Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Smashed

Smashed
Season 6, Episode 9
Airdate	November 20, 2001
Production Number	6ABB09
Written by	Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by	Turi Meyer
← 6x08 Tabula Rasa	6x10 → Wrecked
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Six

Smashed is the ninth episode of the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the one-hundred and ninth episode overall.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers), James Marsters (Spike)

and Alyson Hannigan (Willow)

Guest Starring: Danny Strong (Jonathan Levinson), Adam Busch (Warren Meers), Tom Lenk (Andrew Wells), Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy Madison), Amber Benson (Tara)

Co-Starring: Patrice Walters (Woman), John Patrick Clerkin (Man), Jack Jozefson (Rusty), Rick Garcia (Reporter), Kelly Smith (Innocent Girl), Jordan Belfi (Ryan), Adam Weiner (Simon), Melanie Sirmons (Brie), Lauren Nissi (Girlfriend)

Plot Overview

Despondent over Tara leaving, Willow returns Amy to her human form, so as to have another bewitched playmate. As the Scoobies investigate a jewellery heist that left a guard frozen, Spike discovers that something is amiss with his chip.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• There is no monster of the week in this episode.

Body Count

• There were no deaths in this episode.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Buffy's Revival: When Spike punches Buffy without feeling pain from the chip, he comes to the conclusion that when she died, she came back not quite human.

Characters

• Amy: Amy is finally returned to human form after being a rat for over two seasons.

• Spike: Spike figures out that he can attack Buffy without getting feedback from the chip in his brain.

• Buffy and Spike: Buffy and Spike consummate their love and have sex after duking it out in a house that seems to be abandoned.

Referbacks

• Gingerbread: Amy first turned herself into a rat to escape being burnt at the stake.

• Graduation Day: Unaware that almost three years have gone by, Amy asks whether Larry has a date for the Prom; Willow breaks the news that "One, Larry's gay; two, Larry's dead; three, high school's ... kinda over." This is the only explicit confirmation that Larry died when the snake-demon hurled him to the ground.

Trivia

The Show

• No Cheese: When Amy asks for some cookies, specifying no cheese. This is, obviously, a comment on being a rat for several years but also refers to the fact that Elizabeth Anne Allen is lactose intolerant and allergic to cheese.

• Music: The band Virgil performs "Vermillion Borders" and "Here" at the Bronze. When Willow transforms the band, they turn into Halo Friendlies performing "Run Away."

Behind the Scenes

• FCC Investigation: This episode was the subject of a FCC investigation after being flagged for indecency by the Parents Television Council. Oddly enough, these allegations were charged in 2003 while the series was in syndication, two years after the episode was aired. The scene in question that caused the uproar was a scene in which Buffy and Spike had sex. Despite the PTC's outcries, the FCC found that "there was no evidence the activity depicted ... was used to pander, titillate or shock the audience."

• Censored Scene: An extra part of Buffy and Spike's sex scene following when they fell through the floor was apparently cut from rerun broadcasts of this episode. However, it is unsure of when it was cut as several website have hosted the allegedly cut piece of the scene.

Allusions and References

• Murder, She Wrote: Jessica Fletcher was the main character from Murder, She Wrote played by Angela Lansbury. The series revolved around a murder mystery writer who solved real murder mysteries.

Buffy: Way to go with the keen observy-ness, Jessica Fletcher.

• Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were considered to be the Hollywood "perfect couple" who are superstar actors. The two had acted together in films like Days of Thunder, Far and Away and Eyes Wide Shut. The two were married in 1990 and were divorced in August 2001.

Amy: ...and did you hear about Tom and Nicole?

• Doctor Who: Doctor Who is a British science fiction series that first aired in 1963 and quickly achieved cult status. The series revolves around an eccentric doctor and his companions who travel through time and space. Due to its length, several actors have played the role of the Doctor throughout the years, including Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. A new series was created in 2003 for the 40th anniversary in which Anthony Stewart Head was in the running to play the new doctor.

Andrew: I've seen every episode of Doctor Who...

• Red Dwarf: Red Dwarf is another British science fiction series created later in 1988. The series follows the exploits of the last human alive and his companions who ultimately intends to return to Earth after being stuck in deep space for three million years.

Andrew: ...But not Red Dwarf, 'cause...

• Ellen Degeneres: Ellen Degeneres is a stand-up comedian and talk show host who is most well known for coming out as gay on national television during an episode (The Puppy Episode) of her sitcom, Ellen. She is considered to be one of the leading celebrity figures for the promotion of gay rights.

Guy #2: (to Willow) Well, nobody asked you... Ellen.

Memorable Moments

• Amy is turned back into human form.

• Buffy and Spike fighting until it breaks out in raunchy sex.

Goof

• Andrew claims to have seen every episode of Doctor Who. This is impossible since he isn't old enough to have seen the series since its earliest transmissions that began in 1963 and the BBC wiped many of the episodes from their archives, many of which have yet to be recovered.

Quotes

• Buffy: What the hell are you doing?

Spike: I thought they were demons.

Buffy: Way to go with the keen observy-ness, Jessica Fletcher.

Spike: Remind me not to help you.

Buffy: More often?

Spike: Hey, a little sympathy for the man with the migraine here, can we?

Buffy: Well, that's what you get for attacking a human.

Spike: Yeah. (annoyed) You'd think if the government was gonna put a chip in my head, they'd at least make it so I could attack criminals and that sort.

Buffy: Yes, because muggers deserve to be eaten.

• Spike: So you want to jump right to the kissing then, eh?

Buffy: I am not kissing you, Spike. Once was --

Spike: Twice.

• Spike: You're a tease. You know that, Slayer? Get a fella's motor revvin', let the tension marinate a couple of days, then bam! Crown yourself the ice queen.

Buffy: Need a few more metaphors for that little mix?

• Warren: (referring to the frozen guard) He'll be fine. Yeah, he'll defrost in a couple of days. No harm, no foul.

Andrew: Won't he tell on us?

Warren: And say what? "Two guys and a mime took me out with their freeze ray"?

• Amy: The whole school? (Willow nods) By a giant snake thing? Okay, still adjusting. Hey, Buffy.

Buffy: Hi. How you've you been?

Amy: Rat. You?

Buffy: Dead.

Amy: Oh.

• Xander: Aha! I got it! Here's our villain, right here! What?

Anya: That's a D&D; manual, sweetie.

Xander: No, but it could -- (looks at the book cover) Oh.

Anya: Let's face it. We're not gonna find this thing because it doesn't exist. There's no such thing as a frost monster who eats diamonds.

Buffy: Well, maybe he doesn't eat them. You know, maybe he just... thinks they're pretty.

• Xander: Tara thinks Willow is doing too much magic. And she's not the only one.

Buffy: I know. But I think she'll be fine, you know? It's Willow, she of the level head.

Anya: Well, those are the ones you have to watch out for the most. Responsible types.

Buffy: Right. She might go crazy and start alphabetising everything.

Anya: I'm serious. Responsible people are always so concerned with being good all the time, that when they finally get a taste of being bad, they can't get enough. It's like all... kablooey.

Buffy: That's not true.

Anya: Okay, not kablooey. More like bam!

Xander: It's human nature, Buff. Will's getting a taste of something powerful, way bigger than her.

Anya: Yeah, and she was getting out of control with it before Tara left and now that she's gone...

Xander: It's gotta be seductive. Just giving into it, going totally wild.

• Xander: (about Spike) So what did Captain Peroxide want?

• Xander: It seems like we've been through every book.

Anya: Yeah, even the ones that weren't so boring you wanted to kill yourself.

Xander: We have those?

• (Spike hits Buffy)

Spike: Oh, the pain. The pain... is gone. Guess what I just found out? Looks like I'm not as toothless as you thought, sweetheart.

Buffy: How?

Spike: Don't you get it? Don't you see? You came back wrong.

• Buffy: Your job is to kill the Slayer, but all you can do is follow me around making moon eyes.

Spike: I'm in love with you.

Buffy: You're in love with pain!