Earshot • S03E18 • TPN's Buffy Guide
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- Buffy absorbs the power to read minds and I think I'm funnier than I probably am.
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Myth, Metaphor & Morality
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Passion of the Nerd reviews Earshot From Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 3, Episode 18. Directed by Regis Kimble. Written by Jane Espenson. Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers. Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris. Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg. Charisma Carpenter as Cordeila Chase. David Boreanaz as Angel. Seth Green as Oz. And Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Guest Starring Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.
Cordelia: "Hi Mr. Beach. I was just wondering, were you planning on killing a bunch of people tomorrow? Oh, it’s for the yearbook."
I know it's incidental to the main story but I was kind of disappointed he didn't talk about Cordelia in this episode. Of all the gang I thought what this showed with her was the best, how they would have her say something in her head followed by pretty much the exact same thing being spoken (plus the "I'm cold" thought).
I love Cordy in this episode
"You had sex with GILES?! On the hood of a police car?! TWICE?!" One of my favorite callbacks to an earlier episode in the series.
Band Candy is the gift that keeps on giving (S4: "What's a stevedore?")
That reminds me, Eliza's performance as Buffy in that Giles scene was spot on. I actually started to see Buffy and not Faith.
Same!
Johnathan: "I came up here to kill myself!"
Me: "WITH A SNIPER RIFLE?!"
Jonathan: "What? How hard can it be?"
+Guy R "Let's see, crouch down, lean stock against floor, put barrel in mouth, use big toe to pull the trigg-"
*slips*
"OW, MY TEETH!"
Lauri Markkula "I KNEW I should've googled 'suicide for dummies' before coming up here!"
Seriously though, I kinda love the idea that Jonathan was just a really dumb planner. Head-canon-ed!
I never thought about it but where the hell did Johnathan get a sniper rifle from lol you're right a simple hand gun would be much easier.
I always assumed it was just a hunting rifle from one of his parents or something. Easier for him to get. I can head cannon it that way anyway.
But I'm not expert on guns. Can anyone say what type of gun this actually is?
Oz really was a gem of a character... and you could see them actually building groundwork for some character development in season 4. It's just a shame Seth had to go
The scene between Buffy and Angel when Angel just tells Buffy how he honestly feels is one of my favorite scenes on television, because it's like 'oh, of course, if you want someone to tell you how they feel, just ask them". It's almost surreal in how rare it is for television characters to talk like that.
Yes!!! I love that so much.
“But that would’ve made sense.”
Cause that's not always true, in real life people can lie about how they feel for plenty of different reasons
This episode also contains the first time Angel has EVER been funny, as he says "I'm a funny guy" with a perfect deadpan expression. It's kind of a revolutionary moment for his character...
I don't recall him making many jokes after this, all the humour from Angel is when we or people laugh at him not that he is actually funny. Like that bike scene with Wesley, or when he is dancing.
Illusionz Man Well, self-depracating humor is humor too.
Guy R Indeed it is, but its not out of Angel himself trying to be funny. If he intentionally acts like that, then that would make him a person who is more funny. But the reality is, it wasn't intentional and we are just laughing at some of the silly things he does. It is fun the audience to see it, but it doesn't make Angel a funny person. I can barely remember him cracking a joke.
Illusionz Man Well, I think at least some of it was intentional. Like in 'Chosen', when he's acting like a 12-year-old ("Ah-ha! Boyfriend!"), I think he's doing it on purpose, trying to be funny.
Guy R That was him being jealous, i don't usually call someone a funny person by being jealous.
"Among the Scooby circle perhaps the least selfish and most patient is Buffy herself"
THANK YOU!
This is what I have always felt about Buffy. Her empathy is one of the things that is most incredible about her, especially considering what being the Slayer puts her through again and again and again.
By the time we make it to s7 she has been through the furnace so many times there is inevitably a hardness to her strength that wasn't there at the start BUT even with all of her hardened toughness she has not lost her empathy/capacity to forgive. She shows compassion to demon Anya and empathy to Xander despite his frequent polar opposite reaction when it comes to Angel. She forgives Spike and even seeks to help him despite the natural trauma of facing her would-be rapist (regardless of him "being a different person now" that ain't easy). She welcomes Faith back into her inner circle, granted with some trust issues but... can you blame her?? Look at Faith's track record! She even defends Faith when the Potentials wanna blame her even though they, Faith AND HER FREAKING CLOSEST FRIENDS AND FAMILY kick her out of her own house. And the fact she doesn't backhand those ungrateful snots out of her house on several occasions speaks to incredible patience.
It drives me POTTY so many ppl in the show and out of it claim she's nothing but a bitch/witch by s7. She is flawed. She is complicated. But despite the burden of Slayerness pretty much taking away every good thing she ever had or hoped for, she still chooses to serve. She still chooses others. A lot.
...it's possible I have strong feelings about this. 😄
Really enjoyed this, Ian. Your character observations are always spot-on. Even with Faith's clever and moving redemption arc, she never has the empathy Buffy does. (Still love her, but her strengths and weaknesses are different from Buffy's.)
Keep up the great work!
*Nods head fervently*
Buffy was a fucking SAINT. (In Faith's defense, she is the only one who speaks up for Buffy when they vote her off the island)
@@Wednesdaywoe1975 I know huh. Not Giles, not Willow, not even Dawn (who at that moment, had no reason to exile Buffy that way), and although Spike would've whipped someone's ass for Buffy if he was there, Faith stuck up for Buffy. I will always respect Faith, Andrew (although he ain't do nothing, that I know of) AND Spike for that. I honestly wish that was an episode that could be ignored. The potentials kicking her out, I can see it. There's more of them then there are Scoobies/Allies. That would have been enough. Willow, Dawn, Giles, Robin and Xander had NO reason to turn on her, other then to save their own asses. That's exactly what they did, if you ask me. So, I choose to believe the Potentials voted her out, simply by overwhelming majority, and the Scoobies/Robin and Faith voted to keep her (not Anya. She was on my nerves by that point, also pissed off Buffy too) but it wasn't enough. Then Spike goes to get her then, but his speech is less impactful, so I see now why it was done. I don't LIKE it, but I know why
One of my favorite things in this episode, which you didn't mention, is how Cordelia is revealed to say exactly what she thinks. It builds her character in a very interesting way. It seems part of a bigger arc for her character, where they steer her away from just the mean bitch, and reveal that there really is a lot more to her. She's honest and to the point.
*My second absolutely favorite scene from this episode=*
Giles: 500 practical thoughts.
Oz: 500 philosophical thoughts and not a single word.
Cordy: thinking and saying exactly the same thing.
Xander: sex, sex, sex.
Wes: "I'm a watcher, I shouldn't lust after a student!!!"
Willow: insecurity, insecurity, insecurity.
*My first absolutely favorite scene from this episode=*
Buffy: "YOU SLEPT WITH GILES???!!!"
"TWICE?!"
"On the hood of a police car??"
And that's why she's the best! :D
I belong to that weird species of fans who love every single character (well, Skip, Holtz and teen Connor from "Angel" are in my black list), but Cordy slowly became my absolutely favorite
The Lunch Lady just got her aspect of the demon and it was a boy demon.
Well done.
-_-
TW for suicide/attempted suicide: As someone who tried to kill themselves several times during my teenage years, I understand your doubts regarding Buffy's speech but disagree. Very few suicide attempts are done with absolutely zero hopes left and most are done with a momentum. Unless Buffy would have told him to keep going, I think her storming inside the clock tower was enough to stop Jonathan. I also don't think her speech is meant to cure his depression. She broke the momentum, then unsettled him by telling him she thought he was going to harm other people than himself (how much that thought alone can shock and surprise when you hate yourself more than anyone else!), and then grounds him a bit by reminding him that everyone is struggling with their own self hate.
Outside of discussing the realism of the scene, I find her speech amazingly comforting and a great reminder when I need it.
Every experience with suicide is different but I do believe an interruption can be powerful. When you think no one is seeing you, so much you're willing to take your life in such a public place, someone seeing you is an "out of your world" experience. Also, if I am not mistaking, this is the first episode we the audience see Jonathan. Really see him. He was a familiar extra before that but not an individual.
I was totally down for a completely random star trek review
Me too. I was a little miffed that it looked like the next Buffy review was being delayed again, but I would have totally accepted a Star Trek review in it's place.
I paused to double-check that I'd clicked on a Buffy review and not a Star Trek one by accident.
Thank you for this (four years old) comment. I was 100% sure for 70 seconds that there was a mistake in the video's title...
Two of my favorite quotes from this episode: "Dingos Ate My Babies played like they had sausages taped to their fingers" and "I was just wondering if you were planning on killing a ton of people - - oh it's for the yearbook"
"No, it's fair."
No it's fair is...almost character defining. THAT is Oz. Love that line.
+musical neptunes Thank you, thanks to you I've researched that story. What a tragedy, I feel ashamed now that it's become a funny pop-culture phrase!
Y'all already mentioned most of my fav lines, but here are some other ones I like.... Guess I won't be writing that book anytime soon. "Winning friends through telepathy". "I don't see this being settled with logic". And "When I came in a minute ago you thought, "Look at her shoes. If a fashion magazine told her to she'd wear a cat strapped to her foot".
Who are three of Buffy's friends? Oz, okay so he's named Oz, Ford, yeah he was at her old school, and Holden...is the series trying to say something?
"was it a boy demon" is one of my favorite Buffy lines. I just drop it into random places.
Cordelia's thoughts are my fav
I was both depressed and in high school when this episode aired (also in Australia, where we had to wait 6 months for the episodes, so by the time it reached us, everything stayed in order). Personally, Buffy's 'everyone has issues' speech helped me immeasurably. I felt like I was drowning in my own problems, with no real way to see that others were going through issues too. I partially credit it with giving me the motivation to seek out therapy for the first time. (Interestingly enough, as an adult I probably wouldn't find it as helpful- I already know that many people around me have serious problems, and I sometimes get myself bogged down in those, rather than my own stuff).
Earshot has always held a very special place in my heart for this reason. I also found it a perfect mix of drama and comedy.
Same, that Buffy's speech stayed with me all those years
Cordelia (thinking): "I have literally no filter and will say anything I think."
Cordelia (saying out loud): "I have literally no filter and will say anything I think."
My favorite part was where Xander was trying to distract himself from dirty thoughts with basic math, and was getting it wrong.
I'll always remember Earshot as the making of Johnathan. I read that tower scene completely different to you. It showed just how altruistic he was despite himself (a theme carried over into S6 and one particular monologue in S7) to break through his desperation and see himself through Buffy's eyes at that moment - a man equal to his peers. Someone like Xander would've reacted badly to the claim of others focusing on their own pain without addressing his, but not Johnathan. One of many silent gems in the Buffyverse.
At the core both Xander & Johnathan were great people with a deep desire to be seen as more than what they were by others, Xander just coped with it better through having a tight social circle as opposed to Johnathan who stewed in isolation before falling into a co-dependant one in S6. Reverse their circumstances, which would've given Johnathan the confidence to shine in a way Xander did frequently through the series, why'll conversely pegging Xander down, more than likely they would've made many of the same decisions.
I loved Johnathan. One of the most relateable characters in the whole series. Despite what he continuously did to feed that desire for recognition, his true nature always came out in the end.
+Julie yeah Xander was a major hypocrite over his dislike of Angel and Spike but Arya's body count is probably higher then both combined considering she became a vengeance demon hundreds of yrs before Angel and Spike were even born.
I think that the main thing people forget about Buffy's speech to Jonathan is that at the time she makes it, she still believes that he is intent on committing mass murder, NOT committing suicide. Sure, maybe a more comforting approach would have been more effective at talking him down, but as we've seen before with Buffy's interactions with Ford, she has such low tolerance for people sacrificing others just to help themselves. This response from her felt completely in character to me.
But the difference between Ford and Jonathan is Ford was being selfish, sacrificing Buffy and the vampire wannabes. Jonathan didn't want to hurt anyone except himself out of desperation of being ignored or treated like a joke. Suicide isn't and shouldn't be seen as a act of selfishness but a cry for help.
@@Madbandit77Buffy didn't know he wanted to kill himself
@@naimasophie That's the point Angel made to Buffy. To understand someone, you have to talk to them first.
@@Madbandit77 oh nice
Oz's line about only checking the obits in the school paper might be my favorite comedic Oz line. It's just so funny and I honestly cannot tell if he's being honest and the school paper has obituaries
That scene with Xander and the Cafeteria Lady is perfection.
3:10 ooh, later on in s5e14 'Crush', Drusilla says to Buffy that vampires are capable of 'loving quite well, if not wisely' which is another Othello half-quote
For a minute there I though you were going to start a Star Trek series
Me too and after watching this video I think that would be simply awesome.
Me too, actually, and I was kinda hyped for it. Someone send Passion of the Nerd a gallon of PCP and some energy drinks, because I have a great thirst for Firefly, Angel, Buffy, and TNG episode guides. Oh, and Discovery episode guides when that's out, too.
+Kyler Rose I'd actually like a DS9 guide
+Tobias F A Ds9 guide would be amazing!
I love DS9, but I feel like there's so much more to discuss when it comes to TOS or TNG. Both of which were incredibly subversive and feel very modern and relevant despite being several decades out of date. Post Roddenberry ST, while still great, doesn't quite have that insightful element of liberal utopia (where everyone is vegan, agnostic, and equal) and interpersonal harmony, in my opinion.
There's something so sweet about Buffy's conversation with Angel. When he reminds her that he's only ever loved her since he was a "drunken layabout", I just love it.
You’re dead right that Buffy’s speech to Jonathan isn’t very comforting. She rubs in his isolation and insignificance and makes him feel like his death won’t mean any more than his life seems to at the moment. That’s the whole point. By comforting him, Buffy would only be justifying his unwise action and further intensifying his emotional introspection.
Her speech to him calls him to the thing she has been forced to embrace for at least three of her adolescent years: compassionate responsibility. She reminds him that each person is as complex with desires, personal hurdles and the need for growth as he is. Yes, he is expected to internalise this improbably quickly, but that also serves to undercut the selfishness of his despair. He put a suicide note in the school paper and brought a huge gun to the school’s clock tower. It wasn’t a note to his parents and an OD attempt in his room or simply disappearing entirely (perhaps to jump off a bridge or similar). It was calculated, public and extremely self-centred. He wanted the whole school and neighbourhood to reverberate with the pain they had caused him.
While Jonathan isn’t a fully developed character at this point, this episode foreshadows heavily his future episodes. In season 4’s Superstar, he seeks to become the centre of everyone’s focus, praise and desires while simultaneously robbing each of them of their prior identities and power to choose their own paths. His plan is ultimately undone when the pain caused to others is too great and they begin to reclaim their free will. Throughout most of season 6, Jonathan is still seeking power and significance, but this time as part of The Trio. All the while, both compassion and responsibility elude him. He never really grows up or accepts contented obscurity. His downfall in season 7 is the ultimate chapter in his serial failure to create true, sustainable, empathetic meaning in his life.
I think all of this is why Buffy’s words in the clock tower seem so cutting and to the point. She of course can’t see Jonathan’s future, but she has doubtless considered her own. We’ve already seen her grapple with what would happen to her friends and the world had she abandoned her calling and chased her own validation and ambitions. This question never seems to leave her completely, but alas never seems to sink into Jonathan. Unless you count a certain tiny, sequinned umbrella...
Northfan42 If I'm understanding you correctly then i totally agree. I've been to the edge and thought i was going to end it all, but i knew it would hurt people if they found my body with no note or any explanation for closure. The calculated way he arranged his attempt at suicide and ensured others would suffer from it, he didn't deserve or need sympathy. He needed to be taught empathy. Buffy's harsh words, imo, are perfect for the scene. I personally feel that if she had comforted him then it wouldn't work like it does now.
Jonathan learned what Buffy was trying to teach him--just too late.
I think an issue that people forget is that she is not talking him off the ledge (or doesn't believe she is). At this point, Buffy is trying to convince Jonathan not to kill a bunch of people. She speaks about the pain in others to make him realise that killing them is wrong. She's trying to get him to empathise with others, not to empathise with him, so he won't kill them. His understanding of that happens to help him realise that suicide is the wrong thing to do.
@@sammyholmes2218 But empathy goes both ways. You can't sadistically or carelessly bully and/or ignore someone and expect them not to be violent against themselves and/or people and you can't put expectations on people without getting to know them first (to paraphrase what Angel said). I'm not saying Jonathan's a saint, but if you really want to prevent teen suicide and school shootings, empathy has to be taught to everyone, whether they're popular or not. The tower scene didn't work completely for me because of the twist. Buffy thought she knew Jonathan but really doesn't. To her, he's another "face in the crowd", while Jonathan thought he knew Buffy at that point, but he doesn't really either. To him, she's like "Cordelia And The Cordettes". Buffy proves him wrong about her. Jonathan proves her wrong about him. So why couldn't they be friends at least? Instead, we get Whedon's weirdness. Go figure.
Not to suck up another decade of your life after you've finished with Buffy and Angel but I think we're going to need a comprehensive look back at all the Star Trek series. Thanks for taking care of that for us.
I love how Cordelia always thinks and says the same, that made me love her.
Here's a question; why did Jonathan try to use a high powered rifle to kill himself? Would his arms even be long enough to pull the trigger with the barrel pointed at his head? And why does he feel the need to put the sight on top!?
I know it's all artistic license so we think he's going to be the killer, but it always bugged me a bit.
I felt the exact same way!
NotSoSuperPete Yeah, I found that Odd too. It would make a lot more sense if he's walked into the crowd with a hand gun, scaring away all but Buffy. But then again, they couldn't have observed the crowd if that was the case, a thing which helped persuade Jonathan. But yeah, I found that inconsistent as well.
NotSoSuperPete he watched soaked in bleach and saw it as a challenge
It's probably just that that was a gun that he had access to - likely a hunting rifle owned by his dad or some other relative.
Might be the only gun he had access to.
One thing I think the tower speech did was give Jonathan a bit of empathy towards his oppressors and the people he desperately wants to be closer to. Probably didn't make him feel less isolated, but maybe made him feel less personally responsible for his isolation, which can be comforting. He remembers this lesson in the moments before he dies, wondering how all his old classmates' lives are going, despite whether or not they would reciprocate the sentiment. That scene in s7 makes me cry specifically because of the tower scene.
Jonathan's last speech in S7 is one of my favorite moments in the series but I never thought to connect it to Earshot before. Good call!
I wouldn't give empathy to people who have none for me because it's a waste of energy. It's best to stand on one's feet and make a place in the world, instead of placating to people who don't or refuse to see the person you truly are.
I loved the bit where Buffy "Overhears" Xander fantasising a naked Buffy;) and Oz's profound introspective thoughts were, well, profound.
Holy shit that opening was clever as f**k. Well played, sir. Well played.
Not a big trekie so nearly didn't watch. So glad I did, I have nothing but praise for your work.
The scene in this episode where Buffy tries to read Angels thoughts has me thinking of another episode 7×18 where faith and buffy are having a conversation and faith brings up the mind trip she went on with angel. This seems to intrigue buffy but before we can get a response they get distracted
When I watched this episode the first time and Jonathan said he wanted to kill himself I was like.... "Really? In the tower? With a sniper rifle?"
I always wondered how he would manage it considering the long barrel on a gun like that.
+CassandraTroy He propably would have relized that he brought the wrong gun after he failed to kill himself because he couldn't aim with a Sniper turned the wrong way...
*WITH A BOX OF...*big toe on the trigger and all that, Hemingway did it I think.
I always assumed he swiped it from a relative and he wasn't really thinking it through
Not to get all morbid but there's a scene in Full Metal Jacket...
It's interesting to think of this in relation to Jonathan's final scene, when he explains how even if nobody from his high school cares about him, he still cares about them.
Which is pathetic. A person's validation doesn't and shouldn't come from other people. It comes from within. Jonathan had good intentions. He just didn't know how to stand on his own feet and live without the approval of people.
You got me. For at least 15 seconds I was confused. And then extremly worried that I missed all the other ST:TNG episodes. I was *this* close to pausing the video and looking for the playlist. Touché, my good sir, touché. ^^
Though I thought the clock tower scene was executed perfectly, I do enjoy hearing someone else's opinion on it along with the other significant scene of Buffy traversing the minds of the Scooby gang in the library.
I always felt like the reason Buffy spoke harshly to Jonathan was because at the time, she believed she was talking to someone who wanted to exact revenge, not someone who wanted to kill himself. When she says those things about other students and teachers going through pain, it was truthful, but I believe it was also her way of humanly shaming Jonathan for what she thought he was trying to do, as she was understandably angry at the thought of a mass murderer who wasn't even a demon. It's only after the speech is over that he tells her he was up there to kill himself and would never kill anybody else. If she had known he wasn't the enemy from the start of the scene, I like to think her approach would have been slightly different, as she has shown more understanding in the past with others who were suicidal but not homicidal. Anyway, great vids! Loving every one. :)
Great review! Cordelia was conspicuously absent though - this episode has some of my favorite character moments from her in the entire series.
I spent a lot of time on her in the Top 10, including her bits in this episode. Had to pick and choose what to cover here.
+Passion of the Nerd Cordelia really is a complex character
don't like her,like her,don't like her again then like her again
but one thing that was consistent with her was that she took no BS
"I'm a bitch" "I am not some little cry Buffy"
BTW I love all your videos PTN
I think it would have been very interesting for Faith and Buffy to have a confrontation with Buffy reading Faith’s mind. I wonder what’s going on in it ....
I just started watching Next Gen for the first time. I anticipate Riker's beard eagerly. Also I think I'm in love with Data.
Also that clocktower scene changed my life. That and the ending of Lie to Me. Although later Buffy seasons speak to me more deeply now I'm a fully fledged 'adult' those two scenes taught teenage me an awful lot.
Thanks for the confusion. I LOLd at the record scratch transition. XD
But as always, great video!
The best thing about Riker's beard on star trek was how it informed the character design of David Xanatos on Gargoyles. The same goes for Deanna Troi's hair on Demona, Data's skin tone on Puck, and the decision to have Michael Dorn's rare guest appearance character be the giant minotaur with great big horns jutting out of his head.
Shit, man. You got me. You really got me.
Great stuff, as always!
I totally missed this review when you uploaded it! It never showed up in my subscription box! :O
Anyway, this is one of my favorite episodes! Oz's thoughts were the best!
It may have looked like a Star Trek episode when it did and you overlooked it. My bad. :-( I was making myself laugh.
Star Trek comparisons are always as welcome as Riker's beard. :)
Buffy's speech to Jonathan came from the same place as her speech to Andrew over the Hell Moth 4 years later. Sometimes, what you need is a little bit of a bitch slap to find your guts.
But Andrew was a chronic liar who couldn't face the truth about himself. Jonathan knew himself and didn't find any value until he hooked up with Andrew in a troubled youth meeting and later with Warren. Both are extension of the show's creator.
Of the Scoobies' thoughts scene I think my favourite person is Cordelia, how she literally says exactly what she thinks. That's still quite a superficial observation though; it says more about her character than one might first think. However it's 3.30am in the UK and I don't have the strength to elaborate.
I agree, I think it shows a massive strength to the genuineness of her character and identity. She says what she thinks and she means it- I find that to be both a difficult trait to master and a rare trait to find i others..
One thing that's kind of bugged me about your views on the tower scene is that Buffy didn't know that Jonathon was up there to kill himself until he told her. In her eyes, he was just a disturbed little kid trying to gun down innocent students, or in other words, the villain of the piece. I think she was trying to force Jonathon to put things into perspective and to stop and think about what he was about to do. I feel her putting Jonathon down for his actions and belittling him made sense with the context she was aware of. She wasn't trying to save him, she was trying to save the other kids. I think if she knew he was going to kill himself from the get go, she would have handled it much differently.
All the more reason Jonathan wouldn't have listened to her.
@@fbritannia But that makes him into a red herring and a statistic while the real, would be killer is on the loose. It also sets him up as an inept villain who wants to belong, but doesn't know how. Sounds familiar, JW?
This is one of those silly episodes when the humor is on point, and the character relationships are so solid, that you can go back and watch it whenever you need a little deprive from something. I mean, the Scooby gang is together, Willow and Oz are happy, Angel and Buffy have a good thing going, Buffy and Giles aren't fighting, etc. I think that this is one of those very few episodes where part of me wishes Buffy and Sunnydale can just be stuck in a time loop, or something. I know that all the relationships are going to change drastically, and probably for the better, but this is such a good episode to go back to after, for example, season 7.
If it weren't that Buffy and Johnathan suffer within this episode, I'd wish it could always be like this. (In case you hadn't noticed, this is my favorite episode)
Couldn't agree more
Such a warm episode to come back to
*sees video:* Wait, huh? Star Trek? Why are we doing Star Trek? What about Buffy?
*decides to watch video:* I think you goofed here putting this in the playlist for...oh...ooohhh.
I needed that after being laid off from work for two months.
your buffy guide is one of my favorite channels on TH-cam.
This was my fav episode off season 3. I loved Xander's face when he saw the lunch lady pouring the poison, it was hilarious and the best.
I think my favourite thing is just how perfectly Oz's thoughts sync up with his very slight eye movements and head tilts. It just sells it SO WELL
Great review as always.
One of the finest episodes of the series. Hits most of the right notes.
I love this episode (I'm a sucker for mind reading stuff.) Great review! I love those Othello/Iago Buffy/Faith parallels. And I swear, I never actually noticed that hilarious stunt double action, but now I'll never be able to unsee it.
As others have pointed out, Jonathan trying to kill himself with a sniper rifle in a tower is still one of the funniest, most OTT fakeouts in Buffyverse history (no.1 spot going to the end of Reprise with Angel waking up in gasping pain over.............an epiphany?!)
YOU'RE ALIVE! Earshot is an interesting episode for me as I liked it conceptually, but also agree with you on how Buffy handled Jonathan. My fave one-offs are still Band Candy and Lovers Walk cuz I love humor more than drama.
Somebody needs to fanfic Buffy reading the minds of the Mayor and especially of Faith.
Brainfart: I wonder if anyone has ever written erotic Giles/Joyce fanfiction?
+Passion of the Nerd Yes.
rule 34...
Oh, they have. Anything you say, it's been done. Some things I can't unread, including some Buffy/Giles...alright, now I'm shivering.
I agree that Riker's beard is glorious. Seriously, I want a beard like that.
Good to see you back! Can't believe you'd troll us with a title and opening like that -- actually I can. Hope this means you're back to a normal episode schedule
Oh, and by the way, Ian, I absolutely love the way you dovetailed ST:TNG and BTVS together-- BRILLIANT!
And I didn't realize that Tam and the Mayor were both played by--and there goes my senior mind again! LOL!--more serendipity!
I ACTUALLY LOST IT WHEN I SAW YOU'D UPLOADED A NEW VID
please never stop uploading vids pls
I had such a problem with Jonathan being a mass killer, as that’s so wildly character and he was my favorite side high schooler. But when it was revealed he was planning suicide it added great depth and development for a small character.
That scene with the cafeteria “rat poison” lady was laugh out loud non stop for ten minutes.
I'd never thought about the Tower Speech like that but yh It would have made him feel worse.
I remember years ago, the one time I decided to talk about the issues I was having the people I talked to gave me similar advice and I just shut down and never talked about it ever again.
It's times like that that you just need to know that someone's there and that it is okay to feel what you're feeling
side note, nearly didn't watch this since I hate Star Trek :)
I mentioned this in my own comment, but I found Buffy's speech gave me much needed perspective at a time I hadn't the ability to see it on my own (as a depressed high schooler). But I think also, it may be because I received the message through the filter of fiction- if it had been said directly to me, it probably would have been a disaster. As it was, it allowed me to see that I wasn't alone, and helped give me the courage to start therapy. But being told essentially that no one cares, and to get over it (which did happen later) is so far from helpful it isn't funny.
This, I think, is the value of fiction. It allows us to say important things in a helpful way that can't be said directly. Of course, it can also go horribly wrong and be incredibly offensive (see Glee, for many reasons).
I agree that Buffy's speech to Jonathan isn't super sensitive and wouldn't bring him out of his depression, but I find it plausible that it would be enough to prevent him from committing suicide. Suicide is drastic and those who contemplate it rarely do so without any qualms. Especially when motivated by loneliness, it can (in some situations) be enough for others simply to convey that they also don't think you should go through with it. However, the turn-around in Jonathan that we see by "the Prom" does seem unlikely.
There’s something very satisfying about stripping away the ability for miscommunication
Bravo sir. Bravo. This too was my fav season 3 episode one off and you did it justice with this review
good video. felt like it could have been longer since you addressed so many things. i would have like to hear more on all those topics; Star trek, Othello, the aspect metaphore, the friendship circle, the school shooting.
and for me personally the clock tower was a complete eye opener for me during my middle school depression. it was the first step in getting out, I think, and the reason why this ep. will always have a place in my heart!
but perhaps like you and a previous commenter had suggested I may not have taken it as well had it been said to me.
I dunno. This is why I love the comment section. My perception of whether or not that scene was...theatrically effective (?) is completely irrelevant in the face of how many people it MATTERED to.
I standby what I said but, that's the joy of the process.
Absolutely LOVE Jonathan Frakes with a beard! Yum-Yum! :-D!!
EARSHOT is also one of my favorite episodes, Ian. And having gone through some serious depression at various times in my life--though it wasn't diagnosed in high school, it was there--I do understand what you're saying about "not wanting to hear that other people have problems, too" (I'm paraphrasing, of course) when the "Dark SIde" has a hold of you. But one of the reasons therapy helped me--and it wasn't group therapy--was that it also let me know that what I was going through wasn't unusual.
Of course, I was already an adult by the time I started therapy (and the Effexor helped. too), so I don't know how much it would have helped me in high school...
I agree that the network didn't get the point of this episode, but I also agree it was a tough call--besides, at the time EARSHOT was aired, we (as a nation) were not yet "hip" to the palliative effects of actually confronting the problem. (:Not that we're doing such a good job, now, but it is better than back then.)
One thing always bothered me--that Jonathan was so willing to "get the Slayer" in Season 6 as part of the trio--yeah, he made some comments that "showed" us that in many ways he was on the fence about it, but it did annoy me that he so easily put aside Buffy's aid when he needed it...ESPECIALLY in EARSHOT. But I guess it just shows that despite all the chances for him to grow up, he never really did.
I didn't plan on watching this video the day after the school shooting in Texas (I had forgotten what was even in this episode except Buffy reads minds) but it is heartbreaking that these conversations still have to happen as we have not dealt with the school shooting issue.
I love these! Thank you so much for them. Again, I bonded with my sister over these episodes!
I haven't seen the Star Trek series, so I almost didn't click but I thought "hey, your videos are always great so I'll watch anyway even if I don't get it", and turned out to be pleasantly surprised XD
Another great review though, as usual! I love this episode, I think it was important to temporarily give Buffy an ability that forced her to live everyone else's lives through their thoughts - like you said, Buffy's role as the Slayer massively isolates her, so as well as the capacity to empathise leading to greater compassion, the ability also made Buffy realise she's not alone in her suffering, despite her circumstances.
Also, Oz's philosophical thoughts just made me love his character even more, he's unbelievably wise beyond his years!
At 9:37 if you have the captions on it says "September 11th you masturbated"... I mean, I was like 15 at the time so probably but yeah, might wanna fix that?
Ah. That was a Louis CK quote that was in the script but edited out of the video. I've removed it from the subtitles. Thank you.
This episode stayed with me so much over all these years that when I found I had the opportunity to watch Star Trek NTG, I jumped straight to the episode!
Currently reading Othello in my English class... totally gonna steal Buffy's analysis
Thank you for that brief intro reference from STNG! I only watched a little bit of the show growing up with a Trekkie family and had never seen the episode before. But having the parallel also opens up another wildly funny reference found in Charmed. Also a season three episode, Prue takes on the powers of empathy to help a man she thinks is an innocent and can then feel emotions that become so intense, they begin to drive her crazy. The powers were pulled from a demon who was burdened by them by an empath as a punishment. The empath who punished him? Harry Groener. So thank you for helping me make another "ah-ha!" connection.
This is honestly one of my favorites and definately the best one to show someone to introduce them to the show
Watched all your videos. Big fan. I'm a literature teacher and I have to admit your existential analysis of the Buffyverse could easily used in conjunction with units on Camus and Sartre.
I love it.
That said. I'm so disappointed you caved and changed the title of this video.
lol. It was always the intention to change it the next morning. Just having some fun with everyone.
Thanks for the good word.
+Passion of the Nerd Fair enough, I suppose. I thought it was hilarious. Keep up the good work!
I would be SO down for a TNG episode guide. I've been rewatching it lately and since I haven't watched it since I was a kid, I was struck by how actually good it is.
The problem I always had with this episode was that Johnathan was going to shoot himself with a rifle? Sounds kinda implausible and the rifle only makes sense as a fake out to the audience that he could shoot up the school.
It was likely the only gun his family owned, so therefore the only one to which he had access.
Cirrus Tate ah. I didn’t think of that. No one has guns in the family where I live
More please!!! If these could become a weekly thing it would make me so happy!
The Iago stuff is fascinating. Just more evidence of how high-brow the psychological rendering of the characters and their stories is.
Loved your TNG review at the beginning. Big Trek fan as well as Buffy here, too. And holy shit, that WAS the Mayor, Harry Groener in that episode! Earshot is one of my top 10 episodes of the series. Personally, I love Buffy and Jonathan's scene in the tower. I consider it one of the pivotal scenes (and themes) in the whole show. Everyone is battling his or her own pain and demons
Love the episode. Love this Guide. Hate that I have to wait to watch the top 10 list. Ugh.
I've been waiting for this 👏👏👏
I love these. Thanks for doing them!
Oh cool SFDebris has had an update! ....Oh wait. You got me! Thanks for the vid Sir :)
You changed the thumbnail while. I was asleep. Clever.
When I watched this episode the first time my brother pointed out the plot hole of Jonathan using a sniper rifle to shoot himself and it's always bothered me on any rewatch. Especially as it's a needless detail just to misdirect us but also so we can have the cool sequence of Buffy racing to stop him while he's assembling it. It's an obvious goof as well, disappoints me no one caught it (or they weren't bothered).
I've been watching your videos through my first rewatch of Buffy and finally caught up! It's been awesome watching your reviews while reading Mark Field's book and listening to the Dusted podcast. Keep up the great work!
Oh thank God you're back. The wait for another episode was killing me!
Hahaha you did it, you freaking did it. I love you
Watching these as i go through each episode. This is awesome
The Jonathan scene works depending on what type of person you are. For some, the idea that life is meaningless, that others show typically show no concern for us, and that life is unfair...for some that is a terrible, horrible, depressing thing. But for others, it's liberation. The go-to quote for me is from Babylon 5's Marcus: " I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, 'wouldn't it be much worse if life *were* fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?' So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."
It's not for everyone, but if you're on that side of the equation, yeah...it's very helpful to hear.
great video, i look forward to seeing the next one.
A big question of this episode is, Why did Jonathon try to kill himself the way he tried? Specifically, bringing a bigass gun up to a clock tower to... shoot himself. We all know an obvious reason - namely, the Writers Did It, to make it look like Jonathon was going to start a school shooting, only for the attempted suicide to be the twist. In-universe, though, that doesn't change the fact that he chose a public location and used a gun that he probably wouldn't even be able to point at himself. (Theoretically, he COULD have taken off his shoe and pulled the trigger with his toes, but that's a little too out-there.)
There are a couple other explanations. One, which I'm only giving out of obligation, is that Jonathon actually WAS planning on some homicide, but lied and said it was a suicide attempt when Buffy showed up. Honestly, though, this explanation doesn't mesh with his character from before or after this episode, not even when he becomes a Villain. The other explanation, the one I believe, is that all of it - the conspicuous public location and the conspicuous huge gun - was because, on some level, he wanted someone to notice him and try to talk him out of it. With this idea in mind, just the fact that - despite her assertion that everyone's in their own world - Buffy chose to try talking to Jonathon at all was enough to convince him to keep going.
Unrelated, there is something else I want to point out, something that I have been waiting for some time: Xander's thoughts. A common stereotype of teenage boys is that they are constantly thinking of sex - some say every seven seconds. Xander, however, specifically is only thinking about sex specifically because he knows Buffy can read minds and is making a conscious effort to not think about elephants. At other points, his thoughts, when they are nonsexual, can suddenly include sex for no particular reason (linoleum). This... this is one of the more accurate depictions of the hormonal teenage mind out there.
Cordelia and Oz both also have great thoughts. Oz is laconic yet philosophical, and Cordelia has no filter. I love them both.
On a joking note, with regards to the obvious stunt double... Looks like her aspect WAS from a boy demon...
Very much agreed. While definitely not universal, suicide attempts can often be a cry for help which would make sense for Jonathan in this setting.
I always head cannoned that the gun was just a hunting rifle, which he might have gotten from his parents or something. I'm no expert on guns so I can pretend it is one anyway even if it may not quite be (I really have no idea. There's some pretty fancy looking hunting rifles out there).
The public place is likely because he wanted to send a message. He was largely upset that no one cared about him so by doing this in a public place (the place of all his hate and shame) makes thematic sense. The place where he mattered the least will now have to pay attention to him.
Yeah and that's pretty much Xander. The 7 second sex thing has been proven to be idiotic (if true, how would men even function? And how long are they suppose to think about it every time? Do they just have a flash of boobs for a second then go back to work? That's incredible multitasking ability)
userasdf On some days, I think about the phony statistic every seven seconds. Make of that what you will.
Joseph Davis it was probably the only gun available/accessible for Jonathan
Welcome back, Ian! We've missed you a LOT, and it's a little ironic that you came back with a review of an episode that was delayed :) While I agree with you about depression, sometimes it can help to know that you're not alone in your pain; that the people around you aren't ignoring you because they don't care about you, they're ignoring you because they've caught up in the same feelings you are.
I will admit that when I watch these Season 3 episodes, I always wonder what everyone outside of the Scoobies makes of Wesley just randomly wandering around the high school.
Given the turnover at Sunnydale, maybe they just think he's a new teacher? The year prior a high school junior was long-term subbing the computer class and nobody said anything.
My love for this episode feels vindicated by this review! I've seen countless people online criticize it and label it a bad episode, which I couldn't for the life of me ever understand. It's funny and touching and just very enjoyable
For a good minute i was convinced I was in the future. God I love Star Trek, possibly not as much as Buffy....but it's close.
Little late to the party here (my friend put me onto these guides and I've been watching them in tandem with my rewatch, loving them so far) so I'm not sure anyone will see this, but I think you, and a lot of people in the comments are approaching the speech from the wrong direction. I can't claim to know what it's like to have depression, so perhaps what Buffy said would still be pretty callous and I'm completely wrong, but I think it's very important to remember that she was trying to talk him down from killing other people, not himself. When she made the speech she fully believed he was planning to use the gun on everyone else down below, I agree that it was a bad way of talking someone down from suicide but that's not at all what she was trying to do, she was trying to get him to empathize with all the people she thought he was about to try and kill.
In retrospect it's a bad speech for suicide and I'm with you that it probably should't have worked but it makes sense why it was written that way and why Buffy took that particular route to talking him down. Not sure if you had that thought as well and just didn't reflect on it in the review, but I saw a lot of people in the comments treating the speech as if it was to talk him down from suicide and I thought it was worth pointing out that it wasn't.
Thanks! Ive been waiting like crazy for this.