End credits

Cast listings in the closing credits in TV shows are usually reserved only for background characters with unimportant parts, or those with no speaking roles, but occasionally main characters are listed there when their appearance is to be a surprise. Examples of this in the Buffyverse are in Two To Go, in which Giles makes a dramatic entrance at the end of the episode; the Angel episode Judgement, in which Faith (Eliza Dushku) is visited by Angel; and There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb, in which Willow appears at at the very end of the episode. In Destiny, Christian Kane’s name was omitted from the opening credits to make his character Lindey’s arrival a surprise.

Start as you mean to go on

Like the season six opening two-parter Bargaining (Part 2), the episode Grave did not have any opening credits since it followed directly after Two to Go. The teaser for Two to Go was therefore extra long. Xander announces at the start, “This is what happened this year…”
In the UK, on its first broadcast, the season finale was split into its two parts and so Grave had opening credits, which named Anthony Stewart Head as a special guest star. In it’s original state, Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) was not credited in the guest cast list because Joss wanted the viewers to be surprised to see Giles back.

Where’s the plan?

The following scene was cut from the episode Two To Go:

Bill Norton

Bill Norton directed the episode Two To Go. He has also directed several episodes of Angel, as well as episodes of John Doe, Hack, The Fugitive, Roswell, Them and The Invisible Man.

Steven W. Bailey

Steven W. Bailey, who played the African demon in the cave at the end of season six, plays Steve in My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance. He has also been in Mix Tape, Chestnut Hill, Will & Grace, Becker and Nash Bridges. Steven played Ryan in the Angel episode ‘Carpe Noctem‘.

A little tour

When Willow drains Rack of his power in Two To Go, she says, “I just wanna take a little tour”. He said the same thing to her in Wrecked, before filling her with magics.

All about the power

In Two To Go, Willow says to Buffy, “I get it now. The Slayer thing really isn’t about the violence. It’s about the power.” The episode Lessons begins and ends with Buffy saying, “It’s all about the power”.

Asthmatic Jonathan

In the episode Two To Go, Xander, Dawn, Jonathan, and Andrew are running from the Magic Box, when Jonathan stops and says “I just need to breathe.” This could be a reference to Go Fish, during which Jonathon states that he is asthmatic.

One down

Willow’s final words of the episode Villains were “one down” so the next episode’s title (Two To Go) is a continuation of that: “One down… two to go.”

Season six timeline

From the episode Seeing Red until the end of this season’s finale Grave, all events occur within around 24 hours. According to Tara’s grave in Help, these episodes occur between May 7th and May 8th 2002.

Wiccan teleporting

In Two to Go, Willow transports Buffy, Dawn and herself from Rack’s room to the Magic Box. There is a similar transportation via spinning in Once More, with Feeling, when Willow and Tara waltz from the park and into their bedroom during the song “Under Your Spell”.

Willow’s jacket

In Help, Xander takes Willow to the cemetary to see Tara’s grave. While they’re there, Willow is wearing the same dark denim jacket she wore in Villians, Two To Go and Grave, after Tara died and she went evil.

Won’t hurt you

In Two to Go, Buffy says to Willow, “I don’t want to hurt you”, followed by, “That doesn’t mean I won’t”. This is exactly what Spike said to Drusilla in Becoming (Part 2).

Black magic effects

In Two to Go, Willow’s eyes and hair went black from the dark power she had gained. She also gets weird veiny skin. The first time we saw a witch draw on dark powers was in The Witch when Catherine Madison’s eyes also went black. Catherine’s daughter Amy introduced Willow to Rack, from whom Willow gets power in this episode. Willow’s eyes previously turned black in Tough Love and The Gift when she used powerful magics on Glory after she brain-sucked Tara.

Teleportation

Teleportation is when someone or something moves instantly from one place to another. Willow and Tara did this spell in Blood Ties to temporarily get rid of Glory, though they weren’t sure of where they sent her. Some demons (such as vengeance demons) have the ability to teleport. When Anya became a demon again she helped the Scoobies by teleporting (Two to Go), though her teleporting rights were taken away from her when she undid a vengeance spell in Same Time, Same Place.

Jurassic Park

When Willow’s whirlwind moves towards the police station in Two To Go, we see a cup of coffee in a police car which ripples in time to her approach. This is an obvious homage to Jurassic Park, where a cup of water moves to the footsteps of an approaching T-Rex.

Nirvana

In Two to Go, Spike says, “Here we are now, entertain us”. This is a line from the Nirvana song ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

In The Witch, Buffy said, “That’s our Sabrina”, and in Two To Go, Andrew said, “Do we sit around waiting for Sabrina to disembowel us?” They are both referring to Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which has been a comic, cartoon and TV show, about a teenage girl who’s, yes you guessed it, a witch.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a popular Marvel comic starring Peter Parker, who leads a double life as superhero Spider-Man. Made into two successful movies starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. There are many similarities between Peter and Buffy, as she too is trying to lead a normal life, and (occasionally) make a living, whilst saving the world. Spider-Man has been mentioned in numerous Buffy and Angel episodes, including:

• Angel - The Master says, “With power comes responsibility”, which is the motto of the Spider-Man comics and movie.
• I Robot, You Jane - Buffy says, “My spider-sense is tingling”.
• A New Man - Riley says to Buffy, “You’re strong. Like Spider-Man strong”.
• No Place Like Home - Ben suggests Buffy’s strength comes from a “Radioactive spider bite”.
• Flooded - Anya and Dawn argue over if Spider-Man charges for helping people - Xander reminds them that “Action is his reward”.
• Two To Go - Andrew says, “Lex Luthor had a false epidermis escape kit in Superman Versus the Amazing Spider-Man Treasury edition”
• Selfless - Xander says, “This isn’t springy high-flying fun!”
• Bring on the Night - Andrew says “My spider-sense is tingling”.
• Inside Out - Cordy says “That’s it? I get away with bringing the world down around you and two eensy words tingle your spider sense?”
• Additionally, Buffy stuntman Erik Betts was director Sam Raimi’s choice for doubling actor Tobey Maquire for the movie Spider-Man, but was told by the costume designer that his shoulders were too large. Nicholas Brendon auditioned for the role of Spider-Man in the movie.

Star Wars

George Lucas’s Star Wars films are a cult phenomenon. They are referenced numerous times in the Buffyverse. The original trilogy included the movies Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return Of The Jedi (1983) and the movies The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) were made later on.

• In When She Was Bad, when Xander and Willow play Guess the Movie from the tag line (Willow: “Use the Force, Luke.”,
  Xander: “Do I even have to dignify that with a guess?”)
• In School Hard, Spike told Angel that, “You were my Yoda!” Yoda was the ancient Jedi master who became the mentor and teacher for both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker.
• A visual reference to Star Wars can be seen in The Zeppo, when Xander runs into the corridor and runs back out with the gang members chasing him. Han Solo does the same thing in Star Wars.
• In Choices, Buffy says that Faith has turned to ‘the dark side’.
• In The Freshman, Xander confuses the Star Wars Jedi code quoted by Yoda in The Phantom Menace. (”Hate leads to anger…no wait…Fear leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side”). Also in that episode, the old frat house that the vampires are holed up in is the Psi Theta house. If you write those two greek letters together, and pronounce them together, you get Sith.
• In Fear, Itself, Xander says to Oz, “Sensing a disturbance in the Force, Master?”
• Buffy using the chain to choke Sobek the snake-demon in Shadow is reminiscent of Princess Leia killing Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi.
• In Forever, Ben calls Glory’s minions “Jawa rejects” after the small hooded and robed creatures in Star Wars.
• In Life Serial, Andrew paints a Death Star from Star Wars on the side of the gang’s van. It’s the Empire’s revised design from Return of the Jedi, which Jonathan says is flawed.
• In the episode Two To Go, Andrew says, “We’ve got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds us all into to Jawa burgers and not one of you bunch has the Midichlorians to stop her.” These are all Star Wars references: Darth is a title given to a Sith Warrior (such as Darth Vader); Jawas are the hooded creatures who live on Tatooine, and Midichlorians are micro-organisms which exist in all living things. Andrew says, “Laugh it up, Fuzzball” which is a quote from Star Wars. Andrew also later says in Two To Go, “…in a galaxy far, far away” - yet another Star Wars reference.
• In All the Way, Tara and Willow see a couple dressed as Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker kissing in the Bronze. Willow asks, “Do they know they’re brother and sister?”
• In Smashed, we see that the three nerds own a mint condition (though out of its packaging) 1979 Boba Fett action figure. Though Boba Fett was first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back (made in 1980), the earliest Boba Fett figure was made in 1979, before the film was released.
• In Dead Things, Jonathan and Andrew play fight with green light sabres.
• In Entropy, Warren calls Jonathan “Padawan”.
• In Conversations with Dead People, Jonathan and Warren have the following conversation: Warren: “Come on, “If you strike me down…” Andrew: “I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine…That boy is our last hope.” Warren: “No, there is another.” These are all quotes from Star Wars.
• In Potential, Xander says to Andrew, “Say Skywalker, and I smack you.” He is, of course, referring to Star Wars‘ Luke Skywalker.
• In Showtime, Andrew says, “I’m bored. Episode I bored.” He’s referring to George Lucas’s disappointing movie Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
• In Never Leave Me, Warren/The First says, “I’m like Obi Wan”. He also says to Andrew, “We’re right in the trench, and the exhaust port’s in sight.” This is a reference to the scene in Star Wars in which the Death Star is under attack.
• In Bring on the Night, Andrew says, “I’m like Vader in the last 5 minutes of Jedi with redemptive powers minus a redemptive struggle of epic redemption which chronicles…” He’s referring to the last scenes of the final Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi.
• In Storyteller, there are two framed Star Wars comics on the wall in Andrew’s opening scene.
• In Dirty Girls, Andrew says, “But like so many tragic heroes, Faith was seduced by the lure of the dark side.”

Superman

Comicbook hero Superman has been epitomised in many comics (by DC Comics), movies (starring the late Christopher Reeve), TV shows (eg. Lois and Clarke, Smallville), cartoons (eg. The Adventures of Superman) and even a musical. He and the world he lives in have been referenced many times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel:

• In Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, Buffy says, “even Clark Kent has a job”, alluding to Superman’s alter-ego.
• In Reptile Boy, Xander’s chances of ever belonging to a fraternity of rich and powerful men are rubbished by Cordy as likely only “in the Bizarro world.” The Bizarro world is a weird, back-to-front version of the real world in Superman.
• In the episode Ted, Cordelia says of Buffy, “But she’s like this Superman.”
• In The Wish, Cordelia says to vamps Willow and Xander, “No. No! No way! I wish us into Bizarro Land, and you guys are still together?! I cannot win!”
• In Helpless, Oz and Xander discuss which colour Kryptonite hurts Superman. Writer David Fury said in his DVD commentary for the episode that he wasn’t sure which Kryptonite was which so wrote this scene as such.
• In The Zeppo, there area few references to Superman: Xander’s line, “But, gee, Mr White, if Clark and Lois get all the good stories I’ll never be a good reporter”, which he acknowledges as a “Jimmy Olsen joke”. He also name-checks the Daily Planet’s editor Perry White, Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent, and his colleague Lois Lane. Cordelia’s jibe “You must feel like Jimmy Olsen” is another reference to the Daily Planet’s youngest photographer.
• In Doomed, Forrest says to Riley, “Granted they’re a little rarer than the one’s you grew up with on that little farm in Smallville.” Smallville, Kansas, was the small town where Clark Kent (Superman) grew up.
• In Superstar, Xander mentions Kryptonite again.
• In Real Me, Xander says, “She can turn this place into the fortress of solitude again”. Superman built the Fortress of Solitude in the North Pole as a place where he could relax and keep his souvenirs.
• In Gone, Andrew mentions Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor. Buffy also mentions Bizarro World again.
• In Two To Go, Andrew says, “Lex Luthor had a false epidermis escape kit in Superman Versus the Amazing Spider-Man Treasury edition”.
• In Bring on the Night, Andrew says, “An evil name should be something like Lex” He’s referring to Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor.
• In the Angel episode Blind Date, Wesley says, “The human eye is only capable of registering a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. But if Brewer were somehow equipped to see outside that range…” to which Cordelia replies, “She’d be Superman.”
• In You’re Welcome, Cordelia ends her seeming obsession with the Bizarro world when she says, “What Bizarro-world did I wake up in?”

X-Men

Buffy creator Joss Whedon is a huge comics fan, particularly the Marvel comic X-Men. His dream came true when, post-Buffy, Joss wrote the Astonishing X-Men comics. The comic has been referenced numerous times in Buffy:

• In No Place Like Home, Riley says, “Giles, you got that Danger Room set up out back?” The Danger Room was a training room in the X-Men.
• In Tough Love, Xander reads an X-Men comic while in the Magic Box.
• In Two to Go, Jonathan says Willow is like the “Dark Phoenix” who was a character in the X-Men comics.
• In Him, Xander calls Spike a “nimrod”. Xander himself was called this by a soldier in Innocence, and Spike called Warren a nimrod in Smashed. Nimrod was a figure in ancient Babylon, and was also an X-Men character.
• In Bring on the Night, Andrew mentions Apocalypse, who was also an X-Men character (”Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Andrew, bad guy. You think I’m a super-villain like Dr. Doom or Apocalypse or The Riddler.”)
• Gwen Raiden in Angel’s season four appears to have been inspired by Rogue from the X Men - the two had great powers which could harm other humans by touch, and had to wear gloves to protect others.
• Joss Whedon has said that the X-Men character Kitty Pryde (AKA Shadowcat) was a large influence for the character of Buffy.

Seen at 21.35 minutes:

When Willow drains Rack, she holds his face with her right hand. This changes to her left in the next shot. The hands then alternate for a while.

Seen at 37.27 minutes:

You can clearly see Willow and Buffy’s stunt doubles as Buffy dives after Willow and falls on her.