Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 5x09 “Listening to Fear” FULL REACTION
Added 2019-11-12 22:04:10 +0000 UTCEnjoy!
Comments
Liam, what makes you think Ben won’t be a love interest for Buffy? I thought that from the second I first saw him, especially as Buffy and Riley seem to be growing a bit apart.
Richard Lucas
2019-11-14 01:45:39 +0000 UTCI always think about this episode and Ben, so you are not alone.
Richard Lucas
2019-11-14 01:44:23 +0000 UTCI absolutely love the Willow & Tara rooftop scene in this episode. One of my favourite Tillow moments. ‘Well that’s true to life’ - overloaded mental health services caused by Glory! instead of austerity cuts. I’ll take Glory. “What was that?! “ - Superman! or erm, a rather less nice chewy ‘demon’ centre. It looks like a Pokemon? I thought they were much cuter than that! The alien in this is so yuck - and I never get why they call it a demon rather than an alien?? Considering the weird icky monster, this ep is still very good ( as all s5 ones are IMHO), with a lot of character stuff going on., what with the main storyline actually being Joyce in hospital. I always feel that Riley fits with the army team, and mindset and way of doing things much better than he ever does with the Scoobies. Right from season 4 he never seemed to fit with the Scoobies, cos they had completely different world views, ways of approaching things & modus operandi. Even after being with Buffy and ‘part of the team’ for a while now - to me not much seems to have changed, I still think he has a very different mindset, and doesn’t fit well with the Scoobies, aside from whatever distancing things are happening because of his & Buffy’s relationship. “Arrrgghhh! Fucking Ben!” - Indeed, very shady. And he was too bloody nice and perfect - the dreamboat doctor form a 70s tv show, so he had to be shady really. Surprisingly, what Ben did here in summoning the Queller demon is not discussed much in fandom ( as far as I have ever seen) and is rather glossed over. Which is rather disturbing. The lack of comment or outrage suggests it is normalised to be ok with killing off people for being mentally unwell. It’s horrific that Ben thinks that it’s ok to murder people because they are mentally unstable now. That being mentally ill means they need ‘clearing away’ is foul. He was planning to commit mass murder via alien - and he never gets called out for this in fandom! ( or by the Scoobies, in the library none of them react in a horrified or disturbed manner about the ‘Queller demon’ historically being summoned to kill off swathes of people. Could be Hellmouth compassion fatigue? :) ) Those of us with mental health problems don’t need bloody culling ! Even those that do need 24hr supervision FFS - nobody ever talks about this! [ok this is a very touchy subject coz our Tory government has killed off 120,000 sick and disabled people through austerity cuts( see UN report), including of course very high proportion with mental ill health. Can peeps perhaps be kind and not keep voting for them to kill us?] On this note - on depiction of mental health in the Buffyverse [ though not on language use cos ths post would never end.] The depiction of the mental health ward is just SO completely wrong. As if every patient is strapped down to their beds, rather than being a rare exception. And in real life everyone has heir own small room, not all together in a ward. Since it’s too distressing to have people with all different mental health condition together in one room, and for those that hear voices and get hallucinations, you don’t need to be hearing other peoples too! There are plenty of films & tv that depict this realistically e.g One Flu Over theThe Cuckoo’s Nest ( WAY before this ep), Girl, Interrupted. Later on - Supernatural does it well in a few eps. The writer’s team for this are really ignorant. Also - there’s just one room and one unlocked door that goes straight out onto the corridor. Instead of a couple of locked doors into a whole mental health unit with common room and dining area etc. It’s weird, cos Joyce gets a big private room all to herself - and I’m thinking - we don’t get that over here, have to share on a ward unless you’re paying a lot for private, or maybe sometimes if in intensive care. American tv is always showing people in private rooms in hospital - but there must be people on wards who can’t afford the rooms surely? OK - this episode leads to a lot of thoughts!! This episode ends on such a cliffy with Joyce being wheeled into surgery - I hope you got to watch the next one soon after Liam. Hugs to you.
Bellatronics
2019-11-13 17:55:56 +0000 UTCOh, look, Dawn talking without her lips moving. Sure would be nice if you were watching in 4x3, grumble grumble.
Bodertz
2019-11-13 05:46:31 +0000 UTCBuffy has had an enormous amount of emotional and physical responsibility put on her since Joyce started going through this, you can see it all over her face since Fool for Love and it kills me. But I adore that moment when Dawn screams out the bedroom door for Buffy, precisely because Buffy is so capable and it's so wonderful that Dawn and Joyce have someone like her in their lives. Especially since everyone has felt so untethered, I tear up when that happens every time I watch this.
KT
2019-11-13 04:16:09 +0000 UTCCompletely agree, about the catharsis and about that scene being one of my favorites
Ritchie
2019-11-13 01:07:22 +0000 UTCI'm so sorry. My Mum has rapidly progressive mixed dementia (vascular with lewy body) & she's at the stage now where she yells stuff out, curses at people, says horrid things, and then she's okay again for a while - until the hallucinations and delusions kick in again. Even with medication dealing with the absolute worse of her symptoms there's no real good days anymore. Part of me watching this episode kind of wishes the Queller demon was real, so I could summon it and just end the nightmare for my Mum. Now the Queller demon going after Joyce, that's an automatic killing.
Claire Eyles
2019-11-13 01:05:59 +0000 UTCThis ep scared the shit out of me as a kid
KT
2019-11-13 01:02:11 +0000 UTCGreat reaction. That end scene made me cry again, for the 100th time, goddamnit. The real question is though, do we suspect there's some connection between Ben and Glory? ;)
HuntingSwan
2019-11-13 00:33:10 +0000 UTCThe scene where Buffy puts on the radio and turns it up gets me everytime. Its like she partly wants to drown out her mother's ravings and partly wants to drown out her own tears and thoughts. The music is just so happy, and cheerful and loud, and Buffy's just there in the dark... the music plays for so long before Buffy finally breaks down, and I just think its so well done; the lingering there with that awful music for much longer than anybody needed to... The space demon is freaky lol. You cracked me up, calling it a 'lil bitch!' haha. Another awesome episode, and honestly the momentum of the season is just so fantastic overall!
Holi117
2019-11-13 00:13:49 +0000 UTCGlad you noticed Anya copying Giles at the murder scene. The 'story showing' is just as important in BtVS as the story telling. The episodic monsters are there to facilitate the stories so this one gets good marks for advancing the Riley, Joyce, Buffy, Dawn and Ben story lines. It's also nice to see Willow and Tara outside of their regular hang-outs doing something different. There's also a nice parallel of Buffy and Riley struggling with their personal problems - in very different ways, but then showing how very competent they both are in their “professional” life.
Bruce Trogdon
2019-11-13 00:00:24 +0000 UTCThese episodes have gotten harder and harder to watch since my father got diagnosed with Alzheimer a few years back. But crying is good, and finding catharsis through art are some of the best parts of living. On that note, it might be weird to say it, but Buffy sobbing while doing the dishes is one my favorite scenes in the entire show.
Thomas Hansen
2019-11-12 23:12:27 +0000 UTComg, so excited. came to check patreon by chance and there's a new upload from you, Liam! Yay!
Holi117
2019-11-12 22:49:35 +0000 UTCAs someone who, from the ages of 14-22, lived with and took care of a grandparent with dementia, those scenes of Joyce’s behavior being effected hit very close to home. This episode always resonated with me because of that, despite the...odd choice for the monster of the week. And since I had a large period of my life where I took care of my grandfather, I can safely say that when I was 14, I was very much Dawn in this episode. And growing up, I very much relate to Buffy here. Both the innocence and the responsibility of taking care of a loved one while they “lose their mind” is captured really well in this episode, I feel. Also, Buffy sobbing while washing dishes and hiding it by turning up the volume on the radio...? Undeniably heartbreaking and tear-jerking yet absolutely relatable
Ritchie
2019-11-12 22:16:14 +0000 UTC
