Joyce Summers

Joyce Summers (1958-2001) was the owner of an Art Gallery and mother to Buffy and Dawn Summers.

Early Life
Joyce has at least two sisters named Arlene (who lives in Illinois) and Lolly (who made the curtains hanging in their Sunnydale house). One of her sisters was the mother of the deceased Celia, whom Buffy was very close to. In high school, Joyce had a Gidget haircut and did Yearbook. Joyce met Hank Summers at prom during her freshman year of college. Joyce didn't have a date and Hank did.

In Los Angeles, Hank and Joyce's relationship eventually deteriorated and Hank had an affair with his secretary. Hank and Joyce's arguments included those about Buffy when she came home after her first slay. Joyce, early on, appeared to have a slight alcoholism problem that is referenced with Grueller getting into Joyce's blueberry schnapps and luging on her at Buffy's 15th birthday party, as well as being told by her daughter to "have another drink" in Becoming, Part Two. While Hank was more authoritarian about Buffy's behavior, Joyce was the more lenient, although disappointed parent. Hank and Joyce placed Buffy in an asylum after she was expelled for burning down the gym and had returned home from Las Vegas. Neither Hank or Joyce believed that Buffy was a vampire Slayer.

Sunnydale
In Sunnydale, Joyce owned an art gallery and maintained a close relationship with Buffy, although she has been disappointed by some of Buffy's behavior. Joyce was a protective and loving parent; she also became a maternal presence in the lives of Buffy's friends Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris. When vampires attacked Sunnydale High School on Parent-Teacher Night, Joyce protected her daughter by attacking Spike with an axe after the other survivors fled the school. She is concerned about Buffy's poor academic performance, but she was proud to discover that Buffy is a strong leader who can take care of herself. Unlike the abusive, bitter parents of Xander Harris and the distant, uninvolved parents of Willow Rosenberg, Joyce is a constant loving presence, always there with advice and a warm hug. She is shown as warm and loving to all, even Spike, with whom she formed a friendship in season five.

Joyce was disturbed when Angel turned into a stalker (after losing his soul and returning to Angelus), and is even more upset when she learned that Buffy had lost her virginity to him. Joyce became increasingly frustrated with the distance between herself and her daughter. When police officers visited the house and informed her that Buffy was a murder suspect, Joyce feared the worst. She met Buffy, who was accompanied by Spike, outside their house. Buffy initially tried to convince her mom that she and Spike were in a band, but when the three are attacked by a vampire, Buffy staked him in front of her mom before leaving to save the world. Joyce reacted badly to this revelation, and demanded that Buffy take the time to explain herself, going so far as to warn her not to come back to the house if she left, a statement that she clearly regretted immediately. Taking her at her word, Buffy departed Sunnydale for Los Angeles.

While Buffy was gone, Joyce worked with Giles and the Scooby Gang to locate her. She developed a close friendship with Pat, a woman from her book club who was soon killed by zombies. Joyce was relieved when Buffy returned and wanted things to go back to normal. She tried to support Buffy's extracurricular activities while also encouraging her to think about her future. After accompanying Buffy on patrol, Joyce fell under a demon's spell, which drove her to lead Sunnydale on a witch hunt. She and others attempted to burn Buffy, Willow, and Amy at the stake, and was later horrified at her actions. Spike stopped by the Summers' home when he returned to Sunnydale where Joyce lent a sympathetic ear as he related the details of his recent break-up, which earned his perpetual gratitude.

Joyce's only biological child was Buffy. However, in Season Five, a new daughter named Dawn mystically appeared in her home; her existence was interwoven into the memories of all the characters. Joyce's health deteriorated as the season progressed, and she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Pressure from the tumor interfered with her mind, and she temporarily lost mental clarity. At that time, Joyce recognized Dawn's anomalous nature and confirmed with Buffy that Dawn is not her daughter by birth. She loved and accepted Dawn as a member of the family and urged Buffy to do everything in her power to protect Dawn.

It is possible that Joyce's illness was related to Dawn's nature, as a stable mother such as Joyce is the person least likely to forget the existence of her own daughter, meaning that the alteration to her memories was the most extreme for her, most likely because of both her age and the sheer amount of implanted memories overloading her brain. In addition it is during her attacks that she either fails to recognise Dawn, or realizes her true nature.



Later years and Death
Joyce's health improved after a successful surgery, although her life was soon in danger again. Glory, a hell-god, sought a mystical key that could open interdimensional portals. Although Glory does not realize that the key is, in fact, Dawn, she knew that Buffy protected it. She threatened Buffy's family, which forced Joyce and Dawn to temporarily stay with Spike for protection. She continued her friendly relationship with Spike and they watch a soap opera together. Soon afterward, Joyce suddenly died from a brain aneurysm in the end of I Was Made to Love You, which left all of the Scoobies, including Spike, devastated and completely heartbroken.

Legacy
In "Forever", Dawn, devastated by Joyce's death to the point of irrationality and feeling abandoned by Buffy, resorts to necromancy despite Willow and Tara's warnings and, with help from Spike and Doc, apparently reanimates Joyce's body as a zombie. However, Dawn realizes the inherent dangers of what she has done and breaks the spell before Joyce can enter the house.

After her own resurrection, Buffy is poisoned by a demon, and the poison causes her consciousness to constantly shift to an alternate reality where she is incarcerated in a Los Angeles mental institution for dreaming up Sunnydale. During these appearances, Joyce appears and attempts to convince her daughter to get over her apparent insanity, but her attempts ultimately lead to Buffy returning to Sunnydale full force to slay the demon that poisoned her. That world's version of Buffy becomes catatonic, much to the dismay of the alternate Joyce.

Post-mortem, Joyce appeared in Buffy's dreams on several occasions. The First Evil also took her form to contact Dawn and tried to drive a wedge between the Summers sisters.

Joyce has also made some guest appearances in Season Eight, but only in dreams. Joyce was more prominently shown in the dream Buffy had which was set during season one.

Personality
Early in the first season of Buffy, Joyce was portrayed as a stereotypical "Californian" mother -- distant and reliant on "pop-psychology" techniques in raising her daughter, but well-meaning. As the series wore on and she became more of a central character, however, Joyce became more competent and sympathetic, as exemplified when she attacked Spike with an axe in order to protect her daughter. She is typically portrayed - particularly after she discovers Buffy's true identity - as a warm, loving mother with a deep reserve of inner strength and a highly cynical and sarcastic streak (clearly inherited by her daughters). In stark contrast to Willow's religious, absent-minded parents and Xander's angry, bitter parents, Joyce is a constant and maternal presence, acting as a mother and friend to all the gang.

Joyce often banters with Buffy and even held her own with Faith when the rogue Slayer held her hostage, sneering "Are you planning on slitting my throat anytime soon?" in the middle of Faith's monologue. She is a fan of the soap opera Passions, which she watches with Spike, the movie Thelma and Louise, art (particularly African), and is a competent seamstress.

Joyce hates potlucks (which she gives as a reason for not wanting a wake) and Jell-O (which, she confesses while in the hospital, "creeps her out"). She has been shown to care more about others than herself, being more concerned about Riley than her medical condition. She had a friendly and motherly relationship with Spike, who claimed she was the only one he could stand. Spike paid his respects by anonymously leaving flowers.

Behind the Scenes

 * She was portrayed by Kristine Sutherland.
 * Joyce has the most appearances of a recurring character on Buffy or Angel, appearing in 58 episodes total, beating out Lilah Morgan (2nd most with 35), Jonathan Levinson and Andrew Wells (Tied for 3rd with 28 each).
 * Joyce is one of only two characters (the other being Cassie Newton) in the Buffyverse to die of natural causes.

Appearances
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Buffy Season 1

 * "Welcome to the Hellmouth"
 * "The Harvest"
 * "Witch"
 * "Angel"
 * "The Puppet Show"
 * "Nightmares"
 * "Prophecy Girl"

Buffy Season 2

 * "When She Was Bad"
 * "School Hard"
 * "Inca Mummy Girl"
 * "Ted"
 * "Bad Eggs"
 * "Surprise"
 * "Innocence"
 * "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
 * "Passion"
 * "Killed by Death"
 * "Becoming, Part One"
 * "Becoming, Part Two"

Buffy Season 3

 * "Anne"
 * "Dead Man's Party"
 * "Faith, Hope & Trick"
 * "Band Candy"
 * "Lovers Walk"
 * "Amends"
 * "Gingerbread"
 * "Helpless"
 * "Bad Girls"
 * "Consequences"
 * "Enemies"
 * "Earshot"
 * "Choices"
 * "The Prom"
 * "Graduation Day, Part One"

Buffy Season 4

 * "The Freshman"
 * "Fear, Itself"
 * "This Year's Girl"
 * "Who Are You"
 * "Restless"

Buffy Season 5

 * "Buffy vs. Dracula"
 * "Real Me"
 * "The Replacement"
 * "Out of My Mind"
 * "No Place Like Home"
 * "Fool for Love"
 * "Shadow"
 * "Listening to Fear"
 * "Into the Woods"
 * "Triangle"
 * "Checkpoint"
 * "Blood Ties"
 * "Crush"
 * "I Was Made to Love You " (dies)
 * "The Body" (corpse only)
 * "Forever" (shadow only)
 * "The Weight of the World" (only in dreams/flasbacks)

Buffy Season 6

 * "Normal Again" (only in Buffy's hallucinations)

Buffy Season 7

 * "Conversations with Dead People"
 * "Bring on the Night" (only in Buffy's dreams)

Buffy Season 8
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 * "The Long Way Home" (only in Buffy's dreams)
 * "After These Messages ... We'll Be Right Back!" (only in Buffy's dreams)