Buffy The Vampire Slayer S05E16| ''The Body''♡Reaction & Review♡

[@SoFieReactsTV]

Big hug everyone 🤗 ps: BTVS 6x10 and Angel 3x10 are now up on Patreon. For full reactions + more: www.patreon.com/SoFieReacts

[@TheAnswerWillleaveyou]

It is art

[@robertd1953]

*hugs* 🫂

[@MartinGonzalez-ke9uy]

Even though you watched it a whiiiiiile ago.. BIG HUG for you. Sad, painful but definitly one of best eps , from scriptin, acting, everything, and SMG acting was amazing (well she always is) . Anyway lookin forward for rest of season

[@suspanda1]

K-drama 'kingdom' reaction plz~!!!

[@dereknolin5986]

I'm just now seeing your reaction to this episode, and I understand that you may never see this comment, but if you do I want to say that, especially for episodes of television like this, putting your reaction on the internet is really providing a service to all of us. I'm sure many people saw this episode and thought, "Why am I getting so upset? It's just a TV show?" But seeing your reaction provides a validation that it's not strange to be moved to tears by this episode. I've lost some good friends from a distance, but I've never lost a family member so close to me in such an immediate way. I don't know how I would react to such a horrible situation, but art like this, and your reaction, tell me that if I ever have to walk through that valley of darkness and sadness, I wouldn't be the first. There are other people who have walked through that valley and come out the other end. That's a comfort. If it ever falls upon me to carry that burden and have such dear loved ones pass before I do, I would like to think that I'll be able to look back on this and understand that the emotions of sadness, and fear, and anger, and confusion, and more, are not unique to me, and that I can draw on the memories and hope of others. I've seen many other reactions of yours that have convinced me that you have a sharp intellect and an empathetic heart, so I think your emotional reaction is more than maudlin sentimentality, and so there's an honesty that rings true through your reaction that somehow illuminates what it means to be human.

[@bluegrasskids52784]

How this episode didn’t win every single damn award is beyond me. The acting, writing, direction, etc is amazing.

[@jamalbryant8099]

I thought this episode did won something

[@bluegrasskids52784]

@@jamalbryant8099 maybe it did. I know Hush did.

[@k.s.k.7721]

It won a Humanitas award for excellence in exploring the human condition in film.

[@liteflightify]

The Emmys were simply never gonna embrace something on The WB/UPN/CW. There’s a litany of shows and performances that have been snubbed over the years because voters see those networks and as “for teens only” and “low class”. A writing nod for “Hush” is the only big nomination any show from those networks have ever gotten from the Emmys.

[@StefKomGeekru]

it is hard for many wards to be enough. most awards wouldn't be able to give it credit. it wouldn't be enough.

[@estephens13]

I still think this is the best episode of television ever made. Nothing has ever depicted death nearly as realistically.

[@samanthanickson6478]

the emmy’s crap on shows with horror elements like buffy (although ‘hush’ did get an emmy nod back in the day), the walking dead and currently, stranger things. i’ve seen some of the best performances in these shows with no attention from award shows. they get their accolades from their devoted fans.

[@Nexusofgeek]

its a masterpiece

[@BrianR246]

You are right about that.

[@heavylog1c]

Black guy in Terminator 2 - I think this is the best death performance. Or Sean Bean in Black Death.

[@zemoxian]

@@heavylog1c That guy. I was a black computer science college student interested in AI and he had the job I wanted. Felt like I was dying in that theater.

[@travisbell736]

For me Ayana’s speech is something a child who is suffering from a loss would ask. They aren’t able to process the physical elements of death and her saying “no one will tell me why” is absolutely heartbreaking

[@johnburns2918]

It is very well done in a vacuum, I just wish it made sense character wise. Anya was human for like 30 years before she became a demon and after she became a demon she saw people die by the thousands. It would be like if Angel had no understanding of death because he was Angelus for a century, its incoherent on every level.

[@enicole1203]

@@johnburns2918 yes but she had never experienced the death of someone she knew as a human. It can be an abstract concept as a demon, just like Buffy sees death every night, but this time it was personal in a way that affected her differently. Same with Anya.

[@knday]

@@johnburns2918 Anya as a human before she was a demon, was portrayed as odd, and socially awkward. Almost like she might be on the autism spectrum. The scene seems to be in character to me, but I suppose I understand your reasoning.

[@katpiercemusic]

I teach elementary children and I once had a student express something very similar to this speech the day before her parent died. It broke my heart. Anya’s reaction is always the hardest for me to watch because it reminds me of my students and the way they experience grief and loss which is so much more open and raw.

[@notnerbrenton]

In the audio commentary Joss Whedon said he told Emma Caulfield who played Anya to have her voice go up at the end of the line “No one will tell me why” because it reflects how a small child will talk when they are emotional

[@ankelbarajas4396]

"i wish that Joyce didn't die" coming from the ex vengeance demon who granted wishes

[@ronfehr7899]

Ironic, isn't it?

[@jp3813]

@@ronfehr7899 *Appropriate

[@greigclement9081]

Scripting Anya with a childlike response to the tragedy must've been challenging.

[@TheNakorius]

When you watch Anya in the series, look that she doesnt use the word 'wish' often...for her the word has power..it changes lives..here she uses it..

[@aaronsrok3422]

This episode has been lauded as one of the best pieces of television ever made. The depiction of mourning and the shock involved is so real. Everyone involved should have gotten an Emmy for this.

[@mscolli3]

Zero background music... muted colors... Those flashes for emotional roller coasters. Truly a masterpiece.

[@eberwald4438]

Anya's scene absolutely destroys me everytime.

[@skadoink1736]

The writing and acting in that is amazing. We're getting more and more annoyed by Anya's 'thoughtlessness' and then BANG, instant sympathy.

[@GC5295]

I’m 39 years old, and I still ball my eyes out watching this episode. Beautifully and tragically constructed. Joss really knows how to pull at your heart strings especially in season 5. An emotional roller coaster.

[@astrogeeknerd9960]

Some of the best acting I’ve ever seen.

[@astrogeeknerd9960]

The choice to be so quiet in this episode was deliberate. It is just like what goes on in your head in the days after a major loss like this. It’s weird.

[@cradleofmidian666]

Gawd me too!

[@hardybryan]

That fantasy moment when Buffy imagines Joyce is resuscitated is the meanest, realest thing I've ever seen in a show.

[@mrjdgibbs]

It'd done so well with events seeming to accelerate and become more fantastic. We've all had those moments

[@Tantalus010]

I don't think it was done to be mean; just accurate. Who wouldn't fantasize it all being some mistake in that moment?

[@UnveiledAngel]

Maybe it's because I was a maladaptive daydreamer well into my 30s, but I've never felt that way about that part. It does really well at showing how the brain will just jump to something better, no matter how fake it is, to avoid pain. Fortunately, I haven't had to face something like this yet.

[@mrjdgibbs]

@@Tantalus010 In those moments it's impossible not to anticipate what happens next, and it's perfectly normal to withdraw into your hope.

[@StefKomGeekru]

Something similar happened when we saw Faith stabing willow when Faith was in Buffy's body, and we also got something similar when Cordelia fell the stairs after seeing Xander and Willow kissing. Then they show a scene of a cementery and a funeral, but Cordelia was fine.

[@erichunter7649]

I first saw "The Body" more than 20 years ago, and it still makes me cry.

[@suzanh2813]

That is about when I saw it for the first time …. Hello fellow OG Buffy watcher 😎

[@patmuldoon9369]

"I wish that Joyce didn't die." coming from Anya, is the kindest, most heartfelt thing anyone has ever said to someone who has lost a loved one. Wrecks me every time.

[@ferrisulf]

Joss wrote this after the reactions/feelings he had following the sudden death of his mother in a car crash. Anyone who has lost anyone can relate to at least portions of this episode. That moment when Buffy is standing in the backdoor in a daze in the sunshine, and you can hear windchimes and children playing--that part hit me hard, too, as far as my own experiences. I get what you are saying: It is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. But it isn't one you go back to and watch for fun. Also, did you notice Spike was missing from this episode? Joss went to James and said: "I think I've written an amazing episode but you're not in it". James said: "Yeah, I read it. Spike doesn't want to be anywhere near that."

[@shanecadden7914]

I can't think of a film or series that has ever captured the initial shock of grief so realistically. This is my favourite episode of television, period.

[@stephenolan5539]

When Radar announced that Colonel Blake's plane went down with no survivors.

[@shanecadden7914]

@@stephenolan5539 I haven't seen MASH

[@derekfnord]

I wouldn't say it's my favorite, but I do think it's the *_best_* episode of television I've ever seen.

[@ipuppysmith8428]

The subtlest moment that gets me is the contrast of Giles and Xander's awkward handshake in the episode where Joyce gets out of surgery versus them just hugging in this one, walls completely down.

[@danh8804]

"Who's looking forward to this?" As bad as it sounds? This is probably one of the top 5 episodes people are looking forward to when a new reactor starts this show - because it's so good and so affecting. And you absolutely have not seen all the likely contenders for such a top 5, although this episode is as unique in its composition as "Hush" or "Restless" are in theirs. On the "revival fake-out" I watched you very closely - I can always tell when someone realizes they're being tricked before the smash cut back to reality, and you got it with a couple seconds to spare. It's a dirty trick but, like everything else, true to the human experience.

[@JohnDoe-ls2zu]

Joss didn't want to have the credits running over the start of the episode, so that's why he did the "fake-out" at the start.

[@izz61864]

@@JohnDoe-ls2zu i think he’s talking about when the paramedics “revive” Joyce

[@JohnDoe-ls2zu]

@@izz61864 Yes, your are correct. Sorry.

[@izz61864]

@@JohnDoe-ls2zu eh, no worries

[@davidsumner7604]

Sterling Archer watched this episode. That's why he's terrified of aneurysms.

[@richardd.2988]

Think back to season one... Did you ever think you would get a Masterclass of an episode such as this? The first on screen kiss to happen during this horror. Anya's brilliant speech done so well by Emma. All done with no background music, yet the ambient sound of normal everyday life going on as if nothing happened. This is undoubtedly the best episode of ANY television show.

[@shakycam3]

The only comforting thing about experiencing the death of a loved one is knowing that other people have been through it too. He absolutely captures that complete, boring vacuum that you go into the first few hours after perfectly. It’s almost like everything is real quiet and in slow motion and your brain tortures you with images of things being different to comfort you. It’s brilliant and so cathartic.

[@legolasgrunblatt3409]

For me the comforting, but also strange moment was, when my sister show s up, maybe a half hour after I called her, and told her what happened. She was always my big sister, but in this moment she turns into my little sister. Different from your experience, for me anything was.... I don't know how to explain. The sunlight was totally bright, the birds sounds so loud. Anything was just more than usual. Sorry, English isn't my mother language.

[@1stgenkpopfan646]

This is the only show that I know of that really captures that. My mom died 3 years ago, and it was also rather sudden. This was always my favorite episode, and it always seemed raw and honest, but having been through a similar experience, I get *exactly* what this was trying to do.

[@painlord2k]

@@legolasgrunblatt3409 Your mind was processing like mad the change of reality and everything "disturbing" the process would appear "eccessive". Like in this episode, when the Sun shine hot and the children continue to play.

[@painlord2k]

The dinner scene in Buffy remembers me a scene in the first season of true Blood, when the grandmother (that actually raised her like a mother) of Sukie is killed (in her home) and after the funeral everyone return home and she is left there, alone. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWGsfGZ_aJWAaKc The pecan pie is the last thing she made for her

[@katequick3602]

When this episode came out, my mom was alive and I thought it was powerful. Then later that year, she passed away and this episode re-aired not long after. My sister wanted me to avoid it, but I decided to watch and realized just how accurate and heartbreakingly real, and to use your phrase, very cathartic for me. It really helped me get through the grief. It helped me again when my dad passed. It really is art.

[@Kayjee17]

Joss wanted to write an episode of Buffy that so clearly showed the reality of death and how he felt about losing his mother, and damn if he did it so well that everyone who has had a loved one die can relate to it. SMG should have won an Emmy for this and Joss should have too. I totally understand what you mean by how dare the world go on like normal when it feels like it should stop turning because your loved one died. If what you feel was reflected in reality, then the sky should be dark and pouring tears and all the animals should be howling with sadness and everyone should be speaking in hushed tones about why such a wonderful person was taken from us too soon. And yet... only a few people know that such a great light has been snuffed out. I hate Joss for this episode too, and I agree that it's one of the best episodes of TV ever.

[@alooncnej4696]

Joss didn't want to make the first kiss as an event, just two people in love kissing like all the couples

[@Talisguy]

It's more than that - "lesbian kiss episodes" were a very common ratings grabbing technique for 90s TV. The writers didn't want Willow and Tara's relationship to be exploited as something scandalous or titillating, so they deliberately put their first kiss in the one episode that the network could *never* advertise as "the lesbian kiss episode," which I have a lot of respect for.

[@evatesche]

It was the best way to show their kiss - just as something natural, two people comforting each other as any other hetero couple would. No big deal, no big romantic gesture, no special plot for it to happen, because it should just be that: completely normal.

[@alooncnej4696]

@@evatesche exactly

[@sefirotsgame]

@@evatesche Exactly. I totally loved the way the made it, and I miss that nowadays.

[@Nicamon]

@@evatesche I will never agree than having their 1st kiss been in such a sad episode was"the best way"to show it. _I know_ why they did it,but I will forever *HATE* that the memory of it has to be forever linked to an episode like this.X-((( Also...a hetero couple would *never* have their 1st kiss in a"normal"situation. 1st kisses are *always* made"a big deal"in TV shows,let's not pretend it's not true! So the"no big deal"thing is *BULLSHIT.* 1st kisses between main characters *ARE* a big deal in television...no matter the sexual orientation!>^

[@danielbutler8103]

11:19 just pointing out Anya used to grant wishes as a Vengeance demon so her saying "I wish that Joyce didn't die" is really her wishing that.

[@jonaskoelker]

Her autism-like tendency to say whatever she thinks without a filter is also a good indicator of her sincerity.

[@rfresa]

There are so many brilliant little details in this episode that are easy to miss, like Dawn's art class about drawing the negative space around a body (which is what this episode does), or the irony of Anya sitting down and finding, presumably, the blue sweater that Willow was looking for.

[@Liberal_From_Prairies689]

I've always liked that part when Anya finds the sweater.

[@RunicMike]

Vampire at the end because there are no days off for the Slayer, even the worst day of her life.

[@jspettifer]

Life continues for us all. I used to not like the vampire at the end until it was explained why it was there.

[@joefriedman9843]

Yea it's the same reason they show the parking ticket. Unfortunately even when your entire world stops due to a tragedy like this, the rest of the world keeps turning, as cruel as it seems. That only adds to the realism of the episode and I'm not sure any tv show has ever shown death so realistically before or since.

[@annaarwen4345]

This is honestly the best episode of TV. It was such a real portrayal of each character dealing with the most human experience. Buffy is around death all the time but its always dehumanised, this brought us into actual human death and no super hero powers can help us overcome and deal with the ultimate end. It was beautifully shot and I cry every time i watch it.

[@MH-jx1hc]

One of the great episodes of TV. Buffy and Angel often get lumped into the light entertainment basket but Joss can bring the hammer and covers a lot of serious themes with veracity that very few writers ever achieve in any medium.

[@ibgvox]

1:33 actually it was The Body's first scene. Written and directed by Joss for the episode. He added as a teaser at the end of 5x15 (that ep ended with Spike and Warren scene and that was the last scene of the Jane Espenson's script).

[@paullamb3109]

Your reaction was stunningly beautiful and your empathy for your fellow human beings to me has elevated you from a normal reactor to a Jedi level reactor your that good and I hope you go from success to success, love from Paul from the uk 🇬🇧

[@billverno6170]

I saw the show when it ran live the first time. My mother had passed away a few years before the show. Watching this episode actually helped me deal with some feelings that I had kept inside and not addressed. This one hurt but I ended up being grateful.

[@victorsixtythree]

8:20 - Yup...Anya's speech...every damn time...More tissues, please!

[@ernesthakey3396]

Every....damn....time....yep.

[@marresjepie1887]

This is one of the most heartfelt. Deep and true episodes EVER. I got the box set.. and still always dread this episode when rewatching it. Even years later, it still gets me. My mother died in the hospital, and I was called from work to be very quick. Drove like a madman…..Still I was too late. When this episode aired, she was still alive and kicking, but now? Years after her passing, the impact is even harsher. By the by, it always ticked me off that they didn’t ALL get an Emmy for their acting, for Josh and his team’s writing. Intersting fact : The first 10 minutes was one, long shot with a partially handheld cam. Pretty unique.

[@CalabiYauShape]

I've used the same word - "insulting" - to describe how it feels to see/hear people carry on with their lives when you're in pain. Really felt it during your reaction. I hope you're doing better now... sending hugs.

[@alooncnej4696]

The best episode about death, well edited, excellent acting and writing

[@crawdaddy1234]

You could have just said, “The best episode.”

[@notoriouslybratty]

The way that boy looks off as Dawn receives the news about her mom as a knowingness to it. It reminds you that the residents of Sunnydale had experienced a lot of loss too.

[@BostonAmy]

Whoever wrote/directed this episode lived this experience. It is so unbelievably accurate. I watched this episode when it first aired. It was sad. I cried. But a year and a half ago I lost my mom in almost the exact same way (She was taking a nap on the couch next to me). I thought she was sleeping. Everything from the CPR to the vomiting to the cold sweats and silence. And how your mind automatically starts trying to rewrite the outcome. Needless to say, this hit so differently than when I first watched it.

[@1matrix9]

Wow Sofie; that was raw emotion. We get desensitized with the manufactured reactions of modern society and forget what’s genuine. That was as real as this medium gets…thank you for sharing something so personal.

[@adiarainfoster]

I've lost count of how many times i've watched this series through and this episode always makes me cry just as hard each and every time. it was brilliantly and realistically done.

[@gothicmetal76]

I saw this when it came out and it was nearly a year since my own mother passed. It broke me, but it a good way because it all felt so real to me, and from a fantasy series of all things. Brilliant episode.

[@rakyachad9490]

Honestly,i just want to give you a big hug. Anyone who's ever lost someone can relate.

[@bighousegroove]

I have not yet been able to revisit this episode since first watching it, which speaks to how powerful and realistic it is. How a sci fi/horror/comedy drama somehow can produce the most profound episode of any show in TV history is just remarkable, and yes this episode should have won many awards. It's probably the best episode of the show, but not an easy watch.

[@paulsmith8510]

You got through it!!! People disturbingly like to watch people react because it shows us how others process grief. Its a very lonely feeling.

[@Richard_Ashton]

But you never get over it. I haven't.

[@Vegoonery]

​@@Richard_Ashton I'm sorry Richard. I understand. I joined this club in 2023.

[@Richard_Ashton]

@@Vegoonery It was 1963 for me. I usually have the memory behind a door but this episode hits very hard, even after 60 years.

[@allisonlussier248]

It’s been 21 years. This episode still wrecks me every single time. SMG did an AMAZING job. It’s a shame she’s never seen it. It’s the one episode she refuses to watch.

[@youcantleavethisempty]

It's over 20 years since I first watched this, but it still gets to me.

[@Nexusofgeek]

yea just still hard to rewatch. That was one crazy summer

[@Barghaest]

This was my favorite episode. It was the second episode I had ever seen. A friend introduced me to the series through Once More With Feeling and I caught this episode in syndication the next day. I had recently lost my own mother and found it cathartic. It was so well written and acted I found myself invested in characters I didn’t know and have been a fan ever since.

[@KT-iy9vc]

This crazy show, with monsters and demons and all sorts of supernatural stuff, set in a town where a monster can almost kill everyone in a shopping mall and a girl shows up and fires a rocket launcher, raining monster parts on everyone- and yet nobody in town seems to think it's unusual. And yet there are so many things this show portrays more realistically than any other show ever.

[@ArrowOdenn]

Anya's speech gets me every time. As a neuro-divergent person (high-functioning autistic) I relate so hard. When I have lost someone, one part of my mind is focused on the practicalities of what happens next, one is a grieving, childlike mess, and the most prominent part of my mind is "I was brushing my hair, and now X will never brush their hair again and I don't understand why!" I think somewhere everyone feels that when someone dies, even if, like with Tara's mother, the death was anticipated. I wish there was more of a relationship developed between Buffy and Tara. I know Joss Whedon turned out to be... a not good person, to put it diplomatically, but The Body is one of the best pieces of written, director, acted, scored and edited pieces of television in history.

[@jaythegreenling]

there is no getting over this episode. even 20 years and several rewatches later it still wrecks me.

[@transmatized]

anya’s speech makes me cry almost every time I watch it. it’s just so humanizing and realistic.

[@ige-individualgroupeffort-kenl]

I have been waiting for this just because I love the rawness of your emotions when you react and I knew this would be rough, but it is also one of the best episodes of tv ever to grace the airwaves. I have never watched this episode or a reactor reacting to it without having tears in my eyes. I am a 60-year-old man, and it still gets me every time. I have never cried losing someone in my life oddly, but this hits so hard.

[@artman2oo3]

You had one of the best reactions to this episode, SoFie. So beautiful. I cried with you. Top notch. Oh and Joss tried many times before to get a Willow/Tara kiss in but the network kept telling him “no.” So it’s not like he decided “OK this will be their first kiss, THIS episode” but what happened is he wanted it in this episode, was told “no” again, but this time he threatened to QUIT if they didn’t let him have it. So the WB relented and did let him have it.

[@DinosaurKale]

Buffy and Angel were no joke. There had never been shows like these. Everything about television changed.

[@Richard_Ashton]

I have seen this episode dozens of times. It seems that almost all reactors I follow are coming to this one together. Tears. Always there are tears. I'll never get over this one.

[@Calzaki]

11:20 just wanted to take a moment to appreciate the importance of Anya's line there and how much it meant. On the surface, for any other character it sounds like an obvious or clumsy thing to say but when you understand Anya's character and what the words "I wish" mean coming from her and what she was... its completely something else.

[@MyFeuerFrey]

This episode was COMPLETELY snubbed by EMMYs. That's all. That's the tea.

[@CarrCab]

I found my mother the same way. It was Christmas, and she was tired and wanted to lie down. Moments later I remember my dad screaming for me. Performed CPR on her until paramedics got there, but she had no brain function so we made the decision two days later to take her off life support. This episode is so hard to watch because of how close to home it hits, but it's also one of the best of the series because of that very fact. I hate it, but I love it. I'm sorry you went through something similar.

[@SeeingRed7791]

Я пресматривал "Баффи" уже десятки раз, но это эпизод смотрел всего лишь единожды. Я всегда пропускаю его, когда пересматриваю сериал - слишком больно. Я плакал в течение всего первого просмотра этого эпизода. Слишком больно.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

I don’t like watching reactions to this episode, but any time I do, I’m always shocked at how good it is. It’s an amazing episode.

[@lionlyons]

Anya's speech about not understanding death is easily Emma Caulfield's best work on this show...

[@neilgriffiths6427]

Thank you for staying through this show, for someone with your experiences...my experiences of death do not compare, yet this episode...trust me, there are great episodes ahead, filled with joy - and sadness - and absolute hilarity, yet this story kinda elevated the show to something not just good, but truly meaningful. Thanks again for sharing it with us.

[@legolasgrunblatt3409]

This is it. This is the one episode of Buffy, that I will never re-watch . I have seen it once, and it was like somebody, according to Buffy, rams a stake through my heart and soul. It's not because it's realistic. It's because, it's exactly what happened, when it happened. I tried to rewatch it on TV, on DVD, i tried to watch it with After show reaction, Liam and any other reactor, who is at this point. And now I'm here.And I'm pretty sure that I will quit again. For me it's like a test, if the pain is still there. Sorry for my English, not my mother language.

[@SeeingRed7791]

Вы абсолютно, на 100% правы.

[@NelsonVlog66]

Any educator who discusses death and dying in class should show this episode. This and the Beverly Hills 90210 episode when David Silver's buddy Scott died.

[@david.brazales]

I've only watched this episode in full two times in my life. First time, when it first aired. I was young, and I felt that it was great but harsh. I thought it was a great cinematic episode about death and mourning, and a good example to show people that BtVS was not a silly teenage show. Second time, about 20 years later. By then, I had already lost my uncle and my own mother, both at a similar age of Joyce's. So very young. Months after my mother's passing, my brain brought up this episode for whatever reason. I sat and watched it again. It was devastating, to say the least. With age and experiences, it felt completely different. I could then understand that what I though it was cinematic (the fake out, the lingering silence even among friends and family, Anya's speech, "It's not her", "the body"...) were not narrative tricks, but it's describing the exact raw experience. I could then acknowledge what "No. And yes. It's always sudden" really means. When I rewatched the series with my wife (her first time), who lost her mother when she was only 7, I told her at the end of episode 15 that I would skip 16 and possibly 17, and she should too actually. She is very much affected to the point of sickening by emotional but dampened parental losses at any animated movie - and was even mad and profoundly saddened by the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy. I told her that this episode is nowhere near those things in terms of what it would make her feel. I told her Joyce is gone, and settle it that way - partly, I must confess, because I could not explain to her what happens in this episode in more detail without breaking down or feeling my throat gasping for air. She skipped 16. She tried watching 17, and as I assumed we had to skip it as well. So, I hate this episode, as you do. I will never watch it again, as you do. I can only watch reactions over it now, and it's even hard to do that. I cannot sit and watch for the sake of watching it anymore. It's sickening and disturbing from minute one. And yet, still as you do, consider it one of the best if not the best episode I've ever seen since I saw it for that second time. It's a piece of art, in the sense that I think everyone in their life would be better exposed to it, or at least ponder if they are able to watch given proper warnings. Because you may find a better understanding of things you felt, are feeling, or will be feeling - for death of our beloved ones is something that sadly we are almost assured to experience; the only escape to that being our own death beforehand. So, the episode opens you to ponder about that by not masquerading anything about it. This episode is not trying to tell a story about death, like so many other shows and films and books do. Joyce didn't die in order to give motivation or narrative weight to the protagonist, or make the some characters be in some emotional state of mind so the plot can continue, or because the character's arc was over and needed some space to bring other narratives. It accomplishes some of those things, but as an afterthought I'd say. This episode just throws at you what feeling the death of a close person is, no story involved.

[@Nicamon]

The 1st time I watched this episode I'm pretty sure I got bored and I forgot almost everything about it.Recently I've watched a bunch of reactions and everyone was crying. I rewatched the ep myself and I felt bad for not crying and for still being pretty bored. I'm not saying it's not an excellent episode because, objectively,it obviously is. The problem is I never really got fond of Joyce so I don't care enough about her death and I never got fond of Buffy _enough_ to get sad for her(like it happened to me with Regina from"Once Upon a Time",for example...I *HATE* her mother with every burning fiber of my heart and soul 🤬💢🔥and yet when _she_ died I bursted into tears and I cried for several minutes and I was devastated..not for _her_ but *_for Regina...!!!_* 😭😭😭💔💔💔). So far,it never _really_ happened to me to get emotional watching this episode. I *FEAR* that one day I might be simply because I will lose my own mum and this episode will make me think about HER!🥺🥺🥺💔💔💔

[@SilentBob731]

7:27 I've said it before and I'll say it again, Alyson Hannigan has the best "cry" in the business. And that warble in her voice when she says Tara's name will never not get me. 😢 8:18 And here's the second gut-punch in a row... 😭

[@evatesche]

I have been dreading this upload for the past 2 days now, checking your chanel every now and then.... so okay, here we go.... 😭

[@dansonntag4685]

Agree so strongly with your very first comment. In my whole life I've never seen the experiences of grief portrayed as accurately. I didn't hate it tho, as someone who has been through similar it was cathartic for me as well. Brilliant piece of work. I cried along with you

[@CvSp22]

It's the cruelst, most real and therefore finest hour ever filmed. Anya "wished" something. This is so meaningful that she was saying it. The kiss was all you said, comforting, supportive, sweet, perfect and the only lighthouse signal in this dark episode, (even if it was shot in the brightest daylight). And Joss had to fight hard for it. James Masters (who was happy that he haven't to appear in this ep.) said, that he was very proud as he enters the office in the moment where Joss has a phone call, saying "AND THEY WILL KISS!" and hanging up. Imo, it was the perfect episode to do it and not building anotherone complete around their first kiss, cause it feels more natural that way. Oh, and the scene with them all together in the Summers house was made to bridge until the credits a done and no words are showing up at the bottom of the screen. Again, many hugs to you for going through that experience🧸♥️🧸♥️🧸♥️🧸.

[@idontsignin]

It's one of the few things we can genuinely say we love and hate at the same time. It's an hour of brilliance I have yet to see repeated 21 years later.

[@pikadoc6130]

I remember this episode aired when I was younger and luckily hadn't lost anyone yet. It's almost like there's a wall between those who have and haven't. When I rewatched this episode after I lost my lola and my mom, it resonated so acutely with me I was crying curled up in a ball for a good hour just feeling waves of it washing over me. But it was also cathartic. This is probably one of the best depictions in media of grief and loss that I'll ever see. I found it funny that a show about monsters and demons was able to show so many different facets of such a human and defining aspect of mortality and our existence.

[@Bills_Place]

The intro music was so jarring. The utter dearth of music through the rest of it was even more jarring. And the right choice.

[@le6360]

I’m a 1984 kid. I grew up on Buffy. I still to this day rewatch it every year even though I’m 39. This episode still makes me cry. The acting and quiet is haunting.

[@Dez861]

I'm surprised at how many people seem to be upset that this episode featured Willow and Tara's first on-screen kiss. But, honestly, I thought it was brilliant and beautiful. By putting it into the context of "someone comforting their partner in a moment of grief," bigots couldn't argue that the kiss was salicious, or dirty, or inappropriate. ... A kiss between them wouldn't have been those things, regardless, but here, it's literally impossible to make that argument. It was an irrefutable act of love between people IN love. It was so sad, and sweet, and painfully normal that even the most hateful person on the planet couldn't twist it into some perverse. I think it's both a gorgeous scene and a very powerful statement.

[@marybrown6128]

I knew this one would be a hard one for you, I’ve been looking forward to it and dreading it for weeks. Ever since an episode a while back where you said they better not do anything to Joyce!! My father died of cancer at home with us when I was 15, a couple of years before this originally aired. It ripped my heart out and every time I see a reaction to it it breaks my heart all over again. It really was so masterfully done, choosing to do the whole episode with no music, it makes the void feel palpable. When Buffy says “mom, mom......mommy” I lose it every time!!

[@primatador7326]

I bawled like a baby the first time I saw this episode. One of the most brilliant episodes of television ever.

[@_ingens_]

And this is why we loved BTVS back in teh day and continue to love the show 20 years later. This was indeed an important piece of TV work, and your reactions proved why once again. It's not only the rawness of it al, it's also how this was the context for Willow and Tara's first on-screen kiss, so loving, so sincere and natural. And when you think you can't deal with any more sadness, Anya's rection blinsides you and breaks you, The most inhuman character of the Scooby Gang gets deeply humanized in likw two sentences. Incredible. Also, you've probably been told this a million times, but you remind me a lot Juliet Landau. Have you ever dressed up as Drusila for a costume party??

[@billkarnes948]

Almost 4 years ago, I lost my husband of 17 years on New Years Eve. When I got home from the hospital, I was in complete shock (of course) and the first thing I did was watch this episode. I didn't cry at the time, but I have every other time I watched it, before and after his death. When I need a good cry, I watch this episode and your reaction/review did it for me again (I must have needed it...thank you).

[@derekgibson2589]

Well done for making it through what is probably the best, most honest 40 mins. of television ever. Why this didn't win every award going best episode, Best writer, Best director, best individual actors for Emma Caulfield and Sarah Michelle Gellar, basically the whole cast and the technical side as well is one of the mysteries of the industry. Similar to your experience my mother, who's name happened to be Joyce, collapsed and died shortly before I first saw this episode and it was hard to watch but also, similar to your experience, I did find it helpful looking back on it later.

[@UTU49]

I think The Body is such an achievement that I don't even think of it as good television -- or even good film-making. It's also more than that, something else. Perhaps a "life-depiction experiment". Perhaps for use in therapy. Buffy was always a good TV show, but here's where it became more than a TV show. These characters and relationships live and breath over the course of 7 seasons like no others that I've seen.

[@PyroDrake1134]

I just found your channel with the last episode, and I had to see your reaction to this. I lost my best friend in a VERY similar manner to Buffy with her mom. Every reaction that SMG had was perfectly executed, and so familiar. Like you said, I’ve never seen a show or movie tackle death and loss and PTSD in such a raw, emotional way. Just thinking about it makes me cry again…

[@coldservings]

This episode, no matter how many times I watch it, either myself or watching reactions, always brings me to tears.

[@Saveriox1]

I used to watch Buffy when I was a kid. I re-watched a lot of times. Now, I'm an adult, my parents passed away 10 years ago, 6 months one from the other. This episode always make me cry.

[@bugsby4663]

A beautiful, magnificent episode that is so hard to watch. Sarah & Emma are truly remarkable but top marks for Kristine for playing 'the body'.

[@TigerNightmare]

There are so many memorable episodes of Buffy, but none of them stay with you quite like this one. I first got into the show in something that was called syndicated reruns, so when I first saw this, I didn't even know who Anya was, but her monologue still made me cry. And I almost never cry. This episode, a season 7 episode, Inside Out, Breaking Bad's Ozymandias, Person of Interest's If Then Else, very few others. Sarah Michelle Gellar fought with Joss Whedon about the decision to kill Joyce. She later admitted she was wrong.

[@moleman1976]

I absolutely loved your comments on this episode - you took a lot of the same emotions away that I did the first (and 2nd, 3rd, etc.) times I saw it. My favorite comment of yours was on the brief moment when Buffy steps outside, and is harshly, brightly lit, and hears the sound of kids at play. I remember thinking those same thoughts when my Grandma died. This amazing woman had given birth to and raised 17 kids, and doted on over 50 grandkids, and had been such a pillar in my life. How can the world keep going on as normal now that she's gone? It made me angry to hear kids at play, and people walking normally down the street. That's why I love this episode of television so much. It is up there in my top 5 episodes of any TV, ever. Because Whedon was willing to get down and dirty and raw with the emotion. The lack of music throughout, the first Dawn scene where she's reacting to a social cut-down rather than what we the audience know is really going on (that she doesn't know yet), the actual Dawn reaction scene, the Anya speech, "we're not supposed to move the body", etc. It's the most realistic reaction to the death of a loved one that I've ever seen displayed on any visual medium, and I treasure it for that. I've heard Whedon's arguments as to why he kept the vampire in at the end, but I don't buy them, personally. I wish he'd left that out. This episode would have been perfect without any supernatural elements to it. Giles' reaction, questioning whether Buffy's call was regarding Glory, would have been enough to keep the supernatural element going. But even as it was presented, this is an all-time favorite!

[@BB-or8gi]

Here we go y’all.

[@fernandof.2225]

SoFie, take as comfort that your face without makeup looks beautiful. Natural beauty.

[@CoasterTrax]

Smg's performance is outstanding, raw and real. Such a good actress

[@katiewhite190]

I avoided this episode for years after my dad died. He was the person I watched Buffy with. And I avoided it again when my mom got sick until a year or so after she passed. It is so real and raw. My parents died in two different ways, dad suddenly and mom slowly, but the grief evens out over the years until it's the same. Wish I could've given you a hug while you watched it.

[@UnveiledAngel]

I'm glad you paused it and took the time you needed to continue.

[@WoncoTheSane]

You were wonderful in an episode that so few can be. Just keep your beautiful heart reacting, learning, and sharing and you will be fine. Thanks and looking for the next reactions whenever you are ready.

[@swanronson173]

Thank you Sofie for sharing your reaction. So much of what you said echoes my own feelings, especially about it being cathartic. When my father passed away I didn't fully process my grief at the time, I bottled some of it up to find some resolve to be strong to support my mother and to deal with all the arrangements. A couple of years later I rewatched BtVS and this episode wrecked me with how real it was, but it brought out the grief I had buried and helped me to deal with it. You were wrong about one thing though. A goofy supernatural tv show that can leave a stoic 40-something Englishman in floods of tears for 40 minutes isn't a work of art. It's a fricking masterpiece!

[@andrewdeeley9329]

Thank you for sharing you feelings on such an amazing episode. This episode helped me deal with death even tho I cry at it, it is somehow helpful to know that most people feel the same about death, the silence, confusion, and total sadness. It was hard watching you struggle with this episode but weirdly comforting at the same time, I hope with time you can go back and watch it again, it will make you cry but I think it can be used as a healing tool for grief. The Anya speech still gets me every single time, it’s like looking at death from a child’s perspective, just confused about it all, even the adults around couldn’t find answers to her questions because death doesn’t make sense when you are grieving. It was clearly a hard watch for you, so again thank you for your channel and your honesty i cried along with you. Sending love ❤️

[@TenebrousFilms]

Joss may have turned out to be a total turnip-head, but he made a hell of a show. The performances really sold it.

[@Madbandit77]

That's what makes me mad. How can a TV showrunner create a solid piece of work can be a total bastard?

[@mathewdebol923]

This episode deserved to win every award a tv show could win, then they need to make a couple new ones to give them

[@KS-xk2so]

Joss Whedon might be a bit of a jerk, but when he tries, he can make some staggeringly good pieces of art.

[@jacklegend5798]

I am forty years old. This is the only death in television or film that has ever broken me, and it still absolutely crushes me every single time.

[@horsepuncher95]

Bless you for soldering on. I've rewatched this show countless times since over the last 20 years and I haven't be able to revisit this one fully more than twice. I only watch it via reactors coz the grief it unearths in me is too much

[@sld1776]

You got it right the first time. Joyce's glass eyes and extra paleness were no fake out.

[@lionlyons]

Wow, SMG's Oscar worthy reaction after "We're not supposed to move the body!"...

[@Madbandit77]

Emmy worthy

[@VinOnline]

This is literally the perfect episode. The writers knew what they were doing with that rant at 8:30. That's exactly one of the loops of thoughts that people experience when a loved one passes away. Why did they have to die? Why do people have to die? Why now, why so soon? Why can't we just live? Why does death have to happen? It's perfect.

[@TheLenze]

You are the ONLY reactor who gets this episode. It IS a work of art, indeed. Thanks

[@MrHws5mp]

The acting and writing chops on display in this episode are off the scale. Your reaction was touching: I found my mum in similar circumstances to how you found your grandma. Wish I could give you big hug, hon.

[@mp_1231]

Girl I respect you for being fully prepared.