Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S2/E18 Killed By Death

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Buffy is hospitalised and suspects she has discovered a monster.

Cordelia: So this isn't about you being afraid of hospitals 'cause your friend died and you wanna conjure up a monster that you can fight so you can save everybody and not feel so helpless?
Giles: Cordelia, have you actually ever heard of tact?
Cordelia: Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass.

Ooo, if he asks you to play chess, don't even do it. The guy's, like, a whiz.

Cordelia: It's called Der Kindestod. The name means "child death". This book says he feeds off of children by sucking the life out of them.

Cordelia: Eww, what does this do?
Giles: It extracts vital organs to replenish its own mutating cells.

Cordelia: Wow! What does this one do?

Giles: It elongates its mouth to engulf its victim's head with its incisors.

Cordelia: Ouch! Wait, what does this one do?

Giles: (incredibly irritated) It asks endless questions of those with whom it's supposed to be working so that nothing is getting done.

Cordelia: Boy, there's a demon for everything!

Cordelia: Oh, right. Your obsession with protecting Buffy. Have I told you how attractive that's not?
Xander: Cordelia, someone's gotta watch her back.
Cordelia: Yeah, well, I've seen you watch her back.
Xander: What is that supposed to mean?
Cordelia: Well, I was using the phrase "watch her back" as a euphemism for looking at her butt. You know, sort of a pun.
Xander: Oh! Right. [beat] Hey!

Buffy: Homework!
Willow: It's my way of saying, 'get well soon'.
Buffy: You know, chocolate says that even better.
Willow: I did all your assignments. All you have to do is sign your name.
Buffy: Chocolate means nothing to me.

Angelus: Buffy's White Knight. You still love her. (leans in close) It must just eat you up that I got there first.

Giles: I found a picture of how it kills. Let me talk to her.
Cordelia: (takes the book and looks) Oh! Eww!
Buffy: What?
Cordelia: Oh! Uh, you should see this thing! The way it does its thing...I mean, eww! Why do I let you guys drag me into this stuff? (hands Giles the phone and leaves)
Giles: (into the phone) Uh, uh, Buffy? Are you, are you still there?
Buffy: Hanging on every 'eww'.

  • Ignored Confession: Delirious Buffy babbling to Joyce and the hospital staff that she has to kill the vampires. Given the circumstances the Scoobies are easily able to pass it off as being due to the fever.
  • I'll Kill You!: Xander to Angelus. "You're gonna die. And I'm gonna be there."
  • Innocent Innuendo: Willow mentions that she and Xander used to play doctor. She would get out medical books and diagnose him with things.
  • Invisible Monsters / By the Eyes of the Blind: The demon can only be seen by sick people.
  • Invisible to Adults: What Buffy thinks she's up against at first.
  • It's Personal: After Giles describes its method of killing, Buffy realises the Monster of the Week is what killed her cousin.
  • Long-Lost Uncle Aesop: Buffy exhibits a phobic reaction to being in the hospital, and we learn that it's because of her cousin Celia's death when they were kids. They were close, and Buffy was traumatized as a result of watching her die. While some of this trauma is legitimately resolved in the episode, the lack of mention of Celia before or after makes the whole thing seem to come out of nowhere. It is particularly jarring because Buffy spends a great deal of time visiting the hospital in Season Five, and shows no phobia beyond an appropriate reaction to the immediate circumstances. Nor does the First Evil ever manifest in Celia's form, which would seem an obvious way to get under Buffy's skin if the writers still remembered the character.
    • Granted, the actress playing Celia - a long-deceased child character - could not conceivably return, since the First Evil was only prominent five years later. It might've worked in the Season 3 episode "Amends", but then the First was focusing more on Angel than Buffy.
  • Monster of the Week
  • My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: Xander after Buffy nearly stakes him.

Man, Buffy! My whole life just flashed before my eyes! [[[Beat]]] I gotta get me a life!

Xander: You don't know how to kill this thing.
Buffy: I thought I might try violence.
Xander: Solid call.

Cordelia: Nobody told me I was supposed to bring a gift. I was out of the loop on gifts.
Giles: It's tradition among... people.

  • Stereo Fibbing: Xander, Willow, and Cordy take an unconscious Buffy into the Hospital Emergency room.

Intern: What happened?
Willow: The flu.
Xander: She fell.
Cordy: She fainted.
Xander: The flu, fainted and fell. She's sick, make it better!

  • Suspect Existence Failure: The Scoobies become convinced that the villain killing the sick children in the hospital is the creepy (and, it turns out, criminally negligent to the point of malpractice lawsuits) Doctor Backer... until Backer himself is killed by the invisible monster that is actually killing the children.
  • Tempting Fate: Ryan and the other children have fled to the basement.

Ryan: We're gonna be safe in here. (Kinderstod grabs him from behind)

Xander: So, is this the part where we say, what can we do to help?
(Description Cut to Xander and Cordelia breaking into the hospital records room)
Cordelia: (whispers) You had to ask that, didn't you?

    • Also Angelus pinning Buffy and saying, "Uh-oh. This does not look good for our heroine."
  • Took a Level in Badass: Xander stands up to Angelus. Angelus. After trading snarks Angelus, despite his confidence he could get to Buffy, walks away at the threat to kill him. Xander's balls dropped about a foot here, and tripled in size.
  • Troubled Backstory Flashback: Buffy remembers playing superhero games with her cousin, then later witnessing her horrible death in hospital.
  • We Need a Distraction: Willow acts hysterical to make it appear she's the violent patient the security guards have been told to intercept, giving Buffy a chance to get away.
  • Walk in Chime In

Buffy: I'm still the Slayer. And as long as I am, Angel's not gonna kill anybody else.
Angelus: (behind her) Aw, c'mon. (she turns to face him) Just one more.

Angelus: If I decide to walk into Buffy's room, do you think for one microsecond that you could stop me?
Xander: Maybe not. Maybe that security guard couldn't either. Or those cops... or the orderlies... But I'm kinda curious to find out. You game?
 

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