Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5 Episode 12

Spike: Passions is coming on.

Passions is an American soap opera that debuted in July of 1999 on NBC. It follows the romantic and supernatural events of residents in a fictional New England town and is known for its far-out storylines.

Professor: Now, Rasputin was associated with a certain obscure religious sect.

Rasputin was a monk in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He belonged to a cult that believed the path to salvation was to sin. Rasputin was favored by Czar Nicholas and his wife Alexandra because they believed that he was the only one who could heal their son, who had hemophilia. Although said to be charismatic, he was unkempt and was also known for his episodes of drinking and womanizing. He was murdered by a group of aristocrats that believed he held too much influence over the Czar. First they poisoned him; when that didn't work they then shot him, beat him, and finally drowned him.

Lydia : Its removal from Burma is a criminal offense, and when triggered, it has the power to melt human eyeballs.

Burma is a independent republic country in Southern Eastern Asia now officially known as Myanmar. Burma is slightly smaller than Texas and is bordered by Thailand, India, and the Bay of Bengal

Orlando: The Knights of Byzantium, an ancient order, and now your enemy.
Byzantium was the name given to the Eastern Roman Empire and its inhabitants in the middle ages. The capital of Byzantium was Constantinople, known today as Istanbul, in Turkey. Byzantium's existence is typically considered to have been between the 7th century and 1453 when Ottoman Turks conquered it. Byzantium was a staunchly conservative and Christian Empire, and produced several crusades against the Muslims.

Travers: We assume you're familiar with the Japanese name for the Aikido and Jujitsu moves?
Jujitsu is the weaponless martial art of the Samurai warriors, and dates back to about 2,500 years ago in Japan. It is often described as "The Father of All Japanese Martial Arts" since other arts have been derived from it, including Judo and Karate.

Aikido, another derivative of Jujitsu, was created by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969). Aikido employs holds and locks and uses the principles of nonresistance in order to debilitate the strength of the opponent.

Anya: Born on the fourth of July
The fourth of July is the USA's Independence Day, the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress (July 4, 1776) from the British Empire. Although Congress actually approved the resolution of independence from Britain on July 2 and the Declaration was not publicly read until July 8, it was on July 4 that the Declaration was drafted by Congress.

Born on the Fourth of July is also a 1989 Oliver Stone film starring Tom Cruise.

Buffy: There's also near-consensus about Columbus, you know, until someone asked the Vikings what they were up to in the 1400s, and they're like 'Discovering this America-shaped continent.'
Christopher Columbus was regarded for a long time as the discoverer of the North American continent, although many historians now no longer think this is true. However, European colonization of the continents of America only began due to his discovery. Setting sail from Spain, he first made landfall in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492.

The Vikings were warrior seafarers from Scandinavian countries such as Greenland, Norway, Finland, etc. Their seafaring navigation methods were the most advanced of their time and there is evidence that the Vikings may first have discovered the North American Continent as early as A.D. 1000.