"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Help (2002)

Director:

Rick Rosenthal

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator)
Rebecca Rand Kirshner (written by)

TV Series:

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)

Original Air Date:

15 October 2002 (Season 7, Episode 4)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Buffy begins a new job as school counsellor at Sunnydale High. On her first day she encounters a troubled young girl who is convinced she is about to die.

Plot Keywords:

Sister Sister Relationship | Heroine | Female Protagonist | Lesbian | Demon

Cast

  (Episode Cast overview, first billed only)

Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Emma Caulfield	...	Anya (credit only)
Michelle Trachtenberg	...	Dawn Summers
James Marsters	...	Spike
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Azura Skye	...	Cassie Newton
Zachery Ty Bryan	...	Peter Nicols (as Zachery Bryan)
Glenn Morshower	...	Mr. Newton
Rick Gonzalez	...	Tomas
Kevin Christy	...	Josh
Sarah Hagan	...	Amanda
Beth Skipp	...	Lulu (scenes deleted)
Anthony Harrell	...	Matthew
Jarrett Lennon	...	Martin Wilder

Runtime:

42 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Company:

Mutant Enemy

Trivia:

The book Cassie Newton is reading, "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., deals with a alien race who can view the future as they travel through their lives in a non-linear time, but have no free will; much like Cassie knows what will happen but cannot change her fate.

Quotes:

Xander Harris: Figuring out how to control your magic seems a lot like hammering a nail. Well, uh, hear me out. So you're hammering, right? If you hold the end of the hammer, you have the power, but no control. It takes, like, two strokes to hit the nail in, or you could hit your thumb.
Willow Rosenberg: Ouch.
Xander Harris: So you choke up. Control, but no power. It could take, like, ten strokes to knock the nail in. Power, control. It's a tradeoff.
Willow Rosenberg: That's actually not a bad analogy.
Xander Harris: Thanks.
Willow Rosenberg: Except I'm less worried about hitting my thumb, and more worried about going all black-eyed baddy and bewitching that hammer into cracking my friends' skulls open like coconuts.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References "Doogie Howser, M.D." (1989)

Incredible episode

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

---Some major spoil-age and stuff---

This Buffy episode is definitely one of my favorites. It accomplishes quite a few things. 1. It introduces Amanda, a future slayer, although you don't find that out until the episode "Potential." 2. It really proves that the Buffy world is destiny-based. 3. It shows Dawn as an actual character(really this was the first episode that I truly acknowledged her as a scoobie) 4. It shows that regardless of whether Buffy's attending or not, Highschool will always be hell, especially for those that are 'different.' 5. It shows that cults that Buffy appeared to have brought down were still up and running (The highschool boys summon a demon that is in many ways like the demon that the Fraternity in the Season two episode, Reptile Boy, attempted to sacrifice Buffy and Cordelia to.) This episode actually made me cry at the end. Also the fact that Cassie was psychic paved the way for a load of foreshadowing and stuff. For instance Cassie tells Spike, "She'll tell you," referring to the final episode, "Chosen" in which Buffy finally tells Spike that she loves him. So in short this episode was amazing and probably in the top 10, at least in my eyes.