Changing sets

The hold of the plane that Kendra arrived in, in What’s My Line? (Part 1), was saved and changed so that it could be used as a sewer tunnel in later episodes.

Ice rink

The ice rink seen in the episode What’s My Line? (Part 1) is called Iceland, and is located at 8041 Jackson Street in Paramount, California. This is fairly close (about 25 miles) from where Buffy is filmed on set. In that episode, Angel invites Buffy to go ice skating by saying, “There’s a rink out past Route 17, it’s… closed on Tuesdays.” Sarah Michelle Gellar enjoys ice skating in real life so her skills were put to the test in What’s My Line?

Bianca Lawson

Bianca Lawson played the vampire Slayer Kendra in season two. Bianca’s other TV credits include: Saved By the Bell: The New Class, Sister, Sister, Goode Behaviour, Dawson’s Creek, The Division and The Big House. Bianca starred in Fearless (as Harmony) alongside Eric Balfour, who played Jesse in season one. She has been in the movies Pledge This!, Breakin’ All the Rules and Dead & Breakfast.

Eric Saiet

Eric Saiet played the bespectacled vampire Dalton in the episodes What’s My Line? and Surprise. He has been in Godzilla, Ugly Naked People, Groundhog Day and Ferris Beuller’s Day Off.

Howard Gordon

Howard Gordon co-wrote the episode What’s My Line? (Part 1) with Marti Noxon, and was consulting producer on the show. He was also a consulting producer and writer on Angel. He wrote the Angel episodes ‘Hero’, ‘Expecting‘ and ‘The Ring‘. Howard worked with Buffy’s executive producer David Greenwalt before, on an episode of The X-Files. He wrote many episodes and was co-executive producer of both 24 and The X-Files.

P.B. Hutton

P.B. Hutton, who played Mrs. Kalish in What’s My Line? (Part 1), also played Mrs. Ruzaove in the Angel episode ‘Double or Nothing‘. She has also been in Gilmore Girls, CSI, Malcolm in the Middle, The Norm Show, Beverley Hills 90210, Seinfeld and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Saverio Guerra

Saverio Guerra, who played Willy the Snitch, appeared in five episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer including What’s My Line? (Part 1) and Part Two, Amends, The Zeppo and Goodbye, Iowa. He is best known as Bob in Becker, and has also appeared in EZ Streets (as Sammy), Mad About You, Bad Boys, and Summer of Sam. Saverio was the voice of Pontrelli in Shark Tale.

Dalton

Dalton was a bespectacled vampire who helped Spike and Drusilla to steal the Du Lac cross and translate the Du Lac manuscript in What’s My Line?. He was destroyed by The Judge in Surprise.

Kendra

Kendra was chosen as a vampire Slayer when Buffy died briefly in Prophecy Girl. The two Slayers had different styles - Kendra was considered a model Slayer as she had been training with her watcher Sam Zabuto since she was tiny. She and Giles hit it off straight away, much to Buffy’s annoyance. Buffy eventually taught Kendra that human emotion wasn’t necessarily a hindrance to being a Slayer and the two began to respect each other. Kendra presented Buffy with Mr. Pointy - her favourite stake, as well as the sword which Buffy would eventually use to kill Angel with. Kendra was killed by Drusilla whilst trying to protect the other Scoobies. Dru hypnotised her then slashed her throat. Her death led to Faith being chosen as a vampire Slayer.

Octarus

Octarus was a one-eyed demon who was a member of the Order of Taraka. Buffy killed him by slashing his throat using her ice skate in What’s My Line? (Part 1).

Willy the Snitch

Willy was a human bartender who owned Willy’s Place, a demon bar in Sunnydale. Various Scoobies beat Willy up, threatened to beat him, or paid him money, to get information about new demons in town. Willy usually knew what was going on in town, but pretended not to.

Activation

Buffy’s death in Prophecy Girl, albeit very brief, was enough to activate another Slayer, Kendra. The two met in season two’s What’s My Line? (Part 1). Giles said in that episode that the event was unprecedented.

Buffy confuses herself

A continuing joke for Buffy throughout the show is her misunderstanding of common phrases or sayings. In Gingerbread, she and Angel have the following conversation:

In What’s My Line, Part One, Buffy says, “They had tools, flashlights, whole nine yards. What does that mean, anyway? ‘Whole nine yards’? Nine yards of what? Now it’s gonna bug me all day.”
In No Place Like Home, she says to Giles, “Yeah. You’ll be making money hand over fist” before holding her hand over her fist in a puzzled way, “…Which I guess is a good thing.”
In End of Days, Buffy says to Xander, “Of course I’m not putting you out to pasture. …What does that even mean?”

Buffy’s moving door

The front door of Buffy’s house changes in different episodes. In the season one episode Angel, when Buffy is trying to close her front door on The Three, you can see that the front door opens on Buffy’s right. In the season two episodes Inca Mummy Girl and Halloween, we see that Buffy’s door now opens on her left.
Later in season two, when Cordelia talks to Norman Pfister in Buffy’s hall in What’s My Line? (Part 2), you can see that the door handle of Buffy’s front door is on the left. But when Xander let Cordelia in the house in the previous episode (What’s My Line? (Part 1))the handle was on the right!

Churches

We discovered in What’s My Line, Part One that there were forty-three churches in Sunnydale.

Crazy like a… florist

On a few occasions (in both Buffy and Angel), a personality disorder test is mentioned and one of the questions to determine one’s sanity is if the subject ever wanted to be a florist. Additionally, whether you like shrubs or not seems to help determine your career aptitude, while a flower shop is a cover for the government conspiracy for which Riley Finn works.

Answering questions on their career aptitude tests during career week at school:
Xander: “Is murder always a crime?”
Buffy: “Do I like shrubs?”
Xander: “That’s between you and your god.”
Buffy: “(to Willow) What’d you put?”
Willow: “I came down on the side of shrubs.” - What’s My Line? (Part One)

Buffy: “The Watcher Council shrink is heavy into tests. He’s got tests for everything, T.A.T.s, Rorschach, associative logic. He even has that test to see if you’re crazy that asks if you ever hear voices or you ever wanted to be a florist.”
Willow: “Ooo, I used to want… Wait. Florist means crazy, right? I never wanted to do that.” - Doppelgängland

Buffy (on phone): “No, no, Finn is his last name. Yeah. Well, did he used to work there and then he got transferred Oh, is this actually a flower shop, or is this one of those things where I’m supposed to play along to show that I know it’s really secret ops? Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Oh, OK, right. Well, if some guy named Finn shows up to buy flowers — Yeah. Thanks.” (hangs up, turns to Spike) “Wrong number. Or a giant government conspiracy, one or the — Spike?” - The Killer in Me

Fred: “Don’t y’all think this is some kind of government conspiracy? ‘Cause my friend, Levon, says the government’s always taking kids and experimentin’ on ‘em. Did anybody else have to take a personality disorder test recently? They ask you about politics and your bowel movements and if you want to be a florist…“ - Angel, ‘Spin The Bottle’.

Darla’s prophecy

In the episode Angel, Darla asks Angel if he thought Buffy would see his face, his true face, and would give it a kiss. In other words, she highly doubted that Buffy would ever be able to accept Angel to the extent that she could kiss his demonic vampire-face, the person he truly was. However, this snickering and doubtful comment of Darla happens to come true in What’s My Line Part One. After the assassin attacks Buffy and Angel at the ice skate rink, Buffy kisses Angel, whom is wearing his demonic face, proving Darla’s thought to come true.

Frog fear

In What’s My Line? (Part 1), Willow revealed to Giles that she has frog fear (”don’t warn the tadpoles”). This is a phobia known as ranidaphobia. It was used to Buffy’s advantage in Killed By Death when Willow created a distraction for Buffy to get away by screaming that she had frogs all over her. In Inca Mummy Girl, Willow has a toy stuffed frog, so her fear obviously only relates to the real thing!

Little piggy

Buffy seems to have a thing with pigs, as her stuffed toy Mr. Gordo (first seen in What’s My Line? (Part 1)) is a pig, and she manages to capture the school’s mascot - a piglet - in The Pack. Mr. Gordo was stolen by the vampire Sunday in The Freshman, but was eventually returned to Buffy.

Miss Edith

Drusilla’s favourite doll is called Miss Edith. In School Hard, Miss Edith was punished by Dru who said, “Miss Edith speaks out of turn. She’s a bad example, and will have no cakes today.” In Halloween, Dru says, “Miss Edith needs her tea” and in What’s My Line? (Part 1), she tells Spike, “I need to change Miss Edith”.

One down… one gone

In the episode What’s My Line (Part One), Spike’s vampires steal the DuLac cross from a tomb in the graveyard. Buffy stakes one of the two vampires and then watches Dalton (the other vamp) running away for his life, saying, “One down, one… gone.”
In Earshot, Buffy fights two telepathic demons at the beginning of the episode. She kills one of the two, and then says, “One down, one… gone” again.

Snack job

In What’s My Line, Part One, Buffy excuses herself from research, so that she can go ice-skating with Angel:

In The Zeppo, we see that their roles have been reversed and Xander is relegated to the go-for-snacks (doughnuts, specifically) role in the Scooby gang.

Tarot cards

Tarot cards have been used twice in the show - Tara uses them in The Magic Box in Out of My Mind and Drusilla used them in What’s My Line? (Part 1).

The Factory

Spike, Drusilla and, later, Angel’s, lair during season two was an old abandoned factory in Sunnydale. It was burned down in Passion when Giles tried to kill Angelus for murdering Jenny. The vampires then moved to a mansion on Crawford Street. The set itself was torn down to make room for the vampires’ mansion set on a Buffy soundstage.

Who’s that girl?

Oz first noticed Willow in Inca Mummy Girl when she wore an eskimo costume to the dance. In Halloween, Cordelia bosses Oz around, then when she walks away, Oz says (sarcastically) “Why can’t I meet a nice girl like that?” He then turns and bumps into Willow, wearing her ghost costume so he doesn’t recognise her. At the end of Halloween, Oz saw Willow once again, this time in her very non-Willow Halloween costume. They didn’t meet properly until What’s My Line, Part One, in which they are both picked out for special treatment by software recruiters, and bonded over finger food.

Willy’s Place

Sunnydale had a bar called Willy’s Place which catered for the vampire and demon population. It was first seen in What’s My Line? (Part 1) when Angel went there to question the bartender, Willy the Snitch. The bar was also seen in Amends, The Zeppo, Goodbye, Iowa and Family. In Same Time, Same Place, Xander suggests trying to get information at Willy’s place.

Vivaldi

Vivaldi’s ‘Spring’ from Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) plays in the background when Willow first meets Oz at the Career Fair in What’s My Line? (Part 1).

Du Lac

Josephus du Lac was a theologian and mathematician. He belonged to a religious sect that was excommunicated by the Vatican at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He invented the du Lac cross, which was used to decipher hidden meanings and encrypted texts, and wrote the du Lac manuscripts which contained evil rituals and spells.
In Lie to Me, Spike got one of his vampires to steal the du Lac manuscript from the school library. This became crucial in the episode What’s My Line? (Part 1). We discovered then that the manuscript included a way in which Spike can cure Drusilla’s weakness.
The name du Lac may be a reference to the Anne Rice character Louis from her Vampire Chronicles. His full name is Louis de Pont du Lac.

Order of Taraka

The Order of Taraka are assassins, or bounty hunters. Giles says about them, “Unlike vampires, they have no earthly desires except to collect their bounty. They find their target and eliminate it. You can kill as many of them as you like. It won’t make a difference - where there is one, there will be another. And another. They won’t stop coming until the job is done. Each of them works alone. His own way. Some of them are human. Some are not. We don’t know who they are…until they strike.” Members of the Order wear a ring which identifies them. Spike sends the Order after Buffy to get her out of the way in What’s My Line? (Part 1) The Order included Octarus, Patrice and the Bug Man, who pretended to be Norman Pfister.

Reliquary

A reliquary is a place used to house items of religious significance such as the fingers of saints. Seen in What’s My Line, Part One, when items were stolen from the Du Lac tomb.

Dorothy Hamill

Ice-skating fan Buffy Summers had a “Dorothy Hamill phase”, first mentioned in What’s My Line? (Part 1). Dorothy Hamill was an American figure skater who became famous when she won a gold medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Her “wedge” hairstyle became popular with many girls.

Microsoft

The software recruiter says to Willow in What’s My Line? (Part 1), “The jet was delayed by fog at Sea Tac but he should be here any minute.” Sea Tac is the abbreviated name of the Seattle Tacoma Airport. The “worlds largest software company” must be Microsoft as they are based in Seattle.

My Fair Lady

In the episode Anne, Buffy says, “I don’t want any trouble. I just want to be alone and quiet in a room with a chair and a fire place and a tea cozy. I don’t even know what a tea cozy is, but I want one.” This may be a reference to the 1964 musical My Fair Lady, based upon the play Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw. In the song “Wouldn’t it Be Loverly” Eliza Doolittle sings, “All I want is a room somewhere far away from the cold night air with one enormous chair. Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly? Lots of chocolate for me to eat. Lots of coal making lots of ‘eat. Warm ‘ands, warm face, warm feet. Oh wouldn’t it be loverly?”
In What’s My Line? (Part 1), Spike says, “By George, I think he’s got it!” which is a paraphrase of the line said by Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.

Scooby Doo

The cartoon Scooby Doo has several ties with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Xander calls Buffy’s group of friends the “Scooby Gang” for the first time in What’s My Line? (Part 1) as they have similarities with the young crime-fighting sleuths in the Scooby Doo cartoon. He says to Cordelia, “C’mon, Cordelia. You want to be a member of the Scooby Gang you gotta be willing to be inconvenienced every now and then.”
In Out of Mind, Out of Sight, Willow wears a white Scooby Doo t-shirt in this episode and in Beauty and the Beasts we see that she keeps her forensic tools in a Scooby Doo lunch box. In When She Was Bad, Xander wears a red Scooby Doo t-shirt.
Sarah Michelle Gellar appeared in two Scooby Doo movies, and Seth Green (Oz) appeared with Sarah in Scooby Doo: Monsters Unleashed. Sarah’s Buffy stunt double, Michele Waitman, also doubled for Sarah in Scooby Doo: Monsters Unleashed.
More Buffy/Scooby Doo trivia: In the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back there is a spoof scene of Scooby Doo’s gang. The part of Fred was played by Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), Shaggy was played by Matthew James (who played the demon Merle in Angel) and Velma was played by Jane Silvia (who played the “conservative woman” in The Freshman).

The Simpsons

Buffy says in What’s My Line? (Part 1), “Have a cow Giles.” This is a play on the phrase “Don’t have a cow”, made popular by Bart in the TV show The Simpsons. It means don’t get excited/worked up.
In Lover’s Walk, Willow compares herself to Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel. This is a reference to the stupid hick who is a recurring character on The Simpsons.
An episode of The Simpsons called ‘Treehouse of Horror 16′ (which aired on November 6, 2005) contained a reference to the season two Buffy episode Halloween. In that episode, everyone in town is turned into their costumes - which included Principal Skinner turning into a GI Joe, and his mother turning into a 17th century woman (like Xander and Buffy in Halloween).

What’s My Line?

The title of the two-part episode What’s My Line? comes from an American game show which ran from 1950 to 1963. Contestants had to guess the unusual jobs or products associated with mystery guests from clues provided by host John Charles Daly. In the UK version, the mystery guests just mimed their jobs.

Seen at 02.23 minutes:

Vampires are supposed to have excellent vision so why does the vampire Dalton need glasses?

Seen at 09.35 minutes:

Angel’s reflection is briefly seen in a frame in Buffy’s room, above the blue light.

Seen at 09.44 minutes:

When Buffy climbs in her window to find Angel in her bedroom, her window-shade is up but when they talk about her love of ice skating, it’s down.

Seen at 20.33 minutes:

When the one-eyed assassin gets off the bus the colour of the steps changes from grey to red in different shots.

Seen at 26.01 minutes:

Buffy slashes the assassin’s throat but there’s no blood on her ice skate. In fact, there’s no blood at all, considering the assassin bled to death.

Seen at 30.21 minutes:

Buffy leaves the school in broad daylight but gets home at night. She can’t have been wandering the streets as she is nervous of meeting the Order of Taraka - so where did the time go?

Seen at 33.27 minutes:

When Buffy lies down on Angel’s bed, she tucks both hands up near her face, but in the next shot she’s just moving one hand from her knee to her face.

Seen at 35.44 minutes:

Angel’s stunt double can clearly be seen - he has much bigger hair than Angel’s.

Seen at 39.01 minutes:

Xander opens a window in Buffy’s house so he can get in to let Cordelia in, but when Cordy goes through to the living room, the window is closed.

Seen at 39.07 minutes:

Cordelia leans on Buffy’s door frame with her left hand, but when we see Cordy from Xander’s point of view, she’s leaning with her right hand.

Seen at 40.08 minutes:

With his vampire strength, Angel should easily be able to smash through the tiny padlock which is locking him in the cage - but he doesn’t.

Seen at 41.01 minutes:

When Buffy and Kendra fight, Kendra throws Buffy into a table and the table breaks. But in the next shot, the pieces are gone.