Episode Trivia
Addam’s Family
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In 5.14 Crush, Harmony calls Drusilla “Morticia”, who was the matriarch in The Addam’s Family. Mercedes McNab (who plays Harmony) appeared as the girl scout Amanda Buckman in The Addam’s Family and Addam’s Family Values.
Buffy memorabilia
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We see Spike stealing some of Buffy’s underwear in the episode 5.08 Shadow, and in 5.09 Listening To Fear, Spike steals photographs of the Slayer. In 5.14 Crush, we see he has a whole collection of Buffy-related articles, including photos, clothing and drawings of the Slayer. Buffy blames Dawn in 5.14 Crush for her missing blue cashmere sweater, but we discover that Spike has stolen it. Harmony wears the sweater when pretending to be the Slayer.
Bye, Mercedes
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Mercedes McNab played Harmony for the final time on Buffy in 5.14 Crush. Harmony then moved on to L.A., after her heart was broken by Spike for (nearly) the last time.
Charlize Theron
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In 5.14 Crush, Harmony says that the only girl she’d consider a threesome with is blonde Charlize Theron, who won an Oscar in 2004 for her role in Monster.
Daniel Attias
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Daniel Attias directed the episodes 5.08 Shadow and 5.14 Crush. Daniel has directed for The O.C., Alias, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos (for which he wrote the episode ‘Bust-Out’), Ally McBeal, Early Edition, Party of Five (on which he was also co-executive producer), Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Northern Exposure. Daniel was second assistant director on E.T.
Devics
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We hear ‘Key’ by Devics, from their ‘If You Forget Me’ album in 5.14 Crush, as Spike and Dru dance.
Drusilla
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Angelus turned Drusilla insane by killing her family then sired her on the day she was due to become a nun. Dru had some kind of psychic power which enabled her to see things others couldn’t, as well as the ability to hypnotise people. She sired Spike and the two of them paired up with Darla and Angel to cause trouble. When Angel lost his soul, he teamed up with Spike and Dru again, making Spike jealous by flirting with Drusilla. Dru also killed Kendra by slitting her throat (3.21 Graduation Day (Part One)). After leaving Sunnydale, Drusilla left Spike for a Chaos demon.
Drusilla was hired by evil law firm Wolfram & Hart to sire Darla as a vampire again. The two retaliated by murdering a group of W&H employees. Realising he would have to kill Darla, Angel exacted his revenge on the two female vampires by setting them on fire. Drusilla returned to Sunnydale to try and win Spike back in 5.14 Crush but he chose Buffy instead, though the Slayer hated him. Drusilla left town, never to be heard of again.
Drusilla’s last stand
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The episode 5.14 Crush is last time we see Drusilla in person on the show, though we see her again in flashbacks and as The First.
Electric tasers
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Drusilla uses an electrical taser to stun Buffy in 5.14 Crush. Dawn also uses one of these on Xander in 7.21 End Of Days. Tasers have also been used in Angel, in the episodes 3.22 Tomorrow and 4.01 Deep Down. A taser is also known as an electroshock gun or stun gun. They send an electric current through a person to incapacitate them, but are supposed to be non-lethal.
Evil Dead
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Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy, starring Bruce Campbell, is alluded to a few times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
In 3.10 Amends, the First screams, “Dead by sunrise”, which could be a nod to the subtitle of Evil Dead 2, namely, “Dead by Dawn”.
In 5.14 Crush, Xander says to Spike:
“Hey evil dead you’re in my seat.”
In 7.07 Conversations With Dead People, Buffy says:
“Yeah, what I really need is emotional therapy from the evil dead.”
In 4.01 Deep Down, Gunn says:
“Evil Dead was probably just messing with us.”
The scene in 4.22 Restless, in which Xander is being pursued by the first Slayer down a long corridor (eventually leading to his parents’ basement), is highly reminiscent of a similar scene in The Evil Dead, in which Ash (Bruce Campbell) is being chased by the entity.
Another visual reference to Evil Dead can be seen in 6.03 After Life. The scene in which Anya become possessed is similar to a scene in the movie in which Linda (Ash’s girlfriend) gets possessed by evil spirits.
Sam Raimi was executive producer of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s hit movie The Grudge.
Fire in the belly
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In an interview with Brian Wilkinson at Millarworld.tv, James Marsters (Spike) said of Spike and Dru:
“I would pray they’d write another episode with her in it. Spike needed her more. They had an artistic passion, that fire in the belly and we’d both want to get every scene right,” Marsters says. Though the crew would have to hurry them on to the next scene, it didn’t stop them from making obscene hand gestures at each other. “If you watch closely, you can make some of it out. People must have been thinking ‘what are they doing?’”
From the previous episode
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In 5.14 Crush, Spike refers to the events of 5.13 Blood Ties when he helped Buffy fight Glory in the hospital. Another reference to that episode is that Willow is still getting headaches because of the teleportation spell she did on Glory.
Godzilla
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Godzilla is a massive, nearly invincible dinosaur/lizard-like creature with incredible strength and destructive fire. Godzilla has starred in 22 movies produced from 1954 to the present. Godzilla has been referenced in Buffy a few times. In 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, Xander says:
“We’re on Monster Island”
He’s referring to the island where Godzilla lives. Xander says in 2.05 Reptile Boy:
“Godzilla’s attacking downtown Tokyo! Aargh, Aargh!”
In 5.14 Crush, Harmony calls Drusilla “Droodzilla”, which is probably a reference to Godzilla.
In 7.18 Dirty Girls, Amanda says,
“Matthew Broderick can kill Godzilla. How tough is he?”
This is a reference to the 1997 movie Godzilla, starring Matthew Broderick which disappointed many fans (like Xander and Andrew).
In 2.11 Redefinition, Merl says:
“I heard about your girls - Godzilla, Darcilla, whatever”.
Grand re-opening
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The Bronze has a “Grand Re-Opening” sign in 5.14 Crush after Olaf trashed the place in 5.11 Triangle.
Hunchback of Notre Dame
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In 5.14 Crush, Willow, Tara and Buffy discuss The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a novel by Victor Hugo. Tara also mentions the 1939 film version of the novel, starring Charles Laughton. Buffy mentions singing gargoyles, which is a reference to the musical Disney version of the novel, made in 1996.
Willow: “I just don’t see why he couldn’t end up with Esmerelda. They could have the wedding right there, beneath the very bell-tower where he labored thanklessly for all those years.”
Tara: “No, see it can’t end like that ’cause all of Quasimodo’s actions were selfishly motivated. He had no moral compass, no understanding of right. Everything he did, he did out of love for a woman who would never be able to love him back. Also, you can tell it’s not going to have a happy ending when the main guy’s all bumpy.”
Willow: “What did you think, Buffy?”
Buffy: “The test isn’t till tomorrow, right? I don’t have an opinion till then.”
Willow: “But you read it, right?”
Buffy: “Kinda not. I rented the movie.”
Tara: “Oh, with Charles Laughton?”
Buffy: “I don’t know. Was he one of the singing gargoyles?”
Willow: “Oh, boy.”
Buffy: “What? I’m kidding!”
Tara’s line “Also, you can tell it’s not going to have a happy ending when the main guy’s all bumpy” could also be a reference to Buffy’s past failed relationship with bumpy-headed vampire Angel.
Jennifer Bergman
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Jennifer Bergman, who played the girl Drusilla killed in the Bronze in 5.14 Crush, is also a visual effects producer. She has worked on Blade, Firestorm, Broken Arrow and Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.
Kill, Destroy
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On the soundtrack album called ‘Radio Sunnydale’, released in 2003, soundtrack producer John C. King calls the episode 5.14 Crush, “Crush, Kill, Destroy”.
Onion flower
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Spike is obsessed with an onion flower served at the Bronze, which he mentions on several occasions. In 5.11 Triangle, he says to Xander:
“They have chicken wings, too. Also, a sort of a flower-shaped thing they make from an onion. It’s brilliant.”
In 5.14 Crush, he says to Buffy, “Especially since the flowering onion got remodeled off the sodding menu. It’s the only thing this place had going for it.”
In 7.19 Empty Places, Spike and Andrew have the following conversation about the onion flower:
Spike: “Not as good as those onion blossom things.”
Andrew: “Oh, I love those.”
Spike: “Yeah, me, too.”
Andrew: “It’s an onion and it’s a flower. I don’t understand how such a thing is possible.”
Spike: “See, the genius of it is you soak it in ice water for an hour so it holds its shape. Then you deep-fry it root-side up for about 5 minutes.”
Andrew: “Masterful.”
Spike: “Yeah… Tell anyone we had this conversation, I’ll bite you.”
Previously in Dru’s life…
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In 5.14 Crush, Drusilla says she likes L.A., except for when Angelus set her on fire. This occurred in the Angel episode 2.11 Redefinition, when Angel set fire to Drusilla and Darla. In 5.14 Crush, Spike says he’s done the L.A. thing and it just doesn’t agree with him. We saw him in L.A. in the Angel season one episode 1.03 In The Dark.
Summercamp
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At the Bronze in 5.14 Crush, we hear two tracks by Summercamp. At the beginning, when Buffy watches her friends dance, we hear ‘Play It By Ear’ (from the album Pure Juice) and ‘Happy’, which was unreleased.
The Ramones
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Spike asks Buffy in 5.14 Crush if she likes The Ramones. They were a punk band in the 1970s. Spike sings some of “I Wanna Be Sedated,” from The Ramones’ 1978 album Road to Ruin.
The real brains?
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At Collectermania May 2007 Q and A, James Marsters revealed the big secret of how he planted seeds for one of the plot lines on the show, and the consequences:
“It was my idea that Spike would fall in love with Buffy. Buffy would never reciprocate, never, but he would, in trying to get her favour, try to be good. And then fail all the time and then that would play out forever…I knew that Joss did not really want to get ideas from actors, right, but I’m older than him. And I’ve worked with writers before that don’t want to share ideas. And what you do with those kind of writers is that you plant seeds. Just give them - tell them something and then they’ll think of the idea themselves. So my idea was that Spike would fall in love with Buffy.
“So I just told Joss…we were watching Sarah, she was doing a voice over right before I was, and she was big on the screen, and so I was ‘God, she’s just so beautiful, no wonder that most guys in America, in the world, have a thing for her - heck even I have a little thing for her’. Joss was ‘what!’ and I was ‘yeah, I have a little thing for her’ and he kind of went ‘hmmm’. And I was like seed planted, seed planted. And I thought that my cunning little ploy worked, but then he told Sarah. Sarah comes up to me, I’m like fazed… ‘[Sarah voice] I know your secret, Joss told me, you’re in love with me huh?’ And I was caught, I was totally caught, because if I told her that it was a lie and that I was planting a seed with Joss, my seed would ultimately never find any soil. Cos the whole point was to make that Joss’s idea…but if I had to say that it was a lie they would all go away! And you don’t tell the leading lady that you don’t have a crush on her…you don’t say ‘no, I don’t really find you that attractive’. So I just went [giggles] and I just tried to ride it out, you know, stare her down and she finally hopped off.
“But I had to go through the whole experience of her thinking I had a crush on her. And when I told Joss later on that I knew this thing, that he told her that, he goes ‘huh, I don’t remember saying that, I don’t remember saying that’.”
Train Station
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Sunnydale’s train station is seen for the first and last time in 5.14 Crush. We discover it’s the last train station on the line.
Vampire invitation rule
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In vampire mythology (and the Whedonverse), a vampire cannot enter a person’s home unless it has been invited. This is first seen in the Buffy episode 1.07 Angel:
Angel: “It’s all right. A vampire can’t come in unless it’s invited.”
There has been some debate as to whether Buffy actually invited Angel into her home in that episode, but she does quickly say to him, “Get in! C’mon!” as they’re being chased by vampires. When Angel first became a vampire he returned home to kill his family. From 1.15 The Prodigal:
Father: “Be gone, unclean thing! A demon can not enter a home where it’s not welcome. He must be invited!”
Angel: “That’s true. - But I was invited.”
Angel looks to the doorway. His father turns and sees Angel’s sister slumped against the wall.
Dad: “Och!”
Angel: “She thought I returned to her – an angel.”
A vampire can enter a public place such as a school or hospital (this is seen in 2.17 Passion and 2.18 Killed By Death). In 2.17 Passion Angel says the sign outside the school says ‘Romatia transicara edicatorum’ which translates to ‘Enter all ye who seek knowledge’. Vampires can also enter hotel rooms, which are considered public. In 2.09 The Trial, Angel says to Gunn after he has entered a motel room:
Angel: “Oh, Motel, public accommodation. She didn’t live here.”
Another vampire invitation rule is clarified in 5.02 Real Me: only someone who lives in a residence can invite a vampire in:
Xander: “Yeah, actually, she– Harmony– kind of happened to sort of get an invite.”
Buffy: “You guys can’t invite her in. I mean, only someone who lives here can…
If the owner of a house is dead, a vampire can enter. This is seen in 3.21 Graduation Day (Part One) when Angel enters the home of the dead Professor. It is also seen explicitly in 1.15 The Prodigal (Angel can only enter the home of Kate’s father after he has been killed) and in 2.04 Untouched (Angel enters when a victim on life support dies). In the latter example we see a visible barrier ripple when Angel tries to enter.
When a vampire is invited into a home once, it can enter again at any point, unless a reversal spell is done. The spell was first seen in 2.17 Passion, after Angel lost his soul and started stalking Buffy. The last words of the incantation (read by Willow at Buffy’s house) are “Hicce verbis consensus rescissus est,” which translates into English roughly as “By these words permission is rescinded.” Buffy uninvited Spike from her home in 5.14 Crush, Harmony was uninvited in 5.02 Real Me, and Dracula was uninvited in 5.01 Buffy Vs Dracula.
There have been several goofs/continuity errors concerning vampires and invitations in the Whedonverse:
- When Angel and Buffy are running from the Three in 1.07 Angel, they take refuge in Buffy’s house. As they close the door, one of the Three gets his arm through the door before Buffy forces him back out. But he was a vampire and also uninvited, so how did he get his arm in?
- A similar event occurs in 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered - when Drusilla pushes Buffy’s door down, her hands go into the house - but Drusilla was never invited in.
- Angel says that he needs an invitation to enter Buffy’s dorm room in 4.20 The Yoko Factor, but Sunday and her gang didn’t need one in 4.01 The Freshman. This doesn’t count only for Buffy - the vamps are able to access Eddie’s room as well, and presumably they can get into the rooms of the other students they killed. How do they do that?
- In 1.17 Eternity, how can Angel jump through the window into Rebecca’s apartment to save her from the intruder? He was never invited in, and Rebecca only said to him to “Stop by”. Is this enough of an invitation?
- In 1.18 Five By Five, Faith is torturing Wesley in the apartment of the man she injured previously in the episode. When Angel finds them, he walks straight into the apartment… no invite needed. If Faith had killed the man, Angel would not have required an invitation. However, in 1.19 Sanctuary, the following dialogue is heard between Kate and a fellow officer:
Kate: “So do we think she is the one who threw the party here?”
Kendrick: “The guy who lives here identifies her as the woman who mugged him. Put him in the hospital, stole his keys, his wallet. We’re lifting prints now. My bet is - we get a match.”It’s apparent he is alive, therefore Angel should not have been able to enter his apartment. (It’s possible that Angel called the victim to ask permission to enter but this would be a very strange conversation indeed!)
- There is some confusion over who invited Spike back into the home he shared with his mother in 7.17 Lies My Parents Told Me, but this could have been a servant who lived there.
- In 5.15 A Hole In The World, Angel and Spike enter Lindsey and Eve’s residence without an invitation.
Walt Borchert
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Walt Borchert, who played the newly-turned vampire in 4.01 The Freshman, also played a demon in 4.02 Living Conditions. He appeared as Jeff in the Buffy episode 5.14 Crush.
[Goof] Dru’s victim
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After Drusilla breaks her victim’s neck in the Bronze in 5.14 Crush, we see the victim swallow just before she bites him, even though he should be dead.
[Goof] Sparing Drusilla
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Why didn’t Buffy kill Drusilla at the end of 5.14 Crush? This is only a few episodes after Buffy’s “my job description’s pretty clear” speech and yet she lets a dangerous vampire, who she knows has killed at least 6 people and just attacked her, go free.
[Goof] Spike’s cigarette
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In 5.14 Crush, Dawn goes to Spike’s crypt and he comes out from underground. In one shot Spike suddenly has a cigarette behind his ear, which later disappears.