Riley: "Well, I guess we have to talk."
Buffy: "I guess we do."
-- "Hush," 4.10
First of all, I'm glad I saw this episode before class so I was prepared for the creepiness and could practice not jumping at certain moments (particularly the scene where Olivia is at the window and one of The Gentlemen floats by).
I hadn't heard much about the most acclaimed episodes of Buffy before watching "Hush," so during my marathon over break, I was caught off guard since it seemed quite different from most other episodes. After a little time on Google, I had my "a-ha!" moment when realizing how skillfully crafted the episode is -- the perfect mixture of scary, funny, and productive as far as plot development. "Hush" is the complete package.
Aside from the relationship developments which notably occur during the silenced portion of the episode, I kept thinking about why The Gentlemen seem to be arguably the worst (as in scariest/most dangerous) villains from Buffy. Silence scares us. The inability to communicate creates obstacles we don't even realize exist until the very moment; the unpredictability is the most unsettling part of quietness.
For example, The Gentlemen float above the ground -- they don't even "communicate" with any surface, so no one can hear them coming. When the victims do see them coming, it's impossible to get help. Sounds create verbal context for us which then create reason, followed by a feeling of ease.
Furthermore, most villains on Buffy are famous for their one-liners or grand speeches delivered to Buffy explaining why they need to kill her (but she kills them anyway). The Gentlemen provide no real reason to target Buffy. The explanation for their actions (the fairytale) only comes through Giles in the awesome projector scene. Therefore, viewers are only put in the position of the victim. Though The Gentlemen communicate with each other, they all wear the same huge grin, so even more information is lost about any insight the viewer could obtain from something like facial expressions.
The final lines of the episode are great: "I guess we have to talk." After all of the chaos with The Gentlemen, Buffy and Riley fall into a true silence since at that moment their relationship is unpredictable, too.
4 comments:
I loved the last lines where Riley says "I guess we have to talk" to Buffy. I thought it was so clever and a great ending to an episode where they hadn't been able to talk. Whedon, in his writing, I am quickly learning, is great with those clever lines at the beginnings and ends of the episodes. I thought he ended this episode perfectly.
The lack of communication between Riley and Buffy to me shows their inability to relate outside the world of the supernatural in which they are deeply delved in. And I think Whedon made it a point when he had the two characters engage each other in the clock tower and learn about the secret lives of each other
That's a really interesting idea, Phil. If they are in their "natural" world (for them, that's the supernatural world), they can communicate naturally. It's in the regular world (where they hide their "secret identities") that they are unable to talk.
I completely agree about the idea that unpredictability scares us. Even Buffy who is used to whatever vampires through at her, has never seen something like this. She has never been crippled, she has never been lacking (something as important as her voice), she is not used to not having the one thing that is need to stop the gentlemen, i.e. the scream.
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