Life Serial

"Life Serial" is the fifth episode of the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the one hundred fifth episode altogether. It was written by David Fury and Jane Espenson and directed by Nick Marck. It originally broadcast on October 23, 2001.

Buffy tries to focus on doing something useful and profitable but The Trio are after her to make her life more difficult with their little devices and spells.

Synopsis


Buffy returns from her visit with Angel, but doesn't want to talk about it. Instead, the Scoobies discuss Buffy's future plans. Not knowing what she wants to do in life, Buffy agrees to audit the classes Willow and Tara are taking until the next semester starts.

The Trio prepare for their competition to test Buffy, setting up their van with high-tech monitoring equipment. There is a small dispute about a large Death Star mural on the van and drawing too much attention to themselves, however.

At school, Buffy finds herself overwhelmed by a class she takes with Willow. Buffy later meets up with Tara for Art History, but before class begins Warren tags her with a tiny device that causes her to move very slowly in time so everyone else seems to be moving in fast-forward. Buffy is dazed as the world whizzes around her; when she finally notices the device Warren planted on her, it self-destructs, putting Buffy back in normal time.



Buffy works with Xander at his construction job, telling him about the time situation at school before she's introduced to Tony, the boss. Andrew summons demons from the van, which trash the construction site before Buffy kills them. Xander gets mad at Buffy for bringing slaying to his work place and Buffy is fired.

Buffy learns about working at the Magic Box from Giles and Anya as Jonathan begins a spell to loop time. Buffy assists a man with a candle sale and then goes downstairs to fetch a live mummy hand for a female customer. The hand attacks her and she is forced to kill it, which also kills the sale. Events start to repeat themselves (a la Groundhog day, as Buffy must help the customers and fight the mummy hand over and over again. She's stuck in an unsolved dilemma, as events repeat Buffy becomes increasingly agitated, even taking off Giles' glasses in one loop and stepping on them and crying in another. After several loops, Buffy is able to end the spell by telling the woman she'll order the hand instead of going downstairs to fight with the one they already have.



Stressed out by the repeating time and the job itself, Buffy walks out. All the while, the three villains keep scores on their Buffy attacks.

Later that night, Buffy gets drunk with Spike at his crypt. Completely hammered, Buffy goes with Spike to a bar where he plays poker (using kittens as currency) and searches for information. After the poker game ends badly, Buffy rants to Spike about the new low her life has reached with her inability to understand school or get a decent job. Buffy and Spike notice a black van that she realizes has been at all the events of the day; the Trio notices Buffy approaching with alarm.

A fake demon appears from behind the van and threatens Buffy, but it's beaten down by a staggering drunken kick from the girl while the van drives away. With the use of smoke to confuse the Slayer and vampire, the demon (Jonathan in disguise) runs away. Buffy begins to recover from her drunken state and complains to Giles about her life. He consoles her and offers her a check to help pay for all the expenses. Buffy's happy that Giles will always be there, but the look on Giles's face suggests that he might not always be.

Continuity

 * A meeting between Buffy and Angel takes place immediately before this episode (between the corresponding Angel episodes "Carpe Noctem" and "Fredless"). It is the subject of Jane Espenson's Buffy/Angel comic, Reunion. Though even in the comic we don't learn what happened at their meeting.


 * The good demon Clem, who will later befriend Buffy and the other Scoobies, appears for the first time playing kitten poker. He is credited as "Loose Skinned Demon".

Pop Culture References

 * Andrew references the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "where the Enterprise kept blowing up" ("Cause and Effect"). Warren also notes the X-Files episode in which "the bank kept exploding" ("Monday").


 * There is a reference to Monty Python's Flying Circus in the time loop sequence where one of the villains misquotes "this is an ex-mummy hand" - a take on the famous Parrot Sketch.


 * The title of the episode is a pun on the breakfast cereal Life.


 * When Warren plants the time dilation device on Buffy, he uses the codename "Logan 5", a reference to the 1976 film Logan's Run.


 * The Trio have a protracted argument over actors who have played James Bond. Warren insists that Moonraker was inexcusable.


 * Andrew spray paints a mural of the Death Star from Return of the Jedi on the side of the Trio's van, and the van's horn plays the Star Wars main theme.


 * Tara makes reference to watching SpongeBob SquarePants with Willow to Buffy during Buffy's speed problems at college.

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

 * Just after Jonathan (disguised as a demon) runs off after "fighting" Buffy, Spike is obviously laughing at him.


 * In the widescreen version of the episode, a crewmember is visible to the left behind Xander and Buffy as they talk at the construction site.


 * When Warren takes out Jonathan's 'magic bone', he's holding it only with his left hand. When Jonathan demands "Stop touching my magic bone" right after, the bone is being held by both his right and left hands.

Music

 * Masticators - "Kidnapper Song"
 * Murder City Devils - "Boom Swagger Boom"
 * John Williams - "Star Wars Theme." The trio of geeks use the theme for their van horn.