"We're not suppose to move 'The Body'!"

This is the line that brought the entire episode home for me. The devastation and panic in Buffy's voice as Sarah delivers that line defined everything Joss wanted me to feel, and it's just as real for me as the first time I saw the episode. As soon as the words left her mouth, Buffy realizes what it exactly what it means...she's just referred to her mother as a body. It coveys the emptiness just as the body itself, now merely a shell and the only reminder that a life lived inside it. Perhaps I am more emotionally invested in the character of Joyce Summers than others, having watched her for five years, because in ways she reminds me of my own mother. The thought of coming home to find her that way, definitely left an imprint on me.

I am still fortunate enough and blessed to have my mother, grandparents and even my great-grandmother in my life today. However just in experiencing the sudden, unexpected death of a friend, I completely related to every emotion conveyed in the episode...yes, even the neurotic actions of constantly changing clothes. After the numbness and shock is gone, denial and anger are usually the next to follow, and the universal question of, "Why?" trails every thought. Anya did the best explanation of this process in the episode.

The use of no score mixed with the various camera angles and flashbacks, brings me back to "Hush." In "Hush" no one could speak, but in "The Body" having no music seems to recall the same kind of vulnerability to me. I also found myself wanting Buffy's visions to come true. I wanted Joyce to be saved, I wanted that sense of happily ever after with a dramatic, heroic score where Buffy saves the day. But in the end, as in reality, the truth catches up quickly.

As for the vampire in the final scene? Ah yes, the controversy continues. I thought it worked brilliantly because it simply means, life goes on, even for our superhero. In Buffy's time of grief, suffering her first big loss, she is quickly reminded that time (and the undead Americans) stop for nothing. At that point in the morgue, it's the most vulnerable and inappropriate place for Buffy to do her job but if she doesn't, she risks losing her little sister too. Also, having Joyce die naturally was like a slap in the face for most viewers, because no monster of any kind was involved. At different times during the series, Joyce was attacked, kidnapped and nearly killed by Buffy's creepy sworn enemies--even Angelus threatened her at one point--but her daughter was always there to save her. This time, the danger around Joyce is completely out of Buffy's hands and she doesn't know how to handle it like an adult, and the conversation with the doctor is an example of her trying to cope. Up until now it's always been: Arrive. Kick Ass. Slay the evil. Go home. Suddenly, that formula is now the incorrect solution to the equation.

I found a good fan video about "The Body" and the following episode, "Forever," so spoiler alert ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osq6Wh3-aJU

& another shorter one :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8kx8kkZzKA&feature=related