Travel book:Xander is reading Jean-Luis ('Jack') Kerouac�s 1957 novel On The Road, a stream of consciousness novel about a group of freewheeling young people travelling nomadically back and forth across the US. It�s widely acknowledged as being the first literary product of the 1950�s "Beat movement", typified by a reactionary attitude towards authority, and an introspective, somewhat hedonistic lifestyle.

Detective teens: Faith chides Willow for "Nancy Drew-ing", a reference to the heroine of a series of children�s books about a nosy young reporter. The books, by 'Carolyn Keene', were first published in 1930. Later that decade Warner Brothers turned them into a series of movies, starring Bonita Granville. In 1977 Universal created a TV series, mixing Drew stories with episodes featuring the male characters from a series of similar books by 'Franklin W. Dixon': The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries. Both series of books were actually the product of a writing syndicate founded in 1906 by Edward Stratemeyer.

The force is strong in this one: There are references to a couple of very popular movies. Buffy says that Faith has turned to 'the dark side', a nod to George Lucas' Star Wars series. Later in the episode, Faith tells the Mayor "I made him an offer he couldn't survive", paraphrasing a famous line from Francis Ford Coppolla�s 1972 Mafia movie The Godfather. (The original line is "My father made him an offer he couldn�t refuse").

Mayor mysteries: We get to discover a little more about the Mayor in this episode. He once had an Irish setter named Rusty, and he married a woman named Edna May in 1903. Because he never aged, her eventually outlived her.

Family values: Buffy has an aunt in Illinois, named Arlene. This is presumably Joyce�s sister, since Joyce phones her to share the news about Buffy�s acceptance to Northwesten University.