While it suffers from having to follow a stellar episode like "Passion", this episode isn't bad. We get some worldbuilding in the form of Buffy's cousin, plus a bit of badass Xander and a moment of Clever Cordy when she teases Xander about watching Buffy's butt.
Listening to David Boreanaz speak in vampire mode gives me a good idea just how much of Armin Shimerman's vocal affect (and all the other Ferengi on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, really) must have come from the mouth prosthetics, rather than conscious choices to make the characters speak a certain way. Those fake teeth really change one's speech!
The doctor who tells the Scoobies they can't follow Buffy any further into the hospital (Juanita Jennings) has been in so many other one-off roles, from Sister, Sister and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Frasier and beyond.
Plus, seeing Willie Garson in anything these days is a bittersweet treat after his passing just three months ago. This episode of Buffy aired just a few months before his guest role on Star Trek: Voyager (5x09 "Thirty Days"), and I was just recovering from repeatedly seeing him in Stargate SG-1 too.
And speaking of Voyager, our friend Dr. Backer is played by none other than Admiral Owen Paris himself, Richard Herd. He and Garson were both on the show after this, so I'm sure it's just coincidence that the first demon Giles describes to Cordelia "extracts vital organs to replenish its own mutating cells" and not a reference to the Vidiians.
Review by dgwVIP 9BlockedParent2021-12-20T11:46:56Z
While it suffers from having to follow a stellar episode like "Passion", this episode isn't bad. We get some worldbuilding in the form of Buffy's cousin, plus a bit of badass Xander and a moment of Clever Cordy when she teases Xander about watching Buffy's butt.
Listening to David Boreanaz speak in vampire mode gives me a good idea just how much of Armin Shimerman's vocal affect (and all the other Ferengi on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, really) must have come from the mouth prosthetics, rather than conscious choices to make the characters speak a certain way. Those fake teeth really change one's speech!
The doctor who tells the Scoobies they can't follow Buffy any further into the hospital (Juanita Jennings) has been in so many other one-off roles, from Sister, Sister and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Frasier and beyond.
Plus, seeing Willie Garson in anything these days is a bittersweet treat after his passing just three months ago. This episode of Buffy aired just a few months before his guest role on Star Trek: Voyager (5x09 "Thirty Days"), and I was just recovering from repeatedly seeing him in Stargate SG-1 too.
And speaking of Voyager, our friend Dr. Backer is played by none other than Admiral Owen Paris himself, Richard Herd. He and Garson were both on the show after this, so I'm sure it's just coincidence that the first demon Giles describes to Cordelia "extracts vital organs to replenish its own mutating cells" and not a reference to the Vidiians.