Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
The next day Buffy asks the gang if anyone burst into song last night. They all did, and suddenly burst into song again about their theories. Buffy sings about how it doesn't matter if they are together. Anya says it might be a spell if only they were affected. Buffy looks outside and sees people singing about getting mustard out of their shirts. Dawn comes back from school and she says that she was singing too. Willow and Tara rush off to pretend to research but they have some alone time. Tara sings to Willow about her love and Willow makes her float off the bed. At the shop Dawn secretly takes a pendent while the others research.
Meanwhile, a man dancing suddenly bursts into flames, while a demon watches. The next morning, Xander and Anya talk about breakfast in bed when Anya starts singing with Xander. They sing about how their complaints about each other and their worries about the upcoming marriage. They complain to Giles, and Giles tells them about the man who combusted while a woman sings about a parking ticket.
Buffy visits Spike in his crypt and Spike starts singing about his addiction to Buffy. At the cemetery Spike is still singing and ruins a funeral. He jumps on the coffin and sings, and Buffy stops him from hurting people. They fall into an open grave and Buffy gets out and runs away.
At the house Dawn mentions the fight Willow made Tara forget about and Tara notices the flower on her shirt. She rushes to the Magic Shop and Dawn is kidnapped by these puppet-like creatures. Buffy trains with Giles and he sings about how Buffy isn't ready for the world, and Buffy doesn't listen to what he sings about. Tara takes a book out of the shelf and looks up the flower, used for mind control and memory loss. Tara and Giles sing a duet about how they don't want to leave Willow and how Giles doesn't want to leave Buffy.
At the Bronze, Dawn wakes up and tries to escape, but fails. Sweet, the demon, sings about how she will be his queen down below. Dawn lets out that Buffy is the Slayer and Sweet demands her presence.
At the shop, Spike appears with a demon from Sweet, who tells them the whole thing. Giles says Buffy has to go alone, and she does. Buffy sings about walking through the fire, and soon Giles sings too about how he might have left them in danger if they can't handle it. They all join in including Spike who's in an alley somewhere and they rush after Buffy. Soon even Sweet sings too, and then Buffy kicks the door down.
She walks in and sings while takes out the minions. The rest of the gang appears and Buffy reveals that she was in Heaven, and then she got pulled out. Then Buffy starts dancing uncontrollably and starts smoking and at the last second is stopped by Spike, who sings the brutal truth about life. The song ends and Xander reveals that he summoned Sweet, and not Dawn. Sweet was supposed to have the person who summoned him to be his queen, but decides that he will let it slide this once. Sweet curses them with one more song, and disappears.
They sing about where they go from there, and Buffy and Spike walk out in the middle of the song, and sing out back, and they suddenly kiss.
BUFFY: Everybody started singing and dancing?
DAWN: I gave birth to a pterodactyl.
ANYA: Oh my god, did it sing?
Tara finds out about the spell Willow cast on her to forget the arguement they had.
Dawn is stealing.
Buffy confesses to her friends that she was in heaven and they pulled her out.
Buffy and Spike kiss.
Rating
5/5
Goofs
In "Life's A Show," Tara nearly runs ito a pillar, as Buffy sings" you don't get to rehearse."
One line of Dawn's song she is singing but her lips aren't following along with the words.
Trivia
Joss Whedon said that the vampires and demon, henchman, and streetcleaners were all the same people.
There is an unconfirmed rumor that Sweet didn't actually have the neame Sweet. They didn't mention his name but the credits say "Sweet make-up by..." Everyone assumed the character was named Sweet. Sweet could have meant cool or excellent.
Marti Noxen and David Fury made cameos as the lady getting a ticket and the mustard man.
Sarah Michelle Gellar originally wanted a voice double, but changed her mind when she realized she didn't want someone else to to it when it was her big emotional turning point. She said, "I'm not a singer, and I hated every moment of it. It took something like 19 hours of singing and 17 hours of dancing in between shooting four other episodes."
All the cast members did their own vocals.