Conversations with Dead People
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| “Conversations with Dead People” | |||||||
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |||||||
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 7 |
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| Written by | Jane Espenson & Drew Goddard (but see writing credits) | ||||||
| Directed by | Nick Marck | ||||||
| Guest stars | Danny Strong (Jonathan) Tom Lenk (Andrew) Adam Busch (Warren) Jonathan M. Woodward (Holden Webster) Azura Skye (Cassie) Kristine Sutherland (Joyce) |
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| Production no. | 7ABB07 | ||||||
| Original airdate | November 12, 2002 | ||||||
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| List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes | |||||||
"Conversations with Dead People" is the seventh episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
Several separate encounters take place around Sunnydale on one night. What makes this particular episode unique is none of the subplots, or the characters in them, interact with each other.
On patrol, Buffy discovers that her latest vampire foe is Holden Webster, an old classmate. The two reminisce. The vampire, a psychology major in life, predicts that Buffy will never truly connect with others and reveals that Spike--believed to be unable to harm humans--was the one who killed him.
At home, Dawn is attacked by a malevolent force. She drives it off, and is visited by her mother's ghost, who predicts that she and Buffy will become enemies.
Spike picks up a woman at a bar and takes her home, where he feeds on her.
Jonathan and Andrew return from Mexico to dig up an artifact hidden near the Hellmouth. Andrew is secretly in contact with the ghost of Warren, while Jonathan is having a personal revelation. After they dig up the artifact, Andrew, on the ghost's instructions, kills Jonathan, causing his blood to spill all over a 'door' in the dirt.
In the library, Willow is visited by the ghost of Cassie, a girl Buffy once helped, who claims to have been sent by the dead Tara. The ghost relays a prediction that Willow will end up killing everyone unless she commits suicide. Willow is not fooled, and the figure reveals itself, and by implication the other ghosts, to be manifestations of The First. Buffy is briefly seen staking Holden.
[edit] Acting
[edit] Main cast
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
- Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers
- James Marsters as Spike
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
[edit] Recurring role
- Kristine Sutherland as The First/Joyce Summers
- Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells
- Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson
- Adam Busch as The First/Warren Mears
[edit] Guest stars
- Jonathan M. Woodward as Holden Webster
- Azura Skye as The First/Cassie Newton
[edit] Performances
- This is the only episode which Nicholas Brendon, and his character of Xander Harris, does not appear in throughout the entire series. Although credited, Emma Caulfield (Anya) does not appear in this episode.
- Jonathan M. Woodward, who plays Holden Webster, also appeared in every Joss Whedon series: as Knox in the fifth season of Angel, and as Tracey in the Firefly episode "The Message". All three of these characters are initially friendly (or at least helpful), but eventually die at the hands of the heroes.
- With this episode, Kristine Sutherland becomes the only actor to appear as a guest star in all seven seasons.
[edit] Writing
- The writing of this episode is credited to Jane Espenson and Drew Goddard. However, according to the commentary by Espenson and Goddard on the DVD, this episode actually had four distinct writers: Espenson wrote the Dawn scenes, Goddard wrote the Geek Trio scenes, Joss Whedon wrote the Buffy-Holden scenes, and Marti Noxon wrote the Willow-Cassie scenes.[1] Since Whedon and Noxon were the executive producers of the show, they would often forego formal credit for their contributions to various scripts.
- Under a severe time and production crunch, it became necessary to have four writers writing this episode. This, as well as actor scheduling conflicts, inspired the structure of the episode where characters are isolated from each other because all four writers wrote independently of each other.
- Amber Benson was initially going to appear as Tara, taunting Willow instead of Cassie, but she turned it down on the grounds that she thought having (the image of) Tara taunting Willow and mocking Willow's love for the true Tara would be cruel to the many fans who valued the relationship.[2] In the commentary for this episode on the DVD, the writers claim that Amber Benson simply wasn't available.
- Other storylines considered were for Eric Balfour, who played Jesse McNally in the pilot episode, "Welcome to the Hellmouth," to have conversed with Xander;[2] and, according to Drew Goddard on the "Selfless" DVD commentary, for Kali Rocha (Halfrek) to return and haunt Anya, but she was unavailable.
- On the DVD commentary for the show, Jane Espenson revealed that the image of Joyce was actually The First. It's explained that The First can simply be in multiple places simultaneously, something that could already be inferred with Warren being visible to Andrew at the same time as Cassie talks to Willow.
- Espenson claims to have given her first production note that made it to air: the monster appearing to strangle Joyce was actually the Gnarl costume from "Same Time, Same Place" shot from the back and spray-painted black.
- This is one of only two episodes in the whole Buffy series that has the episode title appear on-screen at the beginning of the programme. The musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" was the only other - usually the episode title is never shown. An episode title was also shown on-screen after the opening credits sequence of Bargaining, along with the writers of the episode.
[edit] Quotes
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
- Jonathon "Me neither. Desde abajo te devora"
- Andrew: "It eats you starting with your bottom." An alternate translation of the phrase that would be repeated often during Buffy's Season 7: "From beneath you, it devours."
[edit] Production details
[edit] Music
- Angie Hart - "Blue" - Used at the beginning and end of the episode. Joss Whedon wrote the song for this episode. It was sung by Angie Hart, and can be heard in both the beginning and end of the episode. This is also available on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer : Radio Sunnydale album.
- Los Cubaztecas - "Nicolito"
- Scout - "The Never Never"
[edit] Reception
- This episode was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
[edit] Translations
- Italian title: "Conversazioni con l'aldilà" ("Conversations with the Beyond")
- German title: "Gespräche mit Toten" ("Conversations with Dead People")
- French title: "Connivences" ("Connivances")
- Spanish title: "Conversaciones con los muertos" ("Conversations with the dead")
- Portuguese title: "Conversas com pessoas mortas" ("Conversations with Dead People")
[edit] Continuity
- Dawn accidentally gets pizza sauce on one of Buffy's shirts in this episode, shrugging and saying, "She'll think it's blood." In "First Date" Anya scrubs at the stain and says that she thinks it's pizza sauce and not blood.
- Cassie, supposedly speaking for Tara, reminds Willow that she is "strong like an Amazon," referencing a conversation that Willow and Tara have in "The Body." She also reminds Willow of the time when Tara sang to her on the bridge ("I'm Under Your Spell") in "Once More, With Feeling"
- Holden Webster pronounces "nemeses" correctly and Buffy replies "Is that how you say that?" This comment is an allusion to the Season 6 Episode "Gone" when both Warren and Buffy have trouble with the word.
- The First appears as Warren Mears, who was killed in Season 6. It is revealed in the canonical comic storyline The Long Way Home that Warren was saved from death by Amy Madison. On the letters page of Buffy Season Eight #6, Whedon responds to the question of how the First could have impersonated Warren if he'd never died, by saying, "He was legally dead for like a second. Amy didn't tell him 'cause she didn't want to upset him. I forgot, okay?!"
[edit] Arc significance
- This episode further establishes the season's "Big Bad", whose shape-shifting ability was displayed in the season premiere, "Lessons", and, previously, in Season Three's "Amends".
- Holden informs Buffy that Spike sired him, causing Buffy doubts about Spike's newfound goodness.
- It is learned Spike is feeding off of humans.
- Jonathan, a recurring character since the second season of Buffy, is killed.
- The "Hellmouth Door" underneath the School is seen for the first time.
[edit] Timing
- "Conversations With Dead People" is the only episode with a specific date and time given at the beginning of the episode - November 12, 2002; 8.01pm. This is the same date and time as the original airdate of the episode.
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse: Fall 2002 - December 2002 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.01 Lessons |
| Mexico, 2002 | Buffy/Angel book: Seven Crows |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.01 Deep Down |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.02 Beneath You |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.02 Ground State |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.03 Same Time, Same Place |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | Buffy book: Apocalypse Memories |
| L.A., Las Vegas, 2002 | A4.03 The House Always Wins |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.04 Help |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Dark Mirror |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | Buffy book: Mortal Fear |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | Buffy book: Spark and Burn |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2002 | Buffy/Angel book: Heat |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.04 Slouching Toward Bethlehem |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.05 Selfless |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.05 Supersymmetry |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.06 Him |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Solitary Man |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.06 Spin the Bottle |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Love and Death |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Monolith |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.07 Conversations with Dead People |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.08 Sleeper |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.08 Habeas Corpses |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.09 Never Leave Me |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.09 Long Day's Journey |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.10 Bring on the Night |
| Unknown, 2002 | Tales of the Vampires: Stacey |
| New York, 2002 | Tales of the Vampires: Spot the Vampire |
| Unknown 2002 | Tales of the Vampires: Taking Care of Business |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.10 Awakening |
[edit] External links
- "Conversations with Dead People" at the Internet Movie Database
- "Conversations with Dead People" at TV.com
[edit] References
- ^ DVD commentary for "Conversations with Dead People", at 0:22, 1:33, and 13:38.
- ^ a b Buffy Episode Guide - Conversations with Dead People. BBC Cult. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
[edit] See also
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| Preceded by N/A |
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form 2003 |
Succeeded by "Gollum's Acceptance Speech at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards" |
