Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S3/E19 Earshot

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


School shootings are so trendy right now.

We find our heroine fighting with two ugly, mouthless, Creature-from-the-Black-Lagoon-esque demons. She tricks 'em with the old "run and stumble," and manages to kill one while the other one hightails it out of there. Zoom in on Buffy's left hand: some glowing demon blood is on the back of her hand and seeps into her skin without her noticing.

The next morning at school, Giles reads the highlights of his research on the the Mayor's Ascension. He does know that it's not the ritual flaying of the demon Azorath, but then trails off, admitting that he really has no clue what's going to happen. During his speech, Buffy distractedly scratches her left hand. Wesley bustles in, acting like a know-it-all but knowing nothing more than Giles, and the gang walks out in disgust.

Out in the hall, Buffy shares with Willow her worry that playing bad with Faith was too enjoyable for Angel. Percy and another basketball player, Hogan, come up to them - Willow is still tutoring Percy - to make sure they're going to the game. Turns out even Willow is getting into basketball now that SHS is in the championships, and everyone's going to that night's game - except for poor little Buffy, who has to patrol. As the gang wanders off, she stands there feeling sorry for herself and realizes that she's scratching her hand.

Buffy goes to Giles to get some itch-counseling. He picks a demon mug shot out some old book, and Buffy confirms it's the one. Giles says that touching these demons can cause one to be infected with an Aspect of the Demon.

That night, Angel surprises Buffy while she's patrolling (actually, while she's inspecting herself in her compact, looking for demon aspects). Buffy laments her problems - demon infections, friends going to basketball games without her. Angel stops her and tells her that he's not going to let anything happen to her if he can prevent it, and that he'll always be there for her, slime or no slime.

The next day at school, the Slayerettes are oohing and aahing over last night's game, but shush up when Buffy arrives, saying the game wasn't so great. Cordelia jumps in to make it clear that Buffy missed the game of a lifetime. Xander watches Cordy as she wanders off, and wonders to himself if she's ever kissed Wesley. Buffy empathizes with Xander, knowing the idea of them kissing bothers him. "You read my mind," says Xander ... and Buffy looks contemplative.

Buffy heads down the hallway distractedly and bumps into a teacher (Mr. Beech) - who she then hears wish (to himself) that they could just get rid of all the students. She proceeds to hear some other thoughts, including a boy who finds her very attractive, but the direction his thoughts take scare her away. She goes to Giles, who doesn't believe her at first - until she repeats back to him what he thought about her shoes. Giles is agape, but makes the logical leap that the demons didn't need mouths because they communicate telepathically. Buffy is excited to start playing with her new power. Giles suggests that she could anticipate her opponents' moves.

"Oh, way better than that!"

Cut to English class. Buffy cribs the answers from other students' minds, including Nancy, the resident know-it-all. Nancy looks on with scorn while Buffy impresses the teacher with her deep thoughts about Othello. She also hears Willow's surprise that Buffy read and understood the book, Xander's lusty thoughts of the teacher, and Freddy Iverson's (the editorial writer) derisive thoughts about the other students' need for attention.

Next stop: Angel estates. Buffy uses her newfound power on Angel, talking about Faith and trying to provoke some thoughts from him. Angel gets wise to her act and tells her mind-reading doesn't work on vampires. He also warns her that this mind-reading thing can have its drawbacks.

Buffy fills in the rest of the gang on the recent development of her new power. Xander worriedly tries not to think about sex, but fails. Miserably. Oz waxes philosophical. Willow is excited at first, but then worries that Buffy will understand Oz in a way she never can, and that Buffy will no longer need her as a friend. Predictably, Cordelia thinks exactly what she says. One by one, Buffy drives away all her friends. Meanwhile, Giles looks up a case similar to Buffy's, except that the man in question has had to go into complete isolation to avoid being driven insane.

Buffy walks down the hall, barraged by everyone's painful, painful thoughts. In the cafeteria, the din grows louder until one thought comes through clearly:

"This time tomorrow, I'll kill you all."

Buffy runs around frantically, trying to figure out who said it, but she can't separate one thought from another. She freaks out, covers her ears, and faints.

Buffy comes to under a tree with the gang looking down at her. Buffy insists she's fine and then tells Giles about the death threat she just overheard. She tries to walks back into the school, but only gets a few steps before she's overwhelmed by random thoughts. Giles offers to take her home while Buffy tells them to investigate everyone who was in the cafeteria.

Willow takes charge of the investigation at school. She plays Rabid Cop with Jonathan (again). Cordelia goes to Mr. Beech and bluntly asks him if he plans to kill everyone tomorrow (somehow, I doubt that was in Willow's script). Xander gets sidetracked and schmoozes with some girls. Oz goes looking for his next suspect, Freddy, but can't find him - he's hiding from Oz under a desk.

Giles and Wesley have figured out how to cure Buffy, but they need the heart of the demon that got away. And lo and behold, Angel is out fighting said demon.

At Buffy's house, there's frantic knocking downstairs, and Wes open the front door to admit Angel, under a smoking blanket. Angel holds up a glass flask containing a blue, glowing concoction. Angel supports Buffy's head and tips some of the blue liquid into her mouth. The medicine is worse than the sickness, but in time Buffy rewakens.

Dramatic music tingles as we see Jonathan up in the Clock Tower ... with a rifle.

The gang compare notes, and learn that the only person they've been unable to find is Freddy Iverson. They finally corner him in his office, only to discover that he's been ditching Oz because of a bad review he wrote of Dingoes Ate My Baby. Whoops! Buffy arrives, telepathy-free. Cordelia finds a letter to the editor from Jonathan, which says: "By this time tomorrow, you will all know what I have done. I am sure you understand that I had to do it, and although death is never easy, it's the only way."

They split up to find him, while he prepares his gun in the clock tower. Ever-reliable Xander races into the cafeteria, but is distracted by some prepared bowls of America's favorite dessert, green Jell-O. In the quad, Buffy spots Jonathan and uses some pretty impressive moves to get up there, bursting in to find Jonathan pointing the gun at her. Buffy talks Jonathan down by explaining that the reason no one pays attention to him is because they're concerned with their own anxieties. A sedated Jonathan hands her the gun, saying he just wanted it to stop. When Buffy points out that mass murder isn't the best method, Jonathan is perplexed: "I wouldn't ever hurt anybody! I came up here to kill myself."

Back in the cafeteria, Xander is about to scarf down some Jell-O when he catches sight of the lunch lady tipping a huge, cartoony box labeled "RAT POISON" into the food. The lunch lady comes at him with a butcher knife. She's about to cleave Xander a new one when Buffy appears and catches her arm. The lunch lady is of the opinion that high-school students are "vermin" and "filth." Buffy, giving this due consideration, decides that talking is out of the question and smacks her silly.

The next day, Buffy brings Giles brought up to speed. time for the recap. Jonathan is suspended and less popular than ever due to his rifle-toting ways. Giles inquires if Buffy is ready to train. She agrees to work out after school, and then adds, "You know, if you're not too busy having sex with my mother!"

Whump!.

Tropes

Buffy: And the boys in this school are seriously disturbed.

Jonathan: You think I just want attention?
Buffy: No, I think you're up in the clock tower with a high-powered rifle because you wanna blend in.

Angel: Hey. I'll still love you. Even if you're covered with slime.
Buffy: [droopy] I liked everything until that part.

Buffy: Well, we talked... and then he ripped out the heart of a demon and fed it to me... and then we talked some more.
Willow: See? That's how it should work!

"You demons can't resist a run and stumble, can you?"

    • Then subverted again when the demon turns out to be pulling the same trick so his companion can sneak up on Buffy.
  • Brutal Honesty: We're finally given proof that Cordelia really does say exactly what she thinks.

Cordy: (thinking) I don't see what this has to do with me.
Cordy: (speaking) I don't see what this has to do with me.

  • Buffy-Speak: Xander denounces Cordelia, but is dismayed to spot Wesley ogling "his" Cordy from afar with his "filthy, adult, Pierce-Brosnany-eyes."
    • Willow, Xander, and Oz are excitedly discussing the game, but they shush when Buffy approaches so she won't think they were having fun without her.

Buffy: Hm. Quietness.

  • Call Back: Willow grills Jonathan in a scene reminiscent of "Go Fish."
    • Similarly, Xander asks Larry some leading questions about whether his "secret" is leading to "unexpressed rage." Once he finally figures out what Xander's babbling about, Larry proudly bellows, "Man, I'm out! I'm so out I've got my grandma fixing me up with guys." Xander is embarrassed by all this public gay talk -- even more so when Larry encourages Xander to come out himself. D'oh.
    • At the Summers' home, Joyce tucks Buffy and her cow jammies into bed. She offers to get Buffy a pillow, a blanket, or to make her some soup, all in an effort to prevent Buffy from reading her mind.

Buffy: You had SEX with Giles?!
Joyce It was the candy! We were teenagers!

Buffy: On the hood of a police car?!

Joyce: [hurries out] I'll be downstairs. You-- ...feel better.

Buffy: TWICE?

Oz [reading] "Dingoes Ate My Baby played their instruments as if they had plump Polish sausages taped to their fingers.""
Freddy: Sorry man.
Oz [beat] No, it's fair.

  • Chekhov's Gun / Delicious Distraction: "Ooo, Jell-O!"
  • Chekhov's Gag: At Wesley's condescension, Giles gathers his breath and mutters, "Touché." Then he says that he's sure Wesley will have much more to add, what with his access to the Watchers Council's resources and all. Wesley draws himself up to his full height and begins, "Azorath." Everybody files out in disgust.
    • "I've been saying for years that the lunch lady's gonna do us all in with that mulligan stew."
  • Cheshire Cat Grin: After Buffy trips in the opening, one of the creatures looms over her. She unexpectedly flashes a smile (uh oh), then snap kicks its leg, knocking it into a swing set.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl
  • Comes Great Responsibility: Buffy scans her classmates' minds and the teacher herself, pulling information from her dissertation.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Cordelia is less upset at Freddy's nihilistic rantings than at his neglecting to mention the cheerleaders. She has the same reaction to Jonathan's suicide note. "We are so unsung."
  • Contemplate Our Navels: Oz is quite talkative in his own head. "I am my thoughts. If they exist in her, Buffy contains everything that is me. She becomes me. I cease to exist." Out loud this becomes, "Hm."
  • Crash Into Hello: Buffy is too distracted by telepathy to notice Mr. Breech, who bumps into her in the hall. "Ooo, whoa there," says the kindly old teacher, "You watch where you're going now." Buffy apologizes, but Beech's thoughts turn menacing as he skulks off. "Students. If we could just get rid of all the students..."
  • Damned By Faint Praise: In a Call Back to "Doppelgangland", Hogan feigns disbelief at Percy's tutoring. "I actually heard him complete a sentence," he tells Willow. "It had a clause and everything."
    • At the pep rally, Oz muses that the cheerleaders' spelling has improved.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: Freddy's editorial, "BIG GAME DRAWS MINDLESS BRAIN DEAD MOB."
  • Delicious Distraction: Xander with Jell-O.
  • Description Cut: Giles and Wesley are in the library, mixing up a potion to cure Buffy. Giles expositions that the potion requires the heart of the second demon, and mutters snidely out of Wes' earshot, "How are we going to get it without a Slayer?" We cut the mouthless demon flying through the night air and smashing into a picnic table. Close on its heels is Angel, who has apparently agreed to procure the demon's heart (and has even vamped out to gain the necessary strength for the task).
    • Giles getting enthused about the use of mind reading for Slaying.

Giles: It could be very useful. You could anticipate your opponent's every move. Turn his plans against him.

Buffy: Oh, way better than that. (Cut to Buffy cheating in literature class)

  • Dirty Mind Reading: In the hall, Buffy passes one boy who thinks to himself how attractive Buffy is. She stops briefly to tune in to his admiration, but quickly scurries off when his thoughts turn more lascivious.

Buffy: And the boys at this school are seriously disturbed!

  • Drop What You Are Doing: Shocked by the evil voice, Buffy drops her food tray, earning applause from the cafeteria.
  • Eureka Moment:"Man, you read my mind."
  • Fainting Seer: Buffy goes around grabbing people, trying to find the source of the voice she heard. She puts her hands to her head to block out everything, and the camera goes all woozy until Buffy faints.
  • False Reassurance: Giles walks Buffy to the car and tries to reassure her when Buffy asks if she'll be okay. Giles says, "You'll be fine. I promise." To himself, Giles thinks, "If it doesn't go away, she'll go insane."
  • Foreshadowing: When Buffy tells her friends that someone was thinking about killing students, Xander quips that the lunch lady will "do us all in with that Mulligan stew."
    • Also for "Superstar", when Willow questions Jonathan.

We all have fantasies that we're powerful, more respected. Where people pay attention to us. But sometimes the fantasy isn't enough, is it Jonathan? Sometimes we have to make it so people don't ignore us. Make them pay attention.

    • Buffy jokes that Jonathan will ask her out to prom. At the prom Jonathan presents her with the Class Protector award for saving not only his life but many other Sunnydale students.
  • The Freelance Shame Squad: Everyone in the cafeteria claps when Buffy drops her tray.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Buffy's not sure if she can trust Angel, because it looked as if he were enjoying his tongue-wrestling session with Faith a little too much. This is mirrored by her teacher's lecture about everyone having "internal Iagos."
    • Which brings up the question of whether Angel actually slept with Faith while undercover. Those suspicions are eventually put to rest in the Angel episode "Sanctuary."
  • Good Is Not Nice: Moved by her words, Jonathan relinquishes his gun. Buffy promptly unloads it and promises him a nice comfy cell somewhere. "It's a lot like high school, y'know, except instead of noogies..."
    • In the epilogue, Buffy's afraid that Jonathan's starting to "get that look", meaning that he'll ask her to prom. Giles suggest it might be a charitable gesture. "What am I, Saint Buffy?," she balks. "He's like three feet tall!"
  • Goodbye, Cruel World: Jonathan mailed his suicide note to the school paper, though it is vague enough to suggest he intends to pop off his classmates.
  • He Knows Too Much: Xander lifts a bowl of Jell-O to his mouth. As he does so, he looks up at the lunch lady and stops in his tracks. They lock eyes and hold still, the lunch lady frozen in mid-pour as if searching for a plausible explanation. Finally, she grabs a butcher knife and charges at him.
  • Hermaphrodite: Willow suddenly wondering if it was a boy demon that touched Buffy leads to the fear that she will turn into this.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Xander sneering at Sunnydale High's hoops stars.

Xander: Hogan Martin thinks he's sooooo hot. Like we should all be awed by him cuz he can put a ball in the net.
Hogan: Hey Xander.
Xander: He said my name. He knows my name!

    • On the court, Xander watches Cordelia cheerleading and wonders aloud what he ever saw in her. Suddenly, he spots Wesley ogling Cord in the distance and goes mad with jealousy.

"He's got his filthy adult Pierce Brosn-y eyes all over my Cordy!"

    • Wesley points out that since Buffy can hear everyone's thoughts, the need to have mental discipline in order to not broadcast their thoughts to Buffy. Within seconds, Wesley thinks about Cordelia in a highly inappropriate way. Buffy smirks at Wesley, and he excuses himself from the room in embarrassment.
    • Also vertically-challenged Buffy rejecting Jonathan as a prom date because he's too short.
  • I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Joyce gives a bedridden Buffy a wide berth. "I-- ...I have laundry."
  • I Resemble That Remark: Oz 'interviews' one of his suspects, Hogan Martin, by asking if he's pressured to be "the guy who does everything right", and if so, how much of a strain is it to maintain this "false persona"?

Hogan: I guess... Moderate strain? [earnestly] Is that a good answer? I wanna get this right.

  • I Want You to Meet An Old Friend of Mine: Lauren E. Roman and Sarah Michelle Gellar reunite in this episode from their days on the soap opera All My Children, in which Lauren played Laura Kirk English and Sarah played Kendall Hart.
  • In-Joke: According to Jane Espenson, Joss Whedon hates having demons with tails on the show, as the tails almost never look realistic. That was parodied in this episode, with Buffy checking if she has one.
  • Innocent Innuendo: Buffy, discussing her itch problem with Giles, is obliged to mention that it was "A good touch. Not a bad touch."
    • "I still have knees mark on my back!" (beat) "From the pyramid!"
  • Interrupted Suicide
  • Kirk Summation: The lunch lady is about to cleave Xander a new one when Buffy appears and grabs her arm. The lunch lady is of the opinion that high-school students are vermin and filth. Buffy: "I don't see this being solved with logic."
  • Knife Nut: The lunch lady's cleaver.
  • Lame Comeback: Buffy, snapping at Xander, asks if sex is all thinks about. Xander: "Actually... [[[Beat]]] Bye." He bolts.
  • Le Parkour / Super Window Jump: In the quad, Buffy runs straight up the balustrade of the stairway. She then does a back-flip up onto the roof tiles, and then somersaults into Jonathan's sniper nest through the slatted window.

Nancy: I could have done that.

  • Let's Split Up, Gang!: At the library, Willow distributes assignments for everyone. "Today, people!" she snaps. They skedaddle, but not before Willow reminds them to "write neatly!"
  • Liquid Assets: The "Aspect of the Demon."
  • A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read / My Skull Runneth Over: Even at home, Buffy is bombarded with the thoughts of her neighbors; shutting the window doesn't help.
  • Nameless Narrative: Unusually for the Buffyverse, the mouthless demons aren't named.
  • Mistaken for Gay: The Xander/Larry scene, but another one that's easily missed is what Buffy suddenly blurts out "No, I do need you!" (answering Willow's thoughts as opposed to what she's saying) to which Cordy says, "Ok, what are you talking about? Because you are soooo creepy right now."
  • Nietzsche Wannabe: Freddy of the misanthropic editorials dismissively thinks, "Look at them, scrambling for the teacher's praise like pigeons for old bread crusts," then decides he should write that down because it's "deep."
  • No Mouth: The demons in question are telepathic, and thus don't need 'em.

Willow: I don't like this whole 'no mouth' thing. It's disquieting.
Buffy: Well, no mouth means no teeth. [[[On Second Thought]]] Unless they have them somewhere else.

  • No Sympathy
  • Not Important to This Episode Camp: Snyder doesn't appear in this episode, but Buffy reports that he's got "Walk Like an Egyptian" stuck in his head.
  • Not So Different: Jonathan scoffs at Buffy for presuming to know his pain. "Oh, right! 'cause the burden of being beautiful and athletic, that's a crippler!" Duly ticked off, Buffy carefully explains that sometimes her life "sucks beyond the telling of it."
  • Oh Crap: Xander's face when he learns of Buffy's power.
  • Obligatory Joke: Angel warns that Buffy should be careful with her new power, because things that seem good on the surface can be painful.

Buffy: Like, say, immortality?
Angel: Exactly. I'm dying to get rid of that.
Buffy: Funny.
Angel: [deadpan] I'm a funny guy.

  • Out of Order: The original airing of this episode was delayed by the network because the episode deals with an (apparent) attempted mass murder at a high school. It was to air just a week after the mass murder at Columbine High School in April 1999; hence Oz's quip that school massacres are "bordering on trendy." The WB network was unamused, and "Earshot" did not air until five months later, on the eve of the next season.
  • Passive-Aggressive Kombat: During the library confab, Wesley bustles in ("Terribly sorry, I was detained. Official Counsel business") and asks Giles what he was talking about.

Giles: I was just filling Buffy in on my progress regarding the research on the Ascension.
Wesley: Oh? And what took up the rest of the minute?

He's starting to get that look, you know, like he's gonna ask me to prom.

  • Room Full of Crazy: Freddy's office is filled with his grim editorials.
  • Red Herring: And HOW?
  • Rule 34: "Was it a boy demon?" is a mildly popular target of this.
  • Rule of Drama: Given the length of the rifle, and the shortness of his arms, Jonathan would have had one heck of a tough time trying to shoot himself with it.
    • All he had to do was take off his shoe, put the muzzle in his mouth and pull the trigger with his toe.
      • In real life, Ernest Hemingway ended his life with a similarly long firearm, in his case a double-barrel shotgun.
  • Rule of Three: Giles tells Buffy that it's likely that she has been infected with an aspect of the demon.

Buffy: Infect? Infect?
[Giles is still reading]
Buffy: Giles.
[he glances up]
Buffy: INFECT?!

Willow: Buffy did the reading? Buffy understood the reading?"
Xander: When did she study? Was I supposed to study? Ms. Murray's kinda hot.

Xander: Or a name that isn't an article of women's clothing.

  • Stealth Hi Bye: Buffy jumps when she turns round to see Angel standing behind her.

Sorry. I didn't see you, so I should have known you were there.

  • Tampering with Food and Drink
  • Teacher's Pet: Nancy.
  • Think Unsexy Thoughts: Xander attempts to recite the times tables in his head: "Four times five is thirty. Five times six is thirty-two," but then interjects, "Naked girls. Naked women! And naked Buffy! Oh, stop me!"
  • The Triple: Willow tries to reassure Buffy as Buffy lists the possibilities of what demon part she could end up with, like "claws, or scales." Willow's eyes go wide with fear. "Was it a boy demon?"
  • Throw It In: Anthony Stewart Head either genuinely ran into the tree at the end by accident, or the actor ad-libbed it. As stated below, he never dreamed that Joss would include it, but it makes for one of the funniest scenes in an episode full of them.
  • Too Soon: The episode was delayed from April to September 1999 when the Columbine Massacre happened four days before its set air date.
  • Watch Out for That Tree: When Giles walks into the tree at the end of the episode, it was actually Anthony Stewart Head's idea to do it, although he had never dreamed that Joss Whedon would let him get away with it.
  • You Are in Command Now: Willow organizes the hunt for the mass murderer while Buffy is incapacitated.
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