Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Title: Lies My Parents Told Me This title is a twist on the 1960 movie Lies My Father Told Me, remade in 1975. Coincidentally, there is also an episode of Roseanne called Lies My Father Told Me (6x21). This is interesting because Joss Whedon was a writer for Roseanne (though he left the show some time before this episode aired).

The Lost Boys:
In the flashback at the beginning of the episode, when Spike jumps off the bridge and seems to disappear, it's reminiscent of a scene in The Lost Boys in which the gang of vampires jump off a railway bridge into the mist below.

Buffy: It was boring, old, and British... like you... le Brynner.
Yul Brynner (1915-1985) was a Russian/American actor most famous for his bald head and his role as the King in 1956's The King and I.

Giles: Knowledge comes from crafted bindings and pages, Buffy; not 1's and 0's!" 1) Another reference to Binary Code, which is used in computer technology... ultimately referencing Giles's total dislike for computers as done in "I Robot- You Jane" in season 1. 2) Another interesting thing: In Episode 5x01 "Buffy vs Dracula", in the very beginning, we see Willow setting up a computer for Giles and starting to scan - presumably - all of Giles books. Even though the intention is to save the knowledge for the group because Giles wants to leave (but doesn't do in the end) he now seems pretty OK with the idea of having a PC. Suddenly, over 2 years later, he's back into hating anything involving binary code!?

Spike: By the way, love the coat.
Possibly an homage to Silence of the Lambs, the tone and delivery echoes Hannibal Lecter's "Oh, and Senator... Love the suit." Beyond that, of course, Spike takes the coat in question as a trophy, which he's kept for over 25 years.

Spike: There's the rub, isn't it?
"Ay there's the rub" comes from the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The suicidal Hamlet says "to sleep, perchance to dream. Ay there's the rub. For in the sleep of death what dreams may come", reflecting his coward self who wants to die, yet the fear what might come after death acting as an obstacle in preventing him from killing himself.

Spike: It only hurts for a few moments.
This episode has a few similarities to the "The Vampire Lestat" the second book in Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles". In the book, Lestat, having not been a vampire for very long, finds his dying mother (the only family member who ever treated him decently) and turns her. They part ways eventually, although not as disatrously as Spike does with his mom in this episode....

Buffy: I'm coming up so you better get this party started.
When Buffy is talking about the song that triggers Spike to be evil, she says it's not catchy like the Pink song titled "Get The Party Started" when she says a line from it.

Anya: Spike's got some sort of 'get out of jail free' card that doesn't apply to the rest of us.
The Parker Brothers board game Monopoly includes a card that allows players to get out of jail for free, aptly called the 'get out of jail free' card.

Spike: Should I send a coach for Dr. Gull?
Almost certainly a reference to Dr. William Gull, a doctor in service to the Royal Family during the time, and who, among other things, gave name to the medical condition, Anorexia Nervosa. His reputation has been slandered by numerous theories that name him as Jack The Ripper, most recently in the graphic novel and 2002 movie From Hell, starring Johnny Depp and Robbie Coltrane.