Life Serial

Infobox Television episode
Title=Life Serial


Series=Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season=6
Episode=5
Airdate=October 23 2001
Production=6ABB05
Writer=David Fury & Jane Espenson
Director=Nick Marck
Guests=Anthony Stewart Head
(Giles)
Danny Strong
(Jonathan)
Adam Busch
(Warren)
Tom Lenk
(Andrew)
Amber Benson
(Tara)
Episode list=List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Prev=Flooded
Next=All the Way

"Life Serial" is the 5th episode of season 6 of the television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Plot synopsis

ummary

Jonathan, Warren and Andrew have a competition to test Buffy's skills. Buffy abandons the idea of college when it proves too daunting, then gets fired from her construction job when the Trio summons demons who destroy the job site. She tries to work at The Magic Box, but the Trio casts a time loop spell on her and she quits. Discouraged, she gets drunk with Spike, whereby she accidentally discovers she was being tested by the Trio.

Expanded overview

Buffy returns from her visit with Angel, but doesn't want to talk about it. Instead, the Scoobies discuss Buffy's future plans. Not knowing what she wants to do in life, Buffy agrees to audit the classes Willow and Tara are taking until the next semester starts.

The Trio prepares for its competition to test Buffy, setting up their van with high-tech monitoring equipment.

At school, Buffy finds herself overwhelmed by a class she takes with Willow. Buffy later meets up with Tara for Art History, but before class begins Warren tags her with a tiny device that causes time to fast-forward. Buffy is dazed as the world whizzes around her; when she finally notices the device Warren planted on her, it self-destructs and puts Buffy back in normal time.

Buffy works with Xander at his construction job, telling him about the time situation at school before she's introduced to Tony, the boss. Andrew summons demons from the van, which trash the construction site before Buffy kills them. Xander gets mad at Buffy for bringing slaying to his work place and then Buffy is promptly fired.

Buffy learns about working at The Magic Box from Giles and Anya as Jonathan begins a spell to loop time. Buffy assists a man with a candle sale and then goes downstairs to fetch a live mummy hand for a female customer. The hand attacks her and she is forced to kill it, which also kills the sale. Events start to repeat themselves, as Buffy must help the customers and fight the mummy hand over and over again. She's stuck in an unsolved dilemma, but soon Buffy is able to end the spell by telling the woman she'll order the hand instead of going downstairs to fight with the one they already have. Stressed out by the repeating time and the job itself, Buffy walks out. All the while, the three villains keep scores on their Buffy attacks.

Later that night, Buffy gets drunk with Spike at his crypt. Completely hammered, Buffy goes with Spike to a bar where he plays poker (using kittens as currency) and searches for information. After the poker game ends badly, Buffy rants to Spike about the new low her life has reached with her inability to understand school or get a decent job. Buffy and Spike notice a black van; the Trio notices Buffy approaching with alarm.

A fake demon appears from behind the van and threatens Buffy, but it's beaten down while the van drives away. With the use of smoke to confuse the slayer and vampire, the demon (Jonathan in disguise) runs away. Buffy begins to recover from her drunken state and complains to Giles about her life. He consoles her and offers her a check to help pay for all the expenses. Buffy's happy that Giles will always be there, but the look on Giles's face suggests that he might not always be.

Acting

tarring

*Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
*Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
*Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins
*Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers
*James Marsters as Spike
*Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

pecial guest star

*Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

*Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
*Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells
*Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson
*Adam Busch as Warren Mears

Co-starring

*Paul Gutrecht as Tony
*Noel Albert Guglielmi as Vince
*Enrique Almeida as Marco
*Jonathan Goldstein as Mike
*Winsome Brown as Woman Customer
*Christopher May as Male Customer
*David J. Miller as Rat-Faced Demon
*Andrew Cooper Wasser as Slime-Cover Demon
*Richard Beatty as Small Demon
*James C. Leary as Clem/Loose Skinned Demon
*Jennifer Shon as Rachel
*Jabari Hearn as Steve
*Derrick McMillon as Ron
*Clint Culp as Bartender
*Mark Ginther as Horned Demon
*Alice Dinnean as Mummy Hand (as Alice Dinnean Vernon)

Production details

Music

*Masticators - "Kidnapper Song"
*Murder City Devils - "Boom Swagger Boom"
*John Williams - "Star Wars Theme." The trio of geeks use the theme for their van horn.

Translations

* Italian title: "Sotto esame" ("Under examination")
* German title: "Die Zeitschleife" ("The time loop")
* French title: "Tous contre Buffy" ("All Against Buffy")

Cultural references

* The title of the episode is a pun on the breakfast cereal Life.

*Logan's Run: When Warren plants the time dilation device on Buffy, he uses the codename "Logan 5".

* Monty Python's Parrot Sketch: During the time loop sequence, Warren paraphrases this famous sketch when he says, "This is an ex-mummy hand!"

* : Andrew describes the time loop they have put Buffy into as being "like that episode of TNG" in which the Enterprise-D continually explodes ("Cause and Effect").

* X-Files: Warren responds, "Or Mulder, in that "X-Files" where the bank kept exploding" (Season 6 episode "Monday").

* James Bond: The Trio have a protracted argument over actors who have played James Bond: Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. Warren insists that "Moonraker" was inexcusable. "Dr. No", the first film of the bond series, is also mentioned.

* Star Wars: Andrew spray paints a mural of the Death Star from "Return of the Jedi" on the side of the Trio's van, and the van's horn plays the "Star Wars" main theme.

* Tara makes reference to watching "SpongeBob SquarePants" with Willow to Buffy during Buffy's speed problems at college.

* The scene where the Trio summons the demon from the side of the van is mimicked in an Alltell Wireless commercial where three nerds summon a wizard who is painted on the side of their van to attack a sales clerk.

Quotes and trivia

* Alice Dinnean, the puppeteer who operates the baby demons, also operated the living mummy hand in the episode "Life Serial" and the Angel puppet in the "Angel" episode "Smile Time".

Continuity

Arc significance

* Crossover with "Angel": A meeting between Buffy and Angel takes place immediately before this episode (between the corresponding Angel episodes "Carpe Noctem" and "Fredless". It is the subject of Jane Espenson's "Buffy/Angel" comic, "Reunion".

* The good demon Clem, who will later befriend Buffy and the other Scoobies, appears for the first time playing kitten poker. He is credited as "Loose Skinned Demon".

* Though it could have been inferred from previous episodes, the specialties of all of the Trio members are established; Warren's is technology, Andrew's is demon summoning, and Jonathan's is magic.

* Buffy's comment about Giles "always being there" and Giles reaction is the first example we see of his concerns about her attitude toward him and his reason for eventually leaving.

Timing

*Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

External links

*
*