Hush Overrated?

[hitnrun017]

I watched Hush again today, and it just seems like everytime I watch it I find more and more things that bug me. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful and creative episode with a lot of great moments, but I think it's really uneven.

Things that bug me:

- Why do The Gentlemen need seven hearts?

- Three people are brutally murdered in the middle of the night and it's in the morning paper?

- Riley and Forrest's unexplained escape from the elevator.

- Big epic fight: Buffy & Riley vs. The Gentlemen... but three of them are in the college chasing Willow and Tara, what happened to them?

- The extras are incredibly annoying and are always distracting.

- What was the point of Olivia?

Maybe I'm just looking too much into things, but I find all that incredibly annoying. I see that most people usually list Hush as their favorite Season 4 episode, but I don't even think it's in my Top 5. Feel free to agree or rip me to shreads!

[Fredikins]

Lol, good thread, you made some good points.

And I think that they need seven hearts either to keep their power (floating, smiling etc. lol) or just because they like to have blood splatters on their faces. :S Not sure lol.

I don't get what you mean by, - Three people are brutally murdered in the middle of the night and it's in the morning paper? Lol, it's probably just my communication skills not switched on properly.

I always just assumed that Riley and Forrest's escape from the elevator was because Maggie Walsh saw them on the camera, since she was waiting for them when they got out.

Buffy and Riley weren't really fighting The Gentlemen, were they? I thought they were just fighting those weird mental patient looking creatures. Anyways, I just assumed that the ones in the College died automatically when The Gentlemen did, because they did seem to be following them around rather alot ;D lol, I don't know.

I have no clue what you are talking about with the extras thing. Sorry.

Also, I think the point of Olivia is just to say that Giles isn't JUST some unemployed, watcher, librarian guy, but he is an actual person with actual friends/orgasm friends (as anya likes to call them). Olivia is, I think, the only person that we see to be friends with Giles besides the scooby gang. I think that Jos is just saying: 'Yes, Giles does have a life' Lol!

And yeah, that's what I reckon but now that you've brought it to my attention I think this is going to be bugging me alot more now, THANKS! :broody: Lol, I'm just kidding. Good thread!

[buffyfan21]

I think Hush is a wonderfully innovative episode and like nothing seen on televison before.

I think if we look hard enough we can always find little inconsistencies like that in every episode, or things that just don't quite add up. Television is never perfect afterall.

I think that all in all despite its little inconsistencies, Hush is a great episode. For me it is definitely one of the most scary with some of the most terrifying villians ever to appear. I think with Hush Joss took a chance and dared to give us something fresh and new.

[knuckleball]

Personally, Hush is in my top three favourite episodes of Buffy.

To address the issues you raised:

1) I think this is a rather unfair question to raise for this episode alone. Nearly every episode of Buffy is going to contain a villain that has some unexplained characteristic. Why does the full moon bring out the werewolf? If you're looking for some motive for the Gentlemen, I'd always believed the hearts to be sustenance for them, sort of similar to The Puppet Show, in which the demon needs the organs to keep himself alive.

2) Again, this is information that Buffy needs to acquire and the plot needs to move along quickly. Personally, I'd rather not watch Buffy play sudoku for the morning, before the police report the murder.

3) As others have stated, I think it's pretty clear that they were rescued by Maggie in this scene.

4) This is a non-issue to me. There's a good number of Gentlemen in this episode, I think it's safe to assume that they're able to carry out missions on their own.

5) This is a matter of personal opinion. I disagree, but I can see how one might find them distracting.

6) I believe Olivia serves to emphasize the theme of the episode even more. The episode is consistently about the boundaries of language. It is only when Giles stops *telling* her about the type of world he's involved in that she finally starts to realize what type of world he's involved in. And she doesn't like it. Thus, we never see her again (not counting "Restless," of course). Compare this to "Once More, With Feeling" and there's a very similar parallel between Willow/Tara and Giles/Olivia. It seems to me that, when Tara/Olivia, as a result of the episodes' events, discover the true nature of their lovers, they leave them out of, at the very least, self-preservation. (Personally, I think Tara's concerns are significantly deeper than that.)

[Skytteflickan88]

The guys here pretty much brought up everything I had to say expect;

If intrudes are trapped in the elevator, a alarm go of. So even if Walsh was in the bathroom, someone would have discovered Riley&Forrest and saved them.

Personally, I don't watch Hush for fun. I get that it's a very special, even groun-breaking, episode, but it's not entertaining enough to even make it into the top 10.

My favorite part would be the jokes in the episode, since they're more fysical than in other eps.

[henzINNIT]

No ripping you to shreds from me... but you're wrong lol

[BenTaylor3907]

I HATE IT WHEN SARAH SCREAMS AT THE END! IS THAT EVEN HER VOICE?

[BennyTheKey]

I dont think that is her real voice Ben,
But ! I do <3 this episode, I find it so funny, and it just works really well,

(Just remebered I made a banner for this episode!!.......)

[hitnrun017]

Aha! So it is just me looking too much into things. Thanks for the input (even you henz ). You guys actually helped solve most of my problems with it.

[faithnspike]

I was never a big fan of this episode. I understand it was creative and Joss should get credit for that but I think it is overrated as many put it up there as one of the best episodes ever. Joss’s biggest strength (at least I think) is his dialogue. To put this episode with nearly no dialogue as one of the best seems to me to forget Joss’s skill at writing character interaction. I love all Buffy episodes but this is not one of my favorites

[Whedon Fan]

It is a brilliant episode and not really over rated. I never thought of it as a big episode anyway. Very creative but it's not in my top 10.

I believe Oliva was menat to come back again at some point and I'd heard that she was going to be in the Ripper series that never got made. She was probably introduced to build up the life of Giles.

[Tyler Austin "tiewashere"]

I don't think any of the reasons you listed would make me love Hush any less than I do now.

They're just simply inconsistencies.

I mean...look at season seven.

[darkdahlia]

I don't think its overrated. I think they could have gone further with it in terms of examples of how we take voices for granted. But the episode itself doesn't leave a lot of questions unanswered.

Why do they need seven hearts? why do any of the random demons need what they need? ya know?