[/caption]The end approaches for the Great Halloween Re-Watch of 2010. Today marks the penultimate write-up for a Halloween episode. If anyone can guess what will be the FINAL episode or movie of the re-watch then you'll win a "good job" comment from me and, possibly, two front-row seats to the final battle in the Dinosaur Steel Cage tournament that happens over at Post-Collegiate Apocalypse.
Buffy, The Vampire Slayer takes center stage for the third time in less than a month. The series produced three Halloween episodes in seven seasons. Season 4's "Fear, Itself" is my favorite Halloween episode of the Whedonverse. The story is great, the dialogue is fantastic and the costumes are awesome.
The fourth season of Buffy transported the gang into the world of college, and with great transitions comes a certain degree of change. Angel left for LA in the season three finale and Buffy feels a little less than whole. Adding to her insecurities and abandonment issues is a guy named Parker she slept with in the previous episode, "The Harsh Light of Day." Parker only used her for sex, and she feels sad and low. Xander chose to forgo college--a decision which leaves him feeling left out and invisible. The brutally-honest-and-blunt Anya only piles onto these issues for Xander when she tells him he has nothing in common with these people he calls friends. Willow's evolution as a witch worries Oz and Buffy because of the magic she experiments with. In a piece of foreshadowing, she tells Buffy that college is a place for experimenting. As for Oz, he has feared his werewolf-ness since "Phases."
On an October evening, the Scooby Gang carve pumpkins in Xander's basement. Buffy talks about the life of a pumpkin and how said life ends with its guts being ripped out. Xander tells the gang to prepare for a night of spine-tinging and goosebump inducement because he rented a movie for the second annual Halloween viewing party. Of course, the video store gave Xander Fantasia instead of Phantasm. Willow tells the group that she thought the plans were to the Alpha Delt thing. Xander, caught unawares, wonders what the thing is. Buffy opines that a scary house sounds lame. Oz sells her on the idea though, explaining: "It actually borders on fun. You have to go through the whole scary house maze to get to the party and it's usually worth getting to. Those guys go all out." Oz, Willow and Xander are all in but Buffy is undecided, explaining that she wants to make sure Giles doesn't want her patrolling.
The next day, the new care-free, full-of-fun Giles surprises her with his Halloween spirit. She looks mortified that he's dressed in full costume, and with a huge bowl of candy, in his apartment adorned with Halloween decorations including an animated Frankenstein. Giles tells her that the demons and vamps find Halloween much too crass, in response to her sort-of-desire to patrol rather than party on Halloween. Buffy decides to go with her friends to the Halloween. Her mother sews a last-minute Halloween costume for her, and Buffy tells her about her fear that every important male in her life with bail on her. Joyce tells her daughter that she shouldn't be afraid because she has Giles, her friends and her mother.
Fear is the central theme of the episode, if the title didn't give it away. Naturally, a fear demon's occult symbol gets accidentally triggered. The fear demon's presence alters the reality of the frat house while feeding on the fears of the people in the house. As the gang makes their way through the house, their fears help the manifestation of the fear demon. Xander becomes invisible. Oz sort of transforms into a werewolf despite the absence of a full moon. Willow loses control of her magic. Buffy gets drawn into the basement of the house, far away from her friends and confronts the animated corpse of a dead frat guy who promises that everyone she loves will abandon her. Of course, she's also attacked by zombies.
Meanwhile, Anya arrives late to the frat house in her bunny costume (because bunnies frighten her). She witnesses a window disappear from the house and becomes concerned about Xander (the two characters copulated in "The Harsh Light of Day" and Xander admitted, early on in the episode, that date-like qualities were at work between the two). Anya goes to Giles' house. Giles sits, alone, inside with a full bowl of candy. Anya and Giles work together to figure out what happened inside the frat house. With the help of a chainsaw, Giles makes his way into the frat house.
Inside of the frat, Buffy, Xander, Willow and Oz get so scared that they find themselves in the same room--where the fear demon wants them. Giles emerges into the room with his chainsaw and the gang quickly figures out a way to kill the fear demon. Buffy jumps the gun and accidentally manifests the fear demon; however, the fear demon is very tiny. The Scoobies can only laugh and make jokes. Before Buffy stomps on the fear demon, he reminds her that everyone will leave her. She's overcome that fear, says 'yeah yeah' and kills the fear demon.
Back at Giles' house, we find out the translation of the words underneath the picture of Gachnar--"actual size."
Some other thoughts:
-The costumes are great. Oz and Willow would win the contest though. Willow dresses as Joan of Arc because, like Joan, Willow was almost burned at the stake. Plus, she had a close relationship with God. Oz, of course, is God. Sarah Michelle Gellar is so damn cute dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. Sarah looks amazing throughout the entire season. Emma Caulfield looks hilarious wearing her huge bunny costume. Giles' costume is also hilarious.
-The atmosphere of the episode is great. It FEELS like Halloween.
-David Fury wrote the episode. Fury is one of the great writers from the whedonverse. The dialogue throughout the episode is fantastic. Many great lines. I won't list any.You can read the full shooting script here: http://buffyworld.com/buffy/scripts/060_scri.html.
-Tucker Gates directed the episode. He earned tremendous amount of praise from critics and LOST fans for "Ab Aeterno." Gates directed "Fear, Itself" excellently--especially the frat house scenes.
Here is the entire episode, courtesy of YouTube:
THE SCREENPLAY OF THE DAY
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer--Written By Trey Callaway--http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/i/i-still-know-what-you-did-last-summer-script.html
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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