Rough with each other

The following scene was cut from the episode Him:

Brandon Keener

Brandon Keener, who played R.J.’s brother Lance in Him, has been in Catch Me If You Can, Traffic, Undressed, Galaxy Quest and The Limey.

Thad Luckinbill

Thad Luckinbill played R.J Brooks in Him. Thad was born in 1975, making him about 28 years old at the time of this episode - a whole 10 years older than Michelle Trachtenberg. Thad is best recognised as J.T. in The Young and the Restless, and Kyle in Undressed. He became a recurring character in 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, which starred John Ritter (Ted) who died in September 2003 after collapsing on set of the show. Thad has also been in Sleepover, Just Married, Providence, Nash Bridges and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

R. J. Brooks

R. J. Brooks was a jock student at the new Sunnydale High. He owned a magical letterman jacket which made women fall for him (though he didn’t seem to be fully aware that it was the jacket that was doing this). Dawn fell for R. J. when she saw him at football practice, and began to do anything to get her man, including pushing a football rival down a flight of stairs.
Buffy later fell for him when she went to speak to him about his effect on women. Xander found Buffy straddling R. J. and pulled her away, realising almost immediately that she was under some sort of spell. Xander and Spike eventually discovered that the magic was coming from the jacket and stole it from R. J, but not before Willow and Anya fell for him too.

Always on me

Buffy references ex-Principal of Sunnydale High in Him when she says to R.J: “I was kinda juggling some stuff when I was in high school, too. Which was also very recent. Principal Snyder was always on me.”

Anya attack

Anya is attacked by D’Hoffryn’s demons in Him and Get It Done, because she chose to leave D’Hoffryn’s group of vengeance demons and become human again in Selfless.

Going to the library

In the episode Him, Buffy catches Dawn at the Bronze, dancing with R.J. She angrily tells her sister, “You told me you were going to the library”. Oh how times have changed - remember when Buffy told her mother she was going to the library in Band Candy, in order to sneak out with Angel?

Happy memories

In season seven’s Him, Xander has a happy flashback to being pawed at by the women of Sunnydale in Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.

Like a bad buddy movie

In Him, Xander agrees, very reluctantly, to allow Spike to stay with him in his apartment. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Spike lived in Xander’s basement briefly during season four.

Nice outfit

Dawn wears Buffy’s cheerleading outfit to the tryouts in Him. The outfit was last seen in The Witch and dies it’s death in Him when Dawn rips it up in fury.

Not worth your life

Buffy tells Dawn in Him, “No guy is worth your life, not ever”. Buffy must have learnt a lesson since she risked her life to save Angel by letting him drink from her in Graduation Day (Part 2).

Slayage alternatives

Buffy shows some ingenious ways of killing demons, and the gang have some great suggestions too. Here’s a list of alternative ways of killing, seen or mentioned on the show:

• Hummus and Ebola: In Graduation Day (Part 2), Oz suggests, “We attack the Mayor with hummus.” Cordelia later suggests, “No, we’ll get a box with the Ebola virus and… or it doesn’t even have to be real. We can just get a box that says Ebola on it and… chase him! … With the box!”
• Drowning and licking: In Something Blue, When Spike’s in the bath-tub at Giles’ apartment, he yells, “Passions is on! Timmy’s down the bloody well, and if you make me miss it, I’ll…” Giles yells back at him “You’ll do what? Lick me to death?” In the same episode, Anya and Xander drown a Pargo demon to kill it (the only way, apparently).
• Nuzzling: In Buffy vs Dracula, Riley says to Giles about his being found with Dracula’s ladies: “You were gonna nuzzle ‘em to death?”
• Rocket launcher: In Him, Buffy attempts to kill Principal Wood with a rocket launcher, something she killed the Judge with in Innocence.
• Puppets: In Get It Done, Xander says, “Puppets! That’s it. The First hates puppets. Now if we can just airlift Kermit, Fozzy the Bear and Miss Piggy into town, The First will be a-runnin’.”

Ways to kill Wood

In Him, whilst under a love spell, Buffy goes to kill Principal Wood using a rocket launcher. She used one of these to kill the Judge in Innocence so it’s possible that it’s the same launcher - otherwise where would she have got it from?

A Summer Place (Theme to)

The theme song of this 1959 movie was written by Max Steiner and became a huge hit. In Inca Mummy Girl, Oz tells Devon what it takes for a woman to attract him, “Well, it involves a feather boa and a theme to A Summer Place” and in Him, the theme is used whenever a girl becomes attracted to R.J.Brooks.

Coldplay

Coldplay’s ‘Warning Sign’, from their album ‘A Rush of Blood’ is played in the episode Him, when Buffy takes R.J. into the empty classroom, and Dawn looks for him.

The Breeders

The band The Breeders played at The Bronze in the season seven episode Him. Dawn danced to them with R.J., watched by the Scoobies. The tracks The Breeders performed were “Little Fury” and “Son of Three”, from their album Title TK. Kim Deal, a member of the band, used to be in the band The Pixies.

Hecate

In Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Amy calls upon Hecate, the patron goddess of witchcraft, to turn Buffy into a rat. Hecate is known in many different guises, including a young woman in a black robe holding torches, as three bodies standing back to back, and as a dark and evil ghost found haunting dark nights with terrifying hounds of hell. In Gingerbread, Amy did a spell to turn herself into a rat, which involved invoking Hecate. Willow also called upon the goddess in Him to turn R.J. Brooks into a woman.

Love spell

In Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Xander asked Amy Madison to put a love spell on Cordelia after she broke up with him. Amy needed something personal of Cordelia’s and lots of candles. In Lover’s Walk, Spike returned to Sunnydale and kidnapped Willow to make her perform a love spell to get Drusilla back. She had left him for a chaos demon. Willow needed a spell book, essence of violet, cloves, a set of runic tablets and rat’s eyes for her spell. Another example of a love spell was in Him, when a bewitched letterman jacket made women fall for it’s wearer.

Anna Nicole Smith

In Him, Buffy catches Dawn dancing sexily with her crush R.J Brooks. She tells her sister, “Anna Nicole Smith thinks you look tacky.” Anna Nicole Smith (real name Vickie Lynn Hogan) was the 1993 Playboy Playmate of the Year. She married billionaire J. Howard Marshall in 1994 when she was 26 and he was nearly 90. After he died, Smith engaged in a court battle with Marshall’s son for half of her late husband’s estate which she eventually lost. Smith is known for her outrageous ways, seen particularly in her reality TV show, The Anna Nicole Show.

Laker Girls

The Laker Girls are referenced in The Witch and in Him. Elizabeth Anne Allen revealed that the actresses who played the cheerleaders in the episode The Witch, were trained by The Laker Girls:

“Actually we learned with the Laker Girls and the LA clipper girls. They were great. They were checking our moves and they have real dance backgrounds, so they were throwing in stuff. We were like, “What, what?” Still, it helped that I could be pretty bad.”

In Him, cheerleader Cheryl says, “Or we could all use chairs. Like the Laker Girls.”

Monty Python

British comedy team Monty Python have been referenced a few times in Buffy: In Life Serial, Andrew and Warren mimic Monty Python’s parrot sketch when watching Buffy’s adventures with the Mummy hand (Warren: “This mummy hand has ceased to be!” Andrew: “It is an ex-mummy hand!”).
In the episode Primeval, when Spike and Adam realize that Spike failed to do what Adam wanted, Spike says “Let’s not quarrel about who failed who.” This could be a nod to Monty Python and the Holy Grail in which Sir Lancelot slaughters many people at a party and the King says “Let’s not bicker and argue over who killed who.”
In Him, Dawn says, “Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition” and in Touched, Spike says, “The dreaded torture device, the comfy chair.” These are references to The Spanish Inquisition sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The inquisitors try to torture people by making them sit in the comfy chair.
In End of Days, Spike says, “the holy hand grenade or whatever the hell that is”. The “holy hand grenade” is what the knights throw at the killer rabbit in Monty Python’s Holy Grail.
In Shells, Spike says he was, “flash fried in a pillar of fire, saving the world… I got better.” This is a reference to a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail in which one of the witch-accusing peasants shouts, “She turned me into a newt!… I got better.”
Additionally, Alan Tudyk (who played Wash in Firefly and Serenity) took over the role of Lancelot from Hank Azaria in the Monty Python musical, Spamalot, between June to November 2005.

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 09.00 minutes:

The cheerleading outfit Dawn wears is different to Buffy’s original. The sleeves are shorter and the skirt is a different design.

Seen at 09.25 minutes:

It doesn’t seem right that Dawn would be so inelegant when she tries out for the cheerleading squad. We saw her dance beautifully in Once More, With Feeling, and she said she likes to dance in Lessons.

Seen at 14.23 minutes:

After Dawn’s talk with Principal Wood in his office, she walks out of the door without her bag - yet she carries her bag in the next scene.

Seen at 20.20 minutes:

The collar of R.J.’s jacket changes positions in the scene where Buffy first talks to him.

Seen at 30.48 minutes:

Spike’s reflection can be seen in Lance’s house, in a picture frame.

Seen at 37.17 minutes:

Buffy grabs Dawn from the railway track but in the next shot they’re further away from the tracks than they were.

Seen at 38.29 minutes:

Spike’s reflection can be clearly seen in the store window before he and Xander jump on R.J. to steal his jacket.