Buffy is trying hard to adjust to being alive again. Her friends are worried about her, especially when a phantom demon who seems to be connected to Buffy starts to possess some of the gang. Buffy eventually kills the demon and then reveals to Spike that she wasn’t in a Hell dimension. She was in Heaven and was happy until her friends dragged her back onto the violent earth. Buffy realises she must never tell her friends this and thanks Willow for bringing her back.
| Airdate: | 9 October 2001 |
| Writer: | Jane Espenson |
| Director: | David Soloman |
| Cast: |
Buffy: "I don't understand about theology or dimensions, or any of it, really...but I think I was in heaven. And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out, by my friends. Everything here is hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch...this is Hell."
Behind the Scenes Trivia
Anya knifes herself
The BBC cut the scene in After Life where a possessed Anya cuts herself with a knife.
Jane writes darkness
Jane Espenson told the BBC in an interview about her experience writing the episode After Life:
“After Life was pretty much the first episode I’ve written that wasn’t really a comedy; that wasn’t at heart a comedy. It was quite dark. [There were] few opportunities for humour, and I was really worried about that because the part of writing that I’m most confident about is I know I can find the jokes. When there are no jokes to be found, when in fact it would be wrong to find the jokes, when it would feel jarring to have humour there. I felt like I was a little at sea, but I’m getting a lot of compliments on that episode. I’m really surprised the number of people who really liked it, which was really gratifying because I didn’t feel that I was in my most comfortable area. But it’s actually made me eager to take on the challenge now, so I don’t cringe any more if I’m assigned something that doesn’t have obvious humour, because I know that I’m okay even without it. I think. We’ll see.”
Skulking like squirrels
A scene in After Life when the Scoobies are in the backyard was cut when Anya says: “Why are you having us skulk around and meet in the backyard like conspiracy squirrels? Sitting on this arm is making my buttocks hurt.”
Cast and Crew Trivia
Lisa Hoyle
Lisa Hoyle who portrayed the hitchhiker demon in After Life is a stunt woman, who has done stunts for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (featuring Buffy’s Seth Green), Pearl Harbour and Charlie’s Angels.
Character Trivia
Continuity
Angelic Slayer
When Buffy is in the graveyard in After Life, a statue of an angel behind her makes it look as though she has wings. This is a nice touch considering her revelation at the end of the episode.
Buffy’s photos
In After Life, we see that Buffy has photos of all the Scoobies on her wall except Giles. The photos include images of Buffy and Willow; Anya and Xander; Anya and Willow; Buffy, Xander and Willow; and Tara and Willow.
Dead and buried?
In After Life, Spike empathises with Buffy as he says he knows how it feels to dig your way out of your own grave. Many people have felt that his comment was made defunct in the episode Lies My Parents Told Me. In that episode, Spike was sired by Drusilla and returned home to his mother - who did not know he was dead and so therefore had not buried him. This seeming mistake can be explained by the mythology seen in Angel - in the episode ‘Reunion‘, it’s mentioned that Drusilla’s a traditionalist. She takes away the bodies of those she’s sired (such as Spike and Darla) and buries them. Therefore it makes sense that Spike would have dug out of his grave. Drusilla had put him there, not his family. Also, in the Angel episode, ‘Not Fade Away‘, Spike says in response to the line, “It’s your funeral” that “It’s okay. I never had a proper one.”
Dead for 147 days
Spike tells Buffy in After Life that she was dead for 147 days.
Dear lord
Willow calls Giles in After Life to let him know that Buffy is alive. He left Sunnydale to live in England in Bargaining (Part 1). Willow says he was, “kinda weirded out. Lots of “dear Lord’s”. I think I actually heard him cleaning his glasses.”
Magic has consequences
In After Life, Spike says angrily, “Magic always has consequences. Always”. This turns out to be the theme for season six as Willow becomes addicted to magic and loses everything to it.
Spike’s bike
Spike takes one of the hellions motorbikes in Bargaining (Part 2). He can be seen riding it again in After Life, Seeing Red and Empty Places.
Music Trivia
Mythology Trivia
Hitchhiker
In After Life, a hitchhiker (a demon which travels through dimensions on the back of another) possessed the Scoobies. It followed Buffy when she was resurrected in Bargaining. The Scoobies researched different types of hitchhiker, which include Skaggmore demons, Trellbane demons, Skitterers, Large and Small Bone-Eaters. Willow realised that the demon was created through thaumogenesis. The Scoobies discovered that the hitchhiker could be killed, but if it kills it’s ‘host’ first, it can stay in that dimension.
Thaumogenesis
When Buffy was resurrected at the beginning of season six, a demon was created (unwittingly) to counteract the spell (After Life). This is known as thaumogenesis. The demon has no form of its own, so it must borrow people’s bodies - temporarily possessing them. It can only become flesh if it kills the subject of the original spell. If unable to do so, the demon would eventually dissipate.
References
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.
Past events
In After Life, there are few references to previous episodes. Willow mentions Angel’s return from Hell in Beauty and the Beasts. She also says that time is different in hell dimensions, seen in Anne. When Buffy becomes possessed by the demon, she says that Willow is stained with blood, and asks if she patted ‘it’s’ head. This is in reference to the baby deer Willow killed in Bargaining (Part 1).
When Spike sees Buffy for the first time, he says to Dawn, “what did you do?” This is referring to Forever, when Spike helped Dawn to try and resurrect Joyce. He obviously thinks she tried the spell again.
Pig Latin
In After Life, Xander talks in pig Latin, which is a simple code. You take the consonant off the front of words which begin with a single consonant and adding it to the end of the word. Then add ‘ay’ after the consonant: Buffy becomes ‘uffybay’. If the word has multiple consonants, take the whole group of consonants off the front of the word and add them to the end, adding ‘ay’ at the very end of the word: Slayer becomes ‘ayerslay’. If the word begins with a vowel, you add ‘yay’ to the end: Anya becomes ‘Anyayay’.
Goofs
Seen at 11.07 minutes:
When Spike finds out about the spell the Scoobies performed to bring Buffy back from the dead, he gets mad and pushes Xander against a tree. Why didn’t Spike’s chip go off when he hit Xander?
Seen at 12.42 minutes:
Willow says she’s spoken to Giles in London. As he only left earlier that day there’s no way he could have made it all the way to England in that amount of time. It takes about 11 hours to fly from L.A. to London. Also, what number did she call Giles on? He wouldn’t have had time to set up a phone number in England and he doesn’t seem to have a mobile phone.
Seen at 23.49 minutes:
When Dawn is possessed by the hitch-hiker demon in the Magic Box in After Life, she breathes fire. We see an aerial shot of the scene. If you look in the right hand corner of the screen (pictured) you can see there is a pipe shooting out the flames. It’s just too obvious as the pipe is onscreen for a fair amount of time.
Seen at 37.14 minutes:
How did Spike get behind the Magic Box in such strong sunlight? There doesn’t seem to be a sewer entrance nearby, and he says himself that he can’t move from that spot. He must have been there since night.
Quotes
Buffy: "I don't understand about theology or dimensions, or any of it, really...but I think I was in heaven. And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out, by my friends. Everything here is hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch...this is Hell."
Xander: "This spell we did...it's having consequences, isn't it?"
Anya: "Jet lag from hell has gotta be, you know, jet lag from hell."
Spike: "It's hard to get a good night's death around here."