Bye, Mercedes

Mercedes McNab played Harmony for the final time on Buffy in Crush. Harmony then moved on to L.A., after her heart was broken by Spike for (nearly) the last time.

Kill, Destroy

On the soundtrack album called ‘Radio Sunnydale’, released in 2003, soundtrack producer John C. King calls the episode Crush, “Crush, Kill, Destroy”.

Daniel Attias

Daniel Attias directed the episodes Shadow and Crush. Daniel has directed for The O.C., Alias, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos (for which he wrote the episode ‘Bust-Out’), Ally McBeal, Early Edition, Party of Five (on which he was also co-executive producer), Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Northern Exposure. Daniel was second assistant director on E.T.

Jennifer Bergman

Jennifer Bergman, who played the girl Drusilla killed in the Bronze in Crush, is also a visual effects producer. She has worked on Blade, Firestorm, Broken Arrow and Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

Walt Borchert

Walt Borchert, who played the newly-turned vampire in The Freshman, also played a demon in Living Conditions. He appeared as Jeff in the Buffy episode Crush.

Drusilla

Angelus turned Drusilla insane by killing her family then sired her on the day she was due to become a nun. Dru had some kind of psychic power which enabled her to see things others couldn’t, as well as the ability to hypnotise people. She sired Spike and the two of them paired up with Darla and Angel to cause trouble. When Angel lost his soul, he teamed up with Spike and Dru again, making Spike jealous by flirting with Drusilla. Dru also killed Kendra by slitting her throat. After leaving Sunnydale, Drusilla left Spike for a Chaos demon.

Drusilla was hired by evil law firm Wolfram & Hart to sire Darla as a vampire again. The two retaliated by murdering a group of W&H employees. Realising he would have to kill Darla, Angel exacted his revenge on the two female vampires by setting them on fire. Drusilla returned to Sunnydale to try and win Spike back in Crush but he chose Buffy instead, though the Slayer hated him. Drusilla left town, never to be heard of again.

Buffy memorabilia

We see Spike stealing some of Buffy’s underwear in the episode Shadow and in Listening to Fear Spike steals photographs of the Slayer. In Crush, we see he has a whole collection of Buffy-related articles, including photos, clothing and drawings of the Slayer. Buffy blames Dawn in Crush for her missing blue cashmere sweater, but we discover that Spike has stolen it. Harmony wears the sweater when pretending to be the Slayer.

Drusilla’s last stand

The episode Crush is last time we see Drusilla in person on the show, though we see her again in flashbacks and as The First.

Electric tasers

Drusilla uses an electrical taser to stun Buffy in Crush. Dawn also uses one of these on Xander in End of Days. Tasers have also been used in Angel, in the episodes ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Deep Down‘. A taser is also known as an electroshock gun or stun gun. They send an electric current through a person to incapacitate them, but are supposed to be non-lethal.

From the previous episode

In Crush, Spike refers to the events of Blood Ties when he helped Buffy fight Glory in the hospital. Another reference to that episode is that Willow is still getting headaches because of the teleportation spell she did on Glory.

Grand re-opening

The Bronze has a “Grand Re-Opening” sign in Crush after Olaf trashed the place in Triangle.

Onion flower

Spike is obsessed with an onion flower served at the Bronze, which he mentions on several occasions. In Triangle, he says to Xander, “They have chicken wings, too. Also, a sort of a flower-shaped thing they make from an onion. It’s brilliant.” In Crush, he says to Buffy, “Especially since the flowering onion got remodeled off the sodding menu. It’s the only thing this place had going for it.” In Empty Places, Spike and Andrew have the following conversation about the onion flower:

Previously in Dru’s life…

In Crush, Dru says she likes L.A., except for when Angelus set her on fire. This occurred in the Angel episode ‘Redefinition‘, when Angel set fire to Drusilla and Darla. In Crush, Spike says he’s done the L.A. thing and it just doesn’t agree with him. We saw him in L.A. in the Angel season one episode ‘Into The Dark’.

Train Station

Sunnydale’s train station is seen for the first and last time in Crush. We discover it’s the last train station on the line.

Summercamp

At the Bronze, we hear two tracks by Summercamp: ‘Play It By Ear’ (at the beginning, when Buffy watches her friends dance) from the album ‘Pure Juice’ and ‘Happy’, which was unreleased. We also hear ‘Key’ by Devics, from their ‘If You Forget Me’ album.

Uninvite

Buffyverse mythology states that a vampire cannot be invited into a home unless invited in by a person living there. When a vampire is invited into a home once, it can enter again at any point, unless a reversal spell is done. The spell was first seen in Passion, after Angel lost his soul and started stalking Buffy. The last words of the incantation (read by Willow at Buffy’s house) are “Hicce verbis consensus rescissus est,” which translates into English roughly as “By these words permission is rescinded.”
The spell is done at Buffy and Willow’s houses, and Cordelia’s car. When Giles leaves Buffy’s house, he takes the spell book containing the spell to uninvite vampires and says to Willow, “I suppose I should do my house next.” Buffy also uninvited Spike to her home in Crush.

Charlize Theron

In Crush, Harmony says that the only girl she’d consider a threesome with is blonde Charlize Theron, who won an Oscar in 2004 for her role in Monster.

Evil Dead

Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy, starring Bruce Campbell, is alluded to a few times in Buffy. In Amends, the First screams, “Dead by sunrise”, which could be a nod to the subtitle of Evil Dead 2, namely, “Dead by Dawn”. In Crush, Xander says to Spike, “Hey evil dead you’re in my seat”. In Conversations with Dead People, Buffy says, “Yeah, what I really need is emotional therapy from the evil dead.” In Deep Down, Gunn says, “Evil Dead was probably just messing with us.”
The scene in Restless in which Xander is being pursued by the first Slayer down a long corridor (eventually leading to his parents’ basement) is highly reminiscent of a similar scene in The Evil Dead, in which Ash (Bruce Campbell) is being chased by the entity. Another visual reference to Evil Dead can be seen in After Life. The scene in which Anya become possessed is similar to a scene in the movie in which Linda (Ash’s girlfriend) gets possessed by evil spirits.
Sam Raimi was executive producer of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s hit movie The Grudge.

Godzilla

Godzilla is a massive, nearly invincible dinosaur/lizard-like creature with incredible strength and destructive fire. Godzilla has starred in 22 movies produced from 1954 to the present. Godzilla has been referenced in Buffy a few times. In Teacher’s Pet, Xander says, “We’re on Monster Island”, meaning the island where Godzilla lives. Xander says in Reptile Boy, “Godzilla’s attacking downtown Tokyo! Aargh, Aargh!” In Crush, Harmony calls Drusilla “Droodzilla”, which is probably a reference to Godzilla.
In Dirty Girls, Amanda says, “Matthew Broderick can kill Godzilla. How tough is he?” This is a reference to the 1997 movie Godzilla, starring Matthew Broderick which disappointed many fans (like Xander and Andrew).
In Redefinition, Merl says “I heard about your girls - Godzilla, Darcilla, whatever”.

The Addam’s Family

In Crush, Harmony calls Drusilla “Morticia”, who was the matriarch in The Addam’s Family. Mercedes McNab (who plays Harmony) appeared as the girl scout Amanda Buckman in The Addam’s Family and Addam’s Family Values.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

In Crush, Willow, Tara and Buffy discuss The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a novel by Victor Hugo. Buffy mentions singing gargoyles, which is a reference to the musical Disney version of the novel, made in 1996.

The Ramones

Spike asks Buffy in Crush if she likes The Ramones. They were a punk band in the 1970s. Spike sings some of “I Wanna Be Sedated,” from The Ramones’ 1978 album ‘Road to Ruin’.

Seen at 09.44 minutes:

Dawn goes to Spike’s crypt and he comes out from underground. In one shot Spike suddenly has a cigarette behind his ear, which later disappears.

Seen at 30.28 minutes:

After Drusilla breaks her victim’s neck in the Bronze, we see the victim swallow just before she bites him, even though he should be dead.

Seen at 40.33 minutes:

Why didn’t Buffy kill Drusilla at the end of this episode? This is only a few episodes after Buffy’s “my job description’s pretty clear” speech and yet she lets a dangerous vampire, who she knows has killed at least 6 people and just attacked her, go free.