Which song was your fave!? Intro music “Prince” by Amari Leone! Check them out here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/lZembK9_0JvWlas.html open.spotify.com/artist/4yrwvORh4v5WCkTp4VrIGr?si=grT_m0rmR-CMSdbvWwle-g

Sweet's "say you're happy now, once more with feeling" is the single greatest "fuck you" delivered on this show.

The actor who played Sweet, Hinton Battle, actually won 3 Tonys. He passed away last month.

I think Buffy’s last line is the most important thing to remember going forward “This isn’t real, but I just want to feel”

This, Hush and The Body are commonly thought of as the best episodes. But I think the next episode should be up there too.

THEY GOT THE MUSTARD OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!

Sweet has the distinction of being one of only a handful of demons who antagonized the crew and just flat out came out on top. At no point in this episode is he ever in danger and he only leaves when he finds out the wrong person made the pact.

THE musical episode. 100% content, all character development, not a wasted line, or superfluous song.

Anya's jab at Xander about his penis having diseases from some tribe was in reference to the season 4 thanksgiving episode when the Indian spirits gave Xander syphilis.

I actually think if Cordelia stayed on Buffy all their communication issues would be solved cos she would smack everyone back into reality 😂

This episode is the reason “musical episodes” are common nowadays. They weren’t the first to do it, but they did popularize it! Prior to this, musical episodes were considered to be a joke but “Once More with Feeling” showed that story and development can be shown through song. The theme of communicating without communicating is present throughout the whole show (ex. Hush).

Chris nails it completely. This is exceptional storytelling- to reveal/resolve all the issues and character arcs that were currently in flux, they would have had to do it over 2-3 heavy episodes. Instead, they managed to do it all in one, in an original and engaging manner. Stellar writing, the cast did a great job, amazing episode! Looking forward to next week…

I can't remember who on the couch said it in season 1 reaction, but they were like 'this show better not have a musical'. My laughter has now settled.

I agree with Suraj here 25:59. If you pay attention to Buffy's and Spike's interactions together, she's attracted to unhealthy ways of wanting to "feel" again. Also, when Buffy sang "I just want to feel" while Spike stated how she made him feel [since he's in love with her], that blatantly states the reasons they kissed each other. Buffy is using Spike to feel something again after dying and is attracted to him, while Spike has real feelings for her.

Spike stopping Buffy from killling herself, the look in his eye, his voice, really got me through some tough times.

Lethe’s bramble is a reference to the Lethe, a river in the Underworld in Greek Mythology. Anyone who drank from that river would forget everything they knew

Chris had the PERFECT explanation of why this episode works so well and the incredible storyboarding points it was able to tackle because of the concept.

The best musical episode of all time. It actually progresses the story, unlike other musical episodes of tv.

R.I.P. Hinton Battle. He was 67. ( Nov 29, 1956 - Jan 30, 2024 ) He played the red demon, Sweet. He was the first to portray the Scarecrow in the stage version of The Wiz ( a role then taken on by Michael Jackson in the 1978 film adaptation ). In honor of Battle, the Broadway League announced all 41 Broadway theaters would dim their marquee lights on March 12, 2024. Dimming the lights of Broadway theaters is a tradition reflecting the honoree's influence and career.

27:29 this is why Tara’s line “they’ll be nothing left of me” is so sad. No one has loved Tara for who she truly is and Willow erasing her memory is trying to change who Tara is at her core.

The off tone they hit during “I was in heaven” and Spike’s “liiiiving” gives me full body chills every time.

Michelle trachtenberg, who plays Dawn, apparently didn't think she was a good enough singer to do a musical number, however she is apparently a classically trained ballet dancer so she requested instead of a song to do a ballet scene.

It's so perfectly executed how all the secrets & personal tension building since the premier all come out and crescendo, leaving the question "Where do we go from here?" in the aftermath.

Cordelia specifically complained about Angel being 200 years old and not having a financial plan.

Marketa last ep: “I don’t ship them, I don’t ship Spuffy” Marketa one ep later: “I hope the kiss is real!”

Along with Giles' sad solo, Tara saying, "Playing with my memory... you know I've been through hell," also breaks my heart because after all Tara went through with Glory destroying her mind, Willow has done something terrible by magically messing with her mind just to avoid an argument. There's a lot of interesting stuff being revealed in these songs.

This isn’t A musical episode it is THE musical episode. It paved the way for musical episodes and is done so much better than most.

The council never paid Buffy which is absolutely ridiculous. They pay the men watching the slayer but not the slayer 😅

Since Buffy ended, Amber Benson has written Novels, Screenplays and directed movies . I met her, she is very funny and smart. Read some of her novels --any books that make me go look up words in a dictionary, I am for .

This episode is an A+ use of everyone's talents. The best singers carry as much of the music as they can (you can hear them supporting the weaker singers during the group numbers,) the songs are very lyrical and heavy on clever wordplay (ideal for a novice songwriter with a lot of screenwriting experience and a great ear for dialogue), and the weaker singers get to compensate with something they're good at. Michelle Trachtenberg studied ballet, so she gets a dance number. Nick Brendon gets by on his skills as a comic actor. And Alyson Hannigan and Sarah Michelle Gellar both act their asses off.

Considering the grin on Marketta's face almost the entire episode, I don't think she's regretting missing her vacation. 🤣

One of if not the best musical episode in television history. Now you guys need to watch Dr. Horrible Sing-Along-Blog

I like how downright grumpy the kiss made Micky. He had that look of disappointment on his face like one of them grumpy muppets. It made for a good contrast with the more excited Normies. Also, I like how Marketa has turned around on Spuffy from where she was approximately a season ago. The writers certainly took their time to lay the groundwork.

I think Jenny Calendar would have been a great teacher/mentor for Willow. The thing with Willow regarding magic, she's doesn't really to turn understand the magic but more about hrowing her powers. She tries to take shortcuts. Even all the way back in season 3, when she really started getting into it, she's constantly crossed boundaries with her magic. Tara's strong in magic, but she's more about because she's an actual Wiccan. So one's more seeking growth in power, while the other has respect of boundaries with magic.

I keep "walk through the fire" on my playlist

Rana said she hated musicals a whiiile ago, but we all knew she’d love this, and her grinning almost the entire time plus singing along at one point says so much. Also the clapping at the end.

Fun fact: the guy singing about the mustard stain was Executive Producer David Fury & the woman singing about a parking ticket was Executive Producer Marti Noxon

To use the method of musical storytelling as an in-universe yet meta comment on the plot of the characters around them, to genuinely good tunes, taking into account what the actors did and did not want to do (singing/dancing) advancing the plot of the overall serious and honouring the genre of musical, written by the man (as awful as he is) who helmed the series... a stroke of genius television has rarely ever seen. And with these actors along with it?! Forget about it. Genius. I'm glad many moments were appreciated

Even the little demon at the end of the credits sings!

I get how viewing this episode first time it can seem a little awkward and you laugh a lot. But, it’s an episode that really benefits from subsequent viewings and when you listen to the lyrics, you realise it’s bloody perfection. There’s a reason a lot of people bought the cd of this musical!

Interesting tidbit: The widescreen "remaster" (more like "demaster", destroying the contrast and the bottom part of the screen) completely removed the context that this was the first widescreen Buffy episode. Back in the day on our 3:4 CRT TVs they showed this episode with black bars on top and bottm of the screen to make it look even more cinematic.

"The hardest thing to do in this world is to live."

Love the Normies opening credit for this. Well done producers/editors.

"oh my god, did it sing?!" is one of the funniest

That reveal of Buffy's secret at the end...what a crazy way to do it, but also pretty good ? I think it was a wise choice to do it this way, that secret for a character would have made her go crazy !!

“This isn’t real, but I just want to feel” is a pretty important line right before Buffy kisses Spike. A lot of people seem to miss it

After The Body and The Gift weren’t a full couch reaction, I’m so glad this one is.

Well said, Chris, about how all the secrets coming out in this episode could have made it "the most downer episode since Joyce died" but the musical made it easier to deal with it all. Great observation!

13:44 I wish this extended to Angel, Lorne would love it.

I own the album for this episode… literally in my car CD player permanently. My husband is sick of it.

one of the few musical episodes that keeps the story going instead of just having the actors sing old hits to the camera.

Hinton Battle was the guy playing Sweet, the demon. Broadway choreographer and so forth. Top notch. SMG also(despite not being a singer herself) worked like crazy to be able to do her parts. Willow's actress had so few lines for singing because she isn't great. Dawn's actress is ballet-trained, hence the ballet scene.

Anthony Head's final note in that final chord on "Where do we go from HEEEEEEEEEEEEERE?" is one of my favorites. He sounded awesome. That whole final chord was fantastic. Very classic musical epic. (I am a musical kind of gal, though, so I ate up this episode with relish, man. I loved it.)

Pro: 11:12 “Sing, Buffy, Sing!” Was spot-on. It took me a few viewings to realize that she ran away because she didn’t want to sing, not because she was just uncomfortable with the situation. Con: The headline Broadway Star number was not the time for extensive talk-over.

From memory, Joss knew it was time for a musical because of all the heightened drama and emotion, and it felt like the characters were close to bursting into song anyway. It fits so perfectly with his style though - Hush was an episode about words getting in the way of true communication. This was about words and conversation not being good enough way to express everyone's truth.

Fantastic editing again, Spencer! Loved this reaction

The big question is where do we go from here? Why is the path unclear, When we know home is near. Understand we'll go hand in hand, But we'll walk alone in fear. (Tell me) Tell me where do we go from here.

I'm so flattered my patreon comment hit Rana so hard. And I get a call out in THIS episode!🎉

never in my years i would have thought spiders real name was joshua. Spidey gives me damien vibes but harper adds to the lore

When the show first aired, it went a minute over so people who set their VCRs to record missed the kiss at the end.

my all time favorite episode of Buffy. this episode got me into musicals didnt even know the genre existed before this episode also rip Hinton Battle he pasted on January 30 2024 he was an amazing actor loved him in Buffy as sweets and in the Wiz as the scarecrow and as bill bojangles Robinson in the Shirley Temple story

This video should just be titled “Suraj predicting Tabula Rasa for 30 minutes” first the Michelle branch comment then him telling Willow to make Tara forget that she forgot lmao

"Im under your spell" song is my jam

This made me smile. At the end Buffy sings before kissing spike “This isn’t real but I just want to feel…”

Funny you mention Michelle branch….

One of the best episodes and it was such a bold move 20 years ago. So many shows have tried to do a musical ep since, but none have really matched this, due to the brilliance of the storytelling through the lyrics here. Also the lady getting a parking ticket is Marti Noxon, one of the exec producers of the show!

I’m loving the idea of slayers having sponsors 😂😂

About the fanbase wanting Spuffy, there was actually a pretty big divide between the Bangels and Spuffys. Some really big arguments on the old Buffy fan forums about it.

Best thing Ive ever heard Pat say- 'we need to bring tap shoes back.' Yes. Yes we do.

Even to this day, this is considered one of the best, well thought out TV musicals in an established tv episodes. Nothing will compare after this.

My favorite episode of Buffy. I own the soundtrack on vinyl. 😊 Also the Watcher's Council should pay Buffy, they pay Giles. Giles still works for the Watcher's Council he was reinstated last season.

RIP Hinton Battle aka the actor who played Sweet. The Normies talk about how ridiculous this show can get all the time and still seem surprised by a musical. That's more odd to me than them wondering, _Why this episode?_ The last time I reacted to this I mentioned that no one ever sees the credit stating original songs and music by Joss Whedon and didn't know it was a musical until Buffy starts singing. Then I saw in this reaction The Normies had the captions on and thought, _They might see it._ Two seconds later Suraj pointed it out. Tara to Willow: "You sexually assulted me." I mean: Tara singing to Willow: "I'm under your spell." And at the end of the song it's rape, as well. The metaphors in that song are more disturbing that some people realize. Marketa: "Anything magical that happens, I'm just gonn a blame Willow." And it ended up being Xander for this episode. He was ready to throw Dawn to the wolves until Giles said if it wasn't Dawn, and it was in the shop, it must be one of them. So, the excuse people try to give of him protecting Dawn doesn't work. Also, him not taking a spell seriously ("I didn't know what was going to happen" is pitiful after being a Scooby for five years (halfway through this year and season one being a half year). Having cold feet is a reason to talk to Anya, not do a spell. If he can't do that, then what Anya said when he proposed (she slapped him and stated he was doing so because they were going to die and he hadn't given it proper thought) is all true. Xander is directly responsible for thiose that burnt to death dancing. Sweet was just doing what he's supposed to do when summond. He isn't the bad guy. The character's issues were. I was a little disapponted in Spidey mentioning N'SYNC after Buffy was worried about an 80's traing montage. Chris's reaction to Sweet's puppet minion no singing was funny AF. It's not about them dancing in the background just before the group sings _Walk Through the Fire,_ it's about the fact that they're fighting, but because of the musical spell, that fighting is an interpretive ballat. The same thing happened when Dawn tried to run away from the puppet head minions after being kidnaped. Running away became interpretive ballet. The look on Willow's face is perfectly deserved when Buffy sings she was in heaven considering Willow was upset that Buffy didn't thank her for being ressurrected and told off Giles when he, who knew the dangers of magical addiction told her she was foolish for doing so. Sorry Marketa, even your "ahhhh" won't make me feel bad for Willow. Rana is only partially right. Sweet wasn't a therapist. He was the one who made everyone reveal the problems. Once Sweet leaves they have to deal with them. That's when the therapist really needs to start helping and Sweet isn't around for that one. The last song _Where Do We Go From Here,_ isn't a choice to sing. Just before Sweet leaves, he sings a spell on them to sing one last time, by singing, "Say (they're) happy now, once More, With Feeling." And Spike gets released from it first followed by Buffy only because they have a side story the spell wants them to do outside. Suraj, that's literally how Angel handles his business. Sometimes he helps people and sometimes he charges them. The only thing, in-universe, saying Buffy cannot do that is the fact that Anya suggested it and pride.

The best musical ever. And I'm including films in that.

Rena waring the AALIYAH tshirt is ICONIC. A legendary singer and slayer.

Buffy kicking the door in this episode was epic.

I appreciated those of you who appreciated the musical element

Aww the guy who plays sweet actually just passed a month or two ago, Sarah even did a post for him on her story

The greatest musical episode of all time Also pretty much kicked off the trend of musical episodes

I cannot believe they got Hinton Battle to perform in an episode of Buffy. I had been listening to him on my mucial recordings for a decade before this came out. Pure talent!!!

I love that this episode is both musical and satire 😂😂

I feel like they were so prepared for this episode, Rana had the most genuine reaction lol. But I understand not everybody likes musicals. Suraj again showing he knew some info beforehand with the Michelle Branch song lmfao.

I could watch this uncut over and over just watching each normies' reaction. Probably rana and Chris twice

I can still basically sing the entire episode without looking up any lyrics lol

I've been looking forward to you guys watching this all week. They got the mustard out guy is David Fury the other executive producer for Buffy, 24, Lost and Angel. Parking ticket lady who mentions she's not wearing any underwear is EP Marti Noxon who also had another little show called Mad Men. The Buffy producer and writer tree beared a lot of fruit Shoutout to Jonathan Danny Strong co-creating Empire.

yeah I agree with Chris that this season has a lot more focus on the scoobies, the characters themselves and their own contributions and developments through everything they've gone through

I love how fun AND sad this episode is. Buffy is basically trying to die at her climax song

It's so fun to see the eye-rolling, sink me into this couch, reactions of the Normies who don't like musicals, every time a song starts. lol But they still got hit with the story beats that make this episode unmissable. I was raised with music and musicals, so I'm more like Chris. I felt that gleam in his eye! Marketa and Chris picked up on the intentional off-key elements that were repeated between Buffy and Spike's heavy-hearted lines. The musical elements add another layer of communication and storytelling that make this episode reach out to the viewer and drop you into Buffy's world.

I didn't know Hinton had died!! I thought he was the BEST demon in the whole series... RIP As far as this musical episode goes, it's THE BEST musical from any series!! Joss just showed his genius!! 😊👍👍👏👏👏

Before musicals became a thing, This episode gave the fans a taste of what a well scripted musical TV episode could be. It could be argued that this is The episode that pushed TV musicals into mainstream.

One of my top episodes. I love most of the songs tbh.

Great reaction. I'm filled with satisfaction.

Marti Noxon, one of the producers, is the one singing about the parking ticket and one of the reasons for the episode was for Buffy's friends to find out she was in heaven, as she never would have told them, she even told Spike never to tell.

The storytelling in this episode is actually more impressive than the music/dancing numbers. Obviously a musical is not going to be to everyone's taste so it makes sense that many people wouldn't like it. . . but the plot reveals and character moments throughout were spectacular.

It's showtime!

The fact that Joss wrote all the music is just remarkable.

4:22 David Fury 9:29 Marti Noxon 12:35 Anyone find it a little suspicious that Michell Branch is mentioned when she appears in the next episode?

Anthony Stewart Head played Frank N Furter in a stage version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I remember seeing a low quality video of it on KZfaq somewhere.

"it's giving michelle branch" 👀

Not sure if you caught this at the end, but in the Lyrics for the last song, they say "Curtain's close on a kiss, god knows we can tell the end is near", and then they immediately proceeded to close the curtains on the kiss at the end hahaha. So many little touches of detail peppered through here, it's honestly worth a re-watch! James Marsters, Anthony S. Head, and Amber Benson were highlights for me in this episode. Everyone did a great job, surprisingly so. But those 3 really stood out to me :) "Rest in Peace" is just great to listen to whenever, and I really enjoy Anthony Head's singing voice. I also really love the duet with Giles and Tara! Been looking forward to the reaction of this ep :D One of my favorites! Loved the demon as well lol, he is a real performer/tap dancer,a the BTS of this ep is really cool, i recommend!

This is *the* "musical episode". The one that later shows tried to copy, but didn't really manage it half as well.