The stress of Jenny’s death makes Buffy ill and she’s taken to hospital with a serious case of the ‘flu. There she discovers an invisible demon who’s killing children at the hospital. When she realises the demon is only visible to those with a fever she infects herself to find it.
| Airdate: | 3 March 1998 |
| Writer: | Rob Des Hotel + Dean Batali |
| Director: | Deran Sarafian |
| Cast: |
Xander: "My whole life just flashed before my eyes! I gotta get me a life."
Behind the Scenes Trivia
Killed by death alternative
Killed by Death was originally supposed to be a first season episode in which Angel brings Buffy to the hospital.
Cast and Crew Trivia
Andrew Ducote
Andrew played Ryan in Killed By Death. Andrew has had a fairly full career for someone so young (he was born in 1986). He played Willie Barry in Dave’s World (on which Nicholas Brendon worked briefly, behind the scenes). He’s also been in Early Edition, Charmed, Providence, Clueless, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Cybill, Malcolm & Eddie, George & Leo, Caroline in the City and Melrose Place.
Denise Johnson
Denise Johnson, who played Buffy’s young cousin Celia in Killed By Death, has also been in ER. She did some voices for A Bug’s Life.
James Jude Courtney
James Jude Courtney, who played the Kindestod in Killed By Death, is also a stuntman. He has done stunts for Shelter, Executive Power, The Nurse, Widow’s Kiss and Girl in the Cadillac, and was the stunt double for Garibaldi and Gkar in Babylon 5.
Juanita Jennings
Juanita Jennings played Dr. Wilkinson in Killed By Death. She has also been in Runaway Jury and What Women Want.
Mimi Paley
Mimi Paley, who played the young Buffy in Killed By Death, has been in Malcolm in the Middle, Touched by an Angel, Early Edition and The X-Files episode ‘Closure’, in which she played Mulder’s sister, Samantha.
Richard Herd
Richard Herd played Dr. Stanley Backer in Killed By Death. Richard previously played visitor leader John in Kenneth Johnson’s excellent 80s miniseries V, as well as it’s successor V: The Final Battle. He has done other genre turns in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager, playing the part of Admiral Owen (father of Tom) Paris in the latter. Fans of Seinfeld may also recognize him as Wilhelm.
Robert Munic
Robert Munic played the Intern in Killed By Death. He appeared in (and was the casting director) for Stunt C*cks along with James C. Leary, who played Clem in seasons six and seven of Buffy.
Willie Garson
Willie Garson, who played the hospital security guard chatted up by Cordelia in Killed By Death, is best known as Stanford Blatch, Carrie’s gay friend in Sex and the City. He has also been in Groundhog Day, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, The Rock, Kingpin, Mars Attacks!, NYPD Blue (as Henry Coffield), There’s Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich and Freaky Friday.
Character Trivia
Celia
Celia was Buffy’s friend and cousin who died in hospital when she and Buffy were eight years old. Buffy was alone with her at the time, and developed a fear of hospitals because of the experience. It wasn’t until the events of episode Killed By Death that she realised Der Kindestod had killed Celia.
Dr. Stanley Backer
Dr. Stanley Backer was a pediatrician at Sunnydale Hospital who performed risky experimental cures on sick children. Backer was brutally killed by Der Kindestod in Killed by Death.
Dr. Wilkinson
Dr. Wilkinson was the female doctor who tended Buffy in hospital when she had ‘flu in Killed By Death.
Ryan
Ryan was a solemn boy who Buffy saved from Der Kindestod when they were in hospital with the ‘flu in Killed By Death. He sent Buffy a gory drawing of the event.
Continuity
Alpert tomb
The Alpert tomb is a memorable tomb which can often be spotted when the Scoobies are wandering through Sunnydale’s graveyard. The tomb is named after Buffy producer Marc David Alpert. The tomb can be seen in Becoming (Part 1) (Angel comes out from behind it to fight Buffy when the other Scoobies are being ambushed), Revelations, The Zeppo, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Killed By Death, Something Blue (when Buffy wants her wedding photos taken there), Superstar, Real Me, and Grave.
Blondie
We discover in Killed By Death that Buffy is not a natural blonde. The girl who represents her as a child is a brunette, but future episodes (such as The Weight of the World) show young Buffy as a blonde.
Dead children
Unlike Angel, children in Buffy the Vampire Slayer don’t die very often. The first child to be vamped was The Anointed One (by the Master in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date). He was killed by Spike in School Hard, after being exposed to sunlight.
The first child actually to be killed on Buffy was in Killed By Death, in which a child was killed by Der Kindestod in the hospital. We also saw a flashback to Buffy’s cousin Celia’s death in that episode. The only other kid killed on the show was in season four’s Goodbye, Iowa, in which a small boy was killed by Adam, using his Polgara skewer.
We saw two ‘dead’ children in Gingerbread but it was later revealed that they were not actually children, but a demon disguised as kids.
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!
Music Trivia
Ode to Joy
When Angel arrives at the hospital in Killed By Death he is rather unsympathetically whistling ‘Ode to Joy’ from Beethoven’s ninth symphony.
Mythology Trivia
Kindestod
Der Kindestod is a demon visible only to children in a deep fever. Buffy saw the Kindestod when was in hospital with a bad case of the ‘flu in Killed By Death. She discovered that it was a demon which fed from sick children (using it’s eyeballs) and killed them. The children then looked as though they died naturally. Buffy also realised that the death of her young friend and cousin Celia when she was eight was due to the Kindestod. ‘Der Kindestod’ is German for ‘child death’.
Public places
A vampire can enter a public place such as a school or hospital (this is seen in Passion and Killed By Death). In Passion Angel says the sign outside the school says ‘Romatia transicara edicatorum’ which translates to ‘Enter all ye who seek knowledge’.
References
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The idea of people’s nightmares coming true in the episode Nightmares most likely comes from the A Nightmare on Elm Street movie series, in which villain Freddie Krueger has the ability to hurt people while they sleep.
The demon Der Kindestod in Killed By Death was clearly influenced by the look of Freddie Krueger.
Killed By death origins
The episode Killed By Death is named after a line said by Spike Milligan in the Goon Show. It’s also a Motorhead song, from their 1984 album ‘No Remorse’.
Rogaine
Xander calls the hospital security guard in Killed By Death, “Rogaine boy”. Rogaine is an American hair growth medicine.
Surge
At the end of Killed By Death, when Joyce is waiting hand and foot on the gang by bringing them snacks and drinks, Xander is drinking a bottle of the now deceased soft drink Surge. The citus drink was made by the Coca-Cola company in the late 90s, but they ceased it’s production due to a drop in sales (due in part to a widespread rumour that the yellow dye in Surge could shrink testicles). Surge is still available in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway: countries where the male citizens don’t care about the size of their balls.
The Invisible Man
Xander says in Killed By Death, “If I see a floating pipe and a smoking jacket, he’s dropped”. This is a reference to The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.
The Seventh Seal
Xander says about ‘Death’ in Killed By Death, “If he asks you to play chess, don’t even do it…the guy’s like a whiz!” This is a reference to Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film The Seventh Seal, in which a Knight returning from the Crusades encounters Death, and stalls the Grim Reaper by offering to play chess with him. The famous scene was parodied in the 1991 movie Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
In Killed by Death, Xander says, “Buffy, this is not the time to challenge Angel for the ultimate fighting championship.” The Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, is a competition in America where fighters compete using martial arts inside of an Octogon instead of a normal boxing ring. When it first started, there were no rules (No Holds Barred), but now there are minimal rules to protect the fighters.
Goofs
Seen at 08.07 minutes:
In Killed by Death, when Buffy is sick in hospital, the shot focusses on a clock on Buffy’s bedside, which clicks over to 2:27. In the next shot of Buffy, the clock reads 2.15.
Seen at 11.47 minutes:
Ryan says Der Kindestod comes at night, but in the flashbacks, Celia seems to have been killed during daylight.
Seen at 34.15 minutes:
When Buffy first looks into the children’s ward, there is no blue sign on the basement door, but when then in the next shot it is clearly visible.
Seen at 35.17 minutes:
Why is there an unlocked door leading to the basement from the children’s ward? It seems to be very irresponsible.
Quotes
Xander: "My whole life just flashed before my eyes! I gotta get me a life."
Xander: "Increased ooginess. That's a danger signal."
Cordelia: "Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass."
Cordelia: "We're all concerned about how gross you look."
Angelus: "Uh-oh. This does not look good for our heroine."
Angelus: "Buffy's White Knight. You still love her. It must just eat you up that I got there first."
Xander: "You're gonna die. And I'm gonna be there."
Willow: "It's my way of saying get well soon."
Buffy: "You know, chocolate says that even better."
Cordelia: "Let's go, Tact-Guy."