane who always gets into trouble. It’s written by Brad Anderson, and it began in 1954.

Sunnydale Press

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Sunnydale’s local newspaper was called the Sunnydale Press. It can be seen in the episodes 1.05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date, 2.05 Reptile Boy, 2.21 Becoming (Part One), 3.14 Bad Girls, 3.15 Consequences, 3.21 Graduation Day (Part One), 4.10 Hush and 6.07 Once More, With Feeling.

Sweat and eyeballs

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In 3.14 Bad Girls, Faith asks Buffy if she has ever had sex with Xander, since they spend so many sweaty nights working side by side. Her curiosity is obviously sparked by the fact that she had sex with Xander in 3.13 The Zeppo. Meanwhile, Xander’s eye twitches whenever Buffy mentions Faith.

The plot thickens

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In 3.14 Bad Girls, we discover the Mayor is going to have an Ascension in 100 days and that he is now invincible.

To-Do List

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At end of the episode 3.14 Bad Girls, the Mayor takes out his to-do list. The tasks on his list include: Plumbers Union Reschedule, Meet With PTA, Become Invincible, and Haircut. The Mayor checks off ‘become invincible’.

Tough loner act

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This line of Buffy’s to Faith was deleted from the episode 3.14 Bad Girls:

“I know you think you can handle this. And you’ve gotten used to being on your own. You’ve got your tough loner act down pretty well.”

Vincent

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Vincent was a member of Balthazar’s warriors El Eliminati who tried to kill the Mayor in 3.14 Bad Girls. He was captured and let free to test the Mayor’s invincibility. Vincent was then staked by Mr. Trick.

Wes and Cordy

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Wesley and Cordelia are instantly attracted to each other when they first meet in 3.15 Consequences. Their relationship turns into a solid friendship in the spin-off series Angel, but not before they share an uncomfortable kiss in 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two).

Wesley’s origins

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The original pitch for the character of Wesley was for him to be a bit like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future (wiry, enthusiastic etc), and so to get on Giles’ nerves in that way. The writers eventually decided to try and make Giles look cooler and rebellious by making Wesley strait-laced. Joss’s original stage directions for Wesley were: “He thinks he’s Sean Connery but he’s actually George Lazenby”.

Wesleyan College

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Xander runs through the list of colleges Willow has applied to in 3.14 Bad Girls. One of them is Wesleyan College in Connecticut, which is also Joss Whedon’s Alma Mater.