I'm curious, what are some moments that still affect people from more minor episodes like DMP?

One of my favorite minor moments from a minor episode by tina f.

Faith, Hope & Trick
In the hallway, Buffy tells Giles that Faith has a three. But the moment I love is a second later when he goes off on a tangent about the Watcher's retreat ("All right. I'll see if I can reach her Watcher at the retreat. They're eight hours ahead now. I guess they're probably sitting down to a nightcap. I wonder if they still kayak. I used to love a good kayak. You see, t-they don't even consider..."). Buffy walks off screen and then turns around, comes back and gives him the ultimate look of frustration and he comes back to the topic at hand "Sorry. I digress."

No matter how many times I have seen that episode and despite how many good moments there are in it - that's my favorite. I love the second of rare "insight into Giles," and how much it shows how alike Giles and Buffy can be (easily distracted and memememe), the role reversal of it all... And it is excellently punctuated by SMG leaving the screen for just a second then coming back into the same shot.

Emotionally, one of my favorite minor moments is (prepare to be shmooped): Buffy wiping Spike's face off in the basement after he bit Andrew in Never Leave Me and he asks if he hurt anybody. ("You took a good bite out of Andrew." "Who?" "Tucker's brother." "Oh.") Much more so for me than the "I believe in you" a few moments later, I think this is a moment that shows how different Buffy's relationship with Spike is from anything else. He is chained up and she is carefully wiping somebody's blood off his face. I like it.

What about "Happy Anniversary"????

Um, what about it? Lots of nice interactions between Angel and Lorne.

And wasn't that the "leather pants" shout-out ep? t /fangirl

And wasn't that the "leather pants" shout-out ep?

I thought that was in Epiphany, when Angel goes to Lorne after leaving Darla?

And wasn't that the "leather pants" shout-out ep?

I thought that was in Epiphany, when Angel goes to Lorne after leaving Darla?

I honestly can't remember.

I just watched the other night - it's Epiphany.

And wasn't that the "leather pants" shout-out ep?

That was a Tim ep, no? Epiphany, I think.

Heh. X-Post.

My mind has excised the L/A bits of Happy Anniversary and put them elsewhere. It ruins the run through to Dead End for me.

I'm even willing to let Disharmony into my S3 best of all time, but I just can't make it to the Deathwok clan. It's so incredibly out of place.

Back to Joyce and Buffy's behavior at the end of "Becoming":

If the information in "Normal Again" is to be trusted, Buffy did tell Joyce and Hank about vampires and she was institutionalized for a shor time when she was a new Slayer. (Personally, I think that is one of the changes brought about by the monks when they inserted Dawn into the picture). Either way, I think it was self-preservation that kept Buffy from confiding her secret to Joyce. Also, I'm sure that both Merrick and Giles repeatedly emphasized that Joyce couldn't be told. Giles even mentions this in "Passion", when Buffy is worried about Joyce's safety and how she's going to explain Angel to her.

The Scoobies could know Buffy's secret because they wouldn't be a threat to her, whereas Joyce could prevent her from performing her duties as the Slayer if she was of a mind to do so.

Honestly, I think the time for secrecy was past the moment Evil Angel accosted Joyce at the front door. Trusting that Angel wouldn't hurt her out of some screwy need to play along was, IMHO, an insane risk. In her shoes I'd have much rather dealt with the parental freak-out than chanced finding my mom sans reflection some night.

I never really bought Joyce and Hank putting Buffy in a mental institution, even as a monk-changed bit of history. Joyce and Buffy seems too comfortable together in season 1. However I do see Joyce as deliberately living in the land of denial regarding weird stuff going on. I wouldn't have believed she really wanted to know, if I was Buffy. I do agree, once Angel was evil, and still had an invite to her house, the time for secrecy is past. If he wasn't such a malnipulative sucker he could have just killed Joyce, instead of playing Stalker!Boyfriend with her.