Earshot (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title=Earshot


Series=Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season=3
Episode=18
Airdate=September 21 1999
Production=3ABB18
Writer=Jane Espenson
Director=Regis Kimble
Episode list=List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Prev=Enemies
Next=Choices

"Earshot" is the 18th episode of season 3 of the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Plot synopsis

ummary

After coming into contact with the blood of a demon, Buffy develops the ability to hear other people's thoughts.

Expanded overview

On patrol, Buffy runs into two demons that she fights and then kills one of them. While the other escapes, the blood from the demon she killed mixes with a cut on her palm she received while fighting it. The next day at the library, Buffy finds that they're making very little progress with the Mayor and stopping the ascension. Willow asks Buffy if she's talked to Angel and then suggests that Buffy straight out ask him what happened with Faith. Percy checks in with Willow to reschedule their study session and then she talks to Buffy about the basketball game after school which everyone except Buffy is going to.

Buffy goes to Giles after she finds that her hand is itching where she was cut and that, because she came in contact with the blood of one of the demons, she may be infected with an aspect of the demon. Xander and Oz watch the cheerleaders at the pep rally and Xander reveals that he still has a thing for Cordy when he witnesses Wesley looking at Cordelia. Buffy is constantly worried as she waits to find out what aspect of the demon she'll be getting; Willow horrifies her, wondering if the demon was a male. She talks to Angel about it that night and he tells her he'd love her no matter what she looked like.

The next day, as she's walking through the halls, Buffy finds out that she can hear the thoughts of others. She talks to Giles about it, and he goes right to work researching it while Buffy decides to put her new ability to work. In class, she listens to the thoughts of her teacher and classmates and answers the questions asked. Buffy also hears the thoughts of Freddy Iverson, who writes editorials for the school newspaper who has a seriously negative opinion about everything at Sunnydale.

Later that day, Buffy goes to the mansion to use her mind-reading abilities to check up on Angel and find out the truth about what happened with Faith. He figures out what she's trying to do, and he tells she can't read his mind because he's a vampire. He reveals to her that what happened with Faith meant nothing and that in 243 years, he's loved only Buffy.

At the library, Buffy tells her friends about her ability to read minds. Xander constantly thinks about sex, Cordelia says almost exactly what she thinks, Oz thinks extremely deep thoughts, Willow thinks about how she's left out of things, and Wesley thinks about Cordelia.

In the lunchroom, Buffy hears someone think, "By this time tomorrow, I'll kill you all," and then the voices get to be too much and Buffy passes out. When she regains consciousness, she tells everyone to get organized and find out who the potential killer is. Buffy goes home to rest but before she leaves, she overhears Giles's thoughts that she'll go insane if the telepathy continues. He and Wesley found that it happened before, but the person is in total isolation because they can't stop the power. Buffy's mom is nervous around her and doesn't want to stay in the same room with Buffy for very long. Finally, Buffy reads her mind and finds out that she had sex with Giles, twice, on the hood of a police car. Willow and everyone go around interviewing students and faculty that were in the Cafeteria to see if they're potential killers.

Giles and Wesley have found a possible solution to curing Buffy, but it requires the heart of the second demon. Angel hunts down the demon and the next morning brings the heart to the Summers' home in a glass mixed with other ingredients. He forces Buffy to drink it and then her body goes into convulsions. Willow and the rest of the Scooby Gang were able to locate all the students on the list except Freddy Iverson and they all go looking for him.

Back at home, Buffy wakes up and is no longer able to hear thoughts. The gang finally corners Freddy in his office and find out that he's not the potential killer. Buffy shows up just as they find a letter from Jonathan apologizing for his upcoming actions of death on Freddy's desk. The gang splits up to find Jonathan while he is up in the clock tower, assembling a rifle. Buffy spots him from below and puts her Slayer strengths to work as she flies up the stairs, onto the roof, and into the tower. Buffy talks to him and tells him that the reason why everyone ignores him is because they all have their own problems that actually matter more to them than his do. She takes the rifle from him and then finds out that he was really going to commit suicide.

Xander checks the kitchen and stumbles upon the overweight lunch lady putting rat poison into the food. She comes out and tries to kill Xander with a cleaver, but Buffy stops her. The lunchlady likened the students to "vermin" always eating and never stopping. Buffy decides that the lunchlady has lost her mind and knocks her unconscious. Giles and Buffy recap what happened as they walk around the school grounds. Giles asks her if she's up for some training, and Buffy says she is if he isn't too busy sleeping with her mother, causing Giles to walk straight into a tree.

Acting

tarring

*Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
*Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
*Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
*Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
*David Boreanaz as Angel
*Seth Green as Oz
*and Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

*Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
*Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
*Ethan Erickson as Percy West
*Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson

Co-starring

*Larry Bagby as Larry Blaisdell ( as Larry Bagby, III )
*Keram Malicki-Sanchez as Freddy Iverson
*Justin Doran as Hogan Martin
*Lauren Roman as Nancy Doyle
*Wendy Worthington as Lunch Lady
*Robert Arce as Mr. Beach
*Molly Bryant as Ms. Murray
*Rich Muller as Student
*Jay Michael Ferguson as Another Student

Production

* The final scene with Giles walking straight into a tree was unrehearsed; it was actually Anthony Head's last minute idea when it was shot. He had no idea Joss Whedon would let him get away with it.Fact|date=February 2007

* In her commentary on the DVD, writer Jane Espenson reveals that when she found out that she was going to write this episode she knew that she wanted the student in the tower to be Jonathan. Even though Danny Strong had only had small, comedic parts on the series over the years, she had faith that he would be able to handle the dramatic scene.

* Espenson also mentions in her DVD commentary that she included the exchange in which Buffy discovers that her mother slept with Giles in "Band Candy" because she was surprised that fans weren't sure that they had sex and she wanted to eliminate any doubts.

Broadcast

* The Columbine High School massacre occurred one week before this episode was originally scheduled to air. Because this episode involved a scene with a student loading a rifle--apparently for mass murder, but in reality for suicide--the WB preempted it with the episode "Band Candy". A bootleg copy soon appeared on the Internet, but the episode did not air until the following autumn. The season finale was also preempted due to "school violence concerns." The "Buffy" novel, "The Evil That Men Do" was also delayed due to the Columbine incident, it was published one year later than planned.

* Sarah Michelle Gellar lobbied hard for this episode to be released on schedule. She thought it was great and would help those affected by the Columbine tragedy.

* Due to the episode's delayed broadcast, "Earshot" was aired in other countries before it was aired in America.

Translations

* Italian title: "Poteri metafisici" ("Metaphysical powers")
* German title: "Fremde Gedanken" ("Alien/external thoughts"/"Thoughts of the others")
* French title: "Voix intérieures" ("Inner Voices")
* Japanese title: "声が聞こえる距離" ("Koe ga Kikoeru Kiryo" - "Earshot")

Continuity

Arc significance

* Buffy reveals that Giles and her mother did in fact have sex — on top of a police car, twice — while under the influence of mystical chocolate bars in an earlier episode, "Band Candy".
* Angel reveals to Buffy that his thoughts are like his reflection the cannot be reflected towards Buffy to read him.
* This is one of the first episodes to feature Jonathan outside a small comedy based role. He would later become a villain during Season 6.
* Due to the episode's airing being delayed, the poignancy and significance of Jonathan giving Buffy the Class Protector Award in the episode "The Prom" is missed.

Timing

*Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

External links

*
*

Reviews

* [http://www3.sympatico.ca/jenoff/btvs318.htm Peripheral Visions Review]
* [http://www.section31.com/guideextras.php?id=182 Section 31 Review]
* [http://tv.swingthesickle.com/ststv/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer/Season_3/18.review Swing the Sickle Review]

Other

* [http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=94c67d87-e031-4685-8073-a3725a91687c E! Online's article about the delay in airing the episode]