Anya's speech is so powerful! It's so innocent and almost child-like because she's still so new to the mortal world. The acting in Buffy was always so underrated, it really was spectacular!
She's not really new to this mortal world because she was human before becoming a demon of sorts. She just forgot what it's like to be human and is experiencing it all over again.
I felt so bad for Anya in this scene. Everyone expected her to understand everything about the mortal world and because of that, she never truly understood right from wrong. Whenever she did something wrong, she'd get yelled at while trying to understand what it was exactly she did wrong.
SeriousYak plus the fact that she’s so used to living so long - over a thousand years and lived in isolation from humanity that the concept of losing a loved one close to her and the concept of death became so foreign to her.even though she saw and heard of the deaths of the countless people over that time - mass genocide etc she detached herself from it by being a vengeance demon.joyces death is the first death of someone she knew while being a human for only the last three years so I think her reaction was perfect
@Logia SD vengence demons are immortal, unless their power core (pendant) is destroyed, but by their conduct that nigh impossible. Annya was incredibly unlucky when with Cordelia's wish, culminated in the perfect storm to destroy her pendant, and she almost managed to get it back. Pretty much the only way a vengence demon dies is if D'Hoffrin allows it. And their reclusive nature means they'd have very little exposure to death that would matter to them.
It may seem a bit over the top but this episode of Buffy was in my opinion one of the greatest pieces of television. Equal to any episode of The Sopranos, Breaking Bad or The Wire.
As I recall, this episode has absolutely *no* background music in it. It's not usually something that you notice, but the complete lack of score makes this episode so much more compelling, even if you don't know why.
Kartissa it is because music generally tells you how to feel for each scene. With this entire episode, the feelings we get come from within, not from what we are told to feel. I personally think it was brilliant to have a lack of music. I never cried so much as this episode, and especially this scene.
Kartissa it was meant to not have background music joss wanted to make it like that for the episode even to the bit where buffy opened up the back door when she was no color in her face after she found her mum joss even put in the sounds of kids playing in the background sounds of every day life.... such a great episode....
No, the episode was not completely without music, despite some reviewers incorrectly stating that. However your points are still valid. Moreover, in many dramatic scenes the score is essential; to pull off a scene without it requires great skill, and Joss and the cast certainly demonstrated that.
Anya reminds me very much of myself. I have Asperger's, and no one will ever explain anything to me when I'm making a mess of things because I don't understand. I love her almost as much as Giles
+Emily Roberts Exactly the same with me. I just watched this episode for the first time and I had to find this exact video, because it so perfectly describes how it feels when something bad happens to me. I have Aspergers, too, but I've never been in anything like this position. Seeing this makes me feel a little afraid for when it happens for real...
“It’s stupid. It’s mortal and stupid.” That was the moment we really came to understand Anya’s entire view of the world. It was the moment where I realized I had to go back and rewatch everything with Anya in it knowing that she had no concept of how the mortal world really works.
The 'I don't understand' is really good, but lots of the power of it, and much of the emotion in Buffy as a whole, is that they do filmmaking properly and show the reaction. She says it, and it's a great performance, but Willow and Zander look round and that tells us how powerful what she said was to them, so we know.
jemma callow i think that's what makes it one of the best episodes ever. Nothing supernatural about it. Buffy's mom dies of normal causes and everyone is left to pick up the pieces.
This scene made me feel so bad for Anya. And not just in this scene. This was when I finally realized why she acts so peculiar. She genuinely doesn't understand anything. She is basically a newborn trying to figure out the world, and because she has the body of an adult, people don't understand that, and they treat her like she's some kind of freak for not understanding how things work.
Jay Johnson yes. I was always particularly annoyed with willow for how she treated her. It was like she had a grudge for Anya being with Xander despite her change in sexuality. All of them treated Anya like she was (and excuse my use of the word here) “retarded”. They rolled their eyes and mocked her or demeaned her for the things she said and did, then tried to “correct” her and basically patted their hands on her head and said “there there, it’s just Anya being Anya, she’s clueless, let’s just humour her and hopefully she will grow out of it”. I fuckin HATED THAT!! How can they not clue in that she literally doesn’t understand the mortal world because she was an immortal for over 1000 years?? How can they not clue in that she’s basically trying to learn how to fit in? How quick are they to forget she has 1000 years of knowledge and skills and fighting moves behind her that would’ve benefitted them had they not displayed such ignorance? Failed on the writers part, for making her as a comedic relief, and even lowering her character down even more in season 7.
There's also the fear of her suddenly being mortal and knowing it will happen to her... maybe after a measly 60 years? I mean after living 8 _centuries_ as a demon.
This scene for me is the most real and heartbreaking. Anya is kind of like a child in that she asks questions unfiltered and just genuinely doesn't understand death. There is no logic to death or the pain it causes it just happens. This connected with me as a kid losing my friend. It just felt so real and honest. Emma's acting here was phenomenal
Anya’s probably responsible for more deaths than all of the villains combined but she also had the power to bring people back from the dead like the master. Life and death was meaningless to someone who could warp reality with a couple words
When people ask me to explain what it's like to be autistic when a major life event happens I point them to this scene because as an autistic person I can relate so damn hard to this.
Touch of the tism over here too. This scene broke me after my grandparents passed (Only a few weeks apart) as I didn't relate to it as much before having lost them.
The fact that you'll think feeling this way is ONLY an autistic thing is kind of bothersome. MANY ppl feel this way when death happens. Watching this scene is one of the most universal feelings of death ppl can have, yet it seems like yall can't help but make it about YOU and your tism. We get it, autistic ppl exist, but this feeling is bigher then your mental disorder.. THIS FEELING IS A HUMAN EMOTION. That's why it's so powerful.
That was the point of Anya's death. She stood with the Scooby gang for so long, and in the end she was just gone, they never even found her body. It gave me the same feel as Angel's ending, with the "You can never defeat evil, but you gotta keep fightning" schtick.
Anya has done a lot of good since she became a powerless mortal, including that final battle scene. She certainly didn’t deserve to die, but she has done awful things as a vengeance demon. But who knows, maybe in the comics, she gets reborn.
I agree. This is a television show. To get rid of her character in such a nonchalant way was cruel to the fans of the franchise. If they wanted to kill her off that's their choice, but they could have been more tactful about doing it. It felt rushed and sloppy rather than realistic.
You know what this scene does? It perfectly captures all the different ways grief makes u feel at the same time. Part of you feels aimless, like you need to keep changing clothes or moving somehow (like Willow) part of you feels numb and sad so cry and can’t talk (like Xander), part of you feels like you have to keep moving and get things don’t for the people around you (Like Tara) and then an inevitable part of you feels small and helpless and confused and frustrated like Anya. A friend of mine passed away yesterday and this scene actually helped me process a little.
My mother died young and unexpectedly and my little sisters found her...we all loved Buffy together and when we rewatched this episode after she was gone, it wasn't until this scene that we lost it. This entire episode was so damn realistic. The CPR, the emts, the morgue, the utter shock...all of that really happens just like that and to see it on screen was indescribable. I think it is the most gut-wrenching hour of television ever made.
And when they leave, the shirt that Willow wanted to wear was under the cushions where Anya is sitting....there were just so many little things in this episode that added to the enormous heartbreak that was this episode. It was just horrifically beautiful.
I lost my Mom 5 years ago, found her on the couch in the middle of the night I used to love 'The Body' episode so much back then, I'm really scared to watch it again
Ohana understandable and I'm very sorry for your loss and I'm sorry for everyone on this thread for their losses. My deepest condolences to you all. Last year, I lost both my grandmother and my father 5 months apart but in the same year last year. For the most part I'm okay but every now and again I'll think about them mostly my father and I'll get a shiver down my spine and a sudden need to cry. I got the same feeling watching this clip but at the same time it's strangely comforting and discomforting at the same time if that makes any sense.
This scene has always moved me nearly to tears but one thing keeps me from that point (sadly). On the IMDB message boards, someone mentioned that while it's touching that Anya is so hurt by Joyce's death....imagine all the scenes like THIS she caused for others as Anyanka. Many men and woman for centuries have also likely been asking why. STILL a powerful scene but that guy's message lives on to this day.
This episode man. I have never seen an episode of a TV show or a movie or anything that made me feel a death like that. This entire episode was just so strong...
Emma Caulfield has me in floods of tears every time. The sadness and anger in the words 'mortal' and 'stupid' are next level. My dad died when I was 14. I had no idea and was no naive and can absolutely understand the child-like response of disbelief.
Though now a cult classic, Buffy was extremely underrated at the time. Every actor throughout the series has been brilliant at some point. I became a huge Anya fan after this scene and still haven't forgiven Joss for killing her off. Great episode and fantastic series.
Lmao underrated? No it wasn’t. Buffy was a big hit when it was coming out. Popular with audiences, often critically acclaimed, the studio loved it enough to give it the good time slots and a whole spinoff show, and shortly after the show ended it got an ongoing continuation that only ended a couple of years ago, and was promptly followed by a reboot. I don’t think the show was ever really underrated
@@calamariboss8532 - Well, it was a big hit with many people, it was parodied in many TV shows, SMG made it onto The Simpsons as a guest star... but there was still the regular Joe who didn't have an interest in the show and possibly thought it was just a "chick show". So yeah, both of you are right.
February 27, 2001 first airing today is February 27, 2021 20 years, and I still cry every single time, and it’s ALWAYS at the finality of Anya’s “well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch...ever.” Just devastating. Stay safe and healthy out there everyone, and let your families know how much you love them as many times (and as much) as possible.
This episode and this scene always got me but it wasn't until I lost my mom a few ago on Thanksgiving and this episode was on TV just 2 days ago that it hit me so hard. I was having coffee the morning after the funeral and sobbed when I thought "mom will never get to have coffee anymore or look outside and see the morning sun filter through the blinds or smell Christmas trees" and I just lost it. I wish I could thank the cast. They're helping me grieve.
@@EBrown-cr1grMy heart breaks for you as well. So sorry I didn't see this sooner. I hope you see it though. My mother and I hate each other. But some people have good ones. I send you healing energy.
I love how, when referring to food, Anya talks about simple dishes like eggs and fruit punch rather than a more complex dish like spaghetti and burgers, because sometimes the greatest delicacies are pretty simple and mundane, and Joyce can't even enjoy that anymore.
This speech is exactly how I feel when it comes to grief, especially others' grieving. My roommates just lost their cat, for a very dumb, senseless reason. I liked that cat a lot, but he wasn't my cat. I don't know how to process it. I don't know how to react to them. I don't know what to say. I want to be there for them, but we're not really friends. We used to be, but last year we had a fight that changed that. So I want to say something, I want to do something, I want to be helpful, I want to be there for them. But I don't know what to do. I feel useless. Everything feels meaningless. And nobody will tell me why.
This episode is still fresh for. I was too young to watch it back then, but now I watched it from the very beginning and on my last season. I'm still crying about the last few episodes that I've seen.
This is EXACTLY how I feel about Chadwick Boseman's passing. He was only 43, that's so young...someone can be there then they aren't. I haven't cried since I found out, but I've watched this and now I'm a mess.
Emma deserves way more recognition. Anya is genuinely innocent to this. She has absolutely no clue what to do. Most people struggle with grief enough as it is. And for Anya it's even more difficult. And later on when Xander leaves her at the alter. That would be devastating for anyone but for Anya it was even worse. She was new to everything. Love, grief, fear, all of it.
Still making me cry in 2022. I can’t even count how many times I’ve watched Buffy from beginning to end. Maybe around 35 times or more! I’m still watching it, it’s like my comfort food. I love Anya, she’s also so great in the episode Selfless Season 7. Emma is amazing!!!!
Nothing knocks the supports out from under a person's life like the loss of a parent. Think of all the death that Anya witnessed (even caused) in her 1000 years as a vengeance demon. How long had it been since she lost something she cared about (if ever, as she was a young woman when D'Hoffryn found her. Clearly she had adopted Giles and Joyce as surrogate parents, perhaps even without realizing she was doing it. Joyce's death was not the result of any magical or demonic scheme. It was pointless and cruel in the way that so much death is. Anya is in her way innocent in the face of such loss. A fine scene, perhaps her best.
Pretty much every scooby adopted Joyce and Giles as surrogate parents, but unlike Willow or Xander, Anya hasn't really HAD any parents for 1,000 years, sure there was the demon that turned her, but he was really just her boss/friend. Joyce and Giles were the ones who took her in, and the sudden loss of Joyce for no reason is, like Anya said, stupid and human; which she's right, and that makes it even more tragic. Loosing a loved one isn't just a sudden burst sadness then you slowly get over it, it's the realization that they're gone, forever, they'll never get to finish their favorite tv show they won't shut up about, they'll never finish that book series, they'll never get to hear their favorite song again, or eat their favorite flavor of ice cream, or make a corny joke/dumb pun, or bitch about the weather, or get hit on, wear their favorite outfit, or build something, or have sex, or sleep in, or badly sing in their car, or trip and fall on their face, or dance, or drink, or anything else. They're just gone, leaving an empty void, as a constant reminder of what they can't do anymore, and Anya pointing it out hurts.
dirdib69 losing a parent is a profoundly sad experience. Even the loss of my grandmother who raised me when my mother couldn't anymore didn't compare to the loss of my mother. There is just that deep a connection.
This scene for me was the one that opened up the water works. I was teary eyed before this in watching the episode but it was Anya who I connected with in the moment. Also the scene where Buffy tells Dawn. This episode was brutally emotional.
I can count the number of classic moments on tv on one hand. The moments that stay with the viewer forever. I am an old man and yet I still find this episode a tough watch. Brilliant script, wonderful acting and probably the best explanation about death there is. You don't have to be a stranger to the mortal World to find death of a loved one so perplexing. Brilliant and moving.
When I watched this episode and this part came up I was so mad at Anya. But I kept watching and I wanted to give her multiple hugs and everybody else. Her reaction reminded me of when my cousin committed suicide. For awhile my thought process was un-centered and I was confused and sad. I didn't have a moment like Anya but I had her confusion kind of like a child's trying to understand serious things.
This whole episode, with Dawn's reaction, the lack of background music, the whole emotional ark that Buffy went through through the whole event...etc, was a piece of masterpiece television. The lack of awards that this episode, SMG and the other actors, and the series as a whole awarded to them, not only for this powerful episode, but all the rest of the sheer fun that they had while making this series is just plain criminal. I wonder if awards for episodes can be awarded retrospectively?
For me, this will always be one of the most beautifully written & brilliantly acted moments in the show. Anya's struggle to understand death, without warning (instead of death, in the form of vengeance!) & what her role is in it's wake, is absolutely heartbreaking. When she finally breaks down after being snapped at by Willow (who, I guess is the only one permitted to have inappropriate social skills in her time of grief) we're given new insight into her character. ALL of her overly-analytical, too-much-information, NC-17 traits seem less like that of a former demon & more like a fragile, awkward woman, desperately grappling with her emotions. I always had a soft spot for Anya & this scene just cemented my affection...
What was really depressing about this was how the death makes everything so quiet, like an entire episode with no music, it just makes the death even sadder
The whole episode is my fave episode of Buffy ever xx As much as I love a lot of other series/shows Buffy is my fave show of all time and I don't think people realise how big of an impact and influence it has on shows today be it as an inspiration or for shows that would never have gotten greenlit without the success of Buffy first xx
Emma Caufield Ford's performance in this monologue is so moving. 😢 as we go through the motions of losing someone we love we fight to ask those questions in our heads when we lost that first person in our life to death. She really pulled our heart strings in this scene and she is such a amazing actor.
I always come back and watch this scene every once in a while. I still find it so moving. I remember this episode and I remember feeling bad for everyone but I was pretty blah until this moment, it was this moment that made me actually cry.
This scene has just hit me like a sledgehammer to the day that my mum died in 2013, the inner child in me just came out at 54 years of age, and shedding a tear or two. Its just brilliant
I've been watching this episode for years. I saw it when it aired and now everytime I have a Buffy rewatch. I own every season on DVD so every couple months I'll do a rewatch with my daughter. I still cry through out the entire episode. Anyone who doesn't has to be heartless. The way the actors conveyed their sense of loss of Joyce gets me every time.
The break in her voice on "understand" sends chills. Note that the image is on Willow and Xander when it occurs, the reaction is how they and WE feel, we are IN the scene with these folks. Out of this awkward exchange, by the end of this mini-monologue, I am literally crying. Even as she grasps to express herself she nails that state of disbelief and disconnect, evoking a feeling of profound powerlessness, like from our worst traumas of childhood. ("It's stupid." Bullseye, and ingeniously informed by Anya's character.) It's such a desperately *lonely* burst of bewilderment, that questions the meaning of all aspects of human life. Its truly THAT artful, largely because Joss Whedon is (was?) a master at building to a powerful beat that instantly changes the tone of a scene, in a way thats surprising yet natural and unforced. For me, no other writer's dialogue has topped him in this way, among others. God I miss him doing new TV work. This is my favorite episode of television, bar none. A straight up masterpiece.
My mother passed around 20 years ago. She had dementia and stroked out in her nursing home. She was 81. For a week, I didn't know what to feel. All I knew was I had what felt like this enormous basketball in my stomach - I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep and even getting drunk didn't help. It was like Doctor Who had frozen me in time and space. Months later, I watched Buffy - The Vampire Slayer, season 5, episode 16, The Body. I wailed like a banshee. I cried so much, I think I ruptured something. It was as cathartic for me as I hope it is for you if you have to endure such an event. You can concentrate on the mechanics, but you must deal with the grief eventually. I thank the writers, producers and Sarah Michelle Gellar's sterling performance.
This was clearly an epic episode! Great acting from everyone but this vulnerable side of Anya's made me like her even more and it's a gut-wrenching speech.
this scene haunts me to this day. i CRY every time and it's a gut punch. Beautifully acted on all parts and really, so brutally honest. we don't talk about death in our culture.
This might not seem like much to you, coming from some stranger on the internet, but I just want to tell you how truely sorry I am for your loss! It is heartbreaking and I wish you a lot of strength to get through this!
This show means more to me than I could ever express. Especially now watching it again decades later in my 30s after loosing my father. Anya is right. No one can ever explain to us why. This scene hurts so bad. What an impact this made on those of us who grew up with Buffy
Love this episode even though it breaks my heart, especially after losing my own mother. Anya is so underrated and this speech is so powerful. I do love the bit of comedy though when she sits on willows shirt! So subtlety done, but just enough to give that little bit of comic relief.
This is one of the greatest representations of how a child coming to terms with death can feel. So incredibly worded. She may be an incredibly old former vengeance demon, but still absolutely new to her reinstated humanity.
Hi guys. This episode was very well put together, dragging the audience away from Vamps and Magics and crashed us back to earth and reality with its beauty and brutality. Alot of commenters said they were on the Autistic Spectrum and this episode resonated eith them. The general expectation that everybody should automatically understand the nuances of human behaviour and the individual isolating nature of grief. My daughter is also "Aspie" as she calls it. I learned the long way, not to take implicit communication for granted. Not everybody picks up on unspoken social convention, and even if they do, somethings' can never be generalised. There is nothing more personal than the way we express emotion. It's ok to not know. Regarding those who said that friends "drift away" rather than be explicitly upfront about the issues with you. That's their inadequacy, not yours. If they were better friends they would learn about your condition. If they wanted to persue any type of friendship, they would find a way to communicate in a manner which benefits all parties, not the majority. If you ever want to ask something, then dont question whether you should ask. Just be careful how you word it. Tell them your confused and you need clarification. If they dont help you, it's their failing. Not yours. Blunt is ok, harsh is probably not.
I always feel this way. Especially lately. A few years ago I lost my brother and a friend to a drug overdose. A year before that my bfs brother died of the same thing. Now this past January I lost him in a car accident and idk why these things have to happen. It just hurts.
Everything about Anya just makes me sad, Xander breaking her heart, her falling back into her old ways to cope, the frequent disregard from the gang, and then finally her sudden and unmourned death. Sure, Xander seems sort of sad, sort of, but the emotion of what else was going on with them escaping death and reveling in their victory totally overshadowed any catharsis or sentiment that short exchange with Andrew might have provided. I get what they were going for, it's a realistic death, it shows how much she's grown as a character, etc, I get that argument, but I don't think it was given enough focus (inb4 you say that was the point). It's a lot like Wash's death in Serenity, sudden, the characters have to kind of shrug it off because of what's happening, but Zoey was clearly effected by it and there was a moment after the action for the characters to honor him. We didn't get that for Anya, it's just *stab* dead, we see her body, Andrew tells Xander, who was the only one who asked, and Xander says "That's my girl. Always doin' the stupid thing." in a somewhat sorrowful way and then the moment passes and that's all the reverence that the death of a main character gets. Thirty more seconds is all that was needed, Xander and Anya having a moment when they arrive to the school (one saying to the other "don't get killed" or something) and then more than just Xander giving a shit after she died, maybe he actually sheds a tear and Willow comes over and gives him a hug. Something, anything, I'm just so sore about it.
they kill evil all day long but the innocence and literal feeling of pain when losing someone important and close in your life never can be understood. this episode and scene brings back reality and how humans still cant make sense of life and death is stupid and her speech is so good and the acting is phenomenal and it brings the show into a fragile reality
Emma Caulfield is an absolute legend. The way she was able to portray serious subject matter and comedy was one reason I watched buffy to the end. Anya's initially antagonistic relationship with Willow was also awesome
I was gonna talk about how powerful and unique Anya's character is, but then I realized every character is powerful and unique on this show. Nothing will ever beat Buffy. The best show in the world ever!
I still remember the first time I watched this ep I though it'd be really sad and Sarah was amazing and heartbreaking but I never thought Down would get me, I always hated the character but it was really touching the acting and then Any and this speech are the three more sad moments ever, then Buffy dying and Buffy telling their friends singing how she felt. But when it comes to sadness Sarah Gellar is the most touching and best actress in the show ♥
This is such an amazing scene. So well written and so well acted. The audience is already in a state of shock and so sad about Joyce's death. We all love Anya, but then she starts talking about "the body" and it's so... shocking. We almost hate her naivete in that moment... until we realize that she is just as confused and sad as everyone else. Sooo good.
What I appreciate the more I get older is that NONE of them know what to do or how to act (except Tara) or how to make sense of this or how to cope or what to do. They are ALL in that sense vulnerable and child like...what Anya lacks (which is also something children lack and something some with ASD lack - not that those things are similar but it's why her speech rings of both) is the ability to understand social ritual...if no one understands something and they all have questions, why can't you just ask them? Why do you have to say "I'm so sorry for your loss" stoically over and over and stand silently at the buffet table occasionally saying things like "she's in a better place"? Even her "should I be changing my clothes"...it's "I don't understand death" but it's also "I don't understand why we're doing *this* instead of talking about it"...and that's part of what makes other's judgement of her so heartbreaking when it's revealed she's just confused and sad...because all she wants to do is stop changing shirts and standing around stoically and *talk* about it.
I lost my little sister very suddenly in March of this year (2016). I was going to college and I was on my way back when we got the call she was being rushed to the hospital. She had seizures when she slept sometimes. I went straight from the school to work and while I was at work I got the call saying my brother in law (Other sisters fiance) was coming to pick me up. I found out about her passing in the seating area of the restaurant I worked at. I don't remember much from there to the hospital but I had a mix of shock and denial I guess. My BiL said I asked if he was joking and I didn't believe him at first. Anya's breakdown reminds me of the whole family. Because it was such a sudden death and she was only 23 we were all left with this mix of confusion and pain we still don't exactly know why she passed, the doctors said it might have been a complication from a seizure but we don't really know. Its going to be Christmas soon, her birthday is the 19th of Dec and this year I have a feeling its going to be a lot harder than I think.
My mom is in her deathbed battling renal cancer... This episode is making me cry. I'm actually not myself right now. IDK how to process death so close. It's like accepting that we're alone in the end, and it kinda makes me sad.
Anya's speech is so powerful! It's so innocent and almost child-like because she's still so new to the mortal world. The acting in Buffy was always so underrated, it really was spectacular!
PoppyCupCake89 its like me
Except im not scared of bunnies lol
PoppyCupCake89 But at the same time it was so human and honest. It truly portrayed death for what it really is.
She's not really new to this mortal world because she was human before becoming a demon of sorts. She just forgot what it's like to be human and is experiencing it all over again.
I'm 30 and still ask these questions that she says in her little speech.
I felt so bad for Anya in this scene. Everyone expected her to understand everything about the mortal world and because of that, she never truly understood right from wrong. Whenever she did something wrong, she'd get yelled at while trying to understand what it was exactly she did wrong.
SeriousYak plus the fact that she’s so used to living so long - over a thousand years and lived in isolation from humanity that the concept of losing a loved one close to her and the concept of death became so foreign to her.even though she saw and heard of the deaths of the countless people over that time - mass genocide etc she detached herself from it by being a vengeance demon.joyces death is the first death of someone she knew while being a human for only the last three years so I think her reaction was perfect
She's like a child in a adult body
There was a thought she is autistic
You'll feel worse when you know that that take was her needing to use the bathroom and not being allowed to go.
@Logia SD vengence demons are immortal, unless their power core (pendant) is destroyed, but by their conduct that nigh impossible.
Annya was incredibly unlucky when with Cordelia's wish, culminated in the perfect storm to destroy her pendant, and she almost managed to get it back. Pretty much the only way a vengence demon dies is if D'Hoffrin allows it. And their reclusive nature means they'd have very little exposure to death that would matter to them.
This episode had some of the best acting, writing and direction of any episode of Buffy.
Or just in any show ever
@@tommyboman7735 Well, the episode Once More With Feeling is rather amazing too.
It may seem a bit over the top but this episode of Buffy was in my opinion one of the greatest pieces of television. Equal to any episode of The Sopranos, Breaking Bad or The Wire.
@@lucasorlando99 This
*of all fiction
As I recall, this episode has absolutely *no* background music in it. It's not usually something that you notice, but the complete lack of score makes this episode so much more compelling, even if you don't know why.
Kartissa it is because music generally tells you how to feel for each scene. With this entire episode, the feelings we get come from within, not from what we are told to feel.
I personally think it was brilliant to have a lack of music. I never cried so much as this episode, and especially this scene.
+Kartissa
Thank you for point this out. It's very powerful
Kartissa it was meant to not have background music joss wanted to make it like that for the episode even to the bit where buffy opened up the back door when she was no color in her face after she found her mum joss even put in the sounds of kids playing in the background sounds of every day life.... such a great episode....
No, the episode was not completely without music, despite some reviewers incorrectly stating that. However your points are still valid. Moreover, in many dramatic scenes the score is essential; to pull off a scene without it requires great skill, and Joss and the cast certainly demonstrated that.
So late to this comment, but YES! The lack of music was so haunting and honestly makes any movie/show have a million times more emotional depth.
Anya reminds me very much of myself. I have Asperger's, and no one will ever explain anything to me when I'm making a mess of things because I don't understand. I love her almost as much as Giles
+Emily Roberts Exactly the same with me. I just watched this episode for the first time and I had to find this exact video, because it so perfectly describes how it feels when something bad happens to me. I have Aspergers, too, but I've never been in anything like this position. Seeing this makes me feel a little afraid for when it happens for real...
same from ADHD perspective. i can be turning people off for ages but nobody just says anything, they just drift away...
Oh my god that is the same as me. :).
I too have Asperger's.
I have autism and i feel the same
“It’s stupid. It’s mortal and stupid.” That was the moment we really came to understand Anya’s entire view of the world. It was the moment where I realized I had to go back and rewatch everything with Anya in it knowing that she had no concept of how the mortal world really works.
At 1:11, the first "but I don't understand" gets me every time.
yeah, that's when her voice start cracking and all the emotions seem to rush out. This scene destroys me every time :(
The 'I don't understand' is really good, but lots of the power of it, and much of the emotion in Buffy as a whole, is that they do filmmaking properly and show the reaction. She says it, and it's a great performance, but Willow and Zander look round and that tells us how powerful what she said was to them, so we know.
this scene fricking gets me crying every time. this whole episode is amazing, horrible, but amazing. the true horrors in the world.
Me too and I think the same
Absolutely
jemma callow i think that's what makes it one of the best episodes ever. Nothing supernatural about it. Buffy's mom dies of normal causes and everyone is left to pick up the pieces.
Same
same
This scene made me feel so bad for Anya. And not just in this scene. This was when I finally realized why she acts so peculiar. She genuinely doesn't understand anything. She is basically a newborn trying to figure out the world, and because she has the body of an adult, people don't understand that, and they treat her like she's some kind of freak for not understanding how things work.
Jay Johnson yes. I was always particularly annoyed with willow for how she treated her. It was like she had a grudge for Anya being with Xander despite her change in sexuality. All of them treated Anya like she was (and excuse my use of the word here) “retarded”. They rolled their eyes and mocked her or demeaned her for the things she said and did, then tried to “correct” her and basically patted their hands on her head and said “there there, it’s just Anya being Anya, she’s clueless, let’s just humour her and hopefully she will grow out of it”. I fuckin HATED THAT!! How can they not clue in that she literally doesn’t understand the mortal world because she was an immortal for over 1000 years?? How can they not clue in that she’s basically trying to learn how to fit in? How quick are they to forget she has 1000 years of knowledge and skills and fighting moves behind her that would’ve benefitted them had they not displayed such ignorance?
Failed on the writers part, for making her as a comedic relief, and even lowering her character down even more in season 7.
Her character is basically what it's like having Asperger's/ Autism in a nutshell.
@@slipstreamxr3763 Yeap
A newborn in an adult boy. This is a perfect explanation for her existence at the time.
There's also the fear of her suddenly being mortal and knowing it will happen to her... maybe after a measly 60 years? I mean after living 8 _centuries_ as a demon.
This scene for me is the most real and heartbreaking. Anya is kind of like a child in that she asks questions unfiltered and just genuinely doesn't understand death. There is no logic to death or the pain it causes it just happens. This connected with me as a kid losing my friend. It just felt so real and honest. Emma's acting here was phenomenal
Anya’s probably responsible for more deaths than all of the villains combined but she also had the power to bring people back from the dead like the master. Life and death was meaningless to someone who could warp reality with a couple words
Everything Emma Caulfield does in that scene communicates how she always feels like the outsider after becoming human again.
Pretty much the best description of death.
Emma crushed it. Everyone did. Some of the best acting I've seen to date.
She's so good... watch this scene every once in a while, when I'm asking these same questions. This is one of Anya's most relatable moments.
And this wasn't an easy scene by a LONG shot. Very child-like line delivered by an adult hurting and done so with PERFECT balance.
When people ask me to explain what it's like to be autistic when a major life event happens I point them to this scene because as an autistic person I can relate so damn hard to this.
I find this also really relatable, im also autistic.
yeah.
I'm also autistic, big fan of anya
Touch of the tism over here too. This scene broke me after my grandparents passed (Only a few weeks apart) as I didn't relate to it as much before having lost them.
The fact that you'll think feeling this way is ONLY an autistic thing is kind of bothersome. MANY ppl feel this way when death happens. Watching this scene is one of the most universal feelings of death ppl can have, yet it seems like yall can't help but make it about YOU and your tism. We get it, autistic ppl exist, but this feeling is bigher then your mental disorder.. THIS FEELING IS A HUMAN EMOTION. That's why it's so powerful.
Anya is the most underrated character of this show, and Joss killed her in the final episode like it was no big deal
I dont necessarily want to defend josh but I thought it was a rather realistic death. People die in battle, just like that.
That was the point of Anya's death. She stood with the Scooby gang for so long, and in the end she was just gone, they never even found her body. It gave me the same feel as Angel's ending, with the "You can never defeat evil, but you gotta keep fightning" schtick.
she was originally meant to die in the season 5 season finale.
Anya has done a lot of good since she became a powerless mortal, including that final battle scene. She certainly didn’t deserve to die, but she has done awful things as a vengeance demon. But who knows, maybe in the comics, she gets reborn.
I agree. This is a television show. To get rid of her character in such a nonchalant way was cruel to the fans of the franchise. If they wanted to kill her off that's their choice, but they could have been more tactful about doing it. It felt rushed and sloppy rather than realistic.
You know what this scene does? It perfectly captures all the different ways grief makes u feel at the same time. Part of you feels aimless, like you need to keep changing clothes or moving somehow (like Willow) part of you feels numb and sad so cry and can’t talk (like Xander), part of you feels like you have to keep moving and get things don’t for the people around you (Like Tara) and then an inevitable part of you feels small and helpless and confused and frustrated like Anya.
A friend of mine passed away yesterday and this scene actually helped me process a little.
I’m sorry that you lost your friend. That sucks so much. I hope you’re doing okay with the pain now 4 years later.
My mother died young and unexpectedly and my little sisters found her...we all loved Buffy together and when we rewatched this episode after she was gone, it wasn't until this scene that we lost it. This entire episode was so damn realistic. The CPR, the emts, the morgue, the utter shock...all of that really happens just like that and to see it on screen was indescribable. I think it is the most gut-wrenching hour of television ever made.
And when they leave, the shirt that Willow wanted to wear was under the cushions where Anya is sitting....there were just so many little things in this episode that added to the enormous heartbreak that was this episode. It was just horrifically beautiful.
I had to memorize this for a play audition (my class was doing Once More With Feeling) and I got the role of anya
I have a wonderful treat for both of you and everyone - a highly, meticulously detailed reenactment of OMWF - ruclips.net/video/1fVt4p5UM-Q/видео.html
Doing OMWF sounds like so much fun!
Sixteen years later and this still has me reaching for Kleenex.
Dave Rhoden Ew.
I get teary eyed to, because like most ppl we have emotions
This scene always gets me. Emma's delivery is just phenomenal. Even with the lack of music, her epic breakdown just hit home. Extremely well written.
Tara's maternal attention towards her grieving friends is adorable ♥♥
My mom died yesterday and this is strangely comforting.
I'm so sorry for your loss
I still have my mom for a little while longer, and it's nice to know that something can BE comforting after losing them.
I lost my Mom 5 years ago, found her on the couch in the middle of the night
I used to love 'The Body' episode so much back then, I'm really scared to watch it again
Ohana understandable and I'm very sorry for your loss and I'm sorry for everyone on this thread for their losses. My deepest condolences to you all. Last year, I lost both my grandmother and my father 5 months apart but in the same year last year. For the most part I'm okay but every now and again I'll think about them mostly my father and I'll get a shiver down my spine and a sudden need to cry. I got the same feeling watching this clip but at the same time it's strangely comforting and discomforting at the same time if that makes any sense.
My mother died 7 years ago when I was 24 we'd lost my 25 year old brother 9 months previous it does get easier just feels very different
One of the best scenes in the entire series. Anya delivered
The 'why'. The way her voice changed. Breaks my heart
Oh, Anya I miss you so much :(
Me too 😭😭
PetalStorm 566
This scene has always moved me nearly to tears but one thing keeps me from that point (sadly). On the IMDB message boards, someone mentioned that while it's touching that Anya is so hurt by Joyce's death....imagine all the scenes like THIS she caused for others as Anyanka. Many men and woman for centuries have also likely been asking why.
STILL a powerful scene but that guy's message lives on to this day.
The way she just asks “why”’ just broken.
This episode man. I have never seen an episode of a TV show or a movie or anything that made me feel a death like that. This entire episode was just so strong...
Emma Caulfield - as she's shown on numerous occasions - is a very gifted comedienne but this scene is easily her best work on this show.
Emma Caulfield has me in floods of tears every time. The sadness and anger in the words 'mortal' and 'stupid' are next level. My dad died when I was 14. I had no idea and was no naive and can absolutely understand the child-like response of disbelief.
Though now a cult classic, Buffy was extremely underrated at the time. Every actor throughout the series has been brilliant at some point. I became a huge Anya fan after this scene and still haven't forgiven Joss for killing her off. Great episode and fantastic series.
Lmao underrated? No it wasn’t. Buffy was a big hit when it was coming out. Popular with audiences, often critically acclaimed, the studio loved it enough to give it the good time slots and a whole spinoff show, and shortly after the show ended it got an ongoing continuation that only ended a couple of years ago, and was promptly followed by a reboot. I don’t think the show was ever really underrated
@@calamariboss8532 - Well, it was a big hit with many people, it was parodied in many TV shows, SMG made it onto The Simpsons as a guest star... but there was still the regular Joe who didn't have an interest in the show and possibly thought it was just a "chick show".
So yeah, both of you are right.
February 27, 2001 first airing
today is February 27, 2021
20 years, and I still cry every single time, and it’s ALWAYS at the finality of Anya’s “well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch...ever.” Just devastating. Stay safe and healthy out there everyone, and let your families know how much you love them as many times (and as much) as possible.
The line where she says Joyce will never brush her hair always breaks my heart a little more ever time I see this. I don't know why 😥
Same.made me cry
This episode and this scene always got me but it wasn't until I lost my mom a few ago on Thanksgiving and this episode was on TV just 2 days ago that it hit me so hard. I was having coffee the morning after the funeral and sobbed when I thought "mom will never get to have coffee anymore or look outside and see the morning sun filter through the blinds or smell Christmas trees" and I just lost it. I wish I could thank the cast. They're helping me grieve.
@@EBrown-cr1grMy heart breaks for you as well. So sorry I didn't see this sooner. I hope you see it though. My mother and I hate each other. But some people have good ones. I send you healing energy.
I love how, when referring to food, Anya talks about simple dishes like eggs and fruit punch rather than a more complex dish like spaghetti and burgers, because sometimes the greatest delicacies are pretty simple and mundane, and Joyce can't even enjoy that anymore.
Brilliant piece of acting. It was such an unexpected moment in a show where people died every few minutes.
The scariest episode of Buffy
Yup!
This speech is exactly how I feel when it comes to grief, especially others' grieving. My roommates just lost their cat, for a very dumb, senseless reason. I liked that cat a lot, but he wasn't my cat. I don't know how to process it. I don't know how to react to them. I don't know what to say. I want to be there for them, but we're not really friends. We used to be, but last year we had a fight that changed that. So I want to say something, I want to do something, I want to be helpful, I want to be there for them. But I don't know what to do. I feel useless. Everything feels meaningless.
And nobody will tell me why.
She deserved an Emmy for this scene.
Tara was my favorite she kept being practical and sweet.
Such a great monologue about death. One of the greatest moments in the series
This episode is still fresh for. I was too young to watch it back then, but now I watched it from the very beginning and on my last season. I'm still crying about the last few episodes that I've seen.
This is EXACTLY how I feel about Chadwick Boseman's passing. He was only 43, that's so young...someone can be there then they aren't. I haven't cried since I found out, but I've watched this and now I'm a mess.
Emma deserves way more recognition. Anya is genuinely innocent to this. She has absolutely no clue what to do. Most people struggle with grief enough as it is. And for Anya it's even more difficult. And later on when Xander leaves her at the alter. That would be devastating for anyone but for Anya it was even worse. She was new to everything. Love, grief, fear, all of it.
Still making me cry in 2022. I can’t even count how many times I’ve watched Buffy from beginning to end. Maybe around 35 times or more! I’m still watching it, it’s like my comfort food. I love Anya, she’s also so great in the episode Selfless Season 7. Emma is amazing!!!!
God, this episode eviscerated me. It was utterly brilliant and agonizing.
Easily one of the BEST scenes of the entire series, this is an amazing performance.
Nothing knocks the supports out from under a person's life like the loss of a parent. Think of all the death that Anya witnessed (even caused) in her 1000 years as a vengeance demon. How long had it been since she lost something she cared about (if ever, as she was a young woman when D'Hoffryn found her. Clearly she had adopted Giles and Joyce as surrogate parents, perhaps even without realizing she was doing it. Joyce's death was not the result of any magical or demonic scheme. It was pointless and cruel in the way that so much death is. Anya is in her way innocent in the face of such loss. A fine scene, perhaps her best.
Pretty much every scooby adopted Joyce and Giles as surrogate parents, but unlike Willow or Xander, Anya hasn't really HAD any parents for 1,000 years, sure there was the demon that turned her, but he was really just her boss/friend. Joyce and Giles were the ones who took her in, and the sudden loss of Joyce for no reason is, like Anya said, stupid and human; which she's right, and that makes it even more tragic.
Loosing a loved one isn't just a sudden burst sadness then you slowly get over it, it's the realization that they're gone, forever, they'll never get to finish their favorite tv show they won't shut up about, they'll never finish that book series, they'll never get to hear their favorite song again, or eat their favorite flavor of ice cream, or make a corny joke/dumb pun, or bitch about the weather, or get hit on, wear their favorite outfit, or build something, or have sex, or sleep in, or badly sing in their car, or trip and fall on their face, or dance, or drink, or anything else. They're just gone, leaving an empty void, as a constant reminder of what they can't do anymore, and Anya pointing it out hurts.
Having lost a parent late last year, I know this very well.
dirdib69 losing a parent is a profoundly sad experience. Even the loss of my grandmother who raised me when my mother couldn't anymore didn't compare to the loss of my mother. There is just that deep a connection.
This scene for me was the one that opened up the water works. I was teary eyed before this in watching the episode but it was Anya who I connected with in the moment. Also the scene where Buffy tells Dawn. This episode was brutally emotional.
I can count the number of classic moments on tv on one hand. The moments that stay with the viewer forever. I am an old man and yet I still find this episode a tough watch. Brilliant script, wonderful acting and probably the best explanation about death there is. You don't have to be a stranger to the mortal World to find death of a loved one so perplexing. Brilliant and moving.
Then she finds the purple sweater stuck underneath her.
I don't know why I always come watch this scene. It's just so powerful, and moving. And I'm not crying you're crying.
I listen to this a couple of times a year. It's always stuck with me. Buffy has gotten me through some rough times.❤
When I watched this episode and this part came up I was so mad at Anya. But I kept watching and I wanted to give her multiple hugs and everybody else. Her reaction reminded me of when my cousin committed suicide. For awhile my thought process was un-centered and I was confused and sad. I didn't have a moment like Anya but I had her confusion kind of like a child's trying to understand serious things.
This whole episode, with Dawn's reaction, the lack of background music, the whole emotional ark that Buffy went through through the whole event...etc, was a piece of masterpiece television. The lack of awards that this episode, SMG and the other actors, and the series as a whole awarded to them, not only for this powerful episode, but all the rest of the sheer fun that they had while making this series is just plain criminal. I wonder if awards for episodes can be awarded retrospectively?
I loved Anya. This scene in particular was amazing because she showed pure humanity.
For me, this will always be one of the most beautifully written & brilliantly acted moments in the show. Anya's struggle to understand death, without warning (instead of death, in the form of vengeance!) & what her role is in it's wake, is absolutely heartbreaking. When she finally breaks down after being snapped at by Willow (who, I guess is the only one permitted to have inappropriate social skills in her time of grief) we're given new insight into her character. ALL of her overly-analytical, too-much-information, NC-17 traits seem less like that of a former demon & more like a fragile, awkward woman, desperately grappling with her emotions. I always had a soft spot for Anya & this scene just cemented my affection...
Also notice Willow looks guilty for snapping at Anya after Anya cries.
What was really depressing about this was how the death makes everything so quiet, like an entire episode with no music, it just makes the death even sadder
The whole episode is my fave episode of Buffy ever xx As much as I love a lot of other series/shows Buffy is my fave show of all time and I don't think people realise how big of an impact and influence it has on shows today be it as an inspiration or for shows that would never have gotten greenlit without the success of Buffy first xx
This hits different after you’ve binged all the early seasons and are fully immersed in the Scoobies’ lives.
Anya Jenkins one of the best and one of my favorite characters on Buffy, i love her so much
This is one of my favourite moments in all of television. This was beautifully written and acted.
Emma's deserve a Emmy for this episode.
Emma Caufield Ford's performance in this monologue is so moving. 😢 as we go through the motions of losing someone we love we fight to ask those questions in our heads when we lost that first person in our life to death. She really pulled our heart strings in this scene and she is such a amazing actor.
AGREED!!!!!🥺🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
I always come back and watch this scene every once in a while. I still find it so moving. I remember this episode and I remember feeling bad for everyone but I was pretty blah until this moment, it was this moment that made me actually cry.
I can't decide which scene in this episode is the best because the entire thing is a master piece.
Emma was so astonishing in this scene.
This is serious masterpiece television. A demon of 300 years faces the mourn with the same attitude of a real human child or a 40 years old.
This scene has just hit me like a sledgehammer to the day that my mum died in 2013, the inner child in me just came out at 54 years of age, and shedding a tear or two. Its just brilliant
To me Anya represents a child when trying to understand death.
I've been watching this episode for years. I saw it when it aired and now everytime I have a Buffy rewatch. I own every season on DVD so every couple months I'll do a rewatch with my daughter. I still cry through out the entire episode. Anyone who doesn't has to be heartless. The way the actors conveyed their sense of loss of Joyce gets me every time.
The break in her voice on "understand" sends chills. Note that the image is on Willow and Xander when it occurs, the reaction is how they and WE feel, we are IN the scene with these folks. Out of this awkward exchange, by the end of this mini-monologue, I am literally crying. Even as she grasps to express herself she nails that state of disbelief and disconnect, evoking a feeling of profound powerlessness, like from our worst traumas of childhood. ("It's stupid." Bullseye, and ingeniously informed by Anya's character.) It's such a desperately *lonely* burst of bewilderment, that questions the meaning of all aspects of human life. Its truly THAT artful, largely because Joss Whedon is (was?) a master at building to a powerful beat that instantly changes the tone of a scene, in a way thats surprising yet natural and unforced. For me, no other writer's dialogue has topped him in this way, among others. God I miss him doing new TV work. This is my favorite episode of television, bar none. A straight up masterpiece.
My mother passed around 20 years ago. She had dementia and stroked out in her nursing home. She was 81.
For a week, I didn't know what to feel. All I knew was I had what felt like this enormous basketball in my stomach - I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep and even getting drunk didn't help. It was like Doctor Who had frozen me in time and space.
Months later, I watched Buffy - The Vampire Slayer, season 5, episode 16, The Body. I wailed like a banshee. I cried so much, I think I ruptured something.
It was as cathartic for me as I hope it is for you if you have to endure such an event. You can concentrate on the mechanics, but you must deal with the grief eventually.
I thank the writers, producers and Sarah Michelle Gellar's sterling performance.
this was honestly one of the most touching moments in that episode :(
This was clearly an epic episode! Great acting from everyone but this vulnerable side of Anya's made me like her even more and it's a gut-wrenching speech.
this scene haunts me to this day. i CRY every time and it's a gut punch. Beautifully acted on all parts and really, so brutally honest. we don't talk about death in our culture.
I cried every time I see Anya’s performance here
her speech hits close to home for a lot of us,! Anya was one of my many favs on this show.!
I love this show and this is one of the most beautiful performances I have ever seen❤
I have had three people close to me die, independently of one another, in the space of five days. I just... needed to see this again. Thanks.
This might not seem like much to you, coming from some stranger on the internet, but I just want to tell you how truely sorry I am for your loss! It is heartbreaking and I wish you a lot of strength to get through this!
This show means more to me than I could ever express. Especially now watching it again decades later in my 30s after loosing my father. Anya is right. No one can ever explain to us why. This scene hurts so bad. What an impact this made on those of us who grew up with Buffy
Love this episode even though it breaks my heart, especially after losing my own mother. Anya is so underrated and this speech is so powerful. I do love the bit of comedy though when she sits on willows shirt! So subtlety done, but just enough to give that little bit of comic relief.
this should be renamed "how to get emotional in under 3 minutes"
This scene always makes me cry I just watched it and I literally have tears in my eyes
This is one of the greatest representations of how a child coming to terms with death can feel. So incredibly worded. She may be an incredibly old former vengeance demon, but still absolutely new to her reinstated humanity.
Hi guys.
This episode was very well put together, dragging the audience away from Vamps and Magics and crashed us back to earth and reality with its beauty and brutality.
Alot of commenters said they were on the Autistic Spectrum and this episode resonated eith them. The general expectation that everybody should automatically understand the nuances of human behaviour and the individual isolating nature of grief.
My daughter is also "Aspie" as she calls it.
I learned the long way, not to take implicit communication for granted. Not everybody picks up on unspoken social convention, and even if they do, somethings' can never be generalised. There is nothing more personal than the way we express emotion.
It's ok to not know.
Regarding those who said that friends "drift away" rather than be explicitly upfront about the issues with you.
That's their inadequacy, not yours.
If they were better friends they would learn about your condition. If they wanted to persue any type of friendship, they would find a way to communicate in a manner which benefits all parties, not the majority.
If you ever want to ask something, then dont question whether you should ask. Just be careful how you word it.
Tell them your confused and you need clarification.
If they dont help you, it's their failing. Not yours.
Blunt is ok, harsh is probably not.
This. I just lost someone very dear to me and I'm feeling every word of this
The most heartbreaking scene in this episode 💔😭
I always feel this way. Especially lately. A few years ago I lost my brother and a friend to a drug overdose. A year before that my bfs brother died of the same thing. Now this past January I lost him in a car accident and idk why these things have to happen. It just hurts.
This scene always cuts me to the heart. It’s so well acted. I hurt for the Scoobies
Everything about Anya just makes me sad, Xander breaking her heart, her falling back into her old ways to cope, the frequent disregard from the gang, and then finally her sudden and unmourned death. Sure, Xander seems sort of sad, sort of, but the emotion of what else was going on with them escaping death and reveling in their victory totally overshadowed any catharsis or sentiment that short exchange with Andrew might have provided. I get what they were going for, it's a realistic death, it shows how much she's grown as a character, etc, I get that argument, but I don't think it was given enough focus (inb4 you say that was the point). It's a lot like Wash's death in Serenity, sudden, the characters have to kind of shrug it off because of what's happening, but Zoey was clearly effected by it and there was a moment after the action for the characters to honor him. We didn't get that for Anya, it's just *stab* dead, we see her body, Andrew tells Xander, who was the only one who asked, and Xander says "That's my girl. Always doin' the stupid thing." in a somewhat sorrowful way and then the moment passes and that's all the reverence that the death of a main character gets. Thirty more seconds is all that was needed, Xander and Anya having a moment when they arrive to the school (one saying to the other "don't get killed" or something) and then more than just Xander giving a shit after she died, maybe he actually sheds a tear and Willow comes over and gives him a hug. Something, anything, I'm just so sore about it.
Anya!!! I cry so much with this 😭😭
This whole episode is true to real life. My mum died two days ago to the hour and I did everything that every character did here in this episode
I know it's been a year but I hope you're holding up ok and have been able to heal a bit (though it never quite goes away).
they kill evil all day long but the innocence and literal feeling of pain when losing someone important and close in your life never can be understood. this episode and scene brings back reality and how humans still cant make sense of life and death is stupid and her speech is so good and the acting is phenomenal and it brings the show into a fragile reality
Emma Caulfield is an absolute legend. The way she was able to portray serious subject matter and comedy was one reason I watched buffy to the end. Anya's initially antagonistic relationship with Willow was also awesome
I was gonna talk about how powerful and unique Anya's character is, but then I realized every character is powerful and unique on this show. Nothing will ever beat Buffy. The best show in the world ever!
I still remember the first time I watched this ep I though it'd be really sad and Sarah was amazing and heartbreaking but I never thought Down would get me, I always hated the character but it was really touching the acting and then Any and this speech are the three more sad moments ever, then Buffy dying and Buffy telling their friends singing how she felt. But when it comes to sadness Sarah Gellar is the most touching and best actress in the show ♥
This is such an amazing scene. So well written and so well acted. The audience is already in a state of shock and so sad about Joyce's death. We all love Anya, but then she starts talking about "the body" and it's so... shocking. We almost hate her naivete in that moment... until we realize that she is just as confused and sad as everyone else. Sooo good.
What I appreciate the more I get older is that NONE of them know what to do or how to act (except Tara) or how to make sense of this or how to cope or what to do. They are ALL in that sense vulnerable and child like...what Anya lacks (which is also something children lack and something some with ASD lack - not that those things are similar but it's why her speech rings of both) is the ability to understand social ritual...if no one understands something and they all have questions, why can't you just ask them? Why do you have to say "I'm so sorry for your loss" stoically over and over and stand silently at the buffet table occasionally saying things like "she's in a better place"? Even her "should I be changing my clothes"...it's "I don't understand death" but it's also "I don't understand why we're doing *this* instead of talking about it"...and that's part of what makes other's judgement of her so heartbreaking when it's revealed she's just confused and sad...because all she wants to do is stop changing shirts and standing around stoically and *talk* about it.
I lost my little sister very suddenly in March of this year (2016). I was going to college and I was on my way back when we got the call she was being rushed to the hospital. She had seizures when she slept sometimes. I went straight from the school to work and while I was at work I got the call saying my brother in law (Other sisters fiance) was coming to pick me up. I found out about her passing in the seating area of the restaurant I worked at. I don't remember much from there to the hospital but I had a mix of shock and denial I guess. My BiL said I asked if he was joking and I didn't believe him at first.
Anya's breakdown reminds me of the whole family. Because it was such a sudden death and she was only 23 we were all left with this mix of confusion and pain we still don't exactly know why she passed, the doctors said it might have been a complication from a seizure but we don't really know. Its going to be Christmas soon, her birthday is the 19th of Dec and this year I have a feeling its going to be a lot harder than I think.
it is stupid coming from a stranger on the internet, maybe, but... be strong. :)
TheLastSane1 my deepest condolences to you.
I'm so sorry :(
My mom is in her deathbed battling renal cancer... This episode is making me cry. I'm actually not myself right now. IDK how to process death so close. It's like accepting that we're alone in the end, and it kinda makes me sad.
I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you have been able to move through the grief.
The whole series was a knockout. What a great show.