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The Prom is the twentieth episode of the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the fifty-fourth episode overall.

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

And: Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndham-Pryce), Brad Kane (Tucker Wells), Emma Caulfield (Anya)

Co-Starring: Danny Strong (Jonathan), Bonita Friedericy (Mrs. Finkle), Andrea E. Taylor (Sales Girl), Mike Kimmel (Harv), Tove Kingsbury (Tux Boy)

Contents 1 Plot Overview 2 Notes 2.1 Monster of the Week 2.2 Body Count 2.3 Music 3 Arc Advancement 3.1 Happenings 3.2 Characters 3.3 Referbacks 4 Trivia 4.1 The Show 4.2 Behind the Scenes 4.3 Allusions and References 4.4 Memorable Moments 5 Quotes

[edit] Plot Overview

[edit] Notes

[edit] Monster of the Week

Tucker Wells, brother of future annoyance to the Scoobies Andrew Wells, raised a brood of hellhounds that he brainwashed using movies like Prom Night so they would lash out at anyone in formal wear. The hounds were bred during the Machash Wars to kill and are sustained by eating brains.

[edit] Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Vampire	Buffy	Staked	Sewer
2	Tux Boy	Hellhound	Mauled	Store
3	Hellhound	Buffy	Shot by Crossbow	Sunnydale High
4	Hellhound	Buffy	Stabbed	Sunnydale High
5	Hellhound	Buffy	Neck Snapped	Sunnydale High

[edit] Music

• "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim: The first song that plays at the dance is "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim, which appears on his second studio album You've Come a Long Way, Baby. The song was one of several major hits Fatboy Slim had on the album, along with "The Rockefeller Skank" and "Right Here Right Now". The music video in particular was highly acclaimed for its direction by Spike Jonze and won three major awards at the MTV Video Music Awards.

• "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang: When Buffy tries to lead the two remaining hellhounds away from Sunnydale High, they're distracted by a song playing at the prom. The song is a bit of "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang. The song first appeared on the band's 1980 album Celebration! and is popularly used at weddings, parties and even the return of the American hostages after the 1981 Iran hostage crisis was defused.

• "The Good Life" by Cracker: After Buffy kills the hellhounds and goes off to put on her dress, the next scene of The Prom has "The Good Life" by Cracker playing in the background. The song appears on the band's 1998 album Gentleman's Blues and was released as a single, although it never charted.

• "El Rey" by The Lassie Foundation: In the scene after Buffy accepts her "Class Protector" award, "El Rey" by The Lassie Foundation is playing in the background. The song appears on their debut album Pacifico. Like many independent artists featured in the series, the band hails from Los Angeles.

• "Wild Horses" by The Sundays: After Giles tells Wesley to suck it up and go dance with Cordelia, Buffy watches several couples dance to "Wild Horses" by The Sundays. The song is a cover of the Rolling Stones song off Sticky Fingers and appears on the US release of Blind, their second album.

[edit] Arc Advancement

[edit] Happenings

• Big Bad: The book pages that Willow stole in the previous episode have been analyzed somewhat and reveal a few things, mainly that the term "ascension" refers to a human being transformed into a demon. They haven't narrowed down what exact demon the mayor intends on becoming, as there are thousands of possibilities.

• Conspiracy: Although it seemed like Sunnydale's student population was willfully ignorant about the demons and assorted monsters that are drawn to the school, Jonathan's speech confirms that everyone knows what's going on despite the local government's attempts to keep it quiet.

• Sunnydale High: Jonathan mentions in his speech that the 1999 class of Sunnydale High has the lowest mortality rate in history. Whether or not that holds up after Graduation Day is unknown.

[edit] Characters

• Buffy and Angel: Angel decides to end his relationship with Buffy because of a combination of reasons, including the speech the Mayor made, a conversation he has with Joyce and a dream where she bursts into flames after they're married. Angel tells her that he's planning on leaving Sunnydale after graduation, should he survive the event.

• Cordelia: Cordelia's father committed some kind of tax fraud or evasion and now the IRS has repossessed much of her family's possessions. She admits that she can't afford a prom dress, much less any of the colleges that have accepted her.

• Xander and Anya: Despite Xander clear disinterest in hearing Anya's demon war stories, the two's date to the prom sparks their relationship.

[edit] Referbacks

• 3x09 - The Wish: Anya granted Cordelia's wish that Buffy never come to Sunnydale, but the wish was rendered inert when the alternate reality Giles destroyed her power source. Since then, Anya has become a regular mortal without any of the powers she once held. She did try to get them back by tricking Willow into helping her get it back in an earlier episode but did not succeed.

• 3x05 - Homecoming: Buffy finally gets the "perfect high school moment" that she was looking for at the previous school event (in which she was not declared homecoming queen) when she's given the "class protector award" by Jonathan.

• 3x13 - The Zeppo: Someone mentions zombies during Jonathan's speech about Buffy, which could refer to several different occurrences. Most recently, Xander was mixed up with a group of zombies in varying states of decomposition who nearly blew up the school. Also, Buffy's "welcome home" party was crashed by zombies raised by Joyce's African mask.

• 1x06 - The Pack: After Jonathan says that "weird stuff" happen in Sunnydale High, someone shouts out "Hyena people!" A group of bullies and Xander were possessed by hyena demons briefly, which led to the death of the original principal.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] The Show

[edit] Behind the Scenes

• International: Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been dubbed into many different languages and the title translated for each different international version. Some international translations of this episode's title are:
  • French: "Les Chiens de l'Enfer" ("The Hellhounds")
  • Italian: "Il ballo" ("The Dance Party")
  • German: "Der Höllenhund" ("The Hellhound")
  • Japanese: "プロムパーティ" ("Puromu Pāti" - "Prom Party")
  • Spanish: "Baile de Graduación" ("Prom")
• Buffy's Award: The reason why Jonathan is the one award Buffy the "Class Protector" award is because she talked him out of committing suicide in "Earshot". However, "Earshot" was not broadcast until Fall 1999 out of respect for the Columbine school shooting and in the original broadcast, the poignancy of Jonathan giving her the award was lost on the viewer.

[edit] Allusions and References

[edit] Memorable Moments

[edit] Quotes