Hush (Buffy episode)
Encyclopedia
"Hush" is the tenth episode in the fourth season
of the fantasy television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003). It was written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon
and originally aired in the United States on December 14, 1999 on The WB Television Network
. After reading critical response to the series in which the dialogue was praised as the most successful aspect of the show, Whedon set out to write an episode almost completely devoid of speech. Only about 17 minutes of dialogue is presented in the entire 44 minutes of "Hush".
The premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer involves an adolescent girl named Buffy Summers
who is chosen by mystical forces and endowed with superhuman powers in order to defeat vampires, demons, and other evils in the fictional town of Sunnydale
. She accomplishes this with the assistance of a close circle of friends and family. In "Hush", a group of fairy tale ghouls named "The Gentlemen" come to town and steal everyone's voices, leaving them unable to scream when The Gentlemen cut out their hearts. Buffy and her friends must communicate with one another silently as they try to discover why no one can speak and find whoever is murdering the townspeople. They must also find ways to express their feelings about each other and keep some semblance of control as the town descends into chaos.
The episode was highly praised when it aired and was the only episode in the entire series to be nominated for an Emmy Award
in Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series; it also received a nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single Camera Series (Michael Gershman
). "Hush" addresses the limits and assets of language and communication and the disruption to society when communication breaks down. The Gentlemen are often counted as some of the series' most frightening villains, and the episode is frequently included on lists of the best of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
) is assisted by her close friends, who refer to themselves collectively as the "Scooby Gang". The gang's members vary but always include Xander Harris
(Nicholas Brendon
), a young man who is devoted and loyal to Buffy and her calling, and who often sees emotional truths to which the others are blind; and Willow Rosenberg
(Alyson Hannigan
), a shy but academically gifted student who increasingly dabbles in magic, beginning late in the second season. They are mentored by Rupert Giles
(Anthony Stewart Head), Buffy's "Watcher", and are eventually joined by Xander's new girlfriend Anya Jenkins
(Emma Caulfield
), who was a vengeance demon until her powers were taken away. She and Xander are attracted to each other, but Anya's thousand-year history of embodying the wrath of scorned women creates friction between them and they must figure out what their relationship means.
Buffy and Willow begin to attend college in the fourth season. They take a Psychology course taught by Dr. Maggie Walsh
(Lindsay Crouse
), who has a teaching assistant named Riley Finn
(Marc Blucas
). Riley and Buffy become romantically involved. He is part of a secret demon- and vampire-hunting military organization, a fact which is known to viewers but not to Buffy. The military organization, named The Initiative, has previously captured a vampire named Spike (James Marsters
) and implanted a microchip in his head that causes him extreme pain when he tries to hurt humans. Spike escapes, however, and is hiding from the Initiative by living with Giles and then with Xander.
Earlier in the fourth season Willow's boyfriend, Oz, left college in an attempt to grapple with the uncontrollable feral side of being a werewolf
, leaving Willow devastated for several episodes. To distract herself, she becomes more involved in magic, practicing spells with varying degrees of success, and trying to socialize with the campus Wicca
group.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (often simplified as Buffy) exhibited a writing style unique to television when it aired, specifically with its critically acclaimed dialogue. Each season has an overall theme. As noted by Buffy scholar Roz Kaveney, episodes in the fourth season address authority, order, and the estrangement from the self and others as Buffy and her friends take on new roles after high school.
At Giles' apartment Xander and Anya argue, as Anya is trying to get Xander to tell her what she means to him. He is unable to answer her. Willow attends a meeting of the campus Wicca group, hoping to meet others who share her interest in studying witchcraft, but is disappointed when they only talk about bake sale
s. Willow raises the subject of spells but is chastised for pandering to the stereotype about witches performing magic. A shy blond woman in the group named Tara Maclay
(Amber Benson
) starts to speak up to support Willow's suggestion, but falls silent when the attention turns to her.
That night, as Sunnydale sleeps, white wisps float from each person's mouth to a belfry, where they settle in the box from Buffy's dream as ghoulish skeletal figures with metallic-toothed grimaces and impeccable black suits look on. In the morning, Buffy and Willow discover they are unable to speak and become visibly distressed; they soon discover that everybody is unable to speak. The group gathers at Giles' where they see that the news is reporting that Sunnydale is suffering from an epidemic of laryngitis. Buffy and Riley, each concerned that chaos will ensue, find each other attempting to keep order on the streets. They exchange a look and then have their first kiss before parting to continue their efforts.
The next night, the ghouls leave the belfry and float into town accompanied by their straitjacketed, deformed minions. They knock on the door of a student. When he opens it, aroused from sleeping, they hold him down and carve out his heart while he tries in vain to scream. At Giles' apartment his visiting girlfriend, Olivia, is frightened by one of The Gentlemen outside Giles' window. The following morning in a campus classroom, Giles uses a series of overhead transparencies
to explain to the others that The Gentlemen steal the townspeople's voices so no one can scream as they gather the hearts they need, and that folklore indicates that they have been vanquished before when a princess screamed—the only thing that will kill them is a live human voice.
That evening, Anya falls asleep on Giles' sofa while Spike takes a mugful of blood from the refrigerator. Xander enters Giles' apartment as Spike, his mouth wet with blood, bends down to pick up something that he dropped in front of the sofa where Anya sleeps. Inferring that Spike bit and drank from Anya, Xander pummels him ferociously until Anya wakes and stops him; excited that he fought to defend her, Anya gestures that they go home for sex.
On her own Tara finds a spell to help the town get its voices back, and goes out to show it to Willow. On the way to Willow's dorm she trips, turns around and sees The Gentlemen floating toward her. In Willow's dorm she frantically knocks on doors which no one will open; The Gentlemen steadily pursue her. Willow hears Tara's panicked knocking down the hall and exits her room as Tara sprints into her, sending them both tumbling. They lock themselves into a laundry room and try to barricade the door with a vending machine, but it is too heavy for them to move. Willow, injured, sits and concentrates on moving the machine with telekinesis; she fails, but Tara sees what she is doing. They clasp hands and the machine moves swiftly across the room, blocking the door.
On patrol, Riley notices shadows in the belfry and goes to investigate. Buffy finds two of The Gentlemen's minions, kills one and runs after the other. Riley fights his way into the belfry and while he's embattled, Buffy crashes through a window, fighting. He turns to attack and finds himself face to face with Buffy. She fights while he stares, unmoving. When a minion pins her down she sees and recognizes the box from her dream and gesticulates wildly for Riley to destroy it. When he does so, the stolen voices escape. Buffy screams until the heads of The Gentlemen and their minions explode.
The next day, Tara tells Willow she is special and has significant power. Riley comes to visit Buffy in her dorm room and they sit facing each other, saying nothing.
The Gentlemen, called the "creepiest villains we've ever done" 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. Nosferatu, Pinhead
from Hellraiser
, and Mr. Burns from The Simpsons
all served as physical models for The Gentlemen. 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
, an era that Whedon considers "classically creepy". 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".
Doug Jones
and the other actors who played The Gentlemen had previous experience performing as monsters and were professional mime
s 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.
As newcomers to the Scooby Gang, Tara Maclay and Giles' girlfriend Olivia (Phina Oruche
) are inexperienced with monsters, and were brought in to express "real childlike terror". Willow had, after three seasons, grown considerably more confident, having found her intellectual and emotional niche at college, and therefore was no longer evincing the terror she once had; Tara, shy, unsure of herself, and unaccustomed to such experiences, served to fill the gap that Willow's maturing had created. According to Buffy essayist Patrick Shade, Tara's and Olivia's fear "heighten(s) our sense of vulnerability and so make these scenes more frightening". Joss Whedon has said that one of his favorite shots in the episode is of Olivia's frightened reaction to a Gentlemen floating by her window, leering in at her.
Tara became a regularly recurring character through the sixth season, eventually becoming Willow's girlfriend in what would be the first long-term lesbian relationship in U.S. television. The writers decided to replace Seth Green
, who played Oz, Willow's lycanthropic boyfriend, after he announced that he would be leaving early in the fourth season. They were unaware at the time that the relationship between Willow and Tara would become romantic, but Benson's performance and demeanor "made up our minds for us", according to Whedon. The writers wanted to make the scene in which Tara and Willow move the vending machine by working together "sensual and powerful", and "a very empowering statement about love; that two people together can accomplish more than when they're alone". Whedon considers the scene one of the "most romantic images we've put on film" in the course of the series. Benson and Hannigan's chemistry was impressive enough that two episodes into Tara and Willow's friendship Whedon took the actors aside and informed them the relationship would be turning romantic.
The episode is a tribute to the silent films that were played in theaters with musical accompaniment, and 27 minutes of it are entirely dialogue-free. Several types of music are used to express what is not being said; music acts as the narrator. During Giles' overhead presentation he plays a recorded version of Camille Saint-Saëns
' Danse Macabre
. Buffy and Riley's love theme is presented for the first time when they kiss in this episode. This composition by Christophe Beck
—who composed scores for Buffy regularly—pleased Joss Whedon more than the Buffy and Angel love theme. He considered the Buffy-Riley theme more adult, but a bit more strange and blue than the Buffy-Angel theme: a prediction of where the relationship between Buffy and Riley would go.
, and employed as a means of avoiding truth. Whedon stated that he was unaware of how "inevitably coherent" this theme was until after the script was completed. Buffy and Riley are unable to act upon their attraction because they cannot stop babbling, primarily to keep their true identities concealed from each other, but also to avoid becoming closer emotionally. Xander is unable or unwilling to express what Anya means to him, and Anya, still new at interacting with humans, uses blunt, often rude language that distances herself from all the other characters. Giles desperately wants the others to stop talking. Willow considers the women in the Wicca group to be nonsensical, later complaining to Buffy "Talk, all talk. Blah blah Gaia. Blah blah moon, menstrual lifeforce power thingy. You know after a couple sessions I was hoping we would get into something real, but..." These pseudo conversations are what Buffy essayists Alice Jenkins and Susan Stuart refer to as "locutionary act
s": language that is formed to have meaning but does not engage the listener.
When finally faced with the loss of speech, the characters readily express what they feel. Buffy and Riley, after a series of eyebrow movements and simply mouthed questions, are able to kiss spontaneously. Xander's actions are very clearly directed toward protecting Anya and punishing Spike for harming her, and likewise, within a matter of moments Anya's doubts about how Xander feels about her have disappeared and she becomes instantly affectionate towards him again. Tara, who was overcome with shyness while speaking during the Wicca meeting, easily expresses courage when touching Willow, and Willow realizes she has finally found someone who understands and shares what she is seeking.
Without speech, the Scoobies resort to gestures or writing. Humorous misperceptions arise from this gesturing when, for example, Buffy mimes driving in a stake—as though killing a vampire—too close to her pelvis, causing the Scoobies to think she is suggesting masturbating to rid the town of The Gentlemen. In the belfry, while Buffy and Riley are fighting The Gentlemen, Buffy indicates that Riley should smash the box from her dream. He misunderstands and breaks a jar beside it, looks up and grins, awaiting Buffy's approval. The clumsiness of the characters' gesturing is in direct contrast to the grace of The Gentlemen, who communicate easily through gestures and other visual signals. Their communication is simple and direct; nods, head tilts, and hand movements, achieve exactly what they want it to. The Scoobies, however, are confused and accomplish the opposite of what they intend. When they are rendered silent they are also rendered useless, unsure of how to fight The Gentlemen. According to two Buffy essayists, part of the horror stemming from the arrival of The Gentlemen is the silence that makes the people of Sunnydale helpless, easy victims.
Jenkins and Stuart assert that through the loss of speech, the communication in "Hush" is transformed from the senseless locutionary to the perlocutionary
: acts upon which ideas are conveyed into instant meaning and action. The scream uttered by Buffy to destroy The Gentlemen has severe implications for them although it has no real meaning. Even Tara's writing down Willow's room number before going to her dorm communicates that she has been thinking of Willow and wishes to find her. This act confirms to both Tara and the audience that she is interested in Willow.
15:1 is written on a signboard—an allusion to the seven angels with seven plagues as there are seven Gentlemen, according to author Nikki Stafford). Opportunistic capitalist fervor results in a man selling overpriced dry erase boards
. Community, notes Patrick Shade (citing sociologist George Herbert Mead
), consists of institutions such as language, religion, and economics. When one institution disappears, Sunnydale residents begin to depend more heavily on the others. Mostly, however, individuals are isolated from one another during the silence. Even the Scoobies find their bonds shaken, as they are unable to use the witty banter that has marked them as a group thus far. (This awkwardness extended even to the actors: the first silent scene the entire cast attempted was the Scoobies gathering in Giles' apartment following the discovery that all of Sunnydale's denizens had lost their voices. It took several rehearsals as the scene came out mistimed, with all of the actors having trouble playing off one another without the use of verbal cues, or all pantomiming over one another.) Without a common language to fall back upon the Scoobies are forced to depend on their shared history to help them recover well enough to be able to take action.
The resolution to this isolation and ineffectiveness is speaking out: restoring the voices of the people of Sunnydale. Shade states that this facet of the episode gives it a political overtone. Noel Murray from The AV Club writes that the silence imposed by The Gentlemen is a metaphor for how evil spreads: "When dissent is stifled, or people fail to tell the truth, or when we’re just distracted by other concerns, things can get out of hand." Authority figures in the series, such as the school principal, the mayor's office, and the Sunnydale Police Department, repeatedly either abet the town's endemic evil or choose not to hear about it. During "Hush", at Giles' apartment the Scoobies listen to a newscaster reporting that authorities in the town attribute the silence to a flu vaccine gone awry, causing mass laryngitis. Wilcox writes, "[H]ow many times will we see those in power maintain such a silence while evil proceeds? It is not surprising that [The Gentlemen's] attendants wear straitjackets; their garb suggests the insanity of such behavior—the pretense of civilized politeness while killing is accepted is a matter of course."
to create a moral panic
in Sunnydale. "Hush" is often compared to these episodes because they contain similar elements. Whedon intended The Gentlemen to be Brothers Grimm-like monsters, with Giles playing the role of the wise man, Buffy the princess, and Tara the "little girl wandering through the woods". In this incarnation, however, Buffy is a swashbuckling
princess whose scream saves the town.Joss Whedon reported in the DVD commentary that the actual scream was dubbed from another actor. Instead of being the damsel in distress
she is the hero, breaking through a boarded-up window in the belfry, then grabbing a rope and swinging across the room to kill one of The Gentlemen's footmen by smashing her feet into his chest.
In many Buffy episodes, understanding why evil has appeared is important in knowing how to fight it, but the reasons for The Gentlemen's arrival and their need to take seven human hearts are never made explicit; they are simply there. According to Giles' overhead transparencies, they can appear in any town. Several Buffy scholars assert that a sexual element similar to what is presented in classic fairy tales is evident in "Hush". Buffy often has prophetic dreams, and it is in a dream that she first sees one of The Gentlemen; she sees a flash of his face just as Riley touches her shoulder. Buffy has only been sexually intimate twice before: with the vampire Angel, whose lovemaking cost him his soul, and with the womanizing Parker Abrams. Riley is notably different from both and Buffy's anxiety about becoming intimate with him, according to scholars, either calls The Gentlemen to Sunnydale or is represented by them. The Gentlemen murder by cutting chests open and removing hearts: penetrative acts. In Buffy's dream Riley says, "If I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down" and when he does so, it instantly becomes night, as if Buffy has crossed over a threshold. Riley's kiss creates physical and emotional intimacy, but initiates mental, intuitive knowledge as well: in this episode Buffy learns of Riley's secret role as a member of The Initiative. Threshold imagery is again used when Tara and Willow block the door with their combined efforts, shutting The Gentlemen out.
of 4.1 and a share of 7, meaning more than 4 million people watched it. The episode placed fifth in its timeslot and 93rd among broadcast television for the week of December 13–19, 2001. It was the most watched program on WB that night, and the second most watched program that week, trailing 7th Heaven
.
"Hush" was highly praised when it aired, not only for its riskiness in presenting viewers with extended silence, but for the frightening qualities of The Gentlemen. Robert Bianco from USA Today
comments, "(i)n a medium in which producers tend to grow bored with their own creations, either trashing them or taking them in increasingly bizarre directions, Whedon continues to find new ways to make his fabulously entertaining series richer and more compelling. With or without words, he's a TV treasure." In the Ottawa Citizen
, Chuck Barney writes, "I wondered if this enormously entertaining cult favourite would lose some starch once our favourite little slayer moved on to college. But happily, it continues to win us over with the way it deftly bounces between the genres of comedy, horror and romance. The recent silent episode (Hush) was brilliant." Alan Sepinwall in The Star-Ledger
calls it a "magnificently daring episode", explaining "(w)hat makes it particularly brave is that, even when Buffy has been failing to click dramatically this year, the show has still been able to get by on the witty dialogue, which is all but absent after the first few scenes. Whedon finds ways to get around that, with several cast members—particularly Anthony Head as the scholarly Giles and Alyson Hannigan as nervous witch Willow—proving to be wonderfully expressive silent comedians."
Likewise, in the New York Daily News
, David Bianculli states that the episode is "a true tour de force, and another inventive triumph for this vastly underrated series" Brian Courtis in Australia's Sunday Age
agrees, and writes that "Hush" is "(c)lever, well-written and brightly directed ... Buffy at its best." Robert Hanks from The Independent
in the UK writes that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in most weeks the funniest and cleverest programme on TV, reached new heights" with "Hush". Noel Murray in The A.V. Club
calls it an "episode unlike any other, with a lusher score and some of the most genuinely disturbing imagery I've yet seen on Buffy." The episode was included among 13 of the scariest films or television shows by Salon.com
, and justified by Stephanie Zacharek, who states it "scans just like one of those listless dreams in which you try to scream, and can't. Everybody's had 'em—and yet the way the eerie quiet of 'Hush' sucks you in, you feel as if the experience is privately, and unequivocally, your own."
"Hush" was the only episode of the entire Buffy series to be nominated for an Emmy Award
in the Writing in a Drama Series category. It also received a Writers Guild of America Award
nomination. Following the series finale in 2003, "Hush" continued to receive praise. Lisa Rosen in the Los Angeles Times
states that the episode is "one of TV's most terrifying hours". Smashing Magazine
counted "Hush" as one of the top ten television episodes that inspire creativity. Keith McDuffee of TV Squad named it the best Buffy episode in the series, writing "(i)f someone who had never seen Buffy (blasphemy!) asked me to show them just one episode of the show to get them hooked, this would be it". TV.com
named it as the fourth most frightening episode in television history.
Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post
listed the scene in which Buffy mimes staking The Gentlemen and its humorous misunderstandings by the other characters among the top five best Buffy moments, especially praising Sarah Michelle Gellar's (Buffy) comedic acting. Nikki Stafford, author of Bite Me! The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer writes "Hush" is "mind-blowing" and "one of the best hours of television ever". For Buffy studies scholar Roz Kaveney, the primary reason "Hush" was successful was the acting strengths of the central cast. "Hush" serves as Alyson Hannigan's (Willow) favorite episode of the Buffy series, and the one Nicholas Brendon (Xander) considers the most frightening. Series writer Jane Espenson
stated the episode "redefined what an episode of television could do".
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 4)
- Crew :Series creator Joss Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner, and wrote and directed four episodes including the season premiere and finale. Marti Noxon was promoted to supervising producer and wrote or co-wrote five episodes. Jane Espenson was promoted to co-producer and wrote or...
of the fantasy television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003). It was written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
and originally aired in the United States on December 14, 1999 on The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
. After reading critical response to the series in which the dialogue was praised as the most successful aspect of the show, Whedon set out to write an episode almost completely devoid of speech. Only about 17 minutes of dialogue is presented in the entire 44 minutes of "Hush".
The premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer involves an adolescent girl named Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
who is chosen by mystical forces and endowed with superhuman powers in order to defeat vampires, demons, and other evils in the fictional town of Sunnydale
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
. She accomplishes this with the assistance of a close circle of friends and family. In "Hush", a group of fairy tale ghouls named "The Gentlemen" come to town and steal everyone's voices, leaving them unable to scream when The Gentlemen cut out their hearts. Buffy and her friends must communicate with one another silently as they try to discover why no one can speak and find whoever is murdering the townspeople. They must also find ways to express their feelings about each other and keep some semblance of control as the town descends into chaos.
The episode was highly praised when it aired and was the only episode in the entire series to be nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series; it also received a nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single Camera Series (Michael Gershman
Michael Gershman (director)
Michael E. Gershman is a American cinematographer and television director. He is best known for his work on the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He made is directorial debut in the series with the episode "Passion". He was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award in 2000 for "Outstanding...
). "Hush" addresses the limits and assets of language and communication and the disruption to society when communication breaks down. The Gentlemen are often counted as some of the series' most frightening villains, and the episode is frequently included on lists of the best of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Background
From the beginning of the series Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle GellarSarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
) is assisted by her close friends, who refer to themselves collectively as the "Scooby Gang". The gang's members vary but always include Xander Harris
Xander Harris
Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as in numerous items in the series Expanded Universe, such as comic books, tie-in novels and video games...
(Nicholas Brendon
Nicholas Brendon
Nicholas Brendon , is an actor best known for his character Xander Harris in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer .-Early life:...
), a young man who is devoted and loyal to Buffy and her calling, and who often sees emotional truths to which the others are blind; and Willow Rosenberg
Willow Rosenberg
Willow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan...
(Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Lee Hannigan is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg in the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films, and Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.-Early life:Hannigan was born in...
), a shy but academically gifted student who increasingly dabbles in magic, beginning late in the second season. They are mentored by Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure...
(Anthony Stewart Head), Buffy's "Watcher", and are eventually joined by Xander's new girlfriend Anya Jenkins
Anya Jenkins
Anya is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also appears in the comic book series based on the television show. Portrayed by Emma Caulfield, the character appears as a guest star in the third and fourth seasons of the show before...
(Emma Caulfield
Emma Caulfield
Emma Caulfield is an American actress best known for her role as ex-demon Anya Jenkins on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as Susan Keats, a love interest of Brandon Walsh's on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210.-Early life:Emma Caulfield was born Emma Chukker in San...
), who was a vengeance demon until her powers were taken away. She and Xander are attracted to each other, but Anya's thousand-year history of embodying the wrath of scorned women creates friction between them and they must figure out what their relationship means.
Buffy and Willow begin to attend college in the fourth season. They take a Psychology course taught by Dr. Maggie Walsh
Maggie Walsh
Professor Maggie Walsh is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Lindsay Crouse.-History:...
(Lindsay Crouse
Lindsay Crouse
-Early life:Crouse was born in New York City, the daughter of Anna and Russel Crouse, a playwright. Her full name—Lindsay Ann Crouse—is an intentional tribute to the Broadway writing partnership of Lindsay and Crouse. Her father and his writing partner, Howard Lindsay, wrote much of...
), who has a teaching assistant named Riley Finn
Riley Finn
Riley Finn is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Portrayed by Marc Blucas, Riley was introduced in the 1999 season four premiere episode, "The Freshman", and Blucas was part of the series credited cast for the second part of season four...
(Marc Blucas
Marc Blucas
Marcus Paul "Marc" Blucas is an American actor, known for playing Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:...
). Riley and Buffy become romantically involved. He is part of a secret demon- and vampire-hunting military organization, a fact which is known to viewers but not to Buffy. The military organization, named The Initiative, has previously captured a vampire named Spike (James Marsters
James Marsters
James Wesley Marsters is an American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond yobbish English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel from 1997 to 2004...
) and implanted a microchip in his head that causes him extreme pain when he tries to hurt humans. Spike escapes, however, and is hiding from the Initiative by living with Giles and then with Xander.
Earlier in the fourth season Willow's boyfriend, Oz, left college in an attempt to grapple with the uncontrollable feral side of being a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
, leaving Willow devastated for several episodes. To distract herself, she becomes more involved in magic, practicing spells with varying degrees of success, and trying to socialize with the campus Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
group.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (often simplified as Buffy) exhibited a writing style unique to television when it aired, specifically with its critically acclaimed dialogue. Each season has an overall theme. As noted by Buffy scholar Roz Kaveney, episodes in the fourth season address authority, order, and the estrangement from the self and others as Buffy and her friends take on new roles after high school.
Plot
During a college lecture where Dr. Walsh is discussing the difference between language and communication, Buffy has a dream in which Riley kisses her. They are interrupted by a young girl holding a distinctive box, singing a cryptic rhyme about "The Gentlemen". Riley and Buffy speak after class and they almost kiss, but are unable to stop talking. They leave when it becomes awkward. Buffy calls Giles to tell him of her dream and the details of the little girl's rhyme.At Giles' apartment Xander and Anya argue, as Anya is trying to get Xander to tell her what she means to him. He is unable to answer her. Willow attends a meeting of the campus Wicca group, hoping to meet others who share her interest in studying witchcraft, but is disappointed when they only talk about bake sale
Bake sale
A bake sale is a fundraising activity where baked goods such as doughnuts, cupcakes and cookies, sometimes along with ethnic foods, are sold. Bake sales are usually held by small, non-profit organizations, such as clubs, school groups and charitable organizations...
s. Willow raises the subject of spells but is chastised for pandering to the stereotype about witches performing magic. A shy blond woman in the group named Tara Maclay
Tara Maclay
Tara Maclay is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed by Amber Benson from the fourth to the sixth season until the character's death. Tara is a shy young woman with magical talents who falls in love...
(Amber Benson
Amber Benson
Amber Nicole Benson is an American actress, writer, film director, and film producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but has also directed, produced and starred in her own films Chance and Lovers, Liars & Lunatics...
) starts to speak up to support Willow's suggestion, but falls silent when the attention turns to her.
That night, as Sunnydale sleeps, white wisps float from each person's mouth to a belfry, where they settle in the box from Buffy's dream as ghoulish skeletal figures with metallic-toothed grimaces and impeccable black suits look on. In the morning, Buffy and Willow discover they are unable to speak and become visibly distressed; they soon discover that everybody is unable to speak. The group gathers at Giles' where they see that the news is reporting that Sunnydale is suffering from an epidemic of laryngitis. Buffy and Riley, each concerned that chaos will ensue, find each other attempting to keep order on the streets. They exchange a look and then have their first kiss before parting to continue their efforts.
The next night, the ghouls leave the belfry and float into town accompanied by their straitjacketed, deformed minions. They knock on the door of a student. When he opens it, aroused from sleeping, they hold him down and carve out his heart while he tries in vain to scream. At Giles' apartment his visiting girlfriend, Olivia, is frightened by one of The Gentlemen outside Giles' window. The following morning in a campus classroom, Giles uses a series of overhead transparencies
Overhead projector
An overhead projector is a variant of slide projector that is used to display images to an audience.-Mechanism:An overhead projector typically consists of a large box containing a very bright lamp and a fan to cool it. On top of the box is a large fresnel lens that collimates the light...
to explain to the others that The Gentlemen steal the townspeople's voices so no one can scream as they gather the hearts they need, and that folklore indicates that they have been vanquished before when a princess screamed—the only thing that will kill them is a live human voice.
That evening, Anya falls asleep on Giles' sofa while Spike takes a mugful of blood from the refrigerator. Xander enters Giles' apartment as Spike, his mouth wet with blood, bends down to pick up something that he dropped in front of the sofa where Anya sleeps. Inferring that Spike bit and drank from Anya, Xander pummels him ferociously until Anya wakes and stops him; excited that he fought to defend her, Anya gestures that they go home for sex.
On her own Tara finds a spell to help the town get its voices back, and goes out to show it to Willow. On the way to Willow's dorm she trips, turns around and sees The Gentlemen floating toward her. In Willow's dorm she frantically knocks on doors which no one will open; The Gentlemen steadily pursue her. Willow hears Tara's panicked knocking down the hall and exits her room as Tara sprints into her, sending them both tumbling. They lock themselves into a laundry room and try to barricade the door with a vending machine, but it is too heavy for them to move. Willow, injured, sits and concentrates on moving the machine with telekinesis; she fails, but Tara sees what she is doing. They clasp hands and the machine moves swiftly across the room, blocking the door.
On patrol, Riley notices shadows in the belfry and goes to investigate. Buffy finds two of The Gentlemen's minions, kills one and runs after the other. Riley fights his way into the belfry and while he's embattled, Buffy crashes through a window, fighting. He turns to attack and finds himself face to face with Buffy. She fights while he stares, unmoving. When a minion pins her down she sees and recognizes the box from her dream and gesticulates wildly for Riley to destroy it. When he does so, the stolen voices escape. Buffy screams until the heads of The Gentlemen and their minions explode.
The next day, Tara tells Willow she is special and has significant power. Riley comes to visit Buffy in her dorm room and they sit facing each other, saying nothing.
Production and writing
Joss Whedon's impetus to create "Hush" was his reaction to hearing that the primary reason behind Buffys success was the dialogue. He felt that he was stagnating as a director, turning into a "hack" by making formulaic episodes. Whedon tended to concentrate so much on the visual aspects of the series' production that he was chastised by Fox executives in earlier seasons. Thus, writing and producing "Hush" depended almost solely on visuals and not on dialogue, a prospect that Whedon found terrifying, worried that viewers would find the episode boring. Much like the fourth season finale "Restless"—which consisted almost entirely of dream sequences—and the sixth season musical "Once More, with Feeling", Whedon was certain he would fail at attempting to present the show in such a novel way. Initially, this was to be the episode where Riley and Buffy have sex, and Whedon took comfort in that plan because he knew people would not mind the silence, but ultimately he decided it was too early for the characters to sleep together, and he scrapped the idea.The Gentlemen, called the "creepiest villains we've ever done" by series writer Doug Petrie
Doug Petrie
Doug Petrie is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Best known as a writer, director, and co-executive producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Fantastic Four film and Harriet the Spy. He has also written for the television shows Angel, The 4400 and Tru...
, 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
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
, intending them to be frightening to children — monsters who carve out people's hearts, smiling as they do so. Nosferatu, Pinhead
Pinhead (Hellraiser)
Pinhead is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series. Created by Clive Barker and portrayed by Doug Bradley, Pinhead is a prominent figure in the series, mostly featured as the main antagonist....
from Hellraiser
Hellraiser
Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...
, and Mr. Burns from The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
all served as physical models for The Gentlemen. Elegantly Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
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
Industrial Age
Industrial Age may refer to:*Industrialisation*The Industrial Revolution...
, an era that Whedon considers "classically creepy". For Buffy studies
Buffy studies
Buffy Studies is a term applied to the collection of written works about, and the university courses that discuss aspects of, the television program Buffy the Vampire Slayer and, to a lesser extent, its spin-off program Angel. It explores issues related to gender and other philosophical issues as...
scholar Rhonda Wilcox, The Gentlemen and their straitjacket
Straitjacket
A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest...
-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".
Doug Jones
Doug Jones (actor)
Doug Jones is an American film and television actor best known to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fans for his various roles playing non-human characters, often in heavy makeup, in films and television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth and Fantastic Four: Rise...
and the other actors who played The Gentlemen had previous experience performing as monsters and were professional mime
Mime artist
A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer...
s 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.
As newcomers to the Scooby Gang, Tara Maclay and Giles' girlfriend Olivia (Phina Oruche
Phina Oruche
Phina Oruche is a British actress, radio presenter and former model best known for her performances as Liberty Baker in ITV's Footballers' Wives, for which she won a Screen Nations Award for Favourite TV Star....
) are inexperienced with monsters, and were brought in to express "real childlike terror". Willow had, after three seasons, grown considerably more confident, having found her intellectual and emotional niche at college, and therefore was no longer evincing the terror she once had; Tara, shy, unsure of herself, and unaccustomed to such experiences, served to fill the gap that Willow's maturing had created. According to Buffy essayist Patrick Shade, Tara's and Olivia's fear "heighten(s) our sense of vulnerability and so make these scenes more frightening". Joss Whedon has said that one of his favorite shots in the episode is of Olivia's frightened reaction to a Gentlemen floating by her window, leering in at her.
Tara became a regularly recurring character through the sixth season, eventually becoming Willow's girlfriend in what would be the first long-term lesbian relationship in U.S. television. The writers decided to replace Seth Green
Seth Green
Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...
, who played Oz, Willow's lycanthropic boyfriend, after he announced that he would be leaving early in the fourth season. They were unaware at the time that the relationship between Willow and Tara would become romantic, but Benson's performance and demeanor "made up our minds for us", according to Whedon. The writers wanted to make the scene in which Tara and Willow move the vending machine by working together "sensual and powerful", and "a very empowering statement about love; that two people together can accomplish more than when they're alone". Whedon considers the scene one of the "most romantic images we've put on film" in the course of the series. Benson and Hannigan's chemistry was impressive enough that two episodes into Tara and Willow's friendship Whedon took the actors aside and informed them the relationship would be turning romantic.
The episode is a tribute to the silent films that were played in theaters with musical accompaniment, and 27 minutes of it are entirely dialogue-free. Several types of music are used to express what is not being said; music acts as the narrator. During Giles' overhead presentation he plays a recorded version of Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
' Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns)
Danse macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based in an old French superstition...
. Buffy and Riley's love theme is presented for the first time when they kiss in this episode. This composition by Christophe Beck
Christophe Beck
Christophe Beck , also credited as Chris Beck, is a Canadian television and film score composer....
—who composed scores for Buffy regularly—pleased Joss Whedon more than the Buffy and Angel love theme. He considered the Buffy-Riley theme more adult, but a bit more strange and blue than the Buffy-Angel theme: a prediction of where the relationship between Buffy and Riley would go.
Language
"Hush" explores issues relating to the limits and benefits of language and communication. During the first act of the episode, the characters are presented as being overwhelmed by language that is misused, used as white noiseWhite noise (slang)
The term white noise, the 'sh' noise produced by a signal containing all audible frequencies of vibration, is sometimes used as slang to describe a meaningless commotion or chatter that masks or obliterates underlying information....
, and employed as a means of avoiding truth. Whedon stated that he was unaware of how "inevitably coherent" this theme was until after the script was completed. Buffy and Riley are unable to act upon their attraction because they cannot stop babbling, primarily to keep their true identities concealed from each other, but also to avoid becoming closer emotionally. Xander is unable or unwilling to express what Anya means to him, and Anya, still new at interacting with humans, uses blunt, often rude language that distances herself from all the other characters. Giles desperately wants the others to stop talking. Willow considers the women in the Wicca group to be nonsensical, later complaining to Buffy "Talk, all talk. Blah blah Gaia. Blah blah moon, menstrual lifeforce power thingy. You know after a couple sessions I was hoping we would get into something real, but..." These pseudo conversations are what Buffy essayists Alice Jenkins and Susan Stuart refer to as "locutionary act
Locutionary act
In linguistics and the philosophy of mind, a locutionary act is the performance of an utterance, and hence of a speech act. The term equally refers to the surface meaning of an utterance because, according to J. L...
s": language that is formed to have meaning but does not engage the listener.
When finally faced with the loss of speech, the characters readily express what they feel. Buffy and Riley, after a series of eyebrow movements and simply mouthed questions, are able to kiss spontaneously. Xander's actions are very clearly directed toward protecting Anya and punishing Spike for harming her, and likewise, within a matter of moments Anya's doubts about how Xander feels about her have disappeared and she becomes instantly affectionate towards him again. Tara, who was overcome with shyness while speaking during the Wicca meeting, easily expresses courage when touching Willow, and Willow realizes she has finally found someone who understands and shares what she is seeking.
Without speech, the Scoobies resort to gestures or writing. Humorous misperceptions arise from this gesturing when, for example, Buffy mimes driving in a stake—as though killing a vampire—too close to her pelvis, causing the Scoobies to think she is suggesting masturbating to rid the town of The Gentlemen. In the belfry, while Buffy and Riley are fighting The Gentlemen, Buffy indicates that Riley should smash the box from her dream. He misunderstands and breaks a jar beside it, looks up and grins, awaiting Buffy's approval. The clumsiness of the characters' gesturing is in direct contrast to the grace of The Gentlemen, who communicate easily through gestures and other visual signals. Their communication is simple and direct; nods, head tilts, and hand movements, achieve exactly what they want it to. The Scoobies, however, are confused and accomplish the opposite of what they intend. When they are rendered silent they are also rendered useless, unsure of how to fight The Gentlemen. According to two Buffy essayists, part of the horror stemming from the arrival of The Gentlemen is the silence that makes the people of Sunnydale helpless, easy victims.
Jenkins and Stuart assert that through the loss of speech, the communication in "Hush" is transformed from the senseless locutionary to the perlocutionary
Perlocutionary act
A perlocutionary act is a speech act, as viewed at the level of its psychological consequences, such as persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or realize something...
: acts upon which ideas are conveyed into instant meaning and action. The scream uttered by Buffy to destroy The Gentlemen has severe implications for them although it has no real meaning. Even Tara's writing down Willow's room number before going to her dorm communicates that she has been thinking of Willow and wishes to find her. This act confirms to both Tara and the audience that she is interested in Willow.
Community
Although Sunnydale has long been familiar with demons and monsters who have inhabited the town and fed off of its residents, in this episode the conventions by which society functions are so disrupted by the unexplained silence that significant chaos results, enough to warrant both Riley and Buffy going on patrol to keep order. Buffy and Willow walk down a familiar street, arm-in-arm and easily startled, and see a bank closed and patrons running into a liquor store that is obviously open. The breakdown of order also causes sudden religious fervor; a group of people have gathered on the street to read the Bible (RevelationBook of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
15:1 is written on a signboard—an allusion to the seven angels with seven plagues as there are seven Gentlemen, according to author Nikki Stafford). Opportunistic capitalist fervor results in a man selling overpriced dry erase boards
Whiteboard
A whiteboard is a name for any glossy, usually white surface for nonpermanent markings. Whiteboards are analogous to chalkboards, allowing rapid marking and erasing of markings on their surface...
. Community, notes Patrick Shade (citing sociologist George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded as one of the founders of social psychology and the American sociological tradition in general.-...
), consists of institutions such as language, religion, and economics. When one institution disappears, Sunnydale residents begin to depend more heavily on the others. Mostly, however, individuals are isolated from one another during the silence. Even the Scoobies find their bonds shaken, as they are unable to use the witty banter that has marked them as a group thus far. (This awkwardness extended even to the actors: the first silent scene the entire cast attempted was the Scoobies gathering in Giles' apartment following the discovery that all of Sunnydale's denizens had lost their voices. It took several rehearsals as the scene came out mistimed, with all of the actors having trouble playing off one another without the use of verbal cues, or all pantomiming over one another.) Without a common language to fall back upon the Scoobies are forced to depend on their shared history to help them recover well enough to be able to take action.
The resolution to this isolation and ineffectiveness is speaking out: restoring the voices of the people of Sunnydale. Shade states that this facet of the episode gives it a political overtone. Noel Murray from The AV Club writes that the silence imposed by The Gentlemen is a metaphor for how evil spreads: "When dissent is stifled, or people fail to tell the truth, or when we’re just distracted by other concerns, things can get out of hand." Authority figures in the series, such as the school principal, the mayor's office, and the Sunnydale Police Department, repeatedly either abet the town's endemic evil or choose not to hear about it. During "Hush", at Giles' apartment the Scoobies listen to a newscaster reporting that authorities in the town attribute the silence to a flu vaccine gone awry, causing mass laryngitis. Wilcox writes, "[H]ow many times will we see those in power maintain such a silence while evil proceeds? It is not surprising that [The Gentlemen's] attendants wear straitjackets; their garb suggests the insanity of such behavior—the pretense of civilized politeness while killing is accepted is a matter of course."
Fairy tales
Two other episodes in the Buffy canon are also based on, or have elements of, fairy tales: "Killed by Death", where only sick children can see a demon who sucks away their lives, and "Gingerbread", where a demon takes on the forms of Hansel and GretelHansel and Gretel
"Hansel and Gretel" is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children...
to create a moral panic
Moral panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
in Sunnydale. "Hush" is often compared to these episodes because they contain similar elements. Whedon intended The Gentlemen to be Brothers Grimm-like monsters, with Giles playing the role of the wise man, Buffy the princess, and Tara the "little girl wandering through the woods". In this incarnation, however, Buffy is a swashbuckling
Swashbuckler
Swashbuckler or swasher is a term that emerged in the 16th century and has been used for rough, noisy and boastful swordsmen ever since. A possible explanation for this term is that it derives from a fighting style using a side-sword with a buckler in the off-hand, which was applied with much...
princess whose scream saves the town.Joss Whedon reported in the DVD commentary that the actual scream was dubbed from another actor. Instead of being the damsel in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
she is the hero, breaking through a boarded-up window in the belfry, then grabbing a rope and swinging across the room to kill one of The Gentlemen's footmen by smashing her feet into his chest.
In many Buffy episodes, understanding why evil has appeared is important in knowing how to fight it, but the reasons for The Gentlemen's arrival and their need to take seven human hearts are never made explicit; they are simply there. According to Giles' overhead transparencies, they can appear in any town. Several Buffy scholars assert that a sexual element similar to what is presented in classic fairy tales is evident in "Hush". Buffy often has prophetic dreams, and it is in a dream that she first sees one of The Gentlemen; she sees a flash of his face just as Riley touches her shoulder. Buffy has only been sexually intimate twice before: with the vampire Angel, whose lovemaking cost him his soul, and with the womanizing Parker Abrams. Riley is notably different from both and Buffy's anxiety about becoming intimate with him, according to scholars, either calls The Gentlemen to Sunnydale or is represented by them. The Gentlemen murder by cutting chests open and removing hearts: penetrative acts. In Buffy's dream Riley says, "If I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down" and when he does so, it instantly becomes night, as if Buffy has crossed over a threshold. Riley's kiss creates physical and emotional intimacy, but initiates mental, intuitive knowledge as well: in this episode Buffy learns of Riley's secret role as a member of The Initiative. Threshold imagery is again used when Tara and Willow block the door with their combined efforts, shutting The Gentlemen out.
Reception
When the episode was originally broadcast in the United States on December 14, 1999, it received a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 4.1 and a share of 7, meaning more than 4 million people watched it. The episode placed fifth in its timeslot and 93rd among broadcast television for the week of December 13–19, 2001. It was the most watched program on WB that night, and the second most watched program that week, trailing 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...
.
"Hush" was highly praised when it aired, not only for its riskiness in presenting viewers with extended silence, but for the frightening qualities of The Gentlemen. Robert Bianco from USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
comments, "(i)n a medium in which producers tend to grow bored with their own creations, either trashing them or taking them in increasingly bizarre directions, Whedon continues to find new ways to make his fabulously entertaining series richer and more compelling. With or without words, he's a TV treasure." In the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
, Chuck Barney writes, "I wondered if this enormously entertaining cult favourite would lose some starch once our favourite little slayer moved on to college. But happily, it continues to win us over with the way it deftly bounces between the genres of comedy, horror and romance. The recent silent episode (Hush) was brilliant." Alan Sepinwall in The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
calls it a "magnificently daring episode", explaining "(w)hat makes it particularly brave is that, even when Buffy has been failing to click dramatically this year, the show has still been able to get by on the witty dialogue, which is all but absent after the first few scenes. Whedon finds ways to get around that, with several cast members—particularly Anthony Head as the scholarly Giles and Alyson Hannigan as nervous witch Willow—proving to be wonderfully expressive silent comedians."
Likewise, in the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, David Bianculli states that the episode is "a true tour de force, and another inventive triumph for this vastly underrated series" Brian Courtis in Australia's Sunday Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
agrees, and writes that "Hush" is "(c)lever, well-written and brightly directed ... Buffy at its best." Robert Hanks from The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
in the UK writes that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in most weeks the funniest and cleverest programme on TV, reached new heights" with "Hush". Noel Murray in The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
calls it an "episode unlike any other, with a lusher score and some of the most genuinely disturbing imagery I've yet seen on Buffy." The episode was included among 13 of the scariest films or television shows by Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, and justified by Stephanie Zacharek, who states it "scans just like one of those listless dreams in which you try to scream, and can't. Everybody's had 'em—and yet the way the eerie quiet of 'Hush' sucks you in, you feel as if the experience is privately, and unequivocally, your own."
"Hush" was the only episode of the entire Buffy series to be nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in the Writing in a Drama Series category. It also received a Writers Guild of America Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
nomination. Following the series finale in 2003, "Hush" continued to receive praise. Lisa Rosen in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
states that the episode is "one of TV's most terrifying hours". Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine is a website and blog that offers resources and advice to web developers and web designers.It was founded by Sven Lennartz and Vitaly Friedman in September 2006. Today Smashing Magazine is run by Smashing Media GmbH...
counted "Hush" as one of the top ten television episodes that inspire creativity. Keith McDuffee of TV Squad named it the best Buffy episode in the series, writing "(i)f someone who had never seen Buffy (blasphemy!) asked me to show them just one episode of the show to get them hooked, this would be it". TV.com
TV.com
TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
named it as the fourth most frightening episode in television history.
Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
listed the scene in which Buffy mimes staking The Gentlemen and its humorous misunderstandings by the other characters among the top five best Buffy moments, especially praising Sarah Michelle Gellar's (Buffy) comedic acting. Nikki Stafford, author of Bite Me! The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer writes "Hush" is "mind-blowing" and "one of the best hours of television ever". For Buffy studies scholar Roz Kaveney, the primary reason "Hush" was successful was the acting strengths of the central cast. "Hush" serves as Alyson Hannigan's (Willow) favorite episode of the Buffy series, and the one Nicholas Brendon (Xander) considers the most frightening. Series writer Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...
stated the episode "redefined what an episode of television could do".