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S04.E04: Fear Itself

Joe Hellandback
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Joe Hellandback

Joe Hellandback

Fear Itself

The Good; Buffy does a Halloween ep once every couple of years and it's always special, this is no exception. The Scoobies face and overcome their fears and the final gag is fantastic. Also love the postmodern gag of Buffy hitting the demon only to find out it's a guy in a Halloween mask (presumably a student rather than a local who'd know better).

The Bad; Would the Scoobies ever really watch horror films like Phantasm? Don't they get enough gore?

Best line; Giles; "Actual size!"

Character death; Only the guy who breaks his neck falling down the stairs

Jeez!; What's the story with the girl in the tiara on the couch who appears dead then grins maniacally at the camera?

Kinky dinky; The frat boys think Halloween is all about 'getting laid'. Interestingly Willow's crush Tina Fey in her film Mean Girls says it's all about allowing girls to dress up in slutty male-fantasy costumes whilst keeping their reputation intact. Buffy gets grabbed all over by the hands in the cellar (anyone else reminded of the Evil Dead series) and was I the only one to think 'Boy you can see up her skirt' when Buffy crushes the demon at the end?

Calling Captain Subtext; Willow "What is college for if not experimentation?" Hmmmm? She also begs "Oz don't leave me"

Scoobies to the ER; Buffy cut but not too badly

Spoiler

Where's Dawn? Adore the scene with Buffy and Joyce it's so precious. You wonder what costume Dawn wore trick or treating? Is Joyce taking her this year? Joyce comments that she's not the social butterfly she used to be in LA, as we see in Buffy; The Movie. She now knows that Ted was a robot (as Dawn does in IWMTLY).


Questions and observations; The first sign of Anya's bunny phobia. The first encounter between the Scoobies and

Spoiler

The Initiative (aside from Out of Sight, Out of Mind?).

 Anya comments that it's been a week since she and Xander had sex so we must assume that each ep in the Buffyverse is a week in real time. Uncle Rory mentioned again and Willow is still scared of spiders which she

Spoiler

overcomes by the time of Selfless. The guiding spell that goes wrong for her is reminiscent of the one Tara uses successfully in Bargaining pt2

. Xander uses the old 'Standing right here' Scooby line. At least Anya knocks on Giles' door which is progress. The ghouls at the frat party are very Evil Dead

Read an interesting fanfic once where Michael Myers from the Halloween series shows up in season 3 Sunnydale and kills Joyce and Faith. In the follow-up story however the Nerd Trio capture him and use his blood to bring them back to life, I think the author's point being that heroism and villainy is sometimes just a question of timing and circumstances (which you can certainly make the case for with characters such as

Spoiler

Andrew, Amy, Faith etc?)
 


Marks out of 10; 6/10

Okay, going to do Beer Bad in a couple of days after I Fall to Pieces  

Halting Hex

Halting Hex

(edited)

Only Willow could use, "Oh, yeah?  Well, so is your face!" as a "comeback" and actually pull it off.

My favorite episode from S4.  I"m only waiting until somebody fixes the thread title (this 4.04, not 4.05) to give it a proper post.

On 7/29/2018 at 5:07 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

Character death; Only the guy who breaks his neck falling down the stairs

And not even necessarily that, given that much of what happened in the house (Xander turning "invisible", Oz scratching Willow) turned to be nothing more than Gachnar's power messing with everyone's mind.  Perhaps Josh was only knocked unconscious, after all.

Edited by Halting Hex
Halting Hex

Halting Hex

So…Oz is dressed as "God".  And all of this happened because Oz cut himself and shed his blood on the sigil, activating the curse.  So…accurate?

Or does Oz (inadvertently) causing all the mischief mean that he's really Satan (Loki?) and the "God" nametag means he's dressed as what he's afraid of, like Anya with the bunny suit? Huh.

lembergwatcher

lembergwatcher

Quote

Xander:  “No, it’s cool.  You guys got your little college thing.  I’m fine.  I mean, I got better things to do than tag along to some Fraternity.”
Willow:  “You can come.”
Xander:  “Okay.  But only because I lied about having better things to do.”

There are times when not revealing the whole truth is more preferable and overall better for your self-esteem, Xander. Honestly, there's absolutely no need to follow your so called friends like a puppy all of the time, pretending everything is still the way it was in the good old days before people's egos and wolfboys got in the way. Sometimes it's useful to insist you got much better things to do than going to some stupid party where "townies" aren't welcome, even if you don't.

Any person with an ounce of self-respect won't go to a place like this after the conversation in the Alpha Delta Fraternity house. Xander in season 2 had some self-respect. Xander in season 4 apparently don't. 

Though it's hard to admit but I have to agree with Hellbitch.

Quote

It’s those people.  You continue to associate with them though you share little in common.

Let's face it, Xander: those people are not your friends anymore. And you're mature enough to start finally taking yourself as a person, as an individual and not just a part of the group.

God, the first eps of the fourth season still make me wonder which plot twist was more stupid: the whole road trip thing (since the writers obviously couldn't abandon their cliche and thus allow X to travel around the country for some time) or letting Xander get back to SunnyFuck so early?

Joe Hellandback

Joe Hellandback

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57 minutes ago, lembergwatcher said:

There are times when not revealing the whole truth is more preferable and overall better for your self-esteem, Xander. Honestly, there's absolutely no need to follow your so called friends like a puppy all of the time, pretending everything is still the way it was in the good old days before people's egos and wolfboys got in the way. Sometimes it's useful to insist you got much better things to do than going to some stupid party where "townies" aren't welcome, even if you don't.

Any person with an ounce of self-respect won't go to a place like this after the conversation in the Alpha Delta Fraternity house. Xander in season 2 had some self-respect. Xander in season 4 apparently don't. 

Though it's hard to admit but I have to agree with Hellbitch.

Let's face it, Xander: those people are not your friends anymore. And you're mature enough to start finally taking yourself as a person, as an individual and not just a part of the group.

God, the first eps of the fourth season still make me wonder which plot twist was more stupid: the whole road trip thing (since the writers obviously couldn't abandon their cliche and thus allow X to travel around the country for some time) or letting Xander get back to SunnyFuck so early?

Uncharitable, Xander simply struggles to find himself after high school, many do even those who go to uni. 

Halting Hex

Halting Hex

Eh, Xander knew Willow wanted him to come (it's not as if Willow knows the Mighty Mighty Alpha Delts, either; these are Oz's people), so he was a good friend and came.  No big.

And as someone who knows from experience that Halloween can go wonky on a Hellmouth (Xander's the only one who uses his costume to prepare a defense to magic, unless you think Oz was actually plotting to become God…), Xander knows that it makes better tactical sense if the gang sticks together.  Can't blame him for that.

Suppose that Ethan (who is in fact free right now and will be back in town by January) had gotten up to his old Janus-worshipping tricks…do we think that "Harris, Xander Harris" would have passed up a shot at Little Buffy Riding Hood?  Or would she have been too young? Either way, better her than Bunny!Anya…when Bond said "at night, all cats are grey", he wasn't actually talking about bestiality, you know.

lembergwatcher

lembergwatcher

9 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Xander knew Willow wanted him to come

I'm not sure she wanted him to come. I guess Willow asked/allowed Xander to come simply because she felt a little awkward. 

Quote

Willow:  “I thought we were doing the alph delt thing.”
Xander:  “What thing?”
Buffy:  “The scary house?  Sounds kinda lame.”
Oz:  “It actually borders on fun.  You have to go through the scary house maze to get to the party.  Which is usually worth getting to.  Those guys go all out.”
Willow:  “As witnessed last Friday.”
Oz:  “Very true.”
Xander:  “There is a party?”
Willow:  “We didn’t tell you?”
Xander:  “No, it’s cool.  You guys got your little college thing.  I’m fine.  I mean, I got better things to do than tag along to some Fraternity.”
Willow:  “You can come.”
Xander:  “Okay.  But only because I lied about having better things to do.”

If Xander wasn't there at the moment I doubt anyone would have bothered asking him.

Spoiler

Just like no one invited him to the party at Porter dorm in Doomed.

 

10 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

And as someone who knows from experience that Halloween can go wonky on a Hellmouth (Xander's the only one who uses his costume to prepare a defense to magic, unless you think Oz was actually plotting to become God…), Xander knows that it makes better tactical sense if the gang sticks together.  Can't blame him for that.

You have a point here. But didn't Xander intend to go on a cross-country trip after graduation, i.e. leave SunnyHell and his friends indefinitely? I doubt he'd be back by Halloween if his little trip hasn't stalled in Oxnard. The Scoobs have survived the months of his absence AFAIK. Why should one evening be a different thing? And I won't be very surprised if Oz did indeed plot to become God.

Of course, partying with the Scoobs at some fraternity house was much better option than spending the evening in the company of Anya or Giles (even though no one could make him date Hellbitch at gunpoint). But that's the problem with Xander

Spoiler

or should we say the hack writing of the later Buffy seasons. Post-SHS Xander had very few things in common with his friends and there was absolutely no need to leave him trapped between the hammer and the anvil (between the gang and Anya). I don't think that apart from Willow and Buffy there were no other good people in Sunnydale to become friends with.

Halting Hex

Halting Hex

4 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

But didn't Xander intend to go on a cross-country trip after graduation, i.e. leave SunnyHell and his friends indefinitely? I doubt he'd be back by Halloween if his little trip hasn't stalled in Oxnard.

I think Xander always intended to be back by fall.  It's just that he intended to get a little farther than Ventura County, that's all.  (Oxnard is a grand total of 37.7 miles from Santa Barbara, aka Sunnydale.  That's nearly as lame as Grand Canyon.)

Halting Hex

Halting Hex

I had no idea that the kid in the "demon" mask that Buffy punches in the teaser is a (very) young Aldis Hodge!  So spending all those seasons on Leverage with Christian Kane was a Buffyverse reunion, huh?  Cool.

Aldis also nearly spent years with Reptile Boy's Coby Bell on The Game, as he was the original "Derwin Davis" during the "backdoor pilot" that was an episode of Girlfriends (starring Persia "Aura" White), but he chose not to do the series, and Pooch Hall played Derwin for several years, instead.  

Aldis won a SAG award for being part of the cast for Hidden Figures, has been a cast member on Underground and Washington's Spies and is one of the leads in Showtime's recently-premiered City on a Hill.  So, after series set in the 18th and 19th centuries, respectively, he's made it to the 20th, as CoaH is set in 1990s Boston.  If he can keep getting work, maybe he'll reach the present-day…eventually. 🙂

Halting Hex

Halting Hex

(edited)
Quote

XANDER (to Anya):  I can't say that seeing you falls into the realm of a bad thing.

Just you wait, Xan…literally, for about a minute, until she destroys your self-confidence and sends you into an emotional tail-spin that Gachnar feasts on.

Didn't Giles tell you not to jump to conclusions?

Quote

ANYA:  It's been one week since we copulated.  Did you forget?

Hmmm, sounds as though someone has a history.  Have you met Parker Abrams, perchance?

Quote

OZ:  Something's happening.

WILLOW:  Something good?

Awww, Willow.  You know I love your desperate optimism (Giles was home drinking tea in The Dark Age, Buffy and Angel are off canoodling somewhere at the end of Becoming, the graduation speaker will be Siegfried…or Roy…or one of the tigers), but none of the above was in an imminent combat situation.

There's a time for blind hope…and a time for wariness.  I'm just saying.

Edited by Halting Hex
lembergwatcher

lembergwatcher

On 8/24/2021 at 4:13 PM, Halting Hex said:

Hmmm, sounds as though someone has a history.

Maybe that's why everyone's like "yeah, whatever" after Xander casually informs the Gang about Anya while on the way to the frathouse. It's like Xander did have some dating history with Anya and Xander's so-called "friends" knew and were ok with it (or simply didn't give a damn)...  

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