Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S5/E09 Listening to Fear

Ben summons a demon who eats crazy people to erase any trace of his involvement to Glory.

"Xander: I still don't get why we had to come here to get info about a killer snot monster. Giles: Because it's a killer snot monster from outer space! ...I did not say that."
 * Amazonian Bitey: The Scoobies fight a pair of tall, muscular female vampires.
 * Badass Boast: Willow tries this after dusting two vampires, but then goes weak at the knees from delayed shock.
 * Black Helicopter: Major Ellis arrives in one.
 * Can't Believe I Said That

"Spike: You just missed a real nice time."
 * The Cavalry Arrives Late: Riley and his men come charging into the Summer's house to find that Buffy and Spike have already killed the demon.

"Giles: Perhaps we should explore a bit more, head into the woods a bit."
 * Ceiling Cling
 * Darkness Equals Death: The lights hurt Joyce's eyes, so her daughters turn them off, leaving the demon free to crawl about unobserved.
 * Description Cut: Buffy says that the Scoobies have everything under control while she's with Joyce. Cut to the Scoobies getting their ass kicked by vamps.
 * Dreg Takes A Backseat
 * Evil Smells Bad: The demon is ugly, disgusting, and has an incredibly foul odor.
 * Face Full of Alien Wingwong: The demon smothers its victims with a slimy substance.
 * Give Me a Sword: Spike tosses Buffy a kitchen knife so she can kill the Queller demon.
 * Glamor Failure: Glory's victims, and Joyce with her brain tumor, can all sense that Dawn is not real.
 * Insane Troll Logic: Willow getting Joyce a beer-drinking helmet.
 * Monster Vision
 * No Peripheral Vision: The Queller manages to hide on the ceiling in a busy hospital, even in long corridors. Which is where the MST3K Mantra really comes in handy. Not only is it attempting to hide on the ceiling with no camouflage, it's making a pretty good deal of noise. But then again, this is Sunnydale. Noticing monsters tends to get you eaten by monsters.
 * Not What It Looks Like: A non-verbal version -- Riley charges into Buffy's house and sees her Holding Hands with Spike (who just helped her up). Buffy doesn't notice Riley's reaction to this.
 * Promotion to Parent: Joyce asks Buffy to be this for Dawn if she doesn't make it through surgery - despite knowing that Dawn isn't really her daughter.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * The Reveal: Ben is shown to be connected to Glory.
 * Soldiers in Black: Riley calls in whatever black ops unit took over from the Initiative to handle the problem.
 * Something Completely Different: Averted; the demon is not an alien invader as first thought.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: Buffy is washing dishes, crying her eyes out in the dark while the radio plays cheery Latin dance music, having turned on the radio to drown out the sound of her mother raving upstairs.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Spike is stealing photos from Buffy's home.
 * The Tunguska Event: Referenced and hinted to have been a previous appearance by the Monster of the Week.
 * Title Drop: Actually for the next episode.


 * Visual Innuendo: Riley at the vamphouse -- the scene opens with him and a female vampire kneeling before him, shot at an angle (and with sound effects) that makes it unclear just what she is sucking, but that there is definitely sucking going on. Then the camera pans around to show that it's just blood from his arm.
 * Word Salad: Joyce's ravings; subverted when we find she's talking about the monster clinging to the ceiling above her.
 * You Are Fat: Not played for laughs. Joyce comes down from her bedroom in the middle of the night, her dementia causing her to think it's morning and she has to make breakfast, and calls Buffy fat.