The episode marks a significant emotional journey for Buffy as she has cast off her slayer identity along with her friends in Sunnydale.
This episode forms part of a larger study of personal and alternate identities which characterises all seven seasons of the show.
Due to her expulsion from school, the deaths of her lover Angel and friend and fellow Slayer Kendra Young, being accused of murder in the latter's death, and being kicked out by her mother, Joyce, Buffy has left Sunnydale and moved to Los Angeles where she works as a diner waitress under her middle name, "Anne".
In the diner, Buffy serves Lily and Rickie, a young couple living on the streets, who have just gotten a complementary set of distinctive tattoos.
As they talk, a man bumps through and mutters that he is no one as he walks out into traffic and is nearly hit by a car, saved only by Buffy's quick response.
Back in Sunnydale, Willow, Xander and Oz struggle to cover for Buffy in her Slayer duties, and reluctantly resort to using Cordelia as bait in their next stakeout mission.
At the door, Buffy attempts to pass herself off as a sinner wanting a new chance, but ends up kicking her way into the building in time to see Lily dragged into the pool.
Ken tells Buffy and Lily that they are in a hell dimension where time passes very quickly: a hundred years there equals only one day in Los Angeles.
Essayist Emily (last name not given) of the site InsectReflection.com analyzes the issues of self-blame and living in hell ("Anne even works in a diner called 'Helen's Kitchen'"), shows how Willow is stepping up to be a natural leader (while Cordelia, heretofore clique leader, flounders a bit), and discusses Lily through a queer reading.
"[3] Julia Lee, who plays Chanterelle/Lily/Anne, first showed up as a vampire wanna-be in "Lie to Me" and later appears, still using the name Anne, in Angel in the episodes "The Thin Dead Line," "Blood Money," and "Not Fade Away."
Both Oz and Larry Bagby (who trumpets, "If we can focus, keep disciplined, and not have quite so many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is gonna rule!
"[8] The scene in which Anne asserts her identity as Buffy was frequently used as a promotional clip for reruns of the series on the FX channel.