D. C. Gustafson

When Faith looks through a shop window in This Year’s Girl, she sees an ad for ‘Gustafson Blades’. D. C. Gustafson was a Leadman who worked on Buffy during the first two seasons. He sadly died in November 2000 at age 41 after fighting cancer and AIDS. The episode Into the Woods was dedicated in his memory

Marc post-Buffy

Marc Blucas left Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the episode Into the Woods, but appeared again in season six’s As You Were for one episode. Since leaving the show, Marc has appeared in We Were Soldiers, A View from the Top, Sunshine State, I Capture the Castle, The Alamo, First Daughter and Summer Catch.

Marti on Buffy and Riley

Marti Noxon, who wrote and directed the episode Into the Woods, in which Riley leaves Buffy, said about Riley’s departure:

Nick Chinlund

Nick Chinlund, who played Major Ellis in Listening to Fear and Into the Woods, has appeared in Tears of the Sun, Once in the Life, Mr. Magoo, Con Air, Eraser and Lethal Weapon 3. He played Donald Addie Pfaster in The X Files.

Major Ellis

Major Ellis was an army man in charge of the special ops unit that tried to track the Queller demon in Listening to Fear. He recruited Riley to go to Belize on a demon-hunting mission, on the recommendation of Graham in Into the Woods.

Ain’t love grand?

In Into the Woods, Spike says “Ain’t love grand?” which he also says to Dawn in Seeing Red.

Anya’s apartment

We see Anya’s very old-fashioned apartment for the first time in The Replacement, and see it again in Into the Woods.

Bye, Graham

Bailey Chase played military-man Graham Miller for the final time in the episode Into the Woods.

Chicken feet

Chicken feet are a staple ingredient in witchcraft. They’re mentioned a few times in Buffy. In Doppelgängland, Willow says angrily to Anya, “I believe these chicken feet are mine.” In Forever, Anya says to Dawn, “We have some very amusing chicken feet you can play with.” In Into the Woods there’s the following scene:

Even the score

In Into the Woods, Riley says to Buffy, “I wanted to even the score after you let Dracula bite you.” This occurred in the episode Buffy vs Dracula.

Hard hugs

In Into the Woods, Buffy, momentarily forgetting her slayer strength, hugs the Doctor who successfully performed Joyce’s surgery a little too hard. This also occurred in Flooded, when Buffy hugged Giles, nearly squeezing him to death.

Military madness

The military guys show a real feat of stamina in Into the Woods. When Riley gets home, they’re waiting in his apartment - in the dark - just standing in a row. How long have they been there? How long would they have stayed, just standing there in the dark, waiting? What if they needed to pee and Riley came home at the wrong moment? That would have spoiled the effect. And what if Riley stayed at Buffy’s house that night? They sure could have been waiting for a long time! Major Ellis stresses how important it is they get to Belize to destroy the demons there as soon as possible, but he still makes the decision to have his men stand round in Riley’s place for a great deal of the night instead.

More military madness

The Initiative was closed down completely in Primeval, but in Into the Woods, we discover that there’s still a branch of the army that hunts and kills demons, but doesn’t study them. Surely this was the problem in the first place? The Initiative were upsetting the natural balance by killing demons before, which Ethan Rayne rightly said in A New Man was all wrong.

Ripper days

In Into the Woods, Giles talks about his “Ripper days”, seen first in season two’s The Dark Age.

Holiday season

In Into the Woods, Giles hangs a sign in the Magic Box which says: “Don’t forget, Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Gurnechnar’s Ascendance are coming!”

Vampire brothels

We learn in Into the Woods that vampire brothels have been in existence for centuries, in which humans pay vampires to suck some of their blood because they find it arousing and like the thrill. It’s a good deal for the vampires too. They get free blood and don’t arouse suspicion which could lead to them getting hunted.

Chekhov

In Into the Woods, Xander mentions Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov (1860-1904): “The chimp playing hockey? Is that based on the Chekov?” Chekhov’s plays include The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters and The Seagull.

Game of Life

In Real Me, Xander and Anya look after Dawn for Buffy. Anya brings a few board games with her including the Game of Life. Later, when they’re playing the game, they have the following conversation:

She suggests they play again in Into the Woods but Dawn in reluctant as Anya won last time.

MVP

In Into the Woods, Anya is excited about seeing a film featuring a hockey-playing chimp - and who wouldn’t be? The movie is actually genuine, it’s called MVP (Most Valuable Primate) and was released in October 2000. It starred Kevin Zegers as a teen hockey player who plays on a team that includes a chimp.

Penthouse

Xander mentions the pornographic magazine Penthouse in Into the Woods: “Only in an erotic, Penthousey way.”

Rambo

Xander says Buffy in Into the Woods, “got all Rambo and torched the place.” He’s referring, of course, to Sylvester Stallone’s famous Vietnam War veteran character Rambo who appeared in three movies.

Riley’s signal

In the graveyard scene in Into the Woods, Riley makes a hand gesture which looks like he’s driving a train. This generates conversation among Xander, Willow and Anya as they have no idea what the signal means and they take a few guesses (i.e. follow him or wait here for him). Both guesses are incorrect. The gesture is an actual military hand signal meaning “increase speed”.

State Farm

In Into the Woods, Xander says to Buffy about Riley, “Dependable? What is he? State Farm?” State Farm is an American insurance company.

The Graduate

Joyce’s seduction of Xander in Restless is similar to the events of 1967 film The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. Buffy’s line in Into the Woods, “Are you planning to seduce me, Mr. Finn?” is a paraphrase of the famous line from The Graduate, “Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson?”
In Angel’s Ground State, Lilah says, “Looks like Connor’s gonna need someone who cares - like a big sister….or hey, Mrs Robinson, if that’s what he’s into.”

Seen at 05.50 minutes:

We saw Riley getting bitten by a vampire on his neck in Shadow, but he has no mark there in this episode. Buffy would have seen this when they were making love in this episode.

Seen at 22.48 minutes:

After Riley ’stakes’ Spike, the vampire holds the wound with his hand. In some shots, it’s his left hand and in other shots he uses his right hand.

Seen at 23.57 minutes:

After Spike is ’staked’ by Riley, we can see that there’s no hole in his shirt.

Seen at 25.30 minutes:

When Buffy is angrily punching the bag, the tape around her right hand disappears when Riley walks in.

Seen at 31.29 minutes:

Riley didn’t tell Buffy what time he’d be leaving (he just said “tonight”), yet she tells Xander he’s leaving at midnight. She also knew where he was leaving from, though Riley never gave her this information.