8 Hidden TV Monsters (And What They Really Look Like)

Many episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer live permanently in the collective memory of its fans, but there’s only one that can elicit such a hushed silence upon the very mention of its title. The Body.

Far from the high-kicking, pony-tailed action that the show was known for, the episode simply resolves around the discovery of Buffy’s mother dead in her home. No dramatic murder, no heroic send off, simply a woman found on her own couch. It’s a TV moment that’s still talked about today.

However unable to deal with the grief and the senseless feeling of loss, Dawn goes against the wishes of her sister and casts a spell to bring her back from the dead. From there we see a pair of legs, they stagger back to the Summers’ family home, a silhouette passes by the window, and the doorknob slowly begins to turn.

The refusal to show us Joyce, reanimated, still fills viewers with this sickening dread. A woman whose normality and strength had been the steady rock the show had built is supernatural elements around, now herself transformed into… something. It was not knowing what she had become which terrified fans.

It was a question that (either mercifully or tragically, depending on your viewpoint) looked like it would never be answered, as Dawn comes to her senses and breaks the spell before we get a look at her. However the heartbreaking truth of the matter is that, after Buffy herself returns from death without any major issues, we can assume that Joyce too would have been fine.

That door would have opened, and standing behind it would have been the mother we all knew and loved, just a little soily.

[Adam Clery]