Line #15 Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E16TheBody


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/btvs_s5_ep16_thebody.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Where did she go?"'']]
3
4	->''"I don't understand. I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she's, there's just a body, and I don't understand why she can't just get back in it and not be dead any more. It's stupid. It's mortal and stupid, and, and Xander's crying and not talking, and I was having fruit punch and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch, ever. And she'll never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair, not ever and no one will explain to me '''why'''!"''
5	-->-- '''Anya Jenkins'''
6
7	Written & Directed by Creator/JossWhedon
8
9	It should be noted that apart from the intro and end credits, there is no music in this episode whatsoever.
10
11	This is also the only episode that doesn't show Creator/JamesMarsters (Spike) since becoming a regular cast member.
12	----
13	The first scene is the same as the last in [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E15IWasMadeToLoveYou the previous episode]]. Buffy walks in the door, and calls for her mom. She goes into the living room, where Joyce's body is lying on the couch.
14
15	While the credits run, we get a flashback scene to the previous Christmas. The whole cast is there apart from Spike. The gang enjoys dinner as they discuss the horrifying truth about Santa Claus. Buffy and Joyce head into the kitchen to find the pie has burnt and Joyce curses the oven.
16
17	JumpScare back to the present, Buffy tries to wake her mom up. When this fails, she calls 911. The dispatcher sends paramedics and instructs Buffy to perform CPR. This doesn't work either, and even worse, Buffy, with her super strength, accidentally manages to break one of her mother's ribs. The dispatcher tries to assure Buffy not to worry, but when she tearfully explains that Joyce feels "cold," the demeanor of the dispatcher changes and she begins to refer to Joyce as "the body," which upsets Buffy. The dispatcher finally tells her that the ambulance will be with her soon, leading her to hang up and call Giles, telling him only, "She's at the house." The paramedics arrive, and start using equipment to try and revive Joyce. Joyce wakes up suddenly. In the ambulance, Buffy stands beside her mom as the paramedic pronounces it a miracle. In a hospital room, Joyce cradles Dawn as the doctor gives Joyce a clean bill of health...
18
19	[[DaydreamSurprise Buffy snaps back to reality]] to discover that Joyce, despite the paramedics' efforts, still isn't moving. The paramedics eventually take note that Joyce is cold, surmise that their revival attempts will be useless, and officially pronounce Joyce dead. One of the paramedics explains to Buffy, who at this point is only capable of numbly mumbling in response, that her mother may have died from a complication relating to her recent brain tumor and that he will place a call for a coroner. The paramedics then receive a call for assistance and have to leave. After they leave, a dazed Buffy tries to contemplate everything that has just happened, and ends up vomiting on the carpet. Giles arrives, thinking Buffy's call was about [[BigBad Glory]]. When he sees Joyce's body, he tries to revive her. Buffy shouts at him, "We're not supposed to move the body!" It takes a brief moment before the realization of what she just said hits her. Buffy breaks down crying, and Giles tries to comfort her.
20
21	The coroner arrives, zipping Joyce's body into a black body bag. At school, Dawn is crying her eyes out. A friend comforts her, saying that it isn't that bad. Dawn disagrees, saying that [[BaitAndSwitch Kevin called her a freak in front of the whole class]]. They eventually decide to blame [[AlphaBitch Kirstie]] for spreading rumors that Dawn has been cutting herself, and head off to art class, where the art teacher tells the class not to draw the object, but the negative space surrounding it. Dawn is working next to Kevin, who is actually quite friendly and meant "freaky" in a good way, dissing Kirstie and telling Dawn he has also felt the need to do something extreme before. Dawn starts to tell an embarrassing story about Kirstie, only to see Buffy arrive. Buffy takes Dawn outside the classroom. Dawn, confused by what is happening, wants to know where Joyce is, since she was supposed to pick her up after school. Buffy responds that she would rather explain this somewhere more private, but this only prompts Dawn to get upset and demand to know what is going on. The camera stays with the students, who watch through the window. We don't hear Buffy actually tell Dawn, but we see Dawn break down in tears, and we hear her sobs and screams. The camera shows Dawn's negative space sketch, which looks like a crime-scene body outline.
22
23	Joyce is on a slab in the morgue, as the coroner starts cutting open her shirt for the autopsy. Willow and Tara are in their dorm room at UC Sunnydale, sorrowfully waiting for Xander, as Giles by now has contacted everyone and explained what has happened. Willow is fixating on what shirt she should wear--she can't find the blue one that Joyce liked. She starts hyperventilating and crying, and Tara calms her with a ShutUpKiss--their first onscreen kiss. Xander and Anya double-park outside the dorm, and come inside. Xander and Willow hug. Anya asks what they are going to do. The plan is to go to the hospital, where Giles, Buffy, and Dawn are. Xander asks about what Giles said, trying to determine if the death was natural. He first blames Glory, then the doctors. He needs someone to blame. Willow holds up her fists, challenging Xander to a mock fight. Xander calms down a bit, and kisses Willow on the forehead.
24
25	Anya asks if they're going to see the body. The consensus is that they will support Buffy and Dawn, no matter what. Tara leaves to look for Willow's shirt. Anya asks if they're going to cut the body open. Willow yells at her to shut up. Anya breaks down: "I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she's... there's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore. It's ''stupid''. It's mortal and ''stupid''... And Xander's crying and not talking. And I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch, ''ever''. And she'll never have eggs or yawn or brush her hair. Not ''ever''. And no one will explain to me ''why''!"
26
27	Xander moves to comfort Anya, while Willow answers that, "We don't know how it works. Why." Xander puts his hand through the wall. The girls come over, and find that he's stuck. Willow asks if it [[PercussiveTherapy made him feel any better]]. "For a second there." "A whole second?" Willow looks at him, envious of that second of comfort. Xander switches into construction-man mode, commenting on the crappy wallmanship. Tara returns as they manage to extract Xander's fist. It's bleeding. Anya gets bandaids. They leave. Willow returns to change sweaters. Outside, a meter maid tickets Xander's car.
28
29	The autopsy is done. The Scooby Gang assembles in the lobby. Hugs all around. The doctor shows up. Buffy, Giles, and Dawn go to talk to him. He confirms that she died from an aneurysm, probably a complication of the surgery. He says that there was probably very little pain, and even if someone had been there (shot of Joyce collapsing on the couch, Buffy rushing to her side, her safe in the ambulance), there was nothing they could have done. Buffy asks if he's sure that there wasn't any pain. "Absolutely." His lips move out of sync with the next words: "I have to lie to make you feel better." Giles volunteers to take care of the paperwork. Dawn goes to pee. Xander, Anya, and Willow go to get food. Buffy and Tara sit together. Tara reveals that her mother died when she was 17. She doesn't go out and say it, but the message is there: Tara is proof that Buffy can get through this.
30
31	Dawn walks to the morgue, finding her mother's body. Behind her, in what's only there to remind the viewers what show this is, one of the bodies rises from the slab -- a vampire. Dawn turns around.
32
33	In the lobby, Xander, Willow, and Anya return with a ton of food. They notice that Dawn's not there. Buffy goes looking for her, and arrives at the morgue just in time. She grapples with the (naked) vampire, decapitating him with a bonesaw. Dawn stares up at Joyce's body. "Is she cold?" she asks. "It's not her," Buffy says.
34
35	Dawn reaches her hand toward the body's face. "Where'd she go?"
36
37	The episode ends before her hand makes contact.
38
39	----
40	!!Tropes featured in this episode include:
41	* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: The episode is all quiet drama scene. Whedon admits that the action scene was out of place, but he wanted to provide the audience with some action because he knew that particular arc of stories would be fairly lacking in that department.
42	* AllThereInTheScript: This is what Buffy and Dawn say in the scene, where Buffy tells Dawn Joyce is dead:
43	-->'''Buffy''': Mom died this morning. While we were both at school, she–
44	-->'''Dawn''': No...
45	-->'''Buffy''': I don't know exactly what happened, but, she's dead...
46	-->'''Dawn''': No. No, no, no, no, you're lying, you're lying, she's fine, she's fine and you're lying, oh, no, no, please, please, no, you're lying, she's fine, she's fine...
47	-->'''Buffy''': Dawnie...
48	-->'''Dawn''': It's not true, it's not real, it's not real, oh, no...no...
49	* AlphaBitch: Kirstie, though that might just be from Dawn's POV. She actually seems sympathetic to Dawn's breakdown.
50	* AnywhereButTheirLips: Xander kisses Willow on the forehead. It makes sense, given that Willow and Xander are close friends, the kiss is one of comfort, and their significant others are both present. Ironically, Willow and Tara had just shared their first onscreen kiss a few minutes earlier.
51	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The paramedics called the coroner and then left the house instructing Buffy to wait and not move the body. This would ''never'' happen in RealLife. First responders would not leave a body until the coroner arrived and then they hand it off to him or her.
52	** This is HandWaved as there is apparently another emergency they have to respond to. Maybe Sunnydale General is short-staffed on paramedics?
53	** Also, this IS Sunnydale, where the dead have a tendency to rise and kill people around them - policy for the dead in this town may well be to give the dead a grace period to remove themselves before taking them to the morgue.
54	* BadSanta: Anya reveals that Santa Claus is actually a demon who disembowels children in their sleep, resembling Krampus more than the traditional Saint Nick.
55	* BaitAndSwitch: The first cut to Dawn shows her crying in her school bathroom. The audience is meant to assume she's crying about Joyce, but then her friend says she doesn't think it's a big deal, which is a strange thing to say about someone's parent dying. Turns out Dawn is crying about something another student said in class, and hasn't heard the news about Joyce yet.
56	* BlatantLies: Buffy instantly realizes the doctor's false reassurance of Joyce dying painlessly is this.
57	* BondingOverMissingParents: Tara relates to Buffy's situation and tells her that she lost her mother when she was seventeen.
58	* BottleEpisode: No soundtrack, mostly set indoors, and exactly one instance of special effects (the vampire turning to dust). A solid contender for "most depressing example of all time."
59	* BrickJoke:
60	** Anya finds Willow's blue shirt. Unaware that Willow's been desperately searching for it, she tucks it in a drawer.
61	** Anya tells Xander that he's double-parked when they visit Willow and Tara. Xander says, "Let them give me a ticket." As the quartet leaves the dorm, we see a parking enforcer doing just that.
62	* CallingYourBathroomBreaks: Dawn says she has to go pee (actually because she wants to see her mother in the morgue). Buffy offers to go with her, and she replies coldly, "No, I still remember how to pee."
63	* ChristmasEpisode: A flashback shows the Scoobies celebrating Christmas for the last time.
64	* ComfortFood: The Scoobies come back with armloads of soda, chips, chocolate and sandwiches.
65	-->'''Willow:''' We panicked.
66	* ContinuityNod:
67	** During the Christmas dinner flashback, Giles asks Joyce if it's safe to open a second bottle of wine (that only the two of them will be sharing). Buffy says she's fine with them getting tipsy, [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E6BandCandy as long as they don't have any band candy]].
68	** Xander reminds Willow, Tara, and Anya that Glory [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E12Checkpoint had previously threatened Buffy's family]], insisting that she may very well have killed Joyce and covered her tracks. Willow shoots that possibility down, pointing out Glory would ''want'' them to know she did it.
69	* CPRCleanPrettyReliable:
70	** Averted. Not only is Buffy's attempt far too late, but she breaks one of her mother's ribs thanks to her Slayer strength.
71	** Buffy also tries to perform CPR on a soft surface, and the paramedic barely looks like he's trying--he's probably doing it just for Buffy's sake and knows it's pointless.
72	* CurseCutShort: Dawn is about to tell Kevin how Kirsty was mispronouncing "Annals", when Buffy interrupts her.
73	* DaydreamSurprise: The paramedics' CPR is successful and Joyce makes a quick and full recovery in the hospital--SmashCut back to the living room, where Joyce continues to be unresponsive.
74	* DeathIsSuchAnOddThing: The long pauses and fragmented dialogue give the whole episode this feeling, but Anya's bewildered reaction most clearly demonstrate this trope.
75	* DiesWideOpen: Buffy finds Joyce lying on a couch after her sudden death with wide-open eyes. The episode makes a point of ''not'' having anyone close Joyce's eyes for her; they remain open throughout the episode. The episode also opens each act with a shot of Joyce's corpse in which her eyes are staring right at the viewer.
76	* DyingAlone: Buffy blames herself for not being there in her mother's last moments.
77	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The episode takes place entirely in real time, which means it covers roughly forty minutes - barring the Christmas flashback that plays over the opening credits.
78	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Intentional or not, next season we'd see another example of a main character dying of non-supernatural means, one just as if not more tragic.
79	* FullFrontalAssault: The vampire rises in the morgue post-autopsy, and naturally goes after Dawn without bothering to put anything on first.
80	* TheGlomp: Seeing everyone else giving supporting hugs, Anya suddenly glomps Giles. He's surprised, but returns the hug.
81	* GutPunch: The whole damn episode. Not only is a major beloved member of the family KilledOffForReal, but the entire episode is spent with everyone else experiencing the realistic emotional fallout of a bereavement in excruciating detail.
82	* ImagineSpot:
83	** When the coroners are working on Joyce, Buffy has time to imagine them resuscitating her, rushing her to the hospital and the doctor giving her a clean bill of health, even though she's already unconsciously aware that it's too late.
84	** Later, the coroner says that even if Buffy had been in the room for Joyce's collapse--flash to Joyce falling and Buffy calling 911 in time to save her--there probably wasn't anything anyone could have done. Subverted in that Buffy imagines him telling her he's lying to make her feel better.
85	* ImmediateSequel: Buffy tries to wake up Joyce after finding her at the end of the previous episode.
86	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Anya asks questions about things like what the group will be expected to do at the funeral or whether or not Joyce's body will be cut open, which upsets everyone until Anya breaks down in tears and reveals that she's asking because she ''genuinely doesn't know''; having been a vengeance demon until a couple of years prior, she no longer knows how to process the concept of death. Once the others realize this, they comfort her as best as they are able.
87	* InstantEmergencyResponse: Averted; after dispatching the ambulance, the 911 operator stays on the line to guide Buffy through CPR for several minutes. After that fails, Buffy has time to hang up and call Giles before the paramedics arrive.
88	* ItsQuietTooQuiet: The episode deals with the (non-supernatural) death of Joyce and has absolutely no music in it at all, apart from opening and closing credits. The entire episode feels unnaturally quiet, and the effect is more than a little unsettling.
89	* ItsWhatIDo: Xander says "the [[AvengersAssemble Avengers have to get with the assembly]]" to support Buffy. "It's what we do." Also a CallBack to what Xander said in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E1TheFreshman The Freshman]]."
90	* IWantMyMommy: When Joyce doesn't wake up, Buffy says, "Mom? Mom? ...Mommy?" before she has a FreakOut and desperately tries to shake her awake.
91	* ItIsDehumanizing: Buffy is horrified at herself for referring to Joyce as "the body".
92	* KilledOffForReal: Joyce, and not via anything supernatural that the Scoobies might have been able to find a counter for.
93	* LayoutOfASeason: As per the formula, the 15th episodes have a tendency to pull a mid-season shift of major proportions. In this episode, Buffy's ill mother, Joyce, is confirmed to have died from a brain aneurysm.
94	* LifeWillKillYou: After 5 seasons filled with all types of dramatic deaths, Joyce dies a quiet death from natural causes.
95	* MakeAWish: The significance of Anya - who's spent a thousand years torturing people by fulfilling wishes - blurting out "I wish that Joyce didn't die!" is lost on Xander, but not on Buffy.
96	-->'''Xander:''' Anya, ever the wordsmith.\
97	'''Buffy:''' ''[sincerely]'' Thank you.
98	* ManHug: Between Giles and Xander, who had previously avoided hugging after Joyce's surgery in "Into the Woods". Here neither has a problem with hugging when they meet at the hospital.
99	* ManlyTears
100	-->'''Anya:''' ''[softly]'' Xander cried at the apartment. It was weird.\
101	'''Willow:''' ''[DeathGlare]'' I-i-it's a, it's a thing we do.
102	* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Dawn goes into the morgue to look at her mother's dead body and a vampire silently rises from under a sheet in the background.
103	* MoodDissonance: Seen with the Christmas flashback, and Dawn before she's informed of Joyce's death--where the episode uses several ''Series/{{Buffy\|The Vampire Slayer}}'' {{Running Gag}}s (e.g. NotSoDire, and LastSecondWordSwap) to heighten the tragedy that the audience already knows has occurred.
104	* MoodWhiplash: An unintentional example: the episode has no score, which adds to the harsh realism of an emotionally devastating story. Except nobody bothered to remove the loud, upbeat theme song from the end credits. It's somewhat jarring.
105	* MyDadCanBeatUpYourDad: Dawn is upset about an AlphaBitch at school and says, "You know, my big sister could really beat the crap out of her. [[SuperStrength I mean, really, really...]]"
106	* NotMeThisTime: Xander brings up the possibility that Glory is responsible for Joyce's death. The others quickly shoot it down, reasoning that if it had been Glory, she would have wanted them all to know it.
107	* NotSoDire: Buffy says she'll have to tell Dawn about her mother's death. Dawn is then shown in tears... about something mean a classmate said about her. She rallies herself and returns to class, only for Buffy to enter with the news, whereupon Dawn breaks down completely.
108	* NothingIsScarier: The episode has very little actually happening, making it that much more depressing. And of course, since this is Buffy, nobody is safe from further abuse, even the fans. So it also eliminates ''the background soundtrack'' to remove the ''possible relief of tension it could provide''. The effect is, shall we say, powerful.
109	* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: Doesn't get much more this trope than losing your mom (especially like ''this'').
110	* OffWithHisHead: Buffy decapitates the vampire with a surgical saw.
111	* OhCrap: Again, played for drama. Also serves as a reminder that SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct--in the space of three words, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar transforms from an ass-kicking 20-something woman to a terrified little girl.
112	-->'''Buffy:''' Mom? Whatcha doin'? ''[worried]'' Mom? ''[dawning horror]'' Mom? ''[terrified]'' Mommy?
113	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Probably the only time we see Buffy panicking in the entire series is when she finds her mother dead.
114	* TheOner: The entire first part of the episode between the Christmas flashback and the DaydreamSurprise is filmed in one take.
115	* OutOfGenreExperience: The episode is a "pure" drama with no supernatural elements until the last few minutes.
116	* PleaseWakeUp: When Joyce doesn't respond to Buffy calling her, Buffy starts desperately shaking her. She starts screaming for her mom before calling 911 for assistance.
117	* PowerfulAndHelpless: Buffy, the superpowered monster hunter who can easily handle vampires and demons... is unable to do anything when she comes home and finds her mother on the couch, dead from a brain aneurysm. Buffy is left nigh-catatonic, wondering how long Joyce had been in the house and if she could have been saved, even as the doctors state that the aneurysm was very sudden and there's nothing Buffy could have done even if she had been at her mother's side at the time.
118	* PreviouslyOn: Averted, at least involving clips from previous episodes. Instead the moment when Buffy walks in the door and finds her dead mother is shown again in full, with [[ImmediateSequel events proceeding directly from there]].
119	* PunchAWall: Xander puts his fist into the wall, gets it stuck, and suffers bleeding knuckles when the Scoobies help him extract it.
120	* RealityHasNoSoundtrack: The episode has absolutely no music, apart from the theme tune during the opening and closing credits. However, the rest of the series has music like normal, making it really stand out.
121	* RuleOfSymbolism:
122	** The camera pans to Dawn's 'negative space' drawing in art class after she breaks down crying at the news of her mother's death.
123	** Negative space is also employed prominently in many shots. Most noticeable when Buffy cannot look the paramedic in the face, during the awkward silence before Tara tells Buffy of her mother's death, and in the last shot between Dawn and Joyce.
124	* SceneryDissonance: Joyce died on a bright sunny day. The scene of Buffy wandering around the kitchen after the [=EMTs=] leave is so bright that it's almost overexposed.
125	* SeriousBusiness: Dawn freaking out because a boy she fancies said she was freaky.
126	* ASharedSuffering: Tara tells Buffy of how her own mother died when she was 17.
127	* ShooOutTheClowns: A possible reason for Spike's absence from the episode.
128	* ShoutOut: Anya holds a toy in Willow's dorm room of Japanese character Anime/{{Kogepan}}.
129	* ShuttingUpNow: Tara starts to talk at the dinner table about how Willow likes to have her belly rubbed, then quickly realizes she's getting into lurid territory.
130	** She does this again at the hospital, thinking she's overstepped her bounds telling Buffy about her mother dying (the two, while friendly, weren't particularly close before this). Buffy instead asks her questions about her experience, the first time she's really began to open up to anyone since Joyce died.
131	* ShutUpKiss: Tara kisses a distraught Willow to calm her down.
132	* SmashCut: Several of these are used for MoodWhiplash effect.
133	* StressVomit: Buffy throws up on the carpet, halfway to the kitchen, after the paramedics leave.
134	* SweepsWeekLesbianKiss: Noticeably averted. The first onscreen Willow/Tara kiss was neither [[TonightSomeoneKisses advertised in advance]] nor played for {{fanservice}}.
135	* ThatCameOutWrong: Again played seriously, with Buffy blurting out to Giles, "You're not supposed to move the body!" then her horrified look when she realizes what she just said.
136	* ThousandYardStare: Buffy spends most of the episode in complete shock.
137	* TitleDrop: Done numerous times.
138	* VerySpecialEpisode: Averted. From the start of writing the series, Creator/JossWhedon asserted that it would never have a one of these. He wasn't interested in finding a life-affirming lesson. Rather, he wanted to capture the isolation and boredom involved in the minutes and hours after finding a loved one has died, what he termed "the black ashes in your mouth numbness of death". He did not intend to resolve any religious or existential questions about the end of life, but wanted to examine the process in which a person becomes a mere body.
139	* VomitDiscretionShot: Buffy ducks out of the bottom of the frame to StressVomit. As she numbly attempts to clean it up, all that is seen is what soaks through the paper towels.
140	* WakingUpAtTheMorgue: In what has to be a fairly regular occurrence in Sunnydale, a vampire rises post-autopsy and goes looking for his first meal [[FullFrontalAssault in the buff]].
141	* WaxingLyrical: Willow's line "Strong like an Amazon?" refers to the song "Amazons" by Phranc, the "all-American Jewish lesbian folksinger" and record-holding Tupperware Lady. Willow is quoting the line of the chorus. Creator/JossWhedon reveals this in the DVDCommentary, but insists he didn't choose this song because of Willow's, Tara's, and Phranc's sexual orientation.[[invoked]]
142	* WhamEpisode:
143	** The sudden death of Joyce Summers. The episode is structured such that you feel the Wham in ''every second'' of it.
144	** Also an aversion in a meta sense. While NothingIsTheSameAnymore after this episode, censors and the media initially completely missed the significance of Tara and Willow's kiss.
145	* ZippingUpTheBodybag: The second act begins with Joyce's body, [[DiesWideOpen once again staring into the camera]], being zipped up and taken away.

Context Recap / BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E16TheBody