Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 4x10 "Hush" FULL REACTION

Oh, and did you notice that in the one scene Anya and Xander were talking about him only caring about lots of orgasms, and then in the next scene, at willow's wicca group, the first thing anyone says is "We come together.." LOL

Raven Dark

Is anyone else really, really annoyed at Xander's comment to Anya, "Wow, you really did turn into a real girl, didn't you?" Ack. That pisses me off. She wants him to care about what she thinks and treat her with respect, and that means she's being a needy annoying female. It angers me for both men and women equally, because it suggests women who expect to be treated with respect are annoying, but also that all men think that. And also, that men don't need it. So many layers of ick. And it bothers me a bit that I've seen this show a lot of times and I only thought it was offensive now.

Raven Dark

[Also re-posting for 3rd time!] Thought you might be interested in some of this info from the wiki - you CANNOT go there because there be spoilers! “The Gentlemen, called the "creepiest villains we've ever done" [at this point] by series writer Doug Petrie were inspired by a nightmare Whedon had as a child, specifically one in which he was in bed and approached by a floating monster. Whedon fashioned The Gentlemen as something from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, intending them to be frightening to children — monsters who carve out people's hearts, smiling as they do so. […] Elegantly Victorian in costume and demeanor, Whedon found their politeness and grace especially unsettling. Their metallic teeth were inspired by the intersection of Victorian culture with the height of the Industrial Age,[3] an era that Whedon considers "classically creepy".[1] For Buffy Studies scholar Rhonda Wilcox, The Gentlemen and their straitjacket wearing minions, who clumsily flap, gyrate, and crouch as they move, are representative of class disparity and patriarchy: The Gentlemen, with their Victorian suits, move effortlessly to accomplish what they set out to do while their minions, whom Whedon called "footmen", do the "dirty work”.\ [Hmm, I’ve always wondered what they were trying to say about mental health/ asylums with these minions…] Also: “Doug Jones and the other actors who played The Gentlemen had previous experience performing as monsters and were professional mines as well. This gave them an elegant grace, especially in their hand movements. Their floating effect was accomplished by suspending them from cranes with wires (digitally removed in post-production), or by pulling them on dollies. The cast found the actors in make-up and costume to be terrifying in broad daylight, and Whedon was so impressed with the physical movements of The Gentlemen that he admitted on the DVD commentary that his mocking of mimes in general "went down about 40%" after the episode was filmed.”

Bellatronics

[Re-posting for 3rd time! Other disappeared comments form previous reactions I’ll re-post later :)] I’m so glad that this episode lived up to the hype for you - and love how much you can’t get over how awesome it/the concept/the execution is. This ep is in my top 3 - there are many awesome Buffy episodes to come of course, but there’s something special about this one. This episode is written by Joss, and since I’m late you’ve probably already been told that he wrote it as a challenge to all the people that praised the show for it’s witty dialogue. That seemed to be the main thing it was known for amoung many at the time - in the industry at least, I get the impression. So he wanted to show them what he could do with an episode where more than half of it (25 mins) is free of dialogue. - But btw, still great use of sound, and music as you noted. [It’s late, I don’t have time to read all the comments here & on YT to check this! :) ] Fantastic jump scare there Liam at the end of Buffy’s dream! Xander: What?! Spike: What?! Anya: What?! Liam: What?! Lol The last ep inspired lots of Spuffy fanfic ( though for some fanfic writers the fics started straight away form season 2). This one - was the start of many a Spander fanfic. “You’re a nummy treat.” , And well, not surprising Xander was getting into the rope bondage, tying Spike to the chair there, lol. :) I too love their interaction in Xander’s basement scenes, BTW, they got away with Spike’s two finger salute past the network censors, because most Americans either don’t know it, or don’t know that it’s as rude as the American ‘flipping the one finger’. The Gentlemen utterly creeped you out - especially with their fixed permanent grins it seems - as they were meant to! One of the reasons that Hush is well loved - genuinely creepy scary monsters! Holy Shit Balls! - I’ve never said that either. 1st time i’ve written it too. :D I’ve never heard any one comment before on what great pals the Gentlemen are - very amusing observation! Excellent observation and comment on Tara too - introducing a character in an episode where they have hardly any dialogue, and mostly have to act all the hard non verbal communication, what a challenge that is when you are new to the show. I think your acting experience gives you insights that others don’t think of. You picked up on all the foreshadowing stuff about communication early in the episode that most people take a couple of watches to notice :) This type of thing, and the way lack of dialogue leads to resolution of communication issues between the characters, is what elevates the episode even more beyond the amazing creepy monsters, concept & design etc. That particular movement of one of the gentlemen pointing out/choosing the door - is indeed very creepy and quite iconic. You can get a wee little diorama figure set of 2 Gentlemen at that door with that one Gentleman doing that exact gesture. Here endeth my observations on your observations :) Thanks for a great reaction Liam.

Bellatronics

Hey Liam - just remembered - you can now peel off the covering labels on the back of your Buffy & Willow Funko Pop boxes - and the Oz one that someone else gave you. Ta da!

Bellatronics

OMFG ! i've been busy, and you're at Hush already! I'm sure your reaction to this is awesome. I've got 4 eps of Buffy & Angel to catch up on though, so won't be all tonight. Yay! Some awesome eps.

Bellatronics

I love reading these comments. I've already said most of what I wanted to say on your YouTube version, but two things: (1) Giles doesn't have "slides," they're transparencies for his overhead projector (yes, I'm old), and (2) the "scalpels" that the Gentlemen are using? They were commonly sold paring knives at the time - I had a set. 😂

Bean's friend

I remember watching a thing where they said they brought in cranes, which literally suspended the gentleman so they were actually floating - otherwise they would get messed up shadows and things...

Holi117

Oh my gosh, the Buffy jerking...... I've actually watched reactors have *no reaction* to that moment and I wanted to scream, "What is wrong with you this is one of the funniest moments in the entire show why aren't you hysterically laughing like I do every single time I see it?????" or something along those lines. lol

Aimee

Interesting about equal playing field. I was thinking 'this would be so awful in real life' EXCEPT that I would have kind of appreciated it when I'm traveling in countries where I don't speak the language. Like 'haHA I blend in now!' kinda speaks to how language can empower/unempower you

Pate

Beck scored most of season 2 and all of 3 and 4. Even when it's background music I can tell when it's Beck. :) He creates great themes for characters and couples.

Jarrod Wild

John Waters. John Waters everywhere! It makes sense that Joss directed as well as wrote this, because if you hand a script with stage directions and no dialogue to a director, they wouldn't really know what to do with it. One thing that could make the Gentlemen even more gruesome would be if they took the heart from their victims, and then stitched them up, mummified them, put them into straitjackets and made them into those minions that follow them around. Tara stutters, and as a stutterer myself, you have that anxiety about your voice and the difficulty of expression. When everyone loses their voices, it puts Tara on an equal playing field with everyone else.

Moon Logic

I agree, the score for this episode is amazing. Christophe Beck did the score for quite a few episodes of Buffy. Most of the time, for me, the score is just background noise that I barely pay attention to, but I generally find that any time I notice the score and think it enhances the story being told, it was almost always scored by Beck.

peggin

Forgot to mention, they used a different rig for the floating effect outside, because Joss wanted such a long shot. The actors were suspended from a crane rig & sort of flown above the ground. There's a cool behind the scenes video showing one of the shots being filmed. Unfortunately I can't link it just yet, because it also has BTS stuff from the next Buffy episode.

Claire Eyles

This is the first episode of Buffy I ever saw. I had heard it was a good show but I just remembered the movie being really silly and it put me off, then one night it came on the TV. I wasn't paying attention at first but within 5-10 mins I was completely engrossed yet terrified. The next day I told my sister about it and we ordered the box set and it became our favourite show of all time thanks to this episode.

Donna

Liam, you're spoiling us with all this Buffyverse content! 🧡 Great episode, definitely a fan-favourite, and there's still many more to come. Can't wait!

Great reaction. :)

Bixgirl1

Great reaction! I'm glad you liked this episode. The first time I saw it, I didn't care for it as much as most, but I was young. Having seen it since then I came to appreciate it a lot more and now I love it. As for Xander thinking Spike fed off of Anya, I think it's important to keep in mind that all along Xander has never trusted vampires or liked them in any way, like with Angel how he never fully came to really trust/accept him really, it always felt more like he just tolerated him. And even now none of them fully know what happened to make Spike the way he is or how long it's meant to last or if there are any possibilities for him to go back to how he was or get around the not being able to bite people, so I think out of the whole gang, Xander is the most likely to be in the,"I still can't trust this guy, he could turn at any second' camp. So I feel like this made perfect sense for him as a character. He already dislikes Spike and there's no way he'd fully trust him, so to see him by an unconscious Anya with blood on his mouth, it's perfectly reasonable that he would jump to that kind of conclusion about the situation.

Jayna

I feel like the Gentlemen were once gentlemen doctors who ran an insane asylum, and perhaps experimented too wildly (too boldly as Quaiburn on GoT would say) and ended up being cursed. Notice they carry old style doctor’s bags and wield scalpels and their physical assistants all wear straight jackets like patients in insane asylums. I think (but might be wrong) that this is a fairy tale made up by the show, but works wonderfully with its predecessors ‘Killed by Death’ and ‘Gingerbread’. It’s interesting that the spell worked on demons like Spike too. The rest of Sunnydale’s vampires and demons must have been freaking out.

Richard Lucas

This is one of my all-time favorite episodes and I've been looking forward to this reaction for ages! (got here way sooner than expected since you've been on a roll!) Plus it is my birthday today so you've made this the best birthday ever. -screams silently with excitement-

Jenn Rose

I loved your reaction and I completely agree with you that spoilers suck. Do you have anyone who can be your moderator for patreon/youtube comments (and/or discord)? There was an episode that Shan was reacting to on After Show Reacts where she said "How did I go this long without knowing _____ was coming? My mods are the best!" on another note you'll see here this episode was nominated for an emmy and at the time there were some critics that didn't think well of the show. There were a lot of comments to the effect, "Joss has some witty dialogue and thats all he has." so he makes a show that has no dialogue. Then the music was great so all he has is emotionally manipulative music, so he writes a show without any music what so ever. (And other surprises that we'll not get into). Needless to say this show will surprise you and break your heart from a character perspective, but it will impress you from a technical aspect too, and I'm so glad you are picking up on it, because many at the time of broadcast didn't and dismissed it. Keep it up!

Scott Rabie

I can't remember which release version it was, but there's some hilarious commentary from Joss on this episode, where he notes that Buffy's stunt double is kind of obviously more, shall we say endowed chest wise than Sarah Michelle. During the Buffy/Riley/Gentleman fight scene Joss is just like in the commentary going, "Oh look, Buffy's strapped on her fighting boobs".

Claire Eyles

That Wicca group scene as well, OMG I relate to that so much. I've been in very similar situations with some groups, where the type of Wicca I practice is a lot more traditionally based than what the groups were about, and it's not like the people in the groups weren't super nice, or anything, but it's so frustrating having to sit there and listen to a bunch of talk about stuff where you're just politely gritting your teeth and thinking, "Okay, this is all very nice and all, but can we get to the bit where we start talking about Wicca, please'.

Claire Eyles

You're killin' it with these uploads! This episode is everything! I have a shirt with Giles' drawing that says "Buffy Will Patrol Tonight". It's one of my favorite things I own. LOL. The Gentlemen where based on a nightmare one of the Buffy creators had. I want to say it was Joss but it might have been David. I love this episode so much & use the "Buffy jerking" GIF every chance I possibly get. 😂 Great reaction & still so many great episodes to come. 👏👏👏

Sisnerdly

Also Doug Jones played the lead Gentleman...great character actor.

Katherine Thoreson

The idea came to Joss for this episode because people would constantly tell Joss that this show was good because of his witty dialogue. So he said.....you think that? okay fine. here's an episode with almost no dialogue....take that. (not an exact quote) ;)

Katherine Thoreson

Good point about how hard it had to be for the actress playing Tara to create the character in almost complete silence (and even before the spell, she was shy and withdrawn and couldn't say much). She did a good job with pure physical acting.

FernWithy

I love how mousey Tara is. Fucking adorable! I think you're wrong on how easy it was to defeat the gentlemen. She had to match up her dream (the little box) with what Giles told her (the princess screamed once and they all died).

Eliza

Oh! 'nother thing--you mentioned how mimes would do great here. All the actors playing the Gentlemen were mimes! They're def some of the creepiest creepy crawlers. Joss said it's not by accident that they're all white men in suits that don't do grunt work--vague symbolism for the people who will kill you quite 'civilly' at a remove (like by taking away health insurance or lowering minimum wage) even tho their manifestations as monsters do it directly.

Pate

The floating effect for the Gentleman was done with the actors being on pull along carts & then using the rest of their bodies to convey a sense of floating alongside that. Obviously the carts were digitally edited out in post production.

Claire Eyles

Very astute, Liam, about how it'd be weird blocking scenes. The actors said they were super intimidated by the episode and the first time they rehearsed it they got thru scenes that were like 8 minutes long in 45 seconds. Also love how even without words Anya continues to be adorably vulgar. Also YAYYYY such upload speed! much love and fun!!

Pate

Great score by Chris Beck, one of his best. Production budget must have been a lot larger than usual. Gorgeous cinematography, the whites and blacks really pop in this one (plus a soft blue tint for the nighttime shots). And of course the performances are great. Joss got his one and only Emmy nomination for writing for this episode. Cute joke at the end Liam.

Jarrod Wild

HUUUUUUUUUSH!!!!! The episode we've all been waiting for.

Aimee

Back in 2004, I was trying to persuade a friend of mine that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a great show and he should watch it with me from the beginning (I had the first 5 seasons on DVD). He said he'd watch one episode of my choice, and to choose the episode I thought would convince him to watch it all. I chose "Hush." We ended up watching the whole series (I got "The Chosen Collection" box set soon after).

Rob Z

Ahhhh hush, yes!!!

Elisa H.

This was the only Buffy episode to be nominated for an Emmy in cinematography and writing as well.

Claire Eyles

Gah! Was not expecting this tonight. It's not even my birthday.

Miah

Ooh Friday night got a lot better.

Jarrod Wild

Eeeeee! *Squeals & hits play*

Claire Eyles

I was watching something else but fuck it.

Miss Timi Fantastico

gah!!!!!

Miss Timi Fantastico

Yesssssss!! So excited to watch this!

Ritchie