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{{Episode
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{{buffyepisode
  
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| season = 7
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|season = 7
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| number = 7
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|number = 7
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| image = 707_CWDP.jpg
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|image = Conversations with Dead People.jpg
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| airdate = November 12, 2002
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|airdate = November 12, [[2002]]
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| writer = [[Jane Espenson]]<br />[[Drew Goddard]]
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|writer = [[Jane Espenson]]<br>[[Drew Goddard]]
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| director = [[Nick Marck]]
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|director = [[Nick Marck]]
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|length = 41
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| previous = "[[Him]]"
  
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| next = "[[Sleeper]]"
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|series = ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''
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| cast = {{CastList
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|previous = "[[Him]]"
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|next = "[[Sleeper]]"
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| starring = {{CastGroup|{{CastActor|name=Sarah Michelle Gellar|character=Buffy Summers|billed=Buffy}}
  
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|series2 = ''[[Angel (series)|Angel]]''
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| {{CastActor|name=Nicholas Brendon|character=Xander Harris|billed=Xander}}
  
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|previous2 = "[[Spin the Bottle]]"
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| {{CastActor|name=Emma Caulfield|character=Anya Jenkins|billed=Anya}}
  
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|next2 = "[[Apocalypse, Nowish]]"
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| {{CastActor|name=Michelle Trachtenberg|character=Dawn Summers|billed=Dawn}}
  
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|stars = [[Sarah Michelle Gellar]] — [[Buffy Summers|Buffy]]<br>[[Nicholas Brendon]] — [[Alexander Harris|Xander]][[#Production|*]]<br>[[Emma Caulfield]] — [[Anya Jenkins|Anya]][[#Production|*]]<br>[[Michelle Trachtenberg]] — [[Dawn Summers|Dawn]]<br>[[James Marsters]] — [[Spike]]<br>[[Alyson Hannigan]] — [[Willow Rosenberg|Willow]]
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| {{CastActor|name=James Marsters|character=Spike}}
  
  +
|gueststars = [[Danny Strong]] — [[Jonathan Levinson|Jonathan]]<br>[[Adam Busch]] — [[Warren Mears|Warren]]<br>[[Tom Lenk]] — [[Andrew Wells|Andrew]]<br>[[Jonathan M. Woodward]] — [[Holden Webster|Holden]]<br>[[Azura Skye]] — [[Cassandra Newton|Cassie]]<br>[[Kristine Sutherland]] — [[Joyce Summers|Joyce]]
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| {{CastActor|name=Alyson Hannigan|character=Willow Rosenberg|billed=Willow}}}}
  
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|costars = [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0780069 Stacey Scowley] — [[Unidentified woman (Conversations with Dead People)|Young Woman]]
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| gueststarring = {{CastGroup|{{CastActor|name=Danny Strong|character=Jonathan Levinson|billed=Jonathan}}
  
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|bandname = [[Angie Hart]]
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| {{CastActor|name=Adam Busch|character=Warren Mears|billed=Warren}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=Tom Lenk|character=Andrew Wells|billed=Andrew}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=Jonathan M. Woodward|character=Holden Webster|billed=Holden}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=Azura Skye|character=Cassie Newton|billed=Cassie}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=Kristine Sutherland|character=Joyce Summers}}}}
  
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| costarring = {{CastGroup|{{CastActor|name=Stacey Scowley|imdb=0780069|billed=Young Woman}}}}
  
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| bandname = Splendid
  
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| bandmembers = {{CastGroup|{{CastActor|name=Angie Hart|billed=Singer}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=Jesse Tobias|imdb=1302790|billed=Guitar Player}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=J.D. Foster|imdb=0287855|billed=Bass Player}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=Craig Ross|imdb=2192802|billed=Keyboard Player}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=Gordon Townsend|imdb=1533260|billed=Drummer}}
  
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| {{CastActor|name=Kathy Zeigler|imdb=1629256|billed=Background Singer}}}}}}
  
 
}}
  
}}
   
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"'''Conversations with Dead People'''" is the seventh episode of the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer#Season Seven|seventh season]] of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', and is the one hundred twenty-ninth episode altogether. It was written by [[Jane Espenson]] and [[Drew Goddard]] and directed by [[Nick Marck]]. It originally broadcast on November 12, 2002.
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"'''{{PAGENAME}}'''" is the seventh episode of the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7|seventh season]] of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and the 129th episode in the series. Written by [[Jane Espenson]] and [[Drew Goddard]] and directed by [[Nick Marck]], it was originally broadcast on November 12, [[2002]], on the [[UPN]] network.
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Several separate encounters take place around [[Sunnydale]] on one night.
  
   
 
==Synopsis==
  
==Synopsis==
  +
AND WHERE WERE YOU? — While hunting for [[vampire]]s at the cemetery, [[Buffy Summers|Buffy]] runs into a former classmate-turned-vampire and ends up turning to him for therapy. Meanwhile, [[Willow Rosenberg|Willow]] is interrupted at the library by the recently dead [[Cassandra Newton|Cassie]] (or some form of her) who claims to have a message for Willow from [[Tara Maclay|Tara]]. [[Dawn Summers|Dawn]] returns home to find [[Joyce Summers|Joyce]] attempting to reach her from beyond, but some force prevents her from doing so.<ref>[https://www.angelfire.com/tv2/craigstrans7/ "Season 7."] ''Craig's BuffyVERSE 4ever''. Retrieved on November 8, 2021.</ref>
  +
  +
==Summary==
  +
It's November 12, 2002, at 8.01 PM. Buffy is out patrolling, [[Spike]] is drinking at the [[Bronze]], Willow is studying at the library, Dawn arrives to her empty home, and [[Jonathan Levinson|Jonathan]] and [[Andrew Wells|Andrew]] return to [[Sunnydale]].
   
 
===Buffy & Holden===
  
===Buffy & Holden===
  +
While on patrol, Buffy comes across a newly-risen vampire. After the two fight for a while, the vampire, ready to bite Buffy, recognizes her from [[Sunnydale High School|Sunnydale High]]. He tells her that the two of them were old classmates, and that his name is [[Holden Webster|Holden]]. Buffy slowly recognizes him and the two begin to reminisce.
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[[Image:707_CWDP1.jpg|thumb|left|Holden and Buffy reminisce mid-fight.]]
  
   
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While on patrol, Buffy comes across a newly-risen vampire, and after the two fight for a while, the vampire, ready to bite Buffy, recognizes her from Sunnydale High. He tells her that the two of them were old classmates, and that his name is Holden. Buffy clearly has absolutely no memory of him, which she feels very guilty for. The two, with no indication of wanting to fight or kill one another, begin to reminisce. When Holden asks Buffy why she has a stake and why she was trying to kill him, Buffy tells Holden that it is because she is the Slayer and that it is her job. Holden takes this news surprisingly well, and even says that it also explains her frequent absences at school and why she was often late. He then tells Buffy that many of the other students thought she was a training to be a nun, much to her surprise. Holden tells her that he is, or was, a psychology major, and manages to get Buffy to start talking about herself, all in between attempts to kill her.
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Holden asks Buffy why she has a [[stake]] and why she was trying to kill him, so she tells him that it is because she is the Slayer and that it is her job. Holden says that it explains her frequent absences at school and why she was often late. He then tells Buffy that many of the other students thought she was a training to be a nun, much to her surprise.
   
  +
Holden tells her that he is, or was, a psychology major, and manages to get Buffy to start talking about herself, all in between attempts to kill her. He is able to help Buffy realize her problems stem from feeling alone as the Slayer but reminds her everybody feels alone. She eventually slays him as he reveals that Spike was the one who sired him.
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Holden predicts that Buffy will never truly connect with others, and reveals that [[Spike]]&mdash;believed by the [[Scooby Gang]] to be unable to harm humans because of his chip&mdash;was the one who sired him. Buffy later stakes him.
  
   
 
===Dawn & Joyce===
  
===Dawn & Joyce===
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Over at the [[Summers' residence|Summers' home]], [[Dawn Summers|Dawn]] finds that no one else is in the house and begins to mess around with some of Buffy's weapons and tries on some of her clothes. Then Dawn watches an old horror movie and talks to her friend [[Kit Holburn|Kit]], but soon she hears a series of knocks & the phone line is cut as a malevolent force begins to attack the house. During this attack, Dawn sees images of [[Joyce Summers|her mother]] appear every now and then. Dawn believes that it is her mother trying to speak with her from beyond the grave and an evil force is trying to stop her.
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Over at the [[1630 Revello Drive|Summers home]], Dawn finds that no one else is in the house and begins to mess around with some of Buffy's weapons and tries on some of her clothes. Then Dawn watches an old horror movie and talks to her friend [[Kit Holburn|Kit]].
   
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Soon, she hears a series of knocks and the phone line is cut, as some force begins to attack the house. During this attack, Dawn sees images of Joyce appear every now and then. Dawn believes that it is her mother trying to speak with her from beyond the grave and an evil force is trying to stop her.
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Dawn is able to drive it off, and is then visited by what appears to be Joyce's ghost, who predicts that she, Dawn, and Buffy will become enemies.
  
   
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Dawn is able to drive it off, and is then visited by what appears to be Joyce's ghost, who predicts that Dawn and Buffy will become enemies.
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[[Image:707_CWDP2.jpg|thumb|left|Andrew kills Jonathan.]]
  
   
 
===Jonathan, Andrew & Warren===
  
===Jonathan, Andrew & Warren===
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[[Jonathan Levinson|Jonathan]] and [[Andrew Wells|Andrew]] return from Mexico to dig up an artifact hidden near the [[Hellmouth]]. Andrew is secretly in contact with what appears to be the ghost of [[Warren Mears|Warren]], while Jonathan is having a personal revelation. After they dig up the artifact, Andrew, on Warren's instructions, kills Jonathan, causing his blood to spill all over a [[Seal of Danzalthar|seal]] in the dirt.
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Jonathan and Andrew return from Mexico to dig up an artifact hidden in the school basement near the [[Hellmouth]]. Andrew is secretly in contact with what appears to be the ghost of [[Warren Mears|Warren]], while Jonathan is having a personal revelation. After they dig up the artifact, Andrew, on Warren's instructions, stabs Jonathan. As he falls dead, his [[blood]] fills over [[Seal of Danzalthar|a seal]] in the dirt.
   
 
===Willow & Cassie===
  
===Willow & Cassie===
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In the library, [[Willow Rosenberg|Willow]] is visited by the ghost of [[Cassie Newton]], a girl Buffy tried unsuccessfully to save in "[[Help]]", who claims to have been sent by the dead [[Tara Maclay|Tara]]. The ghost relays a prediction that Willow will end up killing everyone unless she commits suicide. Willow is not fooled, and the figure declares that it is done with the 'good versus evil' battle and intends to attack and make sure Willow and her friends suffer. The ghost then reveals that it is what is being referred to by the phrase ''"From beneath you, it devours" ''before disappearing.
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Alone in the [[University of California, Sunnydale|UC Sunnydale]] library, Willow is visited by the ghost of Cassie, who tells her she was sent by the dead Tara. She relays a prediction that Willow will end up killing everyone unless she commits suicide. Willow is not fooled, and the figure declares that it is done with the "good versus evil" battle and intends to attack and make sure Willow and her friends suffer. The "ghost" then reveals that [[First Evil|it]] is what is being referred to by the phrase "From beneath you, it devours." then disappears.
   
 
===Spike===
  
===Spike===
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During all of this Spike is seen speaking with a young woman at the Bronze, she seems to invite Spike to come home with her to her home. Once there, Spike vamps out and kills her, confirming to the viewers that what Holden said to Buffy was true, that it was indeed Spike who sired him. And what's worse is that Spike seems to have shown no regret in killing the young woman.{{Clear}}
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Meanwhile, Spike has been speaking with a young woman at the Bronze. They leave together and he accompanies her on her way home, still talking. Once at her door, Spike vamps out, drinks her blood, then drops her dead on the sidewalk.
   
 
==Continuity==
  
==Continuity==
  +
*Andrew and Jonathan discuss the nightmares they've been having, as it will be shown in "[[Storyteller]]."
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*Holden Webster pronounces "nemeses" correctly and Buffy replies "Is that how you say that?" This is an allusion to the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer#Season Six|Season Six]] episode "[[Gone]]" when both Warren and Buffy mispronounce it "nemesis-es."
  
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*Sunnydale's population appears as 32,900, a drop from the 38,500 that appeared in "[[School Hard]]."
  +
*Willow recognizes Cassie mentioning seeing her picture, as she had found her blog in "[[Help]]."
  +
*Cassie, supposedly speaking for Tara (died in "[[Seeing Red]]"), reminds Willow of the time when Tara sang to her on the bridge in "[[Once More, with Feeling]]." She also reminds Willow that she is "strong like an Amazon," referencing a conversation that Willow and Tara had in "[[The Body]]."
  +
*Holden mentions that some of Buffy's classmates thought she was involved with an older man, which she indeed was: the centuries-old [[Angel]] ("[[Angel (episode)|Angel]]"). Others, he notes, thought she was overly religious, presumably because Buffy invariably carried and wore [[cross]]es in order to ward off vampires ("[[Welcome to the Hellmouth]]").
  +
*Buffy learns that [[Scott Hope]], who she dated briefly from "[[Faith, Hope & Trick]]" to "[[Homecoming]]," came out as being gay in college.
  +
*When Dawn tries to call Buffy, an image of Joyce lying lifeless on the sofa appears, having the same clothes and positioning as when Buffy found her dead in "[[I Was Made to Love You]]."
  +
*Jonathan tells Andrew that he won't be back to the big house, in reference to their incarceration in "[[Villains]]."
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*Jonathan and Andrew discuss their interest in joining the [[Scooby Gang]]. Jonathan had expressed this desire in "[[Superstar]]," but only Andrew will "even hang out at [Buffy's] house" ("[[Never Leave Me]]" to "[[Chosen]]") and join the group permanently, as confirmed in ''[[Predators and Prey]]''.
  +
*This episode marks the death of Jonathan, a recurring character present since "[[Inca Mummy Girl]]." The First Evil will assume his identity in the episodes "Never Leave Me," "[[First Date]]," and "Storyteller."
  +
*The First/Cassie tells Willow that she can't see Tara because she killed people, in reference to her flaying Warren in "Villains" and draining the life force out of [[Rack]] in "[[Two to Go]]." Although, it's revealed that the latter was only put on a coma and survived the event (''[[Wonderland, Part Five]]'').
  +
*Holden pronounces "nemeses" correctly and Buffy replies "Is that how you say that?" This is an allusion to the episode "[[Gone]]" when both Warren and Buffy mispronounce it "nemesis-es."
  +
*Buffy and Holden debate over her knowingly "doomed" relationships; she discussed the supposed impossibility of being with Angel, Riley, and Spike just before beginning a relationship with each of them, in the episodes "Angel," "[[Doomed]]," and "[[Smashed]]."
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*Buffy tells Holden he'd laugh if he heard some of the things she's done to her friends; in "[[Grave]]," she and Giles laughed together as she told what happened with her and the Scoobies in the previous year.
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*Buffy confides with Holden about her most recent relationship, mentioning she mistreated Spike, "behaved like a monster," "let him completely take [her] over," and the "joke" was that he loved her. This dynamic was most prominent in the episode "[[Dead Things]]," when she both consented to have sex in a public space with him and beat him after he told her he loved her.
  +
*With the exorcism, Dawn displays a little magic knowledge learned from Willow. Over the course of the season, she displays many skills gotten from other characters, such as fighting skills from Buffy in "[[Potential]]," and some Sumerian shown in "[[Get It Done]]" from presumably [[Rupert Giles|Giles]] ("[[Primeval]]").
  +
*This episode further establishes the season's [[Big Bad]], whose [[shapeshifting]] ability was displayed in the season premiere "[[Lessons]]" and previously in "[[Amends]]."
  +
*Dawn accidentally gets pizza sauce on one of Buffy's shirts in this episode, shrugging and saying, "She'll think it's blood." In "First Date," [[Anya Jenkins|Anya]] scrubs at the stain and says that she thinks it's pizza sauce and not blood.
  +
*The First Evil appears as Joyce Summers, Warren Mears, and Cassie Newton, who died respectively in "[[I Was Made to Love You]]," "Villains," and "Help."
   
  +
==Appearances==
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*Holden mentions that some of Buffy's classmates thought she was some sort of religious fanatic, presumably because Buffy invariably had crosses on her person and in her vicinity in order to ward off vampires. Others, he notes, thought she was involved with an older man, which she indeed was: the centuries-old Angel (although it could also be a suspicion of her constantly hanging around with Giles).
  
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===Individuals===
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*[[First Evil]]
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*[[Rupert Giles]] {{Om}}
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*[[Angie Hart]]
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*[[Kit Holburn]] {{Om}}
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*[[Scott Hope]] {{Om}}
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*[[Jonathan Levinson]]
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*[[Tara Maclay]] {{Om}}
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*[[Warren Mears]] {{OV}}
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*[[Cassandra Newton]] {{OV}}
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*[[Willow Rosenberg]]
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*[[Spike]]
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*[[Buffy Summers]]
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*[[Dawn Summers]]
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*[[Hank Summers]] {{Om}}
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*[[Joyce Summers]] {{OV}}
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*[[Tricia Waldman]] {{Om}}
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*[[Holden Webster]]
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*[[Andrew Wells]]
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*[[Jason Wheeler]] {{Om}}
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*[[Unidentified woman (Conversations with Dead People)|Unidentified woman]]
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===Organizations and titles===
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*[[Key]]
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*[[Scooby Gang]]
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*[[Slayer]]
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*[[Trio]] {{Om}}
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*[[Witch]]
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===Species===
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*[[Human]]
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*[[Troll]] {{Om}}
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*[[Vampire]]
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===Locations===
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*[[Mexico]] {{Om}}
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*[[United States]]
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**Hanover {{Om}}
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***Dartmouth College {{Om}}
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**[[Sunnydale]]
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***[[Bronze]]
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***[[Magic Box]] {{Om}}
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***[[Revello Drive]]
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****[[1630 Revello Drive]]
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***[[Sunnydale High School]]
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***[[Sunnydale Mental Hospital]] {{Om}}
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***[[University of California, Sunnydale]]
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****[[UC Sunnydale library]]
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===Objects===
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*[[Blood]]
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*''[[Bynum's History of Witchcraft]]''
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*[[Cross]]
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*[[Dagger of Lex]]
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*[[Moloch's book]]
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*[[Seal of Danzalthar]]
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*[[Soul]] {{Om}}
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*[[Stake]]
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*[[Weapon chest]]
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*''[[Witchcraft]]''
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===Rituals and spells===
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*[[Exorcism]]
   
  +
==Death count==
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*When Jonathan speaks in Spanish, Andrew translates it as "It eats you, starting with your bottom," which is an obvious mistranslation of "From beneath you, It devours."
  
  +
*Holden Webster, staked by Buffy.
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*Jonathan Levinson, stabbed by Andrew.
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*Unidentified woman, drained by Spike.
   
  +
==Behind the scenes==
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*Buffy learns that [[Scott Hope]], a boyfriend she had briefly in [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer#Season Three|season three]], came out as being gay in college. This may have been a nod to the fact that the actor who played Hope, [[Fab Filippo]], had gone onto have a major role in the Showtime television series ''[[Wikipedia:Queer as Folk (U.S.)|Queer as Folk]]'' as an openly gay gifted violinist at a private University. It also explains why he dumps Buffy in season 3, presumably before they get to the physical stage of their relationship.
  
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*The shooting script establishes that Dawn's been learning magic from Willow. Over the course of the season Dawn displays many skills gotten from other characters: fighting skills from Buffy, a little magic from Willow and some Sumerian from presumably Giles shown in "[[Get It Done]]".
  
−  
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*This episode further establishes the season's "Big Bad", whose shape-shifting ability was displayed in the season premiere, "[[Lessons]]", and, previously, in Season Three's "[[Amends]]".
  
−  
−
*Dawn accidentally gets pizza sauce on one of Buffy's shirts in this episode, shrugging and saying, "She'll think it's blood." In "[[First Date]]", Anya scrubs at the stain and says that she thinks it's pizza sauce and not blood.
  
−  
−
*Cassie, supposedly speaking for Tara, reminds Willow that she is "strong like an Amazon", referencing a conversation that Willow and Tara have in "[[The Body]]". She also reminds Willow of the time when Tara sang to her on the bridge ("Under Your Spell") in "[[Once More, with Feeling]]".
  
−  
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*The First appears as Warren Mears, who was killed in "[[Villains]]". It is revealed in the canonical comic storyline "[[The Long Way Home]]" that Warren was saved from death by Amy Madison. On the letters page of Buffy Season Eight #6, Whedon responds to the question of how the First could have impersonated Warren if he'd never died, by saying, "He was legally dead for like a second. Amy didn't tell him 'cause she didn't want to upset him. I forgot, okay?!"
  
−  
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*It is revealed that Dawn likes anchovies on her pizza and mariachi music, explaining why the radio is set to it in '[[Listening to Fear]]'.
  
−  
−
== Body Count ==
  
−
*Holden Webster, dusted by Buffy
  
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*Jonathan Levinson, sacrificed by Andrew with a knife
  
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*Unidentified blond woman, drained by Spike
  
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== Behind the Scenes ==
  
 
===Production===
  
===Production===
  +
*This is the only episode with a specific date and time given at the beginning of the episode — November 12, 2002; 8.01 PM. This is the same date and time as the original air date of the episode.
−
*What makes this episode extremely unusual is none of the major characters (Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Spike) interact with each other.
  
  +
*This is one of only two episodes in the whole ''Buffy'' series that has the episode title appear on-screen at the beginning of the program. The musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" was the other.
  +
*Despite both credited, [[Nicholas Brendon]] and [[Emma Caulfield]] don't appear in this episode. This is Brendon's only absence in the series.
  +
*[[Amber Benson]] was initially going to appear as Tara, taunting Willow instead of Cassie, but she turned it down on the grounds that she thought having Tara as a villain would ruin her character.<ref>[http://www.whedon.info/Amber-Benson-October-2003-Curve.html "Amber Benson - October 2003 Curve Magazine Interview."] ''Whedon.info'', October 14, 2003.</ref> According to the writers in this episode's [[audio commentaries]], Benson simply wasn't available.<ref name="DVD"/>
  +
*Other storylines considered were for [[Jesse McNally]] to converse with Xander<ref name="bbc"/> and for [[Halfrek]] to haunt Anya, but [[Kali Rocha]] was unavailable.<ref name="DVD">''[[The Complete Seventh Season on DVD]]''; [[audio commentaries]] for the episode "[[Selfless]]." [DVD]. [[20th Century Studios]], November 16, 2004.</ref>
  +
*In addition to the two credited writers, show runners Joss Whedon and [[Marti Noxon]] also made significant contributions to the script of this episode. Each of the four plot strands was written by a different writer: Whedon wrote the Buffy & Holden scenes, Noxon wrote the Willow & Cassie scenes, Espenson wrote the Dawn scenes, and Goddard wrote the Trio scenes. Whedon also wrote the song featured in the episode.<ref name="bbc">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/indetail/conversations/trivia.shtml "Episode Guide - Conversations with Dead People."] ''BBC''. Retrieved on April 7, 2020.</ref>
  +
*Jane Espenson confirmed that the image of Joyce was of the First Evil. In the original draft of the script, Dawn was going to try to raise her mother; when Joyce appeared, she was to say: "They said I couldn't bring someone back," to which the First/Joyce would reply: "Maybe I'm the First."<ref name="DVD"/>
  +
*In the ''[[Slay the Critics]]'' featured in ''[[No Future for You, Part One]]'', a mail pointed out the contradiction of Warren's reveal in ''[[The Long Way Home, Part Four]]'' that he didn't die in "Villains," while he was still impersonated by the First Evil, such as in this episode. About this, Whedon answered: "He was legally dead for like a second. [[Amy Madison|Amy]] didn't tell him 'cause she didn't want to upset him. I forgot, okay?!"
  +
*[[Jonathan M. Woodward]], who plays Holden Webster, also appears as [[Knox]] in [[Angel season 5|''Angel'' season 5]].
  +
*With this episode, [[Kristine Sutherland]] becomes the only actress to appear as a guest star in all seven seasons of ''Buffy''.
   
  +
===Broadcast===
−
*Each of the episode's five storylines puts emphasis on a different aspect of the show: Buffy's conversations with Holden utilize the show's often off-color humor; Dawn trying to communicate with Joyce emphasizes the frightening and supernatural/horror elements of the show; Willow's conversation with Cassie consists entirely of well-crafted dialogue and drama, Andrew and Jonathan's storyline focuses on the suspenseful nature of the show, and Spike is shown entirely in brief, sporadic shots without dialogue.
  
  +
*"{{PAGENAME}}" had an audience of 3.1 million households upon its original airing.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080719163611/http://home.insightbb.com/%7Ewahoskem/buffy7.html "Nielsen Ratings for Buffy's Seventh Season."] ''Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly''. Archived from [http://home.insightbb.com/%7Ewahoskem/buffy7.html the original] on July 19, 2008.</ref>
   
  +
===Deleted scenes===
−
*[[Nicholas Brendon]] and [[Emma Caulfield]] don't appear in this episode. This is Brendon's only absence in the series. [[James Marsters]] as Spike does appear, but does not speak.
  
  +
*This is a brief exchange where the First would appear as Tara:<ref name="script">[https://web.archive.org/web/20180813030707/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/scripts/129_scri.html "Buffy - Conversations With Dead People."] ''BuffyWorld''. Archived from [http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/scripts/129_scri.html the original] on August 13, 2018.</ref>
  +
*:'''Tara:''' "I'm sorry to wake you."
  +
*:'''Willow:''' "Ha..."
  +
*:'''Tara:''' "Ha — what?"
  +
*:'''Willow:''' "Is that like a dream joke thing? You're sorry to wake me, but I'm clearly ''not'' awake and if I was awake and you really were her, would you be sorry to wake me? I mean, after all this time and — oh God, I'm babbling. I'm dream babbling and it's the best dream of my life and I'm wasting it and—"
  +
*:'''Tara:''' "I just meant, I liked watching you sleep."
   
  +
*When Buffy confides with Holden, "I have all this power. I didn't ask for it. I don't deserve it. It's like… I wanted to be punished," the original script had her telling instead:<ref name="script"/>
−
*[[Amber Benson]] was initially going to appear as Tara, taunting Willow instead of Cassie, but she turned it down on the grounds that she thought having Tara as a villain would ruin her character. According to the writers in the commentary for this episode on the DVD, Amber Benson simply wasn't available.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversations_with_dead_people#cite_note-Amber_Benson_quote_regarding_her_absence_from_season_7-1</ref><ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversations_with_dead_people#cite_note-bbc-2</ref>
  
  +
*:'''Buffy:''' "I just wanted to be touched. To be reached. Were you here when everything turned into a musical?
−  
  +
*:'''Holden:''' "I missed it."
−
*With this episode, Kristine Sutherland becomes the only actress to appear as a guest star in all seven seasons.
  
  +
*:'''Buffy:''' "I explained it a lot better then. With rhyme, and all, but I just... I can't go back to that."
−  
  +
*:'''Holden:''' "And you think you might? You're still attracted to this guy?
−
*Other storylines considered were for [[Jesse McNally]] to converse with Xander and for [[Halfrek]] to haunt Anya. According to [[Drew Goddard]] on the "[[Selfless]]" DVD commentary, [[Kali Rocha]] was unavailable.
  
  +
*:'''Buffy:''' "Well, he's changed, a lot, a LOT a lot, but no, I... I just can't feel as low as I did then and do what I have to do. Things are getting worse. More of you guys are rising, and... something's coming."
−  
−
*In addition to the two credited writers, show runners Joss Whedon and [[Marti Noxon]] also made significant contributions to the script of this episode. Each of the four plot strands were written by a different writer: Whedon wrote the Buffy-Holden scenes, Noxon wrote the Willow-Cassie scenes, Espenson wrote the Dawn scenes, and Goddard wrote the Geek Trio scenes.
  
−  
−
*On the DVD commentary for the show, Jane Espenson revealed that the image of Joyce was actually The First. In the original draft of the script, Dawn was going to try to raise her mother. When Joyce appeared, she was to say "They said I couldn't bring someone back." To which The First/Joyce would reply: "Maybe I'm the First."
  
−  
−
*This is the only episode with a specific date and time given at the beginning of the episode - November 12, 2002; 8.01pm. This is the same date and time as the original air date of the episode.
  
−  
−
*This is one of only two episodes in the whole Buffy series that has the episode title (Name of the Episode) appear on-screen at the beginning of the program. The musical episode "[[Once More, with Feeling]]" was the other.
  
−  
−
===Deleted Scenes===
  
−
*This is a brief exchange where Tara should have spoken - it was cut due to Amber Benson not being available:
  
−
:'''Tara:''' "I'm sorry to wake you."
  
−
:'''Willow:''' "Ha..."
  
−
:'''Tara:''' "Ha - what?"
  
−
:'''Willow:''' "Is that like a dream joke thing? You're sorry to wake me, but I'm clearly ''not'' awake and if I was awake and you really were her, would you be sorry to wake me? I mean, after all this time and - oh God, I'm babbling. I'm dream babbling and it's the best dream of my life and I'm wasting it and-"
  
−
:'''Tara:''' "I just meant, I liked watching you sleep."
  
−  
−
=== Pop Culture References ===
  
−
*Andrew references the movie ''[[Wikipedia:Back to the Future|Back To The Future]]'' when he says "Think, McFly" to Jonathan.
  
−  
−
*The First/Warren starts the line "If you strike me down ...," and Andrew finishes the quote from ''[[Wikipedia:Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope|Star Wars]]''
  
−  
−
*When Andrew and The First/Warren are quoting Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi from ''[[Wikipedia:The Empire Strikes Back|Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back]]'', the music faintly starts to resemble the well-known motif that accompanies the Jedi/Force scenes in the ''Star Wars'' films.
  
−  
−
*When The First uses Joyce to communicate with Dawn, she says "Mom? Mom? Mommy?". This is a reference to the episode "[[The Body]]", when Buffy finds Joyce dead, and she says the same thing.
  
−  
−
*The First stacks the chairs in pyramid-like structure in the Summers' kitchen. Supernatural forces do the same thing in Steven Spielberg's movie ''[[Wikipedia:Poltergeist (film)|Poltergeist]]''.
  
   
  +
===Pop culture references===
  +
*Jonathan mentions Andrew was able to learn the entirety of ''[[Wikipedia:The Klingon Dictionary|The Klingon Dictionary]]'' (1982).
  +
*Dawn corrects Kit that the movie she's watching does not feature the actor [[Wikipedia:Tom Hanks|Tom Hanks]].
  +
*Holden reminds Buffy that he let her copy his essay on [[Wikipedia:Václav Havel|Václav Havel]], the first President of the Czech Republic.
  +
*Holden tells Buffy he did the lighting design for the school's spring production of the musical ''[[Wikipedia:Pippin|Pippin]]''.
  +
*Holden mentions attending [[Wikipedia:Dartmouth College|Dartmouth College]], a private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire.
  +
*Andrew references the movie ''[[Wikipedia:Back to the Future|Back to the Future]]'' when he says "Think, McFly" to Jonathan.
  +
*The First/Warren starts the line "If you strike me down..." and Andrew finishes the quote from ''[[Wikipedia:Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope|Star Wars]]'' (1977).
  +
*In reference to ''[[Wikipedia:The Empire Strikes Back|Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back]]'' (1980), Andrew and Jonathan call each other Echo 1 and Echo 2 over their walkies-talkies.
  +
*Buffy refers to Holden as "[[Wikipedia:The Evil Dead|the evil dead]]," in reference to the 1981 film of same name.
  +
*Andrew and the First/Warren quote Obi Wan Kenobi ("That boy is our last hope.") and Yoda ("No, there is another.") from ''[[Wikipedia:Return of the Jedi|Star Wars: Return of the Jedi]]'' (1983).
 
*In the guise of Warren, the First calls Jonathan "Short Round," a reference to the sidekick character in ''[[Wikipedia:Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom|Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]''.
  
*In the guise of Warren, the First calls Jonathan "Short Round," a reference to the sidekick character in ''[[Wikipedia:Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom|Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]''.
  +
*Andrew describes felling like in the horror franchise ''[[Wikipedia:Hellraiser (franchise)|Hellraiser]]'' and mentions the antagonist [[Wikipedia:Pinhead (Hellraiser)|Pinhead]].
−  
  +
*Buffy tells Holden she "didn't mean to get all ''True Confessions''," in reference to the 1985 TV series.
−
*Andrew and Jonathan discuss Clive Barker's ''[[Wikipedia:Hellraiser|Hellraiser]]'' and the character Pinhead.
  
  +
*Among Willow's magic books, there's the real book ''Devils, Demons, and Witchcraft'', by Ernst Lehner and Johanna Lehner.
−  
−
*When Holden first recognizes Buffy he mentions letting her copy his essay on [[Wikipedia:Václav Havel|Václav Havel]], the famous playwright and first President of the Czech Republic.
  
   
 
===Awards===
  
===Awards===
−
*This episode was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
 +
*This episode was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form."<ref>[http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2003-hugo-awards/ "2003 Hugo Awards."] ''The Hugo Awards''. Retrieved on November 8, 2021.</ref>
−  
−
===Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors===
  
−
*During Willow and "Cassie's" conversation in the library, Cassie starts her line mid-sentence of Willow and then stops.
  
−  
−
*During the scene where Dawn casts the demon out, she is knocked backwards and bleeding heavily from the mouth. However, moments later, when Joyce appears to her, her mouth is completely fine and not bleeding. The cuts on her face which were inflicted during the fight are entirely healed by the next episode, possibly indicating that these wounds were only temporary (as they were, after all, inflicted by a non-corporal source). [An alternate understanding of the blood disappearing from Dawn's face is not as a continuity error, but rather that when the attacking demon's blood disappears from the wall, so too does Dawn's blood disappear from her face.]
  
   
 
===Music===
  
===Music===
  +
*[[Angie Hart]] — "Blue"
−
*[[Angie Hart]] - "Blue" <small>(plays at the beginning and end of the episode)</small> <small>([[Radio Sunnydale]])</small>
  
  +
*Scout — "The Never Never"
−
*Los Cubaztecas - "Nicolito"
  
  +
*Los Cubaztecas — "Nicolito"
−
*Scout - "The Never Never"
  
−
*[[Robert Duncan]]- original score
 +
*[[Robert Duncan]] — original score
   
 
===International titles===
  
===International titles===
−
*'''German''': Gespräche mit Toten (''Conversations with Dead People'')
 +
*'''Armenian:''' "Զրույց մահացածների հետ" (Conversation with the Dead)
  +
*'''Czech:''' "Rozhovory se záhrobím" (Conversations with the Beyond)
−
*'''French:''' Connivences (''Connivances'')
  
  +
*'''Finnish:''' "Pahan pauloissa" (Evil Enchanting)
  +
*'''French:''' "Connivences" (Connivances)
  +
*'''German''': "Gespräche mit Toten" (Conversations with the Dead)
  +
*'''Hungarian:''' "Beszélgetés halott emberekkel" (Conversations with Dead People)
  +
*'''Italian:''' "Conversazioni con l'aldilà" (Conversations with the Afterlife)
  +
*'''Japanese:''' "死者との会話" (Conversations with the Dead)
  +
*'''Polish:''' "Głosy zza grobu" (Voices from Beyond the Grave)
  +
*'''Portuguese (Brazil):''' "Conversas com os Mortos" (Conversations with the Dead)
  +
*'''Romanian:''' "Conversations with Dead People"
  +
*'''Russian:''' "Беседы с мертвецами" (Conversations with the Dead)
  +
*'''Spanish (Latin America):''' "Conversaciones con los muertos" (Conversations with the Dead)
  +
*'''Spanish (Spain):''' "Conversaciones con los muertos" (Conversations with the Dead)
  +
*'''Swedish:''' "Konversationer med döda människor" (Conversations with Dead People)
   
−
===Other===
 +
===Adaptations===
  +
*The book ''[[Chosen: The One]]'' includes a novelization of this episode, along with all season 7.
−
*[[Jonathan M. Woodward]], who plays Holden Webster, has also appeared in two of [[Joss Whedon]]'s other series: As [[Knox (human)|Knox]] in ''[[Angel (series)|Angel]]'', and as Tracey in the ''[[w:c:firefly|Firefly]]'' episode "[[w:c:firefly:The Message|The Message]]". All three of these characters died violently, each playing a minor or hidden villain that has a great effect on the character he interacts with.
  
  +
*Nick Marck, Jane Espenson, Drew Goddard, [[Danny Strong]], and [[Tom Lenk]] provided the audio commentaries for this episode.
  +
*The Ouija board game ''[[Conversations with Dead People board|Conversations with Dead People]]'' is a reference to this episode.
  +
*The comic issue [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2019) 6|''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' #6]] has a tribute variant cover to this episode.
   
  +
==Gallery==
−
*The First appears in this episode as Joyce Summers and Cassie Newton, the only two characters on the show who died of natural causes.
  
  +
===Advertisement===
−  
  +
<gallery captionalign="center">
−
*In classic Whedonesque irony, Jonathan dies just as he completes his character's series-long story arc. He had finally come to realize that being a real friend means actually caring about others and sometimes working and making personal sacrifices over time for their benefit. Just as he learns this, he is promptly killed by the person he thought was his friend.
  
  +
"Conversations with Dead People" promo
  +
</gallery>
   
 
==Quotes==
  
==Quotes==
−
{{QuoteBlock
  
−
|Jonathan|"We should have stayed in Mexico."
  
−
|Andrew|"I didn’t like it there. Everyone spoke Mexico-an."
  
−
|Jonathan|"You could have learned it. You learned the entire Klingon dictionary in two and a half weeks."
  
−
|Andrew|"That had a much clearer transitive and intransitive rules, OK?"
  
−
}}
  
−
{{QuoteBlock
  
−
|Holden|"You know, my girlfriend at college, she’s so sweet. We have this great thing, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna go vampify her just so we can be together forever."
  
−
|Buffy|"Sire."
  
−
|Holden|"What?"
  
−
|Buffy|"The word — when you turn a human into a vampire — it’s you ‘sire’ them."
  
−
|Holden|"Cool."
  
−
|Buffy|"It’s a '''noun''', too."
  
−
}}
  
−
{{QuoteBlock
  
−
|Jonathan|"Time goes by, and everything drops away. All the cruelty, all the pain, all the humiliation. It all washes away. I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day. I miss the people who never knew I existed. I miss ’em all. I want to talk to them, you know. I want to find out how they're doing. I want to know what's going on in their lives."
  
−
|Andrew|"You know what? They don't wanna talk to you—all those people you just mentioned. Not one of them is sitting around going, "I wonder what Jonathan's up to right now." Not one of them cares about you."
  
−
|Jonathan|"Well, '''I''' still care about them. That's why I'm here."
  
−
}}
  
−
{{QuoteBlock
  
−
|Andrew|"It eats you, starting with your bottom."
  
−
}}
  
−
{{QuoteBlock
  
−
|Buffy|"So what have you been up to?"
 
−
|Holden|"Well, uh, apparently dying. No, but other stuff... Um, majoring in psych, really liking that. Um, took a year off to do an internship at the Sunnydale Mental Hospital."
  
−
|Buffy|"Wow. That's gotta be a popular joint."
 
−
|Holden|"Yeah, I keep telling them we oughta get a velvet rope and a bouncer."
  
−
}}
  
 
{{QuoteBlock
  
{{QuoteBlock
 
|Holden|"So what, you like fight vampires professionally?"
 
|Holden|"So what, you like fight vampires professionally?"
Line 194: Line 229:
 
|Holden|"Well, you were never around. A lot of kids thought you were dating some really old guy, or that you were just heavy religious. Scott Hope said you were gay."
  
|Holden|"Well, you were never around. A lot of kids thought you were dating some really old guy, or that you were just heavy religious. Scott Hope said you were gay."
 
|Buffy|"What? I dated that ringworm."
  
|Buffy|"What? I dated that ringworm."
−
|Holden|"He says that about every girl he breaks up with. And then last year, big surprise, '''he''' comes out."
 +
|Holden|"He says that about every girl he breaks up with. And then last year, big surprise, he comes out."
−
|Buffy|"Men. Do I know how to pick ’em."
 +
|Buffy|"Men. Do I know how to pick 'em."
 
}}
  
}}
 
{{QuoteBlock
  
{{QuoteBlock
−
|Holden|"But you have to answer one question, and if I'm right, I get to ask anything — no secrets, no defensiveness, anything I want to know."
 +
|Holden|"Oh, I have so much to learn. Come on, isn't this insane? I mean, I was afraid to talk to you in high school, and now we're, like, mortal enemies. Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we became nemeses?"
−
|Buffy|"What's your question?"
 +
|Buffy|"Is that how you say the word?"
−
|Holden|"Your last relationship: was it with a vampire?"
 +
|Holden|"We're gonna have to fight to the death, aren't we?"
  +
|Buffy|"It's the time-honored custom."
 
}}
  
}}
 
{{QuoteBlock
  
{{QuoteBlock
  +
|Andrew|"I can't keep having those nightmares."
−
|Willow|"From beneath you, it devours."
  
  +
|Jonathan|"Me neither. Desde abajo te devora."
−
|The First Evil as Cassie|"Oh, not it. ''Me''."
  
  +
|Andrew|"It eats you starting with your bottom."
  +
}}
  +
{{QuoteBlock
  +
|Jonathan|"Time goes by, and everything drops away. All the cruelty, all the pain, all the humiliation. It all washes away. I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day. I miss the people who never knew I existed. I miss 'em all. I want to talk to them, you know. I want to find out how they're doing. I want to know what's going on in their lives."
  +
|Andrew|"You know what? They don't wanna talk to you — all those people you just mentioned. Not one of them is sitting around going, 'I wonder what Jonathan's up to right now.' Not one of them cares about you."
  +
|Jonathan|"Well, I still care about them. That's why I'm here."
  +
}}
  +
{{QuoteBlock
  +
|Buffy|"I just... If you knew what I've done, what I've let myself become. My best friends don't even... You'd laugh if you heard some of the things I've done to them."
  +
|Holden|"Buffy... I'm here to kill you, not to judge you."
 
}}
  
}}
   
 
==References==
  
==References==
−
{{Reflist}}
 +
{{References}}
  +
  +
[[de:Gespräche mit Toten]]
  +
[[fr:Connivences]]
  +
[[nl:Conversations with Dead People]]
  +
  +
[[Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes]]
 
[[Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7]]
  
[[Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7]]
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[[Category:Category:Andrew-centric episodes]]
  
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[[Category:Willow-centric episodes]]
  
−
[[Category:Dawn-centric episodes]]
  
−
[[Category:Spike-centric episodes]]
  
−
[[Category:Seventh episodes]]
  
−
[[Category:Buffy-centric episodes]]
  

Latest revision as of 21:53, 23 December 2023

"Conversations with Dead People" is the seventh episode of the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the 129th episode in the series. Written by Jane Espenson and Drew Goddard and directed by Nick Marck, it was originally broadcast on November 12, 2002, on the UPN network.

Synopsis

AND WHERE WERE YOU? — While hunting for vampires at the cemetery, Buffy runs into a former classmate-turned-vampire and ends up turning to him for therapy. Meanwhile, Willow is interrupted at the library by the recently dead Cassie (or some form of her) who claims to have a message for Willow from Tara. Dawn returns home to find Joyce attempting to reach her from beyond, but some force prevents her from doing so.[1]

Summary

It's November 12, 2002, at 8.01 PM. Buffy is out patrolling, Spike is drinking at the Bronze, Willow is studying at the library, Dawn arrives to her empty home, and Jonathan and Andrew return to Sunnydale.

Buffy & Holden

While on patrol, Buffy comes across a newly-risen vampire. After the two fight for a while, the vampire, ready to bite Buffy, recognizes her from Sunnydale High. He tells her that the two of them were old classmates, and that his name is Holden. Buffy slowly recognizes him and the two begin to reminisce.

Holden asks Buffy why she has a stake and why she was trying to kill him, so she tells him that it is because she is the Slayer and that it is her job. Holden says that it explains her frequent absences at school and why she was often late. He then tells Buffy that many of the other students thought she was a training to be a nun, much to her surprise.

Holden tells her that he is, or was, a psychology major, and manages to get Buffy to start talking about herself, all in between attempts to kill her. He is able to help Buffy realize her problems stem from feeling alone as the Slayer but reminds her everybody feels alone. She eventually slays him as he reveals that Spike was the one who sired him.

Dawn & Joyce

Over at the Summers home, Dawn finds that no one else is in the house and begins to mess around with some of Buffy's weapons and tries on some of her clothes. Then Dawn watches an old horror movie and talks to her friend Kit.

Soon, she hears a series of knocks and the phone line is cut, as some force begins to attack the house. During this attack, Dawn sees images of Joyce appear every now and then. Dawn believes that it is her mother trying to speak with her from beyond the grave and an evil force is trying to stop her.

Dawn is able to drive it off, and is then visited by what appears to be Joyce's ghost, who predicts that Dawn and Buffy will become enemies.

Jonathan, Andrew & Warren

Jonathan and Andrew return from Mexico to dig up an artifact hidden in the school basement near the Hellmouth. Andrew is secretly in contact with what appears to be the ghost of Warren, while Jonathan is having a personal revelation. After they dig up the artifact, Andrew, on Warren's instructions, stabs Jonathan. As he falls dead, his blood fills over a seal in the dirt.

Willow & Cassie

Alone in the UC Sunnydale library, Willow is visited by the ghost of Cassie, who tells her she was sent by the dead Tara. She relays a prediction that Willow will end up killing everyone unless she commits suicide. Willow is not fooled, and the figure declares that it is done with the "good versus evil" battle and intends to attack and make sure Willow and her friends suffer. The "ghost" then reveals that it is what is being referred to by the phrase "From beneath you, it devours." then disappears.

Spike

Meanwhile, Spike has been speaking with a young woman at the Bronze. They leave together and he accompanies her on her way home, still talking. Once at her door, Spike vamps out, drinks her blood, then drops her dead on the sidewalk.

Continuity

  • Andrew and Jonathan discuss the nightmares they've been having, as it will be shown in "Storyteller."
  • Sunnydale's population appears as 32,900, a drop from the 38,500 that appeared in "School Hard."
  • Willow recognizes Cassie mentioning seeing her picture, as she had found her blog in "Help."
  • Cassie, supposedly speaking for Tara (died in "Seeing Red"), reminds Willow of the time when Tara sang to her on the bridge in "Once More, with Feeling." She also reminds Willow that she is "strong like an Amazon," referencing a conversation that Willow and Tara had in "The Body."
  • Holden mentions that some of Buffy's classmates thought she was involved with an older man, which she indeed was: the centuries-old Angel ("Angel"). Others, he notes, thought she was overly religious, presumably because Buffy invariably carried and wore crosses in order to ward off vampires ("Welcome to the Hellmouth").
  • Buffy learns that Scott Hope, who she dated briefly from "Faith, Hope & Trick" to "Homecoming," came out as being gay in college.
  • When Dawn tries to call Buffy, an image of Joyce lying lifeless on the sofa appears, having the same clothes and positioning as when Buffy found her dead in "I Was Made to Love You."
  • Jonathan tells Andrew that he won't be back to the big house, in reference to their incarceration in "Villains."
  • Jonathan and Andrew discuss their interest in joining the Scooby Gang. Jonathan had expressed this desire in "Superstar," but only Andrew will "even hang out at [Buffy's] house" ("Never Leave Me" to "Chosen") and join the group permanently, as confirmed in Predators and Prey.
  • This episode marks the death of Jonathan, a recurring character present since "Inca Mummy Girl." The First Evil will assume his identity in the episodes "Never Leave Me," "First Date," and "Storyteller."
  • The First/Cassie tells Willow that she can't see Tara because she killed people, in reference to her flaying Warren in "Villains" and draining the life force out of Rack in "Two to Go." Although, it's revealed that the latter was only put on a coma and survived the event (Wonderland, Part Five).
  • Holden pronounces "nemeses" correctly and Buffy replies "Is that how you say that?" This is an allusion to the episode "Gone" when both Warren and Buffy mispronounce it "nemesis-es."
  • Buffy and Holden debate over her knowingly "doomed" relationships; she discussed the supposed impossibility of being with Angel, Riley, and Spike just before beginning a relationship with each of them, in the episodes "Angel," "Doomed," and "Smashed."
  • Buffy tells Holden he'd laugh if he heard some of the things she's done to her friends; in "Grave," she and Giles laughed together as she told what happened with her and the Scoobies in the previous year.
  • Buffy confides with Holden about her most recent relationship, mentioning she mistreated Spike, "behaved like a monster," "let him completely take [her] over," and the "joke" was that he loved her. This dynamic was most prominent in the episode "Dead Things," when she both consented to have sex in a public space with him and beat him after he told her he loved her.
  • With the exorcism, Dawn displays a little magic knowledge learned from Willow. Over the course of the season, she displays many skills gotten from other characters, such as fighting skills from Buffy in "Potential," and some Sumerian shown in "Get It Done" from presumably Giles ("Primeval").
  • This episode further establishes the season's Big Bad, whose shapeshifting ability was displayed in the season premiere "Lessons" and previously in "Amends."
  • Dawn accidentally gets pizza sauce on one of Buffy's shirts in this episode, shrugging and saying, "She'll think it's blood." In "First Date," Anya scrubs at the stain and says that she thinks it's pizza sauce and not blood.
  • The First Evil appears as Joyce Summers, Warren Mears, and Cassie Newton, who died respectively in "I Was Made to Love You," "Villains," and "Help."

Appearances

Individuals

Organizations and titles

Species

Locations

Objects

Rituals and spells

Death count

  • Holden Webster, staked by Buffy.
  • Jonathan Levinson, stabbed by Andrew.
  • Unidentified woman, drained by Spike.

Behind the scenes

Production

  • This is the only episode with a specific date and time given at the beginning of the episode — November 12, 2002; 8.01 PM. This is the same date and time as the original air date of the episode.
  • This is one of only two episodes in the whole Buffy series that has the episode title appear on-screen at the beginning of the program. The musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" was the other.
  • Despite both credited, Nicholas Brendon and Emma Caulfield don't appear in this episode. This is Brendon's only absence in the series.
  • Amber Benson was initially going to appear as Tara, taunting Willow instead of Cassie, but she turned it down on the grounds that she thought having Tara as a villain would ruin her character.[2] According to the writers in this episode's audio commentaries, Benson simply wasn't available.[3]
  • Other storylines considered were for Jesse McNally to converse with Xander[4] and for Halfrek to haunt Anya, but Kali Rocha was unavailable.[3]
  • In addition to the two credited writers, show runners Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon also made significant contributions to the script of this episode. Each of the four plot strands was written by a different writer: Whedon wrote the Buffy & Holden scenes, Noxon wrote the Willow & Cassie scenes, Espenson wrote the Dawn scenes, and Goddard wrote the Trio scenes. Whedon also wrote the song featured in the episode.[4]
  • Jane Espenson confirmed that the image of Joyce was of the First Evil. In the original draft of the script, Dawn was going to try to raise her mother; when Joyce appeared, she was to say: "They said I couldn't bring someone back," to which the First/Joyce would reply: "Maybe I'm the First."[3]
  • In the Slay the Critics featured in No Future for You, Part One, a mail pointed out the contradiction of Warren's reveal in The Long Way Home, Part Four that he didn't die in "Villains," while he was still impersonated by the First Evil, such as in this episode. About this, Whedon answered: "He was legally dead for like a second. Amy didn't tell him 'cause she didn't want to upset him. I forgot, okay?!"
  • Jonathan M. Woodward, who plays Holden Webster, also appears as Knox in Angel season 5.
  • With this episode, Kristine Sutherland becomes the only actress to appear as a guest star in all seven seasons of Buffy.

Broadcast

  • "Conversations with Dead People" had an audience of 3.1 million households upon its original airing.[5]

Deleted scenes

  • This is a brief exchange where the First would appear as Tara:[6]
    Tara: "I'm sorry to wake you."
    Willow: "Ha..."
    Tara: "Ha — what?"
    Willow: "Is that like a dream joke thing? You're sorry to wake me, but I'm clearly not awake and if I was awake and you really were her, would you be sorry to wake me? I mean, after all this time and — oh God, I'm babbling. I'm dream babbling and it's the best dream of my life and I'm wasting it and—"
    Tara: "I just meant, I liked watching you sleep."
  • When Buffy confides with Holden, "I have all this power. I didn't ask for it. I don't deserve it. It's like… I wanted to be punished," the original script had her telling instead:[6]
    Buffy: "I just wanted to be touched. To be reached. Were you here when everything turned into a musical?
    Holden: "I missed it."
    Buffy: "I explained it a lot better then. With rhyme, and all, but I just... I can't go back to that."
    Holden: "And you think you might? You're still attracted to this guy?
    Buffy: "Well, he's changed, a lot, a LOT a lot, but no, I... I just can't feel as low as I did then and do what I have to do. Things are getting worse. More of you guys are rising, and... something's coming."

Pop culture references

  • Jonathan mentions Andrew was able to learn the entirety of The Klingon Dictionary (1982).
  • Dawn corrects Kit that the movie she's watching does not feature the actor Tom Hanks.
  • Holden reminds Buffy that he let her copy his essay on Václav Havel, the first President of the Czech Republic.
  • Holden tells Buffy he did the lighting design for the school's spring production of the musical Pippin.
  • Holden mentions attending Dartmouth College, a private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire.
  • Andrew references the movie Back to the Future when he says "Think, McFly" to Jonathan.
  • The First/Warren starts the line "If you strike me down..." and Andrew finishes the quote from Star Wars (1977).
  • In reference to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Andrew and Jonathan call each other Echo 1 and Echo 2 over their walkies-talkies.
  • Buffy refers to Holden as "the evil dead," in reference to the 1981 film of same name.
  • Andrew and the First/Warren quote Obi Wan Kenobi ("That boy is our last hope.") and Yoda ("No, there is another.") from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983).
  • In the guise of Warren, the First calls Jonathan "Short Round," a reference to the sidekick character in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
  • Andrew describes felling like in the horror franchise Hellraiser and mentions the antagonist Pinhead.
  • Buffy tells Holden she "didn't mean to get all True Confessions," in reference to the 1985 TV series.
  • Among Willow's magic books, there's the real book Devils, Demons, and Witchcraft, by Ernst Lehner and Johanna Lehner.

Awards

  • This episode was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form."[7]

Music

International titles

  • Armenian: "Զրույց մահացածների հետ" (Conversation with the Dead)
  • Czech: "Rozhovory se záhrobím" (Conversations with the Beyond)
  • Finnish: "Pahan pauloissa" (Evil Enchanting)
  • French: "Connivences" (Connivances)
  • German: "Gespräche mit Toten" (Conversations with the Dead)
  • Hungarian: "Beszélgetés halott emberekkel" (Conversations with Dead People)
  • Italian: "Conversazioni con l'aldilà" (Conversations with the Afterlife)
  • Japanese: "死者との会話" (Conversations with the Dead)
  • Polish: "Głosy zza grobu" (Voices from Beyond the Grave)
  • Portuguese (Brazil): "Conversas com os Mortos" (Conversations with the Dead)
  • Romanian: "Conversations with Dead People"
  • Russian: "Беседы с мертвецами" (Conversations with the Dead)
  • Spanish (Latin America): "Conversaciones con los muertos" (Conversations with the Dead)
  • Spanish (Spain): "Conversaciones con los muertos" (Conversations with the Dead)
  • Swedish: "Konversationer med döda människor" (Conversations with Dead People)

Adaptations

Gallery

Quotes

Holden: "So what, you like fight vampires professionally?"
Buffy: "Well, I don’t get paid. It’s more like a calling, since even in school."
Holden: "I heard a lot of rumors about you back then. You were all mysterious."
Buffy: "I was?"
Holden: "Well, you were never around. A lot of kids thought you were dating some really old guy, or that you were just heavy religious. Scott Hope said you were gay."
Buffy: "What? I dated that ringworm."
Holden: "He says that about every girl he breaks up with. And then last year, big surprise, he comes out."
Buffy: "Men. Do I know how to pick 'em."
Holden: "Oh, I have so much to learn. Come on, isn't this insane? I mean, I was afraid to talk to you in high school, and now we're, like, mortal enemies. Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we became nemeses?"
Buffy: "Is that how you say the word?"
Holden: "We're gonna have to fight to the death, aren't we?"
Buffy: "It's the time-honored custom."
Andrew: "I can't keep having those nightmares."
Jonathan: "Me neither. Desde abajo te devora."
Andrew: "It eats you starting with your bottom."
Jonathan: "Time goes by, and everything drops away. All the cruelty, all the pain, all the humiliation. It all washes away. I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day. I miss the people who never knew I existed. I miss 'em all. I want to talk to them, you know. I want to find out how they're doing. I want to know what's going on in their lives."
Andrew: "You know what? They don't wanna talk to you — all those people you just mentioned. Not one of them is sitting around going, 'I wonder what Jonathan's up to right now.' Not one of them cares about you."
Jonathan: "Well, I still care about them. That's why I'm here."
Buffy: "I just... If you knew what I've done, what I've let myself become. My best friends don't even... You'd laugh if you heard some of the things I've done to them."
Holden: "Buffy... I'm here to kill you, not to judge you."

References

  1. ↑ "Season 7." Craig's BuffyVERSE 4ever. Retrieved on November 8, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Amber Benson - October 2003 Curve Magazine Interview." Whedon.info, October 14, 2003.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Complete Seventh Season on DVD; audio commentaries for the episode "Selfless." [DVD]. 20th Century Studios, November 16, 2004.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Episode Guide - Conversations with Dead People." BBC. Retrieved on April 7, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Nielsen Ratings for Buffy's Seventh Season." Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Buffy - Conversations With Dead People." BuffyWorld. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018.
  7. ↑ "2003 Hugo Awards." The Hugo Awards. Retrieved on November 8, 2021.
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