"Hush": Speaking Volumes Without Saying a Word

Although I've never dreamed about it, one of the things I find most horrifying is if I were in danger and screamed and shouted and cried and no one was aware of what was happening and couldn't hear me to save me. That feeling of powerlessness and being completely isolated is chilling, which is why I find "Hush" to be so disturbing. The first time I saw it, years ago, I was by myself in my room (sneaking around my parents' strictness, of course) and I was tense. I had to be very aware of what was going on outside my bedroom, so I could change the channel or turn the tv off and pretend to be doing something else if a sibling or my mom happened to walk in. Hence my emotional state was nearly always heightened, further enhancing the creepy affect of the episode. The part where the Gentlemen take their first heart is the scariest to me, the slow, deliberate movements and the soundless plight of the victim. So much care and time is taken to cut a heart out of a living person who can't, no matter how hard he tries, call for help. He dies torturous and lonely death. "You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard."

When I was younger, I was quiet, and allowed my voice to get lost amidst the much louder voices of my family and friends, so the impact of the silencing of the characters in this episode has stayed with me. I had a deep-seated fear that I was inconsequential and that if I died, no one would care and everyone would carry on as normal and forget about me. Also, as a writer and shy person, I feel more able to communicate through the written word than the spoken. There are many times when I feel like I can say something better if I text it or e-mail it, and I found some humor in the message boards the characters carry as a precursor to cell-phone texts.

The second viewing of "Hush" has taught me that you don't always need words to communicate, that it's okay, even essential, to just "be" with a person, saying nothing and everything at once. Riley and Buffy share their true feelings when they are deprived of the option of speaking. Willow and Tara connect through a combining of essence when they stop and take that moment to recognize in each other a quality that can't be defined, but must be felt. Xander is hampered by words, being unable to communicate to Anya how he feels about her, and in this episode he epitomizes the cliche "actions speak louder than words." But often a cliche is a cliche for a reason: because there is some truth in it.

As Joss Whedon says, "Once we start talking we stop communicating." I think he is referring to our penchant for talking and talking and talking but not stopping to consider if we are really saying anything worthwhile.