2.3 School Hard

Plot Synopsis (Display)

Highlights

• First time we see Spike, he crashes his car over the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign on to the verge, then gets out, lights a cigarette and says 'Home Sweet Home'.

Pop Culture References

The name of episode is based on its similarity to the movie Die Hard, where a group of supposed terrorists take over a building, and a lone hero has to use all his strength and guile to defeat them, generally by crawling through air-conditioning ducts and lift shafts.

Spike: "People still fall for that Anne Rice routine?"
Refers to the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, especially the first in the series 'Interview with the Vampire', which portray vampires as more sympathetic characters than one might expect, even as tortured souls striving to find beauty in the lives they are forced to take to survive.

Spike: "You think you can fool me?! You were my sire, man! You were my... Yoda!"
Refers to Yoda, the Jedi Master from the Star Wars movies, who trains and mentors other Jedi Knights, including the young Luke Skywalker.

Nice Touches

• In the banner-painting scene, Buffy's hair is twisted up out of the way - and if you look closely, you can see that the knot is secured by a paintbrush.
• Later in that same scene, Giles does his usual "leaning over the desk" bit to talk some sense into Buffy - only the banner on the desk is still wet and he subtly lifts his hands and tries to wipe the paint off them, while continuing his lecture.

What We Learn

• From his conversation with the police officer towards the end of the episode, it's clear Snyder knows about vampires.

Nitpicks

• Buffy rushes straight off the dance floor when Spike says someone is being bitten outside, but when she arrives to attack the vampire, she is wearing a jacket. Did she really stop to put on her coat when someone's life was in danger?
• Buffy and Willow are studying at the Bronze, and their table is covered in books and folders. However, moments later, when Xander rushes in to get Buffy a stake, the bag he rummages through is on a table by itself. Either Buffy left her bag on an unattended table while they were studying and dancing, or some other girl conveniently happened to have a stake in her handbag.
• Although I used the word 'deft' to describe Buffy's cucumber-sliceage, that was really just a bit of poetic licence. If you look closely, she was actually pretty rubbish at it - shouldn't the Slayer have a little more coordination?
• How come the stacks, reached up a flight of steps from a ground-floor library, manage to have a cellar behind them?

Buffy-Speak

Buffy: I spent a good part of my allowance on this new cream rinse, and it's neither creamy nor rinsey.

Willow: You're not focussed - it's Angel-missage.