Wikia

Joyce Summers
First appearance	Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film) (non-canon); "Welcome to the Hellmouth"
Last appearance	"I Was Made to Love You" (Living); After These Messages ... We'll Be Right Back! (Dream)
Information
Name	Joyce Summers
Status	Deceased
Classification	Human
Affiliation	Scooby Gang (ally); Mothers Opposed to the Occult (founder); Summers family
Known Relatives	Arlene (sister) ; Lolly (sister); Buffy Summers (daughter) ; Dawn Summers (daughter) ; Hank Summers (ex-husband) ; Celia (niece)
Portrayed by	Candy Clark (non-canon); Kristine Sutherland

"You get the hell away from my daughter!"

―Joyce Summers, protecting Buffy from Spike^[src]

Joyce Summers was the owner of an Art Gallery and mother to Buffy and Dawn Summers.

Biography

Early Life

Joyce had two sisters, Arlene (who lives in Illinois) and Lolly (who made the curtains hanging in their Sunnydale house). Her niece, Celia, whom Buffy was very close to, died at a young age. In high school, Joyce had a Gidget haircut and was on the yearbook staff. Joyce met Hank Summers at the prom during her freshman year of college. Joyce did not have a date, but Hank did.

In Los Angeles, Hank and Joyce's relationship eventually deteriorated and Hank had an affair with his secretary. Hank and Joyce's arguments included those about Buffy when she came home after her first slay. While Hank was more authoritarian about Buffy's behavior, Joyce was more lenient, albeit disappointed parent. Hank and Joyce placed Buffy in an asylum after she was expelled for burning down the Hemery High School gym and had returned home from Las Vegas. Neither Hank or Joyce believed that Buffy was a vampire Slayer.

Sunnydale

"When did you die? You never told me you died?"

―Joyce discovering that Buffy had died^[src]

In Sunnydale, Joyce owned an art gallery and maintained a close relationship with Buffy, although she was disappointed by some of Buffy's behavior. Joyce was a protective and loving parent. She also became a maternal presence in the lives of Buffy's friends, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris. When vampires attacked Sunnydale High School on Parent-Teacher Night, Joyce protected her daughter by attacking Spike with an axe after others fled the school. She was concerned about Buffy's poor academic performance, but she was proud to discover that Buffy was a strong leader who took care of herself. Unlike the abusive, bitter parents of Xander and the distant, uninvolved parents of Willow, Joyce was a constant loving presence, always there with advice and a warm hug. She was warm and loving to all, even Spike, with whom she eventually formed a friendship.

Joyce was disturbed when Angel turned into a stalker after losing his soul and returning to Angelus. She was even more upset when she learned that Buffy had lost her virginity to him. Joyce became increasingly frustrated with the distance between herself and her daughter. When police officers visited the house and informed her that Buffy was a murder suspect, Joyce feared the worst. She met Buffy, who was accompanied by Spike, outside their house. Buffy initially tried to convince her mom that she and Spike were in a band, but when the three were attacked by a vampire, Buffy staked him in front of her mom before leaving to save the world. Joyce reacted badly to this revelation and demanded that Buffy take the time to explain herself, going so far as to warn her not to come back to the house if she left, a statement that she clearly regretted immediately. Taking her at her word, Buffy departed Sunnydale for Los Angeles.

While Buffy was gone, Joyce worked with Rupert Giles and the Scooby Gang to locate her. She developed a close friendship with Pat, a woman from her book club who was later killed by zombies. Joyce was relieved when Buffy returned and wanted things to go back to normal. She tried to support Buffy's extracurricular activities while also encouraging her to think about her future. After accompanying Buffy on patrol, Joyce fell under a demon's spell, which drove her to lead Sunnydale on a witch hunt. She and others attempted to burn Buffy, Willow, and Amy Madison at the stake and was later horrified at her actions. Spike stopped by the Summers' home when he returned to Sunnydale where Joyce lent a sympathetic ear as he related the details of his recent break-up, which earned his perpetual gratitude.

Joyce's only biological child was Buffy. However, a new daughter, Dawn, mystically appeared in her home. Her existence was interwoven into the everyone's memories. Joyce's health deteriorated and she was diagnosed with a brain tumor (clinically called oligodendroglioma). Pressure from the tumor interfered with her mind and she temporarily lost mental clarity. At that time, Joyce recognized Dawn's anomalous nature and confirmed with Buffy that Dawn was not her daughter by birth. She loved and accepted Dawn as a member of the family and urged Buffy to do everything in her power to protect Dawn.

Later Years and Death

Joyce's health improved after a successful surgery, although her life was soon in danger again. Glory, a hell-god, sought a mystical key that could open inter-dimensional portals. Although Glory did not realize that the key was, in fact, Dawn, she knew that Buffy protected it. She threatened Buffy's family, which forced Joyce and Dawn to temporarily stay with Spike for protection. She continued her friendly relationship with Spike and they watched a soap opera, Passions, together. Soon afterward, Joyce suddenly died from a brain aneurysm which left all of the Scoobies, including Spike, devastated and completely heartbroken.^[2]

Legacy

Dawn, devastated by Joyce's death to the point of irrationality and feeling abandoned by Buffy, resorted to necromancy despite Willow and Tara Maclay's warnings and, with help from Spike and Doc, reanimated Joyce's body as a zombie. However, Dawn realizes the inherent dangers of what she has done and breaks the spell before Joyce can enter the house.^[3]

After her own resurrection, Buffy was poisoned by a demon which caused her consciousness to constantly shift to an alternate reality where she was incarcerated in a Los Angeles mental institution for dreaming up Sunnydale.^[4] During these appearances, Joyce appeared and attempted to convince her daughter to get over her apparent insanity, but her attempts ultimately lead to Buffy return to Sunnydale full force to slay the demon that poisoned her. That world's version of Buffy became catatonic, much to the dismay of the alternate Joyce.

Post-mortem, Joyce appeared in Buffy's dreams on several occasions. The First Evil also took her form to contact Dawn and tried to drive a wedge between the Summers sisters.

Personality

Joyce was a stereotypical "Californian" mother, distant and reliant on "pop-psychology" techniques in raising her daughter, but well-meaning. She became more of a central figure, however, as she became more competent and sympathetic, as exemplified when she attacked Spike with an axe in order to protect her daughter. She was a warm, loving mother with a deep reserve of inner strength and a highly cynical and sarcastic streak, clearly inherited by her daughters. In stark contrast to Willow's religious, absent-minded parents and Xander's angry, bitter parents, Joyce was a constant and maternal presence, acting as a mother and friend to all the gang.

Joyce often bantered with Buffy and even held her own with Faith when the rogue Slayer held her hostage, sneering "Are you planning on slitting my throat anytime soon?" in the middle of Faith's monologue. She was a fan of the soap opera Passions, which she watched with Spike, the movie Thelma and Louise, art (particularly African), and was a competent seamstress.

Joyce hated potlucks, which she gave as a reason for not wanting a wake, and Jell-O, which, she confessed while in the hospital, "creeps her out". She often cared more about others than herself, being more concerned about Riley Finn than her medical condition. She had a friendly and motherly relationship with Spike, who claimed she was the only one he could stand. Spike paid his respects by anonymously leaving flowers.

Relationships

Romantic

Hank Summers - Joyce and Hank's relationship ended around the time Buffy began slaying because of disagreements about raising her and his affair with his secretary. After the divorce, Hank was allowed to spend weekends with his daughters where he and Joyce still retained a mutual respect for each other when unpacking her suit cases. ^[5] In Buffy's hallucinations, Joyce and Hank were still married, presumably for Buffy's sake.
Ted Buchanan - Joyce began dating the seemingly perfect software salesmen Ted after he revamped her computer system at the gallery. Although catching the trust of her mother and her friends, Buffy became suspicious of Ted who threatened her over cheating at mini golf. Joyce, drugged by Ted's cookies, dismissed Buffy's claim and was rendered passively unmapped about what to do after Buffy seemingly killed him. After an encounter with the reawakened Ted and what the police discovered in Ted's house along with what he did to his other wives, Joyce became apprehensive, still believing he would still jump out at her while not knowing his true nature as a robot. ^[6]
Xander Harris - Along with the entire female population, Joyce fell under Xander's love spell and attempted to seduce him at the Summers' home, even employing a kitchen knife to break the door that kept her away from him.^[7] Xander also once dreamed of Joyce wearing a red silk night gown. ^[8]
Rupert Giles - Joyce shared a temporary fling with Giles when reverted to their teenage selves,^[9] regretting it when returning adult but apparently likened his sexual performance to a stevedore when Buffy read her mind. ^[10]
Brian- Before her death, she met a publisher named Brian who took her out for dinner and a movie. They had one date that went well leading Joyce to tease Buffy by jokingly claiming to leaving her bra at his car, then further tormenting her by saying it was actually left at the restaurant and then a dessert cart. ^[11]

Parental

Buffy Summers - Joyce's relationship with her eldest daughter was fairly distant before learning that she was the Slayer. Buffy was met with constant disappointment from Joyce who disapproved of some of her choices and activities such as joining the cheer leading squad, dating Angel and especially leaving her for LA. Sometime after Buffy's return to Sunnydale, Joyce became more supportive and more involved in her life, including her Slayer duties and her future beyond school.
Dawn Summers - Being her youngest, Joyce tended to baby Dawn, nicknaming Dawn as her "little pumpkin belly"^[12] and being over-protective to her, often putting responsibility to Buffy, to her distress. ^[13]
The Scooby Gang - Joyce provided a surrogate mother figure to Buffy's friends, happily making them Christmas dinner and showing equal concern to their problems. One example includes when Willow received the call about Jenny Calender's death, Joyce holding her as she cried over Buffy who was less affected.^[14] Her death strongly affected the gang including Spike because he was treated affably by her and Anya Jenkins who Joyce could stand without being offended by her strange honesty. ^[15]
Faith Lehane - Faith thought highly of Joyce because of her motherly kindness in contrast to her mother's alcoholism. Joyce in turn liked her positive stance on slaying as she potentially could of take over for Buffy when she went to college.^[16] Faith spent Christmas Eve at the Summers' home at Joyce's request and even brought her a present.^[17] When Faith held her hostage at her house, Joyce put on a strong face and stood up to the psychotic slayer. However, after Buffy came to the rescue, Joyce still felt sorry for Faith's situation, knowing she was unhappy and wondering if she will be given help after her apparent arrest.^[18]

Behind the Scenes

She was portrayed by Kristine Sutherland.

Joyce has the most appearances of a recurring character on Buffy or Angel, appearing in 58 episodes total, beating out Lilah Morgan (35), Jonathan Levinson and Andrew Wells (28 each).

Joyce and Cassie Newton were the only two characters to die of natural causes.

Joyce, similar to Darla on Angel, is the only non-regular character to appear in every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Kristine Sutherland knew she was going to die on the show since Season 3.

Appearances

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season One:
Welcome to the Hellmouth Appears	The Harvest Appears	Witch Appears	Teacher's Pet	Never Kill a Boy on the First Date	The Pack	Angel Appears	I Robot, You Jane	The Puppet Show Appears	Nightmares Appears	Out of Mind, Out of Sight	Prophecy Girl Appears

Season Two:
When She Was Bad Appears	Some Assembly Required	School Hard Appears	Inca Mummy Girl Appears	Reptile Boy	Halloween	Lie to Me	The Dark Age	What's My Line, Part One	What's My Line, Part Two	Ted Appears
Bad Eggs Appears	Surprise Appears	Innocence Appears	Phases	Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered Appears	Passion Appears	Killed by Death Appears	I Only Have Eyes for You	Go Fish	Becoming, Part One Appears	Becoming, Part Two Appears

Season Three:
Anne Appears	Dead Man's Party Appears	Faith, Hope & Trick Appears	Beauty and the Beasts	Homecoming	Band Candy Appears	Revelations	Lovers Walk Appears	The Wish	Amends Appears	Gingerbread Appears
Helpless Appears	The Zeppo	Bad Girls Appears	Consequences Appears	Doppelgängland	Enemies Appears	Earshot Appears	Choices Appears	The Prom Appears	Graduation Day, Part One Appears	Graduation Day, Part Two

Season Four:
The Freshman Appears	Living Conditions	The Harsh Light of Day	Fear, Itself Appears	Beer Bad	Wild at Heart	The Initiative	Pangs	Something Blue (mentioned)	Hush	Doomed
A New Man	The I in Team	Goodbye Iowa	This Year's Girl Appears	Who Are You Appears	Superstar	Where the Wild Things Are	New Moon Rising	The Yoko Factor	Primeval	Restless Appears

Season Five:
Buffy vs. Dracula Appears	Real Me Appears	The Replacement Appears	Out of My Mind Appears	No Place Like Home Appears	Family	Fool for Love Appears	Shadow Appears	Listening to Fear Appears	Into the Woods Appears	Triangle Appears
Checkpoint Appears	Blood Ties Appears	Crush Appears	I Was Made to Love You Appears (dies)	The Body Appears (corpse)	Forever (only her shadow)	Intervention	Tough Love	Spiral	The Weight of the World Appears (in vision)	The Gift

Season Six:
Bargaining, Part One	Bargaining, Part Two	After Life	Flooded	Life Serial (mentioned)	All the Way	Once More, with Feeling	Tabula Rasa	Smashed (mentioned)	Wrecked	Gone
Doublemeat Palace	Dead Things	Older and Far Away	As You Were	Hell's Bells	Normal Again Appears (in vision)	Entropy	Seeing Red	Villains	Two to Go	Grave

Season Seven:
Lessons	Beneath You	Same Time, Same Place	Help	Selfless	Him (only in archive footage)	Conversations with Dead People Appears (only the First Evil)	Sleeper	Never Leave Me	Bring on the Night Appears (in vision)	Showtime
Potential	The Killer in Me	First Date	Get It Done	Storyteller	Lies My Parents Told Me	Dirty Girls	Empty Places	Touched	End of Days	Chosen

Buffy Season 8

"The Long Way Home" (Only in visions)
"After These Messages ... We'll Be Right Back!" (Only in visions)

References

[Lolly-0] "Angel" shooting script

[1] "I Was Made to Love You"

[2] "Forever"

[3] "Normal Again"

[4] When She Was Bad

[5] Ted

[6] Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

[7] Restless

[8] Band Candy

[9] Earshot

[10] 'I Was Made to Love You'

[11] No Place Like Home

[12] Real Me

[13] Passion

[14] Blood Ties

[15] Faith, Hope & Trick

[16] Amends

[17] Who Are You

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