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5.9 Listening to Fear

Anya: "Yes, 'cause it seems like we're always dealing with creatures from outer space. Except that we don't ever do that."

How do I hate this episode? Let me count the ways.

-- The X-Files snot monster from space was just... bad. Not funny, not interesting, just ... bad. That monster was in the first season of X-Files, and I didn't even like it then. And people aren't going to see something that big on the ceiling? I usually zero right in on anything on the ceiling, even a tiny little spider.

-- Joyce's aphasia advanced much too quickly, even for a Sunnydale brain tumor.

-- Having strapped down mental patients succumb to a horrible death was pathetic, not scary.

-- The Slayerette banter felt forced; maybe they were aware of how lame the episode was.

-- Spike was in the episode for only about five minutes.

There were some really cool plot points in this episode, though:

-- Riley is neglecting his monster-killing duties to sit in a dive and get bit? Where is this going? Is Riley going to become a vamp in an attempt to keep Buffy's love?

-- Buffy got to do some tag-team slaying with Spike, like she used to do with Angel and Riley. I liked that. Too bad it was over so quickly.

-- Not really a plot point, but I liked Tara's version of the constellations.

-- We learned that Ben the Friendly Intern is somehow related to Glory; he said that he summoned the Queller to clean up Glory's mess with the mental patients, just like he always cleans up after her. But it raises the question: is he good, or is he evil? Just because he's involved with Glory doesn't mean he's evil. Of course, calling up a monster to kill innocent mental patients is what you would call evil...

-- Joyce knows about Dawn now. And Joyce basically said goodbye to Buffy. I get the feeling that Joyce might die in the next episode. Damn.

Maybe it was the combination of the silly alien snot monster, the heavy seriousness of the Joyce subplot, and the deaths of the mental patients, but this one just left a terrible taste in my mouth. No pun intended.

Quotes:

Willow: "I feel just like Santa Claus, except thinner and younger and female and, well, Jewish."

Tara: "The real ones never made sense to me. I sort of have my own."
Willow: "Teach me."
Tara: "See those stars over there? 'Short man looking uncomfortable.' Uh... 'Moose getting a sponge bath.' Umm...'little pile o'crackers'."

Giles: "Hollow."
Riley: "Yeah."
Anya: "So, uh, we're all thinking the same thing, right?"
Xander: "Festive pinata? Delicious candy?"
Willow: "Something evil crashed to earth in this and then broke out and slithered away to do badness."
Giles: "In all fairness, we don't really know about the slithered part."
Anya: "Oh, no. I'm sure it frisked about like a fluffy lamb."

Xander: "Look at how teeny Mercury is compared to, like, Saturn. Whereas in contrast, the cars of the same name..."
Giles: "Xander, please, we have work to do here."
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. (Pauses) I did not say that."

Zero out of four stakes,

Billie





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