Earshot (Buffy episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Earshot” | |
|---|---|
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 18 |
| Guest stars | Alexis Denisof (Wesley) Kristine Sutherland (Joyce) Danny Strong (Jonathan) Keram Malicki-Sanchez (Freddy Iverson) |
| Written by | Jane Espenson |
| Directed by | Regis Kimble |
| Production no. | 3ABB18 |
| Original airdate | September 21, 1999 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Enemies" | "Choices" |
"Earshot" is the 18th episode of season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
After coming into contact with the blood of a demon, Buffy develops the ability to read minds.
[edit] 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. 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 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.
That night, 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. 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 room 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 and knocks her unconscious. Apparently, it really bugged her that the students could eat so much junk food and not gain much weight. 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.
Giles walks straight into a tree.
[edit] Quotes and trivia
- 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 high-powered rifle (for suicide, not mass murder), the WB pre-empted 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 pre-empted 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.
- The ending of the story is a reminiscint of the Texas-Tower massacre in 1966 at the University of Texas, with exception of Jonathan's attempted suicide instead of a homocide.
- 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.[citation needed]
[edit] 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 Kigoeru Kiryo" - "Earshot")
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
- Buffy reveals that Giles and her mother did in fact have sex while under the influence of mystical chocolate bars in an earlier episode, "Band Candy".
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse chronology: January 1999 - Spring 1999 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Uninvited Guests |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy comic: The Final Cut |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Bad Blood |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B3.11 Gingerbread |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy comic: Bad Dog (by Doug Petrie) |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Crash Test Demons |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Pale Reflections |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B3.12 Helpless |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B3.13 The Zeppo |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy book: The Deathless |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B3.14 Bad Girls |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B3.15 Consequences |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B3.16 Doppelgängland |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy book: Doomsday Deck |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy book: Immortal |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | B3.17 Enemies |
| Sunnydale, 1999 | Buffy graphic novel: Angel: The Hollower |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Prime Evil |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Revenant |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | B3.18 Earshot |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | B3.19 Choices |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Power of Persuasion |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | B3.20 The Prom |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Resurrecting Ravana |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy books: The Gatekeeper [Trilogy] |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Return to Chaos |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Visitors |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Unnatural Selection |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Obsidian Fate |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Deep Water |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: Here Be Monsters |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy book: The Book of Fours |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | B3.21 Graduation Day, Part One |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | B3.22 Graduation Day, Part Two |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Sunnydale High Yearbook |
| Sunnydale, spring, 1999 | Buffy comic: Double Cross |
[edit] External links
- Earshot at the Internet Movie Database
