By Chris Snellgrove | Published
There are many good things about it Buffy the Vampire Slayerincluding its epic episodes, cool fights, and amazing characters. However, the real strength of the show has always been its writing. Discussion in Buffy was always fast-paced and funny, showing that our titular Slayer can do more than just put down killer vampires. He can, as needed, deliver witty lines as sharp and deadly as his trusty pole.
It is no exaggeration to say that writing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer it changed the way an entire generation of writers approached dialogue. Because of this, I’m always interested in finding out what lines were cut from the old episodes. Sometimes, the deleted dialogue feels like a missed opportunity to show our favorite characters even more. Occasionally, though, cutting the line helps producers dodge the bullet. For example, one deleted scene from “Beauty and the Beast” predicted the show’s biggest controversy and would have linked Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the most infamous school shooting in American history!
Buffy, The Dark Humor Queen
The dialogue in question is from the episode “Beauty and the Beast,” which has Buffy dealing with a student whose magic turns him into a murderous, Mr. Hyde-type figure. He also has to deal with Oz in his werewolf form and Angel, his undead lover, who has already returned from the dead. On top of everything else, he has to see the school psychologist because he was a runaway teenager who just returned to Sunnydale after the tragic events of the Season 2 finale.
Although Buffy grows to like the school less and less (at least, while she’s still alive), she initially resents seeing him and complains that she has to prove she’s “Miss Steady” just to stay in school. In a brief, deleted scene, Scott tells her to avoid certain topics, jokingly mentioning “little men living in your teeth” and “your responsibility to paint circus clowns.” To this, Buffy responds with a horrifying answer: “But when God keeps telling me to kill, it just seems like a little bit, you know?”
Buffy’s Link to America’s Most Infamous School Shooting
This is, admittedly, a very funny line, especially if you have a dark sense of humor (it’s not just me, right?). But it could have been pulled off by Buffy making jokes about killing people on school grounds. This is because, six months after this episode aired, America was rocked by the Columbine High School massacre.
That infamous school shooting cast a long shadow over Season 3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode “Earshot” had a lunch lady trying to kill several students by poisoning their food. At first, Buffy (who knows that someone is plotting to kill the students due to temporary telepathic powers) thinks that Jonathan is the culprit, and finds him in the clock tower with a high powered gun. However, after Jonathan shockingly admits that he brought the gun just to kill himself, he finally tracks down and stops the murderous woman.
Episodes You Almost Seen
The episode was supposed to air one week after Columbine, but was pushed back nearly five months because the network was worried about syndication. Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a school shooting. Similarly, the season 3 finale, “Graduation Day, Part Two,” started two months later than intended because the plot involved Buffy arming her classmates to fight the Mayor after he turned into a snake demon. Also, the network wanted absolutely no connection between its top show and the most infamous school shooting in American history.
So, removing Buffy’s twisted joke of killing people by God’s order in “Beauty and the Beast” was definitely the right decision. The episode aired before Columbine, but this interview would have drawn a target on Slayer’s back for a culture that wants to know who to blame for youth violence. Also, it may have also worried the network as it began to wonder if the show actually promotes violence. Fortunately, the episode aired without problems or scandals, and now we can appreciate Buffy’s deleted line for what it is: a funny joke and a great example. the top Millennium Jokes.
