Living Conditions

Season 4, Episode 2
Written by Marti Noxon
Directed by David Grossman
Original Airdate: 11 October 1999

Well, actually, the worst part, I’d have to go with the demon pouring the blood down your throat.”

REGULAR CAST

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
Seth Green as Daniel “Oz” Osbourne
Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

Dagney Kerr as Kathy Newman
Adam Kaufman as Parker Abrams

CO-STARRING

Clayton Barber as Demon #1
Walt Borchert as Demon #2
Roger Morrissey as Tapparich
David Tuckman as Freshman
Paige Moss as Veruca (Uncredited)

SYNOPSIS

New roommate Kathy is quickly getting on Buffy’s nerves with her annoying obsessions and habits of listening to music by Cher and Celine Dion. She intricately picks on the smallest of details, wanting to know where Buffy is all the time and even goes as far as following Buffy out on patrol one night. As a demon approaches, Buffy is forced to knock Kathy out of the way and while the demon escapes, Buffy’s left with one upset roommate and a sweater ruined by mud. The next morning Buffy goes to visit Giles to escape her hellish roommate. After criticizing his mail and new exercising activities, she tells him about the demon she ran into and complains about the trouble her roommate is causing.

Back at the dorm, Kathy goes through Buffy’s closet and borrows a sweater. She finds Buffy’s slaying bag, but doesn’t seem to care about the things she finds. At lunch, in an attempt to escape Kathy, Buffy cuts into line in front of another student, Parker. He lets her stay in front of him and as they go through the line he passes on some things he’s learned about a college student saving food and money. Buffy goes to sit down with her friends, including Xander. Kathy invites herself to join them, and Buffy notices she’s wearing her sweater. Kathy assumed Buffy wouldn’t mind, then proceeds to eat a sandwich and spill red sauce onto Buffy’s sweater.

Willow and Buffy talk over the phone as Willow tries to avoid the massive party her roommate is throwing. When Kathy returns to the room, even more things are revealed that the two clash upon. They seem to disagree about everything including whether the window is open or closed, Kathy’s habit of flossing, Buffy’s habit of leaving chewing gum all over, and what food belongs to whom. They both go to sleep and Buffy has a horrible dream where her soul is practically sucked out of her by a demon. Buffy tells Giles and her friends about the dream and then Kathy joins their little group. She informs them she had the same dream as Buffy, but Giles can’t seem to figure out why. Buffy acts very rude to Kathy and then after she leaves, Willow and Oz are told to watch her and make sure she doesn’t completely lose it.

A couple of demons stand around a fire and talk about how they’ve found the girl they’re looking for. They perform a ritual that calls another demon forth, named Tapparich. Buffy goes back to her dorm room and finds Parker there, talking to Kathy and Buffy gets very jealous. After Parker leaves, Buffy and Kathy argue about how they have to share. Buffy goes to the fridge, takes out Kathy’s milk and then sloppily drinks it all straight from the carton. While an English paper keeps Willow from being there for Buffy, Oz volunteers to go and keep an eye on her. He joins Buffy on patrol where she spends the majority of the time complaining about Kathy and how evil she is.

Buffy finds Willow talking to Kathy, gets upset and questions Willow. She then shows her a bag of Kathy’s toenail clippings that she picked up off the floor of their dorm the night before, claiming that they grew over night and that Kathy must be a demon. Buffy comes to the conclusion that she must kill Kathy. Willow tells Giles that Buffy has reached the breaking point and that she’s on her way to his place. With the help of Xander and Oz, Giles traps Buffy and ties her up until they can find out what’s causing her change in behaviour.

Willow attempts to talk to Kathy about Buffy, but then Oz calls and informs her that they have Buffy. Buffy breaks loose of the ropes, knocks Xander and Oz out, and then goes back to her dorm room. Kathy hits her, and as they grab each other by the head, Buffy pulls off Kathy’s face, revealing that she really is a demon. The dream Buffy was having was actually true, as Kathy needs to steal Buffy’s soul in order to keep from being taken back to wherever she’s from.

After Giles discovers that Buffy was telling the truth about Kathy being a demon, he manages to determine what kind of demon they’re dealing with. Xander and Oz go to help Buffy, while Willow and Giles perform a ritual to return Buffy’s soul to her body. The ritual is performed successfully and just in time for Tapparich to come for Kathy. He’s her father and he chastises her for running away. Opening a vortex in the floor, he transports both himself and his errant daughter away.

The next day, Buffy and Willow are roommates and are redecorating the dorm room. They talk for a bit, and Willow asks if Buffy’s going to finish her sandwich, and then without permission, she quickly proceeds to take a bite out of it.

Buffy glares.

TRIVIA

Adam Kaufman, who plays Parker, has also starred in Steven Spielberg’s Taken as Charlie Keys (alongside Julie Benz, who plays Darla). He appears in five episodes this season.

Paige Moss appears in this episode uncredited. She’s the girl who stares at Oz, and who is later known as Veruca in Beer Bad and Wild at Heart.

CONTINUITY

Willow hangs a poster of Dingoes Ate My Baby, a tribute to her boyfriend Oz, who has played with the band since we first met him in Inca Mummy Girl.

Buffy jokes about the last time Giles tried to recapture his youth, referring to the events of Band Candy: “‘Cause I’m still going ‘ick’ from the last time you tried to recapture your youth.”

Willow refers to Buffy being ‘Cordelia-esque’ at one point, the first reference to Cordelia since she left the series.

GOOFS

In the previous episode, Buffy mentions she lives in Fischer Hall. In this episode her dorm changes to Stevenson Hall.

When Kathy shows Buffy her system for logging phone calls, she points at a pad of paper. In one shot, the uncapped end of the pen is pointing at the paper, but in the next shot the capped end is pointing at the paper.

As Buffy and Willow are walking away from Buffy’s dorm, Willow is carrying a bag, the straps of which are solid colour on one side and camouflage print on the other. As they walk, the straps flip back and forth between shots.

When Kathy joins Buffy on patrol, watch Buffy’s ponytail. In the shots from behind Buffy, her ponytail rests on her back. In shots from in front of her, her ponytail rests in front of her shoulder.

When Giles and Buffy are outside, he tosses a towel over his shoulder when he sits down. When he stands up a bit later, he is shown with the towel in his hand and gone from his shoulder; it then returns to his shoulder.

When Oz and Xander walk carefully toward the tied-up Buffy, Oz in on Xander’s right. Buffy then knocks their heads together and they fall down, but in the shot of them on the floor, Oz is on Xander’s left.

When Buffy and Kathy are fighting, the phone falls in front of their nightstands. Later, when the portal is opened, the phone is nowhere to be seen.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

EPISODE
The Freshman / The Harsh Light of Day

STORY ORDER
City Of / Lonely Heart