Band Candy

"Band Candy" is the sixth episode of season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot synopsis

Buffy combines her slaying with studying for the SAT in the graveyard with Giles. At school the next day, Buffy tells Willow and Oz of a test-related nightmare. Oz offers to help her study and Willow brags about how smart Oz is. Buffy tells them Giles and her mom have her scheduled 24/7 to keep her out of trouble. They find Principal Snyder in the cafeteria handing out boxes of candy, which they are forced to sell to pay for band uniforms.

Buffy sells half of her candies to her mom, who refuses to let her drive. Buffy then leaves for the library, ostensibly for the night. She sells the other half of her quota to Giles, then leaves, ostensibly for home. Instead, Buffy brings blood to Angel, who is practicing Tai Chi. He asks her about Scott. When she arrives home, Buffy finds her mother and Giles waiting. They send her to bed and proceed to munch on her candies. Meanwhile, at a local warehouse filled with workers packaging the candy bars, Ethan Rayne is revealed to be overseeing the operation. For some reason, he stops a worker from eating one of the candy bars.

The next day, Giles fails to show up for study hall, where Xander and Willow are playing footsie. Worried, Buffy goes to Giles' place and finds her mom on the couch. Giles explains that they are rescheduling her activities to lessen her burden, and Joyce offers her car keys. After a surprised Buffy leaves, Giles lights up a cigarette and Joyce pulls out a bottle of Kahlúa.

Giles, now as his teenage Cockney personality "Ripper," offers to take Joyce out for some fun while Buffy frightens Willow with her driving. At the Bronze, Buffy and Willow discover a place packed with adults who are acting like teenagers, including Principal Snyder, Mrs. Bartrum and Willow's shirtless, stage diving doctor. Snyder starts following Buffy and Willow. They leave with Oz and decide to head over to Giles' place to find out what is going on.

At the warehouse, Mr. Trick checks up on Ethan Rayne and the production of the chocolate bars. Mr, Trick suddenly kills one of the workers when he suspects him of eating one of the candy bars, then leaves to perform the "tribute."

Meanwhile, Joyce notices a coat in a shop window, which Ripper destroys to steal the coat. The ensuing alarm attracts a cop, who Giles beats unconscious. He and Joyce start making out on the hood of the police car.

Buffy gets into a car accident, and damages her mom's car. When a passerby takes the candy bar Snyder is munching on, Buffy puts two and two together and realizes that the candy is making people revert back to their teenage personas. Buffy sends Willow and Oz to the library and drives to the warehouse after Sndyer tells her where the band candy comes from. Upon arrival, Buffy finds her mother and Giles kissing in the middle of the street. Buffy tries to reason with her mother, with no luck. She enters the factory, taking Joyce along; Giles and Snyder follow. Inside, Buffy finds Ethan and catches him. Her fist persuades the wimpy Ethan to give up all that he knows. Ethan tells her that Trick needs to dull Sunnydale adults to take the tribute for a demon named Lurconis.

Meanwhile, four vampires enter an unguarded hospital to remove four newborn babies. The teenage researchers discover that Lurconis eats babies, and Giles remembers that the demon may be found in the sewers.

Down in the sewers, the Mayor, Mr. Trick, and the four vampires are chanting in a ceremony to summon Lurconis. Buffy, Giles and Joyce crash the party underground, and the Mayor flees unnoticed. Buffy defeats the vampires while Giles and Joyce retrieve the babies to safety. Trick escapes and the demon appears. Buffy pulls down a gas pipe, igniting a fire that kills Lurconis. Back at the Mayor's office, he asks Trick why did he flee and allow Buffy to kill Lurconis. Trick replies that he thought he did the Mayor a favor by having the Slayer kill the demon and have the Mayor one less demon to make a tribune too. The Mayor warns Mr. Trick about making any further favors for him in the future.

The next day, the adults have returned to their senses. Snyder, reverted back to his grumpy and mistantrophic self, promptly chooses Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordelia as volunteers to clean up the mess in the hall. Buffy complains to Giles about the SAT's. They meet Joyce, but Buffy fails to notice their awkwardness upon seeing each other.

Acting

Starring

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
• David Boreanaz as Angel
• Seth Green as Oz
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
• K. Todd Freeman as Mister Trick
• Robin Sachs as Ethan Rayne
• Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins
• Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder

Co-starring

• Jason Hall as Devon MacLeish
• Peg Stewart as Ms. Barton

Music

• Christophe Beck - "Sugar High"
• Christophe Beck - "Tai Chi"
• Cream - "Tales of Brave Ulysses"
• Every Bit of Nothing - "Slip Jimmy"
• Four Star Mary - "Violent"
• Mad Cow - "Blase"

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (November 2009)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Buffy the Vampire Slayer#Band Candy

• Kristine Sutherland, who plays Joyce Summers, has named "Band Candy" as one of her favorite Buffy episodes, along with "Ted", "When She Was Bad" and "Innocence".
• The Cream song "Tales of Brave Ulysses" later reappeared in the season five episode "Forever", where Giles listens to the record after Joyce's funeral, in remembrance of the events of this episode .
• The accent used by Teenage Giles is Anthony Head's normal accent.
• Buffy quotes 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' by saying "Lets do the Time Warp again." when she and Willow walk into the Bronze. Anthony Head actually starred in a production of The Rocky Horror Show.

Continuity

Arc significance

• Willow and Xander continue their dangerous liaison.
• The Mayor once more shows his character, while Snyder proves to be an ignorant participant in his evil schemes.
• The glaring implication at the end that Giles and Joyce went further than kisses is confirmed in "Earshot".
• This is Ethan Rayne's first appearance since the previous season's "The Dark Age".
• The Demon Lurconis is very similar to the demon the Mayor transforms into at the end of the season.

Translations

• Italian title: "I dolci della banda" ("The band's candies")
• German title: "Außer Rand und Band" (German idiom; "Out of control") The word "Band" might also refer to the original title, as the meaning describing a music group is also well known in German language (with English pronunciation). But with this meaning the whole term makes no sense anymore.
• French title: "Effet chocolat" ("Chocolate Effect")
• Japanese title: "バンドのためのチョコバー" ("Bando no tame no Chokobaa" - "Chocolate Bars for the Band")
• Spanish title: "Los chocolates embrujados" ("The bewitched chocolates")

External links

• "Band Candy" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Band Candy" at TV.com

Reviews

• Peripheral Visions Review
• Swing the Sickle Review