The Body

My mom passed away this year. In february. It was, quite like Joyce, sudden. And also like Joyce, she was young by most standards (only 51). When I got up to The Body in around august, i wasn't sure if i wanted to watch it or not. I had only seen it the once on t.v. prior. But i wasn't sure if i would be ready to watch such an episode. However, i felt wrong skipping an episode after watching everything else all the way through.

So i found a time when i could be alone, and watched it. And cried. Cried hysterically. Because it was all so true. The emotion, the confusion, the anger, the shock... it was so perfectly displayed and unlike any other take on death i have seen. And as hard as it was for me to watch the episode, it almost made me feel better because ifelt like i was understood. That those writers understood. that the actors who so wonderfully portrayed how it really feels, in some way, understood. It sounds funny but the episode makes me feel a little less alone.

I swear if I ever met Joss i would give him the biggest hug and thank you for it.
 
This Episode reduced me to tears it was that sad.My granmother passed away a few years ago(cancer) and I can remember dying inside(we were extremely close).Dawns reaction hit the nail on the head.Bufy's did too.The actors did an excellent job with this episode.

Edit:

Also I think that after Buffy killed the zombie(?)she could have freaked a little.Not to compare Charmed and Buffy but when Prue died Piper and Phoebe had to vanquish a demon and Piper freaked.
 
Angelic Slayer
Angelic Slayer
(Think that was a vamp, or at least that's what I assumed!)
Well, after four years of avoiding this episode like the plague-- I finally did it.

I watched "The Body".

And cried like a BABY! :cry2:

I have to say right off the bat, I thought this was an EXCELLENTLY done episode! I really noticed the lack of music, and I think that that decision really threw the audience into the story just that much more. No sad songs, no dramatic background themes, just silence-- much like in real life. The camera angles also, I thought, were a brilliant thought. It was really against the usual grain of things, and the way it was done again, made you feel almost as though you WERE Buffy (or Willow, or Xander, etc). We see things from their point of view-- right down to the height difference between Buffy and the Parametic.

The clips to Joyce's body in the morgue I also thought were an important part of the episode. The flashbacks almost served as a reminder of her life, while the morgue images constantly reminded us all that yes these characters are crying because JOYCE IS DEAD-- which is somehow easier to forget than I'd think.

I also think that it was a good choice for Joss and co. to have Joyce die of something human-- something that no matter how hard she tried, Buffy couldn't slay. There was no bad guy, no supernatural forces, no happy ending.... just... life. Real, true kind of life and a reality in it that people are forced to go through every day. It wasn't made up to be any signifigant part of a "bigger plan"-- it just was. Even when Xander's character mentioned Glory, the writers made sure it was shot down to leave no question that this was just something that HAPPENED.

Some really great lines in here too. Willow and her blue sweater, Anya's "why" speech.... I think the one thing in the whole episode that really got me was when Giles first comes to the house. He was so clueless to the whole ordeal, and Buffy's final line: "We're not supposed to move the body!" just really, REALLY broke my heart. Incredibly sad, but AMAZING writing on Joss' part.

All in all, I'm really glad I watched it. Definitely give it 10/10, any day.
 
For all of the reasons that have already been mentioned, I think this is probably my absolute favorite episode of Buffy. The first time I saw it, I just assumed it won an Emmy. That's the first time I've ever watched an episode of any show and just taken its Emmy winning goodness for granted. I can't believe it didn't win!

I will show it to my mom someday. It will change her opinion of Buffy. I just couldn't show it last time she was in town. It's too soon after her mom died.
 
I really, really didn't like this episode. It was such an intense episode, and granted it was meant to be that way. It was so serious, so docile, so unlike the majority of the series, it totally blew me away. I didn't cry, not until the second time I saw it because I think throughout a lot of the first time I watched it, as I said, I was too blown away. I couldn't believe that she'd lost her Mum. I mean, my mother is my rock, I adore that woman and if I were to loose her now... at just slightly older than what Buffy was, I believe... it would just be the end of me for a quite some time. To think that Buffy went on to be strong, to continue to slay... that's a courage and a strength that's just admirable.
 
I just watched "The Body" last night and just reading these posts about it at work is making me emotional again.

There's not much to say that hasn't already been said, I think everyone's acting was amazing and this is a brilliant and powerful episode and one of the most emotional episodes of any series I've seen thus far.

There's always something that bothered me though. I know it was put in to make it seem like Joyce's relationship was progressing and to make her death seem more sudden in comparison - but I always wondered why we never saw or heard from Brian her date? I also thought it was weird that we see flowers from Brian right before we see Joyce's dead body.

Why introduce a character that's never seen or even mentioned again? Even if he was just used to throw people off before Joyce's death you would think there would be a mention of him being contacted about her death or even an appearance by him.

At first I used to wonder (more hope) that he had something to do with her death, but now I'm just more bothered by him even being in the story than anything. Anyone else find out anything about this non-character?
 
Damn, I would have put this as a karma comment Fray, but apparently I babble for too long.

What I was going to say was:

Brian was basically a plot device to show Joyce was completely well again and just as importantly, happy. Joss likes to kill characters off when they are at their most happy or complete. The flowers were showing that Joyce was finally having a progressive, non-homicidal-robot-involving relationship that was with a nice guy and made her happy. She was nervous and as giddy as a teenager on a first date in I Was Made to Love You showing that she really liked the guy a lot. And then as Buffy said as regards to the flowers 'Still a couple of guys getting it right'. This was everything Joyce had been looking for in a relationship and had she survived it would have no doubt progressed into something much more, but her death brought it to an abrupt and immature end. The flowers being shown just before her body was emphasizing that. Making it hurt more for us, Buffy, Joyce and even Brian who while we may not officially see was presumably at the funeral.

We don't learn anymore of Brian (Beyond he knew next to nothing about antique cameos) because he was directly linked to Joyce so when her story ended, so did his.

So in answer to your question, I'm afraid we never know more of him that what we learn at the beginning of IWMTLY
 
F
frayadjacent
I figured as much but it still seemed a little odd to me, I don't recall too many characters that had that much to do with the story yet showed up in name only.
I just watched this episode again and I can hardly see the screen right now cause my eyes are almost swollen shut from the tear fest I just had 😛 Nothing new, happens every time I watch it, lol. Anyway, I was reminded while watching of how the inclusion of the vamp at the end kinda bugs me. It by no means ruins the episode for me or anything but I just feel it wasn't really necessary to include a vamp fight scene in this episode. I think I would love it more (if thats possible) if they had kept it strictly about the human emotions. Dawn still coulda gone off to see Joyce and Buffy could have just been concerned that she'd been gone a while (without hearing screams) and gone to find her and there could have been some other variation on that scene between the two of them so that the blanket would fall off Joyce and I think it would have had the same impact, without a vamp cameo... it just took a little away from the message/theme of the episode for me.
 
I watched this ep over and over for 2 hours after my brother died in 2007 aged 23 it made me feel better some how.
 
E
Edmund Blackadder
The greatest thing about something well written is its ability to help us in a time of need - I had something similar(my cousin) happen and I watched this entire season as it was a similar affliction. Gave me strength:)
its an incredible episode, powerfull and very realistic,people often say that they watch an episode like this when they had a beravement and it spoke to them in such a way so u gota give credit to joss and his actors when his work gets people like that, its not an easy task, i would rate this eppy as one of the finest in buffy history and the fact that it ends with a vampire slay really sends the message that life goes on no matter what, dramatic way to end, kudos all round, terrific episode, one complaint though i wouldnt have objected to giving aly some more screen time with that whole trying to pick an outfit scene she was amazing
 
Airam said:
Anyway, I was reminded while watching of how the inclusion of the vamp at the end kinda bugs me. It by no means ruins the episode for me or anything but I just feel it wasn't really necessary to include a vamp fight scene in this episode. I think I would love it more (if thats possible) if they had kept it strictly about the human emotions. Dawn still coulda gone off to see Joyce and Buffy could have just been concerned that she'd been gone a while (without hearing screams) and gone to find her and there could have been some other variation on that scene between the two of them so that the blanket would fall off Joyce and I think it would have had the same impact, without a vamp cameo... it just took a little away from the message/theme of the episode for me.
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That was the point. We were supposed to be reminded that even with all this real-life horribly human stuff going on, we were still in Sunnydale, and Buffy still had a job to do. It was one of the more gruesome vampire slayings (vamp was naked, Buffy had to slowly cut his head off) to emphasize that. It was supposed to be out of place.
 
fly on the wall said:
That was the point. We were supposed to be reminded that even with all this real-life horribly human stuff going on, we were still in Sunnydale, and Buffy still had a job to do. It was one of the more gruesome vampire slayings (vamp was naked, Buffy had to slowly cut his head off) to emphasize that. It was supposed to be out of place.
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I can understand the point with the vamp fight at the end. It's valid reasons I guess.

But I still think that I would prefered the episode being vamp free.
Not that it, like Airam says, ruins the episode in any way. I just felt unnecessary (in lack of a better word) to me.

/SK
 
Airam
Airam
Oh yay, I'm not alone :)
One of m favorite epi's of the whole series. It was simply brilliant, and I LOVED how each character dealt with it differently. It was so true to life; showing how people deal with the unexplained and unexpected death of a loved one.
Anya's speech was heartbreaking... I kinda of felt the same way when my grandma passed away last year...
 
Great direction, great no-soundtrack.... Great acting moments.. Anya was perfect!

But too sad for me. I think I´ll only watch it this one time and.. enough 🙁
 
I could watch that episode over and over.... It makes my heart ache but I love it. Some truly brilliant acting in this episode. 🙂
 
fly on the wall said:
That was the point. We were supposed to be reminded that even with all this real-life horribly human stuff going on, we were still in Sunnydale, and Buffy still had a job to do. It was one of the more gruesome vampire slayings (vamp was naked, Buffy had to slowly cut his head off) to emphasize that. It was supposed to be out of place.
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Right, thats all fine and I get that thats what they were going for and in that capacity it works well. I'm just saying that, IMO, they could have gone the other way with it. Gone with the the theme that despite the fact that they live in Sunnydale where all this supernatural death and mayhem constantly goes on that that stuff does not engulf every aspect of their lives. This episode focused on tragedy without the supernatural and how these characters dealt with that kind of jolting loss, I thought it would have worked just as effectively to follow that theme through to the end without adding a supernatural distraction from their humain pain and suffering. It was still good, just thought it would have been just as good or better without the vamp fight.
 
Airam said:
Right, thats all fine and I get that thats what they were going for and in that capacity it works well. I'm just saying that, IMO, they could have gone the other way with it. Gone with the the theme that despite the fact that they live in Sunnydale where all this supernatural death and mayhem constantly goes on that that stuff does not engulf every aspect of their lives. This episode focused on tragedy without the supernatural and how these characters dealt with that kind of jolting loss, I thought it would have worked just as effectively to follow that theme through to the end without adding a supernatural distraction from their humain pain and suffering. It was still good, just thought it would have been just as good or better without the vamp fight.
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I agree... I thought the vamp fight took away from what the whole epi was about.
 
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