Smashed (Buffy episode)
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| “Smashed” | |||||||
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |||||||
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 9 |
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| Written by | Drew Z. Greenberg | ||||||
| Directed by | Turi Meyer | ||||||
| Guest stars | Danny Strong (Jonathan) Adam Busch (Warren) Tom Lenk (Andrew) Amber Benson (Tara) Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy) |
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| Production no. | 6ABB09 | ||||||
| Original airdate | November 20, 2001 | ||||||
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| List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes | |||||||
"Smashed" is the 9th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
Willow, sad and lonely without Tara, figures out a way to turn the metamorphosed Amy from a rat back into human. Feeling newly liberated, they decide to go out and have some fun. In the meantime, Spike discovers that the chip in his head gives him no pain when he punches Buffy. After verifying that the chip appears undamaged and still causes him agony when he harms humans, Spike tells Buffy she is no longer quite human, that she "came back wrong."
Willow and Amy go over to The Bronze where a couple of guys try to intimidate them. They perform a spell on the boys to make fun of them, but soon they begin to perform more and more complex spells and the Bronze fills with weird things, strangely dressed people, mutations and so on. Willow is beginning to have a taste of her real power and she likes it.
Spike assaults Buffy and they battle until Buffy unleashes her desire and kisses him, initiating such violent sex that the abandoned house in which they were fighting collapses around them.
[edit] Acting
[edit] Main cast
- 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
[edit] Recurring role
- Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
- Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells
- Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson
- Adam Busch as Warren Mears
- Elizabeth Anne Allen as Amy Madison
[edit] Production details
Steve Tartalia, James Marsters' stunt double, says he knocked himself out during the last scene, in which Buffy and Spike fall through the ceiling. "On that fall," he says, "our legs got tangled in the breakaway ceiling, and it caused us to tilt at an angle so that my head would be the first thing to hit the ground. And it did, and it knocked me out. Basically, I came to with some flashlights and smelling salts."[1] Stunt coordinator John Medlen also hurt himself during this episode, while demonstrating how Spike should swing from the chandelier. The chandelier broke, he fell 7 feet, and the chandelier landed on his face, breaking his nose.[1]
A longer, more intense lovemaking scene was originally filmed for the finale of the episode, but cut out. The clip still makes the rounds occasionally in Whedonverse fan circles.
[edit] Writing
In his DVD commentary, writer Drew Z. Greenberg says that in his original conception of Willow's confrontation with the homophobic men at The Bronze, he intended for Willow to cast a spell on the men so that they couldn't stop kissing each other. Joss Whedon vetoed the idea because he did not want to portray people's sexuality as changing in an instant and he did not want to portray same-sex kissing as a punishment.
[edit] Music
- Halo Friendlies - "Run Away"
- Roxy Music - "Avalon"
- Virgil - "Here"
- Virgil - "Parachute"
- Virgil - "Vermillion Borders"
[edit] Euphemisms
Three consecutive episode titles in the sixth season are euphemisms for drunkenness or being under the influence of narcotics in American English: Smashed, Wrecked, and Gone. Willow's descent into her addiction to magic becomes dizzying and frightening.
[edit] Cultural references
- Xander is looking at a D&D manual.
- The geeks talk about Red Dwarf and Doctor Who.
- The boys calling Willow 'Ellen' was a reference to Ellen Degeneres who, like Willow, is a lesbian.
[edit] Translations
- Italian title: "Il diamante ghiacciato" ("The Frozen Diamond")
- German title: "Alte Feinde, neue Freunde?" ("Old Enemies, New Friends?")
- French title: "Écarts de conduite" ("Misdemeanours")
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
- This episode marks the beginning of Spike and Buffy's sexual relationship.
- Amy is returned to being human after being a rat since the middle of the third season.
- It also marks Willow's conscious slide into using magic casually and dangerously. Because she is lonely after losing Tara, using magic becomes a comfort and a way for her to feel powerful and in control of her world. Transfiguring Amy from rat to woman gives her a friend who won't monitor her overusing and abusing magic and thus, Willow freely gives into her darkest impulses. As Anya says, "Responsible people are so concerned with being good all the time that when they finally get a taste of being bad, they can't get enough." Willow, who has been the most dependable of the Scoobies up to this point, can't get enough, which leads her to irresponsibility and addiction as the season progresses.
- Both Buffy and Willow are out of control -- their fears about themselves become what leads Buffy and Willow into a destructive relationships, one sexually, one magically. Unlike other seasons, where Buffy and Willow are shown having long conversations, there are few times in season 6 when Buffy and Willow actually confide in each other and speak honestly. Buffy approaches Willow to have a serious conversation in this episode, but Amy's presence throws her off and she leaves without having voiced anything real. Thus, this episode typifies the season-long theme that self-involvement often leads to self-destruction.
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse chronology: Fall 2001 - December 2001 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| L.A., 2001 | Buffy/Angel novel: Cursed |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.01 Heartthrob |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy UPN promos: Scooby Gang talk about Buffy |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.01 Bargaining, Part One |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.02 Bargaining, Part Two |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.02 That Vision Thing |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.03 After Life |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Sanctuary |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.03 That Old Gang of Mine |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.04 Flooded |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.04 Carpe Noctem |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy comic: Reunion |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.05 Life Serial |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.05 Fredless |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel Willow & Tara: Wilderness |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy book: Blood and Fog |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.06 All the Way |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: Note from the Underground |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.06 Billy |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel anthology book:The Longest Night |
| Sunnydale, L.A., Monster Island, 2001 | Buffy/Angel novel: Monster Island |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Endangered Species |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Impressions |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.07 Once More, with Feeling |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.07 Offspring |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.08 Tabula Rasa |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.08 Quickening |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.09 Smashed |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.09 Lullaby |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.10 Wrecked |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.10 Dad |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.11 Gone |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.11 Birthday |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: Creatures of Habit |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: Death of Buffy: Withdrawal |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.12 Doublemeat Palace |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.12 Provider |
[edit] References
- ^ a b G, Maria (18 July 2007), The Job - This Month's Victim: Steve Tartalia (James Marsters' Stunt Double), <http://www.whedonopolis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=126&Itemid=38>. Retrieved on 20 October 2007
[edit] External links
- "Smashed" at the Internet Movie Database
- "Smashed" at TV.com
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