Listening to Fear

Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner Director: David Solomon

Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Marc Blucas as Riley Finn, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers, Charlie Weber as Ben, Amber Benson as Tara, Kevin Weisman as Dreg, Bailey Chase as Graham Miller, Nick Chinlund as Major Ellis, Randy Thompson as Dr. Kriegel. Original broadcast date : November 28, 2000 My one-line description: Not your everyday, average meteorite. The Summers women are having themselves a party in Joyce’s room when the doctor enters and informs them that Joyce’s surgery is scheduled for two days from then. Joyce can’t stand the thought of staying in the hospital that long, plus she’s worried that Buffy is skipping patrol. However, Buffy reassures her, saying that Riley and the Scoobies are filling in for her. Actually, make that the Scoobies sans Riley… Giles, Xander and Willow take care of two female vampires – with Giles almost getting knocked out in the process – and the gang deplores Riley’s absence. But Riley is, ahem, otherwise occupied. In an old, abandoned building, he’s getting his arm sucked on by a vampire… Willow appears at the hospital wearing gifts – a beer hat for Joyce, a book on the history of witchcraft for Dawn, and a history book for Buffy. Willow also tells Buffy about an exam on World War I they have to prepare for, but Buffy isn’t sure she’ll have the time to take it. Suddenly, Joyce declares that she’d rip up the test and put it in bed with her… The girls stare at her in shock, but she comments that she just needs some rest. Willow and Buffy try to calm a rather freaked Dawn, and Ben, just arriving, tries to help. Changing subjects, he complains that the mental ward is so overflowing that patients with families are being sent home. Lying on a rooftop stargazing that evening, Willow and Tara suddenly see a meteorite fall to earth… Not far from where the meteor has landed, an older man – obviously one of the released mental patients – walks alone talking to himself. As he passes under a tree, something falls onto his back and attacks him. A bit later, the creature enters the hospital’s emergency room, crawling on the ceiling unnoticed by anyone… In her room, Joyce is angrily trying to use the emergency button while Buffy tries to calm her down. When the doctor arrives, Buffy informs him that her mother wants to go home before the surgery. The doctor reluctantly agrees, provided that Buffy will take full responsibility for her. The Slayer asks what she needs, and the doctor starts describing how to administer medication and take vitals, as Joyce clamors for them to go home right now. In the woods, the Scoobies are investigating the meteor with Riley’s help (even though Xander isn’t happy Riley bailed on them the previous time). Riley apologize, and then inspects the meteor. He finds it to be hollow, and the Scoobies realize something must have used it to come down to Earth. As they investigate further, they find the mental patient… dead. Riley finds a disgusting, smelly goo in the body’s mouth, and the Scoobies vote to do research. They leave, sans Riley, who claims to prefer a good crime scene to research. Left alone, he calls the military… In the mental ward, one patient is very agitated, asking the nurse not to leave; however, she turns off the lights and closes the door. The meteorite creature climbs on the patient and vomits goo into his mouth… Joyce is ready to go back home, and the doctors give Buffy some emergency phone numbers and last-minute instructions. Right then, Joyce starts rambling incoherently again; Buffy tries to explain, but the doctor understands and invites her and Dawn to take their mother home. The girls leave, as the creature watches from the ceiling… At the house, the girls turn off the lights – which are too bright for their mother – and Buffy takes Joyce upstairs to her bed. Riley waits as a helicopter lands near the meteor crash site. He greets his old friend Graham Miller and a Major Ellis, who he fills in about the goo in the mental patient’s mouth – a protein alkaloid, according to him. He informs Major Ellis it’s extraterrestrial in origin and should have a trace radiation signature. Ellis’ team starts investigating with Geiger counters. Buffy and Dawn watch TV, trying to ignore their mother’s strange behaviour – Joyce is in the kitchen making breakfast even though it’s late evening. They lead her back upstairs to her room, not knowing something is hiding in the staircase… Upstairs, Buffy gives Joyce her medication, and Dawn says goodnight to her mother. Joyce rejects her, calling her a “thing”. Outside, Buffy tries to comfort Dawn, who feels that lately a lot of people have been calling her a thing. At the UC Sunnydale library, the Scoobies investigate meteor landings. The find out about the Queller Impact, a meteor landing in the 12th century in Iceland; apparently the people thought the moon caused some to go mad, and would pray to the moon to send a special meteor to quell that madness. Willow establishes a historical correlation between plagues of madness stopping and a meteor falling. Tara wonders who could have summoned the Queller, and Xander suggests it might be Glory. Knowing they can’t call Buffy, the Scoobies reach Riley instead. Riley takes Willow’s call at the mental ward, where he’s found five corpses, which leads him to believe the Scoobies, theory about the Queller. Avoiding telling her about his involving the military, he asks that she let him know if she finds a way to kill the Queller. She suggests the gang come and help him, but he hangs up. In her bedroom, Joyce lies in her bed speaking nonsense at the ceiling. In her room, Dawn can’t bear to hear her mother anymore. Downstairs, Buffy, busy washing dishes, turns up the radio so she can cry without anyone hearing her. As Joyce continues her ramblings, the Queller stares down at her from the ceiling… At the hospital, Graham tracks the Queller with his Geiger counter, and the search leads him outside to the parking lot. He theorizes that it must have hitched a ride with a patient going home. Riley realizes where it went… In Joyce’s room, the Queller finally falls from the ceiling, attacking her. Dawn hears the attack and goes to see what’s happening. She finds the Queller spitting goo in Joyce’s face, and knocks it off her mother with a coat hanger. The Queller goes after her, and Dawn screams for Buffy. But her sister is busy covering up her tears in loud music and running water… Dawn runs back in Joyce’s room and barricades herself inside, again screaming for Buffy. The Slayer finally hears her and runs upstairs. After Dawn tells her about the creature, Buffy instructs her and Joyce to stay in the room, and she locks them in. In the hallway, the Queller falls onto her and they both tumble down the stairs. The Queller slithers away, and Buffy grabs a knife from the kitchen. As she creeps stealthily, following the noise, Spike emerges from her basement; stunned, she demands to know what he’s doing there, and he claims to be stealing stuff from her basement (wait a minute… are those pictures of Buffy he’s hiding?) – however, the explanation is cut short when Spike is attacked by the Queller. Buffy gets it off him and, with Spike’s help, stabs the Queller to death. Riley and his commandos burst inside the house, and he asks Buffy if she’s OK; without answering, she runs upstairs, while Spike gloats to Riley that he missed a real nice time. Upstairs, Buffy comforts her mother and sister. Leaving the hospital, Ben climbs into his car and finds Dreg there. The minion wants to know why Ben summoned the Queller. “Because I’m cleaning up Glory’s mess,” Ben angrily replies. “Just like I’ve done my whole damn life.” At the hospital, the nurses have finished prepping Joyce for surgery. Sharing a last private moment with Buffy, she reveals that her episode of madness made her suspect Dawn isn’t her daughter, which Buffy confirms. However, Joyce comments, she knows that Dawn somehow belongs to them, that she is as precious to the world as Buffy is to her mother. She asks Buffy to take care of Dawn, and Buffy promises. Then Joyce is wheeled into surgery, as Buffy, Dawn and the whole Scooby Gang watch her go. Summary by OttsFiveByFive.

Episode Ratings

Mac - “Although the mental patients come into play a little more later in the season, 99% of this episode is unneeded and silly.”

Quotes

Key: B=Buffy, G=Giles, X=Xander, W=Willow, R=Riley, S=Spike, A=Anya, D=Dawn, T=Tara, J=Joyce

J: Listen, you two, I know this creamed spinach is pretty delicious, but I promise I won’t be offended if you go out for some real food. B: Are you kidding me? This is the good life. Relaxing in bed while people bring you food on trays. D: I like the jell-o. J: Help yourself. There’s something about food that moves by itself that gives me the heebie-jeebies. D: It’s good and wiggly. There’s a girl at school told me that gelatin is made from ground up cows feet, and that if you eat jell-o there’s some cows that are limping with no feet, but I told her I’m sure they kill ’em before they take off their feet… right? B: You’re the one who insisted on teaching her to talk.

J: I woke up exhausted. There’s really no more exhausted to get.

B: Waiting? Give me a break. We got tons to do. D: We have soap operas to watch, and trashy magazines to read. B: And an adjustable bed to fiddle with. That alone can keep me busy for four hours or so.

X: Hey, human chest, human chest! G: Sorry.

G: Oh my god, what a rough night. W: Ha haa! I just did two of ’em! Yay on me. That was pretty cool. Except the part where I was all terrified, and now my knees are all dizzy.

W: Oh, piffle, who needs him when I’m dusting two at a ti– //her knees buckle and the boys catch her// Whoops. Maybe it would have been good if he had showed up.

W: Oh, I feel just like Santa Claus, except thinner and younger, and female, and, well, Jewish.

W: This is an extra special gift for your mom that I know she’ll need: a beer hat!

W: And somehow, when I was in the store, this seemed like the most important idea, and now there’s the whole part where I’m crazy.

B: You got her a book on spells? The girl who can break things by just looking at them, now has a book to teach her to… break things by looking at ’em?

W: Buffy, I have this for you. B: Homework? Ehh… I don’t believe in tiny Jewish Santa anymore.

J: I’d rip it in half and stick it in bed with me!

W: She’ll be all normal all the time. D: Is that right? B: Hey, Santa doesn’t lie.

B: The crazy man was a little, you know, crazy.

W: You know what’s weird? T: Japanese commercials are weird.

W: You know, I used to love to look up at them when I was little. They’re supposed to make you feel all insignificant, but they made me feel like… like I was in space, part of the stars.

W: There’s Canis Minor, and Cassiopeia. T: And the Big Pineapple. W: Um, you know, I’m not sure I remember that one…

T: The real ones never made sense to me. I sort of have my own. W: Teach me. T: See those stars over there? “Short man looking uncomfortable.” “A moose getting a sponge bath.” “Little pile o’ crackers.” That… that was a bit of a stretch. You do it. What would you call… that one. W: Let’s see. A huge flaming meteor about to crash into something!

J: I bet it’s not even hooked up to anything. Just like the push buttons at the crosswalk that are supposed to make the signal change. B: I’m sure someone’s on– What? The push buttons aren’t hooked up to anything?

Doctor: There’s no reason to get upset. J: No reason to get upset? Oh, right, sorry. I must just think there is because of my brain tumor!

R: Heard I missed out on some fun. X: Oh, yeah, fun was had. Also frolic, merriment, and near-death hi-jinks.

W: Whoa. We have meteorite.

R: No, it’s not hot, it’s warm. And broken. And sort of… G: Hollow? R: Yeah. A: So, we’re all thinking the same thing, right? X: Festive pinata? Delicious candy? W: Something evil crashed to Earth in this, and then broke out and slithered away to do badness. G: In all fairness, we don’t really know about the “slithered” part. A: Oh, no. I’m sure it frisked about like a fluffy lamb.

R: No pulse. A: Yep, the space lamb got him.

R: That might be toxic. Don’t touch it. X: Oh, yeah, touching it was my first impulse. Luckily, I’ve moved on to my second, which involves dry-heaving and running like hell.

W: We can’t call Buffy. I want to call Buffy!

W: So, we’ll just figure this out ourselves. We’re experienced. A: Yes, ’cause it seems like we’re always dealing with creatures from outer space… except that we don’t ever do that.

G: Perhaps we should explore a bit more. Head into the woods a bit. //pause// X: Who votes research? A: Me. W: Research. G: Much better idea. R: Yeah, I think that’s a good call.

R: I’m just not great at research. Which I’m sure you guys figured out. I like me a good crime scene.

R: Believe me, something jumps out at me in the dark, you’ll hear me even without the phone.

W: I don’t want to be the one that finds the bodies anymore.

Graham: You found a stiff in the woods and called us in? Don’t you usually call your girlfriend for this kind of thing?

R: Not subterrestrial, Major. Extraterrestrial.

X: Look at how teeny Mercury is, compared to, like, Saturn. Whereas in contrast, the cars of the same name…

X: I still don’t get why we had to come here to get info about a killer snot demon. G: Because it’s a killer snot demon from outer space. //pause// I did not say that.

G: Demons enter our world in all sorts of different ways. This one came from above. X: And the university library’s astronomy section is the home of aboveness. Got it.

G: Well, then, it would appear that the world is not being invaded. T: I’m pretty pleased about that.

W: Some witnesses claimed the meteor was hollow. X: Hmm, maybe with a chewy demon center, like ours.

G: As if something emerged from the meteors, and quelled the madmen. X: Meteor go boom, crazy guy go bye-bye.

B: What the hell are you doing in my house? S: Right, then… caught me. Your basement’s full of junk, and me being in need of… junk… B: You were stealing? S: Well, yeah. Can’t exactly work the counter at Burger Barn, can I? B: Wait– are those pictures of me??

J; No matter what she is, she still feels like my daughter. I have to know that you’ll take care of her, that you’ll keep her safe, that you’ll love her like I love you. B: I promise.

Credit: The Sunnydale Slayers