and the rest of the Scooby Gang locate all the students on the list except Freddy Iverson, so they all go looking for him. They finally corner Freddy in his office and learn that he is not the potential killer. They find a letter from Jonathan apologizing for his upcoming actions. The gang finds Jonathan in the clock tower, assembling a rifle. Buffy takes it from him, and then discovers that he was planning to kill only himself. Xander checks the kitchen and stumbles upon a lunch lady putting rat poison into the food. She tries to kill him with a cleaver, but Buffy knocks her unconscious. Giles and Buffy recap what happened as they walk in the school grounds. Buffy tells Giles that she now knows he had sex with her mother; Giles walks into a tree. Production In her commentary on the DVD, writer Jane Espenson reveals that when she found out that she was going to write this episode she knew that she wanted the student in the tower to be Jonathan. Even though Danny Strong had only had small, comedic parts on the series over the years, she had faith that he would be able to handle the dramatic scene. Espenson also mentions in her commentary that she included the exchange in which Buffy discovers that her mother slept with Giles in "Band Candy" because she was surprised that fans were not sure that they had had sex and she wanted to eliminate any doubts. James South wrote that Oz's thoughts, overheard by Buffy, "I am my thoughts... if they exist in her, Buffy contains everything that is me, and she becomes me. I cease to exist." is a reference to the philosopher Descartes. Giles walking right into a tree after Buffy told him she knew he slept with her mother was Anthony Head's idea, although he did not expect that Joss Whedon would actually let him do it. Broadcast The Columbine High School massacre occurred one week before the episode was originally scheduled to air. Because it included a scene with a student loading a rifle – apparently for mass murder, but in reality for suicide – the WB substituted a rerun of "Bad Girls". The episode was delayed until September 1999, two weeks prior to the season four premiere. The season finale was also delayed due to "school violence concerns". Reception Noel Murray of