Buffy the Vampire Slayer REACTION | Season 5, Episode 16: The Body 

I know this was a crap reaction. It was a really great episode, one that I ruined by thinking there was going to be a twist to it. It took me longer than it should have to understand that it was just a straight grief episode. Having now seen the whole of this season, from a technical standpoint, this was the best episode, in my opinion. Not necessarily my favorite one, but the best executed. In that respect, it might even be the best I've seen from this show so far. Unfortunately, you only get one shot at doing reactions, and on this occasion, of all occasions, I blew it. 🤦‍♂ I was appreciating it during the reaction (when I allowed myself to), but it was only during the outro, after realizing what the episode actually was, that I began to really 'get it,' and it dawned on me just how impressive it was. 👏

Denial is a stage of grief and you were firmly in it 😂

I know you thought Anya was being a bit inappropriate with how she said that she wished that Joyce didn't die, but really it was a great response from a former vengeance demon who spent over a thousand years granting wishes.

How this episode didn’t get one Emmy is beyond me.

I saw this episode for the first time just weeks before my own mother's sudden death... it's scarily accurate in capturing the surreality. That was in 2009, and I still can't watch this episode without tearing up..

It strikes me as so telling that Anya knows everything about death and nothing about what follows it. She was the cause frequently, but never part of the aftermath, and she's trying so hard to understand why and help. Only Buffy could show a character being simultaneously so evil and so pure at the same time. And this is also one of my favorite moments with Buffy. Anya makes a comment that's ostensibly a little insensitive, but Buffy sees and immediately understands the compassion behind it and returns it. Xander says something kind of dismissive and rude "Anya, ever the wordsmith" but Buffy gets it, and simply says, "thank you." I just loved Buffy and Anya both so much in that moment.

Anya’s monologue and then her wishing (as a former vengeance demon) that Joyce didn’t die always gets me.

You were firmly in denial the whole episode. I was too the first time I saw it.

Jay, the fact that you go to this episode without being spoiled for it is amazing in itself. Many rate The Body as the best episode of BTVS ever, I don't personally, however The Body is one of the greatest episodes of tv drama ever shown. Whedon is a master at torturing the viewers. The fact that his episode has no music, and when Buffy opens the back door and hears the children playing it is so real, that even when a person has a personal tragedy life goes on as normal for all other people, it is all very human and ordinary, this is why it is so incredible. So many people watching The Body, myself included, have had an almost exact experience to this, this is why it is so brilliantly written and directed. SMG puts in an incredible performance here, and it is criminal that she was not awarded for this. This is why S5 is amazing. However I think there is one more episode in this Season which even surpasses this. A brilliant heartbreaking finale unmatched in the Series. Season 5 was a Zenith for the show.

So many supernatural deaths and death cheats in Buffy's world... Joyce's death on the other hand was a real one, one that can, has, and does, happen in our world. So, it is all the more shocking when viewed through the lens of the Buffy Verse. Joss does like to remind his viewers that real life can far more tragic, and scary, than any fictional terror.

Also, re: your question about why the paramedics seemed so unemotional - we have to remember that people in their profession probably have these sorts of conversations constantly, maybe multiple times a day. At a certain point, I imagine it just gets too emotionally draining to be fully empathetic to every single grief-stricken loved one you meet - especially if you've already been called to dash off to another emergency. Under the circumstances, I thought this paramedic still did pretty damn well: he explained the situation to Buffy, made sure she wouldn't be alone, told her what would happen next, and recommended things she could do to take care of herself after they left.

You were the embodiment of all our denial when we first watched this episode, so don’t feel bad; your reaction was great for your confusion, waiting for the twist, any way out of accepting the loss. It’s brutal, unrelenting and beautiful and everyone involved did a brilliant job at portraying death and grief - not an easy watch but one you’ll never forget it.

22:40 Buffy also gets a lot of her strength from her emotions, which she’s completely drained of by this stage. It makes sense this one fight feels more terrifying than normal.

This episode still makes me cry no matter how many times ive seen it - especially Anyas scene

I loved the scene with Tara and Buffy because we never see just those two. Anya and Willow were amazing and Buffy is an icon for all generations! People can still watch it.

10:46 directorial choice - same with the phone blurring when buffy looks at the phone to dial giles. it's to show how surreal the situation is, how unfocused and disengaged buffy is

This was a great reaction. Don’t beat yourself. Even if you were in denial, you got what the episode was about and provided a very good analysis afterwards.

Like many of us fans, we didn't want to lose Joyce. Your reaction was perfect.

Well, denial is a perfectly acceptable reaction to death, so we get it. We're used to characters coming back from the dead, so it's natural that you'd think this would be the case. And you still noticed how good the episode is. It's brutal because of how real it feels, but we can't deny that Joss had a very clear vision for it. Anya's speech in particular breaks my heart every time. It does hit different since my own mother died, you start to see every detail in another light. I suppose the vampire at the end just symbolizes that the world goes on same as always, it won't stop for anyone's grief.

Willow and Anya's scenes always make me cry

😮 Don't worry, a lot of reactors are in denial throughout the episode and don't really accept it until the credits roll. I was the same, kept waiting for someone to wake up or the magic to dissipate or something, but, like in life, people just die 😢

They're wearing purple shirt! I can't believe you're wearing royal to The Body what do you think you're the king of everything in reactions? Huh huh!? Haha

14:37 this was the time of the very first on screen kiss between Willow and Tara. This was a big moment for TV as well. It wasn’t shown as a big deal, but as a loving embrace of two people, which was beautiful.

The cast the actress for Dawn's teacher specifically because she looks similar to Joyce

best hour of tv about death, one of the best episodes of any tv show

If memory serves, Joss wrote this episode after the loss of his own mother. So he was able to pour a lot of his own emotions (the surrealness of it all, the numbness, the shock and strangeness of the entire event, the way the mind goes to crazy places, and of course the grief) into each and every scene.

You do not have to perform the reactions. So no worries. You did absolutely fine by the way. But nice to give some more context.

I lost my best friend several years ago. The way Buffy reacted to finding her mom (including the disassociation) was exactly my own reaction to finding him. SMG’s acting throughout this episode is amazing! This is one episode I can only watch after I’ve prepped myself for grief.

Aw, thanks for offering some additional context for your reaction, and for acknowledging your wish that it could've gone differently. You're only human! Sometimes our viewing experience is less-than-ideal, and that's just how it goes. I appreciate you sharing this anyway, even if you don't feel awesome about how it went.

In the Wish Anya hinted to Giles she has murdered people by her own hands not just by wishes so we know she's seen death first hand but not like this

This is the first reaction i saw that had a similar mindset to mine. Until the very last second i thought that by some miracle, Joyce was gonna come back to life again. And i think this is the brilliance of this episode, for that reason exactly. It relies on the supernatural so much that the audience forgets about the "natural". Logic would dictate in any other scenario, that we'd consider natural causes for her death first and just accept it, but here we have to rule out all the supernatural possible causes and spend this whole episode wondering, crying or in denial until we actually find out that it "just happened" and it's final. When i first watched it, i remember i didn't cry at the beginning, cause i was too shocked, devastated and confused, but broke down during Anya's speech, cause that's where the reality of the episode sunk in. I felt her "I don't understand" to my core and accepted the events of the episode as true. But even when Dawn went in the morgue and the vampire's body rose up, I gasped in joy thinking it was Joyce, somehow. I even forgot this show had vampires in it. So I understand your reaction and I actually relate to it a lot! This is by far, in my opinion, the best episode of a show ever created, certainly the best depiction of death and grief I've seen in cinema and on a technical level it's perfect too. Just a terrifying, horrendous masterpiece.

@0:00 "I've convinced myself that there was gonna e a twist to this whole Joyce being dead thing." "Denial, it's not just a river in Egypt." True Lies Denial is an early stage of grief, so you have clearly started to go through the stages of grief for Joyce-Shock, Denial (you are here), Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Testing, Acceptance.

First, regarding the art class; sure, the fact they were drawing a body isn’t a coincidence. But also, there’s what the teacher said: the drawing assignment was negative space; drawing what /isn’t/ there. It only took me a dozen or so viewings to spot that. Lastly (for what it’s worth) I’ll echo what others have said; your experience with the show (and this episode in particular) is…well, yours. Performant reactions are, by definition, a lie; I much prefer your experience/explanations to the alternative.

This episode is so brutal. It captures the experience of grief in the face of a sudden death too well. It’s uncomfortable to watch. Especially if you’ve experienced that kind of bone crushing grief. You do disassociate quite a lot. So many things run through your mind. I usually skip this episode in rewatches. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s good - it’s a tremendous achievement in television that I never want to watch. Just brilliant. To me, the vampire in the morgue at the end of the episode drives home the meaning of what it is to be human. The big bad in that morgue wasn’t the vampire. It was death, a condition all of us will deal with at some point in our lives.

I wonder if the first stage of grief (denal) is actually the hardest? I was a watcher of it's first run where they told you Joyce was dead (and considering authority figures in coming of age stories died often in the late '90's and early 2000's) in commercials, so I never went through grief with her character.

So we've already had Hush where they got rid of the dialogue. This was the other experimental episode where (aside from some diegetic music) there is no music. It's all just pure reactions and emotions. If I remember correctly it was nominated for an Emmy but there was a screw-up and it was left off the ballot.

Willows nose started bleeding Immediately. after Glori disappeared. She hadn't been hit by Glori. It was the spell 100% the spell gave her a nosebleed. Joyce had a brain tumor brain tumors are in your brain. They can cause all kinds of things to happen cognitively, psychologically. She could have been feverish from the cancer and then she could have also been you can get brain damage or swelling on the brain. Its like when Buffy had to go into that trance and then Because she was in an altered state she was able to notice dawn was not quite right. I think Joyce experienced a similar situation. She was in a different state of mind so that she became aware that something was ofd with Dawn. Cazy people can kind of notice that dawn is out of place that she doesn't look right or doesn't seem right, and so I think that's what Is it's just that Joyce. So has nothing To Do with magic Lori she's just genuinely second? It's just what I'm sad parts of life when things happen like that and yet glory also happens to brain suck people But that clearly leaves them crazy for ever so Joyce would've never come back if she had been messed with my Glory She would have been bonkers the whole time.

That's pure Joss whedon there....and it gets worse 😢

It's ok. I refused to believe it was a natural death, at first. My second viewing was easier to understand everything explained. I was shocked that Joyce died like that. It wouldn’t be so shocking if it was Glory or a demon doing it. For me a good reaction = genuine reaction. So you did good 😊

Yes I also almost forgot the credits roll at the worst time at the beginning. I am just so stressed out so far- yes same as you said "I don't want to watch this".. but I am still going to watch it (and get it over with).

All ypur reasonings and everything you were saying was actually correct luke about it being bright and things juat going on. Its just your overall denial that you refused to see it for what it was. But we all didn't want it to be true.

Definitely a 10. And your reaction was perfectly reasonable.

Final comment (after having finished your reaction)... I am definitely going to go hang out and hug etc, my mom for the rest of the night and future days too!

As hard as you are on yourself about your reaction you still caught a lot of what was happening. It’s a tough one. People react in all different ways.

It seems the cinematography really worked on you and making everything seems outerwordly. When you are experiencing trauma life can seem too real and unreal at the same time.

Thank goodness it's over (am writing this before I watch your outro)... although I don't like the next episode much either. I didn't read all the comments yet, but I did see some of yours where you suggested it was a "bad" reaction, but I honestly do not think your reaction was bad at all. Any honest reaction is a good reaction. Plus there are SO many different actual reactions to horrible events such as these.

It has been a while since I saw this episode (or a reaction to this episode). I am writing this comment during your intro, so I haven't quite watched your reaction yet. I only saw this episode twice while watching with my mom, then we always skip it when we watch Buffy. But they did do this episode very well. In a realistic, horrible way.