History HarsherInHindsight / BuffyTheVampireSlayer

* In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E16WhoAreYou Who Are You?]]", [[TheHero Buffy]] and [[DarkActionGirl Faith]] switch bodies, with the former appearing a complete and total {{Jerkass}} and the latter desperately trying to gain acceptance. Compare and contrast Season 7. Especially if one looks at the comics- Buffy's atoning for her past actions in Season 8 while Faith assumes the role as the more responsible Slayer.

** Carpenter's account also makes a scene in an episode of ''Angel'' where a director is rude towards Cordelia seem even more uncomfortable.

* Speaking of vampires that Xander doesn't like, the undignified treatment Spike suffers from ''Buffy'' season onwards takes on a whole new meaning [[https://screenrant.com/buffy-james-marsters-joss-whedon-allegations-response/ in light of James Marsters account of being on the receiving end of hostile and unprofessional behavior from Joss Whedon]], who [[https://www.pajiba.com/celebrities_are_better_than_you/james-marsters-on-buffy-a-violent-altercation-with-joss-whedon-and-john-barrowmans-penis.php apparently wasn't happy about Marsters' character being too popular to be killed off as he intended]]. Considering Xander is also Whedon's AuthorAvatar, the fact he is the most distrusting and hostile of the Scoobies towards Spike has some uncomfortable subtext.

** Also, after Willows spell-gone-awry is broken, Buffy jokingly tells her that "we may be into a forgetting spell later". Loses its funny after season six, where [[spoiler: Willow repeatedly uses magic to erase Tara's memories.]]

* Way back in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E2DeadMansParty Dead Man's Party]]", Buffy said to Xander, "Didn't anyone ever warn you about playing with pointy sticks? It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye." This becomes this trope when in season seven, [[spoiler: Caleb destroys Xander's left eye.]]

* In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E6Halloween Halloween]]", Spike is about to kill Buffy, who is weak due to taking on the personality of a colonial-era proper lady. The comment Spike makes about her and her situation before he makes the attempt sounds a lot like he's about to rape her. Way later, there's the infamous incident in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]".

* Xander's animosity towards Angel became this when, if Creator/EmmaCaulfield is to be believed, Brendon "wasn't a fan" of Creator/DavidBoreanaz. It got to the point where Boreanez had Brendon blocked from the twentieth anniversary photoshoot (possibly due to his alcoholism).
* Creator/CharismaCarpenter's [[https://www.nme.com/news/film/charisma-carpenter-accuses-joss-whedon-abuse-buffy-2877389 accusations of abuse against Joss Whedon]] which were [[https://ew.com/tv/buffy-angel-stars-support-charisma-carpenter-claims-against-joss-whedon/ confirmed and backed up by several castmates]] throw the entire show into this, particularly Cordelia's treatment and the overall "feminism" of the show. Even moments that were still empowering now feel insincere knowing that behind the scenes, they were dealing with intense toxic behaviour. These accusations also shine a rather ugly light on plenty of stories Creator/JamesMarsters has been telling for years about Whedon's treatment to him on-set over Spike's unexpected popularity--including but not limited to the time he'd been pinned to a wall and told he was "dead". What had once just seemed like mostly harmless anecdotes now seems like a peek into long-standing workplace abuse.

* [[https://www.thewrap.com/joss-whedon-feminist-hypocrite-infidelity-affairs-ex-wife-kai-cole-says/ Joss Whedons' ex-wife Kai Cole claiming]] that he confessed to committing adultery on the set of ''Buffy'' and other shows he ran with his excuse being [[AllMenArePerverts he's a guy who found himself surrounded by beautiful women]], leaving one to guess which actresses he was having sex with. That particular revelation also casts a ''very'' ugly light on Xander and Willow's season 3 "affair", particularly given Xander's mostly NoSympathy response to Cordie's reaction to finding out about it.

** And that's not even considering the fact that that episode is Jenny Calendar's first appearance.

* In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E3TheWitch The Witch]]", Xander asks Willow to kindly stop beating a dead horse: "Will, yeah, that is the point. You don't have to drive it through my head like a railroad spike." Much later, we find out that this was Spike's preferred method of torture.

* The duet between Dawn and Sweet in "Once More With Feeling" has a light-hearted line where Dawn reminds him she's only fifteen and "this queen thing's illegal". Extremely awkward and {{Squick}}y in light of an incident that Michelle Trachtenberg has refused to elaborate on, where a private meeting between her and Joss Whedon led to a memo among the crew that he was never allowed to be alone with her again.

* The villain of the season - Warren Mears - is an adult nerd, who's a fan of comic books and sci-fi, and also has extremely misogynistic views towards women. The season was later noted to be ahead of its time in its highlighting of the misogyny that can show up in 'nerd spaces', but as time has gone by and allegations against Joss Whedon piled up, Warren starts to look like an uncanny resemblance of the man himself. Case in point - "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E13DeadThings Dead Things]]", where Warren makes his ex-girlfriend dress up in a skimpy costume and serve him and his friends isn't too dissimilar from Joss Whedon's show ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', which is about a protagonist (played by Creator/ElizaDushku) whose mind is wiped and is often forced into sexual encounters.

* Faith screwing Xander's brains out in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Zeppo]]" where he singlehandedly stops a plot to blow open the hellmouth? Funny and awesome. When it's revealed men are less than nothing to her? It stops being awesome. When Willow finds out and is in the bathroom crying it stops being funny. And Faith later sexually assaulting then trying to kill Xander makes it this trope.

* "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E8LoversWalk Lovers Walk]]" where the viewer is made to believe Cordelia died. Compare that with the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome}} You're Welcome]]" where [[spoiler: the viewer is made to believe Cordelia is alive.]]

** The same episode has Anya nearly telling Dawn about a sex game, before Tara interrupts. And a similar situation in "Entropy", where Willow tries to cover Dawn's eyes as they see Anya and Spike about to have sex. Michelle Trachtenberg's mother later came out to speak about how disturbed she was about the inappropriate language used on set around her teenage daughter.
* For few episodes late in the season, Xander is shown drowning his sorrows a bit too much and later mentions "hitting bottom." Two years later, Creator/NicholasBrendon revealed that he's an alcoholic.

* The villain of the season - Warren Mears - is an adult nerd, who's a fan of comic books and sci-fi, and also has extremely misogynistic views towards women. The season was later noted to be ahead of its time in its highlighting of the misogyny that can show up in 'nerd spaces', but as time has gone by and allegations against Joss Whedon piled up, Warren starts to look like an uncanny resemblance of the man himself. Case in point - the episode "Dead Things", where Warren makes his ex-girlfriend dress up in a skimpy costume and serve him and his friends isn't too dissimilar from Joss Whedon's show ''Series/Dollhouse''; which is about a protagonist whose mind is wiped and is often forced into sexual encounters.

* In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E1TheFreshman The Freshman]]", Buffy is commenting on how her mother would react to the price of her text-books, stating flippantly, "I hope it's a ''funny'' aneurysm." Next season, her mother has a brain tumor removed, and later suddenly dies of a side-effect of surgery: an aneurysm. This quote was formerly the TropeNamer for FunnyAneurysmMoment before it was changed/merged into this trope.

* In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E1TheFreshman The Freshman]]", Buffy is commenting on how her mother would react to the price of her text-books, stating flippantly, "I hope it's a ''funny'' aneurysm." Next season, her mother has a brain tumor removed, and later suddenly dies of a side-effect of surgery: an aneurysm. This moment was actually the TropeNamer for FunnyAneurysmMoment before it was merged into this item.

* In another first season episode, Xander asks Willow to kindly stop beating a dead horse: "Will, yeah, that is the point. You don't have to drive it through my head like a railroad spike." Much later, we find out that this was Spike's preferred method of torture.
* In "Prophecy Girl", Buffy tells Angel he is never going to die. In the Season 2 finale, not only does Angel indeed die but he is killed by Buffy's hand.

* In the ColdOpen to the second season episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E12BadEggs Bad Eggs]]", Joyce asks Buffy if she thinks of anything other than boys and clothes. Buffy responds that she thinks about saving the world from vampires. Then we get to season six, "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E17NormalAgain Normal Again]]", where we learn that Buffy was once institutionalized for telling her parents about vampires. Joyce's exasperation in "Bad Eggs" takes on a much darker tone.
* In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E6Halloween}} Halloween]]", Spike is about to kill Buffy, who is weak due to taking on the personality of a colonial-era proper lady. The comment Spike makes about her and her situation before he makes the attempt sounds a lot like he's about to rape her. Way later, there's the infamous incident in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]".
** Angel has mentioned several times that vampires can't have children. Now, go watch Season 3 of ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
* On an out-of-universe basis, the Season 2 episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E19IOnlyHaveEyesForYou I Only Have Eyes For You]]", which concerns an affair between a (young) teacher and a student that ends in a fatal shooting. Depictions of guns in schools have become quite unsettling after UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}}, and the PaedoHunt of the past decade turns what was supposed to be a tragic love story into Squick for many people.

* Faith's never again mentioned sexual assault of Xander got even more uncomfortable when Eliza Dushku revealed in 2018 that at age 12, she was sexually abused by the stunt coordinator of ''Film/TrueLies'', who even sabotaged a stunt and caused her to break a couple ribs as a threat of what would happen if she told anyone. This also casts the common fan assumption that Faith's mental issues might be related to childhood sex abuse in a darker light. And if that wasn't bad enough, Creator/NicholasBrendon [[https://people.com/tv/nicholas-brendons-troubled-life-after-buffy/ is himself a]] [[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2997962/Buffy-star-Nicholas-Brendon-reveals-sexually-abused-child-days-arrest-public-intoxication.html survivor of childhood sexual abuse]].
* An in-universe example, the ending of the episode "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E7LieToMe}} Lie To Me]]". Depressing and sad when aired, but the characters hadn't suffered great tragedy or major deaths yet. By the time the show is over that ending is second only to "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E16TheBody}} The Body]]" in tear factor.

* Way back in the Season 3 episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E2DeadMansParty Dead Man's Party]]", Buffy said to Xander, "Didn't anyone ever warn you about playing with pointy sticks? It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye." This becomes this trope when in season seven, [[spoiler: Caleb destroys Xander's left eye.]]
* The same for "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E14BadGirls}} Bad Girls]]", in which Xander covers his eye to keep Buffy from seeing his post-sex-with-Faith twitch.
* Cordelia comments to Giles in the season 3 episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E11Gingerbread Gingerbread]]" that he was going to "wake up in a coma" on account of all the head traumas he had received. At the end of season 4 of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Cordelia [[spoiler:was left in a coma; she died without ever waking up.]]

* Faith screwing Xander's brains out in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Zeppo]]" where he singlehandedly stops a plot to blow open the hellmouth? Funny and awesome. When it's revealed men are less than nothing to her? It stops being awesome. When Willow finds out and is in the bathroom crying it stops being funny. And Faith later sexually assaulting then trying to kill Xander makes it this trope.
* Also all the sexual dysfunction and innuendo about past sexual violence with Faith becomes a real-life Funny Aneurysm Moment since it was revealed that Creator/ElizaDushku was sexually assaulted at the age of twelve by a crew member on ''Film/TrueLies''.
* "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E8LoversWalk Lovers Walk]]" where the viewer is made to believe Cordelia died. Compare that with the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome}} You're Welcome]]" where [[spoiler: the viewer is made to believe Cordelia is alive.]]
* The Season 3 episode "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E18Earshot}} Earshot]]" -- whose plot involved a school sniper -- was originally withheld from airing in the U.S. because of the Columbine shootings in April 1999. The season finale, "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E22GraduationDayPart2}} Graduation Day, Part 2]]" was also postponed the following month for similar reasons. Both episodes eventually aired later that summer, "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E22GraduationDayPart2}} Graduation Day, Part 2]]" in July and "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E18Earshot}} Earshot]]" in September.

* The season five episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E3TheReplacement The Replacement]]", in which Xander is split into two versions of himself. At one point he says [[spoiler:to Anya that "very soon you won't be worrying about growing old!"]] Roughly three years later, in season seven, [[spoiler: Anya is killed in the FinalBattle.]]
* In the season 5 episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E11Triangle Triangle]]", Anya makes Xander promise that if he ever leaves her she wants lots and lots of warning, including "big flashing red lights and one of those clocks that counts down like a bomb in the movies and there's a whole bunch of coloured wires and I'm not sure which is the right one to cut but I guess the green one and then at the last second no, the red one, and then click, it stops, with three tenths of a second left, and then you don't leave." Next season, [[spoiler: he leaves her at the altar with basically no foreshadowing.]]
* In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E6Family Family]]", when Tara asks Willow how she can make her feel the way she does, and Willow responds "Magic." In season 6, [[spoiler: Willow erases Tara's memory to make her feel love instead of anger towards her with magic]].
* In the Season Five episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E15IWasMadeToLoveYou I Was Made To Love You]]", when the Scoobies discover that Warren built himself a robot girlfriend, it is Willow and Tara that show the most sympathy for him, that he couldn't find a nice, normal person to have a relationship with. At the end of the next season [[spoiler: Warren kills Tara, and a heartbroken Willow murders him in revenge.]] The DVDCommentary by Creator/JaneEspenson suggests this foreshadowing was unintentional.
* Willow and Tara's fight in "Tough Love" has the former especially hurt and saying "I'm sorry I didn't establish my lesbo street cred" before they got together. This seems eerily prophetic of the years of fandom debates over Willow being gay or bisexual.

* The season six episode "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E6AllTheWay}} All The Way]]", in which Xander dresses as a pirate. [[spoiler: Xander's first line after he loses his eye mentions that pirate costume.]]
* For few episodes late in Season 6, Xander is shown drowning his sorrows a bit too much and later mentions "hitting bottom." Two years later, Nicholas Brendon revealed that he's an alcoholic.
* The mostly-lighthearted song "I'll Never Tell" between Anya and Xander from "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling}} Once More, With Feeling]]", in which they sing about their fears for the future, becomes HarsherInHindsight twice over: [[spoiler: Anya's line "I know that come the day I'll want to run and hide" after Xander leaves Anya at the altar]] nine episodes later, and [[spoiler: Anya's fears about growing older when she dies]] in the SeriesFinale. The lyric "Will I get so old and wrinkly/That I look like David Brinkley?" led to another example on its British terrestrial broadcast, as Creator/TheBBC aired the final episode the very week Brinkley himself passed away.

* In the season seven episode "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E3SameTimeSamePlace}} Same Time, Same Place]]", Buffy kills a flesh-eating demon named Gnarl by [[EyeScream poking his eyes out with her thumbs]], a sight that Xander responds to with understandable and amusing disgust. (His exact words are "Eww, thumbs?") Several episodes later, [[spoiler:psychotic preacher Caleb drives his thumb into Xander's left eye.]] Earlier in the same episode (overlapping with {{Foreshadowing}}), when describing the critical targets on a potentially unknown enemy:

* Anya in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E5Selfless}} Selfless]]" tells Buffy that it will take more than a sword through the chest to kill her. [[spoiler:She is killed in the finale by a sword through the chest. Though, to be fair, swords didn't do as much permanent damage [[SuperToughness when she was a vengeance demon]].]]
* An in-universe example and lampshading occurs in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E7ConversationsWithDeadPeople}} Conversations With Dead People]]":

* A meta case; there was a story heartwarmingly enjoyed by the fandom where Michelle Trachtenberg was a huge fan of ''Buffy'' and apparently got cast in the show when she told Joss Whedon "there was never a ''Buffy'' episode that sucked, I love you!" - which becomes extremely sad in light of Michelle alleging that he later behaved very inappropriately towards her.

* The speech to Cordelia about wanting to live in the world for a moment, in spite of her duty, at the time? Sad. Given everything Cordelia goes through over the course of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' for ''her'' duty? Oh dear God.