0:46 : The first thing we see is the face of D’Hoffryn, lord of the Vengeance demons, although he’s not named in the script and his make-up, consisting of left over parts in the office, gave him the nick name Mr. Hodge-Podge on set.
    He’ll go on to become a major player in the BuffyVerse, beginning with his recurring role in the series and culminating in his major role as the Big Bad of Season Ten. Actor Andy Umberger would also appear on Angel in the episode I Fall to Pieces and also appears in Firefly‘s pilot episode, Serenity.

0:57 : Anya is back, unexpectedly. Emma Caulfield was not expecting to reprise the role, and was grateful for the lack of demon make-up. This episode has her interact with the rest of the cast, and Caulfield’s comic timing and chemistry with the others would lead her to becoming a recurring, and later, regular character.

0:57 : Her line in this scene pretty much sums her up as a character: “For a thousand years I wielded the power of the wish. I brought ruin upon the heads of unfaithful men. I offered destruction and chaos for the pleasure of the lower beings. I was feared and worshipped across the mortal globe and now I’m stuck at Sunnydale High! A mortal! A child! And I’m flunking math.”

1:25 : There’s quite a suggestion here about how D’Hoffryn can fold the fabrics between time and space. Indeed, vengeance demons are amongst the most powerful demons of all, able to write and re-write an entire reality at whim to grant the wish of a mortal being.

1:47 : We’ve heard stories about Willow being able to float pencils since Gingerbread. We see her do it for the first time in this episode. She says it’s all about ’emotional control’.

2:01 : Buffy mentions a psych test that asks if you want to be a florist, which apparently indicates that one is not as sane as intended. Willow starts to say she wanted to be a florist and then dismisses it.
    Fred, while regressed to a teen in Spin the Bottle, will answer yes to the florist question.

3:10 : Willow is slowly, apparently, getting over her dislike of Faith since the events of the previous episode, which is big of her…

3:23 : …except the pencil goes spinning chaotically and wedges itself dramatically in a tree! As Willow says about that emotional control… she’s working on it!

4:33 : The final recurring Sunnydale High student to join the show, Percy West is played by Ethan Erickson. The character will appear throughout the season until the finale and make one final appearance during Doomed in Season Four. Actor Erickson also starred in Melrose Place and Castle.

5:15 : Snyder’s line back to Percy’s “I’m challenged!”: “You’re lazy, self involved and spoiled. That’s quite the challenge.” For once, he’s right!

5:22 : Snyder mentions “last year’s debacle” with the swim team, a reference to their mutating in Go Fish.

5:28 : Snyder remembers Willow teaching Jenny Calendar’s computer science class last season. He makes a note of how much she enjoyed it.

6:16 : A fantastic moment in an episode full of them: Willow resents Snyder telling her what to do and not having a choice in the matter – just as Giles orders her to do something and she meekly agrees!

7:50 : Look carefully, and in Faith’s new apartment, the outline of the SUN logo from the cinema can be seen through the window, giving Faith’s apartment a location on Main Street, or at least just behind it.

8:15 : Note the tenderness here. The Mayor actually seems to care for Faith, always ensuring her health and security before anything else. It’s a strange father-figure dynamic that contrasts nicely with Buffy and Giles. Note Faith’s excitement when she’s told she has a PlayStation – like a kid at Christmas. He’s preying on her feelings of abandonment.

8:28 : Seth Green, who was absent from the last episode, is back this week, still with his darker hair, indicating that Austin Powers in Goldmember was still in production.

10:00 : This is where we’re going to stop and mention how it’s no surprise Alyson Hannigan majored in ‘sitcom’ after her role in Buffy. Alyson’s performance in this episode is sublime and she absolutely shines throughout. Her talking to herself on the bench here, all culminating in the cute “And I’m eating this banana, lunchtime be damned!” which is the cherry. Brilliant!

11:12 : Willow tells Buffy, as Oz told Willow in Beauty and the Beasts, that she’s storming off for dramatic effect and it doesn’t work if she’s followed.

11:39 : Anya mentions that she knows Cordelia, which we saw in The Wish. It was Cordelia’s pain that summoned her to town.

12:18 : Willow’s face when Anya tells her it isn’t dangerous – and her hilarious question to Anya: “Well, can we pretend it is?”

12:28 : Willow asks Anya how the temporal fold to find her amulet works. We have to ask that question too, because this entire episode is built on one giant problem – how can the vampire version of Willow come through from the alternate Sunnydale, if that Sunnydale was destroyed when the wish was reversed? Nothing that happens here should be scientifically possible in quantum physics theory.

13:20 : We see images, alongside some shots that weren’t seen in the episode, from The Wish.

13:33 : We’re zapped back into the parallel Sunnydale, where the vampire Willow disappears as Oz goes to stake her…

14:09 : “Did you try looking inside the sofa in Hell?” A great line.

14:34 : Anya is warned by Willow that magic is dangerous, repeating what Giles has told her more than once in the series so far.

14:47 : For this moment, we’re back on the factory set, as seen in The Wish.

15:05 : The vampire Willow finds herself in Sunnydale, but not the one she knows…

15:12 : The scene of Vampire Willow walking down main street is a direct contrast to Cordelia doing the same in The Wish.

15:43 : The band at the Bronze is K’s Choice, with their song ‘Virgin State of Mind’. It featured on the first Buffy soundtrack.

17:03 : Willow uses her catch phrase from The Wish: “Bored now!”

17:54 : Xander tells ‘Willow’ that they don’t want to fall back into bad habits, a reference to their affair between Homecoming and Lover’s Walk.

18:15 : Buffy’s reaction and double take to ‘Willow’s’ outfit is fantastic: “Holy God, you’re Willow!”

18:38 : Vampire Willow seemingly recognises Buffy from the final battle in her universe.

19:15 : The lead vampire, Alfonse, is sent by Wilkins to kill Willow. He’s played by Michael Nagy. He’d appear on other shows, such as Angel (in the episode The Shroud of Rahmon) as well as Firefly and Alias.

19:40 : The shots of Vampire Willow breaking Alfonse’s fingers were cut in the BBC’s initial airing of this episode.

20:43 : This moment, with Giles, Buffy and Xander grieving Willow on the library steps is amazing. Note this gem:

GILES: “She was truly the finest of all of us.”
XANDER: “Way better than me.”
GILES: “Much, much better.”

21:33 : Xander gets up and raises a cross to Willow. He hilariously shakes it when it has no effect on her, as if it’s defective, but it does bring up a point – would Willow’s religion, as a Jew, mean that a Christian Cross has no affect on her vampire double?

22:02 : Willow asks Giles for an explanation – and is smothered by him rushing to hug her!

22:13 : “Say, you all didn’t happen to do a bunch of drugs, did you?” It’s a funny line, as is Willow’s “I’m not a vampire.” It’s all in the delivery.

22:30 : Another brilliant line from Xander and Giles: when Buffy asks Giles for an explanation, Giles tells her “Something, something strange is going on here.” Xander’s response: “Can you believe the Watchers Council let this guy go?”
    Honestly, the whole scene just has the four core cast members at their best, with their found family on full display here.

22:50 : Another Anya moment, one of many over the next four seasons: “I’m 1,120 years old! Just give me a fricking beer!” And, after being asked for ID. “Give me a coke.”

23:08 : It’s been a while, since Homecoming in fact, but Jason Hall makes a late season appearance as Devon.

25:04 : The girl Willow targets, Sandy, is played by actress Megan Gray, who also appeared in Dawson’s Creek.

25:40 : Vampire Willow bites Sandy and appears to drain her. We never see Sandy drink her blood, but somehow, Sandy reappears as a vampire in Family.

26:10 : Vampire Willow calls Oz a white hat, remembering the Oz from her reality.

26:32 : Vampire Willow says that in her world people are in chains, and ridden like ponies. This may be a reference to her ‘puppy’ Angel from The Wish.

27:06 : Xander’s line once everyone has thought of Willow and Oz in S and M gear: “Did anyone else just go to a scary, visual place?” Even Giles agrees.

27:14 : Yes, we know vampires must be able to simulate breathing, but Angel’s clearly out of breath when he storms into the library – you know, for someone who doesn’t breathe…

27:50 : When Giles mentions he doesn’t want Faith in combat yet, Xander agrees, a response to her attacking him in the previous episode.

28:37 : Vampire Willow calls Willow ‘fuzzy,’ referring to Willow’s top. Spike will recall the same sweater in The Initiative, as Willow also wore it in Lover’s Walk.

28:49 : Willow’s reaction to being responsible for Vampire Willow’s presence in this reality: “Oh… Oh! Ooops.”

29:31 : Willow grabs the cross and defends herself from her vampire double, which answers our question from earlier…

29:47 : Willow, quite the expert at shooting people with the tranquiliser gun by now, fires and hits her counterpart.

29:51 : Vampire Willow’s reaction, ‘Bitch!’, was cut on the BBC broadcast.

30:07 : Willow tells Buffy that she “thinks I’m kinda gay.” Not only does this hint at Willow’s future, but it’s also the same line she says when she loses her memory in Tabula Rasa.

30:15 : Buffy points out that vampires don’t have the personality of their human host, although Angel goes to correct her. Her look shuts him up.

31:00 : Willow’s reaction to Vampire Willow’s costume is brilliant – especially when she looks down at her chest and says “Gee, look at those…” Giles coughs to change the subject.

31:50 : All of this scene, from Willow walking into the Bronze with “Hi, I’m back!” through to her cute little wave at Oz, is perfect. Alyson Hannigan plays the scene impeccably and it’s dialogue is delivered with wit and style. Also, kudos to Oz, who seems to understand exactly what’s happened with that one look!

32:05 : Question time: Anya is human. Why don’t the vampires attack her? Does she smell different because she was a demon?

33:48 : Cordelia, looking fabulous in that dress, is looking for Wesley, having been instantly smitten by him in the previous episode. She sees Willow in the bookcage.

35:10 : And naturally, Cordelia, luckily for her, takes this moment to have a chat about Willow and Xander, which caused this whole thing to happen in the first place!

35:59 : The look on Vampire Willow’s face as Cordelia is droning on. Superb!

37:04 : Cordelia runs through Jenny’s old classroom to escape vampire Willow. It has to be Jenny’s old room due to where she comes out.

37:30 : Wesley appears – from where? She’s in the bathroom! How did he get in there before her?

37:51 : In one of Wes’ greatest moments, he screams hysterically!

38:21 : Cordelia must be in shock here – we refuse to believe that Cordelia is insensitive enough to not care about Willow’s fate.

38:40 : Brilliant moment: Willow decrees that she must be a ‘blood-sucking fiend’: “Just look at my outfit.”

38:53 : Willow’s scream, and Anya’s reaction to it are laugh-out-loud funny!

39:11 : Willow punches Anya. Their relationship will take its time, but this begins a period of intense dislike between Willow and Anya.

40:27 : The fight sequence here, in particular the moment Buffy stakes Alfonse and runs onto the stage, was edited and cut into Hepburn‘s music video for their single “I Quit,” which appeared on the Buffy soundtrack, but not on the series. The video was filmed on the Buffy set during season four. It can be seen on the Season One DVD boxset.

42:04 : Anya will later say she hasn’t met Angel, but they appear together here. Although, to be fair, they’re not introduced formally and don’t speak to each other. Anya also says that one day she will get her powers back and they will grovel before her. It doesn’t quite work out like that, in Season Six’s Entropy.

42:44 : Vampire Willow is restored to her reality at the same moment she left – and is quickly staked by Oz, swearing in annoyance.

43:27 : Percy not only does the work, but even brings an apple for teacher, a lovely moment. Willow never corrects him on his assumption that it was her that beat him up though. He’ll appear next in Graduation Day.