The original storyline for the character of Sunday was that she was a former Slayer turned vampire. Joss Whedon also mentioned his regret of killing her off so quickly as he admited she made for an interesting character. By the time he realized it, it was too late.
In 2023, Sarah Michelle Gellar posted on Instagram a photo of her scene with Pedro Pascal, who played Eddie in this episode (credited as Pedro Balmaceda). Pascal learned about this post during a red-carpet interview with Entertainment Tonight (1981)'s Ash Crossan; though Crossan just mentioned it in passing and was clearly interested in moving on to other questions, Pascal kept bringing the conversation back to the post. Pascal was clearly surprised and moved that Gellar even remembered him from their brief scenes together, so Crossan asked what he remembered from his experience working on the episode. He responded, "Everything! Absolutely everything. I remember she had ice cream in her trailer, and she gave me some. She went back to her trailer, she got me some ice cream and she shared--'cause it was a night shoot, it was in the middle of the night, and we were on the UCLA campus. They hadn't built their college sets yet. I actually had to--I was doing a play in Long Beach, and I had to miss opening night because we had to shoot this very, very short moment. I remember everything. I could go on and on and on. I could give you step by step, every detail. I had to have lunch in the vamp mask--in the vamp face. And she was incredibly kind. She taught me how to use a sandbag to hit my mark. She was the best." Later, on the same red carpet, Access Hollywood asked Pascal about the same post, and he said, "What I just found out - which I am very excited about, and I can't wait to get my phone back so that I can look it up myself - is that Sarah Michelle Gellar remembers me. I remember every moment of shooting that episode, as brief as it was, she was such a kind scene partner and we had the best time." The interviewer showed him some stills from the episode, and he enthusiastically discussed them: "this is Eddie and the episode is 'The Freshman.' It's the season 4 premiere. It was a super big deal. I hang out with her for a little bit and, as soon as she says goodbye to me..."
Buffy references Mr. Pointy, the stake left to her by late friend and fellow Slayer Kendra Young.
Xander misquoting the line "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering" from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) was Joss Whedon's not-so-subtle criticism of the platitude.