Buffy the Vampire Slayer/I Only Have Eyes for You

I Only Have Eyes for You
Season 2, Episode 19
Airdate	April 28, 1998
Production Number	5V19
Written by	Marti Noxon
Directed by	James Whitmore, Jr.
← 2x18 Killed by Death	2x20 → Go Fish
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Two

I Only Have Eyes for You is the nineteenth episode of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the thirty-first episode overall.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Meredith Salinger (Grace Newman), Christopher Gorham (James Stanley), John Hawkes (George), Miriam Flynn (Ms. Frank), Brian Reddy (Police Chief Bob), James Marsters (Spike), Juliet Landau (Drusilla)

and Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)

Guest Starring (end credits): Brian Poth (Fighting Boy), Sarah Bibb (Fighting Girl)

Co-Starring: James Lurie (Mr. Miller), Ryan Taszreak (Ben), Anna Coman-Hidy (50's Girl #1), Vanessa Bednar (50's Girl #2)

Plot Overview

A violent lovers spate is reenacted again and again in the halls of Sunnydale High School. With the spirits of a student and his teacher repeatedly possessing people and carrying out the murder-suicide that occurred forty-three years earlier, the Scoobies scramble to put an end the tragic cycle.

Notes

Monster of the Week

A poltergeist, a German word which roughly translates to "rumble spirit", in the mythology of the show is a ghost who angrily lashes out because it cannot resolve the problem which keeps it anchored to the real world. The only way to disperse the ghost is to somehow allow its unfinished business to play out. Giles explained their situation by saying, "It doesn't know exactly what it wants. That's the problem. Many times the spirit is plagued by all manner of worldly troubles. But, being dead, it has no way to make it's peace. So it lashes out. Growing ever more confused, ever more angry..."

However, this runs counter to the traditional definition of a poltergeist. Often, the ghosts are seen as mischievous and cause chaos for the joy of it, not because they are tortured. The Poltergeist film series often showed the violence that Giles described, but a solution was never presented in the way that it is in this episode. In the loosest terms, a "poltergeist" also describes a ghost that makes itself known by manipulating solid objects.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Ms. Frank	George	Shot	Sunnydale

Music

• "Charge" performed by Splendid: The band performing at the Bronze at the beginning of the episode, when Buffy shoots down Ben, is Splendid. They performed "Charge" off their first (and only) album, Have You Got A Name For It, which never got an American release. The song also appears on the first Buffy soundtrack. Notably, the pop duo is fronted by Angie Hart, formerly of Frente!.

• "I Only Have Eyes for You" by The Flamingos: The song which James puts on before he kills himself is "I Only Have Eyes for You", originally written by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin for the 1934 film Dames. The version which plays in the episode is a cover performed by The Flamingos in 1959, an anachronism considering that the killing took place in 1955.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Conspiracy: It was teased in "School Hard" when vampires attacked the school, but after the poltergeist turns students' food into snakes, Principal Snyder says in no uncertain terms to the chief of police that he knows the school is on a Hellmouth and fears the people will find out. He was supposedly chosen for the job by City Council, who also are aware of the school's nature. It seems that his job description entails more conspiracy than administration.

• The Mayor: The chief of police shoots Snyder's concerns down by saying that he's welcome to take up his problem with the Mayor, which causes him to stop cold. The Mayor factors heavily into the third season's storyline.

• Vampire Lore: Apparently, according to Angel, wasps have no interest in attacking the undead.

Characters

• Spike: Spike is completely healed from the injuries he sustained in "What's My Line?" (2), although he hasn't revealed this information to either Angelus on Drusilla.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• Spinoff: In an interview which appears on the DVD for this season, Joss Whedon say that this is the episode which convinced him that David Boreanaz could carry his own show. A little over a year after this episode aired, the first episode of the Angel spinoff series debuted.

Allusions and References

• JFK: Principal Snyder refers to the Oliver Stone film JFK. The film examines the events leading up to President John F. Kennedy's assassination and a subsequent cover-up which Stone alleges through the voice of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison. Of course, the reference is two fold, considering that Snyder is actively participating in a conspiracy on behalf of the city council, as revealed in this episode.

Snyder: I'm no stranger to conspiracy, I saw JFK.

Goofs

• When the yearbook falls off the shelf, it's open, but is closed when Buffy picks it up.

• At the beginning of the scene where Buffy and Xander go to his locker, a reflection of the boom mike can be seen in the door window.

• When everyone turns to the wasp-infested school to try and get Buffy out, an establishing shot of them looking at the school is clearly lifted from an earlier scene, as you can see Buffy standing in front of Giles, between he and Willow.

• The Flamingos recording of "I Only Have Eyes For You" was released in 1959, four years after the setting of the ghost story.

Quotes

• Spike: It's paradise. Big windows, lovely gardens. It'll be perfect when we want the sunlight to kill us.