During The Prom, the students of Sunnydale High gave Buffy a special award, The Class Protector Award, to acknowledge the many times she had saved their lives. It was presented to her by Jonathan Levinson, who Buffy had saved from suicide in Earshot. The award was a gold and pink parasol with tinsel and glitter on it (so not that special, really - but it’s the thought that counts). Jonathan gave the following speech:
“We’re not good friends. Most of us never found the time to get to know you, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t noticed you. We don’t talk about it much, but it’s no secret that Sunnydale High isn’t really like other high schools. A lot of weird stuff happens here. But, whenever there was a problem or something creepy happened, you seemed to show up and stop it. Most of the people here have been saved by you, or helped by you at one time or another. We’re proud to say that the Class of ‘99 has the lowest mortality rate of any graduating class in Sunnydale history. And we know at least part of that is because of you. So the senior class, offers its thanks, and gives you this. It’s from all of us, and it has written here, ‘Buffy Summers, Class Protector.’”
Buffy’s award was broken by the vampire Sunday in The Freshman.
November 2nd, 2005 at 11:30 pm
I cried the first 10 times I watched the end of The Prom when Buffy and Angel danced.
Also, when Buffy, Joyce and Tara died and when Anya and Xander didn’t get married. But hey, it was sad!
November 3rd, 2005 at 3:48 am
Gee, I cried so many times during the Buffy episodes! Prom is especially true with “Wild Horses” from the Sundays playing, and the deaths too, Joyce in particular. What about final ep of season 3, Angel walking away? And in that same vein, on Angel season one when he’s human for a day, then tells Buffy she’ll only remember for five minutes - SMG was absolutely heartbreaking! Spike’s death at series end (I just love him!)
November 3rd, 2005 at 4:16 am
I don’t cry to often in the Buffyverse (Passion, Bargaining part 1 when Giles leaves, how can you not?), but everytime I watch I Will Remember You I cry, every time. It’s sad, the fact he’s holding on to her knowing he’s got seconds left with her and he could have had her forever, but gave it up. It’s sad.
November 3rd, 2005 at 6:00 am
I cry like a 10 year old girl at the end of The Prom, every time. And, with that admission in mind, I may have to change my name here to “tremendouslyembarrased”.
November 3rd, 2005 at 6:05 am
For me it’s whenever Xander tells Willow he loves her. Becoming (part 2) and Grave. I just can’t take that. Them two, their friendship,, they’re what it’s about for me. Thanks Joss
November 3rd, 2005 at 8:50 am
Yeah, that’s what gets me as well. I think their friendship is so beautiful. It’s very touching when Xander expresses how much he cares about her.
November 3rd, 2005 at 9:59 am
slightlyembarrased - I cry like a girl at the end of The Prom too.
November 3rd, 2005 at 2:12 pm
Ok, I am assuming you are all not 10 year old girls! And being a thirty-something woman, I cry when I play “Wild Horses” (song when Angel and Buffy are dancing) just driving around with my kids. I made myself a Buffy mix from iTunes and Michelle Branch’s “Goodbye To You” (from Tabula Rasa, end song which also tears me up)plays immediately before it. I don’t know why I am competing to be the most lame:)
November 3rd, 2005 at 2:13 pm
…somethingblue - not the last time I looked!
November 3rd, 2005 at 2:14 pm
just checking!
November 3rd, 2005 at 6:33 pm
The most teary bit in Buffy has to be Anya’s outburst in The Body. She expresses everyone’s feelings so well.
November 4th, 2005 at 12:38 am
Oh gosh yes, The Body, when they are all in Willow’s dorm. Not that I didn’t care for Joyce, but what really touched me was how much I felt for the gang, what they were going through. Anya and Will particularly. That’s the real wonder of the series, one really cares/feels for the characters.
I apologize for going off the subject of “the class protector…” but this 40-year-old guy just can’t help himself.
November 4th, 2005 at 2:36 am
During the umbrella scene, I didn’t cry because I felt Buffy was FINALLY validated in some way for her work. If there is one thing that drives me crazy about watching Buffy, it is the lack of validation the characters receive - I know it is more realistic, dramatic and frustrating that way (like life) but, gee, I’ve already got so much frustration that sometimes it’s good to have a good, happy-happy, joy-joy validation moment. end of ramble…
November 4th, 2005 at 4:23 am
Enough about tears, for a moment — which episode makes you mad? I know, for me at least, everytime I watch “Empty Places”, and Giles, Willow, and Anya turn on Buffy, I become enraged. But, when Dawn tells Buffy she has to leave her own home, I see red. That ungrateful little snot. Buffy died for her, and saved her pointless ass more times than anyone can count, and she has the nerve to toss Buffy out on the street. And, then in a show of the fact that Buffy is a much better person than I could ever hope to be, she actually FORGIVES the worthless lot of them! And they don’t even have to grovel. If I was Buffy, I would have told them all to get bent, and follow Faith to their collective doom.
As somethingblue would say…end of ramble…
November 4th, 2005 at 4:27 am
Oh yeah, and Jess, thanks for saying you, too, cry “like a girl” at the end of “The Prom”…that makes me feel a little better; however, given the fact that you, in fact, ARE a “girl”, and I am, alas, a “boy”, doesn’t really help feel any less embarrased by my admission. (And knowing, as I do, that you, Jess, know my real name, puts you in a very good position to demand I make regular contributions to this website….)
November 4th, 2005 at 4:29 am
This is EXACTLY the reason I just love Spike - he cuts them all down, tells them what ungrateful losers they are for kicking her out, beats the crap out of Faith, then offers to get rid of her for Buffy! Sigh! Ok, perhaps a violent show of support, not that Buffy would ever want him to do something like that, but at least in Season 7, Spike has her back!!!
November 4th, 2005 at 4:32 am
to slightlyembarrased…”get bent” is such a great expression!
November 4th, 2005 at 4:54 am
It really is a tribute to what great television Whedon created, and how able he was to get his viewers deeply involved in the characters’ lives that we would experience such visceral (that’s guts…) reactions to their sorrow, joy, pain and longings. Either that, or we really are a pathetic lot who need to get outside more often…(just kidding…well, sort of…)
November 4th, 2005 at 3:47 pm
slightlyembarrased, When Xander and Willow carry on their “affair” that began in Homecoming. The first time that I watched it I was so upset with them. I wanted them to be perfect. It took me a long time to accept that they made a mistake and forgive them. I watched Homecoming last night and I believe it’s the first time I actually was able to enjoy Will and Xander’s hilarious guilty reactions. I’m making a pact with myself so I can continue to enjoy it throughout the season.
Jess, please advise if there is a better way/place to carry on these interesting, but off subject, comments. thnx
November 4th, 2005 at 5:53 pm
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve cried during Buffy…well, I’d have a lot of nickels. I go through periods when I’m super emotional and lots of popcultre/media things get me going (and it’s not a monthly thing, seriously, it comes in blocks of 3-4 months then stops for a while), but not like buffy. The Prom, the body, the wish, once more with feeling (during Giles song about how he has to leave), amd even the fight with adam when she says, “we are forever.”
Also, (and this is kind of embarrasing) but Firefly’s Jaynestown makes me cry, especially this scene:
Muddler: Don’t you understand. He’s come back
Bartender (knocks drink out of Jayne’s hand): “Hero of Canton won’t be drinking that Xiongmao. niao. he drinks the best whiskey in the house!”
I don’t know why, I think it’s that scene really conveys the sincerity of the mudders. That, and I’m a TOTAL SAP. Anyway, when my boyfriend and I were watching that scene next week, I had to pretend I was laughing so hard my eyes welled up or he’d make fun of me.
November 4th, 2005 at 6:02 pm
“During the umbrella scene, I didn’t cry because I felt Buffy was FINALLY validated in some way for her work”
see that’s exactly why I do cry.
Things that make me mad…
Most of season 7. I get really mad at the writers. Okay, that’s not what you meant. Definitely that scene when they all turn on her especially the stuff that Anya says. I want to slap her. Scenes in which Willow puts up with kennedy’s disrespecting buffy. buffy’s bad attitude scenes at the beginning of season two (but that is some good writing there…I mean, who hasn’t been that pissy teenager?)
November 4th, 2005 at 6:23 pm
I luuuuuuuuve Buffy as a pissy teenager in “When She Was Bad”, season two…which I think is what you were referring to. Ok, very bratty, but love, love, love the sexy dance scene (Bronz) with Xander, making Angel jealou, Cibo Matto on stage…cool.
November 4th, 2005 at 10:55 pm
Jess…sorry if I have taken this area off topic with my bringing up episodes that make me angry. Just didn’t know where else to say it…I guess I should have done so under the “Empty Places” episode section.
I’m a bad, bad poster.
November 4th, 2005 at 10:58 pm
And I agree with s’blue…I thought Buffy was H-O-T when she was all bitchy at the beginning of Season 2. And that dance with Xander…my DVD is worn thin from rerunning that scene over and over and over and over….
November 4th, 2005 at 11:23 pm
Haha this is becomeing the confessional page isn’t it?! I didnt think that an innocent comment about how buffy’s umbrella makes my cry would spark such a reaction, but everyone is so eager to talk about their feelings!! its kinda sweet really…
November 4th, 2005 at 11:42 pm
sorry, I think I keep making it worse myself! I’m a bad poster too! I just keep contributing to the problem, ok…ok…umbrella…crying…wasn’t the umbrella destroyed by that nasty blonde vamp (who was actually kind of punk-rock cool) in the season 4 opener?
November 4th, 2005 at 11:44 pm
Nevermind…see what a bad poster I am…just saw that trivia above. I will be quiet now…
November 4th, 2005 at 11:50 pm
Bless me Jess for I have messed up this page …. I’ve already shared my crybaby moment so the ones that made me angry were Hell’s Bells because I thought that Anya and Xander were meant to be. Also, as mentioned, Empty Places, Seeing Red cuz everyone loved Tara and Wild At Heart cause I thought that Willow and Oz were forever. But this is the Buffyverse, nothing’s forver.
November 5th, 2005 at 2:25 am
I don’t cry often during Buffy, but I will admit that The Body and Chosen get me every time. The dating/lovey dovey parts, especially with Angel-they just don’t make me sad. It just seems like it’s not the end of the world (which is too bad, because they’re really good at that) and they should get on with their lives. Becoming Part two-that scene just frustrates me so much. I thing SMG acted it really well, but David’s arched back and “oh, you just stabbed me?” look on his face-it’s just so forced I couldn’t believe it as being sad.
Death however, especially a mother…different thing. Also the end of the series makes me cry because, well, it’s the end. Very sad. The moment when Anya dies get’s me started, but I just lose it when Buffy is holding Spike’s hand and looking into his eyes as he’s about to die and save the world.
I think I feel some tears coming on right now! *sniff*
I have to say though, my lack of Buffy tears are totally made up for in the frequency of my happy sqealing. I gigle like a schoolgirl and completely go nuts anythime a part I like happens. It’s bad enough when there’s a funny one-liner, but when Angel comes back from hell, or when they turn the camera to the nerd trio for the first time…oh man, I get the oddest looks.
November 5th, 2005 at 6:46 am
I cry like a little school girl everytime I watch Passion. Okay, seriously, Giles is so happy that him and Jenny are getting back together and when he sees the note/champagne, he gets even happier, and what does he find in his bed? Jenny’s corspe! That episode horrified me—and then I cried! Who didn’t?
I have to say, a moment I wanted to jump into my TV to kill the characters was in season 7 when everyone tells Buffy to leave and then even Dawn does. Not only was it the biggest slap in the face to Buffy but it just seemed way out of character for everyone. I know they thought it was for the best but for them to do that when they knew how bad things were going to get and how after all the times she saved the world, literally…it was bad.
November 5th, 2005 at 7:35 am
I love and hate how every time someone in the Buffyverse is happy, it means someone’s about to die.
Giles and Jenny get back together-Jenny dies
Tara and Willow get back together- Tara dies
Westley and Fred (okay, so that’s Angel, humour me)- Fred dies
You can just sense it in the air. Sometimes there’s just too much smiling for everything to be right.
November 6th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
I didn’t cry when Anya/Xander fail to get marry, but I that scene where she’s walking down the aisle–makes my heart hurt. And I thought it was cowardly for him to leave and have to be the one to tell everyone to go home (even though we don’t see that part). How humiliating.