Episode Trivia
Adam Kaufman
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
Adam Kaufman played the slimy Parker Abrams in season four. Adam has also starred in Steven Spielberg’s Taken as Charlie Keys (alongside Julie Benz, who plays Darla). He played Ethan in several episodes of Dawson’s Creek. Adam has appeared in CSI:Miami, Dead Last, Law & Order and Metropolis.
Amarrah crossover
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At some point between 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two) and 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, the gang (except for Xander) have found out that Angel was in L.A. Buffy gives the Gem of Amarrah to Oz to take to her ex-boyfriend. We see their adventures in the Angel episode 1.03 In The Dark, which features both Oz and Spike.
Angel the puppy
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Angel is referred to as a ‘puppy’ on a couple of occasions:
- In 3.09 The Wish, vampire Willow keeps Angel locked in a cage as her plaything, and refers to him as “Puppy”.
- In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, when Parker asks Buffy about the scars on her neck, she replies that they they were caused by an “angry puppy”. They were actually from when Angel bit her in Graduation Day, Part Two.
Puppies are a recurring theme in Buffy and Angel:
- In 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered, Giles tells Buffy that one Valentine’s Day, Angel nailed a puppy to something (we don’t find out as Buffy stops him before he can finish).
- In 4.15 Orpheus, we see that Angel saved a puppy from being killed in early 1920s Chicago.
- In Enemies, Faith says that as a child she suffered because her mother didn’t let her have a dog before she kisses Angel.
- In 1.06 The Pack Willow regrets that Xander is not possessed by a puppy instead of a hyena
- In 7.02 Beneath You the puppy’s death is the only thing that seems to move Anya (and also Spike later on).
Angry puppy
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Buffy tells Parker that she nearly drowned, referring to 1.12 Prophecy Girl. Buffy also reveals to Parker that she has a scar from when Angel fed from her in 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two). She says it was an “angry puppy”.
Antonio Banderas
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Harmony asks in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day:
“Is Antonio Banderas a vampire?”
Actor Banderas played a vampire in the 1994 movie Interview With The Vampire, which also starred Tom Cruise. In the film Banderas played Armand, a 400 year-old vampire who ran a theatre, where the vampire killings were passed off as stage illusions. Spike also mentions Banderas’s wife Melanie Griffith.
Bif Naked
details | 4 comments | suggested by Jess
Singer Bif Naked performs ‘Moment of Weakness’ and ‘Anything’ at the campus party in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, where Buffy runs into Spike and Harmony. Her song ‘Lucky’ plays as Buffy and Parker dance.
Big snake
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
In 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two), the Mayor turned into a giant snake-demon. His Ascension is referenced in several future episodes. In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Harmony and Willow discuss the “big snake” that threatened Sunnydale High in 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two). It was during the confusion at the end of this episode that Harmony was bitten and turned into a vampire.
In 5.08 Shadow, Buffy says the snake is “big, but not Mayor-big”.
In 4.21 Primeval, Xander says,
“Does anyone miss the Mayor? ‘I just wanna be a big snake?’”
In 6.09 Smashed, Amy mentions a “giant snake thing” and “Snyder got eaten by a snake”.
Bitch fight
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Anya and Giles’s slap fight over the effigy in 6.01 Bargaining (Part One) is similar to Xander’s bitch fight with Harmony in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day.
Bitten
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Several main characters have been bitten by vampires and survived:
- Buffy in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two) and 5.01 Buffy Vs Dracula
- Willow in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day
- Cordelia in 3.07 Offspring
- Dawn in 7.01 Lessons
- Wesley in 4.01 Deep Down
- Andrew (by Spike) in 7.09 Never Leave Me
Buffy’s arm
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In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Spike hurts Buffy’s left arm and she cradles it during their fight. It’s the same arm that Sunday injured in 4.01 The Freshman.
Bye, Devon
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Devon (played by Jason Hall) made his final apperarance on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day. The character was mentioned again in a couple of episodes (4.09 Something Blue and 4.19 New Moon Rising) but never seen again.
Channel 14 News
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The Channel 14 News is seen in a few episodes: 3.15 Consequences (Joyce and Buffy watch the news about Alan Finch’s murder), 4.14 Goodbye Iowa (when Adam kills a boy), 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day (when a road caves in due to Spike’s tunnelling) and 4.16 Who Are You? (when hostages are held in a church by vampires).
Chaos demons
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After leaving Sunnydale in 2.22 Becoming (Part Two), Spike and Drusilla went to Brazil, which is where she left him for a chaos demon. In 3.08 Lover’s Walk, Spike claims chaos demons are, “All slime and antlers” - which we discover is literally true when we finally see one in 5.07 Fool For Love. In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Harmony mistakenly says Dru left Spike for a fungus demon.
Devil Doll
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The Devil Doll song ‘Faith in Love’ played in the episode 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day as Harmony tempted Spike into bed.
Oz looks at a campus board which advertises the band in the episode 4.19 New Moon Rising.
In 7.04 Help, we see that the locker to the left of Dawn’s has a Devil Doll sticker on the door.
Do I have to kill it?
details | 12 comments | suggested by Jess
Below is a deleted scene from 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day:
Willow: “You know what else I love about college? How when the professor comes in, the class gets all quiet.”
Buffy: “Oh, I hate that. I’m always like, what? Did something scary come in? Do I have to kill it?”
Dollshead
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In the episode 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, the song that plays while we watch both Buffy worrying about Parker not calling her back after sleeping with her, and Spike digging underground looking for the Gem of Amara, is called “It’s Over, It’s Under” by Dollshead. The lyrics to the part of the song that we hear in the episode are:
“Water turns to sand and turns to sound; Follow me I’m going underground; This orbit is an interlude; Temporary, planetary food; Lend me your fire, so I can burn; Save all my ashes for my return; Not with a scream but with a sigh.”
Dragon Inn
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
Oz wears a red ‘Dragon Inn’ t-shirt in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, which can also be seen in some of his season four promotional photos.
Evil after sex
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Buffy wakes up alone after a night of sex for the second time in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day. The first was in 2.14 Innocence, when Angel was busy somewhere else turning into an evil vampire. Buffy later asks if all men she sleeps with will turn evil.
Four Star Mary
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
The music for Oz’s band Dingoes Ate My Baby was provided by real-life band Four Star Mary. James Marsters has performed with them on stage (off screen) a few times. The band themselves appeared in the season four finale 4.22 Restless, as the band who play with Giles during the Exposition Song.
Four Star Mary songs can be heard in the following Buffy episodes:
- 2.04 Inca Mummy Girl - The songs ‘Shadows’ and ‘Fate’ at the Cultural party in The Bronze.
- 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered - ‘Pain’ is heard in The Bronze.
- 3.02 Dead Man’s Party - The Dingoes mime to ‘Pain’, ‘Nevermind’ and ‘Sway’ at Buffy’s party.
- 3.05 Homecoming - we hear the song ‘She Knows’ at the dance - it’s the song Oz wrote for Willow.
- 4.02 Living Conditions - ‘Pain is heard when Buffy and Willow move into their dorm room.
- 3.06 Band Candy - the Dingoes mime onstage at The Bronze to ‘Violent’, when the adults are acting weirdly.
- 3.07 Revelations - Dingoes Ate My Baby perform ‘Run’ in The Bronze at the start of the episode.
- 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day - ‘Dilate’ is played at the Bronze at the start of the episode.
- 4.07 The Initiative - Riley gets the song ‘Fate’ turned off at the party as it upsets Willow.
Gem of Amarrah
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The Gem of Amarrah was a legend amongst vampires. The Gem rendered the vampire who wore it invincible. Vampires combed the world for the Gem, but none found it and it was concluded that the Gem must be a myth, not unlike the Holy Grail. In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Spike discovered the Gem in a ring sealed in an underground crypt in Sunnydale. After Buffy got the ring from Spike she entrusted it to Oz to deliver to Angel, who destroyed it as he was worried it might get into the wrong hands.
In 3.01 Heartthrob, after an invincible vampire attacks Angel and Cordelia, Cordy asks Angel if:
“the Amarrah people [made] cufflinks or belt buckles?”
Giles jogs
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In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Giles jogs a lot. When Buffy calls him about Spike and Harmony from the pay phone outside the frat house, he is wearing a jogging suit and is using a towel to wipe his face. Later, if you look closely, when Giles leaves Buffy and Willow’s dorm room after Buffy gets back from Parker’s, you can see Giles stand outside the door, look to the left and then run really fast to the right.
Giles’s shadow-casters
details | 4 comments | suggested by Puja
In the episode 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Giles has what appears to be shadow-casters mounted on the wall of his apartment, very similar to those seen in the Slayer “emergency kit” in 7.15 Get It Done. The shadow-casters can be seen in the apartment throughout season four, but you get a good clear look at them when Anya walks into Giles’s apartment in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day.
Good taste
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Joyce tells Giles he has good music albums when she’s looking through them in 3.06 Band Candy. This is also noted by Oz and Xander in the episode 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day.
Harmony and Devon
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In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, we learn the Harmony and Devon once dated:
Buffy: “Harmony. A vampire? She must be dying without a reflection.”
Willow: “She just made me so mad. ‘My boyfriends gonna beat you up.’”
Buffy: “‘My boyfriend.’”
Willow: “Well, if you believe her. She always lied about stuff like that. ‘Oh, he goes to another school. You wouldn’t know him.’”
Oz: “Well, Devon dated her for a while, but she was too flaky for him. Which, stop and marvel at the concept.”
Question is, was this before or after Cordelia dated him?
Harmony’s back
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In this deleted line from 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Devon reveals some vital information about Harmony:
“Man, that looked like Harmony. Weird. I saw her get bit at graduation…I didn’t tell you?”
Harsh deletions
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
The following are all deleted lines from the episode 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day. The first is after Anya makes her proposal to Xander:
Xander: “This is just, I’d say out of nowhere, but that doesn’t really capture the amount of nowhere which it’s out of.”
Spike, Harmony and Buffy meet at the party:
Buffy: “I think you two should go.”
Spike: “But the fun’s just starting: old friends, lots to drink…” (jiggles the victim).
A line of Xander’s:
Xander: “So…you’re my first guest at Casa del Xander – not the final name, still working on it.”
Buffy and Giles remember Drusilla:
Buffy: “I thought Spike and Dru were a forever kind of deal, didn’t you? Where’s the commitment?”
Giles: “I’m disillusioned. I shall never love again.”
Buffy regrets her night with Parker:
Willow: “Well, from what I understand, pretty much. But it won’t always be like that. You’ve just had some really bad luck.”
Buffy: “I don’t know, Will. Bad luck just happens. I made this happen.”
Willow: “Well, why shouldn’t you, if it’s what you want? I mean, as long as it’s safe. Oh, Buffy, it was safe, wasn’t it?”
Buffy: “It was safe. It’s not that. It’s the whole time, I kept thinking, hey, look at me with someone who isn’t Angel. Look how much I’m not hung up on Angel anymore. Look how this is not all about Angel. God, how come I didn’t see it?”
Has he learnt nothing?
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
When Anya knocks on his door in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Xander just says “come in”. This isn’t too bright considering she could have been a vampire.
Holy Grail
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The Holy Grail is supposedly the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper. It is considered to be extremely powerful and many quests took place to try and find it. The Grail is alluded to twice in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Giles said the Gem of Amarrah is the:
“vampire equivalent of the Holy Grail.”
In 7.21 End Of Days, Spike called the Slayer scythe:
“Holy Grail or the holy hand grenade or whatever the hell that is.”
The “holy hand grenade” is what the knights throw at the killer rabbit in the movie Monty Python’s Holy Grail.
James in season four
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James Marsters (Spike) was uncredited in the original airing of 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day but was later added to the opening credits. This was so not to spoil the surprise of his character’s reappearance.
Jason Hall
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Jason Hall played Devon, the lead singer of Oz’s band Dingoes Ate My Baby. British fans might be interested (or appalled) to know that Jason appeared in an episode of the British TV sitcom Birds of a Feather in 1992, playing a gas man. He also appeared in an episode of the TV show Love Hurts and in Goodnight Sweetheart. Jason appeared in and co-produced Me and Will.
Katie Loomis
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Katie was a student at UC Sunnydale who was chatted up by Parker Abrams after he dumped Buffy in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day.
Kendall
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Harmony’s surname is Kendall, seen for the first time in the Sunnydale High yearbook in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day. It may come from Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character name in All My Children - Kendall Hart.
More romantic than Faith
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Xander says in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day that Anya’s approach is surprisingly more romantic than Faith’s, referring to 3.13 The Zeppo when he had sex with the rogue slayer.
Nearly killed Willow
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In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Harmony says that Spike nearly killed Willow last year, which we saw in the episode 3.08 Lover’s Walk.
Parker Abrams
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Parker was a serial womanizer who charmed Buffy into sleeping with him at UC Sunnydale. He treated Buffy badly, and dumped her as soon as she’d slept with him, managing to make the Slayer believe that she was the one in the wrong (4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day). Buffy saved Parker from a burning building, then knocked him unconscious with a tree limb (when under the influence of some drugged alcohol in 4.05 Beer Bad). Parker bragged about his exploits with Buffy to Riley and his friends and Riley punched him, to defend Buffy’s honour (4.07 The Initiative).
Parker was played by Adam Kaufman.
Parker picks
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
The following few lines were cut from conversations between Buffy and Parker in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day:
Parker: “Wow, I mean, you hear about stuff like that.”
Buffy: “Yeah, well, pool safety, important. Anyway…”
Parker gets slimy:
Parker: “Buffy? When you…drowned, whoever brought you back? They’re getting a big kiss from me.”
Buffy: “Xander will be so happy.”
Parker and Buffy bond:
Buffy: “It doesn’t feel like it. To me, a lot of the time, it feels like stuff’s just coming at me, you know, and I’m reacting as fast as I can, just trying to keep going. Just – just trying to be on my feet before the next thing hits.”
Parker: “That sounds exhausting.”
Buffy: “It really is.”
and finally, Parker drops his bombshell:
Parker: “Okay, I’m a little confused now. I mean, I definitely go the idea you’d done it before. You were the one who was all over me. It was fun.”
Payphones
details | 6 comments | suggested by Meghann
The following instances are when characters needed to use payphones in order to contact someone.
- 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two) - Angel called the Scoobies to let them know Buffy was in hospital.
- 4.02 Living Conditions - Willow warned Giles that Buffy was on her way to his apartment.
- 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day - Buffy warned Giles of Spike’s return to Sunnydale. As well, she called her voicemail to hear if Parker had called.
- 5.03 The Replacement - First, Xander had a conversation about his quarter with the operator. Then he hung up on Buffy as ‘Suave Xander’ passed him.
- 5.08 Shadow - Buffy warned Giles that Glory had raised Sobek.
- Listening to Fear - Willow called Riley’s cellphone to tell him about the Queller demon.
- 5.15 I Was Made To Love You - Buffy called Ben to cancel their coffee date.
- 5.20 Spiral - Buffy had Willow magically fix the phone to call Ben.
- 6.09 Smashed - Spike called the Magic Box to speak with Buffy.
- 4.13 Salvage - Angelus spoke with Dawn to find out if Buffy was in LA.
Psychic Rain
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Psychic Rain’s “Take Me Down” (from the album Spun Out) plays in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day as Parker offers to walk Buffy back to her dorm.
Shirtless Spike
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We see Spike shirtless for the first time in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, and for a great deal of time thereafter.
Soldier Boy
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A large part of the episodes 2.14 Innocence and 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two) rely on Xander’s recollection of the events of 2.06 Halloween, when he became a soldier for a short time. In 2.14 Innocence he says he still has all his memories of being a soldier, including:
“Procedure, ordnance, access codes, everything.”
Xander’s military knowledge was a great plot device help to Buffy writers when they needed lots of gun power easily. We discover in the episode 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day that Xander has lost his power when he has a girly scrap with Harmony, though in 4.13 The I In Team, he says:
“My pseudo-soldier memory bank tells me that’s a tracer.”
In 4.14 Goodbye Iowa, Anya says:
“It’s not like he was in the ‘Nam. He was G.I. Joe for one night.”
In 7.09 Never Leave Me, Xander realises that Spike has a “trigger”, to which Willow replies,
“Is this left over from your days in the Army?”
He admits that knowledge comes from Army movies.
In 7.12 Potential, Dawn says to Xander:
“Well, you had that sexy Army training for a while.”
Terror and Prom
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In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Xander mentions Anya “fleeing in terror” in 3.21 Graduation Day (Part One). Anya refers to the fact that they went to the Prom together.
The Gap
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In 7.22 Chosen, Xander says after Sunnydale has been destroyed:
“All those shops, gone. The Gap, Starbucks, Toy ‘R’ Us… who will remember all those landmarks unless we tell the world of them?”
In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, the greek letters on the outside of Wolf House (the frat house where Buffy and Parker attend a party) spell ‘GAP’, which could be a (very vague!) reference to The Gap!
Velvet Underground
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
The album that Oz holds up at Giles’ house in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day is ‘Loaded’, the Velvet Underground’s 1970 album.
Withered demons
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The following was a stage direction from the script for 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day (when Spike and Harmony entered the crypt where the gem of Amarrah was):
“There is a dead demon here, withered and decayed and brown and crunchy, arrayed in finery on a carved wooden bier.”
Xander the hypocrite
details | 13 comments | suggested by Abby M.
Xander throughout the series condemns Angel, and Buffy’s involvement with him because he was “a known murderer”, although technically, it wasn’t really Angel who committed the deeds of Angelus, but rather the demon inside of Angel. If Xander is so condemning of getting involved with murderers, why does he get involved with Anya? Throughout her life as a demon she killed/hurt people, and it wasn’t a demon inside her, but rather herself. This seems pretty hypocritical even if Anya was sorry and trying to be more humane.
[Goof] Harmony’s hair
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
When Harmony tells Buffy that Dru left Spike for a fungus demon in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, her hair is behind her shoulders, but in the next shot, some of it is in front of her left shoulder.
[Goof] Spike’s necklace
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In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Spike rips off the necklace and tosses it aside, but a moment later it’s back around his neck. When he leaves the crypt, it’s gone again.
[Goof] Xander’s legs
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
In 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day, Spike throws Xander against a lamp and he lands on the grass. You can later see Xander’s legs sticking out on the pavement as though he landed there and not on the grass.