Television’s Greatest Episodes: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Hush” and “The Body”
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer |
|---|
| Episode Title: Hush, The Body |
| Season Number: 4,5 |
| Episode Number: 10, 16 |
| Airdate: 12/14/1999 |
| Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, LGBTQ, Music, Mystery, Otherworld, Psychological, Sci-Fi, Slice of Life, Superhero, Supernatural, Thriller |
| Network: WB |
| Current Schedule: Weekly |
| Status: completed |
| Production Company: Mutant Enemy Productions, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Televsion |
| Director(s): Joss Whedon |
| Writer(s): Joss Whedon |
| Creators/Showrunners: Joss Whedon |
| Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, Marc Blucas, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg, Amber Benson |
Recap
Examining two of the best episodes from this long running series. The first is a horror episode with very little spoken dialogue, the second deals with the death of a family member.
Spoiler Level: High
Review
Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends who call themselves the “Scooby Gang” fight vampires and other supernatural beings in and around Sunnydale, California. Buffy is one in a long line of Vampire Slayers who have special abilities to fight such demons. Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired from March 10, 1997 to May 22, 2001 on the WB network and from October 2, 2001 to May 20, 2003 on UPN, spanning seven seasons and a total of 144 episodes. The show was created by Joss Whedon who also wrote and directed many of the episodes. The series acquired a cult following and the show was praised by critics for its acting, storytelling, writing and directing. We will look at two of the most critically acclaimed episodes of this fantastic series.
Hush (12/14/1999)
Late at night, as everyone is asleep, white wisps exit everyone’s mouths and fly to a belfry and into a box. Having stolen everyone’s voice, “The Gentlemen”, tall floating ghouls with pale skin stretched over their skeletons and wearing black suits watch with amusement. As the town of Sunnydale awakens, they all learn that no one can speak. Buffy and her potential love interest, Riley (Marc Blucas) worry that this will cause chaos. Rile is unaware that Buffy is the Slayer and Buffy is unaware that Riley works for a covert military operation hunting demons. The Scooby Gang meet and attempt to figure out what and who is responsible. Later that night, the Gentlemen leave the belfry and kill a college student by carving out his heart. The next morning, Buffy’s mentor Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) has figured out what is happening and explains that The Gentlemen steal voices since the human voice is the only thing that can harm them and then collect the hearts that they need. That night Buffy is out patrolling, and her friend Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and new friend Tara (Amber Benson) are being attacked by the Gentlemen, but together are able to use witchcraft to protect themselves. Buffy and Riley separately tack their foes to the belfry and find out each other’s secrets and eventually, together, defeat The Gentlemen.
Hush was the tenth episode of the fourth season. The entire episode has only 17 minutes of dialogue out of 44 minutes total. Joss Whedon wrote the episode for a couple of reasons. One of them being, after reading that the dialogue of the series was the most successful aspect of the show he set out to write an episode with little to no dialogue. He also felt like he was stagnating as a director and was turning into a “hack”, he had been chastised by Fox executives for concentrating too much on the visual elements of the show, so he wanted an episode that was almost entirely visual. He actually thought he would fail in his attempt and that the audience would find the episode boring. On the contrary, it was a critical success and often thought of as one of the best episodes of the series, garnering an Emmy nomination to boot! The Gentlemen are considered some of the scariest villains of the show. The episode also introduced the character of Tara, who would later become Willow’s first girlfriend and it is the first time Buffy and Riley kiss.
The Body (February 27, 2001)
Buffy arrives home and sees flowers that were delivered to her mother. She calls out, but doesn’t get an answer, and the she sees her mother on the couch staring at the ceiling. She attempts CPR to no avail and the paramedics come and are unable to revive her. Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), Buffy’s mother and the surrogate mother to all the Scoobies had died. Giles arrives and Buffy must tell Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) that their mother is dead. Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Anya (Emma Caulfield) arrive at Willow’s dorm who is frantically trying to figure out what to wear. She doesn’t know how to appear to Buffy or Dawn at a time like this. Anya, having only recently become human, asks some inappropriate questions, angering some of the team, but she heartfully explains that she doesn’t know how to behave. She doesn’t understand human death and why Joyce can’t just got back into her own body. The group arrive at the hospital to support Buffy, who is there with Dawn and Giles, finding out that Joyce passed from a brain aneurysm suddenly and painlessly. Dawn sneaks away to view her mother’s body, and while there a vampire arises. Buffy slays the demon but in doing so reveals Joyce’s face and Dawn asks where she went, as she reaches out to touch her cheek.
The Body is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season which introduced Dawn, a younger sister who was magically created altering everyone’s memories to believe that Dawn had always existed. The episode is thought of as one of the best episodes in television history let alone the series. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michelle Trachetenberg, Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson are all singled out for their acting as well as Emma Caulfield’s delivery of her monologue. David Bianculli for the New York Daily News called it Emmy Worthy, “It also will haunt you – but not in the normal way associated with this still-evolving, still-achieving series.” For a show that deals with death on a continuing basis, the death of Joyce is utterly heart wrenching mainly due to the performances, writing and directing of the episode. Buffy scholar Ian Shuttleworth noted that the nuanced numbness and confusion of the characters, paired with the moments of silence in the episode: “It is simply one of the finest pieces of television drama, and the single finest depiction of bereavement in any medium, that I have ever seen.” Some people believe the inclusion of a vampire at the end felt out of place, but Whedon explains the need for this. First to contrast, showing the more fantasy-related deaths as opposed to this very real depiction. And, because vampires are just normal in Sunnydale, it is meant to show that even in her grief, life goes on for Buffy. The cast and the show in general were often snubbed by the Primetime Emmy Awards and were not even nominated for this episode (which is a crime), the episode was nominated for a Nebula award for best script.
The above two episodes highlight the talent that both the technical crew and the cast displayed during the long run of this unforgettable series. The storylines, the writing, the acting all made a lasting impact on the television industry and it’s audeince.
Final Thoughts
Two critically acclaimed episodes from the long running cult horror fantasy series.
Original article at Comic Watch
This article has been reproduced for archive purposes. All rights remain with the originating website.
