Living Conditions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Living Conditions” | |
|---|---|
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 2 |
| Guest stars | Dagney Kerr (Kathy Newman) Adam Kaufman (Parker Adams) Paige Moss (Veruca) |
| Written by | Marti Noxon |
| Directed by | David Grossman |
| Production no. | 4ABB02 |
| Original airdate | October 12th 1999 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "The Freshman" | "The Harsh Light of Day" |
"Living Conditions" is the second episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
Buffy becomes convinced that her annoying roommate is evil, but her friends think she is mad.
[edit] Expanded overview
Episode two of season four opens in Buffy's dorm room in Stevenson Hall at the U.C. Sunnydale campus. This evening Buffy's roommate Kathy Newman is cheerfully ironing her jeans while listening to Cher's "Believe" on CD. Buffy tells Kathy that she is heading out to the Grotto to get some caffeine. As Buffy heads out Kathy informs her that she has devised a system to keep track of calls so that Buffy can be properly billed. She has also noticed that some of her milk was missing from the mini-fridge. Buffy owns up to taking some milk for her coffee. During the conversation Cher's song ends and Kathy quickly runs to the CD player to restart the same "super fun" song.
Buffy meets up with Willow who notes that Buffy is having trouble getting past Kathy to patrol without getting lots of questions asked. Willow leaves to see Oz and Buffy goes off to patrol. As Buffy is patrolling she hears something approaching, as she gets into fighting mode, Kathy jumps out onto the path. She has decided to join Buffy in going to the Grotto, annoying Buffy and ruining her patrolling.
Buffy then is attacked by an orange skinned, glowing blue eyed demon. Before Kathy can see what is happening Buffy pushes her off to the side through some shrubs. Buffy fights off the demon before Kathy can recover. Buffy explains that someone tried to take her backpack, but Kathy's sweater is stained and ruined so they head back to the dorm to clean up. As they leave two of the same type of demon that just attacked are watching and one comments "she may be the one."
The next day Buffy goes to Giles' flat to describe the previous night's events. Buffy shows an unusual interest in what Giles has planned for the day raising his suspicion. When pressed she tells Giles she is avoiding going back to her dorm room until Kathy leaves for classes and tells him about her annoying habits.
As Buffy talks to Giles, Kathy is in the dorm room trying unsuccessfully to get the grass stain off of her sweater. She spies Buffy's closet and takes a look inside. She finds a sweater that she likes and removes it from the closet. As she does this she notices Buffy's bag of vampire killing gear and shrugs at the oddity.
At the Rocket Cafe, Buffy grabs a tray and walks to the back of the line when she sees Kathy. She quickly hides by jumping in front of another patron. A cute guy, of course. Conversation quickly ensues. The guy gives the young freshman advice on how to get the most out of her dining card and introductions ensue. His name is Parker Abrams and he will be seen again in a few more upcoming episodes. Buffy finds Willow, Oz, and Xander sitting at a table and she joins them. Buffy remarks that Xander is the odd man out since his is not a college student. The group discuss the encounter with Parker and Buffy describes the previous night's demon attack. Kathy sees them and invites herself to the table, to Buffy's annoyance. She notices Kathy wearing her sweater. Kathy remarks that since her sweater was ruined that she didn't think that Buffy would mind since they're "practically sisters" now that they live together, further annoying Buffy. As Kathy takes a bite of her burger, Buffy watches intensely as ketchup drips out and lands right on her borrowed sweater.
That evening Buffy is on the phone complaining to Willow about Kathy. Willow tries to calm Buffy unsuccessfully. As Kathy enters the room Buffy hangs up and Kathy quickly reminds Buffy to log her calls, then she proceeds to loudly floss her teeth. Buffy goes to place an apple in the mini-fridge. Upon opening it she is stunned to find everything is now labelled with Kathy's name, even the eggs have her name written on them. As Buffy had her back turned looking in the fridge, Kathy gets up and shuts the window on Buffy's side of the room. Buffy immediately goes back and opens it. Kathy picks up her book and finds it is stuck to the table with a big piece of chewing gum. Buffy, who is at the moment chewing gum, swallows it while denying that she knows anything about it. Both angrily turn out their lights and go to sleep.
Buffy dreams of the same orange demon pouring blood down her throat, putting a scorpion on her stomach and sucking some essence from her mouth. She awakes the next morning to find Kathy staring at her and is asked if she "always makes that much noise" while she sleeps.
At school Buffy describes the dream to Willow, Oz, and Giles. Kathy again sneaks in to the group and overhears Giles talking about analyzing dreams. Kathy remarks that she had an odd dream and describes the same thing that Buffy did. Buffy and Kathy spar in a passive-aggressive manner as Buffy tries to get Kathy to leave. Buffy asks Kathy if she shouldn't be getting to class, and Kathy remarks that her schedule is off since someone kept her up all night. Kathy leaves and Buffy complains to the group about her before she too leaves. Giles blames the dream on the previous night's encounter with the demon and everyone expresses concern about how stressed Buffy is acting.
That night the two demons meet again and one says that "she is the one." The other says that he has prepared for the summoning of the great Taparrich. Chanting around a large fire follows...
Back in the dorm Kathy is playing the "super fun" Cher's Believe once again. Buffy walks in to find Parker and Kathy chatting on Kathy's bed. Parker nervously gives Buffy some Ziploc bags so that she may improve her cafeteria hoarding skills. Kathy horns in again. Buffy get annoyed and snaps at them. Parker leaves with a promise to meet up with Buffy again another time.
More passive-aggressive battling ensues. Buffy puts a lock on her closet while Kathy starts with the loud flossing. Buffy opens the window and Kathy complains that she is cold. Buffy tells her to deal with it and they argue. Finally when Kathy tells Buffy that they must cooperate in share time, Buffy goes to the fridge, takes Kathy's marked milk and gulps it until its flowing freely out of her mouth all over the floor.
Willow and Oz are walking back to Willow's dorm room discussing Buffy's odd behavior. Oz offers to watch Buffy by patrolling with her. As he walks outside to find Buffy he passes an unknown woman, and shares an intense look with her.
Oz finds Buffy and she describes the argument she had with Kathy. She gets so upset that she smashes up a bench. She tells Oz that "something has to be done" about Kathy, to Oz's increasing concern.
After patrolling back at the dorm Kathy is cutting her toenails at the end of her bed, just letting the cut pieces fly everywhere. Some end up on the floor and Kathy doesn't bother to pick them up. Buffy is annoyed and starts tapping her pencil loudly, causing Kathy to turn on the CD player to hear her favorite diva singing the same song again.
That evening Buffy has the same dream again. When she wakes up in the morning Kathy is tossing and turning as if she too is having another nightmare.
A little later Kathy is in the dorm hallway complaining to Willow about Buffy. Buffy approaches and overhears some of it and Kathy makes a quick exit. Buffy very seriously tells Willow that Kathy "is evil. I'm and evil fighter. It's simple. I'm gonna have to kill her." Buffy holds up a Ziploc bag filled with toenail clippings. Buffy tells Willow that she collected them the previous night and measured them. When she measured them again in the morning, they had grown. She's says that is a "demon thing" and thinks Kathy is possibly a demon. Willow convinces Buffy to go to Giles with the toenails and then calls Giles to tell him about the strange behavior.
Buffy goes to Giles to show him the toenails and is ambushed by Xander, Oz, and Giles. They drop a net on her and tie her with ropes. Giles believes that Buffy is possessed by the demon from the encounter in the woods and goes to gather supplies for a spell to end the possession. Tied-up Buffy tries to convince Oz and Xander that Kathy is evil and needs to be stopped. They worry that they didn't tie her up well enough and when they go to check, Buffy smashes their heads together and knocks them out.
Buffy returns to her dorm room and finds Kathy there. They decide to "talk." Buffy "accidentally" kicks Kathy's throw rug out of place and Kathy responds by punching Buffy in the face. They fight and Buffy rips off Kathy's face to find that she is an orange, glowing blue-eyed demon! As this happens the two demons in the woods summon Taparrich using the ritual of Mok'tagar. Simultaneously Giles realizes that Buffy was right, using the toenail clippings as evidence. He tells Willow, Oz, and Xander that the Mok'tagar are transdimensional demons and the ritual Buffy described in her dreams is used to steal someone's soul. Mok'tagar can recognize their own kind by the lack of a soul. Kathy tells Buffy that she left her dimension without permission to attend college and fears that her family of demons will come to take her back. So she wanted to "borrow" Buffy's soul so that when the Mok'tagar came looking, Buffy would be the one without a soul and they would take her instead of Kathy.
Giles casts a spell from his flat that returns the parts of Buffy's soul already taken during the previous nights. Kathy's demon father arrives to take her back. He opens a portal and they both disappear.
The episode ends with Willow moving her stuff into the room. She and Buffy will now be roommates.
[edit] Quotes and trivia
- Kathy: I'm 3000 years old! When are you going to stop treating me like I'm 900?
[edit] Goofs
After Kathy and Buffy get into a fight, in order to get back at Buffy, Kathy peels a hard boiled egg loudly enought to annoy Buffy. While breaking the egg, the spelling of Kathy's name labeled on the egg changes from Kathy to Cathy.
[edit] Writing and acting
[edit] Cast and crew
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
- Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
- Seth Green as Oz
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
- Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
- Written by: Marti Noxon
- Directed by: David Grossman
[edit] Production details
[edit] Music
- Cher - "Believe"
- Extreme Music Library - "Freestyle Hombre"
- Extreme Music Library - "Shakie Fakie"
- Four Star Mary - "Pain"
[edit] Translations
- Italian title: "Fuga dall'oltretomba" ("Escape from the hereafter")
- German title: "(K)eine Menschenseele" ("No human soul" when read as "Keine Menschenseele", "A human soul" when read as "Eine Menschenseele")
- French title: "Cohabitation difficile"
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
This is mostly a comedic episode that explores the growing experience college students find when forced to live with someone else.
The introduction of Parker sets up an important storyline that will be followed up in upcoming episodes concerning casual sex and how these mistakes are easy to make during this time of young adulthood.
Veruca is also seen in this episode, although we do not yet know who she is. The attraction between her and Oz is evident in their first brief encounter and this event foreshadows the break-up of Oz and Willow that occurs this season.
The members of the Initiative also make a brief appearance in this episode but their purpose in this season's storyline is not yet revealed.
Xander's fear of alienation from the rest of the Scooby Gang is touched upon in the Rocket Cafe, when Buffy notes that he is not a college student hanging out on campus. This time in young people's lives is often accompanied by a splintering of many friendships as the bonds of high school are broken and people go their separate ways.
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse chronology: Fall 1999 - December 1999 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| L.A. 1999 | Angel comic: Doyle: Spotlight |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.01 City of |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.01 The Freshman |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.02 Living Conditions |
| L.A. 1999 | |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.02 Lonely Hearts |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.00 Unaired Angel pilot |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Not Forgotten |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.03 The Harsh Light of Day |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.03 In the Dark |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.04 Fear, Itself |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Blood of Carthage |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel graphic novel: Surrogates |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel comic: Strange Bedfellows story, Angel #4 |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy video game: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Game Boy Color) |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Tales of the Slayer: All That You Do Comes Back.. |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.04 I Fall to Pieces |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.05 Beer Bad |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.05 Rm w/a Vu |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy books: Lost Slayer series |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.06 Wild at Heart |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Oz |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy book: Oz: Into the Wild |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.06 Sense & Sensitivity |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.07 The Initiative |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.07 Bachelor Party |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Close to the Ground |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Soul Trade |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel graphic novel: Earthly Possessions |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Redemption |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Shakedown |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Hollywood Noir |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Avatar |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: Bruja |
| L.A. 1999 | Angel book: The Summoned |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.08 Pangs |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.08 I Will Remember You |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.09 Something Blue |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.09 Hero |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.10 Hush |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.10 Parting Gifts |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B4.11 Doomed |
| L.A. 1999 | A1.11 Somnambulist |
